Open Door Gallery

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to VSA of Massachusetts' Open Door Gallery, presently featuring the art work of Jiayi Zhou, an artist from China who is deaf and a graduate student at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.

The show is titled "Who is the Deaf Artist?" and her art work explores visual art as her first language. The exhibit is comprised of 64 pieces in two distinct areas, first being the walls of VSA of Massachusetts' offices, also known as the Open Door Gallery, and second in the hallway that is to the left of the reception desk by the front entrance of the building, which runs straight back to the courtyard.

The Open Door Gallery will be defined by eight areas, identified moving left to right as you enter through the double glass doors from the lobby. Upon entering, immediately to your left is a short wall containing pieces 1 & 2. This is identified as WALL 1.

To its right, facing the glass doors is WALL 2. To the right, beyond the end of that wall, WALL 3 goes straight back. The right end of WALL 3 comes to a corner, meeting a wall which goes to the right. The length of this wall is broken into two sections, the first section, designated as WALL 4 runs for 15 feet. The second section of the same of the same wall is recessed by about 6 inches and continues on another 12 feet. This is identified as WALL 5.

To the right of that, the wall at the far end of the room is comprised of large floor to ceiling windows. This will be defined as the WINDOW area, with 4 pieces there, one to the left and 3 to the right of the area. Continuing to the right of the window brings you to the office area. 3 pieces are to the left by the window in the office and 5 in a row on the wall over the director's desk.

Leaving the office, back towards the double door entrance, on the left is WALL 6 - 2 pieces to the left of the flat doors, 3 pieces to the right of the doors.

In the lobby, to the left of the reception desk, a long hallway has artwork on either side. Facing the hallway, pointed towards the courtyard, the numbering starts at the right and continues right to left down the right-side wall and then returns on the opposite side, again numbered right to left. Spacings of the hallway walls are defined as HALL 1 through HALL 3 on the right, HALL 4 through HALL 6 on the left.

As you move through the exhibit, left to right in the Gallery, right to left down the Hall, the artworks will be numbered consecutively, 1 through 64.

Some general characteristics of Jiayi's figures - most are rendered in a cartoon style, with images defined and outlined in thick black lines. Many of the female faces have languid expressions, with large almond-shaped eyes brown eyes, and thick red lips above a chin that comes to a point. Arching eyebrows run the full width of the face, descending at center in two parallel lines, forming a thin, straight nose, small circles on either side forming the end. Hands have long fingers, sometimes wavy, with colored fingernails.

Her artwork often employs fish and cats because, "like water creatures, deaf people don't need to hear or speak and yet experience completely full lives; like cats, they use their inner intuition and grace to bring stillness to their living environment."

To learn more about Jiayi Zhou, her life and her artwork, contact VSA of Massachusetts.

WALL 1 - PIECE 1
Deaf meeting Point
Oil pastels 11X14

This is an illustration of ten rather glamorous cartoon woman, all but one portrayed in grey; large dark sun glasses and thick red smiling lips. They face forward, filling the frame and beyond, in four loose rows, one above the other. One younger woman's face stands out as the only one in color, light brown and golden, no sunglasses over her large black eyes. One hand is across her heart, the other peeks up from behind her head with an open hand.

WALL 1 - PIECE 2
My Special Thanks to Gallaudet and Nippon Foundation
Oil pastels 19x24

A large illustration of a woman fills the frame, the thick red strands of her hair rising up from her head. The thick black outlines of her pale face come to a sharp at her chin. Her eyes are closed, the lids and thick lack lashes covering the full width of her face, slanting down from center, thin straight nose drawn with heavy black lines separating them.

Eyebrows slant down from a high at center, the lips are very full, red/orange, and turned down at the corners. A red dress hands by two straps on her bare shoulders, the dress crossing her collar bones. Her right hand emerges at center from below, long thin fingers covering the bottom half of a heart shape, positioned just above her chest. In the background are university buildings, one with the word GALLAUDET mostly visible. Thick green arms stretch up from the corner of the building, a face like a full moon visible in the space between them.

WALL 2 - PIECE 3
Music of Hands - Spring
Acrylic 33x24

A woman's face stares out at us, filling more than half of the image area. Her thick light brown hair flows off to the left, golden musical notes and cleft signs imposed upon it at whimsical angles. A butterfly, red and yellow stripes and two dots on white wings, hovers on her hair, above her left eye. Above and beside her head hang medium size leaves, almond shaped in light blues and greens. In the lower right background, a jagged geometric pattern beneath horizontal stripes is topped by a solid blue sky.

WALL 2 - PIECE 4
Deaf Evolution
Acrylic 33x27

A colorful mass of mixed images fills the frame. In the upper left corner a white computer mouse, a thick white arrow with a sharply bent stem, a computer screen with a smiling blue figure waving, a small keyboard with the word "pager" on its display, beneath a floating almond shaped eye and small yellow stars are over a patch of orange background. Continuing to the right, the upper half on the piece shows portions of a large institutional building, an American flag waving from its tall tower. More floating eyes are interspersed among images of two hands forming the sign language letters "U" and "G" with the actual letters painted on them. A woman's face, framed by long brown hair, looks off to the right. From her left shoulder, a widening band of white with rows of small black dashes descends river-like onto a rising flower pod.

