Sharon Weiss Gallery

Amy Adams is originally from Denver, Colorado, where she studied painting at the Art Student’s League of Denver. Amy says the following about her work: “I consider myself a “light and shadow” painter, meaning I look for situations to paint where the quality of the light and the beauty of the details in the shadows, reveals something special. I am excited by how the light and shadow shapes relate to one another, and it is along the edge of these shapes that I find the most interesting connection.” Currently she is interested in the study of form, and how in her paintings that is defined by the shift in value relationships. Amy likes to work with images that feel organic in some way. Images inspired from rural Ohio, specifically farm animals, are favorite subjects of hers.

Amyadamsfineart.com
IG: @amyadamsfineart

Brian Ballenger studied art at Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, and then earned his Master’s degree in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.  

Brian’s paintings have been in juried group exhibitions at the National Midyear Show at The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, in 2018 and 2021; the Fine Arts Exhibition at the Ohio State Fair in 2018, 2019, and 2022; the 77th Annual May Show at the Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield, Ohio, in 2022, "Ohio Paint/Print/Photo" at the Dairy Barn Art Center, Athens, Ohio, in 2019; and the Toledo Area Artists’ Annual Exhibition in 1985 at The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio. Solo exhibitions have been held at The Ohio State University Faculty Club, Columbus, Ohio, in 2020, Sharon Weiss Gallery, Columbus, Ohio, in 2017, and Wittenberg University’s Ann Miller Gallery in Springfield, Ohio, also in 2017.  

His brushstrokes of oil paint build up on the surface and blend while wet, creating layers and new design.

www.brianballenger.com

The coastal environments and deep woodlands of New England are rich with refracted light, with intimate enclosed spaces surrounding pools and streams. I depict these subjects with a simplified application of color forms, adjusting tonality to imply space. A favorite subject is to paint distant Maine landscapes from Mount Agamenticus and then travel to those regions to paint the peak of the mountain itself.

Bachelors of Arts: University of Kentucky, Masters of Science: University of New Hampshire
Collections- Private homes in North America, Europe and Africa.

www.artfoureyes.com

Edmund K Boateng is an artist specializing in Photography, Pencil Drawing and Film making currently based in Columbus Ohio.

Edmund, being born and raised in Ghana, has a background in the Ghana film industry as a set designer and has incorporated his love for film making into his photography to create film still like photographs. He also has given mention that his passion to pursue art was heavily influenced by his father being talented in leather working. As a self-taught artist he has spent many long days and nights dedicated to researching and learning new techniques to challenge himself to create art in unique ways by using different mediums.

Edmund has shown both his hyper-realistic pencil drawings and his photography at Sharon Weiss Gallery where he has been represented since 2017. He has also had three pieces of his artwork, two photos and one drawing, displayed as murals in the Short North Art District in Columbus.

www.KBoateng.com

Jan Boone was raised on a farm in Northwest Ohio. She received a BFA in painting and graphic arts from Miami University, met the love of her life, and went to work at Gibson Greeting Cards in Cincinnati. A couple of decades later, Jan had produced two children, ended the career in commercial art, and began painting again. Today Jan paints in her spacious home studio, teaches oil painting twice a week, and keeps her eyes open for the next painting. Not surprisingly, her favorite subjects are the flat farmland of Ohio, animals, river scenes, and people in casual situations. “Everyday life is inspiring. The only visual message I put into my work is ‘life is beautiful’. The only mood I’m looking for is joy.”

Kelley Booze is an oil painter from Springfield, Ohio. She graduated magna cum laude with a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design and is an MFA candidate at Miami University in Oxford. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally and her paintings are part of many private and public collections in the U.S., France, Germany, and Israel. In recent years, she has completed an international artist residency in France, featured in an arts publication, received the Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council and has worked on several public art projects. Kelley is inspired by her observations and reflections about how we relate to our surroundings and the spaces we occupy. Her artworks are often influenced by industrial spaces and man-made places of utility that are now idle or dormant. In addition to her studio practice, she teaches painting, drawing and other various classes and workshops.

www.kelleybooze.com
IG: @kelleybooze

Recognized for his elaborate and engaging paintings, Kevin Buckland works exclusively in watercolor and is noted for his mastery of the medium. His inspiration can come from anywhere. He doesn’t limit himself to any particular subject, and is open to any possibilities that watercolor provides.

Notables:
Art At The Arnold, Chairman
PBS Blogger Civilizations Art Series
Ohio Watercolor Society Board member
Member American Watercolor Society and Central Ohio Watercolor
Owner Buckland Gillespie Design

Central Ohio artist creating black & white art, working in graphite, charcoal and pastel.

Pertain’s inspiration comes from places she visits while traveling, walks in the woods, the simple beauty of a flower or plant, and the animals & birds that visit her backyard. Using her chosen mediums she creates black & white drawings capturing the lights and shadows of her subjects. 

“Interesting light makes your subject so much more compelling. Light is always changing; by seasons, by weather, by time, man made or natural; being aware of this always keeps me excited about making art.”

Graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design
Active member of the several central Ohio art groups
Art At The Arnold,
Chairman Buckland Gillespie Design 

Cynthia A. Cain is a Dublin Ohio artist with a wide range of mediums. The original oil paintings are painted with thin layers of artist oil glazes due to the higher pigment...on canvas or linen with meticulous attention to detail. Paint is applied with natural hair brushes in the  light of day  to achieve truer color... using goat hair brushes to smooth out brush strokes for a smoother finer surface.

Mary Chamberlain is inspired by her surroundings – vintage homes, barns, and Appalachian scenery. Her emphasis is on color and texture, creating paintings with a fresh perspective on well-loved subject matter.

Originally from Virginia where she earned a BFA in Painting, she has now lived in Athens, Ohio for over 20 years. She says she has come to love this area for its simplicity and beauty, where the inspiration it provides for her is endless, and so she has made it her home.

www.mechamberlain.com
IG: @mechamberlain.paints

Carlos Chang is based in Columbus, Ohio. His painting process is always changing but usually begins with conceptual forms that he creates as a way to explore and discover new pictorial directions based on his perception at that moment. 

In the early 80’s Carlos moved from Chicago to Columbus pursuing new opportunities in his field of architecture, while keeping interest in the visual arts and music.

Painting has been Carlos’s passion since a very early age. He also plays classical guitar, and finds that practicing a different type of artistic expression enriches his creative process. Carlos usually works in oils and watercolors, although his paintings are abstract, he also enjoys painting other subjects such as landscape and portraiture. Carlos is also an architectural design consultant and an adjunct professor of Design at a university in Ohio.

His artwork is in private collections around the country, internationally in countries such as Spain (Oyarkandal Art Gallery in Ubeda), Chile (Santiago) and Taiwan (Nan Kai University).

Amanda Hope Cook is a native of Nashville, Tennessee. Highly influenced and inspired by her father, artist Marion B. Cook, Amanda spent her first years immersed in learning the disciplines of painting and drawing. In l 994, she was awarded a scholarship to the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio, where she double majored in Fine Art and Illustration and minored in Visual Communications.

Since graduating with a BFA in 1999, Amanda has consistently practiced fine art with oil painting as her primary medium. She is currently producing a series of representational urban paintings with landmark neon signs as their subject matter.

Tn 2015, Amanda signed as an artist with ©Disney/Pixar and is currently producing a series of oil paintings available as originals and limited edition reproductions through Off the Page Gallery in Disneyland, Anaheim, California.

Anita Dawson is a still life painter and constructs assemblages and small sculptures. Her work has been exhibited in the Midwest and eastern United States; Chicago, South Bend IN, Indianapolis, Lexington, Virginia and Winter Park, Florida, Dublin Art Center and always at the Sharon Weiss Gallery. A solo show is scheduled at the Cultural Arts Center in downtown Columbus for November- December 2022. 

Research has taken her on numerous trips to Italy, Spain and France to study iconography. She has served as a visiting artist and professor in Aix in Provence and Rome. She is Professor Emerita at the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio where she taught painting and drawing. In addition to the Sharon Weiss Gallery Ms. Dawson is also represented by galleries in Cleveland and New York.

anita-dawson.squarespace.com
www.ColumbusArts.com

Debra Joyce Dawson is a widely published, internationally recognized artist who has been painting in oils, watercolors, and/or acrylics for 55 years! She is a lifelong learner who started her formal art education in Maryland at Anne Arundel Community College; and continued in Columbus, Ohio, at Capital University and the Columbus College of Art & Design, in addition to Denison University, Granville, OH. Debra continues her education in art by studying with renowned national and international artists in the fields of oil painting, drawing and printmaking.

She is a founder of Ohio Plein Air Society, a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society, a Silver Award winner at the Art in the Open Plein Air Competition, Wexford, Ireland; and has served as Artist-in-Residence: Hiawatha National Forest, MI; Arc of Appalachia, Bainbridge, OH; and La Grande Vigne, Dinan, Brittany, France. Her work is in the Permanent Collections of the Columbus Museum of Art, OH; The Richmond Art Museum, IN, among others; and is included in private collections around the world, including Frm. Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger.

www.debrajoycedawson.com

Moon Evans was born in Shanghai, China, grew up in Tokyo, Japan, and moved to the US in 2004. She decided to be an artist when she was four years old because her art teacher told her she was the most talented person in the class. Over the years, she learned that art is more about dedication and endurance, but it doesn't stop her from pursuing as an artist. 

She explored all the art materials and found oil paint as her passion. She uses layering technique to express the color complexity and soft feelings overall in her painting. She takes time to have a conversation with each painting sincerely. 

moonevans.com
IG: @moon.evans.studio

Renate Fackler says about her work “Although a graduate of The Ohio State University School of Journalism, I found myself drawn to the tactile medium of sculpture. By communicating through both figurative and impressionistic styles, I strive to bring my sculptures to life, engaging my audience in an emotionally uplifting experience.”

In addition to expressive facial features, she enjoys capturing dancers’ gestures, expressing energy and joy, using a minimal amount of information. Her dancers exhibit qualities of tension, and abandon, simultaneously, as they spin on moving turntables.

Her most popular sculpture is a life size bronze of Brutus on a bench, at The Ohio State University Student Union. In addition to Brutus, a life size bronze of Jerrie Mock, the first woman to fly around the world, can be seen at John Glenn International Airport, as well as at The Works Museum in Newark, Ohio.  The Columbus Foundation gives her maquette of Jerrie Mock as the “Spirit of Columbus” award to community leaders.

