Online gallery helps provide outlet for those struggling with the ‘human predicament’

IOWA CITY — Lifelong Johnson County resident Maggie Burns has had a passion for art since she was a child.

Living with bipolar disorder and recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia, Burns's creations have become as therapeutic as they are expressive.

'There's nothing like focusing on creating something,' Burns, 59, said. 'It takes you out of that chatterbox stream of thought that's always going on, or if it's there, it's all directed toward this project and that's a real healthy break from something that is more or less a human predicament.

'It really enhances mental health.'

With the recent creation of the Iowa Disability Creative Works Gallery, formed by Iowa City's not-for-profit Disabilities Enterprise Foundation, area artists such as Burns who with disabilities will have an opportunity to showcase and sell their work.

DEF founder and longtime area volunteer Tom Walz said the online gallery was a natural fit for the foundation's mission to help people with disabilities start and sustain micro-enterprises.

For the artists involved, it's as simple as getting exposure for their artwork, Walz said.

'It's to get the recognition, we all love it. It's very important to people to be worth something. That's the beauty of it,' he said.

'Our mission is still the same — to provide opportunity for people with disabilities, to showcase their talents and be appreciated and maybe earn a couple extra dollars. That's as simple as it is.'

The gallery currently features six Iowa artists, with others soon to be added.

Creating a gallery

Having moved from Maryland to Iowa about two years ago to work at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine, Sarah Tighe brought with her an inspiration to create a program similar to Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum, which showcases work by outsider artists — artists without a formal arts education.

Tighe said her inspiration blended perfectly with Iowa City's creative atmosphere, and soon after meeting Walz the two began to develop the idea for a local gallery.

Tighe, a member of the DEF board, said the original plan was to open a brick-and-mortar gallery, but the effort proved too costly.

It was then that the idea came up to take the gallery online.

'I think that was a critical moment, deciding to go online,' Tighe said. 'It's a fantastic way for us to get the word out and make the project accessible.'

Walz said it costs about $6,000 a year to operate the website — www.idcwg.org — and officials will likely begin a fundraising effort to maintain the gallery once the site receives a touch-up.

Next year, foundation officials plan to expand the gallery to the entire state by adding more artists from elsewhere in Iowa.

Broader creative movement

While paintings and sculptures tend to come to mind when one thinks of an art gallery, Tighe said the Iowa Disability Creative Works Gallery features a variety of mediums, from Burns's digital photo manipulation to paintings by Lilith Hibbs David, Young's microphotography and Mick Vevera's woodworking creations.

'The website is unique in that sense, it will be showcasing more works of a broader creative movement,' Tighe said.

Vevera first met Walz in 2000 — when the Iowa City native was homeless and detoxing — but has been running Mick's Workshop for the past seven years. He already has sold some of his creations through the gallery, but added that, for him, it's not about possible fees.

'It's peace of mind,' he said. 'I'd much rather have a compliment that I did good than have the money.'

For any artist, getting exposure can be a struggle. Living with a disability only increases the challenge of finding the self-esteem and ability to reach an audience, Burns said.

Using the gallery as a means of reducing the barriers between artists and their audience, Burns said the hope is not only to provide the public with quality art, but also to enhance the mental health of some of the area's more talented and underappreciated artists.

'You get somebody started and feeling good about themselves and having a reason to produce art, and then you produce a whole lot of it because you want to show it. It can just bring somebody out of their shell and give them a whole new approach to their life with disability,' said Burns, who also manages the gallery website.

'I think that's what excites me the most is getting people pulled back into society.'