Artist Statement

My paintings can be described as Western Contemporary with themes drawn from my Oklahoma, Cherokee and Catholic roots.

I find inspiration in the strong patterns and colors of Navajo weaving, with the complete image only visible through the repeated interaction of thousands of individual strands. This concept of interconnectedness, along with a tendency to focus on small scenes of symbolic elements play out in my painting.

Much of my current work includes realistic and paper crows. I enjoy exploring the textures and colors within the black feathers and white surfaces and am fascinated by the “human” attributes ascribed to these noisy and communal birds. One series explores the real and symbolic traits attributed to the crow. In another, the origami crows form contemporary compositions focused on the energy of their connected movement, within a “landscape” of textures and rug patterns.

My hope is that my paintings convey human characteristics and spirit with a contemporary approach to subject and composition that is inspired by a western tradition.

Biography

Oklahoma native, Tamara Sigler, studied art at Kansas City Art Institute and earned her BFA from Oklahoma City University. She spent much of the next eight years exploring areas of beauty in Oklahoma and in the desert Southwest and Rocky Mountain States.

Her still life “scenes” reflect the strong colors and patterns inspired by her travels, showcasing a contemporary approach to composition along with a love and respect for traditional painting technique.

Tamara is the recipient of the Native Star Award and has shown by invitation in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Small Works, Great Wonders Show. She has had work displayed in the Butler Museum of American Art and participated in numerous galleries and juried shows, including Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s 12×12, Heroes and Outlaws: 100 Oklahomans by 100 Oklahoma Artists, and the Rusty Gables Spring Stampede.

She was one of Spirit of the Buffalo artists, with two of her proposed designs accepted for the successful project sponsored by the Nature Conservancy in Oklahoma City. Her designs are included in The Spirit of the Buffalo, Oklahoma’s Past and Future by Linda Millier Bosteels.

Education

Oklahoma City University    BFA   1991       Magna cum Laude GPA 3.96

Exhibitions

2016-2017            Small Works, Great Wonders National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

2016                        Bosque Art Classic   Bosque, TX

2016                        Area Artists Midyear Show Butler Museum of American Art

2013-2015            8^th, 9^th and 10^th Spring Stampede Juried Invitational Oklahoma City, OK

2015                        “Native Star” Award Recipient

2010                        Bona Fide: Juried Roster Artist Exhibit   ArtSpace Gallery, Shreveport, LA

2009                        Dia de los Muertos   ArtSpace Gallery,   Shreveport, LA

2002-2003            12×12 Invitational Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Oklahoma City, OK

2006-2009             Heroes and Outlaws: 100 Oklahomans by 100 Oklahoma Artists OKC, OK

2004                        Spirit of the Buffalo Nature Conservancy, Oklahoma City, OK

Collections

Rusty Gables Gallery, OKC, OK    Gallery Collection – “Still Life: In the Kitchen”

Ardmore Chamber Foundation, Ardmore, OK –Wichita Landscape Buffalo

Frederick Bass & Company, Houston, TX – Native Butterflies Buffalo

Integris Hospital, OKC, OK– Children in Park, Under the Sea, and Stars Murals           

Gipson Design, OKC, OK– Carousel and Enchanted Wood Murals

Artist Statement

The piece I created is called “Water Like Music” and is about the movements of water and the formation of waves in the wind. It should be read like a music partition, from top to bottom.

It is a celebration of our natural world. The mountains that surround us with their lakes and rivers, the turbulent or gentle winds that are ever present in our days and the light that gives the sky its intensity create sceneries as precious as jewels. It is this interconnection that I wanted to portray in a frame open to the elements.

Water Like Music is the anatomy of a wave forming, flattened and reorganized on wires with pulleys, so that when the wind blows and fills in the material, it, in turn, flutters and gives the illusion of moving water.

The wind and the sun are key players in my story.

I drew patterns of wave shapes and cut them from sailcloth of two different colors: white and blue. The material with its transparency and its suppleness has a beautiful softness and sheen. I added small patterns of the opposite color, reminiscent of light patterns on moving water, on each wave and sewed 50 crystal beads on the front and back of the waves. When the sun touches the beads at a special angle its light refracts and creates new light splashes on the waves. They look like the natural splashes and droplets of water in the sunlight. These light patterns can be seen through the material.

