Bringing Light to an Alley

Working with members of Art Links, an art center for people with disabilities, we brought new life to their back alleyway. For years, this group wanted to paint their doors and they finally received the funding to do it.

We started talking about the project more than a year before it happened, so to my surprise I received an email they had gotten funding, just before winter set in. I put other projects on hold until next spring, in order to help them realize their long-time dream of having these doors transformed to create a brighter alleyway and have some fun doing it.

We worked together over the course of several weeks. The project started with getting to know the members and their artistic styles. I wanted to incorporate their personalities into the design, so I used actual pieces of artwork and a color scheme from their creations. One of the members had their picture taken in face paint by Director Patty which is displayed proudly on the refrigerator and now, in spray paint on one of doors. My personal favorite, is the piece with squares, that I left with their painting outside the lines, the perfect imperfections.

Being my first experience working with people with disabilities, I learned a great deal about people through this project, and myself. I can’t tell you how proud I am of saying “yes” even though I knew it would be a challenge and forging ahead making a beautiful piece of work despite exterior challenges outside of my control. There was a reason my heart sang when they asked me to be their artist and now I know why. Much gratitude to all of you at Art Links.