Nicole Dubiago of New Canaan stands underneath her "Vine Cottage" painting as part of the Arts For Healing Exhibit at Town Hall.

Photo Credit: Melvin Mason

Nicole Dubiago, right, poses with South Avenue Cottage employee Rachel DuBraski.

Photo Credit: Melvin Mason

New Canaan Selectman Robert Mallozzi III, left, is proud of Nicole Dubiago's work in Arts For Healing exhibit.

Photo Credit: Melvin Mason

Nicole Dubiago of New Canaan

Photo Credit: Melvin Mason

NEW CANAAN, Conn. — Nicole Dubiago loves skiing and swimming. But when she’s not trying to be the fastest in the pool or down a hill, she fancies handling a paintbrush.

“It’s wonderful,” said Dubiago, 36, a lifelong New Canaan resident who lives at the South Avenue Cottage assisted living home. “I like to be a great artist.”

She also likes when people get to see her fine artwork. So seeing her rendition of New Canaan’s famed Vine Cottage, filled with bright greens and blues, on display in the New Canaan Town Hall auditorium is gratifying.

Artwork by Dubiago and nearly two-dozen other residents is on display as part of the Brush Strokes exhibit sponsored by Arts For Healing, a nonprofit organization that helps people with special needs speak to the world through creativity.

Brooke Manning-Hinds, executive director of Arts For Healing, said the exhibit promotes the organization and its clients, children and adults from Fairfield County and Westchester County, N.Y., with learning and developmental disabilities. Arts For Healing works were on display in New York City in October, the Silvermine Arts Center in March and at the New Canaan YMCA two months ago. The art, Manning-Hinds said, is therapeutic as well as expressive.

“It doesn’t matter what the pieces are. People are impressed by it,” Manning-Hinds said. “People have said, ‘Gosh, I can’t believe this was done by someone with special needs.’”  

Dubiago painted the Vine Cottage because she remembers it as a starting spot for the annual New Canaan Memorial Day Parade. Though she was disappointed that this year’s parade was canceled because of morning rains, she is happy that people are impressed by her creation, including her friend Selectman Robert Mallozzi III. “It looks great,” he told Dubiago.

The Brush Strokes display will remain in Town Hall through June 26.

Have you seen the Arts For Healing exhibit in New Canaan Town Hall? What did you think of it? Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page.