Ilene Sova is the artistic director of Walnut Studios. Walnut Studios is a multidisciplinary studio with over 45 artists in a large authentic factory warehouse. The studio hosts artists in painting, photography, jewelry graphic design, sculpture, and installation. Walnut’s notable projects consist of a contemporary art gallery, a community-programming arm, and year round special events. Walnut Studios is receiving accolades for the community engagement projects Sova developed with the Toronto District School Board, OCAD University and the local businesses around the studio. Outside of her studio director role, Ilene Sova is a conceptual portrait painter who creates paintings that reference anti-oppression feminist themes. She has an MFA in Painting from the University of Windsor and her work has been shown in extensive solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad. Sova’s art-work has also been featured in a variety of television, web and print media and she has been interviewed on Al Gore’s television program The Current, Canada AM, The Toronto Star, and CBC Radio. Further, she was chosen to speak at Toronto’s first TEDx Women in December 2013 and this past March she was invited to Southern New York University to speak about Art and Social Change.