Meet Sonia
Artist & Guide
Homage to Bar Bands
Mini-Gallery, 2025.
Lift
Art Installation, 2025.
Collection on Display.
Group Art Exhibition, 2025.
Born in Galt, Ontario, I now live in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Throughout my childhood, I remember being drawn to art and being pretty rebellious about it even then. I coloured outside the lines in mad scribbles. I painted foam heads meant for displaying airplane headsets to pilots in my father’s business (he was not amused).
Creativity seemed as natural to me as breathing. When I was looking for a career in my 20s, I came across graphic design, which felt like a natural fit. And it was, for over 22 years following my 1995 Sheridan College graduation.
Being a professional fine artist literally never occurred to me as being a possibility. In 2015, I went to a paint party, grudgingly. Art was just not part of my life at that point. My creative energy was tapped during my day job as a designer. But there I was, falling in love with painting!
Rediscovering My Affinity with Creating Art
It was like coming home after a long journey.
I was further inspired by an artist online who created graffiti-style art. He had me at quirky eyes! And right there, I knew then where I wanted to start.
I have since added more abstract art, textures, earthy colours… and an incredible amount of MESS!!! And then my mind figures out what the meaning might be.
Artist CV
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 — City of Niagara Falls Juried Art Exhibition, Niagara Falls Exchange, Niagara Falls, ON.
2025 — Parkway Artists' Guild Indoor Art Show & Sale, Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory, Niagara Falls, ON.
2025 — WAM Encounters International Juried Exhibit, Buchanan, MI, USA
2019 — Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery.
2018 — Passion for Life Exhibit, Arta Gallery, Toronto, ON.
Selected Public Commissions
2026 — 15 utility boxes to be installed, sponsored by Lundy’s Lane BIA, Niagara Falls, ON.
2025 — Art Installation, Night of Art, Niagara Falls Exchange, Niagara Falls, ON.
2025 — Mini-Gallery, Niagara Falls Exchange, Niagara Falls, ON. (Currently exhibited at Niagara Falls Art Gallery)
2018 — Art for 11 utility boxes, Lundy’s Lane BIA, Niagara Falls, ON.
Awards and Honours
2025 — WAM Encounters International Juried Exhibit, Buchanan, MI, USA, Judges Award 1st Place Acrylic Painting.
2019 — Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, Honourable Mention.
Education
Sheridan College — Diploma in Graphic Design, 2019.
Dundas Valley School of Art — Classes on a variety of mediums, Dundas, Ontario, 1980-1986.
Memberships
Professional Artist Association (P.A.A.) — ProfessionalArtist.com, FDW House, Dundalk, Louth, Ireland.
Parkway Artists Guild (P.A.G.) — ParkwayArtistsguild.ca, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.
Examples of My Work
I use acrylics on canvas or wood panels. Currently I’m working on a new series, called, “Human Connection”.
Human Touch | 10" x 10" | 2021 | SOLD
Disjointed | 12" x12" | 2020 | SOLD
Give Me Back My Voodoo Doll | 15 x 30" | SOLD
Shy | 24" x36" | 2018 | Available
Morning Person | 18" x 20" | Not available
Road Ahead | 24" x 36" | SOLD
Sassy | 24" x 24" | SOLD
Navigating Influences | 24" x 36" | SOLD
Why I do this
I’ve been through enough to know how brutal life can be. I use my art, skills, and knowledge to offer comfort, training, and support to fellow beings.
We’re all going through so much. My purpose is to offer a lift. I hope you find it.
My Plan
To make seriously messy art that people can relate to and perhaps feel a connection with to the point where it gives them a lift—in humour, comfort, solidarity…
To offer everything I know, step-by-detailed-step, to fellow artists so they can be empowered and more people can have art in their lives.
My Goal
To make a positive difference in the messy world we live in.
Through purchases, lessons, and support, I want to empower fellow artists so we can all make a difference together AND show the world artists CAN be successful.
Personally Speaking…
Penny, myself, and the blonde I now hide.
I adopted Penny when I was 32. One of the best experiences of my life was helping Penny transform. She went from feeling extreme anxiety/fear and being dangerous to handle to calm, trusting, and safe within 6 months. I wish I could have kept her.
I’m obsessed with home decor TV shows. I’ve watched them while sipping my tea on weekend mornings since the days of Trading Spaces. I just can’t help myself.
Pretty sure I need to get out more.
I made… A Delorean!
I made a time machine… out of cardboard! Yup! As well as wires, tubes, and a lot of glue and tape. Halloween at work, 2015. Great Scott!
I worked at a pig farm. I was covered in pig poop from head to toe on a weekly basis. I did medical things that nobody should think about, let alone do. Friends no longer wanted to be within sniff distance of me. The piglets were worth it. The poop not so much.
Rob, Kyle, and myself.
I was born in Galt, Ontario, Canada in 1968. My parents and brother immigrated to southern Ontario from England “for 2 years” in 1967 and stayed. I was the first in my family to be born in Canada. My son is now the second.
I’m now happily settled with my hub, Rob, son, Kyle, and our two rambunctious sibling cats, Comet and Jouster. We live in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
I really need to update this photo. The “kid” is taller than I am at this point! LOL