Whether it be a staff in-service painting class, artist in residence, or a large scale mural, over the years I have been very fortunate to work with so many truly amazing people at Wacosa. Not all individuals can have their images online, so what you see here is limited to mostly finished products. 

Here is a post from Greater St. Cloud regarding our work together: 

"While WACOSA has a primary focus on providing employment opportunities for adults with disabilities, the organization also provides various life enrichment programs, many of which revolve around the arts, thanks to local collaborations, including private donors, grants from foundations, such as the MN State Arts Board and Central MN Arts Board, local artists and organizations such as the Paramount Center for the Arts.

A recent example of this collaboration happened earlier this year and included local artist Dan Mondloch. Dan worked with the WACOSA North Program participants twice per week for five weeks. Each participant created many pieces of art, and then Dan used their artwork to create four large murals. Pictured below are the murals, which hang throughout the program area, as well as a few of the WACOSA artists. #stcloudshines

Photos by: SavvyPhotage"

Here is a story captioned from "The Buzz", Wacosa's newsletter: 

"Thanks to a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board,
WACOSA clients were recently given the opportunity to
work with award-winning local artist Dan Mondloch to
create the “Tree of Life” mural. Over a 10 week period,
Dan met with WACOSA artists focusing on various painting
techniques to create paintings which would later become the
leaves and trunk of the tree. Each leaf on the “Tree of Life”
memorializes a client or person who has touched our lives.
Al Stark, WACOSA staff and artist, meticulously inscribed
names on the leaves. The vibrant colors of the “Tree of Life”
represent the fond memories and joy each person has added
to our program. The mural is permanently mounted in the
Board Room of the Administrative Building in Waite Park.
Dan reflected on the project by saying “I enjoyed the project.
Feeling comfortable is important- you could see as the
artists got more comfortable in the class they became more
comfortable painting and then the art came out.”
A heart felt Thank You to Dan, Al, WACOSA artists and
staff and to the Minnesota State Arts Board for making this
beautiful memorial possible.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota
through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks
to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural
Heritage Fund."

Tree Of Life Mural.
In 2019, two days a week, for ten weeks I worked with clients at Wacosa to create acrylic paintings on watercolor paper. At the end of the 10 weeks, I used their paintings to create a larger Tree of life mural, commemorating so many of the wonderful clients that may not still be with us today. 

It's also great to see local non profits utilizing the value of local art, not only as art therapy for clients, but also as a way to beautify and customize their place of business. It really does add value or they wouldn't invest in it. To view a list of other businesses who also see local artwork as a valuable addition to their workspace, visit my Amazing Partners page. If you own a business and would like more information on how to commission a painting or series of paintings, please visit the Commissions Page or contact me danmondloch@gmail.com with additional questions.