2018 Purchases

(Click image to view more)

Kendra Bennett

Daphne, AL / Mixed Media
View Website

Each piece is hand carved from a 12 lb black artistic tissue paper simply using an xacto knife. leaving a 2" black border I then float the piece between glass and frame.

(Click image to view more)

Alison Bozarth

Saint Louis, MO / Drawing and Pastels

Alison Bozarth is a St. Louis based illustrator and traditional artist. Occasionally filled with whimsy and consistently thought provoking, her detail focused pieces embody the individualistic wonder of personality and the demons we struggle with.

(Click image to view more)

David Bjurstrom

Austin, TX / Drawing and Pastels
View Website

Realism in graphite pencil, approached as paintings...emphasizing light, shadow & texture over lines. Often presented in a contemporary format on archivally sealed, cradled panels. I always try to push the expected boundaries of the medium of pencil.

(Click image to view more)

Kim Carr

New Florence, MO / Photography
View Website

Natural light photography. Using premium photo paper or 100% cotton canvas & archival inks. These images are part of my Heritage Breed Series, focusing on old fashioned breeds of farm animals, many are endangered. Signed, Numbered and Limited Ed.

(Click image to view more)

Fong Choo

Louisville, KY / Ceramics
View Website

"What is so exciting about looking at a sleeping tiger?" "Nothing. But if you take a stick and poke at it, you will remember that tiger for the rest of your life!"

This is part of a conversation I once had at the Minnesota Zoo. In many ways, this parallels my attitude towards clay: it requires poking to awaken it. One must push the limits, test waters, search, prod and explore its many boundaries. For more than ten years my work has been focused on Miniature Teapots. The teapot form continues to challenge and fascinate me. The work shown in this gallery is the result of over a decade of evolution in color, design and form. I invite you into that place. I feel blessed to be able to pursue the life of a potter -- especially when it requires poking the sleeping tiger...

(Click image to view more)

Robert Coby

Ashtabula, OH / Glass

My work is hand blown and carved glass. First, the pieces start in the hotshop, formed from molten glass in multiple colored layers. Once cooled, I carve through those layers to create new edges and textures inspired by geology and topography.

(Click image to view more)

Fenando Cornejo

Bloomington, IL / Painting

My artwork uses a wide range of media to cover a diverse subject matter. I began my landscape series in 1996. My hope is that each image will "speak" to the viewer and evoke emotion. I am truly passionate about the visual beauty of the natural world.

(Click image to view more)

James and Renee Engebretson

Hudson, WI / Glass
View Website

Our handblown and sandblasted glass vessels are the result of 35 years of working together. We draw inspiration from the wetlands surrounding our home and studio, capturing the essence and spirit of this place.

(Click image to view more)

Robert Flowers

Summerfield, NC / Painting

As a landscape painter using the medium of watercolor I do multiple miniature studies on site. From these studies I do more involved works in my studio. I do multiple washes, lift and dry brush to create volume, depth, light and atmosphere.

(Click image to view more)

Amy Gillespie

Arlington, MA / Mixed Media
View Website

Sculptural, impressionistic wall pieces created with hand made felt, paint and hard woods.

(Click image to view more)

Matthew Hemminghaus

Vandalia, MO / Photography
View Website

I build miniature sets in my studio in which I place and photograph my free range chickens. The sets are constructed from seasonal and current objects in life, which references a particular time of year.

(Click image to view more)

Daiga Henson

East Windsor, NJ
View Website

One of a kind wearable art coats and jackets, made from natural fibers such as wool, cashmere, silk and linen. I employ a collage technique of piecing together a variety of patterns, colors, and textures into wearable art.

(Click image to view more)

Aaron Hequembourg

Monticello, GA / Mixed Media
View Website

Aaron Hequembourg lives with his wife and four children on a c.1815 farm in Georgia. His work is produced from salvaging materials from sharecropper houses and engraving and painting onto the materials.

(Click image to view more)

Steve Jones

Wentzville, MO / Mixed Media
View Website

My work is meant for preservation. Looking back on small, ridiculous moments I hope to preserve these pieces of time in each work. I want my work to be honest, humorous, and visually appealing by experimenting with color and surface.

(Click image to view more)

Alan Klug

Ft. Collins, CO / Photography
View Website

Limited edition photographs from medium and large format negatives. All work by myself.

