Interconnected
Influenced by nature, Catherine Gruetzke-Blais works in a variety of paint media and collages. Her focus is on color, rhythm, and texture while trying to capture the energy that her mainly natural subject matter exudes. Her ultimate goal is to create a sense of unity in each composition as she works through this creative process. Catherine completed MAT and BFA degrees from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and she works from her studio at Howard Street Studios in Framingham, MA.
My images were painted after photographing many beautiful, often overlooked, small natural summer scenes. These colorful, textured compositions call for me to notice and document them in my art. I start out looking at the research photographs but eventually abandon them as the art takes on its own life in paint.
Interconnected
Driven by a relentless pursuit of artistic innovation, Melinda Abrams continually pushes the boundaries of her craft, experimenting with new techniques and mediums to bring her creative vision to life. Her work is a testament to the enduring power of art to provoke thought, evoke emotion, and transcend the boundaries of language and culture. Currently, she is painting with alcohol inks, and creating a new series called “Pieces Of Me”. Pieces of me are artworks created from objects found in one one’s home, and mark a transition in one’s life.
I am a creator at heart. In my current series of alcohol inks on paper, I explore the transformative power of beginning each day with painting. Inspired by the limitless possibilities that come with a fresh start, I harness the vibrant and unpredictable nature of alcohol inks to capture the essence of these new beginnings.
Often I begin with a poem, word, or intention. After contemplating that word or phrase, I begin painting. In many paintings, the words are actually used as brush strokes. When the painting is finished you cannot see the actual words, but they are layered into the painting. Often the title of the painting is the words that I’ve used to begin the painting.
In these last few months, barriers-borders-disconnection-wars have pulled at my heart while at the same time, nature kindness-beauty have nurtured my heart. This is reflected in my recent paintings.
Interference Wave
Serena Buschi lives and works in Bedford, New York where she creates fiber and mixed media installations that express the current socio-political environment as well as larger contexts. She often uses visual frameworks that express her interest in physical and metaphysical philosophical concepts within her works. Being a product of two cultures and varied traditions, an assimilated mixture of Southeast Asian Indian and Italian descent, her process of pinning and draping materials together mirrors her understanding of self and extrapolation to where we are within the moment.
Buschi holds an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston Massachusetts. She holds an MA from Teachers College, Columbia University New York. She has been an Art Educator at the high school level for the last 24 years in the New York State public school system and continues to teach the International Baccalaureate Visual Arts program in Dobbs Ferry, NY.
Solo shows include the Flatiron Prow Art Space in Manhattan. Her work has been featured in the motion picture Anesthesia in 2016. During her tenure at Teachers College, Columbia University she has curated the Macy Art Gallery. Her work is in numerous private collections.
My work, rooted in identity, includes three overarching frameworks: grid, waveform, and weight that reflect properties of the physical world and existential thought after a lifetime of dialogue with my father, a physics professor. I choose fiber to reference a way of knowing, a comfort connected to my familiarity with cloth and the lasting impression cloth has had in my life. Sari silk speaks to the array of unashamed vibrancy of the saris worn by the women in my life and the epigenetic weight this fiber carries.
Weight is generational, where trauma has carryover, it encompasses emotional weight and the physicality of weight variations that speak to the body’s physical mass, related restrictions, and the desire to be free of them. Waveform pattern reflects the reverberation of energy and warping of space that happens with interactions of all forms of energy that take up space. The grid I see as a universal structure, where everything is interrelated and housed. It is the interconnected compartments of the grid, the space we take up, the space in between, and the warping of space that I am interested in.
I use fiber and printmaking to collage, weave, and embroider with varying substrates. I restructure these to create nets, objects, paper quilts, and fiber paintings interconnecting fragments by pinning and draping them together. This process mirrors how my identity has been constructed and extends to the larger context of the interconnectivity and power dynamics of social, political, and ecological relationships.
“Dividing reality up into parts and then naming those parts is always arbitrary, a product of convention, because subatomic particles, and everything else in the universe, are no more separate from one another than different patterns in an ornate carpet.” David Bohm, Physicist
“All matter has a wavelike character.” Brian Greene, Physicist
Interrupted Sleep
Maja Wolf was born in Grudziadz, Poland on February 13, 1981. She is an artist, owner of an art gallery Maya in Torun, painter and drawing instructor, art dealer, and organizer of art exhibitions and auctions. She completed a study of advertising, interior design, and pedagogy. Since 2013 member of the Association of Polish Painters and Graphic Artists in Warsaw.
