At a workbench dusted with fine clay powder, dotted with dry glaze splotches, and scattered with potter’s tools, artist Richard Berkholtz is in motion. He carefully feels for his paintbrush with his right hand as he locates a pot of glaze with his left. Expertly, he relocates his recently spun clay bowl and begins to glaze it a deep umber color.
Berkholtz has always been interested in sculpture, but it wasn’t until he emerged from an accident visually impaired that he pursued his artistic interests full-time. Berkholtz is one of the many artists supported by ArtWorking, a Madison-area nonprofit that provides material and career-focused support for artists with disabilities who wish to turn their creativity into careers.
“It’s nice for me, for people to use the pieces that I make. If it’s a mug, they can have a nice cup of tea or joe in the morning. It’s really interesting what can come out of my studio and into people’s homes,” says Berkholtz, as he points out one of his “schnoz vazes” — a vase he crafted, covered with noses.
But now, threatened federal and state cuts to Medicaid could affect ArtWorking and its artists. Because most ArtWorking artists use Medicaid waiver funding to utilize ArtWorking’s services, there is a growing concern that many will no longer be able to afford their time at the studio or other disability-aid organizations.
“I don’t want to paint too dire a picture, but it’s hard not to right now. It wouldn’t surprise me if I showed up to work one Monday morning to find out that funding has just evaporated,” says Lance Owens, ArtWorking’s program director. “[The cuts] are an intense depersonalization of people with disabilities, and we are seeing it happen right now. There isn’t much ambiguity about that.”
Established in 2006, ArtWorking aids artists — from painters to printmakers to potters like Berkholtz — who live with a wide range of abilities and disabilities.
ArtWorking’s primary mission has been to aid its artists in entrepreneurship, helping them launch and grow their own small businesses. ArtWorking’s vibrant, well-equipped professional studio provides a diverse assortment of materials for many different art forms, since the cost of supplies and studio space is often a barrier for artists with disabilities.The goal is twofold: help artists establish self-sustaining and growth-centered careers, and provide representations of disability in Madison’s small business and art communities. A recent exhibit called “Air Quotes” at the Dane County Regional Airport is a perfect example of raising the visibility of ArtWorking’s artists.
“Dane County has a really strong philosophical center around inclusivity and people with disabilities being able to work alongside their non-disabled peers,” says Owens.
In 2008, after only one year at ArtWorking, artist Briana Richardson started Briana’s Bright Meditation, a sole proprietorship where she sells her vivid collection of garden- and floral-inspired watercolor and acrylic paintings.
“As a kid, I imagined having a lemonade stand, but instead of lemonade, I would sell my art. So now, having my own business, my dream has definitely come true,” says Richardson. “I have a cognitive disability and a speech disability, and even while dealing with these things, I feel like [my art is] hopeful for others like me.”
For now, ArtWorking is developing contingency plans for future funding cuts. The group also continues to place work from its artists around Madison. Owens sees it as an act of inclusion.
“There are lots of different ways to have a voice,” he says. “You can be completely nonverbal and you can still have a voice in the community. Representation and inclusion can, and do, happen through art.”
That visibility will be important to these artists’ livelihoods if funding dries up, he adds.
“People should get to know the artists more than anything else. Support local art and support local businesses. ArtWorking is a collection of local businesses, and we are a local business ourselves. In a perfect world, everybody around Madison would know our artists.”
Where to catch ArtWorking artists now
ArtWorking’s in-studio gallery shop is located at 1966 S. Stoughton Road, open Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Stephon Ashley, who fashions colorful and dynamic 3D nature-inspired dragons from pipe cleaners and wire, currently has a solo display at the Madison Children’s Museum.
On June 17, ArtWorking will unveil an installation at the Overture Center that showcases co-painted pieces shaped by the visions and creative minds of multiple ArtWorking artists.
Art can also be purchased at ArtWorking.org.