A . R . T

Painter of the Month

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Painter of the Month: AJ

The art AJ makes he can't explain.  They insisted he explain it, but he couldn't, and so they moved on without him.

Real pleasure is getting a call out of the blue.  You're sitting there in the A.R.T. office and in comes a call or email from somewhere, California, Arizona, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Florida...  It's this person, passionate to bring A.R.T. to the individuals they work with. 

We'd figured once the A.R.T. breakthrough had programs here and there about the country, we'd be hearing from top administrators of tons of organizations that work with people with severe physical challenges.  But no, it's rarely ever the top dogs who have a call put into us.  It is always, or almost always, an individual staffer, calling on their own.  They are the ones who work hands on with the challenged individuals... They are the ones who know them.  The ones who want to do everything they can to bring them real freedom and dignity.

Once these lone wolves of visionary passion link with A.R.T. they have to go back and pitch A.R.T. to their bosses.  If they win them over, we grab our gear and hit the road, burning a path to the new site where we'll unleash the power of A.R.T.

Its always exciting knowing we'll be working with new people we know must feel trapped.  It can't be a lot of fun seeing the world going on around you, without you.  It must be hard to see others doing all the things they do when you cannot walk, talk or use your hands.  That's got to be hard on the spirit.

But after 15 years starting new programs we know these same people, physically locked in as they are, have so much inside them.  Because they may not talk, they listen.  They watch.  They think... all of these thoughts, these feelings, these ideas, stacking up inside.
We know when they get A.R.T. their spirits will rocket, their brains will light up.  We've seen them cry, shout, laugh, and even in one case: faint.

So, when Jane-Ellen of the Mount Graylock high school in Williamstown, Massachusetts called us, then swung the okay with the school's administrators, the A.R.T. Jeep was on the highway making a bee-line north.

One of the artists there is AJ.  Calm, watching, he engaged the A.R.T. systems immediately.  AJ has a dynavox, which is a device he can, with some effort and concentration, get to fire pre-programmed audible words or short phrases.  But when he realized he could drive the A.R.T. system faster by using yes no eye signals he let his dynavox rest.  He wasn't here to do things the way he was used to.  He was here to do whatever it took to get real traction, where he would really be in complete control of every mark made on the canvas.

While the Tracker was applying an AJ directed color to an AJ bit of drawing, AJ was loading his dynavox with the color he was going to blend next.  But once the decisions started moving fast and furious: more of this, more, more?  Is this right?  No?  More?  No?  Less?  AJ went back to the eye signaling: yes, yes, no, no, no, yes. 

AJ has an aura of being born to paint.  It seemed he would paint all day if he could.  Jane-Ellen saw she had a superstar on her hands.  The sky would be the limit for AJ and his paintings.

And so Jane-Ellen, a high-energy Tracker deluxe, made the move to open doors for AJ and his work to sail beyond the school, upwards, outwards, into the wider world.

When she tried to fill out an application for an exhibition, sponsored by a big national disabilities organization she was stymied. They wanted, they required, the artist to discuss their painting.
A director from this organization asked, "When the artist finishes their painting do you give them time to contextualize it?"
"Contextualize it?  You mean, talk about it?"
"Yes.”
"Well, they don't talk."

Being a pure painter AJ lets his paintings speak for themselves, but apparently this isn't good enough.

Undaunted, Jane-Ellen applied again to the big art exhibition she saw the ad for. 
We don't print this to chastise the big federally funded arts organization.  There's plenty of room for all of us to do our best.  We print this to let you know that just about every A.R.T. satellite site in the country required one passionate person to put their head down to battering ram doors open. We want you to know about these people.  We want you to know they're out there, not doing this for money or fame, but because they believe in those they work with, and want the best for them.  Because they can't stand to see someone live trapped when there is now a way for them to free themselves up big-time.  Like they say, 'Sometimes it takes one person on fire to bring others to room temperature.'

When AJ once again failed to contextualize his paintings, Jane-Ellen licked the stamp and dropped the letter in the mailbox.

Once again, as a teacher of special needs children, you will have to explain to us how students with disabilities that impair their ability to communicate verbally in their own words, are supposed to fulfill the requirement of the “artist’s narrative”?

We addressed this with you last year, again, you are EXCLUDING some of the people you say you are trying to liberate.

Even though you state that the narrative can be limited, your “theme” is completely esoteric, how do you expect someone with an impaired cognitive level to respond?
How about someone who is cognitively in tact, yet their body has betrayed them since birth? Do you only want work from people that can comprehend your theme? It’s as if you are speaking directly to people who were once whole and are now not, and you want them to tell you about the transition.  What you are seeking is for the artists to explain things in a way that you will understand. How could any of us able people understand what it’s like to be trapped in a body that doesn’t work? You can’t move. You can’t speak. You don’t care about anything but controlling the paint. That is a beautiful thing. Even when the individual has the intellect of a child. A child’s sensibilities. That work is beautiful too.

Please kindly forward this message to the organizers of this event.
Gratefully,
Jane-Ellen DeSomma
Visual Arts Chair
Mt. Greylock RHS
Williamstown, MA

Final note:  Jane-Ellen linked with another great group we worked with in Massachusetts.  CATA, Community Access to the Arts.  A truly progressive group, in Great Barrington, they won a grant from the national Endowment for the Arts, putting the money toward running a jam session A.R.T. training for a bunch of awesome new Trackers from the newly cooperative A.R.T. satellite programs.  All of these new Trackers were smart, open, energized.  It was awesome to see how they saw the physically challenged artists as equals, as whole.
As a veteran A.R.T. artist, AJ demonstrated his expertise with the painting systems, bim boom bam his painting appearing, the trainees looking on in something like awe.

And here comes 2-010.  Let's make it a good year, a year of freedom for those A.R.T. is able to reach.