(Click image to view more)

Laura Lloyd

Saint Peters, MO / Painting
View Website

My creativity springs from a sense of fascination with people and a delight in life. Faces and color dominate both my oil painting and clay sculpture.

(Click image to view more)

Xavier Nuez

Chicago, IL / Photography
View Website

With a 50 yr old film camera and battery powered colored lights, I shoot 10-30 min exposures in dark city corners. Through my lighting, these stark places instead become beautiful, inviting and fanciful. The large negatives are scanned and the final photos are ultrachrome inkjet prints.

(Click image to view more)

Ronnie Phillips

Lithonia, GA / Painting

Ronnie Phillips is an award winning artist, photographer and educator. Phillips work has received national praise, winning over 100 awards and 10 “Best of Show” awards. It was at an art show in Kansas City that Phillips’ work caught the eye of musician, singer, songwriter and actress Sheryl Crowe. She took home two pieces. His art now graces the homes of Halle Berry and Cecily Tyson, Bill Cosby, Damon Wayans, David Alan Grier, Spike Lee, Bill Duke, Dionne Warwick, CCH Pounder and Glynn Turman. Phillips began as a freelance photographer in Los Angeles, his hometown, and progressed from having over 100 photographs of celebrities published in magazines such as TV Guide, Essence and Ebony Magazines to developing his own unique take on art photography. Expanding his talents, Phillips took up painting and injected new possibilities into his work with mixed media. His works now, are acrylic paintings embedded with his award winning photographic accents.

(Click image to view more)

Sharon Spillar

Saint Louis, MO / Mixed Media
View Website

Ink, acrylic, chalk, paper, pencil, Letraset, etc. on cradled board ( Many works include my personal notes and drawings from sitting in various hotels and bars, or those my loved ones deemed fit to contribute).

(Click image to view more)

Sam Stang

Augusta, MO / Glass
View Website

All of my pieces are made using traditional European glassblowing techniques. I have been inspired by mid-century Italian and Scandinavian design as well as by nature. Every piece I make is entirely produced at the furnace using only molten glass.

(Click image to view more)

Gregory Story

Chicago, IL / Ceramics
View Website

Hand built, carved, and painstakingly glazed ceramic sculpture and wall sculpture. Drawing on architectural influences, fabric design & modern ceramics, these elements mix to create Modern Artifacts.

(Click image to view more)

Chris Vance

Bondurant, IN / Painting
View Website

Work is influenced by skateboard graphics and graffiti. I work in acrylic, charcoal, and spray paint on wood finished with laquer.

(Click image to view more)

Richard Wilson

Greenville, NC / Drawing and Pastels
View Website

I sketch my subject with hard pastel, then I fill in the details with layers of soft pastel on sanded paper. My pastel paintings are a way of telling a story about the subjects optimism, introspection, their innocence, wisdom, grace & complexity.

Previous Purchases

(Click image to enlarge)

Carol Adams

Lake Worth, Fl / Jewelry

“Sculpture and texture are the most important elements that inspire my work. Because I work in a combination of high karat gold and sterling silver, I employ a patina finish on the work to further accentuate the textures and to add depth to the sculptural form. There is a richness to this type of finish. My jewelry and sculpture are fabricated, insuring that each piece is one of a kind.”

5 1/2" X 9"

(Click image to enlarge)

Dan Anderson

Edwardsville, IL / Ceramics

“My artwork, an amalgam of vessel and industrial artifact, is full of irony—handmade replicas of man-made objects, soft clay renderings of hard metal objects, aged and important reminders of a once powerful age. The oil and gasoline cans represent the machinery that once threatened to devalue the work of human beings. Now they seem just like the hard working humans they served –stoic, dignified, straightforward, but worn out. The usefulness of machines in their original states is limited as the products of progress. I have taken the aesthetic and political ugliness out of industry, reminding everyone that change can be both hurtful/traumatic and positive/healing. Once again underscoring the power of area to uplift the human condition. By firing the oil and gas cans in my anagama wood kiln, I am convinced that instead of merely heating the clay, the flame and ash have the capacity to alter and enhance my clay cans.”

11 1/2" dia.

(Click image to enlarge)

Jonathan Andersson

Hampshire, England / Glass

“I grew up surrounded by glass. As a child I recall being the kid with the largest marble. My dad was a glass maker as was his. This tradition stems back at least six generations. For me working with glass is a part and parcel of this family history. It is a romance with a material as sharp as a knife and as fragile as a rainbow. Yet while I value the past and its tradition, I look to the present and the future possibilities favor my inspiration. For me the work I produce is a physical manifestation of an exploration. The pieces are about the qualities of discovery and rare moments of magic. They are discoveries on a journey without road maps. Art takes us to these places, places where no airplane can fly.”

