Anthony Wardlow

My name is Anthony Wardlow. I am from San Diego and I’m an Artist! I have mild cerebral palsy and attend an organization called St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center. During the early part of the pandemic in 2020 I spent my time doing zoom classes and focused on scratchboard art from the grant I received from the California Arts Council and the National Arts & Disability Center in UCLA. I said yes and made 12 scratchboards of animals of all types for my own art show hosted by Sophie’s Gallery, the off-campus art program of St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center in Downtown El Cajon. My show opened in July 2021. I began the scratchboards in August 2020, and it took me until May 2021 to finish the 12 scratchboards. Every week I had a one-on-one zoom meeting to review my scratchboard art I had made. Art instructors at Sophie’s Gallery and made suggestions to help me along the way. In July 2021 I had my personal art show and was well received by those who attended the event. The show was a successes story and by December 2021 all the scratchboards have been sold except one. I made a lot of money from the art sold and it has made me well known in the local art world. I also had greetings cards and magnets printed with grant funding and have sold many of those. The grant was such a good thing for me, it helped me improve my art in animals which is not my regular subject. I’d like to thank the California Arts Council and the National Arts & Disability Center for giving me the opportunity to make the scratchboards for my own show. The experience has helped me to be better at making art for future art shows again. Thank You for those who help me during these trying times!