OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City Arts Center presents ‘More Than Touch, A Connection,” a groundbreaking traveling exhibition that reimagines how art is experienced.
Opening July 1 at the Arts Center Gallery on the second floor of the Ocean City Community Center, the exhibition invites visitors — especially those who are blind or have low vision — to experience art through touch, sound, and sensory exploration.
Youths from the Helen Diller Vacation Home for Blind Children in Avalon are coming twice a week to tour the exhibit and adults from the John D. Young Memorial Lions Blind Center in Absecon are scheduled to attend, but the exhibit is also for those without visual impairment. On a visit last week, the youths from the Helen Diller Vacation Home thanked the Arts Center for having the exhibit with one boy saying it had an impact.
Unlike traditional galleries where touching artwork is prohibited, “More Than Touch, A Connection” encourages visitors to engage with every work through their hands. The exhibition features 39 tactile works created by artists from across the region, including richly textured paintings, sculpture, fiber art, ceramics and mixed media.
Each artwork is accompanied by large-print labels and professionally recorded audio descriptions that provide detailed information about the work’s appearance, composition, textures, artistic process, and meaning. Together, these accessibility features allow visitors to experience art independently and in ways that are rarely available in traditional gallery settings. Artists’ statements and short bios are available in large print format in the gallery and online in accessible format at oceancityartscenter.org. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own earbuds or headphones to use with their smartphones when accessing the exhibition’s audio descriptions. A limited number of sanitized headphones will also be available to borrow free of charge for those who do not have their own.
“More Than Touch, A Connection” is unique among the Arts Center’s monthly gallery shows as the premiere of a traveling exhibit initiated by the Ocean City Arts Center and realized through a collaborative partnership with the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts in Millville and Noyes Arts Garage of Stockton University in Atlantic City. Following its Ocean City presentation, the exhibition will travel to Riverfront Renaissance Center this fall and then to the Noyes Arts Garage in early 2027.
“Art is a universal language, yet traditional exhibitions rely almost entirely on sight,” said Chase Jackson, curator of the exhibition. “‘More Than Touch, A Connection’ removes those barriers by creating a welcoming environment where visitors who are blind or have low vision can experience artwork independently through touch and sound. At the same time, it encourages sighted visitors to discover just how powerful a multi-sensory art experience can be.”
The free exhibit runs July 1-29 at the center, 1735 Simpson Ave. It’s open to the public 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Groups of five or more should contact the office in advance to ensure the center can accommodate the visit and provide the best touring experience.
Funding was provided through a Challenge America grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, whose support has helped make this innovative, accessible exhibition possible. Additional support was provided through the Andy Warhol and Helen Frankenthaler Foundations and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
For more information about the exhibition, accessibility accommodations, or the complete schedule of events, visit oceancityartscenter.org, call (609) 399-7628, or email info@oceancityartscenter.org.
