Students at ACC Access Their Inner Artist

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Pascal peers at the contraption attached to his wheelchair.

A rolling drum, attached to the wheelchair by a large arm, is covered with a layer of bright paint. When Pascal’s chair moves forward, the rolling drum presses a foam pattern onto paper.

The teen’s face lights up at the prospect of creating artwork. He presses his communication switch excitedly.

“Let’s do it,” says the voice.

Pascal and other students from the Anne Carlsen Center are creating a colorful mural on a large canvas that measures 16 feet high by 30 feet long.

They are using adapted art equipment created by Duane Zsotts, an artist from Wisconsin. Zsotts donated the equipment to the Center for use on the day, part of the “Accessing the Artist Within” project created by ACC Assistive Technology Director Mark Coppin.

“The equipment allows every one of the students to participate in creating art,” says Coppin. “Kids using wheelchairs or walkers – any one of these kids can participate. We are just providing them the tools.”

The mural will be photographed and that picture is the artwork for a billboard thanking the Jamestown community for its continual support, especially during the Center’s flood-related evacuation. The billboard, paper, and billboard construction have been donated by Jamestown-based Newman Signs, Inc.

Students created their own foam patterns earlier in the day, and then selected what colors they would use. Those using manual wheelchairs directed which direction their chair would move.

“This is why when you start to work at the Anne Carlsen Center, you stay here,” explains Karmel Wanzek, a teacher at the Center. “When you have an idea, people are always willing to jump in and help.”

Students also created art that day with sidewalk chalk on black paper, special glass markers, and foam mounted on spring-loaded pogo paint sticks.

The event concluded after Terry, another student at the Center, rolled out a pattern and proceeded to hand out high-fives to a half-dozen people standing nearby. His smile shone bright as he as he looked at what he created.

“Those are the moments, right there that make it for me,” says Coppin.