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ARTIST BIOS

Kay Apking
Apking was born in Ohio, in 1957. She returned to college to develop the finer points of her artistic skills and pursue her dream of maturing into an active member of the visual arts community. As a non-traditional student, she majored in art at Peru State Colege in Nebraska, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, in 1996. She works primarily with pastels to develop an artistic reality of delicate color, shade and shadow. She extensively blends colors to fill her compositions with spontaniety. Kay Apking is in public and private collections around the country. She currently resides in Lincoln, Nebraska working in her private studio.

Heidi Arneson
Heidi Arneson began studying painting at the age of nine, under the tuteledge of her mother, Miriam Arneson, watercolor artist and teacher. Since 1977, Heidi Arneson's paintings have been exhibited in many juried shows and her work has received numerous awards. In addition to her work as a visual artist, she is an accomplished theatrical artist. She is a playwright, actress, director and designer. Her one-woman comedies, including Homeland Security, Degrade School and Mary Margaret Please Appear, have been produced in several major US cities as well as nearly every Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota venue. Heidi Arneson also teaches writing/performing classes with a mission to nurture individual creativity in a supportive environment. "My paintings express the vitality of nature. I celebrate the aspects of the natural world over which we have little control: the persistence, beauty, fecundity, interconnectedness and playfulness of nature. I use animal figures as representatives of that vibrant energy."

Natalie Barnes

Charles Berry
Born in Missouri in 1942, Charles Berry spent most of his childhood in Detroit, Michigan, where he became interested in art at an early age. "…But I got off to a rocky start," he laughes. "I failed art in high school, and my formal training has been minimal." Despite a few setbacks, "I know my life is about art. I can't do anything else. It's just one of those things that I know I was meant to do." After seven years in corporate marketing and advertising, Charles Berry and his wife opened a graphic design business in San Diego, California. After three successful, award winning years, it was apparent that the time was right for Berry to devote himself full-time to his painting career. An avid traveller, Charles Berry's constant motion has fueled his artwork. He emphatically credits his wife with playing a major role in the development of his art…not to mention being an enthusiastic partner in his worldwide travels, and sharing his love of motorcylcing.

Patricia Beatty
In Patricia Beatty's abstract landscapes, light and delicate calmness of color interacts with the movement of shape and texture. She calls her pieces "bold and strong." She jokes, "when people who have seen my work meet me, they're often amazed that such a little woman does this intense work". If her landscapes seem more like blueprints for involved psychological states than studies inspired by the forms of nature, it may have to do with Patricia Beatty's background as a psychiatric nurse. She admits her medical career has influenced the timbre of her art. Patricia Beatty's original monoprints are often mixed media creations. Though her art is expressionistic, textures and patterns are solidly grounded in everyday life and inspired by the surfaces of old buildings or discarded shapes discovered in a metal scrap yard.

Jeanne Bonine
Internationally known for her soft and lush florals, Jeanne Bonine began her career in 1970 and remains self-taught. A sense of well-being, of peacefulness and love emits from the presence of her paintings. When a child in St. Paul, Minnesota, she would help her mother create flourishing gardens with this most wonderful love of roses. It is this memory that bonds her to her own work, and which makes her feel most centered when painting florals. The media choice of watercolor reflects Jeanne Bonine's soul — free flowing, graceful and able to adapt. Her subjects range from mysterious swans and colorful birds to extremely powerful closeups of a singular rose. These aesthetic visions swirl in a lifting way — healing with a spiritual sense. Jeanne Bonine's paintings deliver our dreams of a perfect world; one that is tranquil, filled with love and harmony with nature.

Cathy Bratter
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Cathy Bratter attended the University of Colorado - Boulder and the University of Minnesota — Minneapolis where she studied fine art. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974. She went back to graduate school in 1987 to further study sculpture and painting. In 2001, the late (artist) John Kennedy invited her to work in his studio in Palm Springs, California. Cathy Bratter continues to explore the relationship of color and texture. "Exploration of our world is a never ending journey. The gifts of nature, from the flowers to the rocks, sunsets to the sunflowers, clouds to trees and all the colors and textures in between remain available to all who choose to enjoy them. Sounds may not infiltrate my ears, but my eyes can hear, feel and see most than most."

Downe Burns
The paintings of Texas native Downe Burns reflect not only his immense talent, but also his passion for painting. "I love mixing the colors and seeing the end result on the paper or canvas. I like signing my name to a painting and being happy with the way I have interpreted the world around me." Largely a self-taught artist Downe Burns studied business and art history at Texas Tech University for a brief time before leaving to paint on a regular basis. He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in the early 1990's. It was there that he developed his unusual compositions and unforgettable colors. Currently, he resides in Lubbock, Texas with his wife and three children.