WALL 2 - PIECE 5
Music of Hands - Fall
Acrylic 33x27

A woman's head tilts up and slightly back into the upper right hand corner, her light brown/golden hair covering her right eye as it cascades down to the lower left hand corner. Her thick red lips curl up slightly at the corners. The woman's large left eye is partially covered by its lid; she peers slightly up and into the distance. Her left hand cradles the left side of her face, the pinky bent at a 90 degree angle, a round green bracelet sliding down her wrist. Her other hand covers her chest with long thin spread fingers, over the thin vertical lines on her white top. A short necklace loosely circles her neck, and oval stone decorated with thin petal-like shapes. Running the length of her hair are golden musical notes, she leans against a rust/gray brick background.

WALL 3 - PIECE 6
My Deaf and Hearing Angels
Oil pastels 23x17

Three female faces are in three separate panels, each defined by a gold border. The figure in the left panel has a crooked smile on her thick red lips, large brown eyes, and a band of small leaves on her light brown hair. A small gold hand emerges beneath her hair where her right ear would be. The back of her right hand faces out, thumb and pinky extended. The palm of her left hand faces us, thumb and pinky also extended. The two pinky's cross. The middle-panel-face also smiles slightly with the same full red lips and large brown eyes. To the right of her face, two right hands reach up, one pointer touching left of her right eye, the other pointer touching just left of her mouth. The face at right has large blue eyes, a slight smile on her open lips and the small band of leaves in her lighter hair. Her hair is pushed back revealing a protruding right ear.

WALL 3 - PIECE 7
Our Own Sunlight
Oil pastels 21x17

This large, full-frame design features a horizontally oblong face with wide brown and gold eyes, separated by a short straight nose above wide pink lips curled up slightly at the corners. A small white curled design is just above and between the half lidded eyes, a fat open-fingered hand in gold rising above it and covering the forehead. Bands of gold follow the lines of the eyebrows from center, then sweep up on either side of the hand to the top of the head. On the chin, a row of short, vertical stripes in gold with white highlights, are interrupted at center by 3 white horizontal stripes, and flanked by long flowing gold strands. These strands flatten out in either direction above curly gold designs. Radiating from the head, wide yellow triangles are bordered by black and orange outlines, over a red background. Black letters spelling "Deaf Culture" occupy the yellow triangles, one letter in each triangle.

WALL 3 - PIECE 8
Sign Language Hesperus (Evening Star)
Oil pastels 17x21

A pink woman stares at us with large pink eyes. Covering her mouth and chin are bandage-like white horizontal stripes. Lower on her long neck the stripes are repeated, these in a light tone of gold with a brooch-like design in a deeper gold. The brooch resembles flower petals fanned upward, with a triangular stem. One strand of her long wavy blue hair falls down across her forehead, along her nose then curving to the right of her covered mouth. Golden hands emerge from beneath her hair where her ears would be positioned. Circling her head is a thick band of white with light gold streaks, a portion of a speckled blue sky behind it.

WALL 4 - PIECE 9
It All Starts With a Dream
Mixed media painting on canvas 9x9

This small square piece hangs by a thin black-wire frame, separated from the canvas by about 2 inches. The top and bottom wires are bowed out, the sides straight. They are joined at the corners by simple fleur-de-lis bent from the same material. The words "It all started with a dream" are stacked at center, each word a different color - orange, blue, green, purple and red - on a white background. Surrounding this area, orange strips of paper with the word "communication" painted over wide yellow arrows have been cut and torn and arranged pointing in all different directions.

WALL 4 - PIECE 10
Lotus
Mixed media painting on canvas

Hanging from a wire frame matching the one above it, a large colorless flower is outlined in black. From a long, slightly bent stem, petals rise up to a point surrounding a flat-topped seed pod with small circles. A column of wavy lines rise from behind the rear petals. Several smaller petal-like pods on stems are below, beside and above the central flower. Emerging from some of the stems are small, cartoon-like, fat-fingered gold hands. Rows of dots run horizontally beneath and behind the growths, small patches of blue, red, and yellow show through the white background.

WALL 4 - PIECE 11
Soul Shout
Oil on wood 13x13

In an open square black frame, two black strips of wood, parallel, with an inch of space separating them, are mounted vertically, a bit left of center, and horizontally a bit below center. Mounted on these strips is a 6x6 inch piece of beveled wood, also below and left of center. On it a black abstract figure, outlined in white, is painted on a mottled black, orange and yellow background. Arms are bent up, hands with thick uneven fingers stretching high. Red and yellow stripes are wrapped around each wrist, reappearing from behind each hand, connecting the hands with loose, curling strands over head. The face is tan, eyes wide above horizontal black stripes fully covering the lower portion of the face. A red heart outline hangs from a gold cord descending from two gold stripes across the long neck.

WALL 4 - PIECE 12
Are You Really Happy?
Oil on wood 7x8

Hanging from a black-wire ring attached to curling extensions to the right and left, this vertical piece of wood has a flat surface at center rising from beveled edges around it. At top center of the flat surface is a large square face, large brown eyes under thick short eyebrows, a vertical oval reddish nose flanked by dabs of pink cheeks over a large smiling mouth, bright red with a small horizontal oval of white at its lowest point. From behind it, either side near the mouth, are small round hands. Beneath the square face are tan and brown checkered legs descending onto a black oval. Thick white tear shaped dots are on either side of the legs, a wide white stripe beneath them. Running up the left side on the beveled area, Chinese characters are followed by the word "SAD" flanked by question marks. Running down the right side, the word "HAPPY" is followed by a question mark, then Chinese characters.