I then attached small pulleys to the Waves and threaded the wire through the pulleys before fixing the wires to a wooden frame. The Wave panels, cut a few inches longer than the wood frame’s width, move slightly back and forth on their cables in the wind, bringing to mind the notion of moving water, and in addition, the undulating sailcloth creates its own wave patterns of light and shadows on the Waves themselves.

The flow of water is also suggested by the progression of colors. It starts at the top with the first Wave being completely white, followed by three white Waves adorned with curvy blue patterns, and it finishes with two blue Waves with white patterns.

My installation Water Like Music was placed in a 9ft10 x 5ft10 metal frame, 6 feet off the ground, located on the South East side of Broadway in the town of Jackson, Wyoming.

The frame, called the Wonderspot, was carved from a chairlift tower.

Water Like Music was on display in the Wonderspot during the summer of 2017. The waves fluttered in the sky, and, at times moved in the wind like mini spinnakers.

Biography

In the long journey of creating, if one looks for landmarks, these are often found outside of the art world.

I was born and raised in France where I went to Grenoble’s Fine Art school and graduated from the University of Grenoble with a “Maîtrise” in Art History. I drew, painted and wrote as a child.

Born in the mountains I fell under their spell and travelled their worlds climbing, hiking, skiing, sailing , flying, writing and taking pictures. Their beauty shaped my eyes.

I started creating again in a more traditional way when I moved to Jackson, Wyoming.

I have participated in exhibitions. The National Art Museum of Cheyenne, Wyoming purchased one of my paintings. The outdoors sculptures I created are anchored in social events that shaped our lives or celebrate culture and the natural world.

Artist Statement

In this series Deborah likes to play with your conception of a classical still life. By manipulating shadows, she is able to place an object in space. Her aim is to have you stop and “look again…” and make you think and smile.

Biography

Deborah was born in Baltimore. She graduated from the Maryland Institute, College of Art, in 1970, with a diploma in Graphic Design. She studied basic painting as part of the freshman foundation courses, but never pursued it.

After a forty-year hiatus she enrolled at Anne Arundel Community College where she studied painting for seven years, including three years with Leonard Koscianski and one year with Lillian Bayley Hoover. She continues her study with Anthony Waichulis at Ani Art Academy in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

She prefers painting photo-realist still lifes with a strong leaning to tenebrism, and still lifes which imply movement, which she calls “kinetic” still lifes. She also paints a series of parking signs, which is very different subject matter than still life. In these she invites you to take an intimate look at everyday objects.

Recent Exhibitions

Strokes of Genius, Juror’s Choice, national painting show, Maryland Federation of Art, October 27 – November 25, 2017, Annapolis, MD

Capturing Realism 2017 Pauly Friedman Art Gallery, Misericordia University, Dallas PA. July 8 –   August 26, 2017, Ani Art Academy Waichulis

Spring Members’ Show, Best in Show, Maryland Federation of Art

Melange II, 12 Artists show at Maryland Federation of Art,  February 2017

Overlea ArtsFest, June 4, 2016 People’s Choice “London Bridge…”,

Third Place, Representational Paintng,

Third Place, Abstract Painting

McBride Gallery Art Walk, August 20, 2015 Featured artist.

National Arts Program Featured Artist, June 2015

Image and Imagination show at Mitchell Gallery, St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD. May-June 2015.

BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport Exhibition, “RelationShips“ November 2014 – March 2015.

Melange I, 12 Artists show at  Maryland Federation of Art, January 27 – February 8, 2015.

Artist Statement

Retired Old Blue speaks to my fascination with once dignified artifacts that through deterioration have lost their nobility or usefulness. This train engine image was made late in the evening, through a chain-link fence, in Eureka, California. I used the fence as a tripod.

I have developed a style that obscures boundaries between painting and photography, bringing out shape and ambience over content and locale. I strive for a sense of mystery and poignancy in my photographs.

