I…Am…A…Ro…Bot
Anthony Surratt is a mixed-media abstract artist. While he adds multiple layers of paint, paper, and other material to his paintings and assemblages, it is frequently via methods of subtraction and excavation—sanding, scraping, gouging, sawing, and digging—that their ultimate meanings emerge.
Surratt’s paintings have been exhibited throughout New England and Georgia and in online exhibitions. He is an active volunteer and artist member of Southern Vermont Arts Center and serves on the board of directors of Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning, in Manchester, Vermont.
He currently is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree at Maine College of Art & Design in Portland and is a candidate for graduation in May 2023. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, and a certificate in interior design from Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Before becoming a full-time artist, Surratt worked in corporate communications for more than 25 years, including at Cox Communications in Atlanta and Time Warner Cable in NYC. He resides in southern Vermont.
My mother still laughs about how much she dreaded shopping with me when I was a child because I touched and picked up everything in the store, examined it, felt it, and occasionally broke it. Clearly, there was a strong pull of the tactile in me from an early age, and that instinct still drives me and my art practice all these decades later. I am obsessed with the texture and tactility of my materials. While my works are not interactive per se, I nevertheless want viewers to want to touch these paintings and assemblages, experience their palpable textures, and peer into the depth of their many layers.
My work explores the interplay of disparate layers of paint, paper, textiles, and other materials that have been built up and excavated, layer by layer, to reveal hidden fragments and surprise juxtapositions of previously separated and unrelated materials that now exist in unison. These layers form a cohesive whole out of disparate materials—including the dug-up, the leftover, the castoff, the repurposed, the reused, the recycled, the reconsidered, and the pulled-from-the-trash.
This painting is in part an homage to archaeology: The well-earned payoff of discovering buried artifacts; the careful separation of one piece of material from another; the odd collection of forms that accumulate as I keep digging and finding. It is also about bridging dichotomies and searching for balance: A balance between construction and deconstruction; between addition and subtraction; accumulation and reductionism; order and chaos; new and old; treasure and trash; freedom and constraint; and between discovered and discarded.
Iapetus: The Captive
John Calabrese received his BA in Art from Catholic University, Washington D.C., his MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, and his Ph. D. in Comparative Arts from Ohio University, Athens. He is a practicing artist.
He is Professor Emeritus of Art from Texas Woman’s University where he taught art history, aesthetics, history of film noir, the art of Alfred Hitchcock, and was in charge of the studies abroad art history program which he initiated in 1994. He has published articles on Paul Klee, J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” and “The Trouble with Harry.” See the website for more detailed information.
I have always been influenced by the female figure as well as fantasy/cosmic sky and planet scapes. I have found a way to combine these two subjects in new, startling, and creative ways.
The delicate nuance of value and texture become tools in conveying powerful dramatic statements about earthly beings who are not afraid to wonder, think, dream, and take that one step beyond.
The inhabitants of the cosmic atmosphere appear at odds with their surroundings. This is the result when the merely earthly confronts its unavoidable connection to the awe, mystery, and majesty of the heavens.
However, when fragile earthly beauty confronts sublime heavenly beauty, the earthly is reverently and silently humbled.
Ice Cubes
Karen Safer is a photographic artist, documentary photographer, published writer, and poet with a musical bent. As a fifth-generation native Angelino, she was given a camera and crayons at 3 and exposed to dominant California motifs: light, palm trees, the ocean, music, and vernacular architecture that helped define and influence her left-handed aesthetic. She was influenced by her dad (educator and calligrapher) who developed black & white photos in their back washroom/turned darkroom and by her mother’s thirst for knowledge and travel.
She was fortunate to begin a life of travel as a pre-teen which shaped her love of the exotic paired with an eye for the formal, accidental, and unusual while subliminally seeking the “beautiful” that jiggles the lens/frame of her eye. She documented her surroundings and family and friends’ events from the onset. During COVID she was photographed from her balcony and was dubbed the “Monet of Playa del Rey.”
Not sure if she is behind or ahead of the times, she has been in over 10 solo shows and 170+ juried and group exhibitions, from London, Rome, Glasgow, Zurich, Barcelona, Budapest, Athens, Prague, Hawaii, Canada, and from California to New York, winning 135+ Talent, Merit, Honorable Mention and Special Recognition Awards. Competing in current exhibitions has made her stretch and expand her visual vocabulary. She has traveled and photographed in over 230 countries (and territories).
Initially, she began painting and printmaking alongside the study of art and architectural history before wholly embracing photography with influences from Mesopotamia to Vermeer/Matisse and Atget to Cindy Sherman. She is a self-described “romantic soul” with intellectual cravings, currently residing in Playa del Rey, CA.
She received a bachelor’s and master’s degree with honors in art from UCLA and CSULB. Her career includes work in design and architecture firms and she is the principal of ArtFocus International.
