Red Bird Allows Cardinal Clients’ Artistry To FlyEditor’s note: March is National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. This is the first in a four-part series focusing on the programs offered by Cardinal Services.
I’m a person, not a punchline. That’s the theme of 2020’s March Disability Awareness Month, and artists at Cardinal Services’ Red Bird Studio prove that people of all abilities have the ability to create anything.
“When people walk in here, they think they’re going to see us all sitting around doing a craft,” Michele Fanfair-Steury, Red Bird Art Studio coordinator, said. “But then their jaws drop. It’s an actual art studio.”
Cardinal Services is a nonprofit organization serving adults with disabilities and families with small children who have needs. It was founded in 1954 by a group of families and their teenaged children with disabilities. Cardinal Services now serves more than 4,000 people through the programs in Kosciusko, Cass, Fulton and Marshall counties.
Red Bird Art Studio began in April 2016.
“It was something that was talked about, then we got a grant through the Anthony Wayne Services Foundation,” Michelle Boxell, Cardinal Services community relations director, said.
She said the group Creative Abundance then helped Cardinal Services employees identify the space needed, the staff, what kinds of art supplies would be available in the area, etc. It got its name because the Cardinal is a red bird.
“We meet our artists where they’re at,” Fanfair-Steury said. “All of our folks that come in here are artists. Some people just want to color pages, but they also want to make money and see their artwork sell.”
All of the artwork created at Red Bird Studio is for sale to the public 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the studio, 504 N. Bay Drive, Warsaw.
The artwork ranges from all styles and kinds – pillows, jewelry, wall art, furniture, greeting cards, soaps, bags, the list goes on. The artists get 60% of the money when their piece sells, and 40% goes back into the studio.
For the artists who like to color pages but still sell their work, those pages are turned into jewelry. About 20 to 24 artists work in the studio each day, and Red Bird is always taking donations for supplies.
Artwork from Red Bird Studio artists is displayed throughout the Cardinal Services building, but also throughout the community. You’ll find it hanging in coffee shops, at the Chamber of Commerce, local businesses and the Wagon Wheel Theatre. And for one Red Bird Studio artist, her artwork spent time hanging in Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch’s office at the Statehouse in Indianapolis.
Mychelle Rowe, 22, who lives in Warsaw and is an artist at Red Bird, had her work, titled “The Music In Me,” selected as part of the Hoosier Women’s Artists contest in 2019-20. That got her “dripping” music note a spot on Crouch’s wall.
Rowe has been coming to Cardinal Services for three years.
“So, basically, Red Bird was the only thing that broke me down because I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I would sit in my room,” she said, saying that after her friends moved away after high school, she shut down.
“I quit my job to come here. I was not pleased with my parents moving me to a group home. But I came to Red Bird and then I got a little more motivation and started opening up to the staff,” Rowe said.
She also called Tim Young, who was Red Bird’s former artist in residence and formerly taught art at Grace College, her best friend. Young helped Rowe with realistic art, she said, including helping her paint a dog portrait.
Rowe said she’s recently gotten her driver’s license and a job. Staff at Red Bird said Rowe’s artwork sells quite a bit.
“Art has really been important to me,” Rowe said. “It makes me feel relaxed, and I’m in the zone. It’s all about the paint.”
Two artists from Red Bird Studio had their work selected for display at the Ability 2 exhibit at the Civil Rights Heritage Center in South Bend.
Locally, Red Bird artwork will be on display at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts for purchase Monday through April 27.
Anyone wanting to learn more about Cardinal Services, including touring the facility, are welcome to attend one of the twice monthly Cardinal Connections meetings. The CEO of Cardinal Services speaks to the group while people eat a box lunch, then a tour will be given. Boxell said more than 300 people each year pass through their building from Cardinal Connections.