Some noteworthy clients are The White House, Washington D.C.; the Museum of Women in the Arts; Wendy’s International, The Ohio State University, and The Herb Society of America.

chrysalissculpturestudio.com

“I paint because I love beauty. While we experience difficulties and pain in life, we can also have pleasure and joy in beauty. Something remarkable will catch my eye...I’ll think, ‘Wow, I want to paint THAT!’ My oil paintings capture these visualy-unique moments to share with others.” 

Jane Flewellen is drawn to natural subjects, especially landscapes and people. Having grown up in the densely-wooded hills of New York, she loves trees and clouds. Jane is drawn to painting light and contrasting shadows. She relishes in nuances of color and the exquisite interplay of lines and shapes. Often painting from her own photographs, she is also exploring the challenge of painting from direct observation of figures, still lifes and outdoors "en plein air". She finds inspiration in the Columbus, Ohio, Metro Parks, the Ohio landscape, her neighborhood, and on vacations to Canada, Maine, Italy and Scotland. 

janeflewellen.com

Angela Finney has been passionately learning about and creating visual art for more than half a century. She works primarily in two dimensional media:  drawing, printmaking, painting and mixed media collage.

Angela says of her work, “I seek to portray the emotional and spiritual content of the events, people and places that I experience.  If I am able to make an emotional connection with you through my art, my work has achieved its purpose.”

Her work has been shown in exhibitions in the Ohio region including The Women’s Art Club of Cincinnati, the Bryn Du Mansion in Granville, and the prestigious Butler Institute of Art.  Angela studied studio art at Kent State University, Toledo University, CCAD and Denison University.  She has also completed workshops at the American Academy of Equine Art, the McConnell Arts Center, Phoenix Rising Printmaking Cooperative and the Columbus Cultural Arts Center.

Frederick Fochtman is a painter, art restorer and painting instructor from Columbus, Ohio. Fochtman’s painting work is primarily observational and focuses on the arrangement of interesting color/value shapes found in life. Often drawing in addition to painting, Fochtman feels that exploring other media including graphite, watercolor, gouache and monotype printing creates a breadth of experiences that inform his oil paintings. Fred travels annually to Vermont, the Atlantic Coast and throughout Ohio in order to create work in the observational plein air style. Figural and still life works are created in a variety of local studios as well as his Clintonville bungalow and a separate art restoration studio.

www.fredfochtman.com

Michael Fowler, Professor of Design and holder of the Mary Durban Toole Chair of Art, teaches fine art and graphic design at the University of South Carolina Aiken. His graphics students have gone on to careers in dozens of graphic-related fields, having worked on designs for scores of entities as students in his classes as disparate as the Aiken County Government, The South Caroline Academy of Authors, Historic Aiken Foundation and the Green Boundary Club of Aiken.

He served previously as instructor of design and the fine arts in both liberal arts and professional design colleges in Nebraska and Tennessee. Fowler actively exhibits in regional and national exhibits, his landscapes paintings residing in public and private collections nationally.

For a portion of his career he has designed signage and wayfinding systems for the built environment, including healthcare, hospitality and sports venues in a half dozen states. His principle scholarly interest involves how the character of Abraham Lincoln, a historic figure who has captured Fowler's interest since boyhood, has been exploited in fine art and material culture. Fowler has two daughters and lives with his wife Kathryn in North Augusta, South Carolina.

Antonio Gonzalez-Garcia born in 1990 in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, is a visual artist who received his BFA in Spain, and received an extended education in Fine Arts, Cultural Anthropology and Aesthetics in the Ecole Superieore D’Arts D’Avignon, France.

The roots of his work are predominantly the Spanish Realism, and the Bauhaus. Antonio looks to apply all the formal knowledge, but in a way that the spectator can appreciate the process of his creations, including his mistakes.

As an artist coach, he believes that first, the way of thinking will influence what one creates, and second, the technique will express the artist’s thoughts.

www.antonioxerez.com

David Gentilini is the Director of The Schumacher Gallery at Capital University. Receiving his B.F.A. from Capital, Gentilini also received a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from The Union Institute and University. He has spent the past twenty years working on building relationships between the community and arts organization.

He has served as Gallery Director for MadLab Gallery and as a consultant for the Gateway Film Center Gallery. He has also assisted in the curation and preparing of over 750 exhibits and displays around the Central Ohio area. He is also a practicing artist that shows regularly around Columbus and the state of Ohio. He is represented by Sharon Weiss Gallery in the Short North Arts District. 

Davis says, “I am fascinated with the play of light and shadows. I love how it creates a beauty in what many perceive as an ordinary and mundane scene.”

IG: @dgentiliniart

Kaitlyn Gilham is a painter, ceramic artist, and educator currently living and working in Denver, CO. Kaitlyn received her BFA from Alfred University and has shown work in New York, Chicago, Buffalo, and Columbus.