15" x 13" x 3"

(Click image to enlarge)

Marianne Baer

St. Louis, MO / Ceramics

“This teapot cannot hold or pour tea. It is made of two sheets of clay. When the clay is wet I put different textures into the clay with any tool or object I like. When the clay gets hard enough to support itself, I attach the two sides together and fire it in a kiln, to about 1200F. Then it is all white and similar to a flower pot. I then paint it with acrylic paint and color on top with crayons, colored pencils, and more paint. Finally, I spray it with a clear fixative so the color stays on. I hope you can see how much I enjoy creating my artwork.”

22" x 19"

(Click image to enlarge)

Jill Bedford

Delafield, WI / Photography
View Website

“The plants I photograph are found growing in my garden and yard. On a day that I photograph, I start out by taking a walk outside as if I am on a treasure hunt. When I have found my subject matter such as flowers, leaves, seed pods, vegetables or fruits, I bring them into the studio and begin to arrange them. I like to think these photographs tell the story of my garden throughout the seasons.”

10 3/4" x 11 1/4"

(Click image to enlarge)

Bert Bernie

Flowery Branch, GA / Painting
View Website

Beirne’s oil paintings begin with her relationship to the objects she is painting. She challenges herself to master the still life composition, which she establishes before she begins to paint. The theme of the painting may be contrasts of color or texture, or the interplay of light on the objects. She puts a great deal of thought into creating the setup of what she will paint and into solving the particular problems of color, light, shape, and texture. The act of painting then becomes a process of refining rather than changing what she has created. Beirne tries to pull a response from viewers which makes them share in the process of discovering what is there.

28 1/2" x 36 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Jackie Berkley

Alpharetta, GA / Two-Dimensional Mixed Media

“In my work, I often use symbols or icons as a sort of pictogram to define a human presence. I place humans in an environment of urban civilization juxtaposed against nature. I explore the tension, the push-pull, the yin-yang between the two opposites. My work is completed using whatever materials I feel are appropriate. They are tools to achieve a pictorial plane. I find little significance in whether it is oil, graphite, acrylic, leaf, sand, or etching inks, as long as the result is realized.”

3 1/2" x 9 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Susan Botswick

Edwardsville, IL / Ceramics

“My education in clay was focused on the vessel and the meditative rhythms which come from the discipline of repetition. I imagined myself living in the country making pottery, working through the cycles of throwing and firing. Now I do live in the country but find myself drawn to the narrative tradition in ceramics. Utilizing images which surround me—animals, vegetation, and barns—I combine flora and fauna to explore the relationship between form and surface and to refer to the cycles that come with changes in seasons and weather and life.”

28" x 14.5"

16" x 20"

(Click image to enlarge)

Whit Bronaugh

Winchester, KY / Photography
View Website

“My creative process begins by searching wild places for natural subjects that epitomize the inherent beauty and wonder of nature. Once I find a subject I spend a lot of time searching for a perspective that gives me the most satisfying combination of foreground and background, lighting and presentation of the subject. This process in combination with framing is when I employ compositional techniques used in two-dimensional media, such as balance, rhythm, proportion, contrast (tone, color, form, texture, size), light and shadow, negative and positive space, motion, and optical effects found in nature.”

11 1/2" x 29 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Lenny Lyons Bruno

Lexington, VA / Photography

Lenny’s current photographs reflect the photographer’s sense of composition and technique and the painter’s eye for color and preparation. All photographs are taken with a 4x5 view camera and hand printed by the artist.

29" x 23"

(Click image to enlarge)

Don Carson

Athens, GA / Photography

Black and White Photography.

20" x 32"

12" x 12"

(Click image to enlarge)

John Chen

Margate, FL / Painting

Watercolor on rice paper.

17" x 14"

(Click image to enlarge)

Rimas Ciurlionis

Berwyn, IL / Painting
View Website

“In my work, I express the interaction and relation of color, tone, line, form and especially that of texture and surface—smooth and rough, depression and elevation. In my hands, a painting or work on a flat surface takes on a more sculptural quality. It becomes like a musical chord in relation to the viewer and to the space in which it exists. As a musical sound, it does not obligate. It can only elicit or awaken in us an emotion, a mood, an idea, a memory. It is an impulse which starts a wave that reaches deep within us. My paintings are created with oils and other museum quality materials and take many months to complete. Their multilayered nuances and great depth are revealed with extended meditation.”

