New Visionary Magazine | Leading Magazine for Visionary Artists & Educators - Issue 4

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VISIONARY INTERVIEWS

Jessica Alazraki

Charuka Arora

Tam Gryn

VISIONARY ARTISTS

Sandrine Arons

Berfin Ataman

Alison Balcanoff

Margeaux Bestard

Christa Capua

Linda Chido

Karen Cornelius

Martin Cox

Christoph Eberle

Arani Halder

Petronilla Hohenwarter

Ryan Horton

Aneka Ingold

Caroline Karp

Chris

Kathryn Knudsen

Chantal Lesley

Hattie Lee

Jason Lindsey

Taylor Maroney

Thyra Moore

David Morris

Mayumi Nakao

Nancy Natow-Cassidy

Oates

Greta Olivas

Shelly Pamensky

Erick Picardo

Katie

Ricder

Marybeth

Smit

Sahar

Valenzuela

Priya Vadhyar

Traci

VISIONARY

ARTIST VICTORIA J. FRY Detail of With You, acrylic on canvas, 18x24in

EDITOR’S NOTE

VICTORIA J. FRY Artist, Educator + Founder of Visionary Art Collective

There’s something so magical about Fall, especially in New York City. Once again, the art galleries are buzzing with life after a long, quiet summer. Artists return to their studios, and the trees in central park begin to shed their leaves - signifying that summer has officially ended. Over the years, I’ve encountered many artists who have expressed that autumn is their favorite time to create. The world feels like it’s finally settling down, and there’s a renewed sense of focus and clarity in the air.

In issue 4 of New Visionary Magazine, we are honored to have Sergio Gomez as our guest curator. The diverse selection of work featured in this issue reflects Sergio’s eye as an artist, curator, and director of 33 Contemporary gallery in Chicago, IL. We are thrilled to share this dynamic array of art with you.

Wishing you a beautiful autumn!

Xo Victoria

ARTIST JESSICA ALAZRAKI

oil on canvas,

VISIONARY INTERVIEWS

As part of our ongoing interview series, we chat with artists, curators, authors, and educators around the world. Through these interviews, we can gain a fresh perspective on contemporary art and education.

Jessica Alazraki

in conversation with Victoria J. Fry

jessicaalazrakiart.com jessicaalazraki1

In your paintings, you highlight the culture and values of Latinx families. How have your personal experiences impacted the work you create?

When I moved to New York, I worked in advertising for the US Hispanic Market, which helped me understand the broad cultural differences among Hispanics. Although it was purely commercial, I immediately identified as Latina and started to see myself that way and appreciate that side of my cultural background. I also made very close friends with other Latinos living in NY. Language is the most evident difference and a big way to identify with people with similar backgrounds. When I started painting, I was very comfortable painting Latinos because of their nostalgia and the feeling of being an immigrant. It felt very natural. I also started painting when I was already a parent, and raising my kids is my life, so it was essential to bring that perspective and that value as my central theme.

Why is color such a critical component of your work?

Arts and crafts are an essential inspiration for my work, and Mexico screams color, so it was a very natural choice for me. I wanted the tone of the paintings to be a celebration of the culture, and the color is a device that helps me create that feeling. I also include kids and patterns, so it works well visually.

Has the New York City art community influenced your work? If so, how?

I love New York; it’s home; I feel comfortable and free in New York; I think I found myself here. My work is straightforward and raw, and immediacy is part of life’s rhythm. I am hyper and impatient and love bringing that energy into the paintings. I think the more honest and the more of your DNA translates into the pictures, the stronger the work. Being an independent woman and an immigrant is very welcoming in New York.

Couple With Tequila, oil on canvas, 48x60in

I feel more and more artists have similar values and interests, and more people are celebrating minorities and women artists. It feels assertive when you are part of a broader discourse.

What advice would you give emerging artists seeking to navigate the art world?

Well, in a way, I still consider myself an emerging artist. It’s hard to give a piece of advice because I feel everyone has a different path and different style, so there is no one way of achieving success. But for the most part, being significantly persistent and hoping for the best but expecting the worst helps to manage expectations and lower frustration. It’s hard to be ambitious yet be okay with not achieving goals immediately. It’s incredibly frustrating and challenging. The most important thing for me is continuing to enjoy the craft, the feeling of being productive, and the privilege of creating.

How do you balance your work as an artist with being a mother? What advice would you give to artists juggling their art careers with parenting?

It’s very personal because everyone has different goals and different situations. Kids are also different; some are easier than others and ages make it very different too. For me now, the most crucial thing that changed my life dramatically was painting from home. When I had an artist studio, I had more limited time to paint. I always had to choose between staying at home with my kids or staying in the studio. Since I paint from home, I can do both more organically and feel much more productive, comfortable, and a better parent. It’s expensive and complicated but life-changing in ways it is hard to explain.

Legos & Secrets, oil on

What are you working on in the studio right now?

After painting my version of the Last Supper, I moved away from tables and started creating an outdoors series that worked very nicely with the summer season.

I am trying to build my brand with a recognizable style that can work in different scenes. I am applying more texture and using the paint to add to the narrative. I am also more intentional in distortions to prioritize emotion versus objective reality. I feel very confident and proud of my work lately.

Last Supper, oil on canvas, 72x118in

Watching Stars, oil on canvas, 60x72in

Playroom, oil on canvas, 60x72in

Charuka Arora

in conversation with Victoria J. Fry

artstoheartsproject.com artstoheartsproject www.charukaarora.com charukaarora

I was always a creative child. I think creativity has been the only language I knew. I grew up in a small town in India, Agra (The city of Taj). And, in a patriarchal set up. So you know, it’s like boys are athletic and girls are crafty. My brother and I were of the same age growing up together. When he would spend his time out with the boys. I would often spend time in my room spilling glitter and making things. And, at that point I never knew I had something that was unique or special, or even a skill. I always thought everyone was creative like me. Now I understand that we are all creative in different ways.

I remember my mom refusing to change my bedsheets because only in a matter of a few hours they would be back spilled with glitter. I think my creativity and my habit of creating stems from my mother. I spent days and hours roaming in small alleys of our town with my mum. I keep sharing this story ample of times on my podcast. I think I was blessed to learn creativity in a raw way, which is something I cherish so much. I would thrift shop embroideries and fabrics with my mom, go to the tailors and get clothes stitched. While growing up I saw my mom do a fashion study course and I admire her drawings and creativity so much. Even with cooking, I saw making food as a creative process. She was an excellent cook. I never saw her measure ingredients or follow recipes. She would trust her instincts and her hands. I think I have learned all of these very integral skills of my life and creative practice since the beginning because of her.

So yes, I have been creating. I am truly grateful to my roots and my culture for having had that experience.

Tell us about your journey as an artist. Have you always been creating?

Hāra, watercolor, gouache, embellishments on lana 100% rag paper on cradled wood, 9x12in

You draw inspiration from fashion, textile, and your own cultural heritage. What do you hope to communicate through your work?

I find this the hardest thing to answer ever. I always say art is an extension of who we are and our experiences. I leaned into the arts and creativity because I have always found it hard to make sense of what’s happening around me. I grew up as a very uncomfortable child. Mostly, feeling like a misfit. I honestly make art because I genuinely passionately need it in my life. It’s like a necessity for me to be able to keep going forward in life.

I don’t want to see art as a profession. Rather, I like to see art as a friend. So, I talk to it about things that I go through, things I experience and I love. Things that matter to me. My deepest darkest secrets.The best thing is I know that it will always stay between my creativity and me.

And I love that. I find it like a privilege where I can pour my heart and soul into something. Set it out in the world. And, yet one can never truly know if I don’t want them. It’s like my comfort zone. My safety net.

The question of ‘Home’ has always been one that’s been integral to my life and my work. In the past couple of years, especially since my mothers passing away, I have found my ‘Home’ in those stories, in how I grew up, my cultural influences and so much more. These elements define me and have shaped who I am.

So they have always been something I feel essentially connected to. I see my work in layers - the aesthetic or the visual layer, and the thought layer. My work always has underlying themes that I continue to experience as a woman.

should go about it. Until one day I realized that I would love to have a podcast and share these conversations with my peers, mentors, and fellow creatives. I have always loved podcasts and truly admire the value they provide. Now knowing the effort it takes to launch a podcast, it’s incredible to see the connections it builds.

Everything we do today has been slowly and steadily built on the foundation of my own experiences and needs as an artist and of people around me. Today Arts to Hearts Project is a media publication and community led platform. We help women artists tune their creativity into money making careers and businesses. With this platform, I truly want women to realize their creative potential and know that the possibilities are unlimited.

How has being an artist and entrepreneur impacted you on a personal level?

I feel both roles are very interconnected and overlap innumerable times. In both these roles, my creativity is my best friend and the driving force.I truly cherish the process more than the destination. Being an artist and an entrepreneur teaches you patience and perseverance - trusting your gut is one of the key takeaways. Whether you are chasing a new business idea or an idea to make something, you have to keep trusting your gut to guide you. You have to be open to improvisations and sometimes even start from scratch a number of times.

In addition to being an artist, you are also the founder of Arts to Hearts Project, a podcast and community for women artists. What inspired you to launch this initiative?

To be completely honest, I felt so lonely as a creative and an artist. I was finding it harder and harder to move forward alone. For the longest time, I felt that I was the only one feeling this.

And, eventually and thankfully I learned that it wasn’t just me. I couldn’t find the support, the networks and the community I was yearning for around me. But, I have always enjoyed the company of like minded women. I have always been open to learning and collaborating with others.

I had been fascinated by the idea of podcasting for quite some time, but never knew what and how I

I think both of these roles ground me a lot. They teach you how to be resourceful. Entrepreneurship brings you to the ground every once in a blue. The challenges it brings and the conviction it takes is immense. While entrepreneurship is often about serving others, my art is the connection to myself. To my heart. It’s like my soul’s work. I truly don’t think there could be a better combination for me than this.

What advice would you give to an artist who is interested in launching a platform or community of their own?

I would say do it. It’s not going to be easy, and you don’t have to have it all figured out. You will fall a million times. Cry a thousand more (haha). But if your heart truly calls for it, go create it. Don’t let your current situation guide your actions, and know that you are the ultimate creator. You can do anything your heart desires. Find your purpose. Put your blinders on and keep doing the work. Be patient and trust yourself.

What does the next year look like for the Arts to Hearts Project? Do you have any exciting projects coming up? If so, tell us!

I am someone who wakes up with a ton of ideas every day! So, who knows what I might pick anytime in the coming months. My focus for the coming year is to build a more deeply invested community. We have recently launched the Arts To Hearts shop with a mission to create products and templates that empower artists in life & business. We are also going to launch the Arts to Hearts magazine soon, and we’re currently working on creating affordable courses for our community to grow their skills and careers. Lastly, the Arts to Hearts podcast is now getting bigger and better with women creators from different industries.

Pairā, watercolor, gouache,

Tam

in conversation with Victoria J. Fry

www.tamgryn.com tamgryn

You have curated a wide range of art exhibitions and events worldwide. What excites you the most about curating?

I’m focused on finding new cultural economic models at the intersection of art and other industries. I want to see a world in which artists are the most desired people in society, disrupting industries one by one with their perspectives. Artists make the world’s consciousness rise and open the minds that matter, those outside of the art world.

Curators, we are the makers of meaning, therefore I follow and support artists transforming the perspectives, functions, values and total experience of each relevant industry one at a time. My curating changes and evolves at the pace that art changes and evolves.

Tell us about your work for Showfields. What are the benefits of connecting art with retail?

SHOWFIELDS is driving the cultural conversation that both artists and entrepreneurs share the same creative vein. We do not believe in categories when it comes to creativity. Instead, we celebrate the interdisciplinary aspects that drive innovation. Nowadays, there are more brands, more founders, more artists, and more innovation than any other time in history! We can find 100 mind-blowing artists on Instagram in 10 minutes, and we get ads to super cool mission-driven small businesses to no end. But, it is very hard for young artists and entrepreneurs to be discovered on hightraffic streets in their own cities and very hard for customers to find innovation in the physical world. That is why SHOWFIELDS was created, to engage and inspire your sense of discovery through revolving experiences with the brands and artists of tomorrow.

Tam Gryn with Marina Granger

In addition to your curatorial work, you recently authored the book How to Create and Sell NFTs. Will NFTs help artists to retain ownership of their work? What impact do you hope NFTs will have on the art world?

With NFTs, artists call the shots. Value is determined by artists and collectors rather than third parties who have a vested interest in maintaining authority by limiting access. This token ensures that the work could never be edited or modified and that no replica of the work could ever be passed off as authentic, since any reproduction would lack the original’s distinctive identifier. NFTs have the potential to change the function of ownership in the art world: an artwork can now be sold as an NFT that acts as the custodian of its uniqueness. The owner of a work could now sell it at any moment, with complete confidence in the transaction. And the faith of buyers with respect to the legitimacy of their purchases would increase. No longer would costly expert opinions be needed to verify the authenticity of a work and peer to peer international sales could happen within seconds. And finally, artists could create perpetual royalties and passive income— leaving out potential intermediaries.

What have been some highlights of 2022, and what does 2023 hold for you?

I hope to see an artworld that can seamlessly bridge physical and digital experiences that transcend both the experience economy of the 2018s and the digital renaissance post-covid. I hope to work towards a Web3 that uses curation for relevance and artistic narrative, but stays decentralized and provides access to all artists without gatekeeping. NFTs should be used to protect all of artists’ output, starting from the creative process, the behind the scenes, and every step of the way until the final artwork, both digital and physical. New mysterious projects involving NFTs and public art on the lookout!

What is the most important step emerging artists can take to advance their careers right now outside of NFTs?

Make sure your main message and research is reflected in all of your work, even and especially as it evolves. Make work about what keeps you up at night.

You focus on sustainability in your art curation. Why is it important to incorporate sustainability in your curatorial work?

As the environmental crisis accelerates, contemporary artists have taken up the mantle of addressing the precarious present. For the SHOWFIELDS launch in Miami, after visiting artists in their studios, I realized that everyone in the art community is concerned with water rising, the environment and sustainability - and that relationship between architecture and nature. Therefore, we wanted to come into the city with a sense of “we hear you Miami, and we are going to make ourselves accountable for you.” Every single artist in that curation had a strong sustainability practice and research. Concepts of climate change and carbon footprint are at the forefront of many artists’ minds, therefore with NFTs we need to be aware that ecofriendly options exist and new options are appearing.

ARTIST SERGIO GOMEZ

Reverence, acrylic and paper on canvas, 50x40in

VISIONARY ARTISTS

This issue of New Visionary Magazine is curated by Sergio Gomez.

Sergio Gomez is a Chicago-based artist, curator, author, and artist coach. He received a MFA degree from Northern Illinois University. He is known for his large scale figurative abstraction paintings and charcoal drawings exploring the cycles of life. Sergio’s work has been the subject of more than 45 solo exhibitions, and he has participated in over 150 group exhibitions. His work is in the collection of the National Museum of Mexican Art, Brauer Museum, and other public and private collections. Sergio Gomez is an active curator with a career of over 100 curated exhibitions since 2010. He is curator and Director of Exhibitions at the Zhou B. Art Center, Director and founder of 33 Contemporary Gallery, co-founder of the coaching academy Art NXT Level®, and founder of Amplified Art Network.

Sandrine Arons

www.sandrinearons.com

sarons

BIO

Sandrine Arons is a French-American photographic artist based in the south of France. She was born and raised in a small town 50 miles west of Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. The challenge of having one foot in each culture has been a driving force in Sandrine’s photographs as they often draw on her experience of belonging to two fundamentally different cultures; oftentimes in opposition.

Sandrine received an MFA in Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2015 after receiving Master’s degrees in both French Literature in 2010 and Psychology in 1997. It was during her time at SCAD that she came to understand her innate yearning to bridge these disciplines through her studies around personal writing, self-knowledge and imagery. Her studies and publications on journal writing and self-growth, Holocaust memoirs and diaries and 20th century French authors’ personal narratives led her to explore the concept of a visual autobiography and what that means from both an artistic and therapeutic perspective. Using her own life and images lays the groundwork for further studies in this area that she hopes to examine more deeply in the coming years.

Sandrine’s work has been shown in galleries and museums internationally and she has produced two solo exhibitions of her work in the United States and in France. She has received several awards for her work including Grand Prize Winner in Travel Photography for PDNedu in 2012 and the 2014 SPE Student Award Grant. She moved to France from the US in 2019 and is enjoying discovering new places and new inspirations.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“Frontiers: A Multicultural Journey through Photographs” offers a visual representation of my experience of multiculturalism, depicting an inner world of multiple languages, religions and cultural landscapes embedded in the mind as fragmented memories in search of wholeness. Growing up between France and the United States with frequent travels worldwide greatly influenced my vision and understanding of the world. Culturally, I am French, American, Algerian; raised among Jews, Atheists

and southern Baptists; married to a Muslim and the mother of child who will carry all these cultures with him into a new generation. Because I fit into multiple molds of culturally defined identities, I find myself more of an observer than a participant; revising, editing and melting into the landscape. When home is everywhere and nowhere there is an incessant mental revision that makes reality ambiguous and the search for coherence becomes an instinctual reconstruction of memory through the fusion of place and time.

