Miriam has been blind since birth. She is an accomplished musician and enjoys writing. This is the first art project Miriam has taken part in although she is affiliated with Tactile Colour Communication Society. Raya Jayne Peters was born in England and has studied art and communication extensively. Raya has been working with the Tactile Colour Communication Society for the last ten yearas doing art, making maps and communication devices and teaching others to do the same. In her personal life she has worked in all sorts of other mediums, from tattooing to toy making. Raya has studied symbols, natural magic, the art of caring and challenging herself to communicating more universally through art.

Experience Making This Piece:
Miriam had many ideas for an art piece that she wanted to make with Tactile Colour. However, when she unexpectedly got the news that her father had died from a heart attack, she knew then that she wanted to make a piece of art for him. Unfortunately the funeral coincided with the timeframe when the piece needed to constructed; so, Miriam's ideas and input were incorporated into this piece without her actual physical presence. Raya worked on it with an empathetic heart, as she'd also gone through a great loss recently of her very best friend and loyal companion, her dear dog Rebecca. Raya said: "My experience of making this piece is that I wanted to do something really special for myself and Miriam. Showcasing not only what can be done with Tactile Colour but also artistically portraying the journey of the spirit through death and rebirth. It was a lot of work but as I love working with Tactile Colour it was a labour of love."

Tactile Colour Used: soft bumpy orange, soft rubbery red, gridded black, smooth white, hard bumpy yello, dashed line purple, raised line pink, rough gritty green, very slightly bumpy tan, very fine gritty grey and fine gritty blue

Tactile Description:
Starting at the bottom the smooth background texture is black paper. Across the bottom from left to right in raised smooth white texture are various symbols of death. You can interpret them as you will. Starting in the left hand corner there is a skull, a bone, a bed frame, a fallen marble pillar on its side, a heart broken in two down the middle and in the far right is a hand holding up a house frame with broken windows. Above this whole strip a wavy rubbery red line separates this lower area from the scene above. Red flames with soft bumpy orange shapes in the middle stretch all the way across the picture. In the middle of the flames long dashed line purple tail feathers can be felt poking downwards through the flames. In the background behind the flames are billious smoke clouds of fine gritty grey and smooth white which are like clouds against the fine gritty blue sky which is around and behind them. Rising from the flames and smoke in the centre of the picture is a spectacular phoenix rising. Its tail feathers are purple. The feathers going up its torso are in an assortment of colours and its wings are spred out on each side to fill the whole page with their spectacular colours. Have fun exploring which ones they are now that you have become a little more familiar with the textures. I want you to spend time touching the different feathers trying to work out what length, shape and colours you think they are, so I am not going to tell you what all of them are. The phoenix's head is soft rubbery red with a slightly bumpy tan beak, raised line pink tongue that podes out from inbetween his beak, and a hard bumpy yello eye. His head is surrounded by smooth white clouds in the background. In the sky above the phoenix's wings and around the top above the smoky clouds are swirls of hard bumpy yellow and soft bumpy orange and fine gritty blue in a big spiral in the sky. The sun is at the top and is sofgt bumpy orange and hard bumpy yellow. It's cute and friendly and small in the sky above his head. All around the top are raised line pink butterflies fluttering in the sky with little gridded black bodies. Have fun finding the little red heart in amonst the feathers and butterflies. I want this to really be an adventure to touch. Beautiful things emerge from the flames of our former lives. Our imaginations are our wings. We hope you have enjoyed this experience. We value your comments, so please take time to write in our comment book, or dictate to gallery staff, before you leave the exhibition.

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