Inventions help the impaired create art
LAKELAND - Some unusual tools are helping the physically impaired discover
the joys of the art world.
By MICHELE SAGER of The Tampa Tribune
With one push of his wheelchair, Jonathan Akins' eyes widened and
a smile grew across his face.
Under the 6-year-olds feet, vibrant hues of blue and purple painted the pavement.
His attention never left the lively streams of colors that burst from beneath him.
Jonathan, whose physical handicaps cause him to struggle with the smallest of tasks,
was able to paint a 12-foot mural using the Art Roller.
With help from a mechanical arm attached to a paint roller, Jonathan was now an artist,
and his masterpiece was his own creation.
Providing the physically impaired with the independence to create their own artwork
is the mission of the Arts for All program.
The nationwide initiative provides alternative art tools that allow people of all
ages and abilities to participate in art activities.
Exceptional-education students from Lakeland area schools got a chance last week to
try those tools and some new ones at the Doris Sanders Learning Center.
Children with various disabilities were able to paint murals,
create banners and draw Mth chalk.
"We have to let them have control," said Arts for All founder Dwayne Szot.
"People with disabilities are just trying to look for even ground with the rest of the world."
The former commercial artist from Minneapolis began inventing tools to help with his
own large art projects such as painting roofs of buildings and iced-over lakes.
After spending an afternoon in a wheelchair to see what it was like for the handicapped,
Szot discovered that there was a need for tools for those who couldn't use conventional
instruments.
"A simple item like my pen
pointer allows a child who can't hold a pencil an alternative way to draw,"
Szot said. His pen pointer is
a laser pointer attached to a cap, so an artist can use movement from the head
to let an assistant know where to draw lines on the canvas.
Szot received a grant in 1989 from the National Endowment for the Arts, which he used
to build his wheelchair Art Roller.
The tool, which costs $350, is like a metal arm that attaches to a
wheelchair. A paint roller sits on the other end and users can attach foam
prints that can be dipped into paint to create designs on just about any surface.
"Just look at Jonathan's face and you know this tool has served its purpose," Szot said.
"He loves it."
A similar tool is Szot's "Chalk, Walk and Roll." Instead of a paint roller, a tube holding
sidewalk chalk rolls along the ground allowing the user to create designs with just
the slight push of a wheelchair. It costs $357.
A similar tool is Szot's "Chalk,
Walk and Roll." Instead of a paint roller, a tube holding sidewalk chalk rolls along
the ground allowing the user to create designs with just the slight push of a wheelchair.
It costs $357.
Polk Community College student Faith Jensen got to try one of Szot's new tools - the
Mighty Rollo, a handheld roller that makes small prints.
"These tools are really cool because it's something new to try," said Jensen,
who uses a wheelchair.
Szot and his nonprofit organization travel the country with various tools, training
teachers on how to use them as an extension of the artist's imagination.
Laura Taft, coordinator for Polk's Very Special Arts program, said Szot's tools open up
a new world to students with disabilities.
"Children at all different levels can work side by side with these tools and share
in an experience," she said.
The Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resource System for Polk County recently purchased
some of the equipment that can be checked out by teachers across the county. The resource system is a federally funded program that provides support for the school dis
trict with exceptional-education initiatives.
Anyone wanting more information about the tools or the Arts for All program can
call 1-800-933-8721.
* Michele Sager covers education and can be reached at
(863) 683-6538 or msage4@lampatrib.com
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