Special glasses are providing a richer experience of visual art for people who are colorblind.
The Flint Institute of Arts is providing special colorblind glasses to visitors who need them.
Chene Koppitz is the communications and marketing coordinator for the Flint Institute of the Arts. She said a number of people have lost interest in visual art because they couldn’t see the full range of colors.
“So I think the idea of being able to see color when you haven’t been able to is a great boon for the museum and for visual art in general that enchroma glasses are available to people”
Koppitz said the glasses offer a new perspective for color deficient users.
“It gives people the opportunity not only to look right then and there and see if the glasses will work for them, it also lets them look outside.”
Koppitz said some people don’t even realize they are color deficient until they put the glasses on.
“It isn’t necessarily tested for on a regular basis in eye exams, so I think it’s interesting that it will perhaps be able to steer someone’s life in another direction if they didn’t know.”
Koppitz said the glasses don’t work with all forms of color deficiency, because it corrects the most common red/green colorblindness.
If you think you might be color deficient, an optometrist can help with an official diagnosis.
The glasses are already making an impact in the museum.. One museum visitor said of the glasses, “I didn’t even know what I was missing.”
The FIA has three glasses available to visitors free of charge. Koppitz said two pair of the glasses were crowdfunded by students from Grand Blanc Community High School.
We note that The Flint Institute of Arts is a financial supporter of WCMU.