Health
Children with type 1 diabetes design the annual Art Project for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
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Mar 11, 2010 - 1:24 AM

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Fairfield County hosted its 10th annual Kids Art Project on February 21 at the Darien Arts Center at Darien Town Hall. Children of the JDRF with type 1 diabetes were invited to participate in the annual project that typically raises $10,000 to $20,000 toward research to find a cure for juvenile diabetes. This year’s art project with the theme, “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” will be auctioned off to the highest bidder at the JDRF Annual Spring Gala on May 1 at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich.

Gracie McConnaughy, 17, of New Canaan, conceived the theme of this year’s art project, the first year that a youth has led the project and design. This year’s design is a pop art piece that depicts dancing through the ages centered on the gala’s theme of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” The project is developed in stages and started prior to Sunday’s event when Gracie and her friends dressed in a variety of dance costumes ranging from 1950s Elvis to 1990’s grunge and posed for photographs. Gracie then transformed the photographs into black and white sketches, which the children colored and painted on Sunday. Gracie, with the help of her mother Valerie McConnaughy, plan to scan the resulting works of art into the computer and manipulate them into a cohesive design that in the end will resemble an Andy Warhol-style art work. “We know the kids aren’t going to color inside the lines, but at the end of the day that doesn’t matter,” Valerie said. “This is a labor of love.”

Gracie, who was diagnosed as a child with type 1 diabetes, has participated in the annual art project for the past nine years. However she said she’s always been withdrawn from the diabetes community, so she thought that by taking on a larger role this year, it may help her to open up about the disease. “I’ve always had trouble talking about it with people,” she said. “[The art project] helps you feel like you’re not the only one…it’s not ‘why me?’ anymore.”

Tynan Kwok, of Brookfield, agreed, saying she enjoys being around other children with diabetes. She attended with her friend Baylee Sagnelli, also of Brookfield. “It feels like you’re not all alone,” Kwok said.

Karen Capuciati, of Stamford, a JDRF board member who has been involved with the kid’s art project since its inception, said that the art project is a special opportunity for the kids of all ages to be together and realize they are not alone in dealing with this disease. “I’m impressed by how the kids in our chapter have such poise in dealing with this disease,” she said. “The art project provides them with a venue to meet and talk to other children like themselves.”

JDRF, the world’s leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research, was founded in 1970 by the parents of children with juvenile diabetes—a disease which strikes children suddenly, makes them insulin-dependent for life, and carries the constant threat of devastating complications.Since inception, JDRF has provided more than $1.6 billion in direct funding to diabetes research.Eighty five percent of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and research-related education. JDRF’s mission is constant, to find a cure for diabetes and prevent and treat its complications through the support of research.
For volunteer opportunities, tickets, donations or other information, call 203-854-0658 or visit www.jdrf.org/fairfieldcounty.

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