The first months of a new school year don’t just mean pens, notebooks and new clothes. In this state and many others, it also means not enough money for schools to buy needed supplies for teeming student rolls. One of the first things to go is art classes and supplies for students. It takes a legislature to help with the former, but local artist Derek Dyer is working on the latter. He just started the Schoolteachers’ Fund charitable organization to raise money to help teachers purchase art supplies for their students.
The first of many fundraising events has just been unveiled. Derek Dyer Gallery is co-sponsoring the Super Fun Kids Maze, next door to the newly opened Derek Dyer Gallery. Dyer himself designed the maze, which will be made out of chain-link fence. Although the maze will be open during the Halloween season, he says it’s not like other mazes meant to scare.
“It’s not a frightening event,” he explains. “There are fun things in the maze, characters, but not ghoulish ones. For example, there will be a candyman giving out candy.”
The maze is designed for ages 5 through 12, but older children and adults can enjoy it, too. Dyer said it took him over a half hour to find his way out. And it’s his maze! The maze will transform from its mild-mannered daytime face for kids into a place for adults at night, with DJs and a smoke machine.
Murals on the outside depict fun themes like sea and space. Inside, there are differently themed areas, such as “Moon Rock Land,” with staff serving as entertainers as well as security to ensure that everyone has a safe and enjoyable experience. Also, the only two remaining 8-foot-tall “Host City” Olympic pyramids will be on display. The other pyramids, which he enlisted artists to paint on-site downtown, are all 20 feet tall.
The gallery and four other sponsors are each donating $1,000, and Dyer hopes to add another $5,000 from gate proceeds to make a good start on the fund with $10,000. He has registered the fund with the state, and is in the process of applying for nonprofit status. The Derek Dyer Gallery will also donate 10 percent of all art sales to the fund. The gallery is exhibiting children’s artwork for the duration of the maze. Donations to the fund can also be made at the Zions Bank branch near the 1300 South freeway entrance.
The maze opened Oct. 2 with Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson cutting the ribbon. Dyer is waiting for the response to his application to the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest chain-link fence maze. There’s never been a record in the category before. Originally set to run through Halloween, public response has been positive enough that the maze has been extended to stay open until the middle of November.
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Dyer believes. “I don’t make a lot of money, but I am able to donate thousands of dollars to charity and make a difference about things I care about by taking the initiative and staging events like these. Once you’ve identified a problem in the world, it’s up to you to do something about it.”
