By Taylor MacPherson

Artists with disabilities to showcase work in P.A.

Oct 18, 2017 | 2:00 PM

Works and performances by artists with disabilities will be featured in Prince Albert this week as part of the inaugural Saskatchewan Artists of Ability Festival.

The festival runs from Thursday to Saturday in Prince Albert, Saskatoon and Regina. Visual artworks will be on display at the Mann Art Gallery until Dec. 1, and the gallery is also hosting numerous workshops, panel discussions and an open stage. The musical performances will be showcased Saturday night at the Rock Trout Café.

Lyn Brown, executive director with Spinal Cord Injury Saskatchewan and one of the driving forces behind the event, said the festival is meant to highlight the talents of a wide variety of disabled artists.

“What we want to really do is bring attention to the fact that a lot of individuals who are living with disabilities are very good amateur or professional artists,” she said. “We’re focusing on all different types of artistic endeavours. We have music and dance and visual art. We have poetry and prose.”

Brown said art can be very therapeutic when a person is dealing with a disability, as it fosters independence, self-reliance and creativity. By showcasing the success of artists with disabilities, Brown said festival organizers are hoping to inspire others to follow suit. The festival was made possible through a Canada 150 grant, she said, as well as the support of local governments and community groups.

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Colin Farnan, a Saskatoon-based visual artist and musician, said he helped organize the festival after recognizing a lack of disability-focused art programming in the province. While art therapy is common, Farnan said it is often done in an institutional setting and the finished works are rarely displayed.

Many disabled artists do not use disability as their subject matter, Farnan said, but their disabilities often influence the type of art they create. Farnan, who lost a leg to bone cancer at a young age, said he sometimes struggles with physical challenges while painting.

“A mural, for example, I’m standing on a ladder all day,” Farnan told paNOW. “It might take me a little bit longer to complete something that someone with two legs. If you’re in a chair that’s going to limit you quite a bit.”

Moose Jaw rockers Johnny 2 Fingers & the Deformities will be hitting the stage at the Rock Trout Café Saturday night. Frontman John Dale said he’s been able to become a successful guitarist despite having just two fingers on his strumming hand thanks to hard work and a special prosthesis that allows him to hold a pick.

“It just took a lot of practice and a lot of help,” Dale said. “Just technique things and learning how to play with a limited right hand. And my wrist doesn’t work as well as other people’s, so I just have to think of different ways to make it work.”

Dale said he and his bandmates have turned his disability into an advantage by using it as a marketing technique, but also hopes to show other disabled musicians that they can work around their limitations.

“When I was younger it felt like a curse,” Dale said. “It turned into a bit of blessing.”

The festival runs from Oct. 19 to 21, and a full schedule of the Prince Albert events is available online.

taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews