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Florida Today
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Florida Today
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 Photos by Rik Jesse, Florida Today
Dwayne Szot mixes paint for Arts for
All at the Childrens HOPE Center in Melbourne.
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by Valeria Pearcy - FLORIDA TODAY
MELBOURNE — Preschoolers and adults in wheelchairs
painted murals Tuesday, a feat
at one time considered impossible.
Using art tools designed for people with limited movement or lacking fine motor skills, adults and young children alike painted a room-sized canvas with vibrant yellow, magenta and blue paint. "It was like I was mowing the yard said 5-year-old Brandon Cole. Cole was the first person to put on plastic shoe covers and roll his way around the canvas with the art roller. "It was easy," he said. Giving everyone the ability to express themselves through art was what Arts for All creator Dwayne Szot had in mind when he embarked on creating the tools more than 10 years ago, he said. "In graduate school, I began to question the accessibility of the arts," he said. "People of all abilities should be able to creatively express themselves. My hope is that this would change minds and open eyes." Proto- types of his art tools were made from what- ever he could find, such as old tractor parts, nuts, bolts and other pieces a hardware store, he said. "After a while, it started to evolve," he said of his art tools, now made mostly of lightweight PVC pipe that can be attached to wheelchairs and walkers. He sells the tools and materials to groups and individuals for $50 to $400. Szot and his partner, his wife Marianne, live in Wisconsin but travel extensively demonstrating the product. "The first time I saw the equipment, I kind of dismissed it," said Janice Kershaw, director of Very Special Arts of Florida. "But when I saw it in action, I became a believer." About 75 people in Melbourne were able to use Szot's tools at a program sponsored in part by the HOPE Children's Center, the Space Coast Early Intervention Center, Very Speial Arts of Florida and the Brevard County school district. The artwork, which includes three murals and chalk drawings, will be put on display at the HOPE Center. Eau Gallie High School students in the child care training program were also able to assist as volunteers with the project. "They really like it," senior Jessica Cataldo said of the children and adults. "They get to use their own creativity." Sally Shinn, executive director of the Space Coast Intervention Center, said she loves the program because it gives people the opportunity to create something they couldn't create before. "I think that he has made arts for all," she said. "He has taken the limits from arts. He has made things possible that weren't possible before this." |
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Eau Gallie High School volunteer Jessica Cataldo helps Alex Telles make his artisic statement
with a walking roller on the room-sized canvas Tuesday at the Children's HOPE Center.
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