In 2013, Elizabeth J. Powers ’10 founded ArtLifting through Harvard Innovation Labs with her brother, Spencer Powers, to help artists with disabilities and financial insecurity.

The organization’s mission is to connect artists with opportunities to share and sell their work. Eleven years after its inception, ArtLifting now represents more than 190 artists in 35 states.

For Billy M. Megargel and Lisa Murphy, two artists based in Massachusetts, ArtLifting supports them in different ways.

Megargel uses painting as a form of self-expression and ArtLifting has helped him reach wider audiences through social media platforms. Murphy, who is an abstract artist, has been able to establish her art business with the assistance provided by ArtLifting.

The Artists

Billy Megargel, a painter with autism who communicates nonverbally using a visually based communication system, draws on a wide variety of tools — ranging from kitchen appliances to car parts — to capture movement in his pieces.

Eve Megargel, Billy’s mother, said her son “reminds me a little bit of Jackson Pollock style, you know, kind of like throwing the paint, kind of moving the brushes.”

“When he presses a kitchen tool, he presses it hard,” she added. “It’s his style.”

Billy Megargel’s art journey began in early childhood when his mother, spurred by her son’s love of colors, introduced him to painting. Though he enjoyed working with paint, the scarcity of accessible art programs made it challenging to nurture that interest.

“When Billy was a child, there was no art program for Billy,” Eve Megargel said. “They had no access to a program and the kind of art they did was where you would sit at a table and an assistant would give you something, and you would glue it on a paper. And pretty much that was kind of the extent of the art.”

The lack of accessible art led Eve Megargel to develop “communication scripts,” empowering her son to take control of his creative process. This extensive system of pictures, colors, and numbers can be seen all over his studio space granting Billy Megargel a way to select colors, textures, and movements for his paintings.

“So this allows us to basically give Billy agency to empower him to say, ‘You know what, this is the texture I want.’ Versus me saying, ‘How about this texture?’” Eve Megargel said.

Lisa Murphy is an abstract artist who works with paint, printmaking, and paper scraps.

Murphy first got into art through classes and open art studios at Boston University’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation — a branch of the university that provides non-medical support to individuals with psychiatric disabilities. It was at BU where Murphy developed an appreciation for the creative process.

“I had just stumbled and, you know, made a whole bunch of messes,” she said. “And that was really transformative for me because having a chance to make art without just pens and pencils and paper.”

Murphy said that she realized drawing was not her preferred style of producing art, instead finding joy in multimedia art which was “just making a mess and having emotions.”

That wasn’t, you know, drawing wasn’t really, just making a mess and having emotions, it was great,” Murphy said.

Additionally, Murphy completed a program at Gateway Arts, a creative agency that works with artists impacted by disabilities, where she created a portfolio that would be submitted to ArtLifting and eventually get her accepted into the program. Her painting “Four Hands” was one of the works included in the collection.

“Four Hands” features a defining characteristic of Murphy’s artwork: morse code. Murphy’s father served in the Air Force and through their conversations about the unique call signs for words, she was inspired to include them in her art.

“So it’s, you know, with the tapping the shorts and longs, you can see, like the circle here, you know. He just said, this needs to be in your art somewhere,” Murphy said.

The four corners of the painting depict different concepts through hand signs accompanied by dots and dashes that spell out (purple) “peace,” (green) “punch,” (yellow) “power,” and (blue) “pray.”

Before ArtLifting, Murphy had significant struggles with job security after graduating from college.

“I was literally wearing out my shoes running around downtown Boston. I couldn’t get a job,” Murphy said.

Murphy worked jobs ranging from ushering at TD Garden to telemarketing, but none of them stuck. Murphy said that after all of the temporary jobs she held, she’s glad to be fully committed to being an artist.

“But this is where I am. This is where I landed, and I’m glad I landed here. This is something that I can do for the rest of my life,” Murphy said. “This is it. This is where the bus stops.”

ArtLifting helped Murphy build her art business which gave her confidence in turning art into a career.

“It just changed my life,” Murphy said. “All of a sudden, I had income from the art I was making.”

In the Studio

When beginning a piece, Billy Megargel systematically plans each step from start to finish using communication scripts. He draws inspiration from reference photos, such as Bal Tabarin (1907) and Wheatfield under Thunder Clouds (1890).

Billy Megargel works quickly to the rhythm of “In the End” by Tommee Proffitt, carefully selecting textures and paints for the piece. He streamlines his process by organizing his steps on a Kanban board.

After choosing the colors, tools, and techniques, he brings his vision to life on the canvas.

Once Billy Megargel has completed all of the steps he planned out on the kanban, the painting is set aside to dry.

Murphy uses an altered book as a multimedia sketchbook, experimenting with collages, textures, and innovative techniques — such as jelly printing, a process that involves applying paint to a gel plate and pressing it to paper to create a design. This creative space allows her to refine ideas before incorporating them into her larger art pieces.

From a folder of collected scraps from magazines, letters, and books, Murphy selects pieces to collage onto a new page of the altered book.

Noticing the page lacks a focal point, she finishes the piece with a line of purple ink to create a more cohesive composition.