WALL 4 - PIECE 13
I (heart) Sign Language
Oil on wood 7x8

This vertical wood piece has a raised flat surface at center with beveled edges around it, and hangs by a black wire bent to resemble the top portion of a clothes hanger. On the flat section, outlined in black is a sandwich-board type sign that reads "I" followed by a big red heart above the word "SIGN" which is above the word "LANGUAGE." The letters are dark with small blotches of red and blue on them. Above the sign is a portion of a neck with straight brown hair hanging down, a bit on the right overlapping the top of the sign. Left and right, portions of arms are shown, hands hidden behind the sign, and below sections of two straight legs, black with light brown lines cross-hatched over them.

WALL 4 - PIECE 14
Hear no, Speak no, See yes
Acrylic 34x28

Thick metallic gold lines of paint define this painting of a woman with her right hand partially covering her mouth, her left hand covering half of her left eye. The upper half of the piece is a mass of royal blue with waving and curling gold lines flowing horizontally through it. Two flat fish float above her head, one coming in from the left, the other, smaller and directed towards it. Small bubbles rise before them. Another fish is coming on from the right, much lower, only the front half visible. The woman's blue eyes are ¼ shut, large fan-shaped earrings with tear-shaped beads extend out at an angle. The beaded neckline of her dress hands off one shoulder, her sleeves are decorated with lines of connected concentric circles, red, gold and white.

WALL 4 - PIECE 15
Audism
Oil on canvas 9x9

A gold, Buddha-like head leans sharply to the left, partially emerging from the lower-left corner. His head is bald, the eyebrows, passive eyes, thin nose and gently smiling lips are black. A large gold ear protrudes up. Radiating from the heard are short, thick dashes of dark and lighter blues, interspersed with small dots of gold and red over a black background.

WALL 4 - PIECE 16
Talking With Our Hands, Listening With Our Eyes
Oil on canvas 9x9

Large eyes slant down from the upper lift and right corners. Between them is a vertical rectangle of orange paper upon which is mounted a small gold-leaf-lie sheet. On that, matching the color of the orange behind it, are long thin numbers "1999". Faint Chinese characters are seen at the four points around the gold sheet. A brown hand emerges from below, fingers spread, reaching up to between and just below the eyes. The eyeballs focus on the fingers before them. A cross-hatching of gold on white covers the background.

WALL 4 - PIECE 17
To Feel Music in Your Heart
Oil on canvas 9x9

The words "To Feel Music" are painted above the words "In Your Heart" over a background of vertical dabs of oil paint thickly applied in streaks of gold, orange, blued, green, red and white. Horizontal trails of thick paint above and below the words look to have been made by the dragging of a pallet knife through wet paint. The letters are dark with touches of color on them, the grouping of words slightly above center.

WALL 4 - PIECE 18
Who Sees Who?
Mixed media painting on canvas

The top ¼ of this piece is an uneven row of short, wide vertical bars running the entire width. They are brown with tiny thin black vertical dashes on them, the space between and below them black with blue and a few red dots. The surface below is painted white with two circular mirrors, about 2 inches in diameter, positioned as eyes. A thing band of dark colors is configured like a figure 8 on its side, surrounding the mirrored eyes. Below the eyes are two puffs of yellow with soft red dots at center, and at bottom is a portion of red lips, outlined with the same thin band of colors surrounding the eyes. The entire white area is covered by an extremely fine fishnet material.

WALL 4 - PIECE 19
Deaf Students Study Abroad in India
Acrylic 33x27

A circle at center is divided in half horizontally by a tan wavy band that stretches the entire width of the painting. Within the top half of the circle is a detail of the American flag. The bottom half depicts the Indian flag, upside down, three horizontal stripes - orange at the bottom, white with a blue circle at center, and green at top. Above the tan line, beneath a light gray sky with puffy clouds and a yellow sun, are sections of buildings from Washington, D.C. - from the left, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Capital Building - all leaning to the left - then, leaning to the right the Gallaudet University building with an American flag atop its tower, then green trees behind another, blue-faced dome-topped building with the word Gallaudet across the front. Below the tan line everything is upside down - from the left, a large square buildings with a large onion-shaped opening, the Taj Mahal, a white elephant with a riding seat and curved tusks, a tall domed building with a large arched opening and a large brick wall, all under a gray/blue sky with multiple stars, gray clouds, and a sliver of a yellow/gray moon.

WALL 5 - PIECE 20
Awakening and Sleeping
Oil Pastels 17x23

On a diagonal, two female heads are placed side by side, both face up, one right side up, the other up side down. The right side up figure is to the left, slightly below center, in full color, golden tan skin, large green eyes wide open, thick blue-gray hair cascading to her shoulders. There is a slight smile on her thick red lips, a white band across her forehead with a small red oval at center. Her hands are at either side of her face, pointers near the corner of her eyes, thumbs on either side of her mouth, the other fingers curled. A thin white veil on her head follows her flowing hair, then curls up to the right, covering the head next to hers. The upside down figure is all in a blue/gray shade. The eyes are close, lips straight, long lavender/gray hair flowing to her shoulders. A white band with a red oval is across her forehead, her right hand along the right side of her face.

WALL 5 - PIECE 21
Hope for all Victims
Oil Pastel 17x23

The large face of a woman, blonde hair in clumps of short wavy locks, eyes with thick black lashes closed, brow knit, thick pink lips slightly down at the corners, has two raised hands on either side of her face with fingers crossed. Floating in small white letters to the right of her face, above the image of a burning globe, are the words "Hope for all Victims."