In the early years, she painted for institutions, companies, and private persons. However, he paints surreal paintings all his life. She loves to use her imagination in art and create her world. For many years she has been known for drawing realistic portraits and caricatures with pastels, charcoal, and pencils.
MAYA GALLERY
Since 2009 to now she has its own gallery in Torun ( Maya Gallery ).
Since 2011 she has organized nearly 100 exhibitions of Polish artists.
She organized three art competitions for children and adolescents: Casting for Mona Lisa ( 2011 ), My Mona Lisa ( 2015 ), and Mona Lisa in Torun ( 2016 ).
She organized and participated in numerous auctions and charity exhibitions.
MAYA ATELIER
Since 2013 she has been teaching drawing and painting. In June and September 2019, she organized 2 art workshops where she was also an art instructor.
From August 2019 to October 2020 she ran her own drawing and painting school in Torun Maya Atelier. The school was closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Awards:
First Place winner in the 2022 AMERICAN ART AWARDS in the category of SURREALISM
First Place winner in the “Blue” 2022 show Colors of Humanity Art Gallery in the USA
Winner in the 2022 „Blue” Art Competition Art Room Gallery ( 3rd place)
Winner in the 2022 AMERICAN ART AWARDS in the category of SURREALISM (4th place)
Artistic Excellence Award in Fusion Art’s 6th Annual Skies Art Exhibition – November 2022
I have been interested in art since I was a child. My great passion was drawing and painting. One of my dreams was to open my own art gallery and painting school. The dream came true. But with dreams, it is better to be careful. It soon turned out that managing the art gallery, building offers, contacts with artists, organizing exhibitions, and conducting lessons took up all my free time.
I had to make difficult decisions to have time to paint. A few months ago I hired competent staff in a gallery and moved to the countryside away from the noisy city. I finally found time to create and show my paintings to the world. I am very glad that I succeeded.
Interwoven
Stephanie Dishno is a sculptural artist currently creating in Missoula, Montana. Most recently, she instructed 3D Foundations and Ceramics at the University of Montana Western. From 2020 to 2022, she was a Long-Term Resident Artist at the Clay Studio of Missoula and was the Studio Manager and Co-Founder of Wildfire Ceramic Studio.
Stephanie’s education in the arts includes a BFA from Herron School of Art and Design in 2012, a Post-Baccalaureate from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2016, and an MFA from the University of Montana in 2020. Stephanie has also attended two short-term residencies at Red Lodge Clay Center and was a Co-Director for a year and a half at FrontierSpace Art Gallery in Missoula, Montana.
My work is about life experiences that come together to create a personal narrative that portrays a journey through life and constructs a sense of identity. Each figure embodies a quintessential moment that feels exclusively intimate but is often universally experienced. Individually, each figure reads like a snapshot in time, much like a chapter in a book. Together the figures create a story from my perspective and curiosities as a woman in today’s society.
I activate the surrounding space with color which creates a visual divide. The divide is a metaphor for where our inner and outer worlds coincide. Our personal narratives are portrayed in white, and the universal narrative is represented in black. This creates an intimate dichotomy that is interwoven between the viewers and the sculptures.
Interwoven Realms A Collage Of Nature And Urbanity
Heng Ying Xuan is a 22-year-old contemporary artist based in Singapore.
She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Honours (Fine Art) at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore after attaining her Diploma in Interior Architecture and Design
Outside of her practice – Ying Xuan has volunteered in events she finds meaningful, such as – fundraisers, Salvation Army outreach programs, and elderly care centers.
| Sculptor of Memories | Prevailer of Landscapes |
In my artistic practice, I explore the intricate layers of memories shaping beliefs, characters, and relationships, with a specific focus on the intersection of memories with natural landscapes.
My exploration extends beyond the mere portrayal of landscapes; I seek to unravel the profound connections between human emotions and the environments that surround us. What is it about landscapes that draw people in, and how can I integrate these emotional nuances into my work in a way that transcends traditional norms associated with landscape artworks?
