Remodeled Jump the Moon Art Studio and Gallery helps visitors reach for stars
Jump the Moon is a local nonprofit art studio providing individuals with disabilities — or diverse abilities, as Jump the Moon prefers — the tools, space and knowledge to realize their inner artist. At Jump the Moon’s newly remodeled location, 48 N. 100 W., visitors at all ability levels can create any sort of art they envision.
Michael Bingham, the founder and creative director, has been working with a group of volunteers through a four-month closure to revitalize and reopen the studio. In the next few weeks, Jump the Moon hopes to host a grand reopening with food, live music, art demonstrations and interactive activities.
“We’ll have artists demonstrating how to paint with a power chair or use a pendulum,” Bingham said. “We’ll have things people can try for themselves. We’ll have spin art machines going, or they can make a melted crayon drawing.”
The primary goal of the studio is to give everybody the opportunity to make art. According to their website, the studio encourages visitors to “make new friends and overcome your own perceived ‘Art Disabilities.’”
“We’d like for the whole community to be involved,” Bingham said. “We’re especially set up to help anybody that has a disability challenge.”
The inspiration for the studio came from Bingham’s 10 years as a high school art teacher.
“Right from the beginning, there were students with disabilities in my classes,” Bingham said. “Sometimes kids will spend all their highschool years in one room. When I found out there were students with more severe disabilities that hardly got into any classes, I insisted they be a part of the art classes.”
According to Bingham, art offered an opportunity for students to create something entirely for themselves.
“Once we found a way for them to be involved in making art, it would make a big difference in a student’s joy and self-worth,” Bingham said. “Especially if they were non-verbal or didn’t have a body that really worked — we had a few students who could only move their eyes.”
According to Bingham, he focused on helping people make art because of the space and time restraints that come with high school art classes.
“In my classes there were 40 students, and as a high school art teacher you get one hour, so maybe I would get to spend two minutes with each student,” Bingham said. “It just wasn’t enough time to explore what we can do with art. So I started dreaming about a nonprofit where we had plenty of time and room to do what isn’t possible in a classroom.”
Jump the Moon was established as a nonprofit in 2017. After losing their Main Street location and spending a brief stint at Utah State University’s Institute for Disability Research, Policy and Practice, the studio settled at their newest location in 2023. Visitors can expect to create art at their own pace with as little or as much guidance as they desire.
“We don’t ask anybody what their disability challenge is,” Bingham said. “We never want to be a place that focuses on what somebody can’t do. Our focus is completely on what you can do.”
Jump the Moon seeks to avoid “hand over hand” assistance, where one person physically directs the work and movement of another. According to the article “The Problems with Hand over Hand,” this type of assistance is commonly used on people with disabilities, despite research indicating it can be invasive and is ineffective as a teaching method.
“We are not big fans of what’s called ‘hand over hand,’” Bingham said. “We’ve overcome that in a lot of different ways so that people can primarily make their own art and be proud of what they’ve accomplished on their own.”
The studio partners with USU engineering students to create assistive art devices adapted to the person, which enables visitors with diverse abilities to create art without needing to rely on somebody else.
In previous years, students have created crayon melting robots and tools suited to those who have trouble fully grasping items.
“We make some special crayon creations called doodles,” Bingham said. “They are shaped like donuts or other shapes that are much easier to hold. My favorite is one that has the whole color wheel, so if you can get one finger around it you have a whole box of crayons at your hand.”
The studio offers motorized wheelchairs with attachments that allow visitors to paint on large canvases.
Jump the Moon artist Kaya Eccles utilized one of these wheelchairs to create artwork on display at the Hyrum museum.
“We have an artist that does pretty amazing stuff with the power chair,” Bingham said. “Kaya Eccles had a one-woman show this last summer at the Hyrum museum that featured a 12-by-9-foot floral painting.”
This year, students are developing a remote control pendulum for those with full or partial body paralysis.
“Imagine you’re a person that can just move your hand enough to run a game controller,” Bingham said. “You control a pendulum painting on a canvas on the floor and your partner is gravity, which provides the force to create the art while you provide the ideas. You don’t really need help from anybody else.”
According to Bingham, the studio is always looking for new ways to help visitors become artists.
“It’s a very inventive place,” Bingham said. “We like it when we have a challenge to figure out how to help somebody make their own art.”
The studio has had its fair share of challenges, which Bingham attributes to the nature of being a nonprofit.
“You’re always hoping that enough money will come through so you can cover rent for the month, but you’re not sure how it’s gonna happen the month after that,” Bingham said. “We’re fortunate to have been around for six-and-a-half years. We mostly run off volunteer help; we really only have two employees.”
According to Bingham, volunteers are a vital component to the studio’s success and have been working daily on the remodel.
McKay Neilson, a volunteer at the studio, has been involved since 2019.
“I discovered Jump the Moon through the Department of Workforce Services,” Neilson said. “I met with the employment specialist, and I mentioned to him that I liked art. He suggested I go and see what it’s about.”
As a volunteer, Neilson helps set up and provide visitors with whatever tools they need.
“I’ll help people that come in the studio get the materials for the different activities they want to do,” Neilson said. “I’ve helped set up the booths at Summerfests.”
Summerfest Arts Faire is an annual art show hosted at Cache County Fairgrounds. Jump the Moon features regularly at the event.
According to Neilson, a standout experience was creating and helping others make art happen at a car show. At the show, Neilson met political commentator and CEO of Mercury Radio Arts, Glenn Beck.
“One year, we were at a car show, and Glenn Beck was there,” Neilson said. “I walked into a booth where Michael and Glenn Beck were talking. Michael told me to show one of my pieces to Glenn Beck. He and another fellow started a bidding war over the piece, and Glenn Beck bought it.”
As an artist himself, Neilson said he enjoys working with a variety of mediums to create his art.
“I like to do a lot of abstract stuff with watercolor, pencils — several different types,” Neilson said. “I find art to be quite relaxing. I like the creative aspect of it.”
Neilson believes in Jump the Moon’s mission to “empower individual ability, expression, and dignity” through art.
“There are many people with limitations, but I don’t see any reason that they should let their limitations stop them from being creative and experiencing new or different ways of making art,” Neilson said.
Neilson said he views volunteering and visiting as opportunities nobody should pass up.
“It’s a great opportunity for everybody to have new experiences with art,” Neilson said.
As Jump the Moon prepares to reopen with a renovated studio, Bingham hopes the Logan community will stop by and discover their own artistic potential.
“Our goal with this remodel is to make sure everybody in the valley knows we’re there and knows what we’re capable of helping with,” Bingham said. “The studio we’re working on is cooler than any studio I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been an artist for 40 years.”