Samantha Woj’s renderings of some of her favourite athletes are done with unconventional tools — and lead to unexpected results.
“I try to match the sport with the equipment I use,” Woj said as she was holding a basketball dipped in black acrylic paint, ready to hit a white canvas.
Woj is portraying Luguentz Dort, a Montrealer playing for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, along with teammate and fellow Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. She painted the piece live just in time for the NBA’s pre-season game at the Bell Centre.
Woj says using sports equipment as tools began as a joke with her sister.
“It was something I wanted to do during the pandemic to bring joy into life,” she told Global News.
Woj is not only a fan, but also an athlete herself.
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“I played soccer my whole life and that was the first place, I’ll say outside school, where I was able to truly make friendships — rivalries, yes, too, but a lot of friendships and it’s just this inherent love of something other.”
She has a rare genetic disorder and was born with two fingers on each hand, affecting the way she plays and paints.
But Woj says she decided to ignore her negative self-talk — and that’s when magic started happening. It has to do with simply letting go.
“With a basketball, I’m, like, half in control. There are things that are going on that I didn’t plan.”
Woj also didn’t plan the attention she would gain from her art.
The artist has marvelled passersby with her unique technique and story and caught the eye of big-time sports figures such as the Kelce brothers. The duo of Jason, with the Philadelphia Eagles, and Kansas City Chiefs player Travis — also known as Taylor Swift‘s rumoured beau — raved about her creations on their podcast.
“That was like that’s probably one of the biggest moments I think, celebrity-wise,” Woj said.
Most recently, she received an invitation to do a live portrait of the Toronto Maple Leafs mascot Carlton the Bear.
And now, the Thunder have commissioned her art.
“It doesn’t matter your ethnicity, your background or even if you’re differently abled. Sports can bring everyone together. So does art,” said Gayle Maxwell, the Thunder’s director of corporate communications.
One of Woj’s dreams is to be back here, in the home of the Montreal Canadiens, portraying one of her favourite teams.