Influenced by an aesthetic and theoretical framework that is inspired by my readings of Hélène Cixous and Anaïs Nin as well as a childhood fascination with the work of René Magritte, these images place doubt on the perceived object, rendering them poetic yet strangely disturbing in their inability to be defined. Hidden in our world are multitudes of other worldly possibilities that cannot be perceived without a deconstruction. In that vein, these diaristic images seek to deconstruct the visual vocabulary in which we feel so comfortable. These photographs produce a visual narrative that I liken to feminine writing as conceptualized by Cixous. They are non-linear, fluid, with silences and disruptions that transgress the phallocentric order, remaining open and borderless. They are the visual representation of hybrid, interlaced, surrealistic landscapes that melt together in the same vein as the cultures that now inhabit my psyche, inviting the viewer into a hermeneutic circle of visual and cultural exploration.

Rusted Sunrise, edition of 5, photograph (archival pigment print), 23x35in

This Way Out, edition of 5, photograph (archival pigment print), 23x32in

berfin Ataman

www.berfinataman.com

berfinataman

BIO

Berfin Ataman was born in Izmir, Turkey. She went on to get her BFA in Theatre Design from the University of Southern California, her Post – Baccalaureate degree from the School of Art Institute Chicago, and her MFA from UCLA, Design Media Arts. She has shown her work in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Korea, and Istanbul in galleries and museums. Over multiple collections and projects, she has explored humans’ relationships to their environment and the non-human. Her medium is fluid according to each collection but has been materialized as wearables, installations, and other soft, kinetic, sculptures.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work examines the reciprocal relationships between systems, their interaction with each other, us (the humans), nature, and the non- humans. Every day we unknowingly interact with societal, cultural, technological, architectural, environmental, and many other systems. Even though we may be indifferent to it, almost everything that we come across during the day is designed to guide us. Sometimes, even our decisions are consequences of these systems because we rely on our instincts we have unconsciously inherited naturally or culturally. Although at times we are empowered by these systems, especially with the use of technology, I am interested in investigating and challenging our relationship with them. The pieces utilize electronics, mechanical systems, and visual elements in the design of the sculpture to demystify, question, and bring awareness to our relationships with these systems.

Raising

Sympathetic Motion Series, Searching For The SunKinetic Sculpture, fabric, electronics, wood, pla, 5x2x2ft

Sympathetic Motion Series, Waiting For The Dark - Kinetic Sculpture, fabric, electronics, wood,pla, 13x6x6ft

Alison Balcanoff

alisonbalcanoff.com alisonbalcanoffart

BIO

Alison Balcanoff is a Chicago-area artist who primarily works with paper. Alison graduated from Suffolk University with her BFA in Fine Arts and obtained her MA in Art History and Museum Studies Certification from Northern Illinois University. She’s participated in several group exhibitions, most notably at the Hyde Park Art Center, The Foundry Art Centre, The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, and the Terrain Biennial.

In addition to her studio practice, Alison has held positions in museums and arts administration. In her role as the Director of the St. Charles Arts Council she worked as a local arts advocate and curated several exhibitions. She’s also curated museum exhibitions, and her work in anthropological collections at The Field Museum and the Burma Art Collection at NIU has influenced her work as an artist: furthering her interest in specimens, cabinets of curiosities, and the natural world.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is an exercise in manipulating paper through cutting, folding, stitching, burning, and layering. The tactility of these processes induces an intimate relationship with the worked surface. My needles prod, poke, and mend. My blade dissects and eradicates. My burner sears. These very visceral acts are investigations--into my materials, myself, and the natural world.

It’s a process that I’ve adopted from watching my young children grapple with the world. As child-scientists, my children use experimentation and play to navigate the world around them and approach their natural environment with intense awe and curiosity. In turn, I’ve come to redefine my practice as that of an artist-scientist, using the creative process to heighten my awareness and to dissect and better understand the world around me.

The areas of inquiry I’ve been most driven to explore are forests as ecosystems, symbiotic relationships between organisms, and dichotomies in nature--especially that of chaos vs. order. For instance, my most recent work asks: what story the natural world tell? Is there an underlying order to things that, like Michaelangelo carving a figure

out of stone, we just need to chisel away at to uncover? Or is life naturally chaotic, and we humans impose the order to find meaning, purpose, or comfort?

[Nature] Restored, acrylic, embroidery, and hand-burnt lines on paper, 6x6in

Margeaux Bestard

www.margeauxbestard.com margeauxbestard

BIO

Margeaux Bestard is a fine art and portrait photographer in Flagstaff, Arizona. Originally from Los Angeles, California, Bestard has made Northern Arizona her home since 2004. Margeaux attended Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara for 2 years before working as a freelance photographer. While participating in a workshop in Flagstaff, AZ she met her mentor John Running who aided in the development of her portrait skills. Regularly showing in galleries around the west, she seeks to expand her reach. Her current work concentrates on the intimacy of the human spirit and gradation of botanical decay. When not working behind a camera, she guides on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon and is a community advocate. Between 2017- 2020, she served on the Board of Grand Canyon River Guides and completed a term as President. Bestard currently sits on the board of MOCAF (Museum of Contemporary Art Flagstaff) an organization that is run by artists for artist in the Northern Arizona community. She continues to guide for Arizona Raft Adventures, Grand Canyon Youth and Tour West.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is a detailed view of nature’s intimate objects and how they develop over time. I seek to create a story that explores the power of love and its hold on life. Often, I explore natural light to create photographs and the outdoors is a recognizable backdrop in my work. As a boatman in Grand Canyon, warm tones are inescapable in my images. While hibernating through the winter months, I have the opportunity to study my subjects by window light for a longer length of time. I enjoy delicately placing odds and ends I have collected and been gifted on a provocative background, watching them evolve through various stages of their lives. When working through an image, I collaborate with my subject and aim to empower them by exposing their inner confidence and beauty. I hope to express with my viewer this story leaving them with a whimsical glow.

Striped Beetle With Spoon, archival print, 11x17

Elk Heart, Elisabeth, archival print, 16x24in

Christa Capua

www.christacapua.com christa.e.c

BIO

Asheville based artist Christa Capua brings her background in mixed-media collage to her more recent work in digital collage. Her dual careers as a psychotherapist and an artist have allowed her to explore themes of narrative, meaning, memory and the sacred in parallel. Christa uses the flexibility of the digital medium to create worlds that appear to be both microscopic and vast. This allows her to explore themes of the organic and the unconscious, of the sacred geometry to be found in both the vastness and minutia of the universe - the dust particles being much the same as the galaxies, each containing multitudes.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I love the forgotten corners, the secret gardens, the ephemera, the attics. The drawers in an old desk, the shoebox full of letters. My current work is digital collage, which I find allows for a plasticity both in how I layer images and how I render the final product – whether it be on canvas, acrylic, paper, or other materials. The subject matter explores themes of gender, sacred geometry, the life cycle and the collective unconscious. The work is inspired by religious artifacts of various kinds, and I am influenced by artists such as Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg, Renee Stout, and Swoon. I have been a psychotherapist for 15 years. My work as a therapist and my work as an artist are intertwined in that both explore the subconscious, the meaning and symbolism we attribute to the events in our lives, and the process of suffering/death and redemption/rebirth that are common experiences for us all.

Further, digital collage printed on Epson Metallic Photo Paper, mounted on a box frame, 88x18in

BigBang, digital collage printed on Epson Metallic Photo Paper, mounted on a box frame, 88x18in

Star Map, digital collage printed on Epson Metallic Photo Paper, mounted on a box frame, 88x18in

Steps 1-4, digital collage printed on Epson Metallic Photo Paper, mounted on a box frame, 100x20in

Linda Chido

www.lindachido.com lindachido

BIO

Linda is an American born, figurative, visionary artist and fine art easel painter. She has a Master of Architecture and Master of Urban Planning from the University of New York at Buffalo. In addition, she has studied mischtechnik in Europe under Philip Rubinov Jacobson, Michael Fuchs, and Ernst Fuchs. Linda has exhibited nationally and internationally and most recently had her first solo exhibition. She is also the founder of LINDA CHIDO ART Gallery, featuring the artworks of her entire, talented family and LINDA CHIDO ART Academy, online instructional courses of all of her art history projects. Linda is also a homeschooler, art teacher, muralist, fiber artist, art advocate, and special needs advocate. She is also called Mom by four amazingly talented, artistic children.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“If you lined all of my paintings up in the order they were created, they would tell the story of my life.”

My paintings are time capsules of moments in my life. Symbols, metaphors, allegories and other motifs are woven into my personal experiences to create images that tell my stories. Though my work is highly personal, my hope is that my paintings speak to something that is universally human.

Oils are my true love and the medium I turn to most often. I paint in both mischtechnik and alla prima. Though more labor intensive than alla prima, mischtechnik gives me a finer level of detail and realism, allows me to dance with optical grey effects, and infuses my paintings with an inner light. Oil painting challenges me technically, is constantly teaching me about myself, and provides me with a sacred devotional.

I believe making art in general, and painting specifically, is an endearing act of reverence. It allows me to honor my higher self, give homage to the lineage that I am a part of, and express gratitude to the Creator for my imagination and the gifts that have been given to me.

TEACHING STATEMENT

The greatest joy I have had in my life has been teaching art to my children. Especially the art of ancient cultures.

There is something magical that happens when you study an ancient culture and marvel at the artworks they produced and inquire, “how did they do that?”. I feel very strongly that if we are going to answer that question, it is imperative that we, not just look at the art but, attempt to make that art as closely as we can using modern materials. Therefore deepening our understanding of that culture and giving us a greater appreciation for what the artists of that ancient time had to do to produce their artworks. In addition to bringing these projects to my own children, I now offer these art projects through my website, I also volunteer my time to give art instruction to adults with disabilities in my community.

Brave And True, oil on canvas, 24x30in

Karen Cornelius

www.karencornelius.com cornelius.karen

BIO

Karen Cornelius is a printmaker and mixed media artist. Her work examines place, belonging, and the environment. Because of her concern for the environment, she explores less toxic and more environmentally responsible methods and materials in her artistic practice.

Cornelius was born in the United States, grew up in the Congo, went to high school in Kenya, graduated with a BFA from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, and has lived as an adult in Canada and Eritrea. She became a Canadian 30 years ago.

Cornelius lives a life of adventure. Her art career takes her all over the world through exhibitions, art collaborations, and residencies. She has completed residencies in many places including Canada, Bali, Trinidad and Tobago, the Canary Islands, Hong Kong, and has been back and forth to China over eight times with exhibitions, residencies, and art educational collaborations.

Cornelius is passionate about the environment and loves the rainforest where she spent her childhood. She loves to draw and has recently been exploring digital drawing.

She has exhibited her work in solo and juried exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa, and China. Her work has been purchased by the Canadian Art Bank and is held in the National Archives of Canada, Abington Hospital in Philadelphia, Ernst and Young in Toronto, St. John’s College in Winnipeg and many other corporate and private collections around the world.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Rainforest Green is a series of vibrant digital drawings that views the remnants of the once great tropical jungle biomes as our allies. The indelible marks of these drawings compose the complex geography and awe-inspiring beauty of the rain forests, activating nostalgic memory and cultivating a sense of affection for this natural wonder.

Tropical forests are home to the largest and greatest diversity of plants, including medicinal plants, and animals on earth. The rainforests are the largest storehouse of

carbon after the oceans. They trap the carbon dioxide in their wood and soil and expel oxygen into the air.

These rainforests help maintain local and global weather patterns and help regulate temperature, wind, rainfall, and ocean currents. The rainforests could disappear by the end of this century if humans keep destroying them at the current rate.

In Rainforest Green the ghost tree represents those trees and species that die, disappear, and become extinct. Their disappearance leaves a void, a shroud of memory, and an echo of what has been lost and might be lost if we continue to destroy these forests.

William Black said, “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.”

I intend these digital Rainforest Green drawings to inspire joy, using rich colour, texture, layers and patterns to reveal and conceal the wonders of this ecosystem.

I strive to increase our understanding of the environmental problems facing tropical forests while inspiring awareness that each of us as individuals has an impact and can make a difference in our global environmental crisis. We are interconnected with our environment. We are not exceptional or independent from it.

Gone Forever, digital drawing, various sizes

Rainforest Green, digital drawing, various sizes

Martin

www.martincox.com martincoxphotos

BIO

Based in Los Angeles, Cox works in photography using a variety of cameras. His landscape inspired works have been exhibited in galleries and museums, for example his ten-year project from the California’s Salton Sea in Los Angeles and London. Minimal prints of desolate winter landscapes were exhibited both at the Húsavík Museum in Iceland and in Los Angeles galleries.

Growing up in a busy port town in England informed his practice of viewing landscape and maritime subjects. As a young man he was greatly taken by the works of painters John Martin, William Turner, and the photography of Rauschenberg and Hockney. Recent photography projects involve using crude film cameras and printing on specialty papers. Drawing took him to art schools at Winchester and Exeter, then landscape photography drew him to the US for an exhibition and exploration. After many years exploring the hot deserts of the US West, Cox began a shooting in the cold deserts of Iceland.

Cox’s durational projects have centered on entropy, decay and the aftermath of human activity. His series LANDED based on a 700 year-old decaying English manor house was shown at PHOTOLA, and a seven-year project capturing the decline of the ocean liner was presented at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. A time-based photo installation was exhibited at The Factory, in Iceland in 2021 and his series TERRA FIGMENTA was exhibited in 2022 both in the Westfjords and California. He maintains a studio at The Brewery Art Complex in Los Angeles.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I shoot medium format black and white film in crude plastic cameras and make prints on specialty archival paper. The camera’s barebones attempts to record the landscape before it are a corollary my own dim grasp of the ancient forces and incomprehensible time scale apparent in its creation.

My series TERRA FIGMENTA came from exploring overwhelming sublime deserted and unchained landscapes, uninhabitable, where the observer, comes

to seek a face-to-face encounter with forces that may exceed oneself.

After so long locked up in a city by the pandemic anxiety - I planned to be alone in Iceland for a spell and to make work that connected the oneiric image of inner landscape to the outer landscape of Iceland.

Beyond The Fjord, archival pigment prints on Moab Baryta Rag, 17x17in

Thoka, Árneshreppur, archival pigment prints on Moab Baryta Rag, 17x17in

Dökk Gára/Dark Ripples, archival pigment prints on Moab Baryta Rag, 17x17in

Christoph Eberle

www.christopheberle.ch christoph_eberle

BIO

Christoph Eberle, hyperrealist painter, born 1969, lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland. He graduated as an architect ETHZ, began painting in his early youth, was a self-employed graphic designer for over 20 years and lives now from painting.

He regularly participates in solo and group exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad. He has a renowned international network of hyperrealist artists at his disposal. Together with Jacques Bodin, one of the main representatives of the European hyperrealism movement, he runs the website hyperrealism.net. He is also committed to the promotion and visualization of Swiss realist painting. In May 2023, the exhibition REAL’23 will present a range of great painters, living and working in Switzerland.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My hyperrealistic oil paintings are created in the confrontation between tradition and the present. On the one hand, they continue the history of the old and newer masters such as Caravaggio, Jacques-Louis David, Caspar David Friedrich, Gerhard Richter or Richard Hamilton. These influences and especially Vermeer van Delft’s almost photorealistic interpretation of reality meet in my work a sensitivity that has grown with the digital and high-resolution image reproduction possibilities. The paintings are constructed from photographs.

However, they are not slavish copies of the photographic originals, but each represent a strong and independent pictorial idea. Light as the medium of visual perception is the main element in my work. Light pours over the objects, constitutes contours, creates sharpness and blurriness, directs the viewer’s gaze.

My works can be roughly divided into two categories: stills (situation) and still lifes (objects).

The object paintings are related to the genre of still life. Painted objects only relate to themselves, the surroundings at best provide the physical stage for the focus. As with classical still lifes, transience is thematised. The objects remain in an artificially prolonged moment before the inevitable decay. They are as if frozen at the tipping point between food and compost, between functionality and uselessness.

The stills are representations of spaces, landscapes, everyday scenes. They are moments in which light and space create clarity and intensity. In contrast to film stills, an event is not condensed in the picture, but a past or a future is created. Something seems to have just begun or to be over - as if the opening credits of a film had just ended or as if its closing credits were about to begin. The static painting latently implies a camera movement to explore the seemingly empty spaces.

Barber, oil on

Arani Halder

aranihalder.com arani.halder

BIO

With a belief that there lie important and revolutionary stories from those that go unheard from, Arani Halder uses her work to open windows into the lives of different people and the broader socio-political movements that help shape them. Her work explores the connections between language, culture, pluralism, autonomy and the power of knowing one’s roots. Through media such as bookmaking, bookbinding, print making, painting, sculpture and even cooking, she straddles the line between abstract, conceptual and still digestible.

Being native to the City of Joy but having lived throughout India, Arani understands the importance of a society that is pluralistic and collectivist but respectful of autonomy. She states that she is equal parts artist and designer; the base of her work while being artistic and conceptual is produced into work with a designer’s sensibility that aims to tackle the issues at hand.

Arani graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2020 with a degree in Communication Design and Fine Arts.

She has worked with the Whitney Museum of Art and the United Nations to help create lasting work. Arani’s current explorations continues to expand upon themes of South Asian socio-politics and identity.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Bespectacled with a south Asian lens and silver rimmed glasses, I tend to believe that pluralism can pave the way for a more equitable future. I see my work as being socio-political commentaries with notes of spicy satire. I enjoy experimenting with various forms of media such as bookmaking, bookbinding, print making, painting, sculpture and even cooking to create conceptual work that is still digestible.