(Click image to enlarge)

Chris Coffey

Akron, OH / Photography
View Website

This work is a compilation of 10 years of traveling Route 66.

“I produced images over the years using the traditional technique of black and white. Each image is hand painted with oil paint and a piece of cotton. This technique was used before color film was developed.”

22.5" x 26.5"

(Click image to enlarge)

Stephen Dickerson

Houston, TX / Painting
View Website

“I live in suburbia, sandwiched between the rural and the urban. My paintings are a direct reflection of what I do and see each day. I look to find some universal extrapolation of the specific. Form, line, movement, stillness, sensitive color relationships all these are important elements of my work.”

14" x 12"

(Click image to enlarge)

Raquel Edwards

Portland, OR / Photography
View Website

Originally a silver gelatin printmaker, Edwards decided to switch to encaustic work after losing access to her darkroom and for environmental and health reasons. Encaustic is made of sustainable materials (beeswax and tree resin) and free from harmful solvents and chemicals.
Edwards states, “My current body of work combines encaustic medium, which I make in the studio with natural earth pigments, non-toxic oil paints and digital photographic prints. The resulting works are labor-intensive, one-of-a-kind pieces that have an ethereal, dream-like quality.”
“My work in still life explores themes of rebirth, renewal, and metamorphosis through the visual language of plant and animal forms. I photograph these images in the studio on a 4x5 camera.”

31" X 31"

(Click image to enlarge)

Emerson

Savannah, GA / Photography

Emerson is devoted to portraying the beauty inherent in all cultural milieus. Recognizing that people of diverse cultures share a common humanity, Emerson seeks to affirm their dignity while maintaining a genuine respect for their ways of life.

(Click image to enlarge)

Robert Farrell

Fort Atkinson, WI / Metal
View Website

“All of my work is created from flat sheet metal and/or wire. Materials are sterling, silver, copper, 18K and 24K gold, nickel, and the Japanese alloys shakudo and shibuichi. Patterns are created using both the ‘marriage of metal’ and hammered inlay techniques.”

(Click image to enlarge)

Larry Fielder

Velarde, NM / Mixed Media
View Website

For over 35 years, artist Larry Fielder has been creating award winning sculptural objects.
After receiving his degree in Architecture, he began designing and fabricating architectural stained glass.
Later, he became known for his large glass and steel sculptures which grace many homes in America and internationally. He then began making cast glass objects, and worked with many famous artists to realize their vision in cast glass, while still creating his own sculpture. Currently, he makes wood vases and wall pieces. Larry is known for his impeccable craftsmanship and attention to detail.

13" x 10 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Rick Foris

Amherts Junction, WI / Ceramics
View Website

“My current work deals with my fascination with ceramics as it fits into the historical perspective. I am interested in the ways that pottery lives in a particular culture during any given era and the way the pots relate to the architecture of that time. I am excited not so much with architecture as a whole, but more with architectural fragments, basic motifs that are present throughout history; stairs, gateways, openings in walls, monoliths, fragments whose meanings and functions have been unknown or forgotten. I try to incorporate the feelings these mysterious fragments evoke to create pieces that convey contemporary thoughts.”

14" x 12"

(Click image to enlarge)

Richard Hall

Mesa, AZ / Painting
View Website

Richard was born in 1952 in England. He has been living in the United States now for over 30 years. He has been painting all of his life, creating magnificent works of art in a wide variety of styles. His work is characterized by a lack of visible brush strokes, thoughtful (sometimes whimsical) compositions, and realistic textures. His paintings glow with a brilliant luminescent quality.
Richard worked many years in the Fine Art Publishing business creating large bodies of works for clients. He was well known for his ability to anticipate trends in the world of design and jump out ahead of them. He enjoyed the satisfaction of applying his talents to this demanding challenge and leading others in the processes. But deep inside Richard always dreamed of “someday” painting what he loved.

21" x 28"

(Click image to enlarge)

H.J. Herrera

Alachua, FL / Photography
View Website

Photography is a passion for me. I can still remember the time I looked through a 35mm camera for the first time as apposed to my little 110-pocket camera. At the time, I thought how great it was to see such a large image through the viewfinder of the 35 as opposed to the small one that I was accustomed to on the small 110 camera.
I am self-taught. I would describe my work as natural history and fine art photography. Through my images of the world, I hope to engender a greater appreciation and respect for nature. There are too many once wonderful places which no longer exist.

