May 19, 2022 - 18:45
It was such a wonderful experience to work with the artists at CCW. The exhibition was one of the highlights of my semester; I enjoyed it so so much! Working with Allen Yu was such a pleasure. He is very talented, and it was fun to get to know him. I was especially excited to meet Allen’s family at the exhibition and to see Allen’s reaction to his works being displayed. Through chatting with Allen at the exhibition, I learned which Santa was his favorite on his piece entitled “Santas.” I also learned that his mother’s favorite hot air balloon was Bugs Bunny and that she asked Allen to include that in his “Home Air Balloons” piece. We also discussed how the hot air balloon festival in my hometown (at the Solberg airport) was inspiration for the creation of his piece “Hot Air Balloons."
At the exhibition, I also had the privilege of chatting with Timothy O’ Donovan for about an hour. He is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever spoken with! I loved learning about his life (his travels, family history, etc.) It was so much fun to hear about the context of his works directly from his mouth. His travel stories and knowledge of random facts were captivating. I also appreciated his life advice to me, which was to travel as much as I can whenever I can. Overall, from the initial tour of CCW to working with Allen via zoom to the final exhibition process, it’s evident that CCW is a treasure! Disabled creators deserve to have a sanctuary space like CCW at their disposal. I hope that more spaces like this can exist in the future.