“No Ordinary Love” is one of Isabel’s paintings influenced by the cubist style. The subjects in this painting may look unconventional, but their love is extraordinary. He accepts her protectiveness, and together they become human.

Biography

Isabel is a portrait painter whose subjects emerge entirely from her imagination. Her work is totally spontaneous and intuitive. Inspired by the vibrant colors and visual richness of her childhood in Madrid and Guatemala, she uses strong, bright and dark colors to express mood and emotion. Her subjects have captivating and enigmatic faces inviting the viewer to imagine a narrative. She works with acrylic and oil paints on canvas and panels and her method involves applying multiple layers of paint.

Art Statement

Physicians wore plague masks centuries ago when battled bubonic plague. The beaked masks look inhuman. The painting is done using a Velazquez technique. It is on a handmade rough linen herringbone canvas that had a pinkish red ground. The color scheme is predominately black and white. Scumbles, paint layers, and heavy impasto are used to create depth and mystery. The herringbone catches the paint layers which again creates depth. In parts of the mask, the reds of the ground show through.

Artist Biography

Hannah Apps painted her first landscape in oil at age 12 and has continued to make art ever since. She has always loved color and texture and transitioned from painting to quilting in her 20’s to satisfy this love. But by the time she hit 50, she was dying fabric and painting her quilts. After painting the Mackinac Bridge on a wall quilt, she decided it was time to paint on canvas and panel instead. Now, she works primarily in oils, acrylics, and pastels. She typically makes her own panels and canvases (it must be the quilt maker in her). She often does underpaintings and then use a series of glazes to give depth and richness to the colors. Lately she has been experimenting with imprimatura layers and thick and thin paint. Her work comments on the human condition. She wants to make a viewer laugh, cry, or question what they are seeing. Her art has been juried into shows throughout the Midwest and in several national and international online shows. In addition, she has won awards in several shows.

She has been very lucky throughout her life as she has had so many opportunities to serve her community, teach fantastically talented students at Kalamazoo College, and learn, write, and create. No matter where her life was taking her, art has always been in the forefront. She is a lifelong learner and always wants to try something new. Apps has studied in an atelier setting with Kenneth Freed, a nationally known oil painter. She has also studied with other pastel and oil painters. She is a member of Oil Painters of America, Great Lakes Pastel Society, and American Women Artists. Her website is www.hannahhilesapps.com.   She lives in Kalamazoo Michigan with her husband and two spoiled cats.

My Amaryllis in Full Morning Glory

My Amaryllis was given as a Christmas gift. When the time came to bloom it was placed in the studio’s north corner window receiving the east morning sun in perfect lighting conditions on a glass table. As the plant began to grow it was photographed almost every day starting with the bud. It grew beautifully through all its stages to full bloom, a magical process to witness nature at her best.

In this perfect light location, some of the blooms were backlit and others were seen in the direct sun. At the end of the bloom cycle, 3 photo images were selected to paint starting with the budding out stage, the 2nd open flower was backlit creating areas of direct sunlight, shadows, and translucent pedal colors. This oil painting represents capturing the light on a mature Amaryllis flower.

The series was a joy to paint. This one of 3 blooms at the time on the stock was in a perfect position for the last photo shoot. The best of all worlds was created for the artist; the direct sun, cast shadows, great highlights, strong contrast of lights and darks, red and greens complementary colors, some of the white area were in the direct sun with other white areas in the shadows.

This painting, of an Amaryllis in full bloom, was a painters gift of opportunities in design, layout, composition, emotion, enjoyment for the beauty of nature in her glory, craftsmanship, control of the oil painting media to express a concept to be enjoyed, and experienced.

Biography

Starting with her first adult drawing in the 2^nd grade, a rabbit drawn on her chalkboard, by the 9^th grade, Mary Dove was a portrait artist in drawing, oil paintings, and flowers in pastels. At this time, learning perspective was added to her art experience which influenced the decision to become a college architecture major. In this 9^th-grade art class, they went outside, sat on the curb, and selected a home across the street to draw in 2 point perspective.

