Todd LaMarr and Dr. Lisalee L. Egbert

ASL Weather Signs

ASL weather signs is composed of two columns, each with four squares. In each square is an image of a Deaf adult producing a weather-related ASL sign. Additionally, each square has the English translation equivalent of the ASL sign and a cartoon image representing the concept. In the left column, moving from top to bottom, are the ASL signs for cloud, rain, sun and rainbow. In the right column, moving from top to bottom, are the ASL signs for wind, snow, moon and hot/cold. ASL Image attribution: Reference: Julie A. Hochgesang, Onno Crasborn, and Diane Lillo-Martin. (2017-2023) ASL Signbank. New Haven, CT: Haskins Lab, Yale University. https://aslsignbank.haskins.yale.edu/
ASL weather signs is composed of two columns, each with four squares. In each square is an image of a Deaf adult producing a weather-related ASL sign. Additionally, each square has the English translation equivalent of the ASL sign and a cartoon image representing the concept. In the left column, moving from top to bottom, are the ASL signs for cloud, rain, sun and rainbow. In the right column, moving from top to bottom, are the ASL signs for wind, snow, moon and hot/cold. ASL Image attribution: Julie A. Hochgesang, Onno Crasborn, and Diane Lillo-Martin. (2023). ASL Signbank. New Haven, CT: Haskins Lab, Yale University. https://aslsignbank.haskins.yale.edu/

Artists’ Statement and “Back Story”:

“ASL Weather Signs” is a digital image depicting various weather-related signs in American Sign Language (ASL) modeled by diverse Deaf language models.

Background: There is a lack of availability of quality educational resources that portray American Sign Language (ASL). Furthermore, many resources use illustrations (rather than actual photos) of signing individuals based on non-Deaf models with a lack of signer diversity. For our art piece we included photos of a diverse group of Deaf signers from various racial/ethnic, gender and age identities.

We created a “classroom poster”-inspired piece of art that portrays a diverse group of Deaf signers sharing weather-related signs in American Sign Language (ASL). It was made possible by creative commons: the photographs are released under a CC-BY-NC license, attribution is provided at the bottom of the art piece. What makes the piece powerful is the diversity of the sign language models–reflecting various racial/ethnic, gender and age identities AND the fact that they are photographs of real Deaf signers, not drawings/illustrations. We hope this piece has application-based appeal—we hope educators will consider printing and hanging it in their classrooms. 

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About the Artists

Todd LaMarr is a professor in the department of Early Childhood Education at American River College in Sacramento, CA. After obtaining a degree in Deaf Studies and American Sign Language (ASL), he worked at the University of California, Davis and Stanford University researching the language and brain development of children learning ASL.

Lisalee Egbert, Ph.D., is a professor and coordinator of Modern Languages at the University of Texas at Arlington. She researches early education and Deaf education focusing on American Sign Language/English bilingual-bicultural education as it relates to literacy. Her work explores the inter-development of language, literacy, and cognition within the framework of social justice and equality.