ART ON THE SPECTRUM: FEATURING ARTIST EMILY BURKE               

CIVIC GREEN SPECIAL ATHLETES/TOP SOCCER fundraiser 

On display SEPTEMBER 13 through SEPTEMBER 17

Emily Burke’s drawings and paintings will be featured in an exhibit titled, “Art on the Spectrum” at the Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center (MRAC) in September, along with original artwork in various media by members of the Manayunk-Roxborough Artists’ Co-Op. The exhibit is a fundraiser for Civic Green Special Athletes/TOPS Soccer, which promotes sports participation by young people with disabilities. The public is invited to partake of refreshments and meet the artists at the opening reception for this show on Sunday, September 13, 2015, from noon to 4:00 P.M., in the art center’s gallery.

According to M. English, writing for 21st Century Media News Service, TOPSoccer was created by U.S. Youth Soccer to enable the thousands of young athletes with disabilities to develop their fitness, technical skills, courage and self-esteem through playing soccer. Joe Hunter, of Plymouth Meeting, established the Plymouth team, which hosts a tournament for other TOPSoccer teams at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School each fall. The program’s success inspired Hunter to initiate the umbrella organization, Civic Green Special Athletes, which offers participation in floor hockey, volleyball, scooter basketball, parachute games, swimming and T-ball. The organization operates from September through July and is open to young people four years of age and up. Civic Green offers field trips as part of its activities and plans to add yoga and karate next year. More information is available on the web at www.plymouthtownship.org and on Civic Green Special Athletes/TOPSoccer’s Facebook page. Telephone 610. 277.4312 or 610. 842.0066.

Ever since she could hold a crayon, 11-year-old artist Emily Burke has been drawing prolifically. Even her earliest works demonstrate an exacting command of her drawing hand. With her parents help, she taught herself to read by the time she entered kindergarten at age five. When Burke was six years old, she was diagnosed as having High Functioning Autism with Asperger Syndrome. She is particularly proud of the drawings she has created of her six pets – two guinea pigs, a dog, two parakeets, and a cockatiel, as well as other animals and objects. She has created several series of works depicting the same kind of animal in various situations and is currently focused on dragons, including the Hydra. Ink and colored pencil drawings such as “KSDGMS”,which shows the artist’s pets playing, and “tha katz” that depicts a group of felines frolicking in a tree are full of action and humor. Burke’s ink drawing, “Warrior Cats”, demonstrates her strong sense of composition and perspective. Her artwork also has a dark side, with animals fighting, bleeding and/or dying.

Emily Burke's artwork can be found on her Facebook page HERE.

Download a write-up of the artists work HERE