Join us as we celebrate the abilities and strengths of autistic adults through art. The gallery below shows artwork from a range of autistic artists who use varying materials and modalities for their work.
Artist: Adriana Perez
Adriana lives in Burlington, VT, and studies arts at the University of Vermont. She was diagnosed with autism at the age of 17. She is fascinated by food and traveling to different countries. Adriana’s art was also influenced by watching anime and reading manga. Her interest in Japanese culture inspires her art. When Adriana traveled to California, she had the idea of this painting when going to a restaurant and having sea urchin soup. She used this as an idea for her work. Adriana is working towards her degree in Studio Art and Social Communications. She is looking to be independent and find a partner and friends. Connections with others are important to her. Artist’s motto: “Don’t let yourself be taken over by other people’s expectations.”
Artist: Ajai Ananthan
Ajai is an autistic artist and an entrepreneur living in Pennsylvania. He discovered his interest in art accidentally in 2017 when he was struggling with anxiety and emotional regulation. With some guidance from his mom and mentors, Ajai likes to create canvas art using acrylic and a variety of multi-media, such as beads, buttons, and seeds. Besides art, Ajai likes to travel, loves to sing, listen to music, play the piano, ride roller coasters, watch train and car videos, and enjoy a variety of foods. Ajai has visited India, Spain, Iceland, Canada, Dubai, Mexico, and Oman. He has also visited 26 states in the USA so far. Ajai likes exercising on his Elliptical at least 200 calories every day. “I would like people to know that I’m an independent person, I am a kind person, I am intelligent, I like to socialize with people. . .Painting brings me joy.”
Artist: Amber Lanehart
“I live at home with my mom, dad, and wonderful Maltese cocker spaniel poodle named Chip. I have been studying graphic arts for two years and hope to get a job in using my degree. I am an autistic Artist who has had an interest in art since I was little. I started taking college classes 2 and half years ago to learn digital art. What motivates me to do digital art is seeing other people’s art and wanting to strive for better when I look at other pieces. I enjoy mixing a variety of objects in my artwork. Whether it’s butterflies and shoes, shuttlecocks and mandalas, or skulls and flowers, I enjoy putting unrelated objects together. What I would like people to know about me is that I love bright colors: red, pink, blue, green, and purple to name a few. Lastly, my interests include playing basketball, making digital art, video games, and hanging out with my husband, family, and little malti cocker spaniel poodle Chip. “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Dega
Artist: Amy Bennett
Amy is a multi-talented artist who excels at creating characters and storylines through her art. She enjoys working with 3 dimensional mediums as well as creating graphic novels and other story-based works of art. Amy is a builder of worlds, finding joy in bringing her creations into reality through storytelling, sculpture, and various flat mediums. From an early age, Amy used drawing as a creative outlet and way to express herself, and has continued to spend a lot of her time creating stories with illustrations. She began attending Imagine That in 2023 after moving to the Kansas City area from Nebraska. Amy mixes her love of music together with her visual art, and has spearheaded a rock band of masked musicians to perform original songs she began to create in her home office on GarageBand. Amy aspires to be a published author, rock star, and visual icon.
Artist: Anastasia O’Melveny
“I am a painter, photographer, multi-media art maker, writer, and musician, as well as an autism advocate, animal and environmental ambassador, caregiver, and spiritual advisor. I always write a story to go with my artistic creations – making the pieces a type of multi-media art. (Some of my artworks contain embedded QR codes that link to sound or music files.) These stories are attached to the back of the artwork and are meant to be displayed with the piece at a gallery.”
Artist: Brandon Aspenlieder
Brandon creates imagery based on his favorite moments, places, and experiences shared with others. His works portray his time on his grandfather’s farm in Montana, the Badlands in North Dakota, his visits to carnivals, as well as daily life. Brandon not only makes his work almost completely from memory, but the objects he draws, such as farm and carnival equipment, is made with nearly perfect proportions and scale, not forgetting the smallest detail. Brandon’s work also contains an element of pattern, as he’ll often draw the same object over and over. Brandon is a great piano player and can learn new songs just by listening to them. During his time at Imagine That he has greatly improved and expanded his skillset with his willingness to try any new medium.
