Seachange XIII Tactile Reproduction

Norman Lewis' Seachange XIII was acquired by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in 2022. When I was first asked if I would be interested in creating a tactile version of one of the contemporary works in the museum's collection that the traditional reproducer said was impossible to render due to subtle changes and nuance, I picked this piece because it was blue, my favorite color. I honestly looked at it as a simply series of crescents and circles in varying hues of blue, black and white. I was woefully wrong. LOL. The more I stared at it, the more I found and more I fell in awe of the creator. I had no idea Norman was Black initially. But when we I thought was a simply blue painting turned into an ocean of slight waves and shifts, I began to research him and his interesting life and career. That insight of his shift from figurative work to abstractive helped me dive deeper into the piece.