A safe artistic space free of barriers. Context Creative in Troy held Creative Creation: a disability centered ceramic lesson in troy aiming to engage the disabled community through tactile art. The workshop was led by college student Zee Camp. They emphasize the importance of creating safe spaces taught by disabled people, for disabled people.
"There's no wrong creature. A made creature is a good creature," says Camp.
A junior at Bennington College in Vermont, Camp is a double major in Japanese and Ceramics. They were recommended Context Collective by their accommodations officer. Director and co-founder of the multi-use art space, Mariah Kitner, says Zee had all of the right qualifications to fit their working space, but was unsure if their working space were fit for Camp.
"We have a multi-level space, so that was one of my biggest concerns with hiring Zee, was making sure they were comfortable," says Kitner.
Camp made things work, creating a work space in the bottom floor where they were able to work comfortably. However, when it came time to host Creative Creation, they knew a location change was needed.
"When we have spaces that are inaccessible, have steps, it can feel kind of a sort of otherness. And so having spaces that are more accessible just allows a lot of people to interact with their community, with other communities," says Camp.
The event was held in The Flour Bender Bakeshop which Camp says was happy to accommodate their needs. While only in Troy for a short time. They say finding community has been a challenge, which is what prompted them to hold the disability centered event.
"There's a lot of really great nonprofits that do a lot of work with adults with disabilities in the area. This is kind of the first I've seen of just kind of like a one-off event" says Camp.
Growing up, Camp says there were only two types of events, support groups and adaptive sports.
"it's important to think about disabled people first because so much are we overlooked, but it also is once you do make something accessible you can realize how much it helps everyone," says Camp.
The junior has a positive approach to life. They say they do not need to be great at everything, just the things that are important.