UA News

A UA art therapy program that works with developmentally disabled adults has partnered with a local gallery to showcase the work of its artists.

Run out of several converted homes just west of the Arizona Health Sciences Center, the ArtWorks program involves its clients in a series of artistic workshops.

The outreach-focused day program, which is part of The University of Arizona's family and community medicine department, works with developmentally disabled individuals ranging in age from 20s through 70s.

The program, now in its 20th year, has used art therapy as a way to help socialize developmentally disabled adults and to help them to communicate through various mediums, Carrigan said.

In the past, the program has put on plays and filmed a movie featuring its artists. But, for the first time, ArtWorks has collaborated with a local gallery to host the work of the program's artists for an exhibition that is open to public.

"Art therapy kind of diffuses feelings. They can express happiness, joy and pain," said Jeanne Carrigan, an art therapist and UA assistant professor of clinical family and community medicine, who founded the program. "It helps them in their daily lives, and allows them to be understood."

"We are trying to develop communication through the arts," Carrigan said.

The group exhibition, "arrivals and departures," features nearly 20 pieces by seven of the artists involved in ArtWorks. The show will remain open through Jan. 24. That day, the gallery, which is located at 439 N. Sixth Ave., will have a closing reception with the artists from 3-5 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend.

A number of those involved in the program have limited capabilities for verbal expression and struggle working in group settings, and most have around-the-clock supervision. Some visit the program once a week, while others are involved five days a week for up to seven hours daily.

"It's a really great program," said Davison Koenig, the curator and senior exhibit coordinator for dada.contemporary, the art gallery that is hosting the show this month.

The art has been signified as Art Brut, a term used to classify artwork produced out of the mainstream norms, said Koenig, who is also a senior program coordinator at the Arizona State Museum and the exhibition's curator.

"The work they do is really exceptional. I was blown away when they first introduced it to me," Koenig added. "This is an exceptional University program and the artwork created by the participants with the help of the University staff is amazing and deserving of recognition."

Lauren Gregersen-Brown, a former gallery owner who came up with the plan to work with a local gallery, said the work is both expressive and educational.

"The work is really beautiful and is very sophisticated. It shows a dimension of the kind of creative thinking and expression that happens in the disabled community," said Gregersen-Brown, an instructional aide for the UA's family and community medicine program.

With a little bit of assistance from the program staff, the artists worked with acrylic, water color, markers, colored pencils, wood and paper. Some weaved baskets and one artist spent more than three months creating ornate work using colored pencils.

"We wanted to have the work out there in the community as a way to really show the potential of all the artists that participate here," Gregersen-Brown said.

"The arts have become this natural way to bring them out and to make them feel that they are valid and contributing members of the world," she said. "These are people who have a hard time and can't function on their own. They live very isolated lives, but this is good because it allows them to interface with the community."