Abilities Arts Festival A Celebration of Disability Arts and Culture  
WORKSHOPS
PARTICIPATE, EXPERIENCE and CELEBRATE

From learning key movements of Taoist Tai Chi that strengthen and relax, to expressing ones thoughts and creative spirit at the Zany Zein Workshop or just having fun and “hamming” it up at Improv 101, festival participants had the opportunity to engage in the arts and to "participate, experience and celebrate".

Taoist Tai Chi: The Art and the Experience – with members of the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Toronto Taoist Tai Chi Workshop photo


A Zany Zein Workshop: with Fran Odette and Loree Erickson Panel photos
Panel photos
View the Zine 2007 pdf

Improv 101: With the Impatient Theatre Company Panel photos
Panel photos


Featured Artist:

Ken Smith

The ongoing theme of my work is the recognition of natural forces, shapes, gestures and especially, time. When I choose my subjects to work with, I feel a sense of belonging to the innate forms ... these natural shapes – some ravaged by time. It is satisfying for me, through my work, to identify the most basic truths that are common denominators of life's dynamic both in humans and in the rest of the natural world.

My work is influenced by the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, and tao & zen philosophy. Though I feel there are many complexities inside my imagery, I struggle with the contradiction that comes in paring the work down to the Simple.

My creative life began in 1969 as a freelance writer, and commercial & editorial photographer. Since 1991, I have been concentrating on limited edition, fine-art work, and for the past thirteen years I have been working primarily in the still life genre. I print my work in black and white and color, using archival pigment ink on fine papers. This medium has imbued my work with exciting new possibilities for creative expression and presentation.

My work has been exhibited internationally ... is in corporate and private collections in the United States, Europe and Japan. I live and work from my log home – a natural environment which stimulates my spirit and artwork.