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Middletown exhibit shines light on artists with disabilities

Hartford Courant - 10/29/2021

Artistic talent is everywhere, even among people society considers “invisible.” An exhibit at Free Center Middletown, “VisAble,” shows work by people with mental health, intellectual and physical disabilities. Curator Kerry Kincy said visitors will see underappreciated populations with new eyes, and creating the artwork inspires the artists to change their opinions of themselves.

“Stop underestimating people just because they have a disability. These artworks are brilliant. You just have to meet the artists where they are at,” Kincy said. “For the artists, this work is healing. There is transformation in the making of it, the esteem they get, the sharing of it.”

As Jose Martinez, an artist with a psychiatric disability, says in his statement, “I understand that I can be surrounded by the negative and dangerous life around me. However I carry the abilities to expressing a way out. Yes! I can actually go there. And I can — maybe? — try to take you also.”

In one of his colored pencil drawings, “A Giant Leap of Faith,” Martinez goes to a shining city suspended in the sky, a man below looking up at it, as if wondering how to get there.

The show, up until Nov. 17 at the 52 North Main St. art space, has drawings, paintings, collage, jewelry, sculpture, watercolors, photographs, poetry and music. “The Healer,” a composition written and performed by jazz pianist Noah Baerman, plays on the gallery speakers. Baerman has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder.

Baltimore photographer Currie Lee contributed moody portraits of herself, evoking a mood of isolation and depression. “She’s fascinated by body and wardrobe. What you are wearing impacts how you react to the world,” said Rich Hollant, who co-organized the exhibit with Kincy.

Currie’s work hangs next to a video installation by Rebecca Wasilewski, who deals with her anxiety issues by creating abstract, flowing images that resemble the lives seen on microscope slides. She calls them “Chromatic Aberrations.”

“Each Chromatic Aberrations film offers a distinct experience, pulling the audience into the present moment to induce a particular meditative or emotional state,” Wasilewski writes.

Toby Carino creates pencil drawings of fantastical creatures. Henry Hardy’s artwork “The Cool Kid Next Door” might be a self-portrait. The artist, who has autism, depicts a boy wearing an autism puzzle shirt and oversized sunglasses.

April Pilette and Edward Lent contributed poetry to the exhibit, Lent to deal with his multiple sclerosis, and Pilette with her developmental disability. One of Pilette’s poems reads “In just a while the clouds will disappear. Once more I’ll see a rainbow in the sky. Though now this world of mine is colored gray, the sun will shine upon me by and by.”

Other artists in the show are Moe Armstrong, Kyle O’Neil, James Reagan, Faye Clegg, Kimberly Garland, Jennifer Staunton, Fiona Batson, Marianne Burkey, Donald Davis, Scott Danyliw and Hannah O’Regan. Some artists chose to submit work anonymously.

Exhibit hours are Tuesdays and Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. freecenter.us.

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.

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