Artist: Celia Landreth
“I am a mutli-media artist working with my mom and my studio assistant Heather at Mamapajama Studio located in the mountains of North Carolina. I have shown and sold art around the US and will have a special line of urban streetwear debuting this April from Teddy Fresh in LA.”
Artist: Claudio Zaffarese
“I am a 26-year-old with autism. Art is my passion and hopefully people will enjoy my paintings.”
Artist: Erika Schwarz
Diagnosed at 40, I’ve experienced lifelong stressful, exhausting efforts, which ran throughout my education and 3 truncated careers. My backgrounds in bio-sci and artistic practices now inform my works, which advocate for environmental concerns. The Vital Resurrection refers to how large whales and their ‘near-extinction’ slaughter helped fuel the industrial revolution; while today, these intelligent ecosystem engineers are THE most efficient, cost effective, natural mitigators of climate change; their environmental impact far under represented (see IMF reports). Environmentalism in general, similar to higher masking ASD, had, in the past long been dismissed as issues of liberal indulgence. Now their realities are clear and I feel an obligatory link to promoting the understanding of both; besides just loving whales and cetaceans immensely.
Artist: Helen Irene Pappas
“I was first diagnosed with autism at the age of 5. While living in Pueblo Colorado, I had found it hard to make friends, communicate, and interpret the facial expressions of other people. I felt both confused and lonely. I always knew I loved art, however. . . It wasn’t until I enrolled in the Hamden Transition Academy that I started to practice photography. . . Several of my pieces, including one I took of a friend’s dog, a Coon Hound named Lucy, had won an honorable mention during the New England Camera Club Conference at Amherst Massachusetts. I hope to make a difference in the lives of others and inspire each person I see with my work. To quote my late ancestor Henry David Thoreau, ‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.'”
Artist: John M. Williams
“I am an artist dealing with autism. Living with this challenge is a daily struggle with overwhelming anxiety and the discomfort of never fitting in socially. These feelings never leave me. The world is a chaotic place for me, and thoughts swirl around endlessly in my head, making it hard to stay calm and focused. Creating collages is a metaphor for my daily life. I make order out of chaos by organizing tiny pieces of cut paper into totally new and coherent visions. Once I draw out the design and choose the paper colors and textures, the process takes on a life of its own and the end result is often different and more intriguing than the original concept. My portraits and landscapes offer completely new perspectives on the world. While the portraits are usually historical in nature, my landscapes and florals are restful and calming, often featuring water elements like streams or the sea. They provide a safe and intimate hideaway for the viewer and for me. I studied sculpting at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, earning a B.A. in Fine Arts. I live in Winchester, Massachusetts.
johnmwilliamsfineart.com
Artist: Julia Sigrist
Julia is a 25 year old autistic & disabled artist who lives in Sykesville, Maryland and loves making stickers, charcoal drawings, and using their art to spread awareness and advocate for people like them. They have always been a lover of art, and have been creating since they were a small child. Julia enjoys working with charcoal, paint pens, and working digitally. They honed in their technical skills during their time at Howard Community College, and they have plans to pursue a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology with a Print Media Minor at University of Maryland Baltimore County in Fall 2024. Julia enjoys gesture figure drawings and loves to explore the complexity of emotion that can be shared via the human form. In Vulnerable, Julia expresses how delicate and pregnable the human form can be, solely based on the direction and exposure of the body. They explore this concept in many of their figure drawings, and like to express the ambiguity of gender in their figures as a direct reference to this notion. Although they love drawing and painting, their true love is making stickers. Julia used to collect stickers in a book as a child, excited to get their hands on any and all stickers they could find. As a teenager and an adult, they always dreamed of selling their art and opening an etsy shop. In 2022 they launched Julia Arwen Art and made that dream come true. Creating fun, cute, and nerdy stickers, while promoting the green initiative of the business, as well as advocating for queer, disability, and neurodiversity rights & acceptance, is a core tenant of the business. Julia also sells their original artwork as prints and is expanding into other products like keychains, buttons, magnets, and even stationary. They handmade the majority of their products and do all of the art & design work themselves.
