FAIRFIELD, Conn. Lisa Elliss eyes light up when I ask if she wants to show me her work. The Fairfielder grabs me by the hand and weaves through the crowd in the Fairfield Public Librarys Bruce S. Kershner Gallery. We stop at her exhibit, Street Café, and she explains in painstaking detail how she went about painting the charming coffee shop scene.
It feels great, Ellis said, when asked for her reaction to having her work on display. Ellis is a frequent visitor to Trumbulls Kennedy Center, which helps mentally and physically disabled persons with vocational, educational and social programs. The centers clients are the featured artists in the current library show, A Unique Perspective.
My guess is that people are going to love the show, said Sylvia Dahl, the curator. Its just so colorful and expressive.
The artworks range from small, framed paintings like Elliss to photographs, portraits, still lifes and abstracts. One of the more noticeable pieces is Wheelchair Roll, a 4-foot by 5-foot canvas filled with arcs of color. Wheelchair-bound Kennedy Center visitors Rusty Kohler, John Stackhouse and Pauline Hofbauer created the painting by coating their wheels in paint and rolling across the floors of the Kennedy Center.
We really had fun, said Marianne Honeycutt, who helped the three on the project. They had a great time doing it.
The trio created the artwork as part of the centers art therapy program, which has been going on for more than 30 years. Lois Gerety, an art therapist with the center for 25 years, said the therapy boosts students self-esteem and gives them a way to express themselves and work out the emotions they go through.
It has pretty much the same benefits as [it does for] any artist, Gerety said. She added that it also gives Kennedy Center clients a way to make money. Some of the artists, such as Ellis, who works at the Fairfield YMCA, are able to hold down jobs. But others can use the income from their paintings, all of which are on sale through the Kershner Gallery.
A Unique Perspective will be at the Bruce S. Kershner Gallery, in the Fairfield Public Librarys Main Branch at 1080 Old Post Road, until July 29.
Have you seen the latest show in the Fairfield Public Librarys gallery? Tell us which piece was your favorite in the comments below.
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