NBP Honors Braille Bicentennial
NBP Promotes Braille’s Legacy with New Website and Commemoratives
On Labor Day 2008, the National Braille Press (Boston, Mass.) launched LouisBrailleBicentennial, a new website designed to serve as a one-stop shop to learn about the life and legacy of Louis Braille and to see how his bicentennial, which takes place January 4, 2009, is being celebrated around the world.
NPB is also issuing a number of Braille-related commemorative items to honor Braille’s place in history as the inventor of the raised-dot system that brought literacy to the blind and is regarded as the only true means of literacy for persons without sight.
The new website provides a sneak peek of 10 of the 20 panels of the Louis Braille Bicentennial Traveling Exhibit, a freestanding exhibit set to travel the country in 2009.
NBP Commissions New Image of Louis Braille
The new website and products feature a striking new image of Braille designed by artist Judith Krimski. The image serves as a logo for NBP’s bicentennial activities. Krimski’s image is designed to reflect Braille's current vitality while honoring his place in history. To meet this challenge, Krimski chose the silhouette, a standard form of French portraiture for over 200 years, as her medium.
To capture Braille's genius (he was only 16 when he designed his language system), Krimski ignited a “fire in his head” by painting Braille’s naturally curly locks in vibrant colors—orange, purple, lime, teal—giving the image a modern look reminiscent of Apple’s iPod commercials.
NBP is hoping to generate interest in Braille’s life and promote braille literacy by using Krimski’s image on a number of products, including:
- Metal and enamel lapel pins
- Print and braille note cards
- Print and braille bookmarks
- An informative classroom wall poster.
In addition, tactile artist Ann Cunningham has also created a tactile representation of Krimski's Braille image in the form of a plaque designed for display on a desk or wall.
The pins are colorful with braille letters across the bottom spelling out "Braille 200" designed as a conversation starter for talking about Braille and the braille code. NBP’s goal is to have advocates of braille literacy and those with an historical interest in Louis Braille to wear its new lapel pin on January 4th.
The note cards are blank inside, suitable for any occasion, and the back has a brief description of Louis Braille's life and accomplishments. The bookmarks are available in packs of 30, ideal for use as a classroom handout.
Braille (1809-1852) not only developed the world’s first binary encoding scheme to represent written language, he also conceived the raphigraph (needle writer), a device that enabled blind people to write in regular print 27 years before the typewriter. The raphigraph is considered the world’s first dot-matrix printer.
The guiding purposes of National Braille Press are to promote the literacy of blind children through braille, and to provide access to information that empowers blind people to actively engage in work, family, and community affairs.
Contact National Braille Press online or by phone (800.548.7323) for more information.
Lapel Pin Featuring Judith Krimski's Braille Image
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