Artsbridge brings back former students as artists at festival

By WAYNE TOWNER, wtowner@newsandsentinel.com


PARKERSBURG — For several years, the Very Special Arts Festival in Parkersburg has offered an opportunity for students with disabilities to see, learn and try a variety of art styles.

This year a pair of former students are returning to the event as demonstrating artists.

The Very Special Arts Festival will be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 22 at West Virginia University at Parkersburg. The event is presented by Artsbridge and WVU-P, said Ruby Ruppel, the organizer of the VSA Festival for Artsbridge.

Clark Queen, 22, of Vienna is one of the participating artists in this year’s Very Special Arts Festival. He attended the event several times as a student at Parkersburg High School, but will be returning this year as a paid, participating artist in the festival.

Queen said he enjoyed attending the festival as a student.

“It was great, there were a lot of things to do and people to see,” he said.

Queen started off working with his mother, who is also an artist and inspired him to try different things. He did some pieces which sold and has remained involved in art, since then.

Queen does different types of artwork, but his favorite medium is clay for sculpting. He likes to create sculptures from nature or his imagination. His next work will be a lizard.

“What I’m doing now is working on a hand which has an eyeball in it and I’m going to call it ‘Handeyeball,’” he said with a laugh.

During this year’s festival, Queen will have a demonstration station where he will show people how he works on his clay projects.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I feel great.”

Lori Santer, 25, of Parkersburg is the other participating artist at this year’s festival who attended the event while a student at Parkersburg Catholic High School.

She works in pencil, inks, black-and-white drawings and pastels, drawing things from fantasy and imagination. She has been interested in art since she was in sixth grade and is taking art classes at WVU-P. Santer is is looking forward to this year’s festival.

“They want me to do my own stuff and teach people to do art,” she said.

One thing she plans to do is have music playing at her station because she likes to use rhythm to get into her work, Santer said.

Ruppel said this year’s festival will also feature three professional artists with disabilities from outside the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Ruppel said getting more disabled artists involved in the event is one of the goals of the national VSA program. Its mission is not only to provide a source of inspiration for students with disabilities who might be interested in art, but “also to provide work opportunities for artists with disabilities,” she said.

“With our festival in the past, we’ve always provided fine art activities for students with disabilities, but this is the first time we’ve had that particular component, providing paid employment for artists with disabilities,” although it has been a goal, she said.

Ruppel said the theme for this year’s festival is “The Beat Goes On.” There will be a steel drum combo, part of the WVU Steel Drum Band, along with the St. Marys Drum Line and the Kootaga Indian Dancers drummers.

The Very Special Arts Festival has been growing as it enters its ninth year. The festival started with 200 students and has grown nearly ever year. The peak was 1,000 students, although Ruppel expects attendance to be lower this year due to fuel costs, snow days which need to be made up, and other factors.

Participants range in age from pre-school to young adults, coming from five counties in West Virginia and two counties in Ohio.

“Because of the wide age span and types of disabilities, the VSA Committee makes sure that there’s something for everyone,” Ruppel said. “Besides continuous music and dance performances in the multi-purpose room, there are 16 different interactive art stations where students can have hands-on arts experiences.”