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This month's feature................

Lee
Brozgol, Teaching Artist for the Visually Impaired
Lee Brozgol, like all ceramicists and potters, considers himself a
visual artist, working in a medium
that seeks appreciation through the eyes of the viewer.
Yet, Brozgol teaches ceramics to a group of students with visual
impairments ranging from high partial to full vision loss.
In his decade of work teaching ceramics at Visions in New York City,
he has come to redefine his idea of what it means “to see,” enriched his
concept of color, and has explored the creative process within the framework
of the human need for expression.
Brozgol is a licensed clinical social worker with experience working with
older adults and persons living with serious illnesses.
He has worked as a teaching artist at Elders Share the Arts, Lifetime
Arts, and the Creative Center at University Settlement.
After earning his B.A. in psychology at the University of Chicago, he
came to New York to pursue a career in the film industry, but he recalls,
“As soon as I came to New York, I went to Cooper Union and got into their
evening program – I always knew I had to be an artist.”
etely
different from what we expected, but it turned
out to be perfectly great!"
Brozgol has notable achievements as an independent artist while pursuing his
social work career. His tile murals appear in the Christopher Street
subway station and Liberty High School in Manhattan, and his stained glass
mural, “Beacon,” is displayed in the atrium of Public School 66 in Canarsie.
An image of the PS 66 work was chosen as the cover art for Michele Cohen’s
recent publication, “Public Art for Public Schools.”
Once a
week, Brozgol teaches a two-hour class of about 12 students with a wide
range of visual impairments. He describes his approach: “The
first thing I do is orient the students to the c
lassroom. I describe
the room arrangement and take them to the tools, the slab roller, the
supplies. I show them three basic techniques: the pinch pot, slab
construction, and coil construction. Then I tell them, ‘You’re on your
own. I’m here to guide you.’” Brozgol uses a “hand-over-hand”
teaching procedure, standing behind the student and guiding the
hands in the technique. "one of the first things I ask them i
Brozgol marvels at how similar he finds instructing these students to
his
past experiences. “One thing you realize right away is that you don’t
have to watch your use of words like ‘look’ or ‘see.’ These folks
really appreciate beauty.” He tells of a completely blind student
feeling the finished pot of a classmate and exclaiming, “Oh my gosh – this
is beautiful!” Brozgol’s students do not limit their appreciation of their work to form alone. A full selection of glazes is offered to add the element of color to the works. Brozgol says, “My best glazer is completely blind.” He engages his students in discussions about the nature of color. They find a bridge between a common experience and a color. For example, the similarities between the experience of warming oneself by a fire and eating a hot pepper can evoke the color red. Finding the essential element in these two experiences
manipulation of the physical properties of clay. Others focus on the product. Each, however, is restored in some way by the expression of the creative part of the self.
In working with his students, Brozgol has looked anew at the nature of perception. His students have a “vision” of a person that is constructed of perceptions – perceptions of the sound of a voice, the rhythm of a gait, an aura of being. These elements, like the elements of a work of art, combine to create a vision – a vision that is so clear that the blind person can say confidently, “Oh I know him – he’s tall and blonde.” To see more of Lee Brozgol’s work, visit https://www.etsy.com/shop/elbrozzie?ref=si_shop
www.visionsvcb.org/visions/
