Page 3 - Final update Publication 2nd Annual Something JazzZee Exibition The Spirit of Art (7)

Antoinette “Toni” Stroman

We first told you of Antoinette “Toni” Stroman this exceptional child, an artistic, bright and gregarious
young lady, Toni seemed destined to be successful back in 1990. She was just entering her first
year of high school when she contracted viral encephalitis, a virus causing severe inflammation of
the brain. She was hospitalized and slipped into a coma for more than
three months. Doctors told her family that Toni would die and if she
lived, she would be left with little or no mental capacity.
Faith, love and prayers seemed to be the only prescription that worked
to bring Toni out of the coma that left her unable to walk, talk or move
independently. The hospital where she had been treated could not pro-
vide the long term care she needed. And when the insurance ran out
Toni was transferred to a state hospital. It was in this setting that Toni’s
personality began to assert itself and her mother,
Michele Stroman-McGuire, began a long and
frustrating battle for adequate rehabilitative care.
Her mother decided to play the hand she was
dealt. Always looking for whatever crack in the
system that would allow for new and innovative
Michelle and Toni
programs that would serve the special needs of her child. They discovered
the world of the Special Olympics and Toni went on to win many gold, silver
and bronze medals in wheelchair races. Then Mayor Tom Bradley proclaimed
“Toni Stroman Day” in Los Angeles and she re-
ceived a resolution from then State of California As-
sembly woman Maxine Waters. Not stopping there,
after graduating from Palm Springs High School in 1990, that December
she was awarded NAACP’s Image Award “President’s Award”.

This lead to the discovery of a very unique art program, founded on the
proposition that human potential for creativity and artistic expression is not
limited by physical or developmental disabilities. The Tierra del Sol Foun-
dation believe that through cultivation of artistic
expression, people with even the severest of dis-
abilities develop creatively and make important contributions to the cultural
and economic life of their communities.

Toni has participated in more than 35 shows over the past 15 years. Toni’s
works include works with collages, watercolor, ceramic tiles and litho-
graphs. Art is a medium of expression that doesn’t require the ability to
speak, hear, see or walk. For the developmentally disabled artists at
Claremont’s First Street Gallery and Art Center, their work is a kind of visu-
al poetry that reaches out to an appreciative community.

Toni’s story does not end here: the development of technology in the use of augmented devices
such as the iPad for communication will be the next area for exploration.