juliaarwenart.com
Artist: Lee Lang
Lee’s distinct illustrative style is one that he has been refining and shaping since a very young age. Ranging from pencil to watercolors and acrylics, his expressive art has been showcased on a local, national, and international level. Lee has been attending Imagine That since 2012 and from the beginning has been one of our most prolific artists. His mother discovered her son had a “God-given ability as an artist” when he was 5 years old. Lee’s ability to draw has greatly improved and his creativity has expanded, according to his mother. He has been given the opportunity to explore many different kinds of art as well as an opportunity to be a part of an active community by contributing his own special skills. He and his art have received a positive reception in the Kansas City community and elsewhere. Lee’s drawings have been curated by national, regional, and local art historians and curators. In 2016 his work was accepted for an international show in Cork, Ireland. Lee continues to expand his skill set and knowledge of different mediums, while honing his expressive and abstracted personal style.
Artist: Lyman Johansen
“I am an artist and musician/composer, originally from Oregon but currently living in Massachusetts. For many years I also worked as a singer and musician, performing solo and with other musicians and groups, and traveling all over the United States. I enjoy reading history and science and camping in the wilderness. I studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and The Art Students League of NYC, and as an apprentice to a well- known American artist. I work in traditional mediums and a representative style to achieve atmospheric effects. My work features unusual perspectives. I studied art at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston Museum School and at The Art Students League in New York City and I favor traditional art mediums and realist subject matter. I make art to freeze moments in time: the way the light or shadows are, the unique colors, the way it feels – moments that will never happen again. I am also a musician and songwriter.
Artist: Nathaniel Troppito
Nathaniel loves movies, especially Disney and Pixar, and he draws most of his inspiration from his favorite films. Working primarily with colored pencil, Nathaniel will draw his favorite scenes making sure not to miss any small detail. When watching movies, he will pause the film to take notes, and is interested in the story of the filmmakers. Nathaniel will frequently watch behind the scenes clips to see commentary from the director and actors to get more information about his favorite scenes. He is very social and will spend a large portion of his day going over trivia with his friends while working diligently on his piece. Currently, Nathaniel is working towards writing his own film about aliens and space, but won’t tell you much more about the project as he doesn’t want to spoil it.
Artist: Nicholas Heaney
Nicholas is a Cape Cod based autistic artist with an ever growing body of work that is directly inspired by the coastal landscape that surrounds him. Using the process of heavy impasto to sculpt waves that break the two dimensional plane of the traditional painting, Heaney achieves what some refer to as sculpture on canvas. Nick graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and then went on to become an apprentice to the esteemed Cape Cod artist, Steve Lyons. Heaney currently is working as Artist in Residence at ARTNOVA gallery in Chatham. As a neurodiverse artist, Heaney believes that art is the most authentic way for him to connect with the world around him. When Nicholas is not painting in the studio, he can often be found taking walks all around Cape Cod in search of inspiration. Quote from the artist: “If you struggle to put it in words, say it with art!”
Artist: Olivia Albro
“I specialize mostly in animals but also landscapes. I do both acrylic and watercolor. I have always loved art but officially developed an interest in painting 8 years ago. At first I would only paint along to Youtube tutorials, but eventually was able to craft paintings from my own imagination and opened an Etsy shop, where I sell watercolors, acrylics, original cards, and personalized pet portraits. Most of my work consists of animals but I also do landscapes that have meaning to me (like Boston and Vermont) and flowers. I love art because it allows me to escape the often stressful world and enter into my own world, where I can make it however I want. I’m also an avid animal lover, so I love painting people’s beloved pets for them to cherish forever. ‘The stars are there to show as that there is hope, even in darkness.'”
Etsy.com/shop/oliviaswanart
Artist: Robert Reed
Robert loves animals and is a walking encyclopedia about prehistoric and present-day land and water mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and avians. Robert also enjoys drawing animals and creating stories about them. His passion for drawing and animals led him to write comic books about his life, imagined experiences, and adventures for his animal characters. His comic books are very informative in that he used his knowledge of the unique qualities of each animal in his stories to solve a problem or get out of a predicament. One of Robert’s goals is to make his comic book stories come alive by making animated movies of his animals’ adventures. In the future, Robert hopes to work for one of the major animation production companies as he continues to develop exciting adventures for his animal characters.
