Gabi Dedek is all smiles and excitement as she shows off her acrylic paintings during a recent session at AbilityPath’s Phil Egan Art Program in San Jose.
The first one is titled “Strike,” a colorful piece of art that places the viewer right in the midst of all the chaotic pin action at a bowling alley.
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I used to bowl,” she informs. “Not much now.”
The next painting is equally vibrant, mixing and matching a wide assortment of triangles and squares in striking fashions.
“My personality speaks through my art work,” Dedek comments. “I’m a whimsical type of person.”
The Palo Alto resident has been enrolled in this Art Program now for eight years. But she’s been involved with AbilityPath — an organization that works to empower people with special needs through a variety of innovative and inclusive programs — for far longer.
“Forty-nine years with AbilityPath,” says Dedek, mentioning that she turns 50 this fall. “I was born into the program.”
Dedek is one of many aspiring artists with special needs who are prospering through AbilityPath’s Art Program, which offers structure and guidance — as well as a safe forum and a supportive community — for people to advance their artistic abilities and knowledge.
But the program doesn’t stop at the creative side of the coin. It’s also about the flipside — helping these artists learn how to sell and market their works to the public, so that they can move toward such goals as greater self-sufficiency and independence.
“I think what AbilityPath does is it gives people a push in the right direction and helps them see what it’s like to promote themselves,” says Shay Barnett, who runs AbilityPath’s Art Program.
Yet, the program — which provides one-on-one training and mentorship as well as art supplies, learning spaces and so much more — is operating at a substantial deficit. Specifically, the gap between funds received and funds spent stands at $1,452 per participant right now, according to organizers, which not only creates challenges in terms of ongoing art instruction but also greatly limits any expansion plans.
Through the Mercury News’ annual Wish Book campaign, which seeks to raise money for the most vulnerable in our communities, AbilityPath — a Redwood City-headquartered nonprofit with 100-plus-year history of assisting people with special needs and developmental disabilities in the Bay Area — is hoping to raise $15,000 to help support 30 artists in the program.
Specifically, the grant would help purchase a variety of art supplies (paints, paper, clay, framing supplies, etc.) as well as provide for transportation costs, art contest entry fees and more. It will also help the program strengthen and expand its offerings, allowing AbilityPath to purchase software for 3-D modeling, animation, digital art and other 21st-century artistic endeavors.
Philip Ma draws on his iPad as he participates in the “Phil Egan Program for the Arts” at the AbilityPath offices in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Longtime Art Program student Philip Ma definitely has a strong interest in these kinds of digital art forms.
“Just recently (Philip) wanted to learn 3-D modeling,” says Barnett, adding: “I didn’t know it either.”
So, they tackled the topic together. And, the result? “Phillips is significantly better at 3-D modeling than I am,” Barnett admits.
Ma — a 39-year-old Cupertino resident who already holds a BFA degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco — also loves to paint cityscapes, which he shares with us as he grabs his iPad and starts displaying very detailed paintings of San Jose, Budapest and other marquee cities.
“I want to learn the added details,” he says of what draws him to painting cityscapes. “The hard part is sometimes there are too many lines and too many details.”
Matthaus Lam adjusts a dragon he sculpted out of aluminum foil before posing for a portrait with his sculpture after the AbilityPath Authors Luncheon in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. Wish Book for AbilityPath. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Matthaus Lam, a 27-year-old artist from Los Altos, prefers elephants and dinosaurs to cityscapes. His amazing sculptures, made from clay, foil and other materials, capture birds, fish and other intriguing creatures.
“I like a lot of animals,” Lam says.
He’d quickly go on to illustrate his knowledge, giving tidbits of information about the subjects of his sculptures that were on display at the Art Program.
“I think you know the most about animals of anyone I’ve ever met,” Barnett says to Lam.
One of Lam’s greatest triumphs is a life-sized juvenile elephant made from recycled materials — toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, paper drink holders, etc, — which was proudly on display at the Palo Alto Cultural Center as part of an exhibit featuring artists with special needs.
All three of these artists have gone on from AbilityPath’s Art Program to find success in the overall art world, with — among other things — Ma landing a job supporting art teachers at the Palo Alto Cultural Center, Lam finding buyers for a number of his sculptures and Dedek teaching art workshops.
“If it wasn’t for AbilityPath, where would I be?” Dedek wonders out loud. “I have prospered and advanced through AbilityPath.”
For more information on Matthaus Lam, visit https://norcalpublicmedia.org/television/connect-the-bay-sculptor-matthaus-lam.
For more information on Gabi Dedek, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyIverpb8zM.
For more information on Philip Ma, visit https://www.artlifting.com/collections/philip-ma.
THE WISH BOOK SERIESWish Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by The Mercury News. Since 1983, Wish Book has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.
WISHDonations will help AbilityPath provide art supplies to participants, support stipends for workshops and digital art as well as pay for transportation costs so they can attend galleries, museums, community art classes. Goal: $15,000.
HOW TO GIVEDonate at wishbook.mercurynews.com/donate or mail in this form.
ONLINE EXTRARead other Wish Book stories, view photos and video at wishbook.mercurynews.com.