Art Possible Ohio has a fantastic partnership with the Ohio Arts Council across several programs. We are especially proud of the Ohio Arts Council’s Artists with Disabilities Access Program (ADAP). ADAP provides funding that gives individual artists with disabilities and organizations that serve them the resources they need to further their artistic development. The spring deadline for ADAP is June 1st, 2020 and Art Possible Ohio offers technical assistance and advise to artists the contact us up to one week before the deadline. We asked artist Scott Mars to tell us about his experience with the ADAP grant.

My name is Scott Mars. I am a professional artist. I have a severe hearing loss. I am an abstract expressionist and a symbolist. My method is through an intuitive approach. This is about being instinctive.  I follow no form or plan. I do rough sketches. Then, I think about the potential work by visualizing the image. Sometimes I do this through texture and gluing beads or bisque fired clay to my pieces. Then it becomes personal. I foresee a positive journey ahead- painting and printmaking. I try and find different approaches to define my skill.

I heard about the ADAP grant from the art therapy studio. I then decided to call VSA Ohio. I talked with Erin Hoppe.  She was very supportive as well as the art therapy studio.  I was encouraged through out the great process to know I accomplished a hard goal, and I was proud to apply.

I applied for the ADAP grant three times. It is an honor to be selected. I love the idea of keeping busy for months. Revising my essays. Setting goals for my artwork.  Each time, I tried to have a focus that could be built on future ideas. 

My focus was the enigmatic Zen of mandala. I wanted to take a meditative approach. I was very interested in the Dr. Carl Jung mandala. I was reading Flora Bowley books on intuitive painting.  I wanted to come about opaque color.  The theme idea is “a wanderer who wanted to know about the journey.”  So the wanderer walks through an arch and they would see the mandala and Japanese approach to Monet’s garden. The wanderer found understanding of his journey. This was the theme to continue with line and exaggeration. This led me to want to do a hand made book of mandalas and symbols. The harlequin is significant to the journey that life is scary. I am a poet as well. I wrote poetry before I painted. Not to many people know that. I believe we learn about the journey

Since receiving the ADAP grant, I am learning a lot. I have been working on small ideas to then make bigger ideas.  My goal is to do more print making with painting.  Right now I am interested Aboriginal Art form from Australia to New Zealand.  I want to mix printmaking with paint.  I find this method cool. Previously, I made my own paper and it was so much fun. This will eventually look like fragile work on paper.  I want to focus on clay projects. But the COVID 19 has closed studio hours and putting the ideas concrete. My goal is to be an illustrator and ceramicist.

Interested in applying for the ADAP Grant? You can learn more on our website by clicking here.

You can apply on the Ohio Arts Council website by clicking here.

If you need assistance reach out to us at least one week before the deadline.