Cheng Khee Chee\

Mihail Chemiakin
Born in Moscow in 1943 to military parents, Mihail Chemiakin spent his first 14 years in postwar East Germany. He was accepted to art school in Leningrad in 1957. He fell in love with the historically rich city. This love became the source of inspiration for perhaps his most famous series of artworks called "Carnival in St. Petersburg." Outspoken and in search of his own style, Mihail Chemiakin spoke too much to the wrong people and was committed to an asylum. There he was subjected to behavior modification experiments. His mother arranged for his release a year later. When he began to work again, he did so in the company of other young artists. He married a fellow painter/sculptor in 1964. He lived in Paris form 1971 to 1980, and then moved to New York, his current residence. Much has been written about this exceptional painter/sculptor. Mihail Chemiakin's works are exhibited in major museums and in important publis spaces in major cities worldwide.

Chile

Clark Ervin

Ann DeGara
Ann Degara was born to Norweigian-German parents who recognized and nutured her creative abilities. This Greenville, North Carolina native sold her first painting five years prior to beginning her formal art education at Georgia State University. In 1978, a printmaking course at Atlanta College of Art lead her to Dick Williams and the innovative and contemporary Odyssey Studio. There she pursued the etching and the collograph, later the serigraph, and in 1990 began monoprinting. Her mastery of the art of printmaking is described as remarkable. Ann Degara is intent on achieving the original, the unique, the different, but only as it celebrates what is positive and beautiful. Her brilliant use of color expresses her passionate respect for the harmony of nature - a recurring theme.

David Dodsworth
David Dodsworth was born in 1952 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. In his art he was neither encouraged nor discouraged, at school or at home, but any idea of pursuing painting as a career would have been viewed with disdain by his eduation masters and with suspicion by his parents. In 1969 he began attending art school. In 1972, now married and a father, he enrolled in Sunderland Polytechnic. It was there that he learned the fundamental technical skills of the draftsman and printmaker which, in later years, offered the facility to translate ideas into non-restrictive form. He became increasingly fascinated by primitive mark making and hieroglyphics. Much of David Dodsworth's work comes from working directly with paper makers to produce what he describes as pulp prints. Coarse slurry is poured over a mold and he sculpts directly into the surface as the water drains away. Dyes are mixed with the pulp and worked yet again into and onto the surface. They are truly a blend of painting, sculpture and graphics.

Tony Evans
Tony Evans has been a potter and Raku artist for 40 years. He studied in Japan and the United States and weds a love of the Orient with his West Coast roots. His experience with ceramics has carried over to glass design in his continuing exploration of rich and colorful surfaces.

Roy Fairchild

Penny Feder
Penny Feder was born in 1949, in New York. Her formal art education took place at C.W. Post College in New York, where she earned a Bachelor degree in Art Education and a Master degree in Printmaking. She has received many awards over the years and is in private and public collections worldwide.

Serge Firer
Serge Firer was born in Gorky, USSR, in 1954. The son of an artist, he began his art career with Gorky Art School. There for he received high honours, and proceeded by working in the Artistic Fund since 1973, participating in numerous important exhibitions in Russia. The year 1990 marked the year he left Russia, to embark on a new life and continue his successful career. In the former Soviet Union, Serge Firer's style was naturally influenced by Socialist Reform. Upon immigration to Canada the artist developed an individual style influenced by Western modes and drawing upon all his talents.

Jon Freidman\

Connie Glowacki

Ted Goerschner
Raised both in New Jersey and New England, Ted Goerschner's earliest art influence as an 8th grade art teacher. She was an exchange teacher from Australia who opened the young student's eyes to his artistic talent, and gave him the push he needed. His grandfather was an artist, so "I guess it runs in the family. I never wanted to be anything else. I tried other things; they never worked". Ted Goerschner loves the freedom of being an artist, and the people and places he is able to visit. Fulfillment to him is the happiness he is able to bring to others with his special talent. Years of studies, observations, challenges, successes and lessons permeate the walls of his studio, a telling picture of an artist's lifelong commitment to transferring nature to canvas.

Ellen Gunn
Ellen Gunn was born in Rockville Center, New York, in 1951. From an early age both her father, William Neal Gunn, and her uncle, Howard Arnold, gave her extensive artisitc training. Both men were noted watercolorists, and her father was also proficient in oil painting and design. Until her 15th year, Ellen studied piano as well, attending a school whose purpose was to train concert pianists; but when she realized that she would have to give up one pursuit in order to master the other, she chose to master art. She continued her studies in art at the Parson School of Design in New York City where she graduated with honors in 1973. The year sfter, she studied at the School of Visual Arts also in New York. Desiring a change, she moved to California in 1976. In 1980 she studied printmaking and etching at the Kala Institute in Berkely, and from 1981-82 she studied printmaking exclusively at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. Ellen Gunn has worked in the past in oils, acrylics, watercolors, monoprinting and etchings, but today she primarily uses pastels to create her artwork.