WALL 5 - PIECE 22
Soulless Puppet
Oil Pastel 17x23

The top half of a female figure, hanging by four ropes, one each attached to the back of her hands, the others running behind her, leans left, staring out through half-closed eyes. Her hands are jointed puppet-like, detached from her writs and pulled up above her head. Her mouth is slightly open, black lines running from the corners straight down on either side of her chin. Her gray/lavender hair hangs down in strands, her white horizontally striped top cuts straight across her collar hones. Through a heart-shaped hole in her chest the full brick-wall background is visible, as well as one of the ropes.

WALL 5 - PIECE 23
Transform Dreams into Reality
Oil Pastel 17x23

A plump green-scaled fish's body with a large round golden cat's head sits on the lap of an opulent woman. The cat has two flat, shortened arms with spiky ends emerging from beneath its chin. Three white whiskers sprout from either cheek, its large black eyes gaze up contentedly. The woman's dress radiates in blues beneath the animal's body filling the full width of the frame and mingling with her thick waving and curling locks, which are blue with pink shading. Her pale face looks down on the creature with thick black lashes, her braceleted arm bent down behind it.

WALL 5 - PIECE 24
Our Sign Language Goddess
Oil Pastel 17x23

The image of a woman from the chest up fills the frame. Her thick orange hair sweeps from left to right over her head, up and off to the right. Her large black eyes are partially lidded, staring off a bit to the right, her left brow raised slightly. On her forehead are three white petal shapes pointing up. The pointed finger of her right hand touches her right cheek. Her left hand is held up, palm facing us, fingers straight. On this palm a large eye is painted. Wide alternating bands of gold and white radiate from behind her head, filling the entire background.

WINDOW - PIECE 25
Can You See Music
Oil on Canvas 16x12

The words "Can You" centered above the words "See Music" are painted over a background of vertical dabs of oil paint thickly applied in short streaks of dark blue, bright orange, light blue, gold, pink and white. Small metallic stars in multiple colors are scattered and imbedded in the paint. The area behind the words is mostly white, the letters almost black with light strakes of the other colors on them. The words are a little above center vertically, shifted to the right horizontally

WINDOW - PIECE 26
Spirit II
Oil Pastels 22x17

This painting is a tight mass of small colorful over lapping images, most appearing to have an African reference. The colors are orange, lavender, red, yellow, gold, blue and white. The images are: rubbery dancing ladies, a large head with chieftains round hat and a small black bird covering its face, fish, a ram, stripped leaves, a mask-like face at lower center, circles, patterns and four long thin black abstract bodies floating over the color, near the edges arms reaching high.

WINDOW - PIECE 27 (on a small table beneath #2)
Poetry Out Loud
Linoleum Block 10x12

In black in on read paper, three faces are crowded behind an image of a microphone at front center. The microphone is egg shaped, the top half of it cross-hatched with diagonal link, nestled in a u-shaped holder on a vertical bar, with cord bending down around it. A jagged star-shaped outline surrounds the top of the mic, smaller while lines radiating from its surface. The face at left tilts to the left, right hand below her chin, left hand up straight hear her left eye. The center face is surrounded by full curls, her right hand extended forward, palm up, finger tips nearly touching the mic. The right face leans right, short spikey hair swept up, interlocked finger below his neck. On two solid black bands behind the mic are the words "Poetry Out Loud" spaced on either side of the mic stand.

WINDOW - PI ECE 28
Eye and Ear
Acrylic 17x14

This abstract painting features a large eyeball in the upper left, large thick yellow lashes above it emerging from a blue/green eyelid. The iris is red/brown with green and black lines radiating from a blue pupil. Small black symbols are to the right in the white portion of the eyeball. Touching the right bottom of the eye, a large blue ear shape, resembling an open mouth, extends to the bottom of the image. A long thick red arrow emerges straight out from within the top portion of the ear and then takes a 90 degree turn upward ending ¾ of the way up the canvas in a arrow head. Within the bottom portion of the open ear a sun-like ball nestles, a white cloud partially covering it while emerging from it to the right. Musical notes and colorful geometric patterns float in the background, among dashes and clouds.

OFFICE - PIECE 29
Fantasy
Acrylic 17x14

This colorful pastel is dominated by a large eye at right, centered vertically. Thick golden lashes, grouped in twos, protrude from its top, a band of orange at their base, a plump while lid behind them. The eyeball rests on a rounded pad-shape of golden yellow. A tall pointed building is in the background, along with red pod shaped growths on long yellow stems. A golden arrow shape is bent at a 90 degree angle pointing straight up, reaching the middle of the piece. Industrial looking pipes run horizontally behind the arrow, then straight down at 90 degree joints. A large light colored bird, with a stained glass-looking head pokes in from the lower left, a blue, tan and yellow butterfly floats overhead. Brown framing of windows are behind this colorful assemblage.

OFFICE - PIECE 30
I am Deaf, Please use Sign Language
Oil Pastels on Wood 18x18

The face of a young, realistically portrayed girl, except for her exceptionally large brown almond-shaped eyes, emerges from a dark background holding up a narrow, vertical sign with gold character outlines in red stacked one above the other. The top character is an Asian symbol much like a lower case cursive "t" with the bottom stem split into two splayed legs. It has a small red dragon intertwined through the symbol.

Beneath that is another, resembling a capital "H", with a bar across the top and a longer right leg. An ear is super-imposed over this. At the bottom is the "DEAF" in capital letters. The girl's red painted finger tips wrap around the front edges of the small sign.

