By: Brian Koening, Jake Schroer, Caitlin Dolezal and Brittney Traxinger
A traveling exhibit has stopped in the Memorial Union Gallery to display the works of emerging disabled artists. VSA Arts and Volkswagon teamed up to allow young disabled artists a chance to make it in the art industry and have a successful future. Approximately 20 thousand ambitious artists applied to have their works displayed; 15 were received a spot in the show.
This is the second year the MU Gallery has hosted the exhibit. The exhibit has pieces created by artists ages 16 - 25. According to the VSA arts brochure, the exhibition, Accelerate, features many personal reasons that accelerate the desire to create. Participants were asked to consider their source of motivation and contemplate the relationship between life, art and disability for this year’s show, according to the brochure.
Esther Hockett, the visual arts and gallery coordinator, is excited about the content in the exhibit. Her favorite aspect of the exhibit is how the art draws the viewers in. The disabilities come in different forms and they (artists) create interesting art, she explained.
“People who can’t speak well can be very expressive,” Hockett said.
Even though the exhibit classifies the individuals as disabled, viewers shouldn’t label them by their disability; the challenges of these individuals are equivalent to all emerging artists. VSA allows artists to be taken seriously and make an artistic career attainable.
“Each of these people [artists] had to pay attention to themselves,” Hockett said. “They should be recognized as artists.”
All the pieces are unique in their own way. Some artists use the history as a catalyst for their work. Pointalism (a technique of art using small, distinct dots) and Picasso are just two examples of the historic aspect.
The exhibit is located in the gallery on the second floor of Memorial Union. Accelerate: Emerging Artists with Disabilities runs through May 7. Admission is free.
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