For Kaitlyn, her artistic process is important to her work, and she feels the viewer should be able to find remnants of the process when examining her work. The ideas of the raw construction and showing all parts of the process inspire her, and roots from her exploration of craft in the ceramic medium. She commonly uses stencils resembling floral patterns, which creates a unique divergence within her paintings. These floral patterns, hidden among the raw painting scrapes and marks, allows for a necessary balance of control and chance. She wants viewers to enjoy the physical mark making in her paintings and understand each tool’s mark as an extension of herself.

www.kaitlyngilham.com

Lisa Parks Godfrey is inspired to paint subjects that resonate with her on a personal level. As a representational artist, her favorite subjects are still life paintings that remind her of time spent with people close to her. She also enjoys painting images of her family and farms that have deep meaning to her family history. For this reason, each painting is in essence a testimony of life. Her entry point to painting began as an art collector, but her passion for creating art really began while working with children and adults with developmental disabilities in various art programs. Lisa has always admired painters who dedicate themselves to the artist’s journey. She hopes her work brings joy and color to the lives of others.

lpgfineart.com
IG: @lisapcolumbus

Ruth Gless considers herself an architect who paints. As an architect and a painter, she celebrates urban space. Even the smallest village, rural location, or ruin can be urban. Grain elevators and old mills hold a particular fascination for her. They are the skyscrapers of small towns; they integrate into the fabric of the town; they hug the train tracks; and they and their dependencies make place.

Recently, she has studied chairs and collage. Chairs display the intersections between design and human use interiors, portraits of chairs, cups. They have long held a particular fascination for architects. Their design seems infinite, yet it is restricted by necessity. Collage is for Ruth an exploration of composition, color, and figure-ground relationships in space.

www.ruthglessartist.com
www.lincolnstreet.com

The emotion of a single moment in time is what motivates Michael Guinane to paint. Whether it be a  still and quiet moment of an individual, or capturing the total environment created by multiple figures in one place,  his work  allows you to see deeper in to this time and place. Michael paints to create an atmosphere for the viewer to feel.  Whether it be a moment in history or the artist's personal experience, a quiet winter night in the park or a busy city street, these works  capture the feeling and mood one gets from being in a certain place or time.

Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Michael Guinane moved to Columbus in 1996 to attend the Columbus College of Art and Design. He graduated in 2000 with a BFA, majoring in illustration.  Michael continues to live and work in Columbus showing in galleries, public venues and doing privately commissioned works that are shown throughout the country while also teaching courses in painting at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. 

www.michaelguinane.com

Hiroshi Hayakawa moved to the US from Japan in 1991 to study art. He works in various artistic expressions including drawing, painting, sculpture, alternative photography, and paper crafts. He has exhibited his art nationally and internationally. His art works are owned by many public and private collectors.

He owns a BA in French Literature from Keio University, Tokyo, BFA in Photography from Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH and an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He teaches at Columbus College of Art & Design.

He is the author of 4 paper craft books: “Kirigami Menagerie”, “Paper Pups”, “Paper Birds” and “Paper Monsters & Curious Creatures” all published through Lark Crafts.

www.hiroshi-hayakawa.com

At Youngstown State and The Ohio State University Michael Hoza studied sociology and philosophy, giving much thought to what might be called the social construction of reality and the ways “in which we assign meaning to what we see.” This concern for social issues along with an interest in the visual led him into the business of film making. However, as time passed he sensed that his real interest had less to do with narrative and more with trying to understand single moments. That focus on the moment returned him to his childhood love of drawing and painting. Michael says that as good writing or movie making can condense time (a lifetime, history) a painting can expand time and enrich the experience of a single moment. His paintings are careful considerations of particular moments and places, most especially in the Ohio landscape.

michaelhoza.com

Linda Hutchinson has been making art for the better part of her life, originally in the greeting card and print markets, and currently through her fine art drawings and paintings. Awards include: Ohio Watercolor Society Gold Medal in 2001; First Night Akron button artist in 2008; and twice the recipient of The Kaleidoscope Award. She teaches drawing and painting at The Cuyahoga Valley Art Center. Her affiliations include: Akron Society of Artists; The American Watercolor Society; Hudson Fine Art and Framing; Ohio Arts Council; Ohio Watercolor Society; Oil Painters of America and The Sharon Weiss Gallery in Columbus. Most recently her work was featured in The Art of Watercolour Magazine, issue 26, which is published in Paris. She holds a B.A. in French from Miami (OH) University. For an extended exhibition history, or to view more work, please visit her website.

www.hutchinsonart.blogspot.com

Philip R. Jackson, Professor of Painting at The University of Mississippi wrote this about David’s work:

“David Jewell’s paintings are poetic in the truest sense–the subject is at first familiar and deceptively simple but when examined they reveal an undercurrent of emotive power. In his images, the representation of the still life does not demand central stage, rather the subject of his work lies within the surface of the painting. The surface presents a myriad of layers created by the physical painting process, an articulated palette of eccentric color and impressions of a geometric system of measurement. Through these elements, Jewell unveils a desire at work to establish harmony both within the painting and in the mind of the viewer.”

Philip Joseph has long been a painter with roots in the landscape, and branches that lead outward in directions that often surprise him. The visual world gives him inspiration of forms and emotional ties and endlessly teaches him about color.  Philip says “In my present mode I move back and forth between the landscape as subject matter and as inspiration for abstract wanderings.  I search for, and occasionally find, a middle ground between the two.”