13" x 19.5"

(Click image to enlarge)

Scott Hartley

Ann Arbor, MI / Painting
View Website

“I have studied the work of many paintings and artist teachers, having painted watercolors since I was in high school. I first became inspired by my grandfather, watercolor artist Leslie Austin Hartley, who was born and raised in England.”
“I attended workshops by Sondra Freckleton, Nita Engle and Tom Lynch as well as studying the books of John Pike, Daniel Chard, Robert Cottingham, Ted Kautsky, Edgar Whitney and David Friend, to name a few. Growing up in the Catskills of New York, and now in the Ann Arbor Michigan area, I developed an eye for the unique American landscape and seek to capture the rich, colorful, impressive, complex and intriguing views of the common subjects all around us.”

110" x 85"

(Click image to enlarge)

Pamela Hill

Mokelumn Hill, CA / Fiber

“Each quilt is designed with durability and function as important as the appearance of the quilt. I emphasize the creation of texture through the intricate piecing of extremely small pieces of fabric. I use prima cottons, silks, and rare African, Japanese, and Indian traditional silks and cottons. I celebrate the tradition of American quilts through the creation of my own designs and the inclusion of nontraditional fabrics. All quilts are intended for use on a bed and are washable.“

5" x 6"

(Click image to enlarge)

Rebecca Hungerford

St. Joseph, MI / Metal
View Website

“I work primarily with 16 gauge unleaded pewter sheet stock. The majority of my one-of-a-kind work is hammered and fabricated. I spin the concentric pieces and cast the solid parts. I include semi-precious gems, glass, antler, wood leather, cane, plastic cord, cloth, and other metals for color and textural contrast. Oxidation is achieved with nitric acid. Lately I have been experimenting with acrylic paint and foil applications. I create each piece from concept and sketch to final polish.”

31" x 29"

(Click image to enlarge)

Dale Jarrett

Mission, KS / Drawing & Pastels
View Website

“The subjects in the work are imagined, rather than actual places or renditions of photographs. All the drawings are original compositions done in carbon pencil, carbon stick, charcoal carbon crayon, or a combination thereof. My intention is to use the ambiguity and allusiveness of nature as a vehicle for the viewer to create his or her own specific interpretation of place and time. I believe this approach enables a continuous dialogue between the imagination of the viewer and the subject itself.”

6.5" x 8.5"

(Click image to enlarge)

Linda Darnece Jones

St. Louis, MO / Painting

My works are primarily acrylics and some watercolors. I explore and infuse urban and afro-centric themes that showcase everyday people and likenesses. I add whimsical and historical elements so that each piece shows a unique story or thought. Art is the tool I use to share myself with the world. My desire is to connect people and experiences from all walks of life and ignite acceptance, change and new dynamics.

(Click image to enlarge)

Klassen & Glanzer

Minneapolis, MN / Jewelry

“The hollow forms of our silver and gold jewelry allude to primitive structures and organic elements. I often construct forms over an armature that serves both as a physical and metaphorical support, defining the underlying structure upon which a surface rests. Sometimes, as in archeology, the top layer is cut through to reveal what lies beneath. In other pieces I investigate the edge-on aspect of shapes, and the rhythm of the recurring row, the process of organizing randomness into patterns.”

(Click image to enlarge)

Barbara Kline

Ketchum, ID / Photography
View Website

“I individually print each photograph by using several enlargers with one negative in each enlarger. The negatives are exposed to the paper one at a time by moving from enlarger to enlarger; burning and dodging where necessary to create a seamless blend of unique images. Each finished print is processed and selected photographs are hand colored with oil paint.”

32" x 51"

(Click image to enlarge)

William Kwamena-poh

Savannah, GA / Printmaking
View Website

“When I visit home I take photographs of places that I grew up in. I then sketch them freehand onto tracing paper to get everything as close as possible to the natural scene. My idea is to give the viewer a slice of Ghana. I then trace the image onto 300# hot press watercolor paper, or 500# Strathmore Bristol paper. These papers allow me to do several lifts and scrubbing to achieve the necessary textures, smell, sound and motion of market scenes.”