I always wonder how contemporary artists can engage in the current social discourse and use their art as a means of political expression or even resistance. As of this moment, my goal is to inspire those who see my work to look more carefully at the world around them, and to be able to contextualize themselves within larger systems.

People, Period, mixed media artist’s book, 4.5x4.5inPeople, Period, mixed media artist’s book, 4.5x4.5in

People, Period, mixed media artist’s book, 4.5x4.5in

Petronilla Hohenwarter

petronillahohenwarter.com/en petronillaart

BIO

Petronilla Hohenwarter, is an artist based in Germany. She graduated from the Academy of Social Pedagogy in Passau in 1986. From 1987-1997 she worked as a social worker in child, youth and adult education. She quit her main job and started private training in applied metapsychology in Munich. There she acquired a certification as a TIRA Instructor (Traumatic Incident Reduction) from 19951997. Art was calling her, and in 1997 she decided to embark on a private journey to Indonesia. Since childhood she was fascinated by abstract expressions of any kind. Petronilla participated as a guest student temporarily from 1997-2000 at the Art Faculty of the University of Surakarta, and took various art courses such as free painting, ceramics, installation, and new media. At the same time, her first exhibitions took place in Germany and Indonesia.

In 1999, the Publishing Group (PNP) was the first public art collection to acquire her artworks. From 19972002, Petronilla attended selected classes with lectures in modern and free painting in Europe to expand her knowledge of contemporary art. From 1997-2003 she traveled increasingly to Southeast Asia. After receiving the debutant grant from the State Ministry of Art, Science & Culture in 2002, she participated in several international art symposia and residencies in Europe, Asia and the United States, by invitation only from galleries, art associations and foundations. In 2004 her art was awarded in Florence, Italy. In 2009-2014 Petronilla worked temporarily in Vienna, Austria, and in 2015 she received another official award. Since 1997 Petronilla has been professionally active as an artist. Her artwork is listed both nationally and internationally in public and private collections.

ARTIST STATEMENT

What is the true value of our humanity? Is it still desirable these days to rediscover our core values and to integrate them into our lives? Through personal experiences, a positive self-esteem is the foundation for our wellbeing par excellence. And it is just as beneficial for a society in which appreciation, authenticity, honesty and transparency are actively lived and integrity is valued. Back to our roots is a “call’’ for mankind to become aware

of the value of love which we were born with originally. It supports and enables us to develop our highest potential. My life story, as so the art which was calling me, made me rediscover my roots and my binding strength of love. The energy of love is the source of my artistic creation. It leads and shapes the development of my artwork from deep within. The force of this natural given energy takes up space, expands, and becomes tangible while it has an after effect beyond the visual. The artwork represents this transformational process.

The radiation of this energy is perceptive from one to three-dimensional objects to multimedia room installations. The hidden space within myself, this invisible existence and reinforcing form of energy is the essence or so called source, and therefore my playground. This inner space vibrates and releases the energy of love into a World where emotional abuse and material consumption is still used as a compensation to deny the lack of love in one’s heart. The energy is a driving force that can be recognized in every single work of art in the style of the color I use, the shape, the line and structure. My artistic approach is informal, fluid and floats from within. ART is DIVINE. I am in tune with the frequency of the DIVINE that I call LOVE. It empowers me and my art to illuminate the world with love.

The Spirit Of Light Is Awakening From Within, mixed media on canvas, 39.3x55.1x1.2in

Ryan Horton

hortoniconicdesigns.com iconic.dsgns

BIO

Ryan Horton was born and raised in Lilburn, GA. As a Black man, he has always had to conform to survive in environments that were never meant for him. At a young age his parents made sure to expose him and his sister to the many different types of people. These simple but effective moments opened his eyes to the possibilities of the stories left untold. His curiosity sparked his interest in using art as a means to communicate and express these stories. He continues to push the boundaries of design and create a simple translation of design for the common eye.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The complexities of life can be simplified through the use of design elements such as squares and circles layered with images and line drawings. These minimalistic

elements allow me to present the intricacies of my life experiences of being categorized in a world in which I was never meant to fit in nor choose to conform.

In this world where I have to adapt my image and expression to fit within my environment, my identity continues to fragment. My collage work uses selected features while others remain hidden or obscured. Although the portraits are not whole, they still highlight the beauty of Black features and the strength in their expression. With time, I have grown to appreciate myself and my black expression. The use of grills pays homage to my love for the artists I grew up with. The unity of precious metals and the vibrancy of a smile express a sense of hope. My crown is a continued signature of my worth in this world. It’s a reminder to value myself.

Hello Monday, digital collage, 15x15in

Don’t Touch My Crown, digital collage, 15x15in

Aneka Ingold

www.anekaingold.com anekaingold

BIO

Aneka Ingold’s artwork consists of ambiguous narratives exploring the female experience. She specializes in mixed media techniques, combining drawing and painting processes that integrate areas of flat color and pattern with realism. In 2021, Ingold exhibited her work in a solo show at Muskegon Museum of Art as the inaugural winner of The Bennett Prize. The award is designed to propel the careers of women artists working in the figurative realist style. In 2019 she was named one of ten finalists for The 9th Annual Manifest Prize-One award by Manifest Creative Research and Drawing Center, which aims to reward, showcase, celebrate, and document the most exceptional artwork being made today. In 2016, Ingold was awarded First Place by Juror Carrie Ann Baade, at the Valdosta National All-Media Juried Competition at Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery, Valdosta State University, Georgia. Her work was also selected by Juror Elizabeth McGrath for the Surreal Salon 8, at Baton Rouge Center for Contemporary Art, presented by Juxtapoz magazine. In 2015 Ingold was the Grand Prize Winner at the Vying show during Miami Art Basel, at Viophilia Gallery in Wynwood. Ingold currently resides in Tampa, Florida and works as a professor of art at Hillsborough Community College teaching Design and Drawing.

ARTIST STATEMENT

When I draw women, what I am most interested in is confronting and dismantling societal expectations that keep women from being the complicated, complex and sometimes ambiguous individuals that they are today and always have been. I examine a collection of both contemporary and historical images from books, magazines and photographs and then combine these symbols to create cryptic narratives. The stories I’ve encountered of uniquely female experiences throughout different time periods and political, cultural and social milieus trickle into my allegories. I present a coded mystery into which my viewers can insert themselves, requiring them to investigate their own visual history and identity. The symbols I use are transient and have multiple meanings for multiple viewers. I believe a continuous challenge of the notions of self is what we need to understand who we are and how we fit into this world with each other.

TEACHING STATEMENT

In the contemporary art world, it is important to prepare our students on many levels to be the artists, educators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. They must have both a traditional training in the foundations as well as exercise a more current and experimental studio practice that allows them to push the boundaries of fine art today. My goal is to create a classroom environment that allows my students to become the technically proficient, knowledgeable, inquisitive, socially and politically conscious and open-minded thinkers, researchers and art-makers of contemporary society in the Postmodern era.

Virulent,

Devil’s Bread, mixed media on panel, 72x48in

caroline karp

www.carolinekarpartist.com

caroline_karp_artist

BIO

With studios in DC, Kauai and Tampa Bay, Caroline Karp is a romantic expressionist artist painting life’s stories. She focuses on nature and scenes in the world that people find interesting and beautiful. Her style is both bold & dynamic AND serene due to her color palette and use of brushwork. Her paintings tell life stories; each one is A Slice of Life meant to bring joy and serenity to the viewer.

As a BFA student with an art scholarship at Florida State University, Caroline was encouraged to think critically and give meaning to her paintings. She worked large and in charge, pulling in non-traditional painting materials and techniques, which continues to be a theme in her work. This period of Caroline’s art career tended more toward the abstract expressionist.

Caroline loves to paint while traveling. A particular favorite is painting by the side of a river or under a palm tree on the coast. In the middle of the summer, you can find her in the North Carolina mountains or hosting a Yoga and Painting retreat in Costa Rica.

When Caroline is back in her hometown of Safety Harbor, she spends hours at her easel in her studio with her dog Arya and her studio cat Pippin running around like crazy.

Caroline spent ten years in Colorado, receiving her Master of Arts in Education from the University Of Colorado. When she is not painting, Caroline teaches Kindergarten at a small private school on a lake. Working with children each year nurtures her inner child which shows in her painting.

Caroline is known internationally for her vibrant sunflower paintings, stunning cityscapes, expressionist seascapes, and large abstract paintings. Despite the wide breadth of her work, her repertoire is stunningly cohesive. Her collection features oil, acrylic and mixed media pieces.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My romantic expressionism deeply reflects my inner work - honoring awareness, resilience, and the shifting currents. I work as a mixed media painter in Safety Harbor, Florida,

just outside Tampa. This body of work takes the form of sailboats on abstract waters on large-scale canvas. My inspiration derives from a deep connection to the organic flow in nature, traveling, and inner reflection. My work is acrylic based and shifts through waves of abstract waters honoring movement.

I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Florida State University and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Colorado. Originally an oil painter, I shifted gears to acrylic later in life where I infused my multifaceted skill set to paint oceanic views with sailboats. My art challenges how people see the intricacies of movement and connect to the deeper meaning of one’s odyssey.

The mise en scène within my body of work transcribes as Plein Air expressionistic painting. My medium is mixed media - acrylic paint on a large-scale canvas with a fivestep process using black tissue paper and pastels. My artwork is an ongoing practice of resilience. Each creation becomes a product of the inner work I practice through yoga, meditation. My art comes to life through an openminded curiosity. The work I create reflects the ongoing practice of allowing, accepting and trusting the process.

Charting A Course - Sailing The Napali Coast, acrylic on canvas, 48x36in

Chris

www.chrisklein.com chriskleinart

BIO

Chris is a British artist, currently sharing his time between Quebec and Ontario in Canada. His work is shown across Europe, and North America.

In 1983 Chris had his work accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts in London, UK for their prestigious Summer Exhibition. Before coming to Canada he was also an associate member of the Guild of Motoring Artists. His most successful series is his Costume paintings, mainly from theatre, but also from movies, Museum collections, and from the world of fashion.

Recently he has painted from the Royal Ceremonial collection in Kensington Palace in London, produced a commission from Disney for The Lion King, and been invited by Dame Zandra Rhodes to paint from her fashion collection. Zandra designed the famous shirts worn by Freddy Mercury and Brian May from Queen. Chris has painted the original shirt that Freddie fell in love with, and is currently working on more paintings, including some of Brian May’s personal collection.

As well as producing his own work, he is also a scenic artist for film and theatre. For 10 years he has served as the head of scenic art at both the Stratford Festival and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Chris has worked on many sets, creating backdrops and related artwork, and has contributed to major productions in London’s West End and Broadway. In Canada, he has painted for many major Hollywood films and many shows for the Cirque du Soleil.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I paint many subjects, but my costume paintings have attracted the most attention.

I’m thankful to have worked in theatre and film for many years, where I’ve been exposed to a vast wealth of costumes from all periods. As a scenic artist, I paint the sets for film and stage. But I work closely with other departments and my costume paintings are my way of reaching out to some of the other forms of art that I’ve been involved with.

Since a very young age, I’ve been an admirer of artists such as Caravaggio and Joseph Wright of Derby, with their use of chiaroscuro. I didn’t know that word when I was young, but I loved the way they used light, and the darkness gave such a depth which brought the subjects to vivid life.

When it comes to my own painting, my priority is the balance of shadow and also of colour. Carefully choosing where to place each garment to coordinate with the others and using shadows to emphasize the textures, with the use of soft glazes to bring depth and sheen to fabrics. I choose not to paint the figure, as that immediately makes the figure the “star”, placing the costumes as secondary. Like a theatre performance, people focus on the actor, often not noticing the rich intricate details of the costumes they are wearing. People have told me in the past that when looking at my paintings, they first noticed the wonderful extravagance of the costumes themselves, having seen the show but not really noticing the costumes.

What A Lovely Afternoon! (A Little Night Music), acrylic on canvas, 16x16in

Flash Of Mauve, Splash of Puce (Phantom Of The Opera), acrylic on canvas, 60x54in

Kathryn Knudsen

www.kathrynknudsen.com kathrynwknudsen

BIO

Kathryn works and lives in Utah. She attended Utah State University in Logan, Utah, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She also earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Brigham Young University, where she taught in the Studio Arts program.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work utilizes a variety of traditional media, abstract forms, and found objects to produce an artistic vision with the intent to heal, refashion, and beautify. The result--an unpredictable labyrinth of oil paint, canvas, fabric, thread, paper, beads, and other recycled materials. Picking up objects that might otherwise languish in scrap heaps, second-hand clothing stores, or boxes of discarded

papers, fabrics, and memories, my aim is to reintegrate the power of transformed media with therapeutic promise of beauty and artistic experience. In these paintings, sculptures, and drawings, the possibility of refashioning the world of discarded consumption becomes an artistic reality, something more than an aspiration, a wholly new experience in itself. The work realizes that the very fabric of our culture and everyday lives can be recast and reclaimed, just as nature does in its endless march of life and desire. The oddness of the shapes, the opalescence of the textures, the quirkiness of the colors--all a deliberate collaboration with the materials which at first seem unimportant or used up, only to become something new and contemplative.

Moss Boss, recycled

CHANTAL LESLEY

www.chantallesley.com chantallesley

BIO

Chantal Lesley is a multicultural, first-generation American born and raised in Brownsville, TX, located along the U.S./ Mexico border. Being the daughter of immigrants from both Germany and Peru has brought upon a feeling of being stretched between four cultures and has led her to confront ideas that focus on identity and contemporary social and political issues in her work. Her work is selfreflective, often portraying themes of the intangible such as memory, dreams, and the retelling of autobiographical stories. Lesley acquired her BFA in Fine Art Photography from Texas State University in 2021, and has exhibited her work throughout Texas and the U.S.

ARTIST STATEMENT

La Marinera is considered Peru’s national dance. It is a dance that is a mix of Spanish contradanza and Andean zamacueca, which shows a perfect blend of the different cultures of Peru. The dance is considered an elegant and stylized reenactment of a courtship, where the dancers use handkerchiefs as props and the woman dances barefoot. Marinera women take pride in being able to dance barefoot as they typically have to practice on extremely hot pavement and coarse surfaces, as the soles of their feet eventually toughen up.

I understand Marinera to be a metaphor for life and love, where not always, but most of the time women have automatic disadvantages compared to men, and typically have to put in more effort and work for equal recognition.

I’ve transferred images onto handkerchiefs to tell stories of my life and use embroidery to enhance certain motifs. The handkerchiefs act as a metaphor for how these stories and events that we go through are an extension of our lives, but they are not the entirety of life, much like the handkerchief is utilized in the dance but is not the entirety of the dance.

Recycling Rainwater, inkjet transfer to handkerchief, embroidery, plaster hand, 16x14in

Hattie Lee

www.hattieleeart.com hattieleeart

BIO

Hattie Lee is a multi-disciplinary artist who grew up on the plains in rural Southwest Kansas, and now lives in Peoria, Illinois. She has an MFA from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and a BA in graphic design from Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas. Lee has been published in the #155 Midwest Issue of New American Paintings, as well as Excellence in Fibers VII by Fiber Art Now. She has shown works in exhibitions in New York, Kansas City, Denver, Chicago, Indiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma. Awards include Emerging Artist Award for the juried 51st Trail of Tears Art Show as well as First Place in Contemporary Basketry and a Merit Award in Diverse Arts at the 27th Annual Cherokee Homecoming Art Show in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation capitol. Hattie is influenced by her Great Grandmother’s Cherokee heritage and stories, desiring to revive and continue that legacy within her family.

Lee spent three years living in Thailand, as well as traveling to various countries, while working with a nonprofit organization on their fine art and media team. The experience gave her opportunities to interact and learn from many people groups and tribes in Asia and the Middle East. Multicultural relationships, interactions, stories, and appreciation are a large part of her creative energy and motivation. Her maternal grandmother’s frugal values, stemming from a depression era childhood, are also reflected in Lee’s practice by including repurposed and recycled personal and family items, as well as thrifted and found objects.

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a member of the Cherokee Nation, my process is a personal expression of the Native American Diaspora. Indigenous peoples were inventive with resources as they were removed from native homelands to new environments. Resourcefulness is instilled in my mind not only from my native ancestry, but also from a rural Kansas upbringing. As a product of Cherokee, Scottish, SwissGerman, and other diaspora, I am, in the very makeup of my DNA, a collage of cultures. I react by collaging materials from my ancestors, contemporary community, and personal life experiences. My studio is a flux of mediums and objects in constant

conversation: a gouache painting is printed on fabric, which is collaged, then informs a piece of wearable art, or inspires the composition of a new gouache painting. Nothing is off-limits to being repurposed and reimagined. My research of traditional arts brings imagery abstracted from moccasin beading patterns, or Cherokee basketry patterns, into my work. Some utilize beading and sewing, while other artworks look like they do but it is only drawn or painted. These personal illustrations are a hybrid of being culturally grounded, while also being far from native upbringing; a life influenced by various sources to the point of abstraction. Graphic design, fine art, and craft are all woven together in my studio, at times literally.

I represent some nuances of being descended from Native cultures in a world growing increasingly diverse in numerous ways, and because of numerous outside forces, with every generation. Cultivating and presenting a joy of cultural differences, influences, and histories allows hope to exist for where we might go in regards to tribes, countries, and personal communities in the future.

