Movement

Joyful Sweep

Joyful sweep is when the body is sweeping off of the surface. When you look at the image you cannot see the full body, but you see different pieces of limbs moving throughout the surface. There are small pockets of paint, mostly primary colors, coming together and depicting a human figure moving softly through the surface on a white background. Pencil markings are scribbling throughout the surface in the background. The figure is playing some type of sport almost as if he is playing soccer.

Freedom Dance


Freedom Dance is moving through the atmosphere without the effect of gravity. White and yellow are the most dominant colors throughout the surface. These colors create warmth throughout the painting.The figure is far to the upper right side of the canvas. Depicted in tan and maroon, the figure arches upward from the bottom right corner of the canvas towards the upper left corner. The figure stands on one leg with the other leg reaching out the side and arms stretched getting ready to fly.

Développé  

Développé is when the body is transferring all the energy from within to the surrounding spectators. The delicate figure is mostly surrounded by a white surface. The figure with her leg stretched upwards is depicted in a peach and orange tulle skirt that explodes outwards to express the movement of the dancer. The main focus point of the painting is the center where all the movement originates. Her arms and hands are stretched upwards as if she is reaching for the sky.

About the Artist: Johnson Simon

A man with medium brown skin,with short black hair, wearing glasses with a broad smile
A man with medium brown skin, with short black hair, wearing glasses, and smiling broadly in front of a white background.

I have always been interested in body movement and when an opportunity was presented to me to attend a dance recital exhibition nine years ago on the Western Michigan University campus, I was excited to attend.  Viewing the dancers and their freedom of movement inspired me to display movement in my painting.  I was stimulated to create my first dance focused expressionistic painting.  Dancing is to me, the art of moving lightly and quickly with the skill of communicating my emotion.  As someone with a disability, movement impacts me on a daily basis.   In order to help gain more knowledge of motion and movement, I used several sources of movement for research and to enhance ideas. I watch several videos of dancing to help in determining the type of movement I wanted to present in my painting.  I studied the movement of people: walking, running, swimming, and sky diving.  I then had my own walking and stepping up and down stairways videotaped. I discovered that my walking has a rhythm to it.  To further enhance my study of movement I attended several dancing classes to sketch the dancer’s movements for effect.  My painting is a representation of me dancing.  I am able to make broad and sweeping motions with my paint brush and transfer that motion and feeling of movement onto the canvas to express myself.  In my artistic work, I am able to move freely about without limitations.  I use bright colors to represent the body movement throughout the surface.  

My artwork is a way for me to express or transfer how I would move freely and uninterrupted. I can run, walk, jump, and I can dance without being bound to limitations when I paint. Zm and draw. I believe the paint brush is an extension of me and represents my idea of movement on canvas.

www.artbyjohnsonsimon.com

How I See My Bipolar


Video Description: Against a dark background, white finger-like things appear at the top. As the music plays, the finger-like things crawl down the screen.

BiPolar to me feels like someone is reaching in my mind with their fingers and messing with my emotions, motivations, and behaviors.
The dark represents my depression, and the light represents my mania.

The base of the Processing code was written by Dan Shiffman, http://patreon.com/codingtrain, in his forward kinematics lesson.
The music “Dark Trailer” was downloaded with a free licence from Adobe Stock.
The rest was written in Java, Processing, by me, Jayson Powers.

About the Author: Jayson Powers is a mathematician at heart who enjoys computer programming. He lives in Muncie, IN, where he is the primary caregiver of his wife with cerebral palsy.

Picture of Jayson Powers, a white man wearing glasses and a COVID mask

Using Art to Bring Awareness to Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence

Using Art to Bring Awareness to Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence

Three roses in front of a bigger flower that is difficult to see because of the black back ground.
Three roses in front of a bigger flower that is difficult to see because of the black back ground.
The black background remains, but the flowers are in full bloom. The previously hard to see bigger flower is now a brilliant blue. The word, HOPE" is written above the blue flower.
The black background remains, but the flowers are in full bloom. The previously hard to see bigger flower is now a brilliant blue. The word, HOPE” is written above the blue flower.
Three roses in front of a bigger flower that is difficult to see because of the black back ground.
The black background remains, but the flowers are in full bloom. The previously hard to see bigger flower is now a brilliant blue. The word, HOPE" is written above the blue flower.
Gina Hope: A woman with long blond hair, smiling big.

*Please Note: IDJ does not align with any one religion, faith, or belief system. Instead, we offer a platform where people with disabilities can express their diverse experiences. Content contains Gina’s story about what happened to her when she was trafficked. Please take care when you read about what happened to Gina.

About the Artist: Gina Hope

I’m a survivor of human trafficking. During that time my spinal cord was injured (leading to constant severe pain & 17 surgeries involving my cervical & thoracic spinal cord causing a whole host of obstacles) and domestic violence (leading to rods & screws in my lower back). But despite how difficult each day & sometimes each minute is God has & continues helping me see good that can come of my circumstances & He’s never allowed me to give up. Around 7yrs ago, a friend met me every week for a year encouraging me to follow my dreams – he convinced me that I was not only capable but that I could accomplish amazing feats others could not because of the insights my experiences have given me. So, I set out to begin the sea of paperwork to start a 501c3 which is Living Legacy Of Hope. I’ve wanted to be an artist my entire life; but I’ve never been able to get on canvas anything close to what I envision.

However, I sought out to learn to paint as I had the idea of painting a Hope Card Collection. God helps me overcome obstacles such as difficulty holding onto the paintbrush because much of my hand is numb. This is the first painting I’ve been able to complete that actually looks like what I envisioned.

This particular painting came out of a very dark time as I had just been viciously attacked (enter rods & screws). The front of this Hope card is the Silhouette of Hope with the Silhouette of the opening Rose while the back is in full color with the Rose & HOPE brightly shining. 

I’ve given this as a Sympathy or Inspiration card to remind the hurting there is always Hope = one of the most important things I say when speaking is that we can overcome no matter what we endure on this earth – although there might be dark times we are never without HOPE. 

https://livinglegacyhope.wixsite.com/hope

Gina Hope: A woman with long blond hair, smiling big.

Heaven and Shadow Man

Art by Ashley McDaniel from Florida. Ashley is a person with schizophrenia and art keeps Ashley safe.

This is a drawing of a castle in the sky where God lives. There is a pathway with grass on each side leading from the front door off into the distance. There are three suns shining in the sky, one fluffy blue cloud and three blue dots.
This is a drawing of a castle in the sky where God lives. There is a pathway with grass on each side leading from the front door off into the distance. There are three suns shining in the sky, one fluffy blue cloud and three blue dots.
This is a drawing of Shadow Man in black, gray and red. There is a gray and red spiral in the middle of the page under the writing and under the spiral is a red fire with black outline and Ashley's name. The text written in black ink reads "Shadow Man is talking to me but I don't see him though so I ignor him."
This is a drawing of Shadow Man in black, gray and red. There is a gray and red spiral in the middle of the page under the writing and under the spiral is a red fire with black outline and Ashley’s name. The text written in black ink reads “Shadow Man is talking to me but I don’t see him though so I ignor him.”