31" X 41 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Hal Larsen

Santa Fe, NM / Painting

“What I am trying to attempt now, that differentiates my work from what it was even a brief time ago, is that ‘painterly-ness.’ Where I used to have a solid red, now I want some of the emerging colors from the under-painting to come through, so there’s layering. Then the structure and process of the painting is better known to the viewer. For instance, I might paint green underneath a red. I love that psychological jump you have when those colors work together. Then on top of that I might have a piece where I’ll apply another green that’s close to the under green on red so that you get a connection between the elements. Even though the colors are on top of each other and you can’t really see them, they still work as a communication tool within the final piece.”

(Click image to enlarge)

Deb LeAir

Saint Paul, MN / Ceramics
View Website

Deb has been creating art in some form or another since she took her first ceramics course in high school in the 1970’s. She has been a full-time artist since 1996 when she started her own business creating this style of hand-carved clay. She has exhibited and sold her work at art festivals across the country and at select galleries. Her work has been published in magazines, books, and newspapers. Deb received her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and her MFA in Ceramics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

29" x 23"

(Click image to enlarge)

Bill Lemke

Wankesha, WI / Photography
View Website

“For over twenty years I have spent a great deal of time photographing the western landscape. These photographs were made with a large format camera and were done in black and white. On these photographic trips I started to notice the silver travel trailer along the roadside. At one point in my travels, I decided to start a project of photographing these trailers. The original images were of Airstream trailers but soon expanded into other types of aluminum trailers such as Avion, Ultra Van, and Silver Streaks among others. These images were done in color, to add to the overall presentation they are matted with aluminum. In the past the travel trailer has been a very American way of travel not unlike the early pioneers and their covered wagons.”

13" x 11"

8.25" x 12"

(Click image to enlarge)

Ann Wood & Dean Lucker

St. Paul, MN / Three-Dimensional Mixed Media
View Website

Ann Wood and Dean Lucker have been creating mechanical sculptures since 1987. They both are graduates of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with degrees in sculpture and printmaking. Ann grew up on a family farm in central Iowa and uses the visual elements of abundance, nature, and animals in her images.
Dean grew up in Minneapolis, MN, and credits his ability in mechanical movements to genetics. His father owns a tool and die company and his great grandfather attempted to build a perpetual motion machine in his garage!

48" x 58"

(Click image to enlarge)

Kelly Marshall

Minneapolis, MN / Fiber
View Website

Marshall received her Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Design at the University of Minnesota, specializing in textiles. She continued studying weaving and design for one year in Sweden at Forsa Folkhogskola and in Belgium at the Belgian Lace School. Marshall specializes in custom design, the exploration of color, pattern and texture. Her studio is open to the public and a vital link to the community and fiber arts.

5 1/2" x 5 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Anne Martin

St. Louis, MO / Sculpture

“At first I went to state fairs to do small drawings and little gestural sculptures of animals. Eventually I bought some chickens for models, but soon realized it was no longer just the animal forms in which I was interested. It was the breeders, farmers, judges, record keepers, exhibitors, and the worlds that crossed and connected in a strange context. The fair glorifies extremes in size, movement, color, form, and thought. It celebrates assumptions surrounding male supremacy with measures of potency, production, stamina, and speed. It is from this context, this microcosm, that I seek a form that has a greater presence than that of the tangible objects and a potency that belies its intimacy.”

9" X 9"

(Click image to enlarge)

Jack McLean

Johnsburg, Illinois / Metal
View Website

“My pieces are bronze and copper constructions, with details directly applied to, or carved into the metal. Pieces are bent and welded from thick, flat bronze plate. The tungsten-inert-gas arc-welding process allows me to produce work without the intervention of foundry work. My current pieces are a result of a twenty-year dialogue with materials. My focus on bronze and copper constructions has left me with a variety of self-taught techniques. Surface grinding, chemical patination, mechanical attachments, and welding allow me to approach the more complicated pieces, with an interest in the problem solving involved. Over the last ten years glass beads and antique beads of all kinds have become a central design element. Collecting beads and incorporating them into my work has led me into an enduring experiment with color and texture.”

21" x 12"

(Click image to enlarge)

Michael Mode

New Have, VT / Wood
View Website

“My motivation as an artist derives from an intense life long inspiration to create and bring into existence the objects of my imagination which have included over the years, poetry, painting, drawing, music and currently turned wood vessels. The present character and style of my work reflects my fascination with the art and architecture of northern India and the Middle East where I traveled extensively. Color, geometric surface designs, unusual and exotic woods, gracefully confident forms, fine finishing, attention to detail and integrity of craftsmanship are equally important and significant.”