He received training in Art at Manchester University, and had the good fortune of working with Angelo Ippolito while earning an MFA in painting at Michigan State. For thirty years he was on the Art faculty at Miami University. Now retired, he has returned to NW Michigan where he paints daily in his studio. When not there he can be found exploring the dunes and forests, or sailing on nearby lakes.

Joseph180.com

Jeff Kallet is a collage artist who lives in Athens, Ohio. Found papers, most of them old magazines, books, pamphlets, and other ephemera, are the materials Jeff uses to create pieces. Abstract, narrative, expressionist, pop--the style depends upon the materials at hand and the inspiration of the moment.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kallet-art/24698909027/
IG: @Kalcan100

Sophie Knee was born in Malling England and holds a BFA from The Ohio State University and a MFA from Texas Tech University.

She says the following about her work:
Something is out of place here, or perhaps it’s that things are not what they seem? There are connections waiting to be made, in dreams, in drawings, in life, and maybe some of them can be made visually? Sculpture places a little bit of something strange into the shared reality.

Everyone is wired to notice different pieces of the shared environment. In another time, this probably had some relevance to survival. It’s more efficient to the group if not everybody notices the prey (or the predator) at the same moment. Is the artist’s job is to disturb the everyday reality that we all share, by adding to it a little of something you weren’t expecting? Everybody makes of their world, to keep things in order, to feel safe. The process of making art, of choosing and editing the visual information, making formal decisions, testing one’s limits in a given medium, is a way to think and make sense. Art makes visible things that might otherwise be unknowable, inaccessible, or simply overlooked.

Linda Langhorst paints the places where people gather: the nooks and crannies of musical towns, bustling cities, farmer’s markets, waterways, and park lands. Ms. Langhorst works primarily in oil, weaving strokes of color into some generally recognizable and personally satisfying memory of  life around her.

Having spent a quarter of a century painting musicians and the American Blues Highway, Linda Langhorst’s recent shift to landscapes is a surprise. Her current series is based on a trip to Zion National Park in Utah. Langhorst's paintings are about experiencing the beauty and majesty of wide open spaces.

www.lindalanghorst.com

My artwork is reflective of the people and places I travel to and work with.  As a former elementary school teacher and now as a Family Lawyer I have an opportunity to meet people in varying levels of conflict and turmoil within the legal systems of Family, Juvenile, and sometimes Criminal law.  I see first hand the heightened emotions of families in turmoil and/or transition, and I try to capture the real-life emotions in my paintings.  I am fortunate to have nearly 50 paintings in several county court houses that are viewed by thousands of families each year as they enter into and negotiate through the specific legal system they are in.

Karen LaValley’s approach to painting is to evoke impressions of her world…. earth, objects, florals, and especially people in all their variety. She strives to give viewers a representation of her subjects done in a painterly, passionate, intuitive style.

Karen is a native of Springfield, Ohio. Her early life was filled with excitement performing in yearly recitals with her father’s dancing school. Even now, her paintings reflect the rhythm, flow, and influence of music from her youth. She graduated with a BFA from The Ohio State University, and was an accomplished water color artist before she attended an oil painting workshop with Chuck Marshall. From that moment forward she parlayed her painting foundation into oil painting. She prefers to paint in Plein Air, and you can often find her outside on a gorgeous day with a large canvas, working for hours.

Marc Lincewicz works primarily in pen and ink on paper and has been exhibiting professionally since 2007. Marc's quiet subjects are often created with a flurry of gestural marks. His work is generally on the smaller scale with the intent of drawing the viewer closer to the images, bringing them into the story. Marc lives and works in the Columbus, Ohio area and is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design.

Mathew McFarren was born in Wooster, Ohio. McFarren’s family relocated to Wheat Ridge Colorado in 1964. He currently resides in Granville, Ohio.

McFarren graduated for Colorado Institute of Art in 1980 and worked as an in-house illustrator for a Denver graphic design studio. In 1987 he started his own free-lance illustration studio, McFarren Illustration. He has taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver and Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design.

His art works have been featured in Communication Arts Illustration Annual, International Artist Magazine and by The Portrait Society of America.

“As an artist, there are moments when I struggle for inspiration. I find it best not to fight the inspirational morass. A “creative quagmire” is a place where I find I always learn and grow. I’m of the opinion that the secret to sustainable productivity is to create for yourself. Creating works for a particular market, or following trends undermines the creative impulse.” 

Kathy L. McGhee is primarily a printmaker whose printmaking practice is inspired by the natural world and her fascination with the intricate beauty and unexpected moments that she finds within it. The landscapes she investigates and from which she makes images are not necessarily vast vistas but instead frequently consist of small moments of beauty and of the relationships existing between plants and the places in which they exist.  She is intrigued not only by the experience of being in nature but also by the visual patterns created as organisms coexist.  She looks for the small moments that are often passed over.  In nature, whether it be a forest or our own backyards, we are surrounded by an incredible variety of line, texture, and color.  The formal relationships that are created are as fascinating as the plants themselves.

kathymcghee.com

After more than 50 years of work and travel abroad as an acclaimed artist, Robert MaGaw has come back to Ohio. Robert’s landscapes have a unique quality that draws even the most casual observer into the painting.  Critics describe his style as impressionist, tonal and even “dreamlike”. A former art critic for the New York Times wrote “Robert’s landscapes are “…luminous…executed in his signature vibrant palette and bold brushwork.”  

