Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Frederick Artists Donate Time & Creativity

Four young, local artists have been hard at work for the past 4 months, donating their time and creativity to create an impressive, happy, fun, whimsical mural on the 15' high and 60' wide production wall of  the Jeanne Bussard Center in Frederick Maryland, a non-profit organization that provides employment opportunities for people experiencing disabilities through education, training, rehabilitation, and work.
The talented artists, all 2005 graduates of Linganore High School are Benjamin F. Gartell III, Steven Orrence, Jessica Sansbury and Diana Marshall. The four were inspired to create the mural after Diana, whose brother is a client at JBC, visited the center for her brother's annual meeting in October 2010 and noticed the 15' high and 60' bare production wall. She mentioned that she was interested in doing a mural to Jeanne Dalaba, (the CEO of JBC since 1999) and the idea grew from there. Jeanne's only conditions were that the artists not paint anything offensive, not use profanity, and include Waldo somewhere in the mural. The artists then coordinated, planned and started painting.
Artists pictured above: Benjamin F. Gartell III, Steven Orrence, Jessica Sansbury and Diana Marshall.
The four artists spent mostly nights and weekends working on the mural so they would not disrupt day-to-day operations at JBC. During the creation of the mural, employees and clients at JBC were fascinated with the its progress, always looking for the newest artistic creations. The artists used scaffolding and painted with "Oops" paint, donated by Costco in Frederick.
On Tuesday, January 18th, a presentation of the mural was held. Among the guest were friends and family of the artists, staff and clients at JBC, as well as Congressman Roscoe Bartlett and staff.
Since 1965, the Jeanne Bussard Center has served residents of Frederick County. The Center is a private, non-profit agency certified by the State of Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services and the State of Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration. Learn more about the Jeanne Bussard Center here.

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