Richard Hall
Richard Hall is the kind of artist who refuses to fit into a category. He works not only in the medium of serigraphy, monoprinting and etching, but he creates wall reliefs and freestanding sculptures as well, and he paints in acrylics and other medias on large canvases. Some of his works display remarkable depth and antiquity, others possess a style both timeless and romantic, still others are minimalist and ethereal. He was born in 1952, in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. After receiving his undergraduate degrees in fine art, in the late 1970's, he moved to Southwest Untied States. Today, Richard Hall views himself as actually building a painting. "As I build a painting or sculpture, it is often the actual working methods that I am most drawn to...I find myself working with layer upon layer of texture and color."

Susan Hartenhoff
Susan Hartenhoff's primary source of inspiration is derived from the world of nature that surrounds her. Her love of the outdoors is evident in her color palette, a mix of neutrals with splashes of blues and greens. A self-described Midwesterner, Susan Hartenhoff was born in Souix Falls, South Dakota. Her interset in art developed at an early age with influence from her father, a commercial artist. She began her formal art education in South Dakota where she earned a B.B. and Masters of Fine Art. Her talents were quickly noticed and she was awarded an apprenticeship at Echo Press, a fine art lithography shop. When asked about creative influences, Susan Hartenhoff sights master printmaker Jerry Kruse. "He taught me the beauty of line and the importance of composition. But the most important thing he taught me was to create what I know and what I believe."

Max Hayslette

Mark Hines
Mark Hines was born and raised in Southern California. Although he is basically a self-taught artist, early in his career he studied Glass Design and Ceramics at the University of California. In 1976, he began working with stained glass. From there he progressed to ceramics and raku. He currently produces a large and varied line of modern slump glass pieces making use of the knowledge he gained while working with stained glass and ceramics. Sand molds give the glass an organic look while iron stands make the pieces very functional. Mark Hine's designs have been featured in Architectureal Digest and are collected worldwide. He resides in Prescott, Arizona with his wife, Jeanne and son, Eric.

Karen Hoepting
Karen Hoepting obtained her honors Bachelor Degree of Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo in 1997. Her studio work at that time was divided between working with drawing mediums on paper and with acrylics or oils on canvas. Today, she combines her media together working on both canvas and paper creating brilliant, whimsical abstract images that make reference to the animals she loves. The work of German Expressionists and the Symbolists have always intrigued Karen Hoepting. She has always felt emotionally drawn to the vivd and powerful imagery of Kathie Kollwitz, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. Like some of these artists, Karen speaks to the viewer through symbols and stylistic motifs. Animals have been recurring subjects in Karen Hoepting's work for several years. She grew up on a livestock farm and formed a strong attachment to animals. "Animals are definitely a passion for me. I feel compassion for all forms of life. Naturally, my feelings about animals (have) transferred into my art." Karen Hoepting's art is an exploration of animals' spiritual and natural qualities and how these co-exist with industrial society. Through her primitive yet sophisticated style, she combines abstract elements together to create happy and lighthearted works.

Alexander Ivanov
Alexander Ivanov was born in Leningrad, Russia in 1950. By age 11 he had begun experiementing with painting. At age 16, he began formal training in art school. It was his new found love of 1960's jazz and the influence of Chagall that began to be refelcted in his work and cause problems with officials. Formalism and Individualism were not tolerated; Social Realism was the only accepted art form. He left school in 1972 and joined a geological expedition. In the late 1970's many artist's were exhibiting their works in private apartments. Alexander Ivanov was drawn back to Leningrad, and began to paint again. This was a period of great artisitc activity for him, and an almost specific style of expression emerged, led by Mihail Chemiakin and Grenardier, of which Alexander Ivanov was one of the bright lights. In the late 1980's the rest of the world discovered his wonderful, whimsical imagery. Sadly, Alexander Ivanov perished in an apartment fire in 1996.

Liz Jardine
The variety of styles present in Liz Jardine's art work speaks volumes of her natural curiousity and dynamic perspective. As a child, she was raised on, and artistically shaped by the sights and sounds of New York City. She would accompany her father, also a painter, to a different museum each Sunday to study and learn from the master painters. Uopn graduating from U of NY in Buffalo, she concentrated on textile design and sold raw silk designs through Horton Studio and designers such as Henri Bendel. In an effort to return to more traditional media, Liz Jardine worked in the graphic arts as an illustrator and art director. This work paved the way for her return to watercolors in such genres as florals, landscapes, still lifes and abstracts. Today she flourishes in varied media but especially favors acrylis for their texturing and form building abilities. Gustav Klimt is Liz Jardine's idol; the master artist's style and flavor are very present in her work.