Robert has shown in fine art galleries in New York, Paris, Bali, in addition to New Jersey, Miami and Pennsylvania. His art is found in private collections as well as well as corporations such as Georgia-Pacific, McDonalds and the exclusive Amman Resort in Bali, Indonesia. 

Though he has travelled extensively, he finds the best inspiration for his paintings right in his own ‘backyard’.  “Beauty can exist anywhere. The subjects of my paintings seldom have any great significance of ‘place’.  They are just bits of landscape that most of us pass by every day without seeing. But in that one never-come-again moment when they’re splashed with the fresh light of dawn or the fiery glow of a sunset, that ordinary scenery takes on a grandeur that can be breath-taking. I simply try to capture as much of it as I can before it all fades away.”

Cody F. Miller is a mixed media artist who resides in Columbus, Ohio. He works with magazine collage, acrylic paint, and charcoal. The patterns and odd configurations he stumbles upon are an integral part of conveying the endless layers of humanity. An old 1885 second grade reader or letters from a father to his son during World War II are collected and stored for the next piece. The Scriptures, the writings of Thomas Merton and the music of Tom Waits are all important influences in Cody’s work. They are ingredients in creating, as Ben Myers says, a “horizon of this dark world where we glimpse the startling first glow of dawn, the surprising appearance of grace ‘out of the depths’ (Psalm 130:1).” Metaphors, analogies, and other related devices are used to convey beauty that often comes disguised as a loss, failure, or unwelcome change.

www.codyfmiller.com

Award-winning Columbus artist Ronald Mlicki graduated from Cooper School of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, and received a bachelor’s degree in business from the Ohio State University. Shortly thereafter, Mlicki built, a thriving commercial design practice where he and his team developed advertising campaigns for clients locally, nationally, and globally.

Upon selling his business, he returned to his first love – drawing and painting people. He rekindled his passion by studying with Jason Clary, Charles Hall and nationally noted artist Burton Silverman. Ron’s work is held in private collections and has been featured in the Butler Institute of American Art National Mid-Year Juried Show several times and numerous other Juried venues and awards.

 www.ronaldmlickifineart.com

Jim Murrin is an award-winning painter who spent nearly 40 years as an endodontist where on occasion his patients were tigers, bears and gorillas in need of a root canal.

Painting was initially a sidebar to a demanding dental practice and over time Murrin enrolled at Columbus College of Art & Design and transitioned from dental office to studio. He has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Ohio as well as New York City and on Martha’s Vineyard. His paintings are found in private collections across the country as well as in the permanent collections of the Hilton Columbus Downtown Tower, Greater Columbus Convention Center, and the Contemporary Arts Center in Matanzas, Cuba. He is the recipient of awards from the Greater Columbus Arts Council (2016) and Bryn Du Arts Commission (2022).  He currently lives in the Washington, DC area with his partner Debbie Phillips.

www.jimmurrinart.com          
IG: @jimmurrinart

My inspiration to paint began when I met Leslie Cope, a highly respected artist from Zanesville, Ohio and like him, I am self-taught.  My work reflects human emotions and moods, captured through movement of everyday people on the street, within communities and their families. My current work, in acrylic, investigates the figurative quality and beauty of human interactions.

Paul Pedulla’s contemporary paintings are representational yet minimal. There’s a simplicity that draws you in and a depth that finds you frequently discovering something new.

What you see is a moment, often revealing a relationship between neighboring houses, a building and the sky, a road and the landscape, the sky and a lake or the sea, figures in an environment or a window and the world it views.

The artist is drawn to an uncluttered sensibility, both on his canvasses and in day-to-day life. What he leaves out of his work is probably as important as what he puts in.

Paul’s paintings have been singled out by art professionals, educators and interior designers from Seattle to New England, and can be found in collectors’ homes and businesses from California to Germany.

paulpedulla.com

A native of China, I began painting in 1973. I studied art in Shanghai, trying a variety of mediums, and later worked as an art designer at the Technical Institute of Shanghai’s broadcast TV. Initially self-taught, I began with drawing and painting. My emphasis was on landscapes and still life. After exploring many different mediums and continuing my studies, I experimented using watercolors painted on rice paper. I am now working primarily with oils.

I describe my style as a modern realist integrating elements of abstraction and expression. Because I emigrated from a big city, I like to paint street scenes with ordinary people in daily life. The feelings of the people are best conveyed in evening light or artificial light coming through doors or windows. Some artists plan their paintings carefully, while others work more spontaneously. I use both approaches to make effective pictures. Every interpretation has a strong personal component – even the most realistic and apparently objective one. In addition, interpretation is essential in conveying authentic interest to the work. It serves as a means for awakening the viewer, their curiosity and the appreciation for the painting.

Stephanie Rond is a Columbus, Ohio, based street artist whose colorful and feminist work can be seen on walls around the world, both inside and out.

Stephanie attended Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University.

Rond had the distinguished honor of representing all of North America in “She’s a Leader,” a street art project created by the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society based in Paris, France. She is the founder of the website Women Street Artists and owns and operates S.Dot Gallery.