Effervescent Connections, mixed media (custom fabric printed from gouache paintings, caned chair seat, vintage beaded necklace, embroidery thread, costume gem, acrylic, beaded necklace gifted by Linda Jason, embroidery hoop), 18x18in

Homage To Native American Global Impact, antique and vintage dish-ware, acrylic, spray glaze, china paint, 54x40in

Grandmother’s Tribute Series: Colorado, Doily, and Aviation Dickies, mixed media (vintage doilies, beads, hmong embroidery, dream catcher, antique measuring tape, bracelet from Ecuador, vintage hangers, embroidery thread, stones, feather, Sugru, felt, antique patches, square nails, found jewelry, vintage belt beadwork), 23x56in

Jason Lindsey

www.jasonlindsey.art jasonlindseyphoto

BIO

Jason Lindsey is a Midwest-based photographer and filmmaker working to interpret science and the human impacts and relationship to the natural world. Lindsey considers himself a poetic activist using his art to drive social change.

Lindsey received his BA in Fine Art from Illinois State University. Lindsey has a 20-year career in advertising and editorial photography with a continued focus on Fine Art Photography. Lindsey is currently the Artist in Residence at Prairie Rivers Network and has photographs in a United Nations Climate Change and The Climate Museum exhibit in New York City and another United Nations exhibit in Paris.

He has been featured in PDN, Communication Arts, and Archive Magazine and was named one of the top 200 Advertising Photographers Worldwide in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Lindsey’s book “Windy City Wild: Chicago’s Natural Wonders” was published by Chicago Review Press.

ARTIST STATEMENT

As I look to the future, to the world that my son will inherit, and to the forest where I live that may soon be on fire, climate change and the immediate impact on the environment constantly weighs on my mind. To research this devastating phenomenon, I acquired a series of educational glass slides to examine and consider. Each revealed a vintage photograph of glaciers, now disappearing or already gone. I shattered the glass negatives to call attention to this loss and fragility of our planet, but also to echo an experience with my newborn son’s first four month’s stay in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care or his 20 surgeries and six years of 120-hour a week home nursing. Cracks in the Ice is a metaphor for the precariousness and vulnerability of those I love. It is also a way to speak to the profound loss from global warming and a planet under siege.

The “Cracks in the Ice” project was inspired by my 15-yearold son, Björn. During one of our many daily chats, he asked about Climate Change and what the world will look

like in the future. I realized I had only murky visions of that future myself and could not give him a clear answer. His precarious start to life and surgeries makes him crave stability. As a father, I hated that I could not provide much clarity for Björn and knew I needed to explore this idea with a photography project. “Cracks in the Ice” was born.

Cracks No. 6, photography, 20x25in

Cracks No. 8, photography, 20x25in

Cracks No. 15, photography, 25x25in

Taylor Maroney

www.taylormaroney.com taylor.maroney

BIO

Taylor Maroney graduated with a MFA in painting from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2020 after earning a BFA in 2012 from the University of New Hampshire. As of 2020 Taylor has been the recipient of two Elizabeth Greenshield International Grants and in 2017, Umass Dartmouth awarded them the Distinguished Artist Fellowship to study in the MFA program. A Figurative artist since the beginning, Taylor uses the human form to create visual markers for abstract social constructions and phenomena specifically in regards to race and gender within the United States. They currently teach at Williston State College in North Dakota, and have a passion for finding and sharing new information on diverse, equitable and inclusive practices in the Studio/Classroom.

ARTIST STATEMENT

This body of work was created post-pandemic and postmove from New England to the remote boomtown of Williston, North Dakota. These paintings are my search for community in a place that is largely cis-gender, racially homogeneous, and heterosexual. As a trans person living remotely, seeing anti-LGBTQ legislature in the news, and having to travel seven hours to get the health care I need, I get bogged down with the unjust portrayals of those that are othered in society. I want to portray my queer, trans peers in a manner that they are deserving of.

By deleting the figure these bodies begin to evolve into a sacred presence. In this capacity the paintings become a wish, a safe space for me and my community to see ourselves how we wish to be perceived. Something beautiful, something natural, something magic, something fierce, something sacred. This work is a celebration and an acknowledgment of the queer, trans bodies that have been largely left out of contemporary and historical figurative representation.

Fruity-Fruity-Fruit Punch, oil on panel, 19x29in

Seven Of Cups, oil on panel,

Thyra Moore

thyrafineart.com thryamooreartist

BIO

An intriguing combination of textures, predominantly warm colors and a variety of materials playfully dance during the development of each piece of Thyra’s art. Materials are separated from their intended purpose then converted to become an integral part of each painting. Thyra’s current creative style is linked to a serendipitous event that led her to reinvent her process of art making. That event was bringing home a rambunctious rescue dog -- Xena. Thyra explained, “With a destructive attitude, Xena ruined many items. In finding the positive in Xena’s ruinous nature, the destroyed items were cleaned and resurrected to become integral parts of new creations.” She described, “Throughout life, everyone experiences hardships of some kind. How these hardships are handled, reframed, repositioned, repurposed determines the next chapters in life.”

It wasn’t always all about abstracts. There was a time that Ms. Moore was, at that crossroads in her life. She had a Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) from Tyler School of Art in Pennsylvania. She had created and grown a successful advertising agency. Yet, in spite of the successes, Thyra needed to follow her true passion – painting. Thyra turned to acrylics and mixed media. “With acrylics I have the freedom to experience each step and stage of my art,” she said. “I can react with little or no preplanned outcome, and take full advantage of the evolutionary

process that’s hidden within each creative challenge. For me, this process creates unlimited opportunities to discover each painting’s true essence as it evolves.”. Thyra’s art is in private collections and has won awards in numerous juried shows. Her work can be seen on her website www.ThyraFineArt.com. Frankly, the true depth, dimensionality, and impact of Thyra Moore’s work can best be appreciated in person.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am intrigued by the complexity of life with its many dimensions, multiple layers, frequent changes and continual evolution. Full of stories, events, and experiences, I see life as a positive energy that I then translate into color, texture and yes, dimension. My creative process involves recurring development and destruction. Without a preconceived plan, each action informs the next. There is a continual exchange between spontaneous and deliberate moves. The primary theme is an evolution from adversity to optimism. I revive assorted items unified by circumstances of hardship –being worn out, almost destroyed or no longer wanted. During development, these once abandoned items are transformed to emerge as an integral part of each painting. Ultimately each painting comes to life revealing a sense of lyrical movement ready to add drama to your decor.

A Brand New Day, mixed media, 48x60in

Changing Tides, mixed media, 48x60in

Dreaming Instead Of Sleeping, mixed media, 16x16in

David

davidmorrispaintings.com davidmorrispaintings

BIO

David Morris was born in Springfield, Ohio in 1969 and then received undergraduate and graduate education at Washington University in St. Louis and Northwestern University respectively.

While a premedical student, Morris studied figure drawing with Professor Barry Schactman at Washington University in St. Louis. This was a formative event; he studied intensely, drawing human bones, working from the live model, and learning anatomy from the perspective of form and structure. From that time on, Morris sought out opportunities to participate in life drawing sessions; he regularly drew and painted from the model at arts clubs like the Scarab Club (Detroit) and Palette and Chisel (Chicago). He did illustrations for medical journal articles that he and his colleagues wrote, having firsthand knowledge of the information to be conveyed.

Morris’s figurative realism stems from an intense and persistent interest in human anatomy from multiple perspectives: beauty in form, function, and structure. While he continues to teach anatomy at the medical school level, he uses charcoal, graphite, and oil paint in his artwork to convey something beyond the scientific aspect of the body. Morris has a deep affection for working from life. He strives to share something about what he experienced in the presence of the person represented. In this process of portraying people he explores concepts of psyche, intimacy, and gaze as it relates to gender.

David lives and works in Chicago. His work has been shown in multiple museums including the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art (WI) and the Freeport Art Museum (IL). His work is a part of several important collections, including the Lunar Codex, set to be housed on the moon.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I make paintings that are about human beings. I am interested in representing people from multiple perspectives: form, function, structure, and psyche. Each encounter with a model is a unique situation; with each I search for some element that I will work to develop visually. A piece is successful when I have been able

to convey to the viewer a sense of what I experienced when being present with that other person. In multifigure pieces, I work to suggest a story, hoping that the viewer will be drawn to questioning, unfolding, finishing, or even imagining themself a part of.

Les Bois; Nocturne, oil on canvas, 36x48in

Love Haze; Red Chair, oil on panel, 16x20in

Mayumi Nakao

www.kaleido.art/mayumi milkshake.jp

BIO

Born in Hyogo, Japan, and now based in New York, Mayumi Nakao moved to New York City in 2013 to study painting and the English language after graduating from Sozosha Design School for Illustrators in Osaka, Japan.

Lately, her focus has been on improving her skills in painting while absorbing various styles in order to arrive at a more sophisticated take on representational art. For her, representation has generated a methodology of sourcing and technique that has evolved into a very personal vision almost as if it’s her own genre.

She recently obtained a certificate of fine art at the Students League, where she was inspired to paint in oil and to take her practice more seriously. Her latest paintings are based on family photos of American friends who grew up in New York City. She mixes photorealistic representations with the imaginations of the past in order to create the paintings.

As Mayumi emigrated alone from Japan, she experienced feelings of isolation and despair. This series, entitled “Borrowed Nostalgia,” is based on childhood photos of her friends. Mayumi always finds comfort in familiar family images and uses her imagination to create vibrant, patterned scenes.

Her love for color and Western culture are exemplified in each work through Pepsi Cola or Batman. The aim is to share stories of individuals who also experience judgment and displacement.

Inside the work, she uses different cultures, races and generations as a way to tap into our common memory, making images that are strongly present and yet also a doorway to our shared past. This feeling, for her, has a sort of sentimental value that makes the heart warm.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My “borrowed nostalgia” concept is about family and friendship and it emerged from a very good place. I have a close male friend from Ghana who lives in New York City and he had all of these family photos from back in the day.

I was immediately drawn to the photos featuring him and his family enjoying their time together in America. Such moments touched my heart so much that I wanted to paint them on canvas.

A few years ago, after seeing these family photos for the first time, I immediately thought about my own family back in Japan. Specifically, I thought about the good times and the bond we all had, and still have, and the experience gave me much nostalgia.

Not too long after that, I asked my close friend whether I could paint his family photos because I wanted to focus on different cultures and races as a way to cultivate humanity and spread love. I thought of the different generations represented in the photos and therefore wanted to tap into our common memory with paintings that are both strongly present and a doorway to our shared past.

This approach to using art as a vehicle to build community is very important to me.

Mom And Daughter, oil on cavas, 50x64in

Nancy NatowCassidy

nancynatowcassidy.com dancinarts

BIO

Natow-Cassidy’s sweeping gestural markmaking gives visual voice to the energetic vibrations she feels. Literally moved by visual or aural rhythm, her paintings are created when whole-body gestures express themselves in pigment. Picking up long sticks in the forest, she uses them to extend her reach while carving and drawing through space, imprinting movement into her body. Natow-Cassidy studies trees and rocks, and the everchanging glints of color reflected in water, to discern the layers and depth of colors held deep within the colors we see. Over the past several years her work has become larger, allowing for full choreographic markmaking and immersion. Her work has been shown around the country and is in numerous private collections.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Color makes me happy ~ I breathe deeper and my heart expands in the presence of color and organic shapes.

While I often despair at the state of the world, and sometimes make paintings that express those feelings, I try to live in the now, and am filled with awe and wonder at the natural world that I have the good fortune to live in.

Often paintings are begun on the floor, moved to the wall, turned upside down and looked at from more than one perspective, as you would see walking or riding by. While some pieces have an obvious top, many can be hung vertically or horizontally. I like the playfulness of looking at them multiple ways and being open to surprise.

Carpet of Light (Detail) , oil, acrylic and pastel on paper, 60x40in

Leah Oates

leahoates.com

BIO

Leah Oates has a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and a M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a Fulbright Fellow for graduate study at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.

In Toronto Oates recently had a solo show at Black Cat Artspace and group shows at the Gladstone Hotel, John. Aird Gallery, Connections Gallery, Gallery 1313, Propeller Gallery, Artscape Wychwood Barns Community Gallery, Arta Gallery and The Papermill Gallery.

Oates has had solo shows at Susan Eley Fine Art, The MTA Lightbox Project at 42nd Street, The Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, The Center for Book Arts and had had solo show nationally and internationally at Real Art Ways in Connecticut, Sara Nightingale Gallery in Long Island, Artemisia Gallery in Chicago and at Galerie Joella in Turku, Finland.

Oates has been in group shows in the USA at Wave Hill, Edward Hopper House, Chashama, Williamsburg Art Center, Metaphor Contemporary Art, Denise Bibro Fine Art, Nurture Art Gallery and The Pen and Brush Gallery.

Oates had press in Art Toronto, Al-Tiba9 Contemporary Art Magazine, Junto Magazine, Magazine 43, Underexposed Magazine, Ruminate Journal, Mud Season Review, dArt Magazine, The Tulane Review, The Six Hundred Journal, Blue Mesa Review, Friends of the Artist, GASHER Journal, Flumes Literary Journal and the 805 Lit + Art Journal.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The world thus appears to be a complicated tissue of events in which connections of different kinds alternate, overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole. All phenomena are processes, connections, all are in flux, and at moments this flux is visible. - Peter Mattiessen from The Snow Leopard

The Transitory Space series deals with urban and natural locations that are transforming due to the passage of time, altered natural conditions and a continual human imprint.

This series articulates fluctuation in the photographic image and captures movements through time, perception and space.

Transitory spaces have a messy human energy that is perpetually in the present yet continually altering. They are endlessly interesting, alive places where there is a great deal of beauty and fragility. They are temporary monuments to the ephemeral nature of existence.

Transitory Space, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NYC, color photography, 11x14in

Transitory Space, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NYC, color photography, 11x14in

Transitory Space, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NYC, color photography, 11x14in

Transitory Space, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NYC, color photography, 11x14in

Greta Olivas

www.gretaolivas.com gretaolivas

BIO

The work of Greta Olivas is full of color, which is usually the first thing people are drawn to. As the paintings are examined more closely their energy draws the viewer in. She describes her work as energy, or emotions that come through and end up on the canvas. They may seem like celestial bodies, but to her, they are a bigger understanding of the universe and our place within it. She has always been drawn to abstract work and the power it has. When someone states they ‘felt’ the painting, or it provokes emotion in someone, she knows she was successful in transmitting the energy through the painting.

Greta has been an artist since she was a child. She has studied in several workshops, but is mostly self-taught and has been creating her art for over 20 years. She talks about the life lessons she has learned through painting and loves sharing her experience with others through her work and workshops.

She was born in New York City, grew up in Argentina, and resides in Austin Texas.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I believe that creativity is a connection to our higher self, our soul or the divine. It is our purpose while on this earth to find that connection and shine it to the world. When we are the person we are truly meant to be, we help others discover their light and make the world a better place. I tell people, I wonder if my personal growth helps me create my art, or if my art helps my personal growth. I believe it’s both.

When I create my art, my paint is very fluid, which is a good lesson on giving up control or allowing the process to happen. That place of “flow” is where the paintings develop, like something just opens up and before I know it I have several paintings going at once. My process has also taught me patience, listening and observing. It also teaches me to pay attention to my instinct. My art portrays energy and emotions as I keep allowing my true self to emerge. My work has the ability to generate the same discovery for the viewer.

Please enjoy the journey with me.

Moving Beyond Fear, mixed media on canvas, 12x12in

The Power Of Dreams, acrylic on canvas, 36x36in

Mindfulness, acrylic on canvas, 16x20in

Shelly Pamensky

www.shellypamensky.com shellypamensky

BIO

Shelly is a visual artist, raised in South Africa, of Israeli origin and now working from her studio in North London. She completed a Law degree in South Africa and is a self taught artist who turned her attention to painting, after a career in the City of London, alongside having 3 children.

Her shimmering, paired back colour field paintings explore a process of mixing unconventional materials together to create a surface where glitter, paint and pigment particles coalesce to incantatory effect. Her process-intensive paintings are reductive in nature, exploring elements of colour, materiality and intimacy and are a response to processes of internal enquiry and external visual influences derived from the world of fashion and social media.

Shelly has produced numerous commission pieces for private individuals and has collaborated with interior designers such as Kelly Hoppen. She has exhibited in group shows as well as in Art Fairs such as The Affordable Art Fair, Roys Art Fair and The Other Art Fair. The artist currently works from her home studio in London, where she lives with her 3 children.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I work with an innovative layering process of spraying thin veils of colour over a glitter and pigment primed ground. Paint and glitter particles fuse to create a field of shimmering colour.

I am especially drawn to colour in my work. I use it for it’s emotive qualities and work with it intuitively. The peace and deep sense of purpose which the creative journey instils in me is reflected in the visually calming aesthetic of my paintings which have over time largely been reduced to the elements of colour, texture and light.

I am inspired by the colours in visual world around me. Having lived half my life in South Africa and the other half in London my palettes can appear in the muted gentle tones of London or those reminiscent of sunsets in Africa. My work is also inspired and influenced by my love of fashion and the inescapable frenzied world of social media. The

iconic weaves of Bottega, the striped colours of Missoni manifest in my work. To these shimmering gradients, I may add words based on my thoughts, memories and feelings or emojis, (hearts, rainbows, drops) as influenced by the social media landscape and which add an element of pop art playfulness to my work in contrast to its more serene and gentle colour washes. I also disassemble these gradients and recreate them into patterned woven versions of themselves. The act of weaving presents a manual slowing down in opposition to the increasing digitisation of the art world.

