Art Technique Helps Disabled Paint
WILLIAMSTOWN – Community Access to the Arts , through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and VSA Massachusetts, is hosting a two-day residency with artist Tim Lefens on March 17 and 18 at Williams CollegeLefens is the founder of Artistic Realization Technologies, a technique that gives people with severe physical disabilities the freedom to create paintings using a head-mounted laser pointer and a human "tracker."
During the residency, six individuals will be trained as trackers, becoming the hands of the artist working with them through a series of yes or no questions designed to offer the artist complete control. Trackers must be very patient, learning to act only upon receiving affirmation from the artist.
A writer for Arbus Magazine asks, "How is it that an individual thought to be unable to communicate, is able to create pieces with such grace and power?" The answer, it is suggested, is that they put more into it. One of Lefens' artists said, "Even Tim doesn’t know how we live in the paint."
While ART has won several prestigious awards, been featured in The New York Times and the CBS Evening News, and boasts such people on its board of directors as actor Wilhelm Dafoe and musician Neil Young, the program is still struggling financially.
It costs about $5,400 a year to support one artist. CATA's grant makes it possible to introduce ART to 10 local students with disabilities, train six trackers, and professionally document the work. CATA is still looking for funding to provide ongoing ART workshops throughout the year.
"People who have viewed the art have been impressed and deeply moved by the quality of the images and by the tremendous power ART has to unlock otherwise hidden talent and vision," Rebecca Tucker-Smith, CATA's program director for North Berkshire County, said. "CATA is thrilled to be able to bring this revolutionary program to Berkshire County for the community to witness."
For more information, visit www.artrealization.org or www.communityaccesstothearts.org, or call 413-528-5485.
