Special education students showcase artwork

When Jonathan Finck paints, he whistles, claps and stomps, but he doesn’t speak.

In fact, the 21-year-old artist can’t speak. Instead, Finck communicates on the canvas.

It’s a joyful, focused process, said Jennifer Compau, an art teacher at Barker High School.

Finck’s work, along with five of his classmates’, is on display at the Spokane Public Library in the Very Special Art Exhibition, through the end of this month. Each of the students has some sort of disability, ranging in type and severity, Compau said.

Two years ago Compau started working with Finck, who was part of the School to Life Program. The program helps special education students transition from high school to adulthood.

Compau said she started painting with Finck, who hadn’t taken art classes while attending high school classes. Soon other School to Life Students joined Finck in the art room. Eventually general education students started working with the special education students.

Although Finck can’t speak, Compau said it’s clear to her he loves art.

“You can tell when somebody falls in love with doing art,” Compau said. “Even if they can’t articulate it, you can feel it.”

Finck’s work is impressionistic and wild. Compau said she tapes the canvas down to the table and then lets Finck go to work. It’s a messy affair, with paint flying everywhere. However, the final product is, in Compau’s words, “exceptional.”

“My job was to kind of treat it like a goalie and keep it on the table,” Compau said of the canvas.

Compau said she treats her classroom like a college studio, or a job site. She doesn’t teach - she helps students when they need it.

An important goal of the School to Life Program, and Compau’s classroom, is to integrate special education students into the wider world. Compau said all too often special education students get shunted into janitorial work, or held completely separate.

Lynne Kovacich teaches the School to Life students. She said doing and showing art helps them integrate.

“It gives them purpose in the community,” Kovacich said.

The students’ work range in complexity and medium.

David Gonzales, 19, has a series of digitally created cars on display in the library. Gonzales said he paints the cars on Microsoft Paint.

He really started making art in sixth grade, Gonzales said.

“I didn’t draw stick figures like every other kid,” he said.

Now it’s something he imagines himself doing professionally.

“It’s a way for me to find a good job,” he said.

Matthew Pretz’s art features birds of all kind. Accuracy is paramount so he sketches based on books and images online. Like Gonzales, he sees art as something he will continue to do.

“Art can be part of my future,” he said.

Ultimately, Compau said the importance of the show, and the art program, is facilitating communication.

“It lets them have their own unedited voice,” she said. “It lets them speak in whatever medium they have.”