Page 18 - the NOISE March 2016

CONSTRUCTIVE CHAOS COALESCES
THE ART OF LOU CORPORATION AT BRANDY’S
Examples of the variety of work created by LOU Corp artists, on display at Brandy’s this month.
STORY BY
TRAVIS IURATO
This March, diners at Brandy’s Restaurant in Sunnyside, Flagstaff will be delighted to experience the annual display of artwork from LOU Corporation, a local organization that provides day treatment and residential support for adults with developmental disabilities. In
its 18th year, the LOU Corporation show at Brandy’s will open on March 8. Proceeds from the sale of the artwork go directly back to the artists and also cover the costs of the show, which include materials to make new art for the coming year. While they will be showing paintings and drawings on the walls of the restaurant for the month of March, the reception on April 1 acts as a mini art fair where visitors can also see and purchase sculptures and objects handmade by the artists at LOU.
I recently visited LOU Corporation, which is located in the industrial east side of Flagstaff, to preview the work on display and meet the artists responsible for its creation. The building for day treatment is utilitarian on its exterior — surrounded by a chain-link fence, truck yards and warehouses. On arrival, I was greeted outside by Karen Reed, the daytime manager, who has been with LOU Corporation for 15 years. She showed me inside and I was immediately surprised by the amount of lively activity buzzing within the unassuming building. Several people immediately came up to me, shook my hand, hugged me, showed off their artwork displayed on the walls, and asked my name. It was an overwhelmingly pleasant experience. Ms. Reed laughed as the “clients” came up one after another to ask me questions and tell me about themselves. They all seemed so happy to see someone new in their room. A long-tailed Corgi named Vito came up and sniffed my leg. The large green room with lots of natural light and high ceilings had a positive atmosphere of happiness and meaningful work.
Looking around, I noticed paintings carefully framed and hung along the outside walls. The painters here tackle all manner of subjects, from tropical landscape and views of cities, to wildlife and abstract patterns and collage. One painting I pointed out was of a blobby, enigmatic form in black, white and blue. Ms. Reed explained, “[The artist] saw a shirt with a Siberian tiger on it and he tried to paint it.” Immediately I could make out a tiger with five eyes, floating in a maroon void — it was incredible. The man who painted it came up to us wearing a shirt with a purple dragon on it and asked if I liked his painting. “I like it very much,” I replied, and he grinned wildly.
As we made the rounds to each table, I observed the artists working with a high degree of concentration on various projects and crafts. It was clear how much joy those who were creating art or working on crafts were experiencing. The woman who first greeted me and showed off her necklace, which Ms. Reed was wearing, was back at her table working on new beaded jewelry. The man across from her, in a wonderfully large cowboy hat, looked up from the necklace he was beading to smile happily, shake my hand, and introduce himself. I had never met such a friendly, open group of people in one place. I wanted to stay and start working on a project with them at once! A woman next to the man in the cowboy hat was working and re-working a large stack of crayon drawings, covered in scratchy marks in various colors. It looked as though she had been working on the drawings for months. At the table next to hers, another woman was busy sanding a board, which she told me, she was planning to paint purple. Like most everyone else in the room she was very excited about her project and fully involved in preparing her materials to work on.
On a wide shelf that lined most of the back wall sat projects finished and ready for Brandy’s, or work that was still in progress. Ms. Reed showed me several walking sticks that were painted by a few of the adults. “They pick up the sticks on hikes we take and bring them back to decorate them,” she told me. “We recycle a lot. We also like to get our materials from thrift stores and on our walks around the neighborhood.”
18 • MARCH 2016 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
Looking more closely at a clock on the wall, I realized they had affixed about a hundred plastic spoon-ends to make a beautiful scalloped frame around it. A landscape painting next to the clock was framed out of tree bark. One project they work on often is decorating old terra cotta plant pots with broken tile mosaics. They then plant something in it and sell it at the Brandy’s show. All their artwork showed a great resourcefulness and spirit of recycling and re-thinking trash as an aesthetic material. Their process for making lamps is as follows: Inflate a latex balloon, and wrap in it yarn. Apply a glue wash to the yarn and wait for it to dry and harden. Remove the balloon and attach a light to the nest of yarn. Voila! A yarn lamp.
“I ask the staff to save everything,” Ms. Reed said. “I even tell them to save chopsticks when we order Chinese food!” She showed me a birdhouse that had a perch on it made from a take-out chopstick. The roof was shingled with pinecone seeds, and the house was covered in glitter and paint. If they wanted to, they could just do a show of the charming little birdhouses. “All our clients have choices,” Ms. Reed said, describing a typical day for each adult. “LOU stands for Learning Opportunities Unlimited.” The staff takes the day groups on all kinds of outings each week. They go bowling, visit the library, take hikes, or shop at local thrift stores for art supplies. They play games and surf the net at the computer station in one corner of the room. They sing karaoke and dance quite often, and work in the garden during spring and summer.
During my visit, they were preparing for a Valentine’s Day pageant the following day. The king and queen, who would be picked out of names in a hat, would walk down an aisle in a homespun ceremony of friendship and love, and it would end in a dance party. Filling the days with enjoyable, stimulating activities cultivates social interaction, altruism, and healing therapy for a group of adults with needs and conditions that vary widely, all together, daily in one place.
Though creating art is fun and a constructive way to spend time for the adults at LOU Corporation, it also has enormous therapeutic properties. The American Art Therapy Association defines art therapy as “the use of art creations as a form of psychotherapy for people experiencing trauma or illness, seeking personal development, or struggling to deal with the day to day act of living.” They add that by making art people can “increase cognitive ability, increase awareness of self and others, and help them cope with the distressing symptoms or limitations imposed by disability or disease.” The stories are well-known of people with debilitating conditions suddenly “coming out of their shell” as soon as they put brush to canvas. Viewers, as well as the therapists who encourage the work, are given a glimpse into the inner worlds of individuals who are otherwise emotionally or intellectually hard to reach. This privilege alone is what makes the work of the artists at LOU Corporation so exciting and illuminating to study. Additionally, their collective work all seemed to share a similar looseness, lightness, and non-seriousness that is so refreshing to look at.
Reflecting on the “constructive chaos,” as Ms. Reed describes the daily activity at LOU Corporation, I realized how much the artists have to offer. They have skills to share, and inventive techniques to show off. They make works of beauty and see the world, like most other artists, differently. These are just a few of the reasons (besides the magnetism of the artist’s personalities) why the annual reception, according to Ms. Reed, is “usually packed” with people vying to acquire one or more works from the show. This March see what this dynamic group has produced over the past year at Brandy’s Restaurant, 1500 E. Cedar, and stop by for their reception April 1, from 6-8PM, with refreshments of food and wine, and a chance to meet the artists. BrandysRestaurant.com
| Travis Iurato is now proud to call Flagstaff home. arts@thenoise.us