OFFICE - PIECE 31
Computer, Partner and Lore
Woodprint Black ink on white paper 18x20

From a busy mess of tight images, a squared-headed face with eye and mouth vertically set, emerges from a computer screen. A tattooed arm embraces a solid black shadowy figure with eyeballs starring out, a stripped cat sitting up it. The hand clutches a long wavy cord with a computer mouse at its end. The rear portion of a checked, spotted fishes is beneath the arm, one side of its split tale with a black heart on it, on the other is the work "love" The chaos around has a section of a wheel at top left, a string of small round lights, boxes with knobs, a dismembered arm, check, squares and circles.

OFFICE - PIECE 32
Computer, Human Brain and Virus
Wood Print - Black Ink/White Stock 19x20

A tight mass of images show a computer screen near the center, up and to the left, with the word "Help" on it. An arm reaches up from below, the hand appearing within the screen. Crossing the lower portion of the arm, a long arrow rests on a heart-shape with a wide jagged split, an 'SOS' above it. A foot-shape descends from above to rest on a head with one vertical eye, a computer mouse is in the upper left corner. Staircases, wavy shapes, and a occasional fish swirl in the perimeters over a spotted check pattern.

OFFICE - PIECE 33
Boat in the Sun
Woodprint Black/White 19x20

This bold design features a large circular sun in the upper right corner with thick lines radiating from it. A vertical eye-shape is within the sun. To the left of the sun, from the top, thick lines descend, sweeping to the right, with the exception of one that sweeps to the left. They came short of the bottom which becomes an uneven pool of black, and a few varying size circles in thin white on it. The sweeping lines form part of the edges of two row boat shapes as seen from above. One has a black oar-shaped over its front edge, the other is next to a dock-like structure. The sweeping lines curl around the boat shapes.

OFFICE - PIECE 34
Computer, Girl and Eyes
Woodprint 19x20

A dark image of an abstract woman is at center. She looks left, a circular white eye with a black dot out of a black face. Her left arm stretches up, its hand coming over the top of her head and resting on her forehead. Her mouth is open and curved downward. Her right arm is stretched out before her, finger tips with small eyeball on them. Her breasts are pronounced and come forward, concentric hearts on the left side. She sits among a rubble of boxes with eyes, flowing cords and keyboard-like checkered patterns with dots. Emerging from a small foot at lower left is a cord with a computer mouse attached at the other end.

OFFICE - PIECE 35
Computer, Friend and Chat Room
Woodprint 19x20

This busy, curved image features a partial face within a computer screen, the left half of the face black, the right white, with eyes askew and a small round open mouth. An arm comes from within the screen and grasps the wrist of another arm coming on from the left, a beaded bracelet around its forearm. A large fish head, with a large lashed eye, comes above the computer box facing right, looking toward a seemingly distraught cartoon animal with a round head, floppy ears, wide open mouth and a tear beneath its right eye - the left eye looks swollen and half shut. The word "HELLO" in white floats between them on a black background. Other images fill the spaces around these, including a hairy arm, a computer mouse and cord, boxes with small circles on them, checkered patterns, and a quarter section of a wheel a the top left corner.

WALL 6 - PIECE 36
Deaf-Friendly Relay Communication
Mixed Media Painting on Canvas 10x18

Mounted in the center of a black background, a small square canvas is divided diagonally, the upper left three-quarter coated with a dark yellow and some smudges of orange, all beneath bold white streaks of thinly painted white, running uphill from left to right. The lower ¼ at right is painted a deep orange. On the upper portion, running diagonally centered just above the dividing line, is a rectangular piece of orange paper with a thick double ended arrow in yellow. Below the arrow reads "www.IP-RELAY.com" in black letters. The artist's name is squeezed in just above the arrow. Off the paper, above it and running diagonally is the word "Welcome." In the far upper left corner running straight are the words in smaller type "encourages everyone to dream bigger."

WALL 6 - PIECE 37
Language Integration
Oil on Canvas 10x8

A small square canvas is set above the center line of a black background. On the background, the canvas is bordered by a wide, thinly applied white oil pastel outline. The canvas is painted red around pre-printed square of paper, three over three, containing Asian designs and characters. The top row has the center image red on a white background, flanked by white images reversed out of a red background. The bottom row is opposite. Pasted on in clumps and scattered around these images are small foil capital letter in gold, blue pink and green.

WALL 6 - PIECE 38
Spirit I
Oil on Wood 18x18

This collection of abstract stylized shapes has all the elements outlined in heavy gold metallic lines, an almost stained glass appearance but with subdued colors. Plant, animal and spirit life interact in the layered images of flowering, elongated bodies with squid-like heads. One back in a seated position, reaching up at lower left, one light grey floating across the center, body sweeping diagonally up to the left, another also black with a female shape swimming up to the right corner. Large rounded multi-colored leaves boarder most of the piece, a large moon-like face smiles at right, its face separated into many planes and colors. Fish and bird shapes of various sizes are embedded among circles, flowers and swirls. The colors are muted greens, blues, golds, rusts and yellows.

WALL 6 - PIECE 39
Communication I
Scratch Drawing 6x6

A small round plate mounted on a black square piece of wood, has been coated in flat black, the image scratched out in white. The face of a woman at the upper right, her hair an intricate weave of white lines, holds her delicate left hand next to her left ear. Her right ear protrudes from the right side of her head, a jagged outline around it. Her right shoulder is covered with a leaf-patterned garment. She peers down to the partial face of a man in profile wit spiky hair, who returns her stare. A stream of small dashes connects their mouths, a heart with radiating lines above it, floats between their two heads.

