Maternal Instinct

As an artist, I create visual narratives about identity, memory, and presentation, both personal and societal. History, time passages, social/cultural/aesthetic transitions, and aesthetic traditions are strong interests. As a child of hoarders, I’m a hunter of vintage ephemera and photos, passionate about researching, acquiring, comparing, and contrasting back then and now. Context, comparison, and contrast are key. Content is often a driving force. Sparking on an image, its inspiration leads me on a treasure hunt to explore its world; literature, events, songs, other people, etc., which I then connect to our world now. Not relying solely on photographic realism, I experiment with different modes of expression. This might include different media; monoprints, digital manipulations, unusual cropping, transfers, symbols, and other ways of expressing a subject’s true reality. This usually leads to many layers, both conceptually and literally, which I hope leads viewers on a path to finding their own meaning or narrative within my work.

In my piece MATERNAL INSTINCT I depict two sets of mammal mothers with their offspring in the ocean (a place I find mysterious and rather scary). Both duos appear bonded and are protectively touching. The humans are my grandmother and my young mother. Floating above them is a whale with her calf. But where a whale relationship might be more or less as simple as it appears, human bonds are always more complicated than they look. I wonder what connections we have in common with other mammals in our family situations, what’s instinctive, what’s learned? Photos of my mother and her mother fascinate me. I ponder how her mother impacted the woman and mother she became. And ultimately how that relationship connected to my relationship with my mother and how that impacted the person I am today.

Pennie Fien is a mixed-media artist and painter living in Redondo Beach. She has a BFA from Tyler College of Art in Philadelphia and an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Following a successful career in Costume Design, she was an art educator for over 20 years. Since retiring from teaching in 2020, she has been exhibiting her art both locