Art you can touch comes to St. Augustine next month

It's not often you're allowed to touch the art at a museum let alone encouraged to, but that's the conceit behind the upcoming Tactile Art Show in St. Augustine. The exhibit kicks off Oct. 4 courtesy of the St. Augustine Art Association, the Florida School for the Deaf & Blind and the Florida DeafBlind Association.

One of the artists with a piece on display is 19-year-old Breanna Raisor. A brain tumor led her to lose her vision 11 years ago, and she discovered a love of knitting while receiving treatment.

"Being able to experience art with the rest of the world is really great when it comes to tactile art," Raisor tells Jacksonville Today. "When you go to a tactile art exhibit, you're not the only one touching it, it's everyone in the room, so it's not strange to everyone that you're touching it."

Raisor, who takes college classes at the Florida School for the Deaf & Blind in St. Augustine, knits and sells stuffed animals on her online shop, Soul Over Sight . In the tactile art show, she'll have a mixed media sculpture of a carousel on display.

Raisor is looking forward to the show because it will give her an opportunity to pick up new art techniques from other creatives, some who are able to see — "sighted" — or otherwise.

But the exhibit isn't just for people who aren't able to enjoy the average sight-oriented art exhibit. St. Augustine Art Association Executive Director Jennifer Flynt says it's for anyone and everyone.

"Yes, it's geared toward blind people," she says, "but also people who experience art differently, and who experience things differently from what would be considered normal."

The tactile art show runs noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays, October 4-27, at the St. Augustine Art Association's galleries at 22 Marine St. Viewing options, without the tactile element, will also be available online .