WALL 6 - PIECE 40
Communication II
Scratch Drawing 6x6

In the same style as the piece before, a woman with thick, flowing hair, intricately woven, looks to the right towards her hand, held up before her. The hand has the image of an eye on it, a bracelet on her wrist. A column of lines comes from the side of her face, near her mouth, and stops at her hand. From the eye on her hand, a series of small dashes travel to the right, and stop at another hand with an eye on it, just visible over the edge of the plate. A small heart with radiating lines above it floats between the two hands.

HALL 1 - PIECE 41
Hush the Silent World
Linoleum 18x22

This black print on orange paper depicts the face of a young woman facing to the left, the pointer finger of her right hand just before her lips. Fish float in space around her, each in profile coming into or out of the image area. Part of a plump cat's torso with 3 feet visible is above her head, its long rounded speckled tail descending over her hair, the tip of the tail curling up towards her eye. Horizontal scratches lighten the black background.

HALL 1 - PIECE 42
Feel the Silent World
Linoleum 18x22

This black print on green stock shows a smiling woman with thick curled hair leaning back to the left. Her face is in profile looking right, chin tilted down, eye fixed on the profile of a feline looking left from the upper right corner. The woman's belted dress has thin vertical striped flowing down to the right, her top covered by a short opened vest. Her right hand rises up from the lower left corner, two middle fingers together, others spread. The back of her left hand rests on a left hip, her arm forming a right angle. A fish floats along her upper arm, facing right, a trail of bubbles rising up.

HALL 1 - PIECE 43
Love the Silent World
Linoleum 18x22

This black print in goldenrod paper illustrates the left profile of a woman, her head turned towards us, looking down. Her chin is buried in her left shoulder, her gaze down to an empty fish bowl at lower right. Three fish float in the air, one to the right of her head, pointing right, another from beneath her long hair just below her armpit, and the third in the lower left hand corner pointing to the right, small circles above and below its head. Peering straight ahead with half lidded eyes, the face of a cat is seen through the glass of the fish bowls, its long stripped tail arching to the left of and behind the bowl. The woman's right hand rests on her upper left arm, thumb up, pointer and pinky extended, middle and ring fingers curled under.

HALL 1 - PIECE 44
Hug the Silent World
Linoleum 18x22

This black print on light purple paper features a woman with her arms crossed at the wrist over her chest. Her shoulders are angled down to the left, her head tilted sharply to the right. Her eyes are closed, a slight smile on her closed lips. a star earring is on her right ear, her light thick hair sweeps up and off to the right. Descending from the upper left is the back portion of a black feline shape, speckled with small white spots, its thick rounded tails curling over the woman's neck, its right hind paw combing her hair. An opened mouth fish coming on from the right points toward the paw.

HALL 1 - PIECE 45
Miss You Gallaudet University
Linoleum 18x22

This black print on light blue stock shows the large head of a young woman emerging from behind and above a black campus building, a high tower at left topped with a waving stripped flag. A series of arches containing two smaller arches under each, line the front surface, a smaller tower is on the roof top at right, behind a large dormer. The face is wide-eyed and smiling, and topped by thick strand of light hair coming to tight curls at their ends. The widely spaced lower lashes of the young woman hang down like tassels with rounded ends.

HALL 1 - PIECE 46
Hearing Parents of Deaf Children
Linoleum 18x22

Three faces fill the entire image area in this black and white print. In the upper left corner, a forward facing woman, eyes wide looking down, eyebrows raise at center has a large black teardrop shape beneath each eye. Her right hand cradles the right side of her face, her mouth open. To her right, looking down in profile from the upper right, a man holds up a black hand behind his open mouth. His eye is wide, black tear shapes run down the side of his face. From his mouth spews a widening path full of white dashes that fall upon the head of the younger girl. The upper portion of the girl's head fills the bottom half of the frame, a wide pig-tale sprouting off to the right, short bangs centered above her wide, emotionless eye staring straight ahead.

HALL 1 - PIECE 47
Our Favorite Vases
Oil on Canvas 14x14

This painting is divided into four squares with a black background, a different colorful image in each. At upper left, a small plant with almond-shaped green leaves and red and brown berries grows from a squat yellow pot, sitting on a tan surface. Behind it on a vertically stripped wall in two shades of blue, is a portion of a painting showing two reaching hands and the artist's autograph. To its right, a white polka-dotted blue pot sits on a surface with the image of the previous wall hanging. Yellow tabular shapes rise up from the pot, four of them topped by white balls. Two circular shapes, one slightly covering the other, are also on the surface, to the near left of the pot. A thick wavy light blue curtain is at the left, the background small brown/orange squares.

HALL 2 - PIECE 48
Deaf Paradise
Acrylic 20x16

At center of the colorful mass of images is a cookie-jar-like globe, its lid opened half-way on the left, wavy stems emerging from it. Two stems have gloved hand at their ends, others curl upward among floating eyes, one arrow, small concentric square, colorful stripes and golden dots. a woman's face looks off to the left, a cloud and staircases beneath her. Flower seed pods rise up from the bottom, a man's face peers off to the right. The entire conglomerate of images are framed one either side by wavy blue, then green thick borders. Sections of a gold background are seen on either side.