I got a camera and some crayons as a kid,
journeyed along a path in life – far from what I’d expected,
moved from youth to middle age,
did some work, had some fun, got high, got low,
and just continue doing it – never tiring of the next visual surprise.
– Life is still a mystery, after all.
Iconic Guggenheim
Fatemah Alloo, born in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and raised in New York City, has a passion for drawing, painting, and creating sculptures in order to express herself and to show others what she is capable of making. She has been making art since she was in elementary school, and every day since then has been nothing but a learning experience for her to be able to grow as an artist. Getting into LaGuardia High School of the Arts was a dream that Fatemah had, because she knew it would expose her to different art styles and media, and she is proud to have achieved that goal. Before getting into this arts high school, Fatemah was comfortable with only one medium: graphite. Now, she can create art with different media and express herself with color in both 2D and 3D art. Fatemah hopes her art journey will continue to grow from here on, making pieces for others as well!
I love making art inspired by different things, using a variety of media in order to achieve beautiful pieces in a realistic style. I perceive my art not only as a regular painting, drawing, or sculpture, but as an image to express myself to others with an important moment in my life, a daily activity, or teaching others. For example, the Favorite Food piece is a painting that shows my comfort food. I enjoyed painting the burger with fries as much as I do eating it. The Color Schemes book teaches other viewers, not only artists, about color theory and the color relationships that exist through paintings. I would love for more people to see my art and be inspired by it.
Icons
Kylo-Patrick Hart is an award-winning photographer and chair of the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media at Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, Texas, USA). He received his formal training in digital media arts while a student at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, with additional instruction provided by offerings of the Maine Media Workshops and Santa Fe Workshops. His photographs have been exhibited in numerous cities throughout the United States and in several countries abroad.
As an artist and photographer, my motivation is to discover and capture the beauty, even when it is not always readily self-evident, that surrounds us continuously in all areas of our everyday lives.
Icons Reimagined Louvre
Karen Safer is a photographic artist, writer, and poet with a musical bent who lives at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. As a native Angelino, she was given a camera and crayons at 3 and exposed to dominant California motifs: light, palm trees, the ocean, music, and vernacular architecture that helped define and influence her left-handed aesthetic. She was influenced by her dad (amateur calligrapher and photographer) who developed black & white photos in their back washroom/turned darkroom and by her mother’s love of history, language, and thirst for knowledge and travel.
Early on, she was greatly influenced by movies, music, books, plays, history, and art from the ancient Babylonians to Vermeer to Atget and Cindy Sherman. She has a master’s degree in art, and a career in design and architecture, exhibited in 12 solo shows, 300+ international galleries, museums, and magazines including London, Rome, Glasgow, Budapest, Athens, Prague, Paris, Barcelona, Sao Paulo and from California to New York, winning 240+ Talent, Merit and Honorable Mention Awards and represented in private collections. She is a self-described “romantic soul” with intellectual cravings and a lover of Jazz, Rock & Roll (the background soundtrack of her youth), basketball, and baseball.
She is listed in Who’s Who of Professional Women 2023 and was most recently honored with First Prizes for ABSTRACT and ARCHITECTURE photography in the prestigious 21st Julia Margaret Cameron Award and Black & White Spider Awards (Nominee).
She was fortunate to begin a life of travel as a pre-teen that shaped her love of the exotic, paired with an eye for the formal, accidental, and “unusual” while subliminally seeking the beauty that jiggled the lens/frame of her eye. She has experienced and photographed in over 230 countries/territories of the earth.
“A photographer has the whole world big or small to capture.” – kjs
Influences: I am a student of art, architecture, history, literature, film, and music. I have been heavily influenced by so many sources but here I’ve chosen to highlight art and photography influences from Hopper to Cartier-Bresson and from Atget to Cindy Sherman. So many influences on life from cities to nature to music and art. I love color and all its vibrance while I venerate black and white. I embrace all the many influences that have touched my art and my life deeply.
Ideas Live Forever
As a UK-born artist who moved to California in 2022, I draw inspiration from the local beauty and vibrant community around me. With a background in linguistics and communications, I have had the privilege of working with people from various cultures and backgrounds throughout my career. This rich tapestry of experiences is reflected in my art, where I strive to create pieces that resonate with shared emotions and universal experiences.
My path to art has been anything but conventional; after receiving an F in high school art class, I was delighted when my first piece was accepted into the 2023 de Young Open (and more than tempted to send an invitation to my old teacher). Since then, I have had the honor of displaying my artwork in galleries across America, from California to New York State. Each piece I create is an exploration of color, texture, and movement, inviting viewers to engage with the dynamic spirit of my work.
I embrace risks and challenges, continually seeking to expand my artistic voice and develop my career. I find excitement in exploring new dimensions of creativity, and I am dedicated to producing work that reflects the diverse perspectives I have encountered. Through my art, I hope to foster connections and evoke a sense of wonder, celebrating the beauty of our shared humanity.