Tim Johnson
Born in 1961, in Chillicothe, Ohio, Tim Johnson was deeply influenced by the rolling hills and lush woodlands of his home state. He became interested in art at an early age and experimented with a wide range of mediums and subject matter, eventually settling on architectural structures and their relationship to their environments. In 1985, Tim Johnson received a Bachelor of Fine Art from Ohio State University and began a six-year journey through Europe where he studied architecture as well as classic and impressionistic styles of painting. In 1991, he returned to the United States and moved to Scottsdale, Arizona where he began using the various elements of European, Midwestern and Southwestern influences in his works.

Heather Judge

Brian Kelley
Brian Kelley was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1946. He has lived and worked in Toronto, Canada since 1970. He works thematically, returning again and again to images of roads, pathways, waterfalls, cedars and rivers. He explores these images in various media, and from various vantage points. Working in familiar territory, Brian Kelley looks out onto the horizon, into the dark trees, or up at the waterfall.

Beki Killorin
Beki Killorin, a native Oklahoman, received most of her training in art in her home state. Oils, inks, mixed media and watercolors have been the cornerstone of her artisitc growth, through the years she developed her skills in these medias and gained national recognition in museums and galleries sales. In 1983, she took a major step into intaglio printmaking. The technical challenges of this medium, combined with her already well-defined skills as a professional artist, have provided a positive venue for printmaking as a full time career. In 1987, Beki Killorin and her husband relocated to the Pacific Northwest. From her studio in Washington's Puget Sound, she produces paintings and hand-colored prints. Her style brings a contemporary look to familiar subjects, imbuing birds, flowers and other images of the natural world with a unique life and spirit.

Joanne Kollman

Aleah Koury
Aleah Koury comes from a diverse artistic background, with a Bachelor Degree in Ceramics, and a Master Degree in Printmaking. This has encouraged him to be bold in experimenting with new materials and imagery. At variuos times he has incorporated collage printing, found materials and a variety of different types of paint media in his work. A gifted colorist, Aleah Koury has been drawn to pastel as the purest expression of the colorist art, and by the late 1980's he had gained a national reputation. Recently, he further stretched the expressive possibilities of pastel by combining it with enamel and latex paints, gold, bronze and silver leafing, oil and pencil to create works of spectacular richness and texture. These garden and floral series draw inspiration from the 19th century French master Odilon Redon as well as his own California garden, in particular the exotic orchids which he cultivates. Aleah Koury was born in Bellingham, Wahington and spent his early childhood in California before moving to the Midwest. In 1975, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Universtiy of Missouri at Columbia, and in 1980, a Master's degree from the University of Southern Illinois at Edwardsville. Since that time Aleah Koury has lived in and around the San Francisco Bay area.

Mikulas Kravjansky
Mikulas Kravjansky was born in 1928 in Czechoslovakia. He studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. During his seven years of study he was primarily interested in set and costume design, designing interiors and graphic art. Before leaving Europe in 1968, his designs and paintings were exhibited in Prague, Budapest and Vienna. In his most recent works he has experimented with printmaking. In combining traditional techniques of etching and collograph with his own new process of drypoint etching on copper over a soft surface, his creative methods reflect the richness and variety of his perceptions about our contemporary environment. Mikulas Kravjansky has been exhibited throughout the world and is in major international collections.

Don LiLeger
Born and raised in British Columbia, Canada, Don Li-Leger has painted since childhood, focusing on the birds and animals of his native province. His formal training includes studies at the Vancouver School of Art, Simon Fraser University and the Banff School of Fine Art. Don LiLeger's work has been featured in exhibitions throughout North America and is represented in many private collections. He works from the Crescent Beach, British Columbia studio/home he shares with his wife, Cora, also an artist, and their two children.

Rong Ling
Rong Ling was born in Shanghai, China, in 1937. He was a son of a prosperous silk trader before the communist revolution. He began painitng on silk as a small child to help his family business. It was here that his early artistic abilities flourished. The family business was shut down by the Communist Party and the family was forced to work in a rural area of China doing agricultural labor. In 1962, Rong Ling was admitted to the prestigious Hong Zo Art Institute in Ja Jaing province, near Shanghai. It was here Ling's talents finally blossomed without interruption. He was granted a visa to the United States to promote his art career. He began in San Francisco, but soon after moved to Chicago, where he currently resides and paints. Rong Ling is in corporate and private collections throughout the U.S. and Japan.