With her college architectural experience, it was easy to fearless become engaged with all forms of architectural structures. As a high school art teacher, one aspect taught the students was to pay attention to the values (lights and darks) occupied within the first 4 boundary lines on their painting. Sunlit, for Mary Dove, is an important aspect of a painting. Sunlit provides the opportunity to contrast bright light against strong shadows. She feels, her paintings are at their best when expressing a kiss of sunlight in the artwork.

Visual arts are a significant part of Mary Dove’s life. Her greatest delight is to capture long remembered shared experiences. She loves telling a story through her creations which strike an emotional chord with the viewer. Her artwork is at its best when expressing a passion for the chosen subject. The artwork is a personal adventure that begins with the intellectual challenge of visual design resulting in the problem-solving aspects of each new project.

Growing up in Houston, Texas her dad made certain she was exposed early and often to a wide variety of life experiences, included all manner of wildlife, birds, nature, sports and even food. Such invaluable encounters have enabled her to breathe life and soul into each chosen subject to paint or draw. Diversification thus become, and remains today, the hallmark of her work. Mary Dove’s paintings range from landscapes and architectural structures too big game animals, pet portraits, and still life.

A resident of Sedona, Arizona, Mary Dove earned both a Bachelor and a Master of Education Degree from Texas Tech University. Her college education began as an architect major, she moved through commercial art, technical illustration to discover her artistic “voice”’ as an illustrator; graduated with a major in art education and fine art. She depicts in the artwork an understanding of structure, a keen eye for detail, and the comprehensive skill of execution. Virtually every media is on her pallet from pencil and charcoal to watercolors, oil pastels, acrylic and oil paintings, jewelry, sculpture, and ceramics. Each selected subject requires its own best medium presentation used to invoke a quality of super realism with a sprinkle of expressionism. Numerous awards and honors have been granted to Mary Dove.

Artist Statement

My artwork is an exploration of the compositional and textural elements found in nature and rural settings.

Working exclusively in black and white, the strong contrast of ink on paper allows me to focus on the detail, tone and texture of my subject matter. To me, color is a distraction.

On a personal level there is a strong connection between my art and my faith. The close examination of nature, with pencil or pen, prompting a desire for deep introspective work.

Biography/Resume

Stacy Topjian Searle is a pen and ink landscape artist from Nashua, New Hampshire who works exclusively in black and white.

Searle began her art education at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston Massachusetts. She later earned a BA in Art from the University of Lowell, Lowell Massachusetts, where her focus was on Illustration.

Stacy uses on-site sketches and photographs as references for her work. She begins by laying out the general composition of a piece in pencil. Once a composition is in place, ink is applied to create a contour drawing of the scene. Detail is developed through her unique blend of cross hatching, contour lines, parallel lines, stippling and scrumbling techniques to create the mood of each piece.

Creation inspires most of Searle’s work and by focusing on the complexity and details of nature she hopes to increase awareness to the need for conservation and preservation.

Stacy is an award-winning juried artist and is a member of the Nashua Area Artists Association. She has participated in Nashua’s Art Walk and has exhibited in group exhibitions at ArtHub Gallery in Nashua, NH, Beaver Brook in Hollis, NH, the Whitty Gallery in Hollis, NH, the Brush Gallery in Lowell, MA, the ALL Gallery in Lowell, MA, Angles and Art Gallery in Haverhill, MA, The Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, MA, and Uforge Gallery in Boston, MA.

