Zot Artz Arts For All

The News-Gazette
March 23, 2003


Making art available for all

Mural creation to be part of Vision, Strength and Access Festival in Urbana
By MELISSA MERLI
News-Gazette Staff Writer

      URBANA — As Dwayne Szot was growing up in a foster home around people with disabilities, he noticed that they had fewer chances to create art because of their physical limitations.

      Once in college, Szot began questioning why.

      "I had an awareness that there could be more," he remembers.

      Szot, who eventually became an artist, decided to do some- thing about it. Winning a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, he developed the first painting wheelchair from a "power" chair that had been donated to him.

 
Images by Don, Ashland, WI
Katie Knopf of Madeline Island, near Bayfield, WI., plays with Major Bubbles, an Accessibility Tool developed by Dwayne Szot, and artist and owner of Arts for All in Bayfield, WI.
      "I transformed it into a paint- ing machine," he says. "I turned the wheelchair itself into a paint- ing machine. It has paint applica- tors that dumped and twirled and whizzed the paint, or, as my wife said, it zipped when it moved and popped when it stopped."

      That first chair is now "in the archives," so Szot won't be bring- ing it with him Friday to Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana, where he will direct the creation of three "Accessible Community Art" murals. The event will be part of the two-day Vision, Strength and Access Festival, formerly called the Very Special Arts Festival, at the mall.

      Anyone — whether they have a disabili- ty or not — is welcome to drop by between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday to help Szot and others create the murals. The finished pieces eventually will go on display on the second floor of the Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign and will remain there through the Boneyard Arts Festival in mid-April.

      At Lincoln Square, Szot will use Arts for All tools that he developed. Some attach to wheelchairs, but they can be used by any- one else, by hand. One is called Chalk, Walk and Roll, which is used, for example, to create chalk drawings on sidewalks.

 
Dwane Szot, Arts for All
Dwayne Szot, background, an artist and owner of Arts for All in Bayfield., Wis., guides a boy in St. Paul, Minn., in the use of Szot's Chalk, Walk and Roll arts accessibility tool.
      Another is Szot's Major Bubbles, which attaches to a wheelchair. As the chair speeds up, more bubbles are formed. "You literally roll through a cloud of bubbles," Szot says. "It's tied to mobility. It's great for someone who might not have fine motor skills to create a bubble."

      Szot, of Bayfield, Wis., says his Arts for Ml tools are not only "about paint, color, shape or the texture of the art" but also about completeness of experience and affecting the environment.

      "They're shaping it; they're becoming a physical part of their space and environment.

      It's like somebody leaving a snow angel or footprints in the sand. This is an enriching, holistic experience."

      Besides the creation of the community murals, the festival will feature workshops, an art show, demonstrations and a talent show. People with and without disabilities are invited to participate in all of he events.

      "This celebration of accomplishments in a noncompetitive way unifies children, artists with disabilities, seniors, students and facility from the University of Illinois, professional artists and the art of local ethnic minorities," festival co-organizer Amy Scott said.

      Scott, an Americorps member working at Persons Assuming Control of their Environment, or PACE, is coordinating the festival with Jeane Thompson, the new director of CU Special Recreation.

      There have been Very Special Arts Festivals in Champaien-Urbana since 1996. but this will be the biggest, Scott said.

      "There will be seven hours of active work- shops — four every hour — rotating with a full schedule of educational demonstra- tions," she said. "Some workshops include painting, theater, dance, candle making, sculpture, art with marbles, photo art and touchable art."

      For the art show, which is open to all, organizers will accept art works from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Lincoln Square. Local grade schools, artists with dis- abilities and professional artists have already contributed.

      The festival talent show will be from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. March 29, with people welcome to drop by, sign up and get up and perform.

      The festival is partly supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Other spon- sors are Knights of Columbus, PACE Inc., Lions Club, Champaign County Mobility, Cinema Gallery, Circuit City Foundation, Busey Bank, Art Coop, Meijer, 40 North, 88 West, Illinois Terminal, Lincoln Square Mall and AMP Studios.