EnChroma Glasses Enhance O’Keeffe Museum Experience for Color Blind Visitors
EnChroma® and the O’Keeffe partner to share the artist’s
“wideness and wonder of the world.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—April 15, 2019 (Santa Fe, NM & Berkeley, CA) — The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and EnChroma® are partners on an innovative collaboration to expand the gallery experience for visitors with color vision deficiencies, more commonly known as “color blindness.” Utilizing a unique spectral lens technology invented by the Berkeley-based company, EnChroma color blind glasses are designed to help the estimated 300 million people in the world with red-green color blindness see colors more vibrantly and clearly. Beginning May 3, visitors with color vision deficiencies can borrow EnChroma glasses from the Museum’s visitor services team to see Georgia O’Keeffe’s creations in the vibrant colors and hues for which her work is famous.
“Think of a classic O’Keeffe painting, and bold colors come to mind. But for people with color vision deficiency the hues are limited,” says Katrina Stacy, Curator of Education and Interpretation at the O’Keeffe. “We are thrilled at this opportunity to offer some of our visitors an enhanced, more colorful visual experience. With the EnChroma glasses, we can share O’Keeffe’s hope to convey ‘the wideness and wonder of the world’ with everyone.”
In Georgia O’Keeffe’s later years, the artist developed visual impairment from macular degeneration. Unable to paint, she turned her creative attentions to sculpture. Says Stacy, “This project has a strong tie to that part of her story.” Personal connections also drive EnChroma.
“O’Keeffe took simple colors from nature and juxtaposed them in ways that evoked emotion,” says Andrew Schmeder, CEO and Co-founder of EnChroma.“ The relationships between colors in her art is precisely what is challenging for people with color blindness to see and appreciate. The mission of EnChroma is to help people with color blindness unlock an enriched visual experience. This is why we are so excited about collaborating with the Museum to make O’Keeffe’s iconic works more accessible to those with color vision deficiency.”
To kick off this special collaboration, EnChroma will staff a table at the Museum’s May First Friday, 5-7 p.m., May 3, 2019. During the event, attendees can learn about color blindness and the science behind EnChroma glasses, and borrow them to tour the museum. Color vision deficiency is an inherited condition that impacts more than one in 12 men (8%) and one in 200 women worldwide.
More information about color vision deficiency and EnChroma glasses for color blindness can be found at enchroma.com
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ABOUT THE GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM: Since 1997, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has
shared the art, life, and story of Georgia O’Keeffe with visitors from around the world. Located in
New Mexico, where Georgia O’Keeffe lived the final decades of her life, the O’Keeffe has sites
and experiences in two historic destinations, Santa Fe and Abiquiú. For more information, please visit okeeffemuseum.org.