Although my work is influenced by the outside world, I want it serve as an antithesis to it’s frenzy and its really all about finding inner peace both for me in its making and the calming effect I hope it can have on the viewer.

I Dreamt You Still Loved Me, glitter, glue, pigment and airbrush on linen, with fluorescent plexiglass frame, 32.2x 32.2 in

Let It Fall, glitter, glue, pigment and airbrush on linen, with fluorescent plexiglass frame, 32.2 x40in

Erick Picardo

www.picardocolours.com picardocolours

BIO

Hailing from the Dominican Republic, Erick Picardo’s work possesses a distinct aesthetic of Caribbean cultures. He is currently based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Picardo’s work moves forward from the common themes of diasporic nostalgia and homesickness to a celebration of cultures. There is great joy and hope present in every painting. Picardo is evolving in the direction of contemporary techniques and forms while retaining the vibrant palette and diverse context that is uniquely Caribbean.

Picardo makes a statement about our mystic order of existence and how this relates to everyday life in our physical universe. It is a world of wonder and curiosity that brings our inner child to the center. Parallels to the existence of life is seen through a world of abstraction that blurs both the inner and outer world of human experience. Using a combination of oil and acrylic color, line and form the artist portrays rhythm and figures that move out of the canvas and into our imagination.

While his heritage inspires his work, Picardo has succeeded in telling universal stories. With the use of indistinct but multi-hued faces, he gives viewers the means to project themselves into his paintings and see themselves reflected back. Through the use of color Picardo entrances viewers, drawing them into a world of music and dance. More abstract pieces are mesmerizing in both color and simplicity. Meditating upon them brings the viewer a sense of peace. In all of his work there is a sense of the mystical, how it exists within our daily lives and connects us with the universe. Picardo’s paintings serve as a reminder of all that humanity is capable of being, inspiring viewers to strive toward a better self and better world.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I graduated from a university in the Dominican Republic in 1996 as a visual artist and illustrator. I came to the U.S. in 1999 looking for better opportunities, and a better platform for my art career. The idea to develop a piece of art that is so deeply ingrained in the indigenous Taíno and AfroCaribbean cultures emerged as the central pivot of the work. It is constructed from memories of assigned

Caribbean values, such as ecology and history. Perhaps what I am making is a fair use of the common cultural legacy that talks about my obsession with the exploration into the human being - through this identity. I am continuing to preserve and promote traditions and heritage from the Caribbean as I grow older in a technological age. I believe that “culture” and “heritage” are facing a crisis globally and disappearing. It is a global concern. Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Culture is our performing arts, folklore, traditions, language, rituals, and knowledge. It’s important to preserve these histories and traditions. They are our connection to each other and to mother earth. The Caribbean Coalition of the Arts & Culture is our venue to promote Latin cultural heritage and to share the importance of preserving traditions and heritage with expression and connection.

These Short Hands, oil on depth canvas, 48x60in

Katie

cpkate.com cpkatemaker

BIO

Kate spent most of her professional life in the hightech industry however eventually moved on to pursue a different type of creative endeavor.

Kate is a self-taught Conceptual artist who creates playfully unique sculptural works. She is well versed in the art of mold making and casting. Her current medium of choice is a self-developed formula of acrylic polymer and gypsum, she likes the flexibility offered by the medium, it allows her to create smaller pieces by hand while the larger portions of her sculptures are made via rotational casting. She loves the natural matte concrete-look of the medium. Today most of her pieces are monochrome in nature however she’s begun experimenting with color so her upcoming series may bloom with hue.

Growing up in Minnesota Kate was influenced by her surroundings, her family were collectors of antiquities. This energized her passion for and appreciation of Classical pieces while her more contemporary influences undoubtedly come from years of travel and her time living in the artist-filled community of Portland, Oregon.

ARTIST STATEMENT

There is a musical term that captures the approach I take towards my work; con·tra·pun·tal, the art of sounding together or combining two relatively independent melodies. I refer to my work as a collision of Classical and the everyday, a mix of then and now. Classical with a twist! Injecting a bit of levity into my art brings me great joy and is one of the things I love most about my creative process. I’m inspired by unexpected pairings whether it be in food, fashion, home interiors or art and I’ve always gravitated toward asymmetry. I channel that inspiration to create juxtaposition art in the form of sculpture where I combine disparate elements that lead one down an unexpected path to a whole new sculptural experience. These unexpected pairings are reflected in my current collection and will persist in my work as I find so much delight in their creation.

I’m a self-taught Conceptual artist well versed in the art of mold making, casting, and finishing. My sculptures are handcrafted in my home-based studio in Portland, Oregon.

Unexpected Pairings - Take That!, acrylic polymer/gypsum, 7x6x18in

Ricder Ricardo

www.ricderricardo.com ricder

BIO

Ricder Ricardo graduated from the University of North Florida, Department of Art and Design with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking and a minor in Photography. Ricder was born in a rural area of Havana, Cuba in 1985. He and his family moved to the United States in the year 2000 in pursuit of freedom. Ricder has presented works in numerous galleries and academic institutions, some of which include the Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Science and History, Florida State College South Campus Gallery, Florida State University, Athens Institute for Contemporary Art Gallery, and Yellow House among others. In addition, his pieces have been featured in publications like RADX Magazine, Talon Review, and JAX TDY.

Today, his work is predominantly figurative, expanding to different mediums like painting, printmaking, and photography. During his creative process, he is interested in the integration of media and how each stage of the process informs the next. In addition, his work is influenced by popular media, family, and friends, as well as his own experiences of dealing with self-perception, discrimination, and acceptance. Furthermore, his work intends to showcase his fight to exist in two different cultures and simultaneously construct his own version of the American Dream.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work focuses on my experience, as well as that of other immigrants in constant persecution of the American Dream. In the self-portrait Picnic on the Beach, I ask myself and the viewer about the real meaning of this elusive concept---is it the comfort of freedom? These uncertainties wight heavy in a suitcase, symbolizing a need for acceptance from two different worlds. As I immerse myself in American culture, I am also working to keep my childhood memories from Cuba alive. While on the quest for my dream, I realized how this concept can be interpreted differently depending on cultural upbringing and social values. Thus, with The Camping Trip and The Family’s Getaway, the dream is viewed through two different lenses... a mother and a father with similar aspirations in life, a better outcome for future generations

in a country with polarizing political opinions, in need of a change in the right direction. In contrast, other works delve into life lessons beneath the surface of family moments, informed by cultural dynamics, mortality, and tragedy. As a result of the pandemic, I experienced death in my family, making me re-evaluate the nature of my work. By witnessing rituals of selfless acts of compassion, I was able to look intretrospectively at my own life and express gratitude through portraits of loved ones. During these times of crisis, I understood that my role as an artist is to appropriate the often surreal details of life as a labor of love and commitment. I am interested in finding meaning beyond the mundane and banal in our everyday physical interactions, to uncover hidden messages of devotion and self-sacrifice. As I become this active observer, I realize that collectively, my body deals with the humanization and immortalization of folks.

Picnic On The Beach, oil on Canvas, 54x42in

Way Street, oil on panel,

Marybeth Rothman

www.marybethrothman.com marybethrothman

BIO

Marybeth Rothman is a Smithsonian Institution National Portrait Gallery Semifinalist in the 2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. She is known for her fictional biographies and abstract narrative, photo and pigmented beeswax combines. She exhibited in The Billboard Creative in Los Angeles, CA with an international group of artists that included Marilyn Minter, Laurie Simmons and Lawrence Weiner. Her most recent solo exhibition Reclaimed and Reimagined was on view at The Mark Gallery and Lichtundfire in New York, NY. She was featured in the World Trade Center Oculus in New York, NY, Ad Art 2020 exhibition. Rothman exhibited in Ripped: The Allure of Collage at the Heckscher Museum of Art with Roy Lichtenstein, Miriam Shapiro, Joseph Cornell, among others. Her work can by be found in collections throughout the United States and abroad. Rothman’s work is available at Frederick Holmes and Company Gallery, Seattle, WA and Mark Gallery, New York, NY. Rothman was born in Taunton, MA and earned a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Her home and studio are in New Jersey.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create fictional, visual biographies and abstract deconstructed narratives utilizing reclaimed and reimagined orphaned, vintage photographs. The work presented here is from the series “Why They left Sumner’s Place”. The photographic elements in my work are a fusion of vintage and digital photographs, abstract drawings, and antique ephemera that I digitally alter, combine and repurpose to add narrative texture. Each of these mixed media works is composed of many subtle layers of pigmented beeswax monotypes, photographs and abstract drawings. Every color, mark and photo that I add to the work is carefully considered to reveal a rich, history for the subjects in these abandoned photographs. I develop a series by creating an imagined fellowship, community, geographic location or cultural bond for the subjects of these lost and forgotten photographs. The basic human response to identify the other is endlessly intriguing to me.

She Kept Her Promise, photo and pigmented beeswax combines on kozo and wood panel, 20x16x2in

photo and pigmented beeswax combines on kozo and wood panel.

Jessica Smit Mattingly

www.jessicasmit.com jessicasmitmattingly

BIO

Jessica Smit Mattingly is a Chicago-based realist oil painter. Jessica earned a B.A. in Fine Art from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. After graduating from Northwestern, she spent several years teaching English as a Second Language in Japan. Upon returning to the United States, Jessica pursued her passion for drawing and painting at the School of Representational Art in Chicago where she completed the 4-year program in figurative drawing and oil painting.

Jessica is inspired by the figurative paintings of the Baroque artists, and the mystery and poetic beauty of the Symbolist and Pre-Raphaelite artists of the late nineteenth century. Jessica’s work includes figurative works, portraits, and still life. Jessica taught portrait, figure, and still life drawing and painting as one of the faculty members at the School of Representational Art in Chicago. Currently, Jessica works on commissions and exhibits her figurative paintings in museums and galleries. Jessica also offers individual instruction and group classes at her studio in the Chicago area.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I love exploring the rich color, texture, depth, and form of oil paint. Working in oil, I paint portraits and allegorical figure paintings of people and still life objects in slightly surreal settings that tell a story. I use lighting, color, and

symbolic imagery to tell these mysterious narratives and capture a moment and the emotion that lies behind it. The human figure is at the center of my work, often physically portraying the emotions experienced within.

I am interested in what lies beneath the surface, the larger stories and deeper meanings of our everyday experience.

I am inspired by the beauty of nature and a desire to create visual experiences of mystery and contemplation. The visual narratives in my paintings are both personal and universal, and I hope that each viewer finds his or her own meaning and stories in the symbolic imagery.

TEACHING STATEMENT

For the past 12 years, I’ve taught group classes and private lessons in my art studio to students of all ages from children to retired adults. I focus on teaching drawing, painting, and composition and give students the opportunity to explore a variety of techniques, styles, media, and subject matter to find where their individual interests lie. Training in methods, materials, and craftsmanship equip students with skills that are foundational to their work, no matter what form or style of art they pursue. I want my students to have the confidence to envision what they want to create as well as have the knowledge and skills to be able to create it.

Thirst, oil on linen, 30x28in

SOCASCETICA

www.socascetica.com

BIO

Viktor Kobylianskyi, AKA SOCASCETICA is a Ukrainian artist currently based in Portland, Oregon. He was born in 1995 in Kyiv, Ukraine. After graduating from high school he enrolled in law school to get a bachelor’s degree. Without finishing his studies he immigrated to the United States in 2014, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He works with pigments and concrete along with other mediums to create his work. Viktor’s goal is to show how things, objects, meanings and “leftovers” from a long time ago communicate with us through time and have relevance in a different world today.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My concept shows how things and objects look and communicate with us after they’ve been through time, destruction and desolation. As if you dig out a picture from the ground after it’s been there for eternity (maybe it was there long time before our civilization or after us) and now you look at it and it still has relevance in a different world today.

Pacifist, concrete dirt, pigments, 48x36in

Childhood, mixed media, 20x16in

Sahar Tarighi

sahartarighi.wixsite.com/artworks Sahar_Tarighi

BIO

Sahar Tarighi was born in 1987, in Shno, Iranian Kurdistan. Having grown up both in Kurdistan, a land of wonderful nature, dance, music, crafts and in a family with a great interest in art, her love of the art grew. The interest was cultivated during her formative years and further developed when she opted to pursue her academic education in the realm of art. She received her Associate’s Degree in Visual Arts, BA in crafts and also MA in Painting in Tehran, Iran. She is a multidisciplinary artist and has exhibited in some group exhibitions in the UK, Iran, Russia, Turkey and the US. Sahar is currently a ceramics instructor and an MFA candidate in Studio Art majoring in Ceramics at the University of Delaware and is a recipient of the Competitive Counter Offer Award, Full Tuition Scholarship, Center for Material culture Studies Graduate Research Grant Award (CMCS) from this University and TCN Fellowship to Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Anxiety and tension in a world of genocides, wars, displacements, and racism build the mainstays of my art. Coming from a Kurdish craft background and culture, my

work evolves at the intersection of ceramics, sculpture, installation, and performance. I utilize textiles, yarn, and clay -indispensable elements of Kurdish art- to establish connections between the traditions of my heritage and contemporary art.

Through this creativity, I aim to initiate a dialogue with my audience, and ultimately make the world a better place.

TEACHING STATEMENT

Currently, I am a core Ceramics instructor at the University of Delaware and have been teaching handbuilding, wheel throwing and glazing techniques. In addition, I have had 15 years of art teaching experience in middle schools, high schools in Iranian Kurdistan and Tehran.

Teaching has provided me with countless opportunities to do teamwork and to meet people with different attitudes and backgrounds. In other words, being a teacher and interacting with my students has helped me to broaden my horizons. I believe that through teaching, I would be able to increase my theoretical and practical knowledge continuously.

Paula Valenzuela

www.paulavalenzuelaart.com

paulavalenzuelaart

BIO

Originally from Chile, Paula Valenzuela is a mixed media artist located in California’s Bay Area. She studied art since she was 15 years old, but she pursued a professional career in Clinical Psychology and Public Health, keeping her art as a more private passion until she moved to the U.S. in 2013 and returned to her art practice. Now, art is her own therapy, self-discovery, and way to connect with the local community. Paula’s studio is in the Industrial Center Building in Sausalito, CA and her work can be found in private collections in Chile and the United States.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My mixed media abstract paintings explore the connection of darkness and light within us, the complexity of our personality, that we show to others and what we keep to ourselves and the interconnection of conscious and unconscious aspects in our lives. I am interested in exploring that space in between reality and daydreaming, where the unconscious aspects of our inner world can come to the surface, making visible what was invisible before.

I am interested in the cycles of the human experience, especially the internal and spiritual transformations between the birthing and dying processes.

My inspiration comes from the textures and colors found in nature, especially the desert, the skies and the collective symbols used by ancient cultures.

My process is almost archeological. Using a combination of paint, collage, and mixed media, I build the beginning layers working intuitively and without a preconceived idea. Then I cover all these layers and start excavating into them.

Many layers later, the paintings contain a variety of marks, some made by scratching and repainting the surface, and some made by drawing specific interconnected shapes, bringing the hidden history of my process to the surface. Textures, color, and organic forms are woven into a complex visual dialogue that hints at the underlying feelings and complexity of our lives.

Gateway, collage and mixed media on panel, 25x19in

Priya Vadhyar

priyavadhyar.com priyavadhyar

BIO

studiolineofsight.com studio_lineofsight

Priya Vadhyar (she/her, b. 1980, India) is a visual artist based in Ellicott City, Maryland. In her current work, Priya explores the manifestation of, what Loren Eiseley calls one’s “interior geography,” and the self’s relationship with the sum of things. Her work is an inquiry into the nature of boundaries, and the revelations that lie in juxtapositions. Priya spent most of her formative years in Mumbai. She has a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Mumbai. In 2010, Priya moved to Tucson, Arizona. There, she studied advanced abstract painting with artist Josh Goldberg, who later became her mentor. Priya’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Outside of her studio, Priya is a teaching artist specializing in drawing and printmaking. In 2021, she created Studio/ Line of Sight, a platform dedicated to immersive online workshops taught by experienced practicing artists.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My abstract paintings and drawings are an exploration of what Loren Eiseley calls one’s “interior geography” and an inquiry into the boundaries of the self. This study involves working without a plan or a specific destination in mind. Instead, I negotiate a way in, responding to what emerges on the canvas. The result is deeply layered paintings, which reveal many meandering paths, and dialogues between the planned and unplanned. Perhaps the most profound consequence of working in this fashion has been the realization that there is a continuum between the I and all that lies outside that I. It is one thing to speak of this theoretically and quite another to experience it; to know deeply, even when that knowledge and its source are not easy to define. I have found that this knowledge comes, via recognition, when a quiet descends on the ego. In this state, all the nameable parts of the self slip away. One is more an orb of energy or, as Virginia Woolf calls it, a ‘wedge of darkness.’ In this state, one is unconfined, and one sees in the work the echoes of one’s life force — the absolute foundation of everything.

TEACHING STATEMENT

Teaching is a vital component of my art practice. The rigors of teaching, the study and experimentation it demands, have elevated my studio practice in so many ways.

The pandemic also presented a unique situation. As I tried to bridge the distance between myself and others in an online setting, I had to be more creative about how I approach teaching. Working with other artists/learners offers inspiration and a sense of community, which feed my commitment to deep work. The adage about being a work in progress is what teaching has taught me. One is always a student.

