VSA arts of Loudoun County will debut its new DaVinci Open Studio Visual Arts Project, a studio providing resources for people with disabilities to make art, on Tuesday, Aug. 5.
The studio, housed in the Round Hill Arts Center, will initially be open for people with disabilities from 10-11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. VSA arts also plans to hold workshops with professional artists through the DaVinci Studio, which will be open to the general public.
The acronym VSA stands for Vision of An Inclusive Community, Strength in Shared Resources, and Artistic Expression That Unites Us All, according to Kate Trask, adaptive recreation coordinator for Loudoun. Its motto is “Promoting the Creative Power in People with Disabilities.”
VSA arts was founded in 1974 by Jean Kennedy Smith in conjunction with the Kennedy Center as a means to provide access to the arts to people with disabilities. This could include not only people with physical disabilities but those who might have mental disabilities or long-term depression or seniors who have suffered a stroke. The organization is subdivided into state and local levels.
THE LOUDOUN COUNTY branch of VSA arts is best known for its theater. Blending artists with and without disabilities, they put on their first show in 1991. The theater group performed “Snow White” in March as their spring musical and has represented Virginia in national festivities. “It’s amazing how far theater has gone — what they can do now that they couldn’t used to,” said Pam Oliver. Oliver is a trainer for the state office of VSA for “Start with the Arts,” which encourages teachers to use the different arts in the classroom, as well as being an artist herself. Oliver was inspired by other DaVinci Studios, in Richmond and in the Deep South, and has worked to bring a DaVinci to Loudoun to fulfill a gap in VSA visual arts here.
The DaVinci Studio will be housed in the Round Hill Arts Center, a community-based non-profit organization in its third year of operation, which, in turn, is housed in the Old Furniture Factory, a building that dates back to 1885. Hope Hanes, the education coordinator at the Arts Center, who has a disability herself and has family members with disabilities, was interested in hosting the studio.
“Artistic expression is something that everyone can benefit from,” she said. "There's an opportunity to serve western Loudoun County that might not have access to this kind of facility."
OLIVER SAID she hopes to open a second location in eastern Loudoun if the first studio proves to be successful. The studio will be filled with professional supplies provided by VSA arts and an hour-long session’s use will be granted for a $10 fee, although this may be waived, if it's too much for an individual to pay, by contacting Trask at 703-777-0343.
“The underlying goal of the DaVinci studio is to teach art-making,” said Hanes. As she emphasizes, the studio offers professional materials, not just “finger paints and #2 pencils.”
“The da Vinci is not an art therapy program. It is an arts program,” said Oliver. “The creative process is a healthy, positive activity that everyone should have the opportunity to be involved in. It is a studio for artists who just happen to have a disability.”
Trask stresses the possibilities that the studio creates. “Art might just be a pastime, but it could become a second career or profession,” she said. Oliver hopes to display the art and is trying to find a place in Leesburg’s monthly First Night of open galleries to feature an artist every month. Artists could possibly sell their work.
The organizers stress the importance of inclusion rather than exclusion, a basic tenet in VSA arts. The studio time, being limited, is reserved for people with disabilities, but others can volunteer or donate to the program, and the workshops are open to all. These will be held on a quarterly basis initially. Joan Gardner, who does tile work, is the first artist lined up for a workshop.
Oliver thinks the DaVinci Studio will fill a niche for those who might be inclined towards visual arts more than theater. She hopes the opportunity the studio and art provides “gives them a leg up, helps them express themselves in new ways, motivates them to learn and keep moving.”