MORE INTERVIEWS
Click on photos to read archives.
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Sarah Nannery is Director of Development for Autism Programming at Drexel University. She holds a master’s degree in conflict transformation and was recently diagnosed with Autism. Sarah is the co-author of What to Say Next: Successful Communication in Work, Life and Love with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Simon & Schuster, 2021) which is excerpted in Sanctuary this month. In this book, Sarah reflects on her personal experience living as a professional woman with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Together, with her husband, Larry, she offers timely advice in this communication guide for anyone on the autism spectrum looking to successfully navigate work, life and love.
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PARENT TO PARENT: Leslie Crawford was a primary caregiver to her son, Andrew, for 29 years. She offers advice to other parents, incorporating what she learned on her own journey. "For all the challenges we’ve been through as a special needs family, it has also been an interesting life with highlights that most people will never experience. It’s made me a better person, and we’ve met so many wonderful people along the way, broadening our small circle into a big circle of really caring, 'salt of the earth' friends and caregivers."
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Photo Credit: Shawn Inglima
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Christine Sloan Stoddard is a Salvadoran-American artist creating books, films, plays, paintings, installations, and more. She founded Quail Bell Magazine and runs Quail Bell Press & Productions. Her single author books include Heaven is a Photography, Naomi & The Reckoning, Desert Fox by the Sea, Belladonna Magic, and other titles. She has shared her creations and talents with The Huffington Post, the New York Transit Museum, the Elisabet Ney Museum, the Kennedy Center, the New York City Poetry Festival, and beyond. Learn about the inspiration behind her visual poetry film Butterflies.
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2020 INTERVIEWS
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ARTIST TALK with Yehudit Feinstein Mentesh: Her "Untitled" piece was chosen for Barrett Art Center's MARGINS, an international juried exhibition. Yehudit is a Brooklyn-based artist who was born and raised in Israel and relocated to the United States in 2000. She received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and a master's degree in psychoanalysis from The Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. Her art has been exhibited in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. She has also had careers as a therapist and an art teacher.
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ARTIST TALK with Loren Eiferman: Loren's piece "Nature Will Heal/Electronics" was chosen for Barrett Art Center's EARTH WORKS: Art in Ecological Context, a national juried exhibition. She is a New York-based artist whose wood sculptures have been exhibited extensively throughout the Tri-State region - from galleries in NYC to galleries, alternative art spaces and museum exhibits in the Hudson Valley Region of New York and Connecticut (including the New Britain and Dorsky Museums). Her work is included in numerous corporate and private art collections. In 2014, she was commissioned to create decorative railings for the NYC MTA.
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Jennifer Cook is an award-winning author of seven bestselling books which have been translated into six languages. Autism in Heels is a Wall Street Journal Bestseller WINNER for “Top Autism Books of All Time.” Jennifer's other titles include her Asperkids series (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) and Sisterhood of the Spectrum (Jessica Kingsley Publishers).
At the age of thirty-five, Jennifer Cook (then O’Toole) was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (autism) just after her three young children had been similarly identified. She is a sought-after keynote speaker at large events, including the Autism Society of America’s National Conference, the USAAA World Conference, and many more. She has spoken frequently alongside her colleagues (and close friends) Dr. Temple Grandin and Dr. Tony Attwood. She sits on the Autism Society of America’s Panel of People on the Spectrum, and she is a columnist/expert panelist for Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party. |
Photo Credit: Bonnie Auchincloss
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Bettina “Poet Gold” Wilkerson is a poet, author, performer, songwriter, community “Artivist” and speaker who is pushing the boundaries of poetry and the spoken word. Appointed the 2017 and 2018 NYS Dutchess County Poet Laureate, Poet Gold is the recipient of numerous awards. With countless recitations, she has opened for Grammy-nominated artists and has spoken at renowned organizations, such as Omega Institute and Self Employment in the Arts. Currently, she is the co-host for the iHeart Radio podcast “Finding Out with Pete and The Poet Gold.” Her distinct voice will be heard, playing the role of God, in the upcoming animated short film “The Creation,” poem by James Weldon Johnson, directed by award-winning animated filmmaker, Steve Leeper.
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2019 INTERVIEWS
Photo Credit: Franco Vogt
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Lorraine Salmon is the author of What’s Better Than This?, her first memoir which reached the #1 spot on Amazon.com in the “New Dramas and Plays by Women” category shortly after its release in December 2018. This romantic memoir spans her 14-month love affair that quickly blooms into a pivotal and meaningful mid-life romance before turning into a last-wishes-before-dying story. Her journey confronts readers with the questions that arise when we look death squarely in the eye. She currently lives in Glasco, NY where she enjoys her river view and finds much inspiration for her writing projects. She is working on her second memoir.
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Photo Credit: Lou Patenaude
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Diane Dewey is the author of Fixing the Fates: An Adoptee's Story of Truth and Lies. She holds a BA from Villanova University, the Honors Program in Liberal Arts. She later completed a certificate program from The Art Institute of Philadelphia, working for the Solomon. R. Guggenheim Museum and the National Academy, before founding her own art appraisal firm. Diane earned a Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling from Capella University in 2015. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida and near Schaffhausen, Switzerland with her husband and their rescue dog. Fixing the Fates is her first book.
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Tarryl Gabel was born and raised on a cattle ranch on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. She has lived the last 32 years in the beautiful Hudson Valley Region of New York. Tarryl has been voted by readers of Hudson Valley Magazine as “Best Artist” in their annual “Best of the Hudson Valley” five times to date. She has won awards nationally and regionally, including Paint the Parks and Paint America Top 100. Most recently, at Plein Air Easton, her painting was given the award titled “Worthy of the Met” by David Levy. Tarryl was also chosen to paint an ornament for the 2007 White House Christmas tree.
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Jean Newburg is a sculptor and painter who worked for decades as founding CEO of Weston United, a nonprofit organization providing housing and services for homeless individuals with mental illness and other behavioral disorders. Jean has been studying and making art since the 1970s concurrently with pursuing a career as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. After retiring in 2016, Jean began painting and sculpting full-time. She is currently studying sculpture with Rhoda Sherbell at the Art Students League of New York. She is also studying watercolor at the Woodstock School of Art, and, in 2017, started experimenting with abstraction and pastel landscapes. Jean has exhibited in galleries in New York City and the Hudson Valley region of New York. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists.
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Amy Gravino, M.A., is a Certified Autism Specialist and international speaker. As the founder and President of A.S.C.O.T Consulting, Amy offers autism consulting and college coaching services for individuals on the autism spectrum, mentoring services for young adults with autism, and professional presentations for conferences, autism events, schools and professional development workshops. Amy has given two TED Talks and has spoken twice at the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day (2011 and 2018). Amy is now authoring The Naughty Autie, a memoir of her experiences with dating, relationships, and sexuality from the firsthand perspective of a woman on the autism spectrum.
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Amina Figarova is an internationally-known jazz pianist and composer who was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. For decades, she has played with musicians from across Europe and the U.S. The Amina Figarova Sextet (which includes flutist, Bart Platteau, Amina’s partner and husband of 27 years) has triumphed at the main stage of the Newport Jazz Festival. The sextet has been invited repeatedly to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and has won critical and popular acclaim in Chicago, Detroit, Paris, Amsterdam and New York. With the release of Road to the Sun, Amina Figarova (a Sanctuary 2016 featured artist) celebrates the 20th anniversary of her band.
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