Multiverse, acrylic on canvas, 48x36in

The Wall (Absent), acrylic on canvas, 36x48in

Rachel Wittels

rachelwittels.cargo.site miss.wits.art

BIO

Rachel Wittels is an artist and art teacher from Rochester, New York. She earned her BS/MS.ED in Art Education with a minor in technical theater costuming from Nazareth College in Rochester. Relocating in 2017, Wittels spent four years as an emerging artist and art educator living in New York City. Teaching high school art at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music, Art, & Performing Arts, she primarily worked with students on fashion and digital arts, and fostered community partnerships with institutions such the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Marc Jacobs Fashion Company. Complementing her teaching, she studied textile arts across the city and in her Harlem studio, focusing on weaving, craftship, and how these processes can build relationships and community. Her most recent juried exhibitions include Threads that Bind with Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in Brooklyn, New York, and Brush, Needle, Loom...Exhibit, an exhibition of women artists at the SLA Art Space gallery in Chelsea, New York, and Brought to the Table in Cranbrook Academy of Art’s Historic Smith house. She has also been recently featured in Detroit based artist publication Clearline Zine Issue 004: Air, Fashion, Action. Her most recent relocation to Detroit, Michigan in fall of 2021 is in pursuit of her MFA with the class of 2023, housed within the Fiber Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art.

ARTIST STATEMENT

There is a tradition of preserving information and storytelling within fiber. My textiles center these narratives, both personal and social, from within my own communities Expanding upon the practice of history telling in my field, my textiles offer a physical, tactile representation of my contribution to our growing conversations, which are then placed back to my community via acts of gifting.

I examine specific qualitative content surrounding a person or community to which I have a strong bond. My source material comes from various places including text threads, conversation archives, and family recipes. After looking closely to find the cadences, emotional energies, and patterns that construct an identity of each relationship, I use my findings to tell stories reflected in the systems and patterns of my textiles. The work builds directly from

these relationship characteristics, for example using double cloth weaving to represent a friendship between two people, or coding yarns of a certain color to represent specific people within a conversation, or sourcing handwriting as a means of portraiture. The outcome of the work is always dictated by the characteristics of the relationship I am exploring.

The final stage of my process circulates my works back to the people who inspired them through the act of gifting, sometimes in the literal act of giving a piece to the individual represented in that textile, or through the act of archiving precious information, other times as a gift back to the community that inspired the work through display. The work becomes a tangible documentation of a relationship, gifted back into that relationship to further a cycle of interpersonal relationship growth.

TEACHING STATEMENT

My goal as an art educator is to make my students visually literate to the art and design they see every day. Teaching high school art courses, whether it be through my classes in graphic design, fashion, foundational drawing, or printmaking, my students learn about art processes and techniques, art history, showcasing artwork, and how to foster strong art concepts. Teaching with a constructivist pedagogy means I believe student learning should be built upon the student’s prior knowledge, using discoverybased and collaborative learning models, and thus strengthening their relationship with art and supporting their individualized and meaningful studio practices. The world of art is forever growing and constantly changing, therefore another of my roles is to learn and grow with my students via my personal art practice. My beliefs about education can be summed up with one quote by Bill Ayers in his graphic novel To Teach: A Journey in Comics, “Knowledge, like love, is something you can give away without losing a thing.”

Recipe Portrait: Gralma Deanna, digital weaving in cotton and polyester threads, 12x14in

Traci Wright Martin

www.traciwrightmartin.com

traciwrightmartin

BIO

Traci Wright Martin is a contemporary portrait and figurative artist, working in Greenville, South Carolina. Her life-long passion for art began during her early studies in Oregon and deepened throughout her career in Oklahoma where she graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University with a BA in Studio Art. She has spent recent years as an independent studio artist, honing her skills in charcoal realism. Martin’s technique and her vision for the combination of charcoal and mixed media abstraction have established a unique creative identity that continues to evolve. The dominant theme at the heart of her work is an ongoing visual conversation on identity and representation.

Martin’s work has been published in Fine Arts Connoisseur, American Art Collector, and Artists Network Best of Drawing magazine. She has earned top awards and accolades in many juried shows, both regional and national. Martin has shown in group exhibitions at Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Equity Gallery and Salmagundi Club in New York City. She will soon have work on the moon as part of The Lunar Codex project with Dr. Samuel Peralta. Her charcoal portraits are featured in private and public collections, both internationally and throughout the US.

ARTIST STATEMENT

In all my years as an artist, my subject matter always comes back to portrait and figurative work. I am fascinated by people and their individual, complex stories. It is important to me that each and every viewer sees themselves somewhere in my work. I marvel at how we are able to build community with one another, even by the smallest threads of commonality. With these ideas in mind, the overall narrative in my work weaves in and out of a conversation on identity and representation. I carefully choose symbolic design elements to represent larger and more specific themes within each series I produce. Using charcoal realism as my primary medium and anchor, I am continuing to push myself creatively to combine abstraction and add other contemporary elements with a wide variety of mixed media. Using colorful pastels, patterned papers, and paint techniques in the finished product creates a unique identity for my body of work.

Grace For The Moment, charcoal, pastel and collage, 16x20in

charcoal,

collage,

Shuoran Zhou

shuoranzhou

BIO

Shuoran Zhou was born in Beijing, China, and is an artist currently located in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated with a BFA in Oil Painting from China Academy of Art in 2019, and an MFA in Studio art from Syracuse University. Shuoran’s work has been exhibited internationally in China, Spain, Belgium, the United States, as well as in several online exhibitions including ones juried by Robert Ebendorf and Laura Kalman.

With a metalsmithing background, Shuoran found connections with glass beads and uses them as the main material in her current work. She associates the belittled, overrated perception of the beads, the laborious, delicate nature of beading with women’s social status, and stereotypical perceptions of gender roles. Shuoran combines beading with metalsmithing techniques to create jewelry and wearable objects that serve as a voice that tells her own stories and communicates to the audience who has similar experiences. Ultimately, Shuoran aims to provoke introspections toward assumptions and oppressive gender expectations of women, leading to understanding, empathy, and equality within the gender context in society.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work addresses my personal struggles and deals with common stereotypes toward women, and aims to provoke introspection and question those entrenched, stereotypical assumptions. I derive inspiration from my confrontational relationship with my mother, which arises from our differing perspectives and beliefs regarding the roles and aspirations of women. Originated from these unpleasant confrontations, my work embodies the assumptions and norms that affect my life. I make wearable objects using glass beads as the main material to visualize these issues through craft and the property of the material itself, with the hope of resonating with people who have similar struggles to mine and advocating women’s autonomy.

Absent is a headpiece that addresses the absence of a woman’s individuality caused by the expected roles that she did not, and may never fulfill.

When my voice is unheard, and my will is ignored, who am I? Where am I?

As a woman, I have been receiving people’s thoughtlessly expressed assumptions or expectations toward my future roles as being a wife or a mother. These focused expectations on my “potentials” constantly remind me how I’m not a wife, and not a mother, no matter what other roles I am currently fulfilling in my life.

I relate people’s unconsciously repeating expressions of their assumptions and expectations to the repetitive motion of beading. Each bead is hand-stitched, while at a distance the finished piece looks like a mass-produced textile. The pores of the beadwork allow people to vaguely see my face underneath the veil, inviting them to try to discern who it is. Through thousands of repeated beading actions, I stitched my story, my statement, and my emotions into this semi-translucent bead veil that covers me, blurring my face and muting my personality.

glass beads,

Highlighting

Spotlight on Rory Bills-EveretT

rorybillseverettstudio.com rorybillseverettart

Rory Bills-Everett is an 8-year old contemporary abstract painter who lives and works between Lisbon, Portugal and Westport, Ireland.

As an intuitive, self-taught artist, Rory’s work is informed by the coastal regions in which she resides, and her paintings are ultimately a manifestation of her internal dialogue. In allowing her emotions to be represented on the canvas she provides a platform from which to converse with the viewer. Rory uses expressive brushstrokes and a vibrant, energetic color palette. She introduces texture through layering materials and ambulatory movement to draw the viewer in.

Soon Rory will be a student at Atelier Sao Bento in Lisbon. Her artwork has been shown in exhibitions in London, New York, and soon Madrid. These international exhibitions include, “What is Art” (April 2022) and “Art for Real” (October 2022) at the Boomer Gallery, London. Additionally, Rory had a piece acquired for the permanent collection on display at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York City, and in December of this year she will have herfirst solo exhibition at Galeria Azur in Madrid, Spain.

Jar of Pickles, ink and acrylic on canvas, 60x30in

VISIONARY WORDS

We are excited to share with you our new section, Visionary Words, where we invite contributing writers to share their perspective on art and education.

Navigating Dual Careers: Where is there room?

written by Rebecca Potts Aguirre

Hello again! This is part three of a series of journaling prompts focused on navigating dual careers as an artist and educator (or artist and _______________ [insert your other career]).

In part one, we spent time listing out the many actions and responsibilities of both careers. In part two, we sought out the overlaps between those lists. Now, we’re setting those lists to the side in order to dig into some related questions and reflection.

Some of the challenges I hear from others who are juggling these dual careers is a lack of time, energy, space, or resources. Let’s address these!

If the challenge is making time/energy/space/resources for your art career while continuing your teaching career (or other career), where is there room within teaching for being an artist?

Find space for thought and/or for small actions within each day. Here are some of my responses to the challenges I’ve encountered.

TIME

Make art alongside students

Align curricula to current studio interests

Purchase curricula and instructional materials

Use summers as residency time

Use school holidays as studio time or dedicated art admin time

SPACE

Set up a studio corner in the classroom

Use the tools or facilities at school

Invite students into your studio

ENERGY

Invite other artists to give a talk or work with students (this is wonderful because it provides another perspective for students AND frees up some of your energy)

Say “No” to additional work

Purchase curricula and instructional materials

RESOURCES

Use books or tools at school

Say “Yes” to additional work for additional pay

Sell instructional materials on TpT

Coach, tutor, use your skills!

These are not exhaustive lists. What else would you add?

Let’s journal a bit about this.

JOURNAL IN 2 PARTS:

1. What do you need?

Do you need more time? Energy? Space? Resources? (all of the above? - let’s be honest!)

Which need is most pressing right NOW?

2. Where is there room?

Where can you meet this need?

What can you shift?

What can you say “no” or “yes” to?

What works best for you?

I’ve talked with many teaching artists and everyone is different! Some people swear by their in-the-classroom studio, others bust everything out during school breaks, others plug away in 30 minute daily increments. You may need separation between these 2 careers or you may not - figure out what works for you. There is no one right way.

Set a 5 minute timer and journal your responses to these prompts.

What Makes a Studio: The Work of James Castle

written by Erika B. Hess

Non-artists have always regarded the artist studio as a place of creative ecstasy, mystery, worship, and innovative fits. Images of tall loft ceilings in Tribeca and Brooklyn come to mind with an artist standing in a 500-square-foot space as they puzzle over their work. These imagined studios have no children, dishes, or life inconveniences. Many of us dream of an area like this, but it is a reality for only a few. The question becomes, what makes a studio space a studio space?

Over my years as an artist, I have worked in various capacities, from a garage, basement, spare room, kitchen, van, and outside. These spaces didn’t dictate my dedication to making; instead, they reflected circumstance. My answer to the question, “What makes a studio?” would be, “A place for thought and creative action.” Artists need a place to think and act on thought to create. The space doesn’t govern making; instead, it is your mind, ideas, and the ability to make them visual.

While thinking of this topic, the artist James Castle came to mind. Castle was born in Idaho and was deaf from birth. We don’t know how much he could read or sign to communicate, but he naturally took to drawing. As a selftaught artist, he made drawings, assemblages, and books using found objects such as cardboard, the medium of spit, soot, and water-saturated crepe paper. He drew what surrounded him from landscapes, interiors, animals, and people. Castle sensitively depicts his life through moving compositions using value and form.

Castle taught himself perspective through trial and error and drawing replicas of images he saw on matchbooks. He created some work at a wooden desk that functioned as his studio. In the1950s, his nephew, who was studying art, took his uncle’s drawing to his teacher. Galleries in the Pacific Northwest included Castle’s work in group exhibitions. He went on to have solo exhibitions in 1963 and

1976 at Boise Gallery of Art, now the Boise Art Museum. Castle passed in 1977, and his work became majorly recognized in the art world, including a retrospective in 2007 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and exhibitions abroad. Currently, his work is on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in the exhibition, We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection, until March 2023.

In modern-day social media times, it is counterintuitive to think this self-taught artist, living in a rural area and working in a small space, gained recognition. His work is testimony to artists creating incredible and honest work when means are limited. In the spirit of Castle, I will lay out a few studios that come to mind, which may not be the beautiful loft space of an artist’s dreams but allow us to think and conceive our visual work.

VARIOUS STUDIO SPACES:

Kitchen Table

Outside

phone

bed

desk

Room

subway

office

The public library

In the carpool line

Table

References: https://jamescastle.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Charles_Castle https://americanart.si.edu/exhibition/we-are-made-storiesrobson?utm_source=outsider-art-fair&utm_medium=email&utm_ campaign=robson

JAMES

VISIONARY

VISITS

Our studio visits in New York City provide us with a deeper understanding of the work in which we are viewing. Through this ongoing series, we travel to artist studios in Brooklyn and Manhattan to meet contemporary artists who are creating powerful, thought-provoking work.

DANA JAMES

danajamesart.com mizdanajames

BIO

Dana James is a painter and New York native, based in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Since graduating from the School of Visual Arts in 2008, her work has been exhibited extensively and can be found in private and public collections around the world. James is represented by Hollis Taggart Contemporary in New York City, as well as Bode Projects in Berlin, Germany. Most recent solo exhibitions include Something I Meant to Say (2021, NY) and Otherwise All Was Silent (2020, Berlin). James was featured as one of the “Top 20 Artists Shaping the New Decade” by Daily Collector in 2020, in which her work was described as “simultaneously dark and feminine, creating worlds marked by duality.”

James’ 2020 two-person show, The Thread at M.David & Co. Gallery, was chosen as a must-see exhibition by New York Magazine, and her 2017 solo show, Sometimes Seen Dreams, at the Lodge Gallery was featured in the Art Critical Review Panel. She has been featured in publications such as Art Forum, Two Coats of Paint, ArtSpace, LE MILE, and Hyperallergic.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My most recent paintings coalescence bright, pastel palettes with dirty, recycled canvas in order to create worlds marked by contradiction. I welcome the idea of objective “beauty” in my work, but I am most interested in offsetting it. This process is an exploration into the duality of femininity, as well as the duality of manmade artifice inside a natural world. There is a shifting light in each piece, a literal “glow” created by iridescent pigment. It calls upon the glinting of the ocean, the magic felt in the vastness of nature as a child, and the flashing of color just before drifting into sleep. The paintings are a fantasia of memories in all of their glory, visually enchanting but shrouded with smoke and ghosts. Large fields of smooth color are offset by a flurry of mark making. These marks are akin to scars on otherwise flawless skin, diaphanous but permanent, they are heavy with history. Within these marks, traces of iridescence flicker across the surface like a dragonfly’s moonlit wing; coined as the universal symbol of change, the dragonfly is a form that lives inside the work repeatedly, most often deconstructed

into triangles that denote direction within the painting’s moving composition. Within the amorphous pools of color that largely define the landscape of each piece, ruler lines provide control and structure, while ironically emphasizing the painting’s autonomy through bleeds and off-kilter strokes. However, the vocabulary of my chosen materials is calculated: bright hues and dark explosive pigments subsumed in layers of muted wax captures a transient moment that falls somewhere between past and present. Inside pieces that perpetuate into multi-paneled constructions, time disappears. There is no beginning or end to the composition and the viewer is left to speculate only the dissonance between the edges. The paintings act as a panorama of linear time; they serve as a reminder that we are small and predictable creatures, incessantly creating and shedding beautiful accounts of the earth and its elements. Upon completion, they are visual diaries that speak to contradiction, a latency caromed by intermittent activity.

Georgia’s Ghost, oil, acrylic, pigment on canvas, 36x36in

Paintings by Dana James

Ellie Kerr-Smiley

elliekerrsmiley.com elliekerrsmiley

BIO

Ellie Kerr-Smiley is a UK-based portrait artist whose work focuses on the depiction of women and the reclamation of the gaze. Using images of women in her life, other working artists or images that are submitted to her, Ellie’s work aims to propel every-day women into the spotlight. Her work plays with the balance between traditional portraiture and abstraction, creating portraits that tell a story – or perhaps conceal one.

Ellie has come from a non-traditional artist’s background, having had no formal arts education or training, her work is spontaneous and unplanned, having spilled out of her after many years of working in offices. In late 2020, she picked up her paints again after almost ten years of sitting in a box and began painting incessantly. Less than a year later, she had amassed over 40,000 followers on Instagram, taken a residency position at the arts centre The Base and began working as an artist full-time. Her work has since been exhibited and sold at The Contemporary Art Fair, the Insight Exhibition, and through her open- access studio and website.

Ellie is passionate about keeping the art space accessible and helping others pursue their artistic passions. From her studio and the arts centre that it is within, Ellie teaches portraiture classes as well as occasional social media classes aimed specifically at emerging artists.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Ellie Kerr-Smiley’s work is primarily concentrated on women. In part as a response to the millennia of women depicted throughout art history who were painted by, and for, the male gaze, Ellie’s aim is to reclaim that space as a female artist and focus on giving her sitters agency and power within their depictions. The women in her paintings are not objects to be viewed but are active participants in their paintings and, more often than not, as a viewer looks at one of her portraits, the portraits look back with a gaze of their own.

