Artists with disabilities, Deaf and MAD artists produce unique creations that provide a foundation for dialogue on diversity. AANM encourages and cultivates that creativity among many disciplines within the artist community. Here we showcase some of our members, their work and stories, and the challenges they face.
Artists
Alice Crawford
Printmaker, typography, and collage artist
Partially deafened at an early age, how she hears and interprets spoken language is in her art.
Connor Derraugh
Musician, Pianist and Saxophonist
Connor holds a Jazz Performance Degree from the University of Manitoba with a double major in piano and saxophone.
Diane Driedger
“My will remains” is a quote by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-54). About fifteen years ago, I started to see my life with chronic illness and disability reflected in Frida’s life through her self-portraits and her need to work in bed due to chronic pain and fatigue. I started to create art by showing my solidarity with Frida. This was a jumping off point as I began to uncover the stories of artists with disabilities. My exhibit dialogues with artists such as Frida Kahlo, Claude Monet, Maud Lewis, Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol, all who had disabilities. Through painting, sculpture, and poetry I unveil our experiences of living with chronic illness and disability and the uncertainties and certainties that it brings.
Debbie Patterson
I have been an artist longer than I have been disabled. Learning to cope with a disability and to adapt my artistic practice to my changing abilities has been a solitary process.
Harry Paine
We didn’t exactly live in poverty but then in my day poverty was somewhat relative I suppose, we were no better nor were we any worse than all the other working class people in the community.
Kim Kitchen
Kim Kitchen is a multidisciplinary artist, currently working in audio and film as a result of a debilitating and transformative illness…
Lynne Martin
After studying opera, earning 2 degrees in English literature, raising 3 children, living in 4 countries and 8 distinct cultures, and pursuing 6 career paths, Lynne returned to her first love—playwrighting…
Marie LeBlanc
I grew up in The Pas, Manitoba where my love of photography began. I am a self-taught performance street artist photographer, writer and poet inspired by the world around me. I moved to Winnipeg in 1984 where I completed my Bachelor of Arts (Advanced Major) Degree in Human Geography and Sociology from the University of Manitoba.
Miranda Kudajczyk
Miranda uses the healing powers of art and nature to sooth her anxieties and express her emotions. She is currently in the mentorship program at Martha Street Studios known as Making our Mark (MoM).
Natasha Boone
Visual artist, illustrator, writer
Natasha has relied on art and the practice of art-making to cope with a lifetime of chronic illness. A three-time kidney transplant recipient, she is aware of the fragility and the strength of the human body. Her work subsequently encompasses this complexity; reflecting a desire for faith, for purpose, the ever-present ‘reason for being’ in the world.
Ysabelle Vautour
Acadian artist and art teacher Ysabelle Vautour started out working in the mental health and disability support sector.
Art Organizations
Manitoba Choral Association
Manitoba Choral Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting, strengthening, and promoting the choral arts in Manitoba.
STEPS Public Art
STEPS Public Art is a Canadian charity and social enterprise. We offer services in public art management, hoarding exhibits, cultural planning, and artist capacity building. We run charitable programs that support artists and foster vibrant and inclusive communities.
The Winnipeg Film Group
The Winnipeg Film Group (WFG) is an education, production, exhibition and distribution centre committed to promoting the art of moving image.
The WNDX Festival
Founded in 2005, the WNDX Festival programs new and innovative moving image works from across Canada and around the globe, with a mandate to showcase films made in our immediate community.