Sweet, raw self-expressions

Art serves as therapy for persons with disabilities not only because it gives them something to do but also because it allows them self-expression when language is denied them by their particular disability.

Recently at the Ayala Museum, as part of the Araceli Limcaco-Dans Retrospective (ongoing until May 1), Barbra Dans-Paguia gave a lecture entitled “Art of the Innocents.” She focused on the creative outputs of the learners with special needs who attended an art workshop given at Bridges Foundation, the special education school of which she is cofounder and director.

The art sessions came about at Bridges, said Dans-Paguia, because they saw that many of their students in the prevocational class possessed adequate skills for manipulating materials, enjoyed making things and needed more leisure and recreational activities. The students ranged in age from 10 to 25. Most were in the autism spectrum, had mental processing problems and had a restricted repertoire of activities and interest. The rest had Down Syndrome, hearing impairment or other developmental challenges.

Dans-Paguia confessed she was not very confident at first, but with encouragement from her mother, who served as her consultant, she soon changed her mind.

Self-awareness

“Our kids are not interested in people,” she noted. To develop a sense of their own person and to become more aware of the details of their bodies, she made self-portrait their initial project. She took a photo of each student and asked the class to do self-portraits based on their photographs.

Dans-Paguia recalled a male student becoming too frustrated during the self-portrait session. When asked why, it turned out he was trying to draw the same number of lines as there were on his shirt in the photo. This attention to detail surfaced in many of the portraits where the artists tried to capture the fold of the pants, the positioning of the hands, or even the electrical outlet on the wall.

To introduce the art of making signs, Dans-Paguia made the group work on their own nameplates. The class also created fish mobiles made of muslin, based on photos of fish that were shown to them via a projector.  Large, plain masks were purchased from National Book Store to be elaborately painted and decorated with paper, tahong shells from the Dans kitchen, feathers, yarn and walis, among other materials.

Scribbling proved to be a most creative activity for the group.  Dans-Paguia gave each student a piece of scribble to start with.  As an example, she showed them a scribble of a raindrop, over which she drew a faucet, thus turning the scribble  into a representation of a drop of water. Out of meaningless scribbles, the students began to draw wonderful things, such as a peacock, a hot air balloon, a flower, the teacher’s portrait and, thanks to a wild imagination, a dinosaur.

Another fascinating project was jump-started by magazine cutouts. Just like in the scribbling activity, the students were instructed to turn a cutout into something else.

Amazing animals

In Clay Creations, none of the students’ works would stand up, so Dans-Paguia resorted to the use of armatures. The amazing outputs included a rhino, a pig, a giraffe, a horse, and a gorilla, among others. The teacher extended the learning by asking each artist to make the habitat for his or her animal. And so sponges were shaped, colored and turned into bushes and trees.

Dans-Paguia also paired off the students for one project where they had to take turns drawing a design and coloring it to complete what resembled a mandala.  The interactive sessions proved fruitful socially and creatively, judging by the resulting art.

Apart from tapping their creativity and skills, the students discovered at the workshop activities that were pleasurable to them, according to Dans-Paguia. Videos showed some of them humming and smiling while working. They also learned the discipline of taking care of the materials and putting them away, including the chairs.

“We gave them the chance to think, plan, make choices, organize, synthesize, make decisions, innovate, evaluate, work with others and become more flexible,” said Dans-Paguia. But more importantly, the students gained self-confidence and a sense of accomplishment. Their works were exhibited after the lecture.

Here are some of Dans-Paguia’s tips to art teachers working with students with special needs:

Make sure the art activities are within the students’ skill levels.

Make art materials readily available on the table.

Put all bright colors in one basket and all light colors in another basket.

Allow freedom of choice in material, color, design, etc.

Play classical music in the background to inspire them.

No pressure or time limit.

“One of the realizations of this workshop is that the process is really more important than the product,” said Dans-Paguia.

While the process was by itself salutary, there was also a sweetness about the raw, honest quality of the artworks that made  the artists’ families, friends and teachers more than proud.

Bridges Foundation is offering Summer Art Workshop for People with Special Needs on April 19 to May 7. Workshop fee is P6,000 inclusive of materials.  Screening is required. Call 3720752 and 3720753. E-mail [email protected].