Monroe County ISD students create artwork for education center’s golden anniversary

A gymnasium floor at the Monroe County Intermediate School District was cleverly transformed into a painter’s canvas on Monday. Using warm and cool colors often found in sunrises and sunsets, students of all ages created artwork to commemorate the education center’s 50th anniversary.

The project is the brainchild of Dwayne Szot. The Kalamazoo artist specializes in creating art pieces with students with disabilities and is the only studio nationally that provides this kind of creative experience.

Ten years ago, Szot brought his creativity to MCISD when it celebrated its 50th anniversary. The education center’s golden anniversary project will be revealed to the community at an open house planned for 5 to 7 p.m. April 19.

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“The arts are a primary steppingstone for the completeness of ourselves as individuals to be creative. Of course, we can do that in many ways. We can do that in gardening and in cooking. The arts just happen to be a medium and an activity that’s much more universal in acceptance,” Szot said.

Inspired by his foster sister Lisa, who has cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture, Szot founded Zot Artz to create adaptive art tools and make them available to providers, programs and organizations. The art tools are designed so individuals with different cognitive levels can participate.

“I was very fortunate to grow up with individuals with disabilities in a foster home here in Michigan. I can remember my foster sister Lisa. We were always getting ready for the bus and we were always late,” he said. “…One day it dawned on me that I would just give her a ride in the red wagon as we would be running and rolling down the gravel road to catch the bus which was in the country a half-mile away. It would be those early-on experiences with growing with individuals with disabilities that as an artist would give me the courage to create the first-ever painting wheelchair sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation.”

That would become the base of his work as an artist. Szot said it's not about having a painting in a gallery, it’s about making a difference.

"What we can do as individuals that is going to make this world a little better," he said.

Wearing a white coat with polka dots and speckles of paint, Szot served as the conductor for the MCISD students as they orchestrated their creativity. The day's goal was to provide an art experience for individuals of all abilities in a fully inclusive activity.

In 45-minute sessions, students entered the room, each wearing protective shoe covers, before stepping on the giant, paper canvas. Guided by staff members, the aspiring artists selected an art tool to work with. They would be involved in every part of the art making project.

Several students, like Cooper, opted for an art roller. Ideal for mural painting, the roller with a print plate is interchangeable from a wheelchair bridge to a push handle for walking.

Bubbles from a bubble machine seemed to follow Cooper as he swiftly made paths across the canvas, making shapes of stars and swirls. His smile was as radiant as the yellow, orange and pink images the roller left behind.

A Pogo Paint Pole to stamp images was used by another student named Evan. The hand-held stick placed images on the paper and was also used to create individual artwork students could take home. Raising the large stamp high above his head, Evan left his mark in the cool color of blue.

Caitlin Palm, a registered nurse at the MCISD, spent time with a student named Mallory as she painted purple images. With every stamp Mallory created, Palm cheered the budding artist’s success and encouraged her to make more.

Throughout the day, students worked with yellow, orange, pink, blue and purple acrylic paints blending the colors into a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. The benefits of creating this type of art meshes the fun of painting with friends with the enhancement of concentration, self-esteem, and motor and social skills.

The next step will be for Szot to take the massive canvas back to his studio and finish the project for its unveiling next month. Among other studio projects, he estimates it will take close to two weeks to complete.

“I feel very fortunate and excited to be part of the 50th celebration,” Szot said. “We all need to have an opportunity to be creative to be complete individuals.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: ISD students create artwork for education center’s golden anniversary