Midwest Special Services — Hannah Foster — Adults—4.5 hours
This week I spent Friday at Midwest Special Services in St. Paul! In the art area, artists were working on independent projects in drawing, painting and beading. I got to work with a couple new artists this week, which was really exciting. One of the artists I worked with was B. who liked to paint repeating words on paper. He wrote things like Hot Pockets, Fish Sticks, New Balance Shoes, FUBU T-shirts, Cowboy T-shirts, and Duffle Bags. He painted all day and was very focused on his work. B. was mostly a non-verbal communicator, but responded really well to encouragement and liked to mirror positive movements (for example, a thumbs up or a punch in the air for excitement) as a way of communicating and listening.
Another artist I worked with responded well to one on one time. He sat at a separate table where he worked on a marker drawing. He responded really well to questions about his work and what he might add next, and also enjoyed sharing his knowledge of different rappers. An artist who is almost always in the art area when I visit MSS, P. worked on beading pipe cleaners. P has limited vision, and she really enjoys using fuzzy pipe cleaners and grabbing beads out of a very full organizer. It is easy to see that tactility is important to her in her art process. Also happening in the hub (the open area where the art area is) was some Karaoke! Some artists wandered over and sang into a microphone a variety of songs. Something I have noticed about MSS is that the folks who attend the programming are free to take up as much space (physically and socially) as they want, which is really beautiful and joyful. It seems to be a really safe space for everyone to create bonds with one another and explore doing things that feel good and are satisfying. This is definitely present in the art programming.
A question I thought about again this week while at MSS was how do we learn others’ methods of communication? Hannah talked about how it’s all about learning what folks respond to and don’t respond to, and that it takes some trial and error, but what can help is noticing the way people choose to interact on their own terms. I also wondered about how much art facilitators can make suggestions or teach without interfering with an artist’s specific voice and technique? It was awesome to work with B, who was so motivated and focused, but I wondered if it would be appropriate to give him prompts of new words to write or techniques to try in his work. I wouldn’t have wanted to disrupt him or influence his artwork, but I also wondered if he would be interested in trying something new and didn’t have the ability to verbally communicate that interest to myself or Hannah. After working with him further, I understood that I could offer him new paint colors and he was able to communicate yes or no to me in his own way through movements and sounds.
Every time I work with artists at MSS, I feel re-invigorated to work on my own artwork because of the amazing passion and processes of the artists I have met--something I can imagine the artists also feel as everyone works alongside one another in the space on their independent projects.
B’s artwork, all completed in one day!