Selected Exhibitions

2018         Fountain Street Fine Art, Boston MA, Space Invaders, Juried by Samuel Rowlett, “Invaded Space”

2017          Bauhaus Prairie Art On-line Gallery, Still-Life, Juried by Caryl Morgan, “Stove”, First Prize, and “Malt Maker” and “Paper”, Noteworthy

                     Creative Inspiration, “Bird in Hand” & “Cotty Re-Lit”, Honorable Mentions    Landscape, Cityscape and Interiors, “Crooked House”, Honorable Mentions

2017           Galatea Fine Art, Boston MA, New England Collective VIII, Juried by Charles Giuliano, publisher/ editor of the on line site Berkshire Fine Arts, “Bird in Hand”

2017           Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester MA, Faded Elegants, Solo Exhibit by Invitation

2017            Habitat, Massachusetts Audubon, Belmont MA, Water, Solo Exhibit, (Twenty Three Images)

2017           Chandler Gallery, Maud Morgan Arts, Cambridge, MA, Small Works Salon 2017, Juried by Howard Yezerski, Miller Yezerski Gallery, Boston, “Key West Trees”

2017            Cambridge Art Association, Members’ Prize Show, 2017, Juried by Randi Hopkins, Director of Visual Arts at the Boston Center of the Arts, “Rock Drawing”

2017            The Art Connection, Boston, Photograph “Plum Island” Chosen by John Guthrie, Artist

2017            Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester MA, Fresh, Juried by Artist Dawn Southworth, “Lightbox Lettuce”, “Portrait” and “Elegant Cabbage”

2017            Fountain Street Fine Art Gallery, Framingham MA, Divergent Thinking, Juried by Jane Young of Chase Young Gallery

2016           Cambridge Art Association, Red Biennial, Juried by Joseph Ketner II, Chair in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice, Emerson College, “Hallowell Bridge”

2016             Cambridge Art Association, Flux, Picturing Change, On-line Exhibit Juried by Liz Devlin, Curator FLUX Boston, “Pot Bottom”

2016            Concord Art, 17th Annual Frances N. Roddy Competition, Juried by Katherine French, Director Emeritus of the Danforth Art Museum, “Poor Richard’s Landing”

2016            Gallery 263, Cambridge MA, Future Visions, National Show Juried by Nancy Adams, Communications Director, MIT D-Lab, “ Flooded Out”

2016            Gallery 529, Littleton MA, By The Sea, a Juried Exhibit, “Beach Dog”

2016           Galatea Gallery, Sowa, Boston, New England Collective VII, Juried by Julie Burros, Chief of Arts & Culture for the City of Boston, “Uneasy House”

2016            Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, Gloucester MA, A Visual Feast, Juried by Ellen Wineberg, “Grand Manan”

2016           Boston Biennial 2016, On line Exhibit, “Montreal Graf”, “Montreal Butts”, “El Forno”

2016           Concord Art Association, Members’ Juried Two, Juried by Susan Nalband, Gallery 555, Boston, “Inference of Three”

 2016          Cape Cod Art Association, Beaches, Shores & Coastlines, On line Exhibit, Juried by Steven Heaslip, “Man With Kite”

2016           Cambridge Art Association, Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Unconventional Means, Juried by Robert Siegelman, Museum School of Fine Arts, Boston, “Tissue Rising”

 2016          Gallery Seven, Maynard MA, Feast, Juried by Kaveh Mojtabai, Publisher, Artscope Magazine, “Egg In Vase” & “Still Life”

 2016          Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester MA, For the Birds, Juried by Amy T. Montague, Director, Museum of American Bird Art at Audubon, “Three Gentlemen” & “Black Swan”

Artist Statement

 Perhaps you would like me to tell you a fairy tale with a happy end,
to draw you a false sun on the cloudy skies of everyday life?

I would rob you of reality then!
I would rob you of truth then!
I would rob you of art then!

Short Biography

 Darko Stanic was born in 1978 in Sarajevo. He graduated from the (Secondary) School for Applied Arts in 1997 in Sarajevo. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Department of Sculpture, in 2002 as the valedictorian of his class. He received his MFA in 2008. He has been member of the BH Association of Fine Artists (ULUBIH) since 2002. He is currently teaching at the Department of Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo. He is an awarded artist who participated in international biennials, arts festivals, and exhibited independently and with other artists.