Jessilyn Matthias profile picture

Jessilyn Matthias

Jessilyn is a member of the Self-Advocate Leadership Network and works on the Idaho Living Well Project at the Center on Disabilities and Human Development. She enjoys reading, watching horror movies, freelance writing, doing yoga and listening to a variety of music.

Jessilyn enjoys art because “art has no right or wrong answers and everyone can interpret the work the way they want. Everyone can do art and express themselves any way they choose. Art also encompasses music, clothing, theatre, movies, music, drawing, paintings, sculptures, and more which brings variety and interest to life and cultures.”

She has been making and enjoying art since she was a child and has a minor in Fine Art. Jessilyn loves working with clay and painting but has learned to value collage and use of found items. She likes artAbility workshops for their inclusive environment and the opportunity to learn and have fun while presenting the art to the community during the showcase.

Raweer, Stressed/Anxiety, Focused/Concentration

Workshop: Color and Emotion Exploration
Acrylic painting on square canvases

Raweer
The background of this painting is pink. In the center is a depiction of a skull with sharp teeth. The skull is created using black and yellow to outline the shape. The skull is pink from the background and has an open mouth pointing to the right. There are round shapes with yellow and white details. They are outlined in black. Surrounding the skull are several small strokes in blue.
Stressed/Anxiety
The background of this painting is light blue. Over the background, there are many squares covering the entire canvas. They are outlines painted in different colors. This includes three yellow, several red, several green, and three white. The size and position of the squares is random, with varying line and paint thickness.
Focused/Concentration
The background of this painting is pink. This painting consists of long strokes of black and yellow, blue, and white paint. They start with a soft round edge that progressively becomes thinner and rougher as it gets longer. Most of the yellow can be seen in the center. There are also six noticeable white accents in the center. Around the yellow are black and blue strokes with one noticeable diagonal blue stroke in the center.


Kristin Miller profile picture

Kristin Miller

Kristin has been making art since high school. She enjoys bowling with her mom, camping with her dad, going on drives with her sister, video chatting her brother and sister-in-law, and playing with her dog, Daisy.

Kristin is part of the Moscow Rebels Special Olympics and likes attending the 1912 Buddy Groups. She likes artAbility because it gives her the opportunity to try new mediums. Kristin’s favorite medium is latch hook.

Untitled

Workshop: Texture Exploration
Mixed media: white clay and acrylic paint on a wooden board

A wooden frame painted green boxes in the clay, forming a rectangle of clay inside the frame. There are circular imprints all over the piece. They are painted green, yellow, red and blue. Their position seems random; however, among them there is a vertical line of five on the left edge and a horizontal row of three at the top left corner.

There are imprints of a row of hash marks along the bottom edge. The first set of marks has been painted back. This is followed by three more sets, all painted yellow. This texture can also be seen in blue toward the center of the clay.

Other imprints are found throughout the piece, highlighted in green, yellow, red and blue paint.

Happiness, Kindness, and Love

Workshop: Color and Emotion Exploration
Acrylic painting on square canvases

Happiness
A figure covers the top left quarter of the canvas. The figure is made up of a round face outlined in green with a red smile and two blue dots for eyes. There are two legs coming out of the bottom of the face made of purple lines. Toward the top of the legs, there are two arms made of red lines. The painting also has three squares – a yellow and green one directly below the figure, a large red square in the top right corner and a blue and yellow square below the red one. “HAPPINESS” is written in green in the bottom left corner next to a thick purple strip on the right.
Kindness
A figure made of two round shapes covers the left half of the canvas. The top circle is green with noticeable brush strokes. The lower circle is a face outlined in pink with a red smile and two blue dots for eyes. There are two green legs coming out of the bottom of the lower circle. On the right half of the canvas there is a red square over a blue ‘K’. A yellow square is next to the blue ‘K’. "Kindness" is written across the bottom right corner in pink.
Love
Beginning on the left corner, a red shape is outlined in pink. This shape consists of two overlapping ovals. This form is repeated below in green and outlined in black, as well as to the right in yellow and outlined in dark purple. It is repeated again at the bottom left corner in red and outlined in blue. The center bottom has a thick-lined squiggle in pink. The top right corner has “Love” written in pink.

