PAINTING WITH DISABILITIES

Dwayne Szot loves the creative process that occurs when people use his mechanical paint tools, the tools that allow people of all kinds of abilities to create art, even from a wheelchair.

The 37-year-old Szot created his first painting machine while studying commercial art. "I felt that I was becoming an art puppet and the system was the puppeteer," recalled the Minneapolis, Minn., artist.

He decided to portray himself as an art-making puppet. He fitted a golf pull cart with a rotisserie motor and added a brush made from the hair of his horse. He attached a bucket of blue paint and began making lines that looked like Japanese calligraphy.

"That began to show me that I could begin to create tools for greater creative expression," he said.

What began as an artistic rebellion eventually blossomed into Arts for All, a program founded by Szot to allow people to paint on posterboard or craft paper, or create chalk paintings through the use of special tools.

Szot will be in Cape Girardeau Saturday to help direct Arts for All Day on the grounds of former St. Vincent's Seminary. The event is scheduled from 1-4 p.m.

The event is free to the public. It is sponsored by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence and a number of businesses.

This will mark the third annual Arts for All workshop in Cape Girardeau. Szot has participated every year.

He has helped establish nearly 100 Arts for All programs in the United States, Mexico and Canada. After Saturday's event in Cape Girardeau, he plans to catch a flight to Saudi Arabia to set up an Arts for All program there.

"I enjoy the travel. I enjoy the people," Szot said.

Szot has a knack for creating paint machines. While finishing his graduate degree in sculpture at the Cranbrook Academy of the Arts in Michigan, he created a machine that painted frozen lakes. He designed another machine that painted the roof of a large office building. Another device painted large images with each step the artist took as he walked along inside it.

Szot then realized he could create machines that would act as physical extensions for people with disabilities. So in 1989 he made his first wheelchair painting machine with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The mural-making process begins with participants tearing special print foam into the shapes they desire.

The painting tool features plastic tubes, containers and rollers that can be attached to a wheelchair. Once attached to the roller, the artist rolls over posterboard or craft paper, dispensing paint. A similar tool is available to walking artists.

Leslie Stucker, assistant director of the Arts Council, said volunteers tape the wheels on the wheelchairs so they don't get covered with paint. There are also booties to keep paint off people's shoes.

(About 100 people participated last year. Stucker hopes for a larger attendance this year.

"The whole point of the event is to integrate people with and without disabilities," she said. "It breaks down stereotypes."

Said Stucker, "Anybody can be creative."

The arts council owns the various Szot-created tools. Stucker said the council wants to make the tools available to the community.

Two wheelchairs and a walker will be provided for those who want to try their hand at making art, Stucker said.

Volunteers are needed to help with Saturday's event. Interested persons are encouraged to show up at the seminary grounds between 8 a.m. and noon.

Miki Gudermuth, executive director of the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence, first saw the Arts for All program in Omaha, Neb. She convinced the arts council to bring the program to Cape Girardeau.

Gudermuth, who has difficulty walking and uses a wheelchair at times, said the program isn't targeted just to disabled persons. The program can benefit everyone, from children to the elderly, she said.

"I don't want it to be a social service function," said Gudermuth. "I want it to be a community arts program.... It is an equal opportunity arts project."

Gudermuth has painted in the Arts for All program from a wheelchair. "I like to play in it," she said.

The various paint designs mix together on the mural-size paper. "To me, it is kind of what I call the potluck of art," she said.

Like a potluck supper at church, Gudermuth said the various creations go well together. "It is just amazing, the colors and shapes. It is fun."

Participants also can create images on posterboards to take home.

For Szot, the entire process is art. "The whole thing," he said, "is a composition."