HALL - PIECE 49
The Stranger
Embroidered Velvet Painting

This needle-point composition illustrates an abstract rendition of a woman's face at left-center and a tree-like rendition at right center. Each of the many colors are stitched in a different pattern and variety of textures. The peach-colored face has one large grey-lidded eye closed with jagged black lashes pointing down. A light gray nose is shown in profile pointing left, super-imposed over the face, above thick red lips, which are closed. Another jagged black eye lash runs vertically along the right side of the nose. The right side of the face is darker tan and recessed a bit. The hair over the left eye is tightly stitched brown, then moving right becomes long strands of brown yarn hanging over part of the eye and nose. Further to the right the hanging yarn/bangs changes to light gray yarn. The right side of the piece is a mix shapes, colors, orange, aqua, shades of green a slice of gold, pink, tan and gray/blue, patterns and textures roughly emulating the shape of a tree. A long strand of the tan yarn hangs down from the center of the design ending in a circular ring which hangs off the image area and over a portion of the white frame

HALL 3 - PIECE 50
Beauty
Scratch Drawing 17x14

This triptych of three small separate images in a straight row, are each in black on a soft pink background. The far left image depicts three pieces of pottery, one above the other - two oblong vases decorated with flowers, leaves and curly designs within horizontal band, straight and curly, and a circular plate, a sparse plant on its surface are before a textile-like checked pattern. The counter image shows a woman's head, the left side of which is in profile looking to the right, the right side of the face looking forward. Wavy streaked hair flows off both sides of the image. A dark hand with long fingers, an eye painted upon it, reaches across from the left, clutching her left breast. The far right image shows a large decorative jug at left, a fan-like shape with radiating lines boarded with dots, four cherries on a grained surface at right, and a background of checks and jagged shapes. The bottom half of a large medallion shape is at top center.

HALL 3 - PIECE 51
Extracting Oneself from a Predicament
Oil on Canvas 9x9

In a gray room with a checkered black and gray floor, separated by red lines, a flat human-like shape appears strapped in a large black chair, its legs ending at the edge of the seat. Its arms are bent up, hand shapes on either side of the head, an arc of red dashes hovering above and to the right of the head. In sharp and exaggerated perspective the floor leads to a back corner. Hanging directly overhead is a dome shaped light suspended by a cord. It casts a circle of light onto the chair and a large portion of the room. A shadowy figure stands in the corner, the same red dashes arcing from its raised hand to the hanging light. The walls either side of the corner contain large frames, one with a large ear within it, the other part of a large face, with an open mouth.

HALL 3 - PIECE 52
Friendship
Linoleum 12x10

This black print on yellow stock features three slightly overlapping heads, the middle one inverted. The face on the left is thin, its chin coming to a point, the hair tight light curls. Thick black lips and scratchy horizontal shading on the cheeks are below large black eyes looking to the right. The face on the right has hair swept back over its bangs, thick black lips, a face shaded with several vertical strokes, the eyes fixed to the left. The upside down face at center nestles between the others in a contrasting black. Its hair straight vertical lines covering the forehead, the eyes closed shut, lashes over shaded cheeks, as slight smile on the full outlines lips.

HALL 3 - PIECE 53
Dreaming Kite
Wood Block Painting 10x12

An oval cut white matte in a gold frame shows the color portrait of a young woman, her hair flowing off to the right, exposing her right ear. Her black eyes are large and expressionless, separated by a narrow straight nose. The black collar of her light of her light blue top covers her neck. Surrounding her head on a black background are butterfly and kite shapes in orange, blue, pink, yellow and green line drawings.

HALL 3 - PIECE 54
Speaking Hand
Linoleum Block 7x9

This full face color portrait of a young women is half covered by a black hand, the thumb and 2 ½ fingers coming up from the lower right corner, the pointer reaching high on her forehead. Her full brown hair is parted at center defined by a few thick lines and flowing off the left, top and top right boundaries. Her eyes are large and deep brown, her cheeks rose colored, a small smile on her slightly parted lips. Some portions of her face covered by the black hand are etched in white on the hand. The hand also displays white fingerprints, and reverse shading (white on black) on the palm.

HALL 4 - PIECE 55
Home is Where the Heart Is
Linoleum Block 17x20

Printed in black on green paper, the image of young woman's face nearly fills the entire center, her light hair flowing off left and right from small circular knots on either side of her head. Her wide eyes are shut, thick heavy black lashes under a knitted brow. Her thick lips are a bit crocked, unsmiling. Her right hand reaches up from center, finger tip of her pointer over the edge of a black heart on her shoulder. Her dress, dappled with dashes and a v-collar, cuts straight across her collar bones, its sleeves patterns of square and bands. Behind and above her head are tapestries of designs - parquets, snowflakes and strained window-like.

HALL 4 - PIECE 56
Flower in Unique Hand
Scratch drawing 11x14

A blue surface covered entirely with black has sections scratched away revealing the outlines and background of a feminine figure. The small round head and long neck are black silhouettes against a wide horizontal band of blue, which rises up in a circular shape behind the head. An ear-like abstract design covers most of the face, a horn-like shape stretching from it, and off to the right. The garment bodice is covered with an intricate pattern of blue flowers, berries and leaves. The left arm is straight down, fingers spread emerging from a spikey cuff. The right arm is bent up, lower edge decorated with vertical leaves, short spikey fingers pointing upward, the hand has an eye on its surface, a pedaled plant rising from it.

