The Artism Showcase, put on by the city of Mobile and its department of Parks and Recreation, shows the talents of local artists on the Autism spectrum. This is the showcase’s inaugural year.
The showcase will be held at Dotch Community Center, located in the Trinity Gardens park, on April 2 in celebration of World Autism Awareness Day. The exhibit begins at 10 a.m., and will end at noon. Artists on the Autism spectrum must be 16 years or older, and must be residents of Mobile County in order to submit work. Submissions must be made to Mobile Parks and Recreation by March 31. Submissions can be made by contacting the city’s Therapeutic Recreation specialist, LaDarrel Bell.
Bell says that part of the inspiration for this showcase was seeing how useful art was as an outlet for the people on the Autism spectrum in their programs. Many of these individuals have their own talents that might be overlooked due to neurotypical assumptions about what challenges people with Autism face.
“In giving him that paper and a pen, I learned he has this amazing gift to draw characters. And not only did he draw characters, he could draw them upside down,” said Bell. “That's when we decided to, you know, do this artism program because we realized that a lot of different individuals with autism have different abilities. Medically they're diagnosed with a disability, but it's a different ability.”
Bell also says that all mediums of art are welcome to be submitted. According to her, most of the submissions they have received have been paintings or drawings, although coloring sheets or any other medium of art can be submitted as well.
“We're reaching out to Serah’s Rainbow, which is an art gallery for individuals with disabilities, and we're hoping that they can provide us some sculptures,” said Bell. “The paintings are cool, coloring sheets are great, though we would love to have some sculpture. Anybody that has sculptures that they would like to commit, they're more than welcome to bring them in, and we'll showcase them.”
Bell says that she hopes the exhibit will build awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding people on the Autism spectrum. She says that the exhibit exists to showcase these local artists, but also to reduce the stigma surrounding Autism spectrum disorders.
“We want to bring awareness to autism, to let people know these are average people. They're just like you and I. However, they just live a little differently, they think a little differently, they may communicate a little differently, they may behave a little differently,” said Bell. “It doesn't mean that we should treat them any less, or we should discriminate against them. We're here to help each other out, we should be reaching out to them and understanding them. They're humans just like everybody else. They just do things a little differently.”
There will also be a performance of the Magnolia Breeze Youth Ensemble, a project created by Bell to give disabled students opportunities that school music programs would not provide them.