Education

Bachelor of Arts in Art, minor in Art History, University of Lowell, Lowell, MA

Graduated 1991, Focus of Study in Illustration

Recent Group Exhibitions

March 2019 Drawn To It: Line and Shade, ALL Gallery, Lowell, MA

January 2019 Wild and Woolly, NAAA ArtHub Gallery, Nashua, NH

November 2018 13^th Annual Art Festival, Veasey Memorial Park, Groveland, MA

July 2018 All in the Family, LTC Gallery, Lowell, MA

May 2018 For the Love of Color, The Whitty Gallery, Hollis, NH

August 2018 Nashua Area Artists’ Display, 201 Main St., Nashua, NH

October 2018 Nashua Area Artists’ Display, 201 Main St., Nashua, NH

November 2017 In Black & White, Amherst Town Library, Amherst, NH

Recent Solo Exhibitions

December 2018 Featured Artist, Rodgers Memorial Library, Hudson, NH

August 2018 Featured Artist, A&E Coffee and Tea, Amherst, NH

June 2018 Featured Artist, Coffeeberries, Londonderry, NH

May 2018 Featured Artist, NAAA ArtHub Gallery, Nashua, NH

September 2017 Featured Artist, Nashua Public Library, Nashua, NH

July 2017 Mayor’s Office Artist of the Month, City Hall, Nashua, NH

Recent Juried Exhibits

May 2018 Community, NAAA ArtHub Gallery, Nashua, NH

June 2017 82^nd Regional Exhibition of Art & Craft, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA

Awards

June 2018 People’s Choice, For the Love of Color, The Whitty Gallery, Hollis, NH

April 2016 Honorable Mention for “The Cove,” Landscape Art Exhibition, Light Space & Time

September 2015 1^st Place Painting and Other Media for “Roots,” Beaver Brook Arts Festival, Hollis, NH

March 2014 Honorable Mention for “Birches,” All Women Art Competition, Light Space & Time

September 2014 2^nd Place Painting and Other Media for “Birches,” Beaver Brook Arts Festival, Hollis, NH

March 2013 Special Recognition for “A Dusting,” Light Space & Time

September 2013 2^nd Place Painting and Other Media for “Winter Willow,” Beaver Brook Arts Festival, Hollis, NH

Artist Statement

Tobi Held is a passionate artist who puts a bit of herself into each painting, unleashing her emotions with each brush stroke. Working with oil paints and mixed media, Tobi presents what is at times an amalgamation of still life and abstraction. What shines through is an obsession with the process itself. Her work exhibits a refined palette on a variety of subjects. Rather than exhausting one particular subject, Tobi chooses to challenge herself and broaden her technical skills with this myriad of subject matter. Despite her paintings ' exploration of various themes, each piece has unmistakablefeeling, showing off her genuine love for art. As a child, Tobi dreamed of becoming an artist. She has trained since then with art classes, graduating from Boston University, School of Fine Arts with a degree in graphic design and art history.

www.tobiheld.com
www.myartsinspire.com

Artist’s Statement

This painting is one in a series of “animated” still lifes utilizing staged arrangements as scenes in which origami birds can playfully interact. I try to instill character into each and imagine the two smaller birds in this arrangement being fascinated with the beauty of the lights while the others pass by without seeing. I am currently exploring how light, shadows and reflections can be used to add liveliness to an arrangement and how they work with the many directional draped and folded lines, leading and connecting viewers to the small scenes.

Artist Bio

Oklahoma native, Tamara Sigler, studied art at Kansas City Art Institute and earned her BFA from Oklahoma City University.

She has spent many 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 home and travels, and showcase 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 NOAPS Best of America Small Painting National Juried Exhibition, Bosque Art Classic, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s 12×12, Heroes and Outlaws: 100 Oklahomans by 100 Oklahoma Artists, and the Rusty Gables Spring Stampede. Her painting “Trails End” received Best in Show at the Bauhaus Prairie Gallery’s Open a New Year 2018, with “Gifts from the Garden” receiving an award for the 2018 Still Life show.

Tamara was a Spirit of the Buffalo artist, 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.

Artist Statement – “Imagination”

The “Dynamics of Dominance and Value” in the abstract art Imagination that I created are but two of the design elements and principles that have become the central theme in the work I produce, exhibit and teach. Dominance is exhibited in many ways: color, shape, texture, and line are all forms of dominance utilized in this work. The predominantly warm colors are balanced with a small grouping of subordinated cooler colors.

The dominance of multiple curvilinear shapes are offset nicely by smaller geometric shapes. These are the two key forms of dominance that I try to produce when working on a watercolor abstract. Other elements that tend to support these characteristics of my work are textures which are derived in multiple ways as well as the use of line to help pull the piece together and the multiple washes that allow the transparency of watercolor to come shining through providing changes in value throughout the composition.

