Art SPARKS: Session 2

Session 2: Talking about Accessibility with Shannon Finnegan

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

4:30 - 5:30pm EST

Art sparks ideas. Art sparks imagination. Art sparks change.

Art SPARKS is a BEING Studio community learning series. Five sessions led by five special guests. BEING artists, families, staff, and board members are invited!

In session 2, artist Shannon Finnegan will share artwork and recent projects with us. Shannon’s artwork is often about the accessibility of spaces and experiences. Shannon makes some artwork that is onlymeantfor fellow disabled people. Making art for fellow disabled people influences how Shannon makes art.  Join us to learn about new possibilities for access and other ways of experiencing art.

How do we make the art world more accessible?

How can weapproach accessibility in a creative way?

About the presenter: 

Shannon Finnegan (pronouns: they/them) is an artist who makes many different types of art.  One way that Shannon makes art is to create experiences for people. Shannon created a lounge for people who don’t like to use stairs and called it Anti-Stairs Club Lounge. Shannon also teamed up with artist Bojana Coklyat to teach people how to write image descriptions in a poetic way. Shannon calls these workshops Alt-Text as Poetry. Image descriptions are text labels that make online images more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. Shannon also makes sculptural artworks. Shannon designed a series of benches to go into galleries and museums. The series of benches is called Do You Want Us Here or Not. Shannon donated two of their latest benches to BEING Studio. Thank you, Shannon!

ASL interpretation and closed captioning will be available.

After each Art SPARKS session, you will be invited to respond to what you learned. Responses will shape the future of BEING Studio. 

Art SPARKS is presented by the BEING Board of Directors with support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation's Resilient Communities Fund.

Questions? Contact Maddie Alexander at maddie@beingstudio.ca.