Maria Parrella-ilaria (o/a OpenArt Studios) is a Northern Ontario-based visual artist, art therapist and arts educator who has worked 26+ years employing the arts as tools for social engagement, transformation and entrepreneurship. Parrella-ilaria combined her early training in contemporary fine arts practices and art education (1980-84 OCAD/1985-88 ConcordiaU) to pursue graduate training in art psychotherapy (MA/1989-93 ConcordiaU) which fostered a profound understanding of the role and efficacy of the arts in nurturing social interconnectedness while fostering resilience in both the individual and society.
Upon returning to Sault Ste. Marie, ON in the mid 90’s, she opened the Sault's first 'art cafe', the award-winning Fireball Coffee'n Arts House (1995-2001) and freelanced for CBC Radio--Points North, writing/ producing the 'Fireball Chronicles--tales from a Northern Cafe'. She developed art therapy/art-as-therapy programs for a number of local social service agencies and for 25 years has offered therapeutic-arts services to women in recovery at the Algoma Treatment and Remand Centre (Ministry of Solicitor General/ corrections). She developed/taught visual arts curriculum for over 18yrs at Sault College and was Co-ordinator of Fine Arts Studies at both Algoma U and Lake Superior State University, MI as well as a sessional instructor at both.
She developed the ArtReach Program for Youth (Art Gallery of Algoma/Huron Superior & Algoma Public School Boards, 2005-2011with Laurie Kerrin Carlyle) which brought together visiting professional artists and grade 11&12 high school students in hands-on studio sessions; researched/developed/taught the Creative Arts in Therapy Post-Graduate Diploma, 2008-11, for Sault College’s School of Continuing Education introducing social services professionals to the use of the arts in therapeutic practice. From 2016-18, she was lead developer and project co-ordinator for The ArtSpeaks Project, an Ontario Trillium Foundation funded pilot-project using arts-based learning and cultural mentorship in fostering greater resiliency in women dealing with trauma due to addictions, sexual violence and mental health challenges; this project was supported by Breton House, Phoenix Rising, SAH’s Sexual Assault Care Centre and the SSM Museum. In January 2019 she launched the ArtSpeaks ArtHive, a community arts studio offering non-clinical art-as-therapy sessions and enlisted local artists as Hive co-facilitators and guest artists. The ArtSpeaks ArtHive is funded by SAH’s Sexual Assault Care Centre, Breton House and the Sault Ste. Marie Museum (which also serves as the home for the ArtHive). In February 2020, the ArtSpeaks ArtHive received a generous grant from the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Cultural Financial Assistance Fund and moved to offering live-streaming virtual art hives/Cyber-Hives during the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020. See theartspeaksproject.org for more info on these initiatives.
Upon returning to Sault Ste. Marie, ON in the mid 90’s, she opened the Sault's first 'art cafe', the award-winning Fireball Coffee'n Arts House (1995-2001) and freelanced for CBC Radio--Points North, writing/ producing the 'Fireball Chronicles--tales from a Northern Cafe'. She developed art therapy/art-as-therapy programs for a number of local social service agencies and for 25 years has offered therapeutic-arts services to women in recovery at the Algoma Treatment and Remand Centre (Ministry of Solicitor General/ corrections). She developed/taught visual arts curriculum for over 18yrs at Sault College and was Co-ordinator of Fine Arts Studies at both Algoma U and Lake Superior State University, MI as well as a sessional instructor at both.
She developed the ArtReach Program for Youth (Art Gallery of Algoma/Huron Superior & Algoma Public School Boards, 2005-2011with Laurie Kerrin Carlyle) which brought together visiting professional artists and grade 11&12 high school students in hands-on studio sessions; researched/developed/taught the Creative Arts in Therapy Post-Graduate Diploma, 2008-11, for Sault College’s School of Continuing Education introducing social services professionals to the use of the arts in therapeutic practice. From 2016-18, she was lead developer and project co-ordinator for The ArtSpeaks Project, an Ontario Trillium Foundation funded pilot-project using arts-based learning and cultural mentorship in fostering greater resiliency in women dealing with trauma due to addictions, sexual violence and mental health challenges; this project was supported by Breton House, Phoenix Rising, SAH’s Sexual Assault Care Centre and the SSM Museum. In January 2019 she launched the ArtSpeaks ArtHive, a community arts studio offering non-clinical art-as-therapy sessions and enlisted local artists as Hive co-facilitators and guest artists. The ArtSpeaks ArtHive is funded by SAH’s Sexual Assault Care Centre, Breton House and the Sault Ste. Marie Museum (which also serves as the home for the ArtHive). In February 2020, the ArtSpeaks ArtHive received a generous grant from the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Cultural Financial Assistance Fund and moved to offering live-streaming virtual art hives/Cyber-Hives during the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020. See theartspeaksproject.org for more info on these initiatives.