9" x 10"

14 1/2" x 21 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Carl Mohner

Mcallen, TX / Painting
View Website

A prolific and award winning artist, noted actor of screen and stage, and a Parkinson patient for nearly ten years, Carl Mohner is the first to admit art is his total goal. Mohner is a self-described expressionist, using an abundance of personal feeling and emotion. He works in a variety of mediums, using ink, mixed media, sometimes pencil or graphite or acrylics. Noted for its daring simplicity and exuberance, Mohner’s work is playful with an intensity that is childlike, but not childish.

11"x6 3/4"

12 1/2" x 9 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Leon Niehues

Huntsville, AR / Fiber
View Website

“My baskets are made from the young white oak trees that grow in the Ozarks of Arkansas where I live. Taking a log apart layer by layer is a time-consuming and very labor intensive task. This method of producing splint materials is not generally familiar outside the Ozark Mountain area. It consists of splitting and knife work to produce shaped ribs and fine splint. This technique has taken me years to master. I have built upon this traditional technique by adding innovative ideas, new construction techniques, and simple design elements. I especially enjoy weaving a great form, because everything is built on it and around it. Effort is taken to incorporate the design elements into the basket construction. I want to see simplicity on the surface. I want it to look easy, even when getting there is difficult.”

4" x 11"

(Click image to enlarge)

W. Chester Old

Atlanta, GA / Metal

Chester Old applies his unusual imagination to pieces that are meant to be picked up, handled, and put to use in daily life. “Life is too short to take anything for granted, especially the things we surround ourselves with and use everyday,” Old states. “Since I have been involved in creating functional art I have become acutely aware of how much it has enhanced my life, how important art is in an everyday way.”

(Click image to enlarge)

Rick Preston

Miramonte, CA / Photography

“I consider my work to be visual haiku. I strive to capture the essence of a subject in the simplest possible way. I scan my 4 x 5 negatives and enter them into the digital domain. They are then printed using an Epson Stylus Pro 7600 printer. Epson ultrachrome pigment inks are applied to hahnemuhle photo rag paper. Some images are traditional darkroom prints from 4 x 5 negatives. Some images are digital capture, using a Canon Rebel T2i. Many of the digital capture images are stitched panoramas to increase the file size. All images are presented with archival materials.”

12 1/2" x 13 1/2"

(Click image to enlarge)

Banister Pope

Boone, NC / Drawing & Pastels
View Website

Winner of the National Graduate Drawing Competition and recipient of awards from many of the nation’s most highly acclaimed arts festivals, Mr. Pope is represented in hundreds of public, corporate, and private collections internationally.
Included in the Saint Louis Art Fair collection are layered soft pastel drawings of the artist’s North Carolina studio and the surrounding area.

23" x 25"

(Click image to enlarge)

Chris Roberts-Antieau

Manchester, MI / Two-Dimensional Mixed Media
View Website

“I work in fabric pictures, or textile appliqué, which I create by cutting fabric shapes and sewing them to a fabric background. The swatches of material I buy at fabric stores, thrift shops and old-fashioned five-and-dimes are my palette. The sewing machine is my drawing tool. I use it to scribble and color with tiny stitches. Many of my pieces are finished with hand-stitched embroidery techniques. All of my pieces are presented under glass in hand-painted frames, which are individually created for each piece.”

17.5" x 14"

(Click image to enlarge)

Mary Francis Robinson

San Antonio, TX / Painting

“I was born in Chattanooga TN, and raised in Ohio by my grandmother. As the only child in the family, I spent hours drawing and when I discovered color, it opened up a whole world for me! When I started to teach myself to paint, I developed my own style and subject matter.”
My family and I travel throughout the South taking photographs of old farmhouses, which are usually abandoned and falling down. I build them back up and put the families back in them. On those old farms, a great deal of love and beauty went into the way families lived and worked together. I hope that, through my paintings, the viewer will get a feeling of great harmony and nostalgia.”