Ellie’s paintings are constantly experimenting with the relationship between the sitter and their surroundings. Her portraits fade in and out, the background overlapping or slipping away. The portrait and the background work together to reveal and conceal the sitter, choosing what

is shown to a viewer, and what is kept private (bodies are rarely depicted in her work; a protective measure against the potential objectification of her sitters). Just as in a conversation, sometimes what is left unsaid is just as important, lingering poignantly in the background. As seriously as Ellie takes the depiction of her sitters, she does believe that art can be fun. Her process is spontaneous and often entirely unplanned; mistakes are encouraged and become incorporated into the artwork rather than edited away, often resulting in an array of colourful speckles and splats. Ellie toys with the borders of realism and abstraction, creating, in her own words, portraits that play.

Gossip,

Ellie in the studio

Ellie’s studio

VISIONARY RESOURCES

In February 2021, we opened our digital library on the Visionary Art Collective website. This library houses free downloadable resources for artists and educators around the globe.

visionaryartcollective.com/educational-resources

HOW TO CREATE A COHESIVE SERIES OF WORK

For art students & emerging artists visionaryartcollective.com/educational-resources

REFLECT & BRAINSTORM

Reflect upon the work you’ve created so far. Ask yourself: what idea do I want to explore further?

If you’re looking for an entirely new idea, unrelated to anything you’ve created in the past, spend time looking at art online. When you find an artist or artwork you feel drawn to, ask yourself: why do I feel drawn to this particular work of art? What do I find intriguing about this artist’s work? How can I explore this idea in my own work, but from a new perspective?

SET YOUR INTENTION

Once you’ve decided on the concept and subject matter behind your new series, commit! Then, get clear on your intention.

Ask yourself: What do I hope to achieve with this series? Am I creating this series to exhibit and sell, or for personal growth and exploration? Perhaps your answer is all of the above.

Write down your intention. Journal about it! When your intention is clear from the beginning, your series will flow with ease.

DEVELOP YOUR IDEA

A great way to develop your concept or idea is to begin sketching out rough drafts for your final pieces.

Complete a series of quick thumbnail sketches as a way to visually brainstorm and explore your idea further.

While sketching, jot down notes about subject matter, materials, and composition. To create a cohesive series, there should be a common thread between all of your pieces in terms of subject matter and materials.

MAKE A PLAN

Now it’s time to work out the logistics! First, decide exactly how many pieces you want in this series. We recommend having at least 10-12 pieces in a cohesive body of work.

Gather materials. Make a list of all the supplies you will need to complete this series. It will help to stay organized by keeping your materials in a place that’s easily accessible.

Set a deadline! When do you plan to finish this series by? Pin down a date.

Plan out your days. How much time each week can you commit to this series? Set aside specific days and blocks of time when you’ll be available.

CREATE YOUR SERIES

As you’re working, be sure to step back and reflect during the creative process. Once you have finished your series, share it with the world! Or, if this is apersonal series for you, enjoy it on your own!

TIPS FOR SHARING YOUR SERIES

Take high quality images of your work before posting! Spend time photographing your work in the best possible lighting.

Add this series of work to your website and social media platforms! See our free downloadable guide How to Create a Website for additional tips.

Take time to reflect on the work that you’ve created. Journal about what youl earned in this series. Did creating this series spark any new ideas for you? What did you discover during the creative process?

If you created this body of work to exhibit and sell, select your best pieces from this series to submit to new opportunities.

Decide on your prices! Create an inventory list with prices for each piece in this series.

Stay organized! Keep a file on your desktop with each image in this series. Label images with titles and dimensions for future reference.

Victoria J Fry

Now available on iTunes, Spotify, and anywhere podcast episodes are streamed. To hear inspiring conversations with artists and creative entrepreneurs, give it a listen!

New Visionary Podcast is hosted by Victoria J. Fry, artist & founder of VAC. Based in New York City, Victoria interviews creative individuals from around the world in our new podcast series.

VISIONARY EXHIBITION

Visionary Art Collective showcases work by artists from around the world in our unique exhibits. We partner with accomplished guest curators and gallerists to jury each show. In addition to the permanent feature on our website, our latest exhibits have a 3D virtual reality component, which provides the viewer with an innovative new way of viewing art.

Revelations The Power of the Creative Process

Curated by Victoria J. Fry

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Revelations is a virtual exhibition centered around the epiphanies we experience through the creative process. Art is incredibly powerful in its ability to show us more about ourselves and provide us with a deeper understanding of who we are on a fundamental human level. The question guiding this exhibit is: what revelations have you experienced while engaging in the creative process, and how have these epiphanies strengthened your sense of self and connection to the world around you? In this exhibition, we are showcasing work that reflects the personal revelations we have experienced through our artistry.

NOTE FROM THE CURATOR

The work featured in this exhibition showcases the power of art to bring us closer to ourselves and the world around us. As artists, we experience epiphanies throughout the creative process, and the work we create often mirrors our thoughts and emotions as they pertain to our personal journeys. While selecting work for this exhibit, I was taken aback by the many interpretations of this themeincluding the ways in which each artist depicted their own unique revelations.

Artists in this image:

Deborah Perlman, Stephanie Mulvihill, Marie Cameron, Ski Taylor, Yuwei Tu, Yahel Yan, Jennifer Villanueva

Artists in this image: Ash Woodworth, Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki, Andrea Cacase, Sarah E. Boyle, Priya Vadhyar, Melanie Reese, Anna Sobkowiak, Maja Obradović

Artists in this image: Giulia Piera Livi, Jessica Worthington, Leah Guzman, Hillaree Hamblin, Petra Schott, Lindsey Eisenmann, Madeline Pierce, Monica Burnside, Hani Rosenbaum, Julie C Baer

KARA MCINTOSH

Right

Front of Us, hooked wool and silk on linen, 20x20in

VISIONARY ARTist DIRECTORY

We are proud to feature a wide range of talented artists in the Visionary Art Collective Directory. Coming to you from numerous states and nations, our directory artists work across a wide range of mediums and disciplines.

Sarah BOYLE

saraheboyle.com saraheboyle_painting

BIO

Sarah E. Boyle is a Chicago-based painter who studied fashion, theatrical design, and illustration at Syracuse University and Ringling School of Art and Design before receiving her BFA in Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been a resident of the Cornelia Arts Building (Chicago, IL) since 2015. Her work has been featured in Studio Visit Magazine, Vanity Fair UK, The Third Coast Review, New Visionary Magazine, and Nuvo. She has shown at galleries and spaces throughout Chicago, IL, Indianapolis and Carmel, IN.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Place is priority in my work, the detangling of random memories and influence on what connects current events to a shared human experience. Through my paintings and drawings, I explore deeper themes via narrative, symbolism, and abstraction. It starts with my own collection of photographs, sketches, and experiences, repeatedly flipping through an archive of inconsequential moments and hyper aware that each location is influenced by subtle familiar signals. From there I explore color, texture, and detail to reimagine sights that are ingrained in my memory or others.

Working within these guidelines, I have developed collections around Night Windows, wildfires, gardens, mountainous landscapes, and escapist vistas. I constantly circle back to the Night Windows, a nod to the basic instinct to pass by a stranger’s dwelling and peer inside. The simple motif of the lit interior view from “captured” snapshots against a black void draws attention to dualisms in looking versus seeing and painting in dimensional space. While creating tension between abstraction and figuration, these works engage the viewer to interpret the images in regards to psychological concepts of voyeurism, memory, cinematography, isolation, urbanism, and location. It is a project that has revealed beauty in the ordinary of every night.

Venetian Chandelier, oil on canvas, 16x20in

Side Convo, oil on panel, 9x12in

Baby Grand, oil on canvas, 16x20in

EUNJU PARK

seoran_parkeunjoo

BIO

Eunju Park lives and works in South Korea. She received a BFA from Dongduk women’s University in Korea. Her work deals with family happiness and health to wish for her innermost thoughts.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My studio practice is focused on traditional Korean painting and it’s called Minhwa. The term Minhwa means painting for the people. So, my work deals with family happiness. Especially in my own work, I focus on family

happiness which I think is a significant part of emotion in human relationships. I try to dissolve them into my own work through the symbols of Minhwa images such as animals, flowers, and nature elements. Minwha images have beautiful visual information and over the years, I have created different animal paintings to indicate different emotions into the figurative existence. My ultimate goal of creating such images is to incorporate the meaning of happiness which is the basic concept of Minhwa.

Comfort 2, korean tradional watercolor on Hanji, 25.6 x21.6in

Comfort 1, korean tradional watercolor on Hanji, 25.6x 21.6 in

Bok

Bok

1 SUSANA ALDANONDO

www.susanaaldanondoart.com susanaaldanondo

Born in 1976, Aldanondo is an American painter, originally from Argentina, she grew up in Astoria, Queens. Best known for expressing emotion through the combination of the visual style of abstract expressionism inspired by music and the city of New York. Renowned internationally, Aldanondo took part of the rigorous Fine Arts Diploma at The Art Students League in New York City, where prominent artists like Jackson Pollock also studied. Aldanondo’s work focuses on color and space interaction, and most of her work is inspired by music and the vibrancy of NYC.

2 JAYN ANDERSON

www.jaynandersonart.com jaynandersonart

Jayn Anderson is a North Carolina based abstract painter. Her work is inspired by life experiences, emotions, music and how they all relate to fundamental humanness. She creates to uncover the deeply personal and at times, uncomfortable parts of life. Through her work, she strives to present a visual language that we can all relate to on a deeper level. Jayn’s desire is to provide a safe space for others to feel the freedom and vulnerability to connect to their innermost thoughts through art.

3 PHYLLIS ANDERSON

www.phyllisandersonart.com phyllisandersonart

Phyllis Anderson is an award-winning artist who divides her time between Colorado and New Jersey. She received a BFA at the University of Texas, and later studied at the Art Students League in New York. Her current multi-media paintings are landscapes which invoke dreams and memory, where a threatened wilderness has become an idea, mythic, legendary, unreal. Fantastic color, image fragmentation, and scribbled lines create romantic, mysterious works. Phyllis’s paintings are shown regularly in Philadelphia, and at RGallery in Boulder, CO. Her work is available at Framewerx Gallery in Winter Park, CO, and is in several private & corporate collections.

4 REBECCA ANNAN

www.rebeccaannanart.com rebecca_annan_art

Rebecca Annan is a Fine Artist from London, England who returned to her art practice at the start of 2021. Working in a variety of mediums, Rebecca takes what resonates with her from the natural world and creates art that captures the temporal and impermanent. Her latest body of work is The Comfort Collection, a series in graphite and charcoal. The series explores everyday fabrics and objects that we associate with comfort captured in a moment in time and elevated as the focus of our attention.

3

5 PAMELA J. BLACK

www.pamelajblack.com pamelajblackart

Pamela J. Black is a painter who lives in a town outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Black is currently represented by The Millworks, which is a local and sustainable restaurant, brewery and art gallery with 17 artist studios. She spends her days juggling the roles of mother and artist while painting from her in-home studio. Black’s paintings are interpretations of what she sees around her and what she has discovered through sketches along her travels. She often begins by creating a random mark on canvas and responds to it by bringing order back to the surface. Her creative process is fueled by a need to find a sense of balance between chaos and control. Ultimately, her paintings serve as reflections of her soul’s landscape - they are visual records of her emotions, findings, and her everyday thoughts.

6 ASHLEY BLANTON

ashleyblanton.com faint.as.fog

Ashley Blanton is entangled in a desire to find magic in the mundane, for looking closely at details and disparate parts helps her cultivate and connect to the sense of wonder that she seeks. Combining watercolor, gouache, cut paper, collage, and transfer techniques, Ashley creates mixed media works on paper that are evocative of emotional and visceral felt senses.

7 PAULETTA BROOKS

www.paulettabrooks.com

PBWearableArt

Pauletta Brooks is a jewelry artist who also branches out into other mediums. Her designs, under the label Pauletta Brooks Wearable Art, involve the use of raw minerals and gemstones set in unique and unusual ways. She is known primarily for her inventive use of thermoplastic resin, creating meshlike sculptural webs that house the minerals and stones. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines, journals, and galleries throughout the US and abroad. She resides in New York City.

8 ARIA BROWNELL

www.ariabrownell.com

ariabrownellstudio

Aria Brownell is a figurative oil painter in Austin, Texas, making work about the fragility of memory. In her paintings, she expresses feelings of anxiety, depression, embarrassment, playfulness, and intimacy. She graduated with a BFA in Painting from SUNY Purchase College in New York in 2015. She is currently the Social Media Director of Contracommon, a non-profit arts organization in Austin.

9 HEIDI BRUECKNER

www.heidibrueckner.com

heidi.brueckner

Heidi Brueckner is an Oakland based artist and has been a professor of art at West Valley College for over 20 years. She holds a BA in Art and a BA in Art History from University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MFA in Painting from University of Kansas. Brueckner writes, “People are in interested in people, whether because of personality traits, actions, or appearance. My work is inspired by this curiosity and allows the viewer to be part of the observation. The work often inspects the under-revered, and appreciates the subject’s presence and dignity, giving pause to honor them.”

10 NAT CANN

natcann.com

natcann

Nat Cann (he/him) is a Canadian printmaker focused upon the climate impacts, and the haunting of lands—relentless industries keeping afloat Canadian notions of colonialist heritage. His has exhibited across Canada in both public galleries and artistrun centers, and has gratefully acted as a mentor, instructor, and technical assistant to numerous students and professionals unversed in print. Nat now resides in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada on the traditional lands of the Wolastoqiyik and Mi’kmaq Peoples where he currently instructs workshops in all things printmaking.

11 MARCIA CONLON

musingwomen

I like working with materials that are a little rough, grungy, maybe a little dirty. I juxtapose feminine images from vintage magazines or antique photos next to found material like cardboard, vintage paper and deconstructed book pages. I have been drawn to artistic practices most of my life, even though I have had an eclectic professional life. I have a degree in Art History from the University of Michigan but am mostly a self taught artist. I was born in Detroit, but have lived in Traverse City for 23 years.

12 FLORENCE D’ANGELO

studioxflo.com

studioxflo

Florence D’Angelo was born in the Philippines in 1982. She is a self-taught visual artist living and working in Peekskill, New York. Although artistic most of her life she began publicly showing work in 2019 throughout her local community and sharing on social media. Her current work focuses on colorful, abstract landscapes inspired by the river towns along the historic Hudson Valley and the spirit of travel. Turning moods into landscapes, her work responds to the hero’s journey of traveling to the unknown in search of what makes us complete.

13 JACQUELINE DIESING

www.jacquelinediesing.com

jacquelinediesing

Over the past 10 years in Chicago, IL, I have come to realize I process my feelings and heal myself through my mixed media artwork comprised of detailed, freehand micron ink and soft pastel drawings. My journey began with a desire to restore crumbling, architectural masterpieces in my hometown of Detroit to their former beauty by surrounding them with colorful life. Since then, I have been drawn to examine my own health and healing by digging deeper into issues stemming from childhood. The art I am working on now depicts my path towards wellness.

14 ANDREA EHRET

www.andreaehret.com andreacircles

Andrea Ehret is an abstract expressionist and art therapist based in Prague, Czech Republic. The creative process for me starts with conscious presence, observation, and the recognition of your feelings. I find that my visions are sometimes so intense, I can start to obsess about the idea of how to transform them into a painting. The power of dreams is unlimited. I know my subconscious mind can show me amazing colors, symbols and connections. Perhaps they even reveal new things to accept about myself. No matter if I daydream, visualize or dream through the night. I dream my art and I create my dreams

15 THOMAS FLYNN II

www.thomasflynnii.com

thomasflynnii

Thomas Flynn II is an artist living and working in Austin, Texas. In his acrylic paintings, he explores the perceived connection between plants, celestial bodies, and human bodies. Seeking to ultimately delve further into the ancient relationship that humans have with their environment and how that informs our current lives. He has exhibited in Texas, Georgia, and curated into virtual group and solo exhibitions internationally. Flynn received a B.F.A. in painting and a minor in art history from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2016.

16 JAIME FOSTER

jaimefoster.com

jaimefosterart

Jaime Foster is an interdisciplinary artist, living in the Chicagoland area. She is interested in the relationship we have with nature and our environment, both positively, negatively and how this affects us on an emotional level. Her work taps into our collective subconscious and the emotional connection we have with our environment. From a distance, her paintings will simultaneously resemble vast glacial landscapes and intricate microscopic patterns. This acting complementary, as well as contradictory to each other, in an encircling game.

17 ERIN FRIEDMAN

erinfriedmanart.com

erinfriedmanart

Erin Friedman is an abstract artist just outside of Washington, DC in Bethesda, Maryland. Using acrylic paint and oil pastels, Erin’s work is an accumulation of feelings and experiences over time that transfer onto the canvas. Inspiration comes from moments and reactions to everyday life and my emotions. Erin will make marks, alter her ideas, add layers and change directions. We all experience conflict, change, joy and sadness. Erin does her best to embrace this process and allow those feelings to be revealed throughout her work.

18 LUCY JULIA HALE

www.walltowallsecrets.com

Lucy Julia Hale is a Georgia feminist / social activist artist and art educator. She often selects scenes from our cultural archives of mass-produced publications or vintage vernacular snapshots to which she adds drawn, painted, and/or collaged images to portray a deeper history. She serves as an advocate supporting the dignity and wellbeing of vulnerable populations, which unfortunately now include all inhabitants of Earth. Her work has been selected by prominent jurors for numerous national exhibitions. She holds an Ed.S. and an M.Ed. in Counseling and Educational Psychology, and a B.S. Ed. in Art Education.

19 HEATHER HEITZENRATER

www.heatherheitzenrater.com heather_heitzenrater

Heather Heitzenrater is a figurative oil painter from Pittsburgh, PA. Her work incorporates the figure with reflective Mylar. She uses the Mylar’s reflections to create a world full of chaos and curiosity that lure the viewer to come closer. Heather received her BFA in Painting and Drawing from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2015. Along with making and selling her work, Heather instructs figurative workshops at Pittsburgh Center of the Arts and is a Scenic Artist for ScareHouse.

20 SARA HODGSON BROWN

sarahodgsonart.com sarahodgsonart

Sara received her BFA from the University of British Columbia in painting and printmaking. She has been an artist and visual arts educator working in Canada and Europe for over 10 years. Her work is rich with colour, and her art aims to strengthen the viewer’s connection to themselves and the natural world. Her work evokes this feeling; a fleeting moment of light, a moment of clarity and connection.

21 SHABNAM JANNESARI

shabnamjannesari.wixsite.com/portfolio shabnam.jannesari

Shabnam Jannesari is an Iranian artist who received her MFA with distinction in Studio Art at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Most recently she had a solo exhibition, The Carpet Grew Like a Garden, in Cambridge, MA and participated in the group exhibition Crossing Cultures in Boston. This spring her paintings and drawings were included in Fidelity’s corporate collection. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Art Fellowship at the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, Canada (2020).

ANDREA JONES

www.modandart.co.uk

andrea_jones_art

I am an artist from Liverpool, England and for the past eleven years I have worked as an art teacher in a prison. My artwork has featured in several magazines of art and literature in the US, UK and Berlin, Germany. One particular style that I work in is based on my alter ego, this is inspired by wanting to be somebody else, taking elements from different people to create new characters, I call these characters my alter ego people. The images are painted in acrylic on canvas or drawn onto paper.

MICHELLE JONES

www.michellejonesstudio.com

trailingmissives

Michelle Jones explores themes of chance, beauty, claustrophobia, and escape in parallel to her experience of the world. Her methods juxtapose precision and pandemonium, leaning on the medium of painting to transcribe a dance between intention and loss of control. Through an exploration of the relationships between predator and prey; big cats, snakes, and water birds are metaphors in a narrative of belonging and solitude; rest and risk. Jones creates tiny worlds that allow the beast, both inner and outer to pause, and find stillness. Jones resides in Mobile, Alabama, which is a direct influence on her most recent works.

24 ZARA KAND

www.zarakand.com

zarakandart

Zara Kand is an oil painter based in Southern California. She has exhibited throughout numerous venues within the US and has been featured in many online and print publications across the globe. Her work is often highly symbolic and focuses on figurative elements within dreamy environments. She currently lives in the hi-desert, spending her time painting, art writing for various art magazines, and dabbling in curatorial projects. She is also the editor of The Gallerist Speaks, an international interview series focusing on gallery directors, arts organizers and curators.

25 ALEX KARPA

www.alexkarpa.com

alexkarpa

Alex is an artist and educator living in Astoria, Queens. Over time, her practice has grown out of interests in design, record-keeping, nature, and a need to work with her hands. Alex’s drawings and paintings map out a visual world - one that considers relationships between land, built environments, and human experience. Through abstraction, her use of shapes, soft tones, texture, and line describe where these different terrains begin, end, and meet. Her practice is informed and continually reimagined by her work as a teaching artist in New York City.

26 REKHA KRISHNAMURTHI

www.divineny.com

DivineNY

Rekha Krishnamurthi is a printmaker, illustrator, and surface pattern designer based in Jersey City. Her artistic journey started with fabric painting and hand-dyeing of textiles. Today, she designs with a variety of materials and techniques. She still loves designing textiles, but equally loves painting with watercolor, block printing with screen print ink, illustrating with pen or designing digitally. Rekha is always learning and exploring, constantly adding to her repertoire methods to produce unique patterns and designs.

27 SANDY LANG

www.sandylang.art sandy_lang_art

Creating is like telling yourself a tale of the world you feel. Born 1980 I am a self taught artist located in Germany. I mostly work with oil colours since I love their brightness and texture. It allows me to explore strong dark and light effects and to express the themes my paintings deal with. Being a lover of symbolism, I am working with allegories in a figurative manner of painting with a very personal approach to themes such as shadow and light, memories in time, and love – or its absence.

AMY LASKIN

www.amyclaskin.com

amylaskin_

I was born in Philadelphia but my artistic journey led me to the rural Blue Mountains of Jamaica where I rented a studio to practice my art. Here I found a deep connection to nature’s treasures and mysteries. In my practice, I archive images and collect artifacts from nature. I combine and compose disparate images to re-imagine and re- contextualize their meaning. I often combine images from women’s historical fashion and the botany observed from my surroundings. My entities are feminine bursting with abundant blooms, and the snippets of clothing references bring my focus to our past and present, our blended identities, gender and the human/ nature interface.

29 TARA LEAVER

www.taraleaverart.com

taraleaverart

Originally from London, Tara Leaver is a contemporary landscape painter living by the sea in Cornwall. She is happiest near - or preferably in - the water, and her paintings on wood panel and canvas express her sensory experiences of wild swimming and coastal exploring, reflecting a deep love for full body immersion in the natural world. Tara’s work has been exhibited in London, Sussex, the Cotswolds and Cornwall, and is owned by private collectors around the world.

30 MONA LERCH

monalerch.com

monalerchwallart

Mona Lerch is a contemporary visual artist and founder of Art Mums United and Women United ART MOVEMENT, residing in the Czech Republic. Mona began her art journey as an abstract oil painter; however, her creative passions and love for experimentation led her into watercolor botanical illustration and portraits, linocut prints, collages and acrylics. In her current body of work, Mona steps away from abstract landscapes and focuses on the female form. Natural elements play a vital part in many of these pieces. It’s her means of emphasizing the connection with our surroundings that enables us to stay grounded.

31 SUSAN LERNER

www.mixdmediamashup.com mixdmediamashup

Susan Lerner is a NYC based contemporary hand-cut collage artist whose themes explore location and memories, often fictionalized, of the past and present. As a Certified Flavor Chemist, Susan collaged chemicals into unique tastes but now uses paper as her medium. She loves the collage process, finding joy in hunting for vintage imagery, meditation in cutting paper and delight in creating nostalgic compositions. Susan has shown her work in numerous solo and group shows around the globe. In addition, she is the founding member of New York Collage Ensemble.

32 GAYATRI MALHOTRA

gayatrimalhotra.com gayatrim

Gayatri Malhotra is a street photographer based in Washington, DC. Gayatri’s photographs are intended to be utilized as an advocacy tool to inspire action, spark conversation, and empower communities of color with high-quality photographs that represent them, their voices, and their lived experiences in the fight for social justice, gender equity, and human rights. Gayatri is passionate about capturing moments that document the inherent strength and resilience of women. She is committed to using photography as a tool for social change.

KARA MCINTOSH

www.karamcintosh.com karamcintoshstudio

Kara McIntosh is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist who explores the rhythms and patterns of the natural landscape in an abstracted style. Her creative practice begins with a deep curiosity about place and reflects upon the multi-layered connections between communities and their physical environment. A hallmark of Kara’s visual language, her bold mark making with oil paint or hooked wool and silk fibres, offers a refreshing and engaging take on traditional landscape matter. Kara lives near Nottawa, ON and her work is found in private and corporate collections in North America, Europe and Australia.

JODI MILLER

www.jodimillerfineart.com jodimillerfineart

Jodi Miller is a Canadian prairie-based contemporary, impressionist painter. Her work explores connections with our roots, our stories and our surroundings. Drawing on her childhood on a family farm and years spent in the Royal Canadian Air Force across Canada, her landscapes are familiar yet fictitious. “Each painting begins with a memory, then evolves to tell a story of its own.” Jodi’s work focuses on human connections as observed through our environment using the metaphor of our imprints on the land as an entry point for personal narratives.

35 ANDREA MINDELL COHEN

www.andreamindell.com andreavisionarte

Andrea Mindell Cohen is a Spanish-Canadian visual artist based in Barcelona. Once a fashion and textile designer, Andrea is now a diversified artist working across disciplines. She combines printmaking, drawing, painting and textiles to create immersive installations. Andrea´s artwork is deeply influenced by her Spanish/Moroccan heritage. Through her work, she pursues to challenge the traditional identities and gender roles ingrained in the Sephardic (Spanish/Jewish) culture, and seeks to construct new meaning in the images she creates. The women in her work become archetypal representations telling their stories through layers, revealing hidden truths.

36 RASHAD ALI MUHAMMAD ramcreates.com ramcreates

Rashad Ali Muhammad is a multidisciplinary artist of the African diaspora residing in the Washington, DC region. He manipulates found imagery and mixed media to create vivid and captivating works reflective of American culture, African ancestry, and spiritual enlightenment. Muhammad uses collage to explore the intersections of culture, race, spirituality, identity, and sensuality, addressing stereotypes and misconceptions that (continue to) confront people of color today. He celebrates the vastness of the human spirit and reinforces ideas of individuality and self-love.

37 STEPHANIE MULVIHILL stephaniemulvihill.com smulvihillart

A New York City based artist and educator, Stephanie Mulvihill works primarily with the drawn image on paper, attracted by paper’s fragility and impermanence. Drawing is part of the larger tradition of investigation and analysis of our interior and exterior environments, and a connection to the past as well as an exploration of the present. Her current series of drawings uses the body as a storytelling device in which to process personal tragedies and moments of shared experience. The body is a lens and a metaphor in which to explore the connection of our individual stories to those of our ancestors, and of the comfort we find in our shared histories. Her work seeks to visualize the physical and spiritual sense of loss, grief and acceptance of change.

38 KASIA MUZYKA

www.kasiamuzyka.com kasiamuzyka

Kasia is creating intuitive, abstract artwork. She collects water from around the world to use in her paintings. Believing that water holds memory, Kasia begins her creative process by pouring water onto canvas to create a starting point in which she can begin her work. Kasia’s artwork aims to take the viewer beyond the ordinary in an individual transformative experience. Her influence includes mysticism and in-depth exploration of human nature, while also including elements of transcendental philosophy and modern-day alchemy.

39 DEBORAH PERLMAN

www.artbydperlman.com deborahwperlmanart

Deborah Perlman, based in Hollywood, Florida, creates bas-relief paper collage. A graduate of Boston University (BFA) and Cranbrook Academy of Art (MFA), Deborah is influenced by her training in sculpture, as well as African art of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Constructivism, Geometric Abstraction, and Cubism. Her work depicts an ‘almost-but-not-quite-real’ world somewhere between authentic and imagined. Through the process, the art compels her to celebrate ambiguity, and continually question and explore her view of reality. Using archival paper and adhesive, Deborah constructs three-dimensional forms by cutting, scoring, and folding each element, then adhering it to the base.

40 JOANNA PILARCZYK RADECKA

www.joannapilarczyk.com joannapilarczyk

London based and Poland born figurative artist and art educator Joanna Pilarczyk found herself inspired by the energy of London when she moved to the city over a decade ago. Her vibrant paintings from the latest series ‘Intimate Times’ are inspired by the time of isolation. She says “In my colourfully decorated flat filled with plants, and isolated from family and friends, my surroundings and my partner became my only world, more intensely experienced and observed than ever before. Much of my recent work focuses on self-portraits and what I found in our relationship during this time together.

MICHELLE REEVES michellereevesart.com michellereevesartnashville

Michelle is a botanical/floral artist who lives with her husband and son in Nashville, TN. She began painting at the age of 52 after a gentleman asked, “What are you passionate about?” during a job interview. This question led Michelle back to school to pursue an Interior Design degree, but through coursework she started to paint. Her latest paintings are inspired by pages from her childhood coloring books. Bold outlines of brush strokes and intricate backgrounds fill the canvas.

BRITTANY M. REID brittanymreid.com brittany.m.reid

Brittany M. Reid lives and works in Rochester, New York. Reid’s creative process was supercharged when she began working with collage, leading her to create over 200 pieces within only two years of adopting the new medium. Blending the feelings that different images hold into one artwork creates both a story and an experience. Her own experience as a queer, Black woman and mother flows into her work, imbuing her work with both individual and universal layers.

www.maddiereiss.com maddiereissart

Maddie is a landscape painter based in Greater Philadelphia. She works primarily in acrylic but enjoys sketching in ink and watercolor. Nature and wildlife are her main sources of inspiration, but she also relies on words, song lyrics, and poetry to guide the look, feel, and mood of her visual work. Her current collection of paintings is centered on western landscapes from her travels, featuring scenes from Arizona, Colorado, and Big Sur.

44 VIKTORIYA SAMOYLOV

www.viksam.art viksam.art

Viktoriya Samoylov is a Ukrainian-born American living in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her formal education and day job lie in graphic design, but she has always been drawn to an artistic and “imperfect” human touch in art. She generally creates figurative work with acrylics, though enjoys learning and mixing other mediums such as epoxy, glass, and other mixed mediums. Recently, she has been inspired by moments of long shadows, and late afternoon light. Choosing to keep the style loose and painterly, the viewer is invited to fill in the details with their own emotions and memories.

BROOKE SAUER

www.brookesauer.com biminy

Brooke Sauer is a Los Angeles based artist and an avid hiker that spends much of her time learning about the natural world first-hand and reflecting on our symbiotic connection to it. Her unique prints are created by combining a very old photographic printing process, called cyanotype, with her background in painting and her love of botany. She relates our human relationship to landscape as both a physical and metaphorical terrain to contemplate and protect -- one that inspires feelings of joy, renewal, and reverence. Brooke hopes to inspire viewers to go outside and explore their own internal landscape as they interact with and observe nature.

AJ SCHNETTLER

www.ajschnettler.com ajschnettler

AJ Schnettler is a nonbinary, multi-racial photographer and printmaker born and raised on Long Island. They decided to get a new perspective on life and education by moving to pursue their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography with a minor in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2019. Their work is based around what one does to provide self-acceptance. Working through identity or the space surrounding them; how to feel at peace overcoming negative, social, and cultural pressure.

47 PETRA SCHOTT

www.petra-schott.de petra.schott.art

Petra Schott studied Fine Arts and currently lives and works in Frankfurt/Germany. The intuitive, abstract use of color, lines and shapes is her way of processing daily experiences by transforming this conglomerate on the canvas into her very personal, visual reality. She absorbs human longings, and visions giving them a new urgency and substance. This sensualemotional act creates something new, illuminating the little secrets of life, without which this world cannot exist. Her art opens a space beyond the words, thus creating a new freedom of immediate knowledge.

48 TERESA STANLEY

www.teresastanley.com teresastanleyart

Teresa Stanley’s mixed media paintings are informed by her environmental concerns. Culturally, she feels that there is a longing to connect with the natural world, despite the fact that that world is endangered and disappearing. The plants she depicts in these paintings are survivors as well as marvels of adaptation and in this two panel piece, she depicts tender, young plants emerging from cracks among buildings in an urban setting. Teresa is currently based in coastal Northern California, where she taught painting and drawing until my retirement last year.

49 ANDREA STOKES

www.andreastokesart.com andreastokesart

Andrea Stokes is a Canadian abstract artist based in Ottawa. She received her BFA from NSCADU in 1998, and has been a practicing artist every since. Her work is a reflection of an obsession with colour and form. She relies on impressions and memory to create imagined landscapes or to evoke sensation

50 NAOMI THORNTON

www.spiritisaboneart.com spirit_is_a_bone_art

Naomi Thornton is a mixed media artist and psychotherapist living in the expansive beauty of Northwest Montana. In her art, she highlights the historically undervalued stories of women while emphasizing a connection to nature as a life-giving resource. Vintage portrait photographs are the inspiration of her work. She uses collage and paint to evoke a textured layering of desires, hopes and dreams using found images, handmade papers, and text from old books. Through her art, she intends to create a new narrative of empowerment, resiliency, and connection to the natural environment.

ZOE TOSCANO

zoetoscanoart.com zoetoscanoart

Zoe Toscano works in a range of mediums from installation, watercolor and oil painting. As a figurative artist, painting the human form allows her to contemplate and explore the complexities of human relationships through visual language. At this time, Zoe’s work is centered around the female experience. She strives to reclaim the female gaze through depicting women in moments of strength and vulnerability. Another key component of Zoe’ work is the complicated relationship between humans and nature — exploring our differences, similarities, and human’s ability to separate ourselves from nature.

YAHEL YAN

www.yahelyan.com yahel.yan.art

Yahel Yan lives in San Diego, but she was born and raised in Mexico City. She specializes in oil, acrylics and copper etchings. Her palette and compositions lend life and spirit to inanimate objects which are often overlooked. Yahel is always seeking to express the unexpected, unseen hidden magic of “thing.” She gives her imagination full freedom to pursue this mysterious journey. Yahel strives to create colorful happy art that brings joy to the viewer; a recurring theme in her art are chairs, which have become a staple of her work.