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CHILDART
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CHILDART
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LEVELING THE ARTS FIELD
Growing up in a foster home, some of Dwayne Szot's playmates
had physical disabilities. "I can remember grabbing my foster
sister, and running to catch the bus as she rides on my
shoulders because she couldn't get there fast enough on her
crutches."
As an adult, Szot is still helping people with disabilities to catch up. Together with his wife, Szot has devoted his life to inventing tools and equipment that enable the physically disabled to create art. Through his Wisconsin-based Arts For All program, the disabled, mostly children, are able to roll out paint, draw with chalk, or make bubble compositions. And most importantly, disabled children find joy in not being left out when it comes time to make art. In this way, art brings together kids of differing physical abilities. The finished work of art need not win any awards. Participation itself is the reward. This arts inventor has always been creative, and good at throwing things together to make a sculpture or functional machine. "I can remember sort of nut and bolting things together out back with my foster parent Raymond in the converted corn crib we called the garage. We didn't even really know what a hardware store was. I think that we felt it was that pile of scraps that we had out back that we built things with as kids and repaired things." Today, Szot sees a problem for the disabled, and envisions a solution. The kids always help him find his next project. A child's difficulty in making art begs for a creative answer. "A couple of years ago, we're dumping these little berry containers into a big bucket of soapy water, and we're running around with them, and the air is running through them, and they're making bubbles. This young gal comes up in her wheelchair, and she doesn't have the fine motor skill to grab that berry container and make bubbles out of it. So, out of that wonderful experience came the bubble machine. Called Major Bubbles this machine is driven by a wheelchair's movement. More than some other creations, it draws other children into the group. The disabled child becomes the center of attention, and everyone, regardless of physical ability, plays together. "The child who is a chair user is rolling along, creating the bubble composition. The other kids are running around, popping them. It just really does create a wonderful, inclusive atmosphere. I think things like that take away the disability aspect." 
These special art tools offer to the disabled a complete experience. This fuller participation, says Szot, is "similar to having the capability of running down the beach and leaving your footprints in the sand. You are changing your environment at that point. You're a part of it."
Suddenly, Szot is back at the foster home, lifting up a kid. Only now he's helping children not to catch the bus, but to catch a richer life. Arts For All tools and activity supplies can be purchased at zotartz.com. ChildArt www.icaf.org |