Going virtual has attracted some unanticipated attention for our INCLUSION Art Show this year. As a result, we’ve dedicated a corner of our show to guest artists from Toronto, New York, and Melbourne! Read on to learn about these artists from across the world.
Philiz Goh | Toronto, Canada
Philiz Goh is a certified oncology registered nurse who cares for breast cancer patients. She recently attained her Masters of Health Systems Leadership and Administration from the University of Toronto with honours. In 2015, Philiz sustained a traumatic brain injury which left her with various disabilities. She is a patient advocate for integrated care and accessible spaces. Philiz is presently completing a self-help Acquired Brain Injury book while volunteering in her community to assist the homeless. In her spare time, she enjoys painting with acrylic on canvas.
Art for All Abilities | Australia
Art for All Abilities at Span Community House is a magic, magnetic and inclusive creative program from Australia. Sessions are facilitated by artist, Sheena Mathieson, who brings a different and fun technique to each session, surprising participants and showing how magic art can be produced in just a couple of hours.
In Art for All Abilities, everyone gets to make and learn about art – regardless of their role – participants, volunteers, support workers, and anyone who drops in. You can arrive feeling flat and leave enlightened, happy and energised. As one of our participants, Tina, puts it: Art is the Heart!
Last year, Melbourne was in a very long lockdown and they managed to stay connected through Zoom, phone calls, art packages, newsletters and even put together an online exhibition. Check them out here: https://artforallabilities.wixsite.com/artistheheart
Emily Tironi | New York
Emily Tironi was born and raised in Cambridge, NY in 1996. She was born with a muscle disease causing weakness and fatigue and the use of a wheelchair for long distances. She enjoyed all types of art since childhood and grew up entering her art in the Washington County Fair. Throughout high school, she loved art class and used drawing, painting and collage as an outlet for her struggles and a way to express herself. After graduating high school in 2014, she attended SUNY Adirondack and pursued a degree in media arts. Here, she discovered photography and began to photograph nature around her. In 2016, several of her photos were published in SUNY Adirondack’s literary magazine, Expressions. She also received SUNY Adirondack’s Parnassus Award in Graphic Arts. She graduated and transferred to CUNY School of Professional Studies in 2016 to pursue a degree in Disability Studies. While studying disability in cultural and societal aspects, she began to use her experiences as a person with a disability in her art. Studying Frida Kahlo in college, Emily was inspired by her surrealist style and expression of disability and self in her work. She was inspired to do larger, more layered works after taking an online workshop with outsider artist, Anne Grgich. She combines layered paper images and bright colors to create complicated pieces with unique messages. Her collages have been shown at area galleries and published in art publications. Her work was selected for the 31 Women exhibit at the Sedona Arts Center and she was part of the Emerging Artists 2020 exhibition at Limner Gallery in Hudson, NY. In August 2020, Emily had her first solo exhibition at Southern Vermont Art Center in Manchester, Vt. Throughout the pandemic, she has participated in several online artist residencies and exhibitions. Emily currently lives in Cambridge, NY and works on her collages daily.
Check out the online INCLUSION Art Show at inclusionartshow.com throughout October to browse work from artists with diverse abilities. Online sales available from October 21-28.