An award-winning documentary has been created about her work. The film, Tiny Out Loud, studies Rond’s gender-gouging street art and dollhouse art galleries. The film is a fun but evocative exploration of making gender roles smaller and the art world’s accessibility larger.

www.stephanierond.com

For over forty years, Michael J. Rosen has been creating art that has resounded in the community and across the nation. He’s the author, editor, or illustrator of some 150 books, founding literary director of the James Thurber House, and has been illustrating for periodicals such as New Yorker, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit. 

Michael says this about his work, “By nature, humans are collagists. In any given instant, our most singular minds select…collect. Art is the consummate cropping tool. Every creation can be appreciated as a collage.”

His ceramics, collages, and paintings are in many private collections, and are featured at the Columbus Museum of Art, at Sharon Weiss Gallery, and, this November/December, in a solo exhibit at the OSU Faculty Club. He lives in the foothills of Appalachia, forty miles from Columbus.

www.michaeljrosen.com

Painting is my way to experience the flow of time, place and space. As a former philosophy professor at OSU, Tamar has written extensively about time, and as a painter she focuses on the temporal moment, and changing patterns of light and texture at that moment. Painting, in oil, watercolor and now gouache, is an open-ended journey for her. Being largely self-taught and a late-comer to painting, she has studied with local teachers, including Joe Lombardo, Fred Fochtman and Michael McEwan. Whether it be ocean rock-scapes, or the ancient stones of Jerusalem, Tamar works to capture the ever-fleeting instant of a place in time, as she attempts to participate in eternity by rendering the temporal a thing of beauty. But perhaps Spinoza has said it best --“all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”

Tmrudavskyart.com
IG: @tmrudavskyfineart

Philip Selzer grew up in Akron, Ohio and went on to study art at the University of Akron. An avid outdoorsman with a keen sense of nature, he has spent the last several years painting landscapes and cityscapes that depict aspects of everyday life. He portrays ordinary people engaged in common activities, offering the viewer a suggestive narrative. His work may include an intimate dialogue between a pair at the park or the bustle of a crowd at a farmer’s market. One can easily imagine oneself within the story. Phil’s work can be found in both private and public collections throughout the country. Throughout his career Phil has received many honors for his work. Most recently, in 2023, he was honored with a 2nd Place Award at the Ohio Plein Air Society Annual Competition.

Phil says this about his work: I find that what often draws me to a painting subject is the contrast between light and shadow. Trying to capture the play of light, atmosphere and the seasons of the year can be a challenge and yet inspiring experience. Since a young boy, I have been drawn to nature and this is why I have chosen to concentrate my work as a plein air artist.

Hal Shunk says he finds his work “seriously amusing.” Always searching for something different.  A thought, a feeling, an emotion. He paints non-objective pieces of life. His artwork is a combination of spontaneous action and control. During his process he tries to let one action play off another. He paints in layers, dripping and maneuvering the pigment to achieve the results. For Hal, it’s the color and texture that is most interesting.

Inspiration for his work comes from observations--the tactile surface of rust, cracks in a well-worn sidewalk, the arbitrary spots on an old banana peel. He says “I don’t know if I see things differently or if I just spend more time looking.”

Hal hopes that in viewing the art, one will see the energy and emotion used in his creative process and enjoy each piece for what it is.

Jeff Stahler is a graduate of The Columbus College of Art & Design, formerly from Columbus, Ohio and now a resident of Colorado. He has been an editorial cartoonist for 40+ years. He created a syndicated comic panel. ‘Moderately Confused’  that continues and is in its 17th year. Both comic features are syndicated with Andrews McMeel Syndication.

Several years ago, Jeff fell in love with an old friend: his watercolors & plein air painting. Now, any chance he gets, he is outside painting. He is a member of the National Cartoonist Society, a past board member for the Columbus College of Art & Design, a former board member for the Ohio Plein Air Society, a member of Central Ohio Plein Air, Whiskey Painters of America, American Impressionism Society and a signature member of the Ohio Watercolor Society.

Jeff’s exhibited his watercolors in several group exhibits around the country as well as the Columbus Museum of Art and the Springfield Art Museum.

www.jeffstahler.com

Living and traveling in a variety of places around the world provided Rachel with opportunities to explore art.

As an intuitive and interpretive artist, Rachel Stern paints her impression of reality. She focuses on things in our everyday world that are quickly passed with scant notice. For her, color, light, form and texture provide the most important elements in a painting. Working with a combination of Oil Paint and Cold Wax Medium, she works loosely with thin paint, scraping and reapplying paint; using brush and palette knife, allowing the subject to emerge. Rachel continues with more applications of paint/CWM, permitting the painting to ‘speak’ to her. She listens, and together they work to complete the image. Rachel strives to awaken the magic in the ordinary. Rachel’s art is described as classic art re-presented in a contemporary style. 

Rachel’s paintings have been juried into many exhibits: Greater Columbus Arts Council, Arts Partnership Awards Exhibition; Ohio Artist Registry, Carnegie Gallery, Columbus Main Public Library; Bryn Du Mansion Art Exhibit; Art for Life Auction; Zanesville Museum of Art.

