Born and raised in the Southwest Oklahoma area Elizabeth Tilghman is greatly influenced by living near the Wichita Wildlife Mountains and her love of photographing this beautiful area led her back into  art. In 2014, Tilghman was able to return to school and complete her Bachelor of Fine Art with a concentration in painting from Cameron University located in Lawton, Oklahoma. She also studied graphics and printing to receive an Associate in Applied Science in Digital Pre-press from Oklahoma State University in Okmulgee in 1998. Elizabeth’s art was accepted into the 2012 Oklahoma Friendly National Juried Show and the 25th & 28th September Competitions at the Alexandria Museum of Art, in Alexandria, Louisiana; as well as, other various small venues.

Artist Statement:

The artwork that I have produced over the past few years is part of a series of oil paintings and mixed media pieces. They are a representation of the experimentation process and exploration of actual and visual texture. As an artist, I want to not only appeal to our sense of sight, but to our sense of touch. Simulating texture is my technique for creating realism. The tactile surfaces of the paintings and the visual texture of the mixed media drawings add variety, interest, and contrast in my artwork. With actual texture, I can build up the physical depth of the actual picture plane and create a stronger illusion of space. The texture in all of the work stimulates our vision and helps elicit the sense of touch. These particular visual elements draw the viewers into the images.

The work comes to life not only through strong visual depth created by contrasting textures, but by contrasting high and low values and using saturated intense colors. This is my attempt at capturing the essence of light.

Most of the subject matter in the paintings is representational based on my photography. The photos are usually of the surrounding Southwest Oklahoma terrain and antiquated buildings. I have always enjoyed attempting to recapture what I observe in nature with my camera: the contrast between sunlight and dark silhouettes, the textures of nature, or the dynamic color of sunset skies and the effect that this golden light has on everything it illuminates. Throughout the imagery, you will see a continuation of trees, doorways, and windows: hinting at life, growth, opportunity, transformation, and spirituality.

Art gives me a phenomenal sense of creation. In my journey as an artist, I hope to continue my experimentation with the tactile elements of texture and the dynamic element of color.

“Self-taught” describes Chris’ training in photography. He has been taking pictures for most of his life, jumping into digital photography in 2009. His artistic philosophy is that “I take a lot of pictures and occasionally I take a photograph.” When asked what he takes pictures of, his standard response has been “I shoot what I see.”

Most photographers would agree that light – or lack thereof – is a key element of their work. As he has developed as a photographer he became increasingly intrigued by the manipulation of both color and light. Chris has an ongoing series entitled “Bending Light,” often described as painting with a camera. This series has been well received. Images in this series have been purchased and/or leased for display by several Detroit-area businesses, most notably by the Kresge Foundation for their Troy, MI headquarters. “Bending Light,” an image that was the series namesake, was selected by the Detroit Artists Market for use on the promotional postcard for their 2011 Holiday Show.

Chris takes advantage of Detroit – a most photogenic city. Beyond simply shooting “ruin porn” he has attempted to highlight the positive aspects of a great comeback city. Beyond Detroit he has also taken advantage of Michigan’s great beauty and diversity, shooting thousands of pictures of his home state including an ongoing lighthouse series.

Chris has been fortunate to have his work included in many Detroit-area gallery shows. Galleries have included the Detroit Artists Market, Lawrence Street Gallery, the Anton Art Center and several others.

Chris lives in Eastpointe, MI a suburb of Detroit. Following his retirement from traditional jobs, he and his wife enjoy traveling and photographing their travels.

Anke Dodson is a native of Germany and a naturalized citizen of the United States. She is a resident of Tulsa, OK. Her work includes cityscapes, landscapes and marine subjects. She enjoys working in the style of contemporary or painterly realism on a variety of surfaces such as watercolor canvas, aquaboard, clayboard, yupo, rice paper and, of course, traditional watercolor papers.

She has studied painting in watercolor and pastels with nationally known artists and instructors such as Steven Quiller, Alan Flattman, Naomi Brotherton, Judy Betts, Christopher Schink and others and in recent years has added the art of printmaking, more specifically monotypes. Taking a workshop taught by renowned printmaker Julia Ayers made her want to learn more about this unique medium and its possibilities.

In June of 2011 she was invited by the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, OK to teach an introductory monotype workshop in conjunction with their “Rauschenberg at Gemini” exhibition. A solo exhibition at the Gallery of the Performing Arts Center in Tulsa in October 2011 included a large number of monotypes, portraying the change of seasons on the prairie.

The Community National Bank of Kansas commissioned her to paint historical works for seven of their branch offices. The large portraits of these communities are now on exhibit in their respective cities. Her work has been added to a number of corporate and private collections in the U.S., Germany and France, including several commissioned pieces.She is represented by the Eva Reynolds Gallery of Fine Arts in Leawood, KS (Kansas City) and her work can also be found in the virtual galleries of the Oklahoma Artists Coalition and the Tulsa Artists Guild (TAG).

Artist Statement

 My watercolors, monotypes and pastels are all based on my love of texture and the play of light and shadow on natural and man-made surfaces. The urban landscape, without question, is my favorite subject precisely because it offers endless opportunities to portray these elements in a painting.

Using various supports for the beautiful, granulating pigments of watercolor such as hand-cast papers, claybord, aquabord, yupo and watercolor canvas in addition to traditional papers further enhances the results.These surfaces lend themselves well to a variety of subject matter and to experimentation, contributing greatly to my enjoyment of the painting process.

When I discovered monotypes I found it easy to fall in love with this unique print-making process. Unlike paintings in watercolor and pastel, which can be carefully planned, the outcome of a completed monotype is very often pure serendipity.

Primarily, a portrait painter, Cathy’s figurative pieces range from the classical style of commissioned portraits, to loose, contemporary and edgier renditions of her subjects.

Exploring the many ways of interpreting the human face and form offers an endless supply of challenges for the artist. “If I can use an unexpected color to emulate the same play of light and shadow, yet create more of the mood and feeling I want to project, I feel as if I have learned some new words in the language of art, that lets me express more of myself,” says Cathy.

She strives for paintings that form a relationship with the viewer because the subjects are people we can relate to, yet have a mystery about them that invites us to know more,. Cathy’s recent series of provocative and moody poses of women, entitled “Women of Mystery”, have made their way into numerous shows across the country, and on to collector’s walls.

Cathy is a Signature member of American Women Artists with award winning work in national shows and galleries. She also does commissioned portraits as well.

Artist Statement

My paintings are footprints of my journey in learning to express myself with art. Though I love nature and landscapes, I always come back to the figure as my primary inspiration. I never tire of seeing different ways light affects the contours of a face or the simple beauty of a standing dancer. While it is impossible to do proper justice to the human form, it is the challenge that motivates me.