Utilizing sculpting and painting, the exploration extends to emotional, mental, and spiritual landscapes, aiming to transcend physical appearances and foster a deeper understanding of self and others.
As I continue to sculpt and paint, I am on a journey to not only express the beauty of the external world but also to articulate the complex interplay between personal memories, emotions, and the landscapes that serve as their silent witnesses.
Into The Light
Marion Kahn is an award-winning, contemporary oil painter. Through vivid interpretation, her paintings share the unceasing mystery of the world around her. As an artist, Marion confidently captures surprising details that draw in the viewer. Her palettes can be soft or bold. She uses color to carry the message of the painting, whether expressing a quiet meditation or exuberant joy. Marion’s work is found in the homes of sophisticated collectors around the country as well as healthcare institutions. “My desire to paint exploded in Sicily when I saw two young artists atop a scaffolding restoring a 400-year-old fresco,” says Marion. “I watched, mesmerized and full of questions.” Marion studied with established artists, including renowned photorealist painter, Robert Cottingham; abstract painters, Sammy Peters, and Lauren Mantecon; American Impressionists, Kim English, and Barry Thomas; abstract colorist, Casey Klahn, and plein air painters, Jean Perry and Joan Hoffmann.
I speak in color. I offer a joyous journey into a chroma-saturated world on a path of discovery, of the art, myself, and hopefully for the viewer. As an artist, I try to express the truth I see and feel, primarily in oils. As light filters through elements, I see their reality. But when I imagine the potential of sight or vision on a canvas, I see color. I see what could be and may be. At a cellular level, there is color. I’m not repainting the world. I’m just offering a different idea of how things could be. Painting, for me, is a Zen-like activity. It provides a great deal of peace, even when I’m debating a painting. In the honorable struggle of creation, I remain committed to the discovery and to creating compelling works. It is my wish that, through my paintings, viewers never find the last idea but rather the ongoing inspiration of possibility that I, too, enjoy.
Into The Village
Lori Cusick is an award-winning artist with a passion for plein air painting that influences all she creates. She takes inspiration from a location, adds a stylization from her own imagination, and using vivid colors and broad brushstrokes, transforms it into something new. Lori grew up in the mountains of New York, earned her BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and resides in Dallas. Her work can be seen in galleries, plein air shows, and private collections nationwide.
When painting en plein air — before I ever pick up a brush — I spend a lot of time looking around, settling myself to allow the day’s painting to reveal itself to me. Sometimes I’ll paint the big, wide-open space and other times, a tight, little spot. Once committed, I begin sketching directly onto a pre-toned black canvas, altering the scale and position of subjects to create exciting compositions. Eventually, my subjects’ personalities appear, and the real fun begins — applying color with swift, fluid strokes to bring my vision to life.
My goal is never to replicate, but to transform what I see into a vibrant, stylized interpretation that draws people in, engages their imagination, and allows them to dream a little with every view.
I paint because it grounds me. It’s my passion and my escape. Transforming that passion into art that brings people joy, and gives them a new perspective of the world around them, is my purpose and the reason I love what I do.
Into The Woods
Saniya Sayyad is a self-taught artist and teacher originally from India and currently residing in California She holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and worked in the corporate sector for over seven years before following her passion for art. Saniya has been passionate about drawing and painting since childhood, but she had to give up on it during her higher studies due to academic pressure. However, she always felt the urge to paint deep inside her. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while working for a corporate firm, Saniya realized the value of life and decided that she didn’t want to spend her entire life working for someone else. She wanted to do something chat made her happy, and painting was the only thing, apart from her family, that gave her true happiness. So, she decided to take her hobby to the next level. Saniya quit her corporate job and embarked on a self-awakening journey; which she loves to share with others. She strongly believes that anyone can create art without any prior experience or skill, as long as they enjoy the process. Saniya is passionate about sharing her art with the world and inspiring others to pursue their passion.
Bridging the gap between beautiful memories and reality. I love to use texture mediums to make my paintings pop up. My paintings are reflections of happy times, I am the happiest when roaming in wild nature appreciating the beauty created by the Almighty.