Didier Lourenco
Didier Lourenco was born in 1968 in Premia del Mar, Barcelona, Spain. At the age of 19 he began to work in his father's print studio, where he learned the art of lithography. He began to paint on paper and canvas, taking a small corner of father's studio. In 1988 he had his first solo exhibition at Vilassar de Dalt, and printed his first lithographic edition. He dedicated himself solely to painting in the corner of his father's studio, where he created his own "mini-studio." The corner was open to various visiting artists, which contributed to Didier Lourenco's "education" in the world of painting. He received numerous awards and many solo and group exhibitions in Spain. In 1995 he moved into his own studio in Premia del Mar, Barcelona. Currently his days are full of painting, travel and exhibtions. He travels to Paris, Lisbon and New York, where he continually gains inspiration for more of his oil paintings. Painting with oils on canvas, Didier Lourenco creates atmosphere - the lazy serenity of a sun-drenched Mediterranean day, the satisfaction of a late night in a smoky jazz club, the anticipation of a pleasant day of golf. He paints the feeling of contentment that all of us strive for in our best moments.

Dan Mackerman
"I grew up on an acreage near a small town in Iowa, actually about fifteen miles from where Grant Wood lived and worked. I traveled a great distance away from what I knew and who I was, only to discover that the things I was familiar with were, in fact, quite noteworthy... I've always had an attachment to the land. I now see myself as a spectator. I find the landscape is a thing to be read; the patterns of the fields, the state of the buildings on the farmstead, the light and atmosphere, the appearance of the people." Currently living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area, Dan Mackerman studied painting and art history at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. Four years later he completed his Masters of Fine Art in drawing and painting at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since then he has taught painting at the University of Minnesota, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. He has also won numerous awards for his sensitive interpretation of the Midwestern landscape. In addition to his oil painting, Dan Mackerman is also an accomplished theatrical painter and sculptor. He has been commissioned by companies such as Disney Studios and Marshall Fields Corporation to create settings for a large variety of shows.

Christa Malay
Christa Malay began her life as a artist by doing portraits in watercolor. After opening a studio in 1986 on Lopez Island, Washington, she turned out a large number of commissioned serigraph editions, which placed her work in the public's eye. Her growing mastery of light and color in large sized pastel landscapes gave her the opportunity for many shows and commissions in the following years. Recently, Christa Malay began experimenting with the process of etching on zinc plates. The term "painter-printmaker" is a fitting description for her, since the etching incorporates pastels.

Paula McArdle
Paula McArdle was born in 1971 in Straffordshire, England. After earning a degree in Fine Art at Brighton College, she worked for BBC TV's graphic department. She also traveled extensively through Europe painting, drawing and observing the nuances of village life. She paints what she sees in her daily life and her imagination. She sketches wherever she goes. Her imagery leads the viewer gently into her dream world and offers insight to the curious and sometimes ungainly figures that populate her world. Paula McArdle's colors have a discreet feeling. Her preferences for shell pink, soft grays, blue greens and warm browns show emotional significance. They are clues to the nature of the image. She worked in textiles in the past and her delight with texture is ever present, giving an underlying richness to the painting as some areas of her work become almost three-dimensional.

Rafael Navarro

Madeline O'Connell
Madeline O'Connell creates paintings that are all about color and the joy of life. She works spontaneously, playing freely with line, shape and palette, allowing unfiltered ideas to materialize in paint. This expressive use of color in her work transforms a seemingly ordinary scene, with common objects into a hi-impact painting. She uses oil paint and oil bars on paper and canvas. Madeline O'Connell was born in Ames, Iowa and comes from three generations of artists. By age five she had sold her first piece of art, illustrated a book and won a drawing competition. She received a Bachelors Degree of Fine Art and Art History from the University of Santa Cruz and continued her education with studies abroad through the University of Georgia and additional work at Metropolitan State College in Denver.

Pete Peterson

Raya
Raya had formative schooling in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her education was exceptional. It definitely directed and inspired her into a life of creative expression. Her parents, being creative individuals, contributed a great deal. She was fortunate to have studied privately with Jack Cartlidge (Sarasota, Florida). She created life size human sculptures in her studio. Even though Jack was a professor of Art at New College, he encouraged her to find her own style and techniques instead of the traditional art school path. At 18, the demanding realities of supporting herself as an adult forced her into the design and production of jewelry. A happy choice, Raya continued with her creative expression through jewelry for the next twenty years. Raya discovered the joy of printmaking while living in Mendocino, California. She spent three years at College of the Redwoods, studying printmaking under Robert Rhodes. After moving to Phoenix, Arizona, Raya worked for the Phoenix Art Press designing art as well as managing their etching department. Her work is in private and corporate collections throughout the United States.

Kati Roberts
Kati Roberts is a self-taught artist who uses the monotype process as her medium; each work is done individually and completed as an original. All inks, paints , pastels and leafing is applied by hand. Recently she has been working with handmade papers, metals, large canvases as well as some unique colors. Her colors are fresh and lively and her formats are both architectural and geeometric. A St. Paul, Minnesota native who currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona, Kati Roberts enjoys contemporary art and is influenced by other printmakers. She is an artist who attributes her self-taught label to the old famous trial and error techniques. Kati says "My fascination with color and movement continues, as colors change, so does the depth of the illusion of color. Color is still more important than design or image; and you can't have a world without color!"

Poch Romeu
Born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1935, Poch Romeu began painting at the age of 11. As a young teen he attended numerous art courses, including the Institut del Teatre where he studied set design, classes at the Cercle Artistic de Ant Lluc, and painting classes from Ibiza painter Ferrer Guasch. In 1949, he began his career as a drafting apprentice. He began developing his drawing techniques, such as drawing on lithograph plates, serigraphy, monotypes and airbrushing. At age 18, he had established himself as a graphic artist in his own right. In 1959, Poch Romeu was artistic director of a successful graphic design firm, receiving numerous awards during this time. In 1975, he dedicated himself completely to his painting, and began to develop the theme of Menorca in his work. The island has been his place of residence off and on since 1964, and it is where he continues to do the majority of his work, which is based on the landscape and architecture of the island.

Chip Scarborough
Chip Scarborough finished his studies of printmaking and sculpture at UCLA in 1969. Since 1996, design work with seven Czech glassworks has allowed his sculptural concern and fascination with light to be expressed in an intimate collaberation with Czech master glass blowers.

Michael Schofield
The landscapes of Michael Schofield are justly prized and celebrated for the wealth of their fine detail and radiancy of their colors. Michael Schofiled was born in Florida in 1947, but his family moved to California that same year. He began to paint and study watercolor in high school. Like most teenage boys, he was first much more interested in sports than in fine art, but his art teacher at Oakland High School recognized that Michael had an exceptional talent, and for nearly two years he tutored the youth privately. After a stint in the military, Michael Scofield went to art school in Nashville, Tennessee. During the summers he would journey to Woodstock, N.Y., in order to study with watercolorist John Pike, an esteemed member of the National Academy of Art and the American Watercolor Society. Michael Schofield soon opened his own studio, where he painted and taught for more than a decade. He returned to California in 1980 to set up a silk screen printing studio in order to create his own original serigraphs. He wanted to be involved in every step of the intricate and exacting process of serigraphy, from fabricating the stencils to adding the final finishing touches of color. His work is in private and corporate collections throughout North America.

David Schluss
David Schluss was born in 1943, in Israel. He attended school in the historical seaport of Jaffa, where he was captivated by the mystical walls of the city, it's austere religion, historic churches and monasteries. It was during these early years that he sensed his desire to paint. Unable to afford the necessary painting materials, the young artist began sketching with charcoal and cheap pencils. He gave these sketches to anyone who showed interest in his work. In 1980, David Schluss and his family migrated to Montreal, Canada. Here he enrolled in the art school Ecole des Beaux Arts. His work during this period was influenced by Chagall. Critical acclaim bought his work to international attention. In 1983, he opened an additonal studio in Florida. He now travels between Florida and Tel-Aviv for inspirations for his work.

Pam Schumacker
Pam Schumacker is a very popular regional artist and a native of Des Moines, Iowa. She has specialized in serigraphy since 1985. Her whimiscal images have been used as art for public television programs and various festivals. Pam Schumacker has self-published three delightful children's books with author Beth Tubbs.

Arthur Secunda
Since his first public exhibition held in Paris, France, Arthur Secunda has particularily distinguished himself as a collage master and printmaker. His collages are brilliant in color, technically perfect and lovingly created. Each collage is made from skillfully molded hand made paper torn and arranged to create a new entity, reflecting his love of nature. Arthur Secunda was born in 1927 and throughout his career has studied extensively, beginning at New York University and the Art Student's League, and continuing in Paris, Rome and Mexico. He has worked as an art critic, teacher, lecturer, curator, writer, publisher and associate art editor. His works have been exhibited world wide in more than 140 solo shows and he is permanently collected in major museums, corporate and private collections throughout the world.

A. Sekersh

Gale Shamblott
Gale Shamblott began her artistic career at the age of five. While growing up, she participated in many local art contests and juried shows, selling her first painting at the age of sixteen. She won numerous awards and honors while her formal training continued at Minnetonka Center for the Arts in Minnesota. As an art instructor for both children and adults, she is able to share her love of art with others. Gale Shamblott is very versatile in her subject matter from clowns portraits to her contemporary images and hand-built clay works. The images, which deal with color and movement, absorb the viewer. They spark one's imagination. Her paintings are done directly on the paper or canvas without drawing first.

Mike Smith
Popular Washington state artist Mike Smith first produced works that were abstract paintings and sculpture. His work gradually changed to simply reflect his life and the world near his studio in a small farming community, without reference to past or present contemporary art trends.

Starlie Sokol-Hohne
Starlie Sokol-Hohne was born in 1958, in Santa Monica, California. She completed her studies at UCLA in 1980. She enjoys horseback riding in the woods and canyons near her home. This inspires her in the way nature is extremely abstract as well as realistic. Using these quiet times helps rejuvenate her creative powers for even greater expression. Starlie Sokol-Hohne has been exhibited nationally since the early 1980's and her works are held in private, public and corporate collections throughout the United States.

Mark Spain
Born in 1962, Mark Spain has always maintained an interest in fine art and design. He attended a three year course at Medway College of Art and Design in England where he refined his already burgeoning interest in graphics, illustration, life drawing and printmaking. His first work came as a freelance illustrator producing originals for posters, book covers and greeting cards. In 1984, his interest in printmaking, as an alternative discipline, became established and he set up a studio in Kent, England to concentrate on making original etchings. His inspiration came from the natural, unspoiled areas of rural Britain. Following a major storm in October of 1987 he was commissioned to produce limited edition etchings of Kew Gardens in order to raise funds for the restocking of the Garden's worst hit areas. The success of this project has led to may more publications and commissions. With his popularity growing, Mark Spain has now exhibited extensively, and is in private collections throughout the world.

Melissa Stephens
Melissa Stephens knew she would be a n artist the day she could hold a pencil in her hand. Monoprinting since 1992, she continues to learn new techniques and develop styles through experimentation and printmaking classes. Her monoprints are abstracts and abstract landscapes. Viewers relate to her use of color and space. Sometimes she will urge viewers to observe nature more closely and interpret their connection to it by manipulating natural stencils like leaves, feathers and grasses in her work. Using unusual colors, and alternating styles present these stencils is a less recognizable state, but capture the viewers' attention and encourage reflection.

Robert Striffolino

Theo Tobiasse
Theo Tobiasse was born in Israel in 1927, of parents who had just arrived from Lithuania. Confronted by insurmountable material difficulties, they settled in Paris when he was six years old. He spent his adolescence shut up with his parents in their tiny apartment during the German occupation. When he finally saw the light of day again, he had amassed a large file of drawings of all different kinds. They soon enabled him to find work in various advertising companies. He did this for the next 15 years, first in Paris, then in Nice, France. As soon as he could, and often at night, he painted. In 1960 Theo Tobiasse took first place in an exhibition in Nice. From then on, galleries and collectors continued to show interest in his work, and in 1962 he was finally able to devote himself to painting. It was in Nice that his pictorial expressionism came into its own. Theo Tobiasse's works are exhibited around the world and can be found in many international museums.

Janet Treby
Janet Treby was born in 1955 in London and grew up in a small country village in Bedfordshire. She has always loved the countryside and has a great passion for wildlife. She knew she was going to be an artist when she was 11 years old. Her formal training after secondary school began with a two year foundation course at Barnfield College in Luton followed by a degree at West Surrey College of Art & Design specializing in printmaking and sculpture. A two year post-graduate program in printmaking at Slade School of Fine Art completed her formal education. While at Slade School Janet Treby started lecturing in printmaking, specializing in mezzotint. Throughout the 1980's she was lecturing and doing various jobs to support herself and her art. After many exhibits and international recognition, Janet Treby is painting full-time.

Linda Tullis
The designs of Linda Tullis demonstrate that she is "a drwaer from the heart, not a painter." Directly reflecting her sensibility to drawing, her works manipulate color in a magical manner to bring about a "push and pull visually." Born in Montana, in 1955, she spent her childhood on a ranch where she was surrounded by plants. She cultivated a love for them and gardening, and says it is her "great appreciation of nature and how nature works", that has influenced her art most. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Arizona State, Linda Tullis found her career niche in visual display and special events for nine years in Phoenix and San Francisco. In 1990 she began monprinting. Her subject matters have focused on flowers and gardens, as well as neoclassic sculpture and vessels.

James Turco
James Turco was born in 1960, and raised in Denver, Colorado. He attended Western State College where he graduated with a degree in Design. Printmaking was emphasized in college, including relief processes. His designs and other accomplishments earned him numerous merits and shows throughout his formal education. He currently contributes his work and artistic abilities to developing unique paintings done on both canvas and paper. The process included collage, which is composed of materials from textured papers to gauge metals. The abstract forms these materials create are illuminated by color which gives James Turco's art work depth and expression.

Sarah Van Beckum
Sarah Van Beckum was born in Hartford, Wisconsin, in 1954. Her interest in design and textiles started as a child when she imagined fabric designs in her head and transferred them to paper. Her design teacher was a renowned textile designer who taught design through silkscreen printing on textiles. Her love of screen printing has endured ever since, and is an integral part of her present work. Her formal training was at University of Wisconsin, Madison, La Sorbonne, Paris, France, La Ibero Americano, Mexico D.F. Mexico and St. Mary's College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sarah Van Beckum's artwork beautifully incorporates the many artistic skills she has developed over the years, with a multi-cultural accent throughout. Her employment has varied from dressmaking and tailoring, to teaching high school Spanish and French. Sarah Van Beckum creates collages of materials she makes herself. "I start my work by dying Goya rice paper which is quite fibrous and will withstand dye baths without disintegrating. I then silkscreen and/or stamp found objects to create background interest and texture. Collage hand-painting with gouache, and finally stitching with metallic threads are some of the final applications."