Biography

Gary Johnson, Fayetteville, AR is primarily a watercolor artist but thoroughly enjoys the results that acrylic mediums allow. Gary has lived and worked in many different areas of the US and became interested in art as he grew closer to retirement. He’s a self-taught artist, although he has taken numerous work shops around the country and has studied numerous texts and journals on the subject to enhance his skill level. He’s a Signature Artist in Excellence in the South Carolina Watermedia Society and is a member of many regional and national watermedia organizations around the country. He was recently ju-
ried into the Watercolor USA Exhibition, the Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Ex-hibition, and the Signature American Watermedia International Exhibition.

Artist Biography 

Growing up in Houston, Texas, Mary Dove’s father made certain she was exposed early and often to a wide variety of life experiences. These included all manner of wildlife, birds, nature, sports and even food. Such invaluable encounters have enabled her to breathe life and soul into everything she chooses to paint or draw. Diversification thus became, and remains today, the hallmark of her work. Paintings range from landscapes and architectural structures, big game animals, pet portraits and still life. This allows the subject matter to emotionally fine her as she responds to a particular location or personal experience.

A resident of Sedona AZ, Mary Dove earned both a Bachelor and a Master of Art Education Degree from Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX. Her college education began as an architect major, moved through commercial art and technical illustration to discover her artistic voice as an illustrator. She now captures structures vanishing from our ever-changing landscapes. In the animal world, her keen insight and sensitivity express the physical characteristics and personality of our animal companions and wildlife. Her chosen subjects are depicted in a “realistic expressionism” style reflecting the study of light and values to depict the story mood of the painting.

Artist Statement

This painting is one in a series of “animated” still life paintings utilizing traditionally composed arrangements as scenes in which origami birds can playfully interact. This arrangement substitutes my more usual bold patterned rugs with a softer draping scarf along with iris from my garden and a blue and white bowl belonging to a dear friend. I am currently exploring how light, shadows and reflections can be used to add liveliness to an arrangement as well, leading and connecting viewers to the small scenes.

Biography

Oklahoma native, Tamara Sigler, has always loved the outdoors, and exploring areas of natural beauty, especially in Oklahoma, the desert Southwest and the Rocky Mountain States. Recent years have added the peaceful, green spaces surrounding her current northeast Ohio home to that list. As a young girl, she would sometimes find small “treasures” while exploring, which would be a launching pad for imagined scenarios about little worlds.

Tamara studied art at Kansas City Art Institute and earned her BFA from Oklahoma City University. She entered a career as a graphic designer, just as the field was transitioning from traditional to digital. “It was an exciting decade of creative growth and opportunity. The career path branched and led into some crazy and energetic years of balancing artistic endeavors with the requirements of being a stay-at-home parent. It now leads back to the world of a full time artist.”

She is at work on a “Life of Birds” series depicting still life subjects that are enlivened with directional elements and paper birds each with its own character. Her art reflects the strong colors and patterns inspired by her home and her travels, and showcase a contemporary approach to composition along with a love and respect for traditional painting techniques.

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 the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society’s Best of America Small Paintings 2018, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s 12×12, Bosque Art Classic, Heroes and Outlaws: 100 Oklahomans by 100 Oklahoma Artists, and the Rusty Gables Spring Stampede .  Her painting “Trails End” received Best in Show at the Bauhaus Prairie Gallery’s Open a New Year show.

Tamara is a Spirit of the Buffalo artist, 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.

Artist Statement

“Life is Light and Motion”. Light painting is the combination of light and motion and my way to bring forth unique interpretations of this axiom.

“Symmetry” is representative of my approach to light painting. While the camera is fixed on a tripod, I am in front of it, “drawing” with a flashlight that is directed at the camera. The flashlight, used as the light source, is modified with various tips called “blades” of perspex in order to get specific light behaviors. To achieve the desired range of colors, I use color gels. Light art requires a slow shutter speed – my paintings come about in a single exposure of 10 – 20 seconds typically – and thus is best performed at night or in a dark room.

Biography/Resume

Madeleine Zweifel was  born in Zurich in 1958. She is a translator turned photographer and digital artist. Specializing in headshot photography, Madeleine is also a macro photographer and a light painter.

Why photography? Deliberate choice later in life. Introvert by nature, it has always been challenging for her to get out and meet with people. Photography helps with that and is a great way for me to interact with people and express herself through this creative outlet.