HALL 4 - PIECE 57
A Message from Women with Disabilities
Collage 10x8

Words and images have been cut from other sources and pasted into angled arrangements. At upper left, a thick pair of open red lips showing white teeth have been partially covered with yellow strips that read (in black) "All" - (then in red) "Women with Disabilities." Then beneath that, I black the word "Aren't" with the "n't" circled and crossed out. Stacked beneath that are the words "health" in blue on white; "beautiful" in white on blue, and in large red on white "smart." A bold exclamation point floats to the left on a red background. At a sharp angle going up to the right, a section of an infant's eyes have been placed under a series of small red arrows pointing up. Dotted lines trail from the arrows across the face, following the direction of the arrows, between the eyes is the word "access." Stacked at a right angle beneath that is the word "notes" in bold type, followed by "they" then "still deserve the best" pasted over a strip of an argyle pattern.

HALL 4 - PIECE 58
The Last Traditional Village
Drawing on canvas 10x10

On a small square canvas, painted bright yellow, is a loose drawing with thick black lines of three and one-half village buildings with sharply peaked roofs. The bottom 1/3 has a series of horizontal black lies in the foreground. The buildings are tight against each other, the far right one smaller in the distance. Intricate details of various shapes decorate the fronts, stick-like trees and a sun crowd the background sky. The canvas is mounted over a just slightly larger black background, which is surrounded by about 3 inches of white mounted within a black frame, flat surface about 2 inches wide.

HALL 4 - PIECE 59
Deaf Historical Heritage
Mixed media painting on canvas 10x8

Set high within a black frame, with a full black background, mounted side-by-side, are two golden squares, their surfaces lacquered and stained with dark smudges. Melded onto the surfaces are two circular donut-shaped objects, each black with delicate gold flowers painted on them in a circular pattern. In the center of the left object, Asian characters are painted in black on a white background streaked with red, blue and gold. In the center of the right object, the word "deaf" is spelled out in tall black letters over a similar background - white with streaks of blue, green and red. Coiled string and long earring-like objects are embedded on the surface above and beside the circular objects.

HALL 4 - PIECE 60
Self portrait
Wood block with color 13x16

This forward looking abstract portrait is loosely representational, the female face divided in half by a vertical line. The left side of the face is dominated by a large brown almond-shaped eye with a thick, golden upper lid. A patch of white is above the eye and beneath it is a crescent of bright white. The skin is a deep grey/blue, the cheek a concave arc. Thick red lips are parted, a thin white neck descending to a flat golden/red upper torso. The right side of the face does not align with the left, painted a bit higher. The right eye is a small white circular dot with a smaller gray dot within it. A thick black horizontal line topped with a small gold triangle is above the eye, three small dark squares in a row beneath it. The area surrounding the closed thick red lips is a white patch, above a thin red neck and shoulder. The hair above the right side, thin on top, descends to a wide golden triangle, blunt cut about mouth length. The left side is topped with short cropped red hair, pushed behind a square blue ear. A small block of gold is above the red hair, another block below the ear. A white "L" shape defines the upper right corner.

HALL 5 - PIECE 61
Mysteriousness
Oil on canvas 12x15

This abstract in golds, black and whites is dominated by two shapes, more 3-dimensional than the other works. Centered to the left is a ball with a dark triangle cut out of the one o'clock to three o'clock area. The ball is surrounded by a backwards-facing "C" shape, a narrower arm extending from it an off the canvas to the right. The background to the left is defined by a vertical cylindrical shape, white near the bottom, more golden brown towards the top. Some white strokes are thick and thin, some areas painted lightly so the canvas texture shows.

HALL 5 - PIECE 62
Soul Cage
Oil on canvas 12x15

This painting features four abstract head shapes at bottom, two black, two orange, each with one large orange eye. Above them is a square grill-like shape with orange vertical bars, only slightly narrower than the black spaces between them. A white cloud-like shape is half behind the bars, the other half before them to the left. The background is a mottled green/gray surface. The orange heads are lower than the black heads, all at different heights. A tear drips from the orange head at the lower left corner looking slightly up. The other orange head is at center, looking left. On his face, a large letter "A" is flanked by a smaller "E" at left and "F" at right. The higher black head at left wears a large orange asterisk like a hat, the letters FIX start on the background, then over the head with the large "X" beneath his eye. The black head to the right has a large, thick orange lower eyelash and a stylized letter "D" floating above it.

HALL 5 - PIECE 63
No Name Girl
Oil on canvas 12x15

This portrait of a young girl's head, facing forward is in gold and brown tones. A white, loose background has some golden highlights, but the girl's head is mostly surrounded by white. Her light brown hair hangs in soft waves on either side of her face, her thin eyebrows raised slightly over unsure eyes. They stare a bit to the left, painted watery. Her mouth is unsmiling and the lower portion of her head, from mid-nose to mid-neck is seen through a series of rather tightly spaced horizontal white lines, brushed thin but roughly, creating a fence-like obstruction that stretches nearly the entire width of the painting.

HALL 6 - PIECE 64
Deaf
Oil on canvas

Three small canvases are embedded in a row, shadow-box style into a rectangular frame. The left image shows a young girl's face, yellow with red eyes and hair, peering at us over the far edge of a white surface with red Asian symbols on it. The middle canvas shows a young woman's face, yellow with white lips and long dark hair, cropped from above at the eyebrows. Two right hands with their pointer fingers out, emerge from the bottom edge, one touching her ear the other touching her lips with a small double-headed arrow between them. The image at right shows a young girl's face, yellow with blue hair and small hands holding up a white sign with the word "DEAF" on it in blue capital letters.