Teddy Bear, Friends, Sadie

Personal work
Latch hook using different colors of yarn

Teddy Bear
This is a latch hook features a brown teddy bear on a white background. The bear has two large round ears, wears a blue bow around its neck, and has pink paws at its arms and legs. It has a smiley expression on its face. The teddy bear has accents throughout the piece in darker shades of brown for the shadows in the ears, neck, and legs. It has lighter shades of brown for highlights.
Friends
This is a latch hook features two puppies laying together. There is a lighter puppy on the left, featuring light brown shadows and white highlights. There is a darker puppy on the right, leaning on the lighter puppy. It is brown with dark brown shadows and lighter shades for the highlights. Both puppies have black eyes and a black nose with white accents. Each puppy has a front paw stretched over a red form. The background is filled with shades of green, going from light at the top to dark green behind the puppies.
Sadie
This latch hook features a yellow puppy laying among some pink flowers. The puppy is sitting at the center of the piece, facing left with its two front paws together in front of it. It has its mouth open, showing its pink tongue. The color of the puppy is given depth and dimension with highlights in lighter values of yellow and shadows in brown and black. In the background, there is a light blue sky with a fluffy white cloud. There is also five pink flowers on long green stems growing out of the green grass that surrounds the puppy. There are pink flecks around the grass, indicating smaller flowers or petals.


Toby Schultz profile picture

Toby Schultz

Toby has been making art for a long time. He likes attending artAbility workshops to learn exciting new things. His favorite medium is painting and thinks it’s fun.

Toby is a member of the Self-Advocate Leadership Network and works at the Center on Disabilities and Human Development. When he isn’t working, Toby enjoys making paracord bracelets and knitting hats.

Untitled 1 and Untitled 2

Workshop: Color and Emotion Exploration
Acrylic painting on square canvases

Untitled 1
The upper half of this piece is painted blue with noticeable brush strokes. The lower half is painted red. On this section are short vertical brush strokes in purple. There are similar purple strokes horizontally on where the blue meets the red.
Untitled 2
The entirety of this piece is painted red. The paint is applied with noticeable horizontal brushstrokes. In the center is a spiral stroke. On the right edge of the piece are vertical brushstrokes.


Gabe Vollmer profile picture

Gabe Vollmer

Untitled

Workshop: Texture Exploration
Clay, acrylic paint, paper collage cut outs, a faux plant, and a feather

The textured clay is centered on the board in a way that exposes wood at the four corners and along the edges. On the left, the clay is textured with hatched and cross-hatched lines and circular indentations. These are painted at the surface of the textures in dark blue, purples, and greens with short brush strokes.

There is a small pink paper flower cut out a of a magazine positioned above a cutout of a smaller orange. To the right, the textured pattern is continued and painted more heavily with dark blues, greens, and purple.

In the center, there is a rectangular magazine cutout placed at a diagonal angle. Below this cutout is a smaller rectangular cutout of music paper painted light green. To the right of these rectangles is a faux dark green plant.

At the top right corner, there is a brown feather embedded in the white clay next to a line of circular imprints going diagonally. Below this is a stacked texture of smaller circular imprints. This texture moves down the right side and is painted with light brush strokes of yellow, orange and red.

Untitled paintings

Workshop: Color and Emotion Exploration
Acrylic painting on square canvases

Untitled 1
In the center of the canvas, there is a large, round shape with layers of dark blue, dark green, and black. There is a strip of yellow around bottom and right side. In the right-center of the dark shape, there is a mixture of green and yellow paint that contrasts the darker colors. The layers of yellow and green are textured with various brush strokes. In the bottom right corner, there is a small stroke of green paint.
Untitled 2
Starting in the center, there is a purple-pink shape with strokes of green and red. To the right of this shape, is an area the transitions from yellow and red into lighter colors of yellow and pink brush strokes. Around these pink, red, and yellow areas are long red brush strokes encircling the center. There is white canvas exposed around the edges and throughout the outer parts of the central brush strokes.
Untitled 3
At the center of the painting, there is a large, round patch of dark blue surrounded by a ring of red. At the top of the red ring, there is a small, white stroke of white paint that has been partially mixed with the red to create some pink. In the top and bottom left corners, there are two circles of blue that are slightly smaller than the one in the middle of the canvas. On the outside of the painting, there is a square outline of black on top of blue.
Untitled 4
The canvas is portrait style with a face painted in red and some green. At the top, there is a strip of red that resembles hair. The face also features two round dots for eyes, a nose and a horizontal line for the mouth. On the left side of the mouth, there is a green patch with a small amount of red paint mixed in. On the other side of the mouth, there is a smaller patch of green mixed with red to create brown.
Untitled 5
Beginning from the top left corner are yellow-green brush strokes leading down and to the right. On the lower end of the canvas is a large black mass with hints of yellow-green brush strokes. Moving to the right, above the black mass, is a large green mass in the top corner. This portion has yellow-green paint strokes with swirls in a darker green and two intersecting lines.