A GROUP of disabled students has been working with an art gallery on a unique project.

Six children from Chailey Heritage School took part in a special workshop at the Fabrica gallery in Duke Street, Brighton.

They were testing enAball, an award-winning invention by a group of University of Brighton students which allows wheelchair users the opportunity to express their creativity through art.

The portable and adaptable painting device uses the latest in 3D printing technology.

Once attached to the artist’s wheelchair, it follows their movements allowing the individual to paint independently, while having a removable paint cavity to allow for easy colour changing, maintenance and cleaning.

The students started by free painting to get them used to the enABall before progressing to ‘join-the-dot’ templates that really tested coordination before finally collaborating on very large shared canvas.

Al Carter, physical inclusion co-ordinator at Chailey Heritage, said: “It’s been such a great experience for everyone.

“We’ve got six students here today who each control or use their wheelchairs differently and they have all been able to experience painting and they have created some fantastic pieces of art.

“Thank you to the Fabrica and enABall teams for making today’s session happen.”

The workshop with Chailey was part of DRAWin, an international festival for live drawing performance last week organised by Draw to Perform and hosted by Fabrica Gallery in collaboration with South East Dance.

Sally-Anne Murray, development director for Chailey Heritage Foundation, said: “The children are so excited to be trialling this amazing local invention.

“Visual art is a great way for many of our children, who are non-verbal, to express themselves and to increase their wellbeing.

“Working with the students at the university to prototype this to ensure it has the best user outcomes is amazing.”