Grant Rutledge - Artist
Grant Lee Rutledge was born in Toronto, before age 5 moved with his family to Aurora, ON, and at a very early developed a passion for art and reading books. As a young child he loved playing in the outdoors, being in forests, taking nature walks, skiing and snowboarding.  His schooling journey began at the Toronto Waldorf School, Vaughan, then to The Children’s Montessori House, later Roger White Academy in Newmarket. In 2005, at Aurora Grove Public School, he explored art, painting canvases and nurtured his skills and talents selling his artwork. At Dr. G. W. Williams Public High his canvas, Inuksuk, was chosen to be on display in the library’s permanent collection.

Amber Ruthart - Artist
Amber Ruthart is home-schooling mother of five (I’m guessing in her mid 30s) and an accomplished weaver and fine artist. She has Cree lineage from the First Nations and has an extremely powerful origin story of her own (we will let her tell it to you), as well as great introspection about the pandemic and its impact on her community and beyond — and she tells it all powerfully.
Amber is a fibre artist and works with wool and various mediums. Since 2012 her skills have been needle felting which eventually lead to creating art pieces as hair and extensions. Her art is earthy and root based. Her wool dolls are called RootFamily and the hair strands she sells represents roots, locs, or more commonly know as dreads. Being Cree, locked or matted hair is a part of ancestry in which she embraces.

Lynda Jones - Artist
3) Lynda Jones is a 77-year-old resident of Burlington Who came to art making about 10 years ago after a sudden and terribly traumatic family experience. Art making has helped her navigate the pain and uncertainty of this experience and has given it a great deal of meaning. She has had some success exhibiting and selling her paintings as well, so she is certainly quite accomplished despite her “late start” and has poured much of her retirement years into it with great dedication. She and her husband have been in very strict home lockdown for most of the pandemic, so she obviously will have a powerful perspective on that experience as well.

SARAH BRODIE, M.A., RP - Artist & Psychotherapists
She is a registered psychotherapist (RP) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario.
She has 20 years experience as a therapist working in hospitals, schools, and private practice. She works with families, couples, and individuals of all ages towards a shared understanding of each person’s struggle, and a gentle, persistent look for the unmet need underlying every symptom. She has seen problems with mood, personality, behaviour, addictions, and attachment resolve into love and acceptance.

Sungmi Kong Artist &instructor
She is Koran traditional art painter in Oakville ON.
She perfectly captures precious moments from ordinary daily lives and recreates in her own unique style of painting on Korean traditional paper called "Hanji" using special techniques. Many art lovers are fascinated by her mastery of skills and knowledge of this unknown style of painting and her art works are getting more and more recognized among her peers and patrons of galleries. She would like to continue working to introduce and establish this unknown Korean traditional art form not only to art communities but also to the general public by sharing her profound knowledge and talent. She also hopes someday to be known as a great portrait artist specializing in Korean traditional folk-art in Canada. She was one of three artists chosen to be part of the CEMA(CANADIAN ETHNIC MEDIA ASSOCIATION) award winning television documentary in Canada, Healing Portraits Project.