A blank, maroon canvas sits at the front of the room. It, and the expectant crowd gathered before it, are waiting for Kendrell Daniels.
Painting demonstrations aren’t new to the Kemper native and junior art major at Mississippi State University. This is his third year painting live for this very event, and in honor of Super Bulldog Weekend, he’s chosen baseball as the theme for Saturday’s piece.
“I still get a little nervous,” he admits.
Without saying a word, Daniels calmly approaches the canvas, and the crowd hushes in near reverent respect. Then the artist reaches down with his left foot to grab his brush between his toes, dips it into white paint and masterfully applies the first strokes to what will become his latest work.
Daniels was one of five artists featured in the third annual Express Yourself! art show and auction in the T.K. Martin Center at MSU. Those artists range from ages 9 to 48, and they all have some type of disability – physical, mental or intellectual.
“A lot of work goes into this,” said Daniels, who was born with no arms. “But even with a disability, you can do anything. You can be creative. That’s important to showcase.”
Dozens of pieces the artists created, from paintings to greeting cards to ceramics, were displayed around the room for silent auction, with patrons filtering through to view and place bids. They could also bid on Daniels’ live painting.
The event brings between $5,000 and $8,000 each year, said Kasee Stratton-Gadke, executive director for the Mississippi Institute on Disabilities, which houses the T.K. Martin Center. Half the proceeds go to the artists, she said, and half support the Express Yourself! program, which offers art classes to people with disabilities.
“The biggest part for them is seeing other people appreciate it as much as they do,” said Gracie Conn, art coordinator for the T.K. Martin Center. “That’s really gratifying for me and for them.”
Conn said show artists worked about an hour a week over the past month to create their pieces. Some, like Daniels, are fully independent. Others need varying levels of assistance, but Conn said she pushes all of them to be as detailed as they can.
“They don’t just come in here, paint something, and we say, ‘Alright, we’re done,’” she said. “… We want it to be something that’s polished and nice.”
Joy of art
From very young, Jenna Hersey of Starkville learned to appreciate impressionist paintings, especially Claude Monet’s.
Her interest in art led Hersey’s parents, Mark and Laurie, to look for art classes that could accommodate her disability. By fall 2022, that brought them to the T.K. Martin Center. That same season, she sold her first piece at the Cotton District Arts Festival.
“She was so proud,” Mark recalled. “And the person who bought it was someone who didn’t even know her.”
With Conn’s guidance, Mark said, Jenna, now 16, has gotten even better. Her painting for auction Saturday featured a waterfall near a cabin in the Catskills, where her family visits for vacation.
“We go there a lot in spring,” Jenna said. “I love it there. We have a lot of pictures of it.”
The waterfall, just like art itself, provides Jenna with a calm escape.
“It makes me happy,” she said.
That wasn’t always the case for Daniels, who struggled learning to paint with his feet when he first came to the center’s program as a high school student six years ago.
“The first few times, I actually thought about stopping doing it,” he said. “… It was hard. I just kept coming back, trying it and developing my own style of what I wanted to do.”
A fan of Peyton Manning, the first piece that excited him about art was Denver Broncos themed. Since then, a couple of his pieces made their way to Dak Prescott, the MSU Bulldog football legend and now starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.
Daniels said that experience pushed him even farther in his art but changed his NFL allegiance.
“I’m a Cowboys fan now,” he said, laughing.
Daniels has taken up photography, also independently, and with graduation a little more than a year away, he’s starting to think about what comes next.
“I either want to get my master’s in art somewhere else, or try to get a job doing photography at MSU,” he said.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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