Pablo Center invites visitors to the Laurie Beazie gallery showcase. “‘The Fellowship Gallery Show’ features artwork created by neurodivergent teens and young adults who participate in Islands Of Brilliance’s Eau Claire Fellowship program,” according to the company website.
IOB, based out of Milwaukee, Wis. is dedicated to providing a creative space and facilitating studio workshops with the help of their fellows, who are trained before the start of the program. These fellows lead students in journeys of self-discovery and artistic development.
“It’s a very supportive space,” said Hannah Sallman, one of the fellows who facilitated the workshops. “I really love seeing the transition from people coming in at the beginning, sort of reserved, and then starting to feel more confident with sharing about their artwork.”
They expressed the importance of the exhibit for the artists.
“Seeing the art pieces in the gallery, you know that that sort of opportunity to have your artwork displayed in a professional setting doesn’t come to people so often,” August Carlson, another fellow who facilitated the workshop process, said.
According to Carlson, the fellowship serves as one such opportunity and is important for representing diverse voices and neurodivergent people from different walks of life.
The gallery showcases the product of these histories and this communal experience. In addition to displaying inclusive, shared expression, the gallery also demonstrates student improvement.
“For Islands of Brilliance, our specific fellowship programming follows an evidence-based curriculum. So, Augie and I do not write the curriculum,” Sallman said.
According to the IOB site, the curriculum is written by Director of Learning & Outcomes Kate Siekmann alongside professional creative technologists and licensed special educators. They offer sandbox, foundation, academy and community programs.
Carlson said that going through an example of the curriculum gave them a good idea of how to lead the sessions.
“For Hannah and I, our first few sessions were just kind of figuring them out at our own pace,” Carlson said.
According to Sallman, they hosted one workshop that focused on connection, community and confidence where participants made connection maps to explore the theme.
“So folks are reflecting on the relationships they have in their life,” Sallman said. “So like their friends, maybe work acquaintances, family. And they’re creating these maps to visually represent what those connections look like.”
Sallman said the team works off of presentations.
“We have an ice breaker for the day. We call it a stoke, and that warms up the room. We get talking, usually it is kind of related to our project at the time. We set our goal for the day and start a new project or continue where we left off,” Sallman said.
Pieces from one of these recent communal projects are hanging in the second floor Laurie Beazie gallery at Pablo Center. Both Carlson and Sallman created works for the show, as well. The gallery demonstrates appreciation for student efforts and cumulative accomplishment.
“We always end our workshops with discussion,” Carlson said. “So we have a few discussion questions, and then if folks want to be celebrated through what they created, we say, ‘Hey, how would you like to be celebrated today?’ Some people would like applause, some like snaps.”
The group always ends on a positive note.
“A big part of the program is celebrating people,” Sallman said. “Some people go totally different directions with their projects, that’s not the prompt, and that’s okay; we support that.”
The Eau Claire division of the Islands of Brilliance program is offered through Pablo Center. Spring and Summer registration for 2025 is now open. Readers can find their student success stories at the bottom of the official Islands of Brilliance webpage.
“There’s so many limiting beliefs on what an autistic person can be,” said Sallman. “If you can create a piece of art and learn how to use Procreate, what other skills can you learn? You can achieve great things when guided by something that’s important to you.”
Gannon can be found at [email protected].
