4th grader’s artwork in national show

By Rosemary Arnholt
Posted Thursday, May 1, 2008

 E-mail this page    Printer-friendly page

By Rosemary Arnholt
VIEW News Editor
NORTH BRANCH — A work of art by fourth-grader Mariah Lovasz was the only work from a Michigan student to be chosen for exhibit in Washington, D.C.

That show will be followed by her work, and the artwork from students from every state, shown in a traveling exhibit to children’s museums nationwide.
The painting, My Confused Animal, by the 10-1/2-year-old Ruth Fox Elementary student, was submitted by elementary art teacher Marianna Fiedor to the VSA Art program for its “Emerging Artists” exhibit.

Mariah’s family and her teacher “were elated,” after hearing that her painting was selected to represent Michigan in the VSA Arts’ and CVS Caremark “All Kids Can ... CREATE!” exhibition.

VSA Arts is a national program designed to promote all types of art for students with disabilities.

“This is a very big accomplishment for Mariah,” said her mother Kelli (Welke) Lovasz of Deerfield Township. “She has difficulty with her fine-motor skills and her attention span is very limited, so to not only complete a large scale painting, but have it accepted in an art show is wonderful. We are, understandably, very proud of her.”

Mariah has idiopathic seizures, a condition that developed when she was about 9 months old. Since then she has had two different surgeries to remove sections of her brain affected by the seizures. Her mom says it seems like the family spent the first five years of her life at Children’s Hospital in Detroit
“She has grand mal seizure clusters, which means we can go months without a seizure and then bang, a seizure every 45 minutes until we get them back under control. Sometimes they last a day; she’s gone as long as 10 days having them that way,” Kelli says.

Mariah’s condition is considered a life-long chronic illness. Because of the seizures and surgeries and her general condition, she has developmental delays and cognitive skill delays.

Fiedor, who retires from North Branch Schools this semester after more than 35 years, said she had heard about the VSA Art Program but had not previously submitted student work for consideration.

“I was elated for her and the school, that Mariah’s work was chosen to be a part of the exhibit,” Fiedor said.

Mariah attends special education classes at Ruth Fox, but spends a portion of her day in regular education, where she attends art class. Even with her list of problems, which include a lack of peripheral vision, she is, “making great strides academically this year and seems to be finally finding her footing,” says her mom.

“We spent Christmas in the hospital, but she has been seizure-free since,” Kelli Lovasz noted. Mariah is a loving girl, says her mom, who has no idea that she has any sort of disability and jumps whole heartedly into (whatever) is thrown at her. She’s fearless in that respect.

“She absolutely loves roller coasters! We went to Florida with the Make-A-Wish foundation and I think we rode every roller coaster in every theme park in Florida.”

Mariah also is a high energy youngster who usually can’t sit still long enough to finish anything, which is why her painting is so amazing, her mother says.
“She has always loved art, but had a horrible time with the patience aspect of drawing,”

Fiedor supervised Mariah’s artwork over several weeks, first drawing it, then outlining and finally painting it. Once she started, she went into it wholeheartedly, her teacher said.

Kelli Lovasz says that her daughter doesn’t quite understand that her work is in an art show.

“I hope when they send me pictures of it hanging up in Union Station she’ll be better able to process it. We were going to go see it hanging up in Ann Arbor, but now that it’s in Washington, D.C., that’s just not in the budget right now. But after it’s done there it travels to Children’s Museums around the country and I’m hoping Detroit will be one of them and we’ll be able to see it hanging.”