IG: @art4rachel

Dave Terry is a native of Columbus, Ohio. He is a self-taught painter and artist, and Columbus’ renowned art restorer of 35 years. He has been a staple of the fine art community in Ohio, not only through his expert restoration, but through his experience as a collector, appraiser, auctioneer and philanthropist.

He is a lover of all art forms and pushes to experiment and develop through creating in all mediums. It is his initial love of paint and color, however, which enable him to develop his distinctive painting style, capturing the beauty in landscapes throughout Ohio, Indiana, Maine and the Midwest. He has evolved over the years from a more illustrative feel to one that is still representational but less defined.

Dave has a profound love of nature. He never tires of the simple beauties found in the shape of a tree, the female figure, the poignant colors actually present in dark shadows and in the expanse of a sea of clouds. These are the bounties he appreciates that fuel his craving to continue exploring the landscape and the objects within it.

Email: beaudane@earthlink.net

Nathaniel Underwood received his BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design and MFA in Painting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Upon graduation, Underwood served as an adjunct professor at the Columbus College of Art and Design, teaching figurative painting, color theory, drawing anatomy and structure and two dimensional design.

Today, Underwood works as an artist, illustrator and educator. He is also the founder and organizer of the Open Figure Painting Sessions at the Ohio Art League. Drawing inspiration from nature with perception being the absolute foundation of his practice, Underwood's creative pursuit is stimulated by viewing the world in an objective manner. His work can be found in numerous private collections including the Weaver Foundation N.C. and the Ohio University Eastern.

My studio practice typically involves representation of actual observed spaces through analytical and objective questioning. My subjects include figuration, interior scenes, and urban landscapes. While documenting the quality of a place or moment in time, or portraying an observed figure, I am also visually capturing the conscious decisions of my making process. Sometimes my work preserves acts of measuring or constructing form. My painting and drawing strategy is not a means to an end but a method of personal discovery, research, and invention. Through observation, I hope to gain a better understanding of how I relate to the seen world.

nathanielunderwood.com

EDUCATION
University of Cincinnati: Two years, School of Design, Architecture, and Art; Ball State University: World Architecture Workshop; School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA: Four year degree; Tufts University, Medford, MA: BA degree; Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities; Workshop - S. Patricia Benson Print Studio, Alfred, ME: Apprentice - University of Southern Maine: Printmaking Class

WORK EXPERIENCE
Harcus Krakow Rosen Sonnabend Gallery, 7 and 127 Newbury Street, Boston MA; Design - Sonnesta Hotel Corporation of America, Boston MA; Teacher: Pine Bank Arts Center, Boston MA; Teacher: Kennebunk High School, Kennebunk, ME; Manager: Pracilla Hartley Gallery, Kennebunk, ME; Owner and Manager: Michael Walek Gallery, Kennebunkport ME 1980-1983; Owner and Manager: Michael Walek Gallery, Cape Neddick, ME 1978-1986; Architectural Painting, Design, and Restoration - Walek & Hardy 1985-1987; Partner - Fancy Painters 1987-1991; Review Board, Maine State Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Regional Grants 1989; Curatorial Consultant: Ruthmere Museum, Elkhart, IN

MURALS
Noble High School, Berwick, ME; Maine State Commission on the Arts & Humanities Grant 2002; Meadowmere Hotel, Ogunquit, ME; Private Homes in Boston, Charlestown MA; throughout New Hampshire and Maine; Faux wood graining York Historical Society Remick Barn, York, ME; Faux wood graining Harbor Candy Shop, Ogunquit, ME; Faux Marbleizing Private Homes

Born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and raised in Richmond, Virginia Steven Walker discovered his love for art at a very early age. With little interest in anything else, Steven took the next big step towards his pursuit of a career in art when he earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. He would later earn his masters in fine arts from Marywood University, where he also met his wife/ fellow artist Evelyn.

Since going full time as an artist in 2008, Steven has been included in several local and national juried competitions including the Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional show, Richeson 75 Landscape Competition, Plein Air Salon, the International Salon Competition, the Oil Painters of America Salon (Award of Excellence) and the Art Renewal Center. Steven also had the privilege of being a part of a statewide traveling exhibition with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

www.stevenwalkerstudios.com

Rodger Wilson received a BFA and MA from Ohio State University. He studied under Printmaker Sydney Chafetz and cultivated his love of lithography and letterpress. He has illustrated numerous children’s books and is represented in the Mazda Museum Of International Art for Picture Books. He was the recipient of two Individual Artist Fellowship Awards from The Ohio Arts Council.

Rodger says this about his work: “As a printmaker I have always been fascinated by the relationship between ink and paper. Different inks and different papers render different results - some nice and crisp while others are soft and undefined. Now, applying ink to paper with a brush, the surface of handmade watercolor paper such as Arches allows me to control of the edge of shapes and the blending of transparent inks in layers.”

Subject matter for my works range from whimsical to landscape to spiritual abstractions. Places, people, canines, emotions in actual or imagined scenarios provide me with inspiration.

I like working with fabric, preferably cotton. I use commercial fabric and hand-dyed by myself, and by Marie Wylie. My work incorporates hand and machine stitching, beading and collage. I like to experiment with new and old ways of combining process and technique.

Working with fabric is basically a “No Rules” adventure in creativity that has been artistically liberating for me. The endless possibilities makes this a never-ending journey.

www.artisticallybent.com