Eric Waugh
Eric Waugh's rise through the art world has been overwhelming. Born in Montreal in 1963, he is self-taught in every artistic aspect. He gained experience in the fields of graphic illustration and product design before turning to painting in 1988. Although all of his works of acrylic and mixed media are one of a kind, they are however linked with a deep thematic vibrancy. He draws us into an expressive vision of warmth and hope, reflecting his positive perception and appreciation of life. Flowing from his natural talent and through progressive experimentation with various methods and media, Eric Waugh creates works of art in both abstract and representational, the latter taking on the graceful interpreted elements of the human structure, in an embracing ballet of form, texture and color.

Christopher Welsh
Christopher Welsh was born in 1960 and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1982, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in art. Using color and texture in mixed media, Christopher Welsh draws emotions from his view. "Everything has a natural flow to it - an organization. Sometimes you can't see it right away, you have to get close. Or sometimes distance yourself. I think my work is like that". His work evolves from nervous energy that creates a sense of motion, dimension and spontaniety. He combines soft color shadings with an alive and imaginative pallette. In each piece Christopher Welsh strives for an ethereal quality. "When I begin painting on any certain piece, I am influenced by everything. The weather or the contrast of the hills against the sky sets the mood for any work I'll begin that day/"

Terry White

Stephan Whittle
Born in Leeds, England in 1953, Stephan Whittle began etching at Chelsea School of Art, London, in 1970 and continued at Brighton Colege of Art, from which he received an honors degree in fine art in 1975. The next few years were spent between Switzerland and England working as an artist, teacher and graphic designer. In 1980, he established his studio near Liverpool and began exhibiting at galleries around Great Britain. Stephan Whittle's vision of nature as a place of harmony and balance began to be expressed in his early etchings. From the beginning he utilized his intensely personal sense of color and rhythmic, flowing composition to create remarkable "miniature worlds" on copper plates. In the early 1990's Stephan exhibited at art shows in major cities around the world. His travels were rewarded by the appointment of dealers and distributors who enabled him to spend more time creating and less time traveling and promoting. In 1992, he moved to the United States and settled in Iowa with his wife and two children. His arrival in America inspired brighter colors and larger pieces. In 1997, the Whittle family relocated to Sebastopol, California.

Lynne Windsor

Barbara Wood
Barbara Wood is a native of Columbus, Ohio. Never knowing her real father, she was raised by her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her mother having to work to make ends meet, would leave Barbara in the care of the grandmothers. The personalities of the three women formed a catalyst for her art. As an only child and sometimes a lonely child, she was allicted with bouts of pneumonia and asthma and spent many hours secluded in her room longing to be with her friends. "It seemed that I was always on the inside looking out". Perhaps that could explain the sensitivty in her paintings. Barbara Wood remembers her mother encouraging her to sketch and paint and always keeping her in ample supplies of artist materials. Following high school she attended Traphagen School of Fashion on a scholarship, where one of her instructors encouraged her to turn her talents to fine art. Taking this advice, she transferred to the New York Art Students League. She continued her studies, married and moved to California. She continued to paint and study while raising her three children. Over the past three decades Barbara Wood has painted with vitalized energy, becoming a internationally recognized artist. She has traveled worldwide exhibiting her work in one woman shows and is collected by a virtual "Who's Who" of celebrities and world figures.

Helen Zarin
Helen Zarin was born in 1970, in Shiraz, Iran and can remember beginning to paint pictures as early as the age of 5. As a high school student, she studied with the well-known Persian artist and teacher, Saber. Later she enrolled in the Art and Culture Society, a national organization for gifted Persian artists. As a student of Art and Culture, she refined her skills in the various mediums of painting, in particular pastels and oil, at the same time earning numerours national awards. In addition to her art, Helen Zarin competed as an athlete in numerous track and field events throughout the early 1980's. But the conditions in her native country eventually compelled her to turn elsewhere for the creative nourishment an artist needs. "Hard work and God-given talent are not enough for an artist to progress and blossom," she remarks. "Creative freedom in the right atmosphere is essential". In the pursuit of these artistic prerequisites, she journeyed to Europe and finally to the United States, where she now lives and works. Arriving in New York City in 1993, Helen Zarin attended LaGuardia University and, later, Catonsville Community College, in Baltimore, Maryland, where she learned English and further advanced her art education.