By Neno Villamor
Two women came into the Gallery while I was sitting this afternoon. They were looking with great interest at the art then started using sign language with each other to discuss their impressions. I'm a "signer" due to my Hard of Hear status and also the visual language of sign was the only language I learned fairly easily.
I waited until I caught their eye and signed to them that I could be of "help". Like many of the deaf community they reacted with delight that I had used their language to engage them. I told them I was "rusty" in my skills. They asked me (in sign) where I learned and I responded "school". They asked about the gallery in general and I said "Artists, all are from here". They asked where my art was and I pointed it out.
After they perused the gallery at length, they did stop at my art and asked me some questions about the process. I've never had to sign my whole process before; I managed to get through it with some stumbles, and they understood. I'm reminding myself I need to practice how to correctly sign the steps in my art process for future visitors from our deaf community.
I was thinking that including this story might encourage more folks from the deaf and Hard of Hearing community to stop by.
