{"id":28697,"date":"2024-06-08T09:26:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T16:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/?p=28697"},"modified":"2025-08-03T15:08:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T22:08:24","slug":"sportsstrokes-of-geniussamantha-wojs-dynamic-fusion-of-art-and-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/sportsstrokes-of-geniussamantha-wojs-dynamic-fusion-of-art-and-athletics\/","title":{"rendered":"This Disabled Artist Paints With Soccer Balls and Hockey Pucks"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Unwrap the new year with us.<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Enjoy our premium, unique selections from TrooRa marketplace<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This Disabled Artist Paints With Soccer Balls and Hockey Pucks\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Written by: Eloise Stark<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Samantha Woj, painting with a hockey puck<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Artist Samantha Woj\u2019s Dynamic Fusion of Art and Athletics<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Samantha Woj, a disabled artist and former Master’s student in art therapy, had broken her ankle and felt cooped up. Looking at the home gym she\u2019d set up in the basement of her family home, she joked with her sister that she might as well roll a soccer ball in a tub of paint since she wouldn’t be able to play the game for a while. “Do it!” her sister said, and out of a mixture of boredom and curiosity, Woj found an old canvas, dipped the ball in the paint, and started.<\/p>

“Straight away, I loved the texture,” Woj said. “It reminded me of being an athlete, of the traces and marks you make while playing sports.” She had experimented with various art forms during her studies, but this one felt right\u2014like she could finally convey everything she wanted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Since childhood, Woj has turned to sports and the arts to express herself and fit in with her peers. At times, she felt different from other kids because she was born with ectrodactyly, a congenital disorder that affects the fingers and toes. She has “two fingers on each hand,” as her Insta bio reads, adding, “What’s your superpower?”<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Portrait of Scottie Barnes, Samantha Woj<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Athletes' Portraits That Appear to Live and Breathe \n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Looking at her work, it\u2019s evident that Woj’s hands are her superpower. Her artwork is stunning, with energy, depth, and dimension. Using sports equipment, she creates both abstract paintings and detailed portraits.<\/span><\/p>

The abstract work is a play on color and texture, made unique by her use of spherical, imprinted balls as her paintbrushes. You feel like you could get lost in them, following the intriguing shapes, the colors, and the surprising emotions that emerge from the paint.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

However, Woj’s portraits truly set her work apart. On her Instagram page, you can see videos of her process. She takes a piece of sports equipment\u2014a ball, bat, or hockey stick\u2014and dips it in paint, then takes it to the canvas, delicately tapping and rolling it onto the white. The work that gradually emerges under her hand is surprisingly delicate. Many of her works are monochrome, and artful shading brings to life the faces of the athletes she depicts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Woj in front of her portrait of Serena Williams<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Accessible Arts Meet Sports \n\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Perhaps it\u2019s because of how they are painted\u2014with the objects the athletes use in their sport\u2014but there is a vivacity and energy to these portraits, as though the athletes were suspended in time, a split second in their movement caught on paper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

It isn’t just the resulting paintings that matter to Woj. “My work has a performance element because people like seeing the process. They find it surprising,” she says. “And you wouldn’t get the painting without the experience of making it.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

In this way, Woj blurs the line between sports and the arts, bringing attention to the physicality of the creative process and harnessing the visual traces that sports leave behind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Wave of Emotions, by Samantha Woj<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The World of Sports, a Place of Belonging and Expression<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMany of Woj\u2019s commissions have come from sporting events and gyms. Among other partnerships, she has worked with NFL Canada, painting a mural during a Super Bowl event in Toronto. She painted during the 2022 CCAA Women\u2019s Soccer Championship, and the winning team received her painting to honor their victory. Her live painting sessions have raised thousands of dollars for charities supporting women and Paralympic athletes.\u00a0<\/span>\n\n\u201cMy work lets me be a part of sports,\u201d Woj says. \u201cI\u2019ll never be a professional athlete, but this way, I can get back on the field.\u201d Being physically active is a central part of her life\u2014as a child, it was through sports that she first made friends and overcame the feeling of being different from the kids around her. \u201cI could play games with able-bodied people, and that gave me a way to connect,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe one way I really managed to make friends in elementary was through sports.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\n\nWoj\u2019s face lights up when she talks about sports, and she is excited about her next commission. Soon, she will do a large live painting at the RBC Canadian Open, a men\u2019s golf competition. \u201cI\u2019m really excited because I\u2019ve never worked with golf clubs and balls before!\u201d she says. \u201cIt will be completely new textures and results.\u201d Here at TrooRa, we can\u2019t wait to see what Woj does next!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> \"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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TrooRa Magazine<\/p>\n

Words<\/p>\n

Eloise Stark<\/p>\n

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Archer Bag Copper Metallic<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mini Trio Candle<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Archer Bag Blue Steel Metallic<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Discover disabled artist Samantha Woj, a sports artist blending accessible arts and athletics by painting with soccer balls, hockey pucks, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":30851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[42,338,349],"class_list":["post-28697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-featured","tag-memberpress-1","tag-web-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28697"}],"version-history":[{"count":62,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44540,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28697\/revisions\/44540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}