Artist: Sheila Benedis
Sheila Benedis is an 87 year old senior artist with Aspergers living in Sleepy Hollow, NY. Sheila started her career as a computer analyst and she found art and poetry later in life. Her art career started with baskets, which turned into sculptures, and went on to installation work. Today her mediums include paper sculpture, collage, artist books, and painting. Sheila Benedis’ art is inspired by nature. Organic shapes permeate with their texture and movement. She uses lively, bright colors. Her imagery conveys feelings of joy and excitement. Her original poetry reflects on and examines her life, her place in the world, and positive social change. She communicates through art and poetry, and she shares her work to connect with and impact others. Antonio Gaudi’s architecture and Matisse’s cutouts have influenced her work. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and has a masters degree from Pace University.
Artist: Tom Coomber
Tom gained a Level 3 qualification from Swindon College in Art and Design 4 years ago and continues to develop his practice with courses and workshops (whilst also being involved with running workshops and classes). He works mainly in acrylic paints, painting landscapes spotted while out and about in the world. Some are views that others discount or never see. The picture is of the view from his grandfather’s house in the Scottish Highlands. Tom is an artist living and working in sunny Suffolk, the sunniest place in the UK. He has since been volunteering in the art rooms of a care setting and at his old school. He was shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2022, and has appeared in exhibitions around Suffolk including New Faces by the Ipswich Art Society and has participated in the Suffolk Open Studios events. This summer he is part of the team running the Neurodiverse Art Workshop on the theme of Masks/Masking with the Ipswich Art Society, and hopes funding can be found to show the finished artworks in exhibition. He has recently been awarded a bursary by the Firstsite Collectors Group in Colchester to develop his practice, and is looking forward to experimenting with different materials. BBC Radio Suffolk visited on March 20th to interview Tom in his studio, and this is available through the BBCSounds App. Tom finds accessing the world a more challenging experience than many of us due to sensory issues, but creating his pictures condenses the experience and makes it more manageable. He is interested and intrigued by the world around us, whether it be the heritage coastline, farmland, or the built environment. Willow, the family dog, often appears in his landscapes. He is particularly interested in the impressionist movement and has been described as a New Impressionist. Tom would like people to know that his studio is his favorite place and commissions are accepted. Quote from the Artist: “These pictures are a way for me to bring you on a journey through my world.”
Artist: Vova Shishkin
I’m writing to you on behalf of my brother, Vova Shishkin. He is an artist and also he is autistic. Creating art is his biggest joy and since he was little he has been spending hours painting and drawing. Vova’s artistic style is realism and surrealism; mostly he uses watercolors and pencils, and his favorite themes are his memories about his childhood at the summer cottage; he also loves to draw characters from the old USSR cartoons – he only uses his memory to create his art. He loves life and uses bright colors. Our only concern now is his declining vision – he has invasive stage 3 keratoconus; which made him practically blind in his right eye and the sight in his left eye is also declining. . . His biggest wish is to continue painting as long as he can.
Artist: Wiley Johnson
Wiley is a 39-year-old self-taught artist from Raleigh, NC who has autism. Wiley started painting as a hobby in 2009 and had his first solo exhibit in 2020. He has had a number of solo and two person exhibits since then and participated in many juried group shows. Wiley is proud to be the first artist from NC represented by ArtLifting, Boston, MA. Wiley paints acrylic on canvas, abstract style, using bright colors and wide strokes. He is motivated to paint because it makes him happy and gives him something to do when he is alone. Painting has been a therapeutic way for him to spend his time alone, particularly after his brother died due to a motorcycle accident in 2011. It makes Wiley happy to hear people say that they like his art. Art connects him to his community and to the larger art world. Wiley is grateful for the opportunities that art gives him. Wiley loves listening to music, playing his guitar and keyboard, visiting small towns, and spending time with his cat when he isn’t painting. “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent van Gogh
Artist: Yvonne Christian
Yvonne is a graduate of Emerson College where she majored in Theatre Arts and Mass Communication. Her creative works include painting, photography, writing, and poetry, and she is a regular blogger/podcaster.
