ORLANDO, FL.- Donna Castellanos, mixed-media artist and finalist of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s sixth triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, will conduct a series of workshops for youth and adults in September at the Orlando Museum of Art. The tactile tours and workshops are a partnership between OMA and Lighthouse Central Florida, funded by a project grant from United Arts of Central Florida.

This project represents a renewal of a previous partnership between Lighthouse Central Florida and the Orlando Museum of Art. OMA has a history of serving special populations through its Community Access suite of programs, and workshops for people with visual or auditory challenges are an excellent addition to these offerings.

Lighthouse Central Florida believes that people of any age can and should seek to fulfill their highest ambitions well beyond the perceived restrictions of blindness and vision loss. Tactile Tours and Art Workshops for People with Vision Loss and Blindness are a first step towards creating alternative ways to experience art and connect to the mission of both institutions.

The project seeks to inspire lifelong learning in participants by presenting a safe and friendly opportunity to engage in activities that may have previously seemed out of reach. Working together, OMA, Lighthouse Central Florida, and Donna Castellanos will host workshop experiences that minimize the restrictions that visual art poses for the participants. OMA materials, such as gallery didactics for artwork referred to in the artist talk and studio activities, will be translated into Braille or audio transcribed by Lighthouse staff. The workshops will take place on Thursday, September 14, and Saturday, September 16.

Donna Castellanos earned a degree in graphic design from The American Academy of Art in Chicago. She creates in a wide range of mediums, including found objects found at estate sales and in thrift stores. In 2013, she became an art instructor at Elmhurst Art Museum, teaching mixed media art classes. Donna’s projects invite visitors to participate in artmaking of their own. Her work uses a variety of textures, including fabric, yarn, and cast-off items sourced from estate sales and thrift stores, incorporating them into a variety of media from painting, sculpture, installation, wearable jewelry, and clothing.

The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, is an exhibition organized by the National Portrait Gallery and on view at OMA through October 8. The Outwin: American Portraiture Today is a major exhibition from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Every three years, artists living and working in the United States are invited to submit one of their recent portraits to a panel of experts chosen by the Portrait Gallery.