8" X 14"

(Click image to enlarge)

Peter Secrest

Naples, NY / Glass

“While the glass is being shaped, it is frequently reheated in an incandescent chamber called a ‘glory hole’. Hot glass additions of a single color or hot glass rolled in chips of colored glass are applied during the blowing process. The bottom finlike appendices are added this way. The foot or base is cast from colored glass in an open steel mold; then flipped over and attached to the vase. The small blob of colored glass under the clear ball is hottest at this step and makes the joint. Then a solid steel rod coated at the one end with glass attached to the center of the foot bottom is broken free from the blow pipe. This crucial transition is called the ‘stick-up’ or ‘punty-up’. After enlarging the opening glass, ‘trails’ or ‘wraps’ are added to the opening. After opening, pinching and shearing, become the bands of color and the appendices at the top of the vase. When finished the vase is and placed in a special electric oven to cool.”

41" x 17"

(Click image to enlarge)

Celeste Simon

St. Petersburg, FL / Three-Dimensional Mixed Media

“My primary objective in designing these structures is to create a personal altar constructed in such a manner as to shelter and pay homage to once loved objects cherished in past lives and rituals now forgotten or ignored. It is my hope that these altars inspire in the viewer a sense of fun, harmony, and history.”

(Click image to enlarge)

Chuck Solberg

St. Paul, MN / Ceramics
View Website

Chuck works with stoneware and porcelain clay, he creates functional tableware and large, sculptural pieces. The larger pieces are frequently constructed from separately thrown clay sections that are joined together and then distorted by paddling. The seams and joints from this construction process are left exposed to visually break up the surface of the piece. “In both functional and sculptural work,” states the artist, “my goal is to accent the inherent spontaneity and raw beauty of clay. Wood firing achieves this objective. Flame and ash flow through the kiln leaving unexpected patterns and rich surfaces.”

7 1/2" x 6"

(Click image to enlarge)

Ken Standhardt

Gilbertsville, PA / Ceramics
View Website

“After I throw each vessel on the potter’s wheel and it dries leather hard, I trim its rough edges and indent the exterior geometrically with a variety of handmade tools. In a single vessel, the number of indentions can vary from one thousand to five thousand, each individually placed by hand. Thus, no two are identical. Each vessel is given its own character further by carving and incising the rim in designs that reflect Pre-Columbian patterns and form.”
“When the vessel is completely dry, it is bisque fired and placed in an outdoor Raku Kiln. There it is heated until it is glowing red. At that point it is removed from the kiln with tongs and is buried in hardwood sawdust. This process is similar to the ancient, simple pit firing methodology.”

16 1/2" dia.

(Click image to enlarge)

Sam Stang

Augusta, MO / Glass
View Website

Sam Stang produces one-of-a-kind creations with an emphasis on Venetian-inspired glass. His use of bright colors and large shapes is a signature of his work. Sam Stang produces one-of-a-kind creations with an emphasis on Venetian-inspired glass. His use of bright colors and large shapes is a signature of his work.

32 1/2" X 19"

(Click image to enlarge)

Marian Steen

St. Louis, MO / Two-Dimensional Mixed Media
View Website

“I create paintings using a variety of media. My artwork is predominantly watercolor, but I like to incorporate into the paintings handmade paper, strings, found objects, materials or scraps of memorabilia that have personal meaning. I usually start my paintings with large washes of watercolor pouring and dripping the paint, taking full advantage of the ‘wet-on-wet’ technique favored by many watercolorists. The textures and collages come later with water color acrylic added. The paintings, with their areas of light and dark, are meant to illustrate both frustration and hope. I hope my work will evoke in my viewers a sense of shared experiences and emotions.”

7 1/4" dia x 13"

(Click image to enlarge)

Harry Stuart

Boyertown, PA / Glass

“My work is involved in producing objects that deal with color interaction. The physical behavior of the colors, as well as line texture influence size and form. The three-dimensional character of each piece is a natural format with which to display such a colorful canvas of light and color.”

30" x 35"

(Click image to enlarge)

Jeffrey Zachmann

Fergus Falls, MN / Sculpture
View Website

“I have always been interested in machines and motion. My work in Kinetic Sculpture (Moving Sculpture) started when I was a child. I would go out to a large pile of dirt that was near my house and make tunnels and trails for marbles. When I was going to the University for a degree in ceramics, an instructor gave me an assignment to make something nonfunctional. I remembered the marble trails in my youth, and started to make them out of clay. This didn’t work very well, I would have to make 10 to get 1 that worked, because clay shrinks, warps and cracks as it dries. One day it just popped into my mind to try metal instead. It worked wonderfully! I’ve been working with metal now about 15 years and still having the fun I had when I was 7 or 8.”