Lancaster artist shares how he uses art to overcome his disability, upcoming documentary by F&M artist tells his story and others

• Aniya Faulcon
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Aniya Faulcon is The Spark Host/Producer for WITF. She has a passion for shining a light on unique people, experiences, and perspectives within the community.
  
  Previously she worked as the People and Social Trends Reporter/Video Anchor for LancasterOnline | LNPNews. During her time there, she created video packages, provided Facebook Live coverage at community events, and wrote data-driven stories with census data and feature stories on local leaders, non-profit organizations, events, and people with unique talents and experiences within Lancaster County.
  
  Aniya also worked at WMAR ABC 2 News as a Sales Assistant and at the AFRO American Newspapers as an Executive Assistant and Media correspondent. Aniya interned at WEAA Gospel Grace 88.9 and worked at her alma mater’s radio station, WWPJ at Point Park University, where she gained skills and a passion for radio.
  
  Aniya grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore School for the arts for high school with a concentration in acting. She continued to hone her skills and passion for storytelling and later graduated from Point Park University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Broadcast Reporting. Aniya is eager to continue her journey with storytelling in her role with WITF, as she aims to shed a light on real people and real stories within Pennsylvania in a variety of mediums.

 David Nolt

David Nolt, artist featured in the A Life Like This documentary

Airdate: March 07, 2023

An upcoming documentary aims to give its audience a glimpse of what life is like for people living with disabilities that use art to overcome challenges.

James Hollenbaugh, Lanacaster documentary filmmaker of A Life Like This and artist-in-residence at Franklin & Marshall College, features three artists living with a mental disability and one who has a physical disability in his film.

Deb Grove

James Hollenbaugh, A Life Like This documentary filmmaker and artist-in-residence at Franklin & Marshall College

Hollenbaugh and David Nolt, an artist featured in A Life Like This joined us on The Spark Tuesday to tell us about the documentary, its impact, and the stories within it.

At birth Nolt was diagnosed with Arthrogryposis, a rare condition that causes stiff and deformed joints in different parts of the body. However, at the age of two, Nolt began creating art with his mouth and later used art to fuel his optimism and positive attitude.

Creating art also helped Nolt to bypass the barriers that some people living disabilities face when seeking employment, as he’s a full-time artist for the Mouth & Foot Painting Artists Association.

Hollenbaugh said, with the A Life Like This documentary he wanted to show his audience the reality of how artists create, why they create and how their artwork has made a positive impact on their life.

James Hollenbaugh

David Nolt’s painting of the Statue of Liberty

“Some of these artists are fairly nonverbal and really use art as a way to communicate with other people and just connect with the community around them as well as individuals in their life, their friends, their family,” Hollenbaugh said. “And it’s also something that they can show that they’ve created that they can be proud of, but also release out into the world.”

The A Life Like This art exhibition is 0pen Monday through Friday from 10 to 4 p.m. The exhibit runs through March 31 at the Susan and Benjamin Winter Visual Arts Center, at 925 Buchanan Ave. in Lancaster. A reception will be held on Friday from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The film’s screening will be held at 7 p.m. on March 31 at the Susan and Benjamin Winter Visual Arts Center.

To see more of Nolt’s artwork visit imfpa.org/artists/david-nolt.