Local disability group clients' art adorns Groton airport

July 25--The Groton-New London Airport is now filled with art.

Each year for nearly a decade, participants in a community program for people with disabilities at the Quaker Hill branch of the nonprofit United Cerebral Palsy have made mosaics, sculpture, murals and paintings for display at the annual Salon des Indépendants exhibit at the Hygienic Galleries in New London.

Now each of those pieces is on display in an exhibit called "Life Without Limits" in the Groton airport's lobby, the latest installation of the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition and Connecticut Airport Authority's Art in the Airport program.

Clients at UCP of Eastern CT, which helps people with a spectrum of disabilities including cerebral palsy at its Groton, Old Saybrook and Quaker Hill locations, collaborated on eight pieces of art at UCP's programs.

"People participate in any way they can, whether it's coming up with the initial concept to making choices about a paint color using an eye gaze," UCP Executive Director Jennifer Keatley said in a news release. "The art program at UCP helps each person express his or her unique talents in a way that's accessible to each person."

Keatley said the exhibit puts the artists' efforts in the public eye and will also hopefully expose more people to UCP and its mission.

"It's good to collaborate with other organizations...in unexpected ways," she said.

"This new program is a wonderful way to embed local art in a non-traditional venue," Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition Executive Director Wendy Bury added. "It gives artists and community organizations like UCP exposure to new audiences while brightening the airport and offering visitors a dynamic array of artwork by local and regional artists."

The art was displayed at a reception last month and will stay in the airport's main terminal, on view to the public, until Aug. 30, when Keatley said she expects to move it to a new space at the Garde Arts Center.

m.shanahan@theday.com

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