Main Line Health To Host Art Exhibition Featuring Work of Artists With Disabilities

More than 200 artists will have their incredible displays featured at the 21st annual Art Ability Exhibition and Sale at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital, part of Main Line Health, according to a press release. The exhibit will open in November.

Among those works on exhibit and available for sale is Grackle Flying through Red Salvia, by Robert Flatt of Houston, Texas—this year’s featured artist. Each year, a featured work is selected by a committee to best represent the mission of Art Ability and to increase public awareness of the talent of individuals with disabilities, the release states.

After discovering he had Parkinson’s disease, Flatt said that he began pursuing what he calls his “crazy passion to become a photographer.”

“My disease has helped me to ‘slow down’ to see the beauty in the wild and beautiful places I travel. Now I find that I have an urgency to ‘hurry up’ and capture as much as I can photographically while I still can. I love highly saturated pictures that are full of color and with vibrant, surrealistic backgrounds. I really enjoy using my camera and Photoshop to paint pictures of birds flying, bees buzzing, and dragonflies basking in the sun," he said.

Art Ability is an annual juried event for artists with physical, cognitive and/or hearing disabilities that celebrates their work and encourages them to reach beyond their own limitations. Hundreds of artists from around the world submit their work to be included as part of the annual exhibit and sale, the press release states.

“Art Ability has become an integral part of our hospital and how we care for our patients,” said Donna Phillips, President, Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital. “The art on the walls of the first floor of the hospital inspires our patients to reach beyond their limitations and to perceive their situation with a new perspective. Art Ability is one of the ways we seek to achieve our mission of enhancing community awareness about individuals with disabilities and advocating on their behalf.”

In its twenty-first year, Art Ability will open with a Preview Reception onSaturday, November 5 at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital, located in Malvern. To purchase tickets for this event, contact the Art Ability Office at 484.596.5425. Beginning Sunday, November 6, the Art Ability Exhibition and Sale will be open daily and is free to the public through January 29, 2017.

Image via Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital.