‘So empowering’: Community blossoms through inclusive art project in Roselle

The artists gathered around a long table to paint in cheery colors and make art for art’s sake.

You don’t have to know the difference between a Monet and a Renoir to admire their work — the very definition of a community art project.

Individual petals — the makings of outdoor flower sculptures — became a canvas for adults and young people with special needs in a Roselle Park District suite-turned-studio Monday and Tuesday.

“It's very much similar to this. It's like a big dining room-style situation, so everybody's just talking together. It's very social,” said Tanner Ingle, who helped set up a local version of the Passion Works Studio, an Ohio-based nonprofit community arts center that employs people with and without developmental differences.

Hand-painted “Passion Flowers” are their signature product, made out of upcycled aluminum printing plates from newspapers and often adorning front porches and gardens.

“Just the act of making art and selling that art and seeing it around the community is so empowering,” Ingle said.

The studio’s Passion Flowers have branched out through collaborations like the one with the Roselle Park District and the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association. The finished flowers will go on display along the arboretum walk at the park district’s Clauss Recreation Center.

Bennett Borkowski wants people who come across the art to feel “happy and surprised.” It’s hard not to be just that when you hear the 34-year-old from Glen Ellyn and fan of Van Gogh describe his use of bright colors, circles, spirals, zigzags — different “shapes and sizes.”

“Mixing colors, that’s what I do,” said fellow artist Richard Townsend.

“It’s been awesome. It’s one of the best projects I’ve done, for sure — most meaningful,” said Lynn McAteer, the executive director of the Roselle Park District.

The Roselle Arts and Culture Foundation discovered the Passion Flowers and looped in the park district.

“We were looking for the best art possibilities for Roselle that could be sustainable and outdoors,” said Karen Ostrander, the foundation’s art director.

Sponsors — the Itasca Bank & Trust, Western DuPage Special Recreation Association, Woodman’s, and the Roselle Arts and Culture Foundation — made the project possible.

Ingle and his colleague, Eben Tobar, a staff artist at the Passion Works Studio, came with supplies and the belief that “everyone has something different to offer.”

“That’s probably the most meaningful part,” Tobar said, “is just having a community where everyone’s friends and everyone’s supportive, and everyone’s bouncing off of each other in a positive way.”

The studio strives to create a place where people can feel that sense of belonging, Ingle said.

“We're wanting to create work that fits the worker, not the other way around,” Ingle said, making a distinction.

The result is this “really beautiful art that kind of has that collaborative aesthetic to it, lots of layering and lots of color.”

That same vibe took root in the park district space. Artists wore Pollock-splotched smocks or aprons and painted away, together.

“You’re done? That’s beautiful,” said McAteer, praising a completed work. “Jacob, you are an artist.”