I am inspired by bold contrasts and the unexpected. As a newly California-based artist, I am continually inspired by the perpetual summer that defines this vibrant state. My abstract acrylic paintings and mixed media pieces explore color, texture, and movement, creating dynamic, rich experiences that capture the essence of the sun-drenched landscapes and the lively outdoor culture that surrounds me. I layer paints to capture the tension between chaos and harmony, inviting viewers into a world where curiosity and delight coexist. Each piece I create reflects the dynamic and playful spirit that defines this region, and I incorporate diverse materials, sometimes blending photography with acrylics to create textured, immersive experiences. My pieces are designed to transport viewers to a place of curiosity and delight, where the possibilities are as endless as the California summer. Through my art, I hope to share the vibrant energy and optimism that this beautiful state inspires in me every day.
If I Can’t Have It, Nobody Can
Before art became his passion, much of Rich Sheaffer’s prior career in engineering and management was rather mundane. The exceptions were when he did not follow conventional wisdom and explored on his own without necessarily doing things the accepted, “correct” way. That is when breakthroughs occur, discoveries are made and quantum improvements can be initiated. It is with that spirit that Rich creates art by inspiration and imagination rather than more conventional rules of how art should be created. Rich’s works reflect the angst of a common man regarding events occurring in society, and some of his works have also predicted future events. When events are so outrageous that he is left at a loss for words … he paints. Rich is active with the Artists Guild of the San Diego Museum of Art, the Artist Alliance of the Oceanside Museum of Art, and others. More information on Rich’s background, portfolio, and the art of Socio-Political Abstractionism can be found at www.RichSheaffer.com.
Since the events of 2016, Rich Sheaffer has been developing a genre of art he calls Socio-Political Abstractionism. While political art is common, it has generally taken the form of such things as cartoons and caricatures. Socio-Political Abstractionism, in contrast, is an art form in which hot-button social topics being divisively debated in the political milieu are “abstractionized” and expressed via painting in abstract form, to inspire thought and discussion. Such works are primitive expressions of dreams or visions that express the events and angst of our time in history. His works are experimental and inspired by current events; he never knows from the onset how the final work will appear. Topics covered by Rich have included societal fear and anger, climate change, human rights, assaults against diversity, truth versus “alternative facts”, degradation of kindness and compassion, migration issues, attacks against democracy, risks of conflict and war, and love versus hate.
If I Could Turn Back Time
Perhaps because she is from Connecticut, Barbara Bose is one of those people who loves to connect the dots, seek the hidden picture, the lesson, the meaning, the purpose lurking within or underneath any- and everything. The hidden chalice in the Highlights magazine illustration. The oracle of the car radio. A chance bird swoop perfectly timed as if in confirmation of a thought. A word synchronistically repeated from seemingly random sources. Like an alchemist, Bose takes delight in seemingly random elements conspiring to build something new and heretofore unimagined. She keeps this concept in a little purse of ideas she carries around invisibly, fermenting and growing them until they gel into artwork. She is certain that clues are always there because she believes that with faith and perseverance an underlying picture gradually emerges from the soup and that intelligence lies behind situations, and lessons are to be learned everywhere.
A retired illustrator, art director, and designer from the publishing world, Barbara Bose is happily painting in her South Florida studio.
70s:
Boston Museum School: studied painting, printmaking
Freelance illustrator: ad agencies, various art departments
80s:
Quincy Patriot Ledger: created art department, news illustration & layout
Boston Herald Sunday Magazine: design & photographic art direction
The Palm Beach Post: illustrator and designer
International Fine Arts College, Miami: taught advertising & production
South Florida Magazine: design & photographic art direction
90s:
Blockbuster Entertainment Magazine: launched, design & photo art direction
Ocean Drive Magazine: launched, design & photographic art direction
Miami Herald: layouts, special sections, illustration
BoseArts: my design business
Absolutely Florida: published my online travel magazine
Florida.TV: online videos, launched, editor & producer
The Real Food Revolution: documentary editor & producer
00s – 10s:
DC & FL web, video, graphic, and stage design, Washington DC
Wrote & illustrated award-winning novel, Tree of Lives
20s: painting in her South Florida studio, exhibiting in local and out-of-state galleries and online
This self-portrait is about the futility of regret, and estrangement. The title, “If I Could Turn Back Time,” pretty much says it all.
Up until recently, I was a beloved grandma. My gorgeous view of life was sunny and great… until a sudden tsunami called “Going No Contact” crashed in, wrecked my center, and swept away my grandsons with it. A marooned grandmother can’t hug without arms. This is a dark, edgy place and it is hard to see my way clear. My hands are still chained to the wish to turn back time. Guidance and art bring in perspective on the roots of this damage. I stand back and face the cycle that repeats and repeats, but am not drenched by it.