Jesse Higman’s paintbrush isn’t a brush at all. With limited mobility in his hands because of a car crash 27 years ago, this Seattle-based artist created a method all his own.
To control his colors, Higman built intricate tables with weights that bend his wooden canvas. Then he carefully pours pigment and water on the surface and watches them swirl to a small hole. The paint is like light being sucked into a black hole in space, he said. Left behind is a design he calls “Bone Orchid.”
“I think of it like I’m playing with nature on this tabletop,” said Higman, 42, who has been in a wheelchair since age 15.
His table and the painting went on display Tuesday (6/8) at the Smithsonian Institution as part of the world’s largest festival of artists with disabilities.
While Higman had wanted to focus more on fine art after working for years in the music industry, the idea of joining the 2010 International VSA Festival in Washington gave him pause: Would he gain a permanent label as a disabled artist? How would he be perceived?
But he decided to go with it.
“It’s a legitimate art show, which I was a little bit skeptical of at first,” Higman said. “I wondered if it was going to be to champion people with disabilities, to give them a pat on the back.”
Instead, he found dozens of pieces of vibrant, interesting art.
The festival, hosted by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at sites across the nation’s capital, runs through June 12 and features many free daily performances, films and visual arts. A juried exhibit, “Revealing Culture,” that includes Higman’s work among 130 pieces at the Smithsonian will remain on view through Aug. 29.
Renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly contributed a large-scale installation. Performances will feature singer Patti LaBelle, as well as Josh Blue, who won season four of “Last Comic Standing.”
Organizers brought in more than 600 artists, performers and educators from around the world, including students from every state who competed to have their work shown at Washington’s Union Station.
Taylor Bernard, 8, of Richmond, Va., who has cerebral palsy, was among the winners selected from 5,500 entries for her watercolor painting, inspired by the sunset at her grandmother’s Virginia Beach home.
She was with big company Tuesday as Jean Kennedy Smith, the last living sibling of President John F. Kennedy, met the students as their artwork went on view.
“We’re big believers that the arts are for everybody,” said Smith, who founded VSA (formerly Very Special Arts) in 1974.
The festival was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The exhibits are designed to be more accessible to disabled audiences than ever before. They include touchable examples of artworks, audio descriptions and labels written with Braille, curator Stephanie Moore said.
One installation, “Sight Unseen,” is the first major exhibit of the most-accomplished photographers with visual impairments. One section includes images with raised ink to allow blind visitors to feel the shape and dimension of the photograph.
Another exhibit features the work of Judith Scott, who was kept in an institution for 35 years with Down syndrome but began creating sculptures from yarn, paper towels and other simple materials almost constantly for 18 years once she was released to her sister’s custody.
“What I really want people to see is that, indeed, artists with disabilities play a major role in the arts community,” said Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser. “It is crucial that we not disenfranchise that segment of our population.”
By Brett Zongker
AD&Co. Launches Studio A; Davida Hall To Head New Venture As Sr. Director of Creative Content
Female-founded and led creative marketing agency AD&Co. has opened Studio A. The new venture will serve as AD&Co.’s in-house social brand content division, focused on developing and producing digital programming for advertising, social media, and influencer marketing campaigns designed to reach today’s audiences on the most popular and pivotal platforms. Davida Hall has been named to head Studio A as sr. director of creative content. She shifts over from AD&Co. where she held the same title since December 2023. Hall’s affiliations prior to AD&Co. include PopSugar and Studio71.
Amy Demas, founder and chief creative officer of AD&Co., said, “We understand content is king-—or queen—and that our clients need to engage their customer communities where they live. That inspired the logical expansion of AD&Co with Studio A, which is committed to producing only the most engaging and authentic brand stories.”
Studio A will harness both AD&Co’s and Hall’s deep expertise in the lifestyle sector, as content creators and avid consumers. Specializing in reaching audiences where they spend their time, the studio is immersed in social media, pop culture, and current trends, expertly crafting visuals, language, and storytelling to reinforce client brand identities and cut through the noise.
Studio A debuts with the “This Is Me” campaign for Love + Craft + Beauty, a brand dedicated to embracing and promoting diversity within the beauty space. “This Is Me” highlights Gen Z’s affinity for radical self-expression that allows individuals to tell their own stories, free from labels, using beauty and fashion as tools of authenticity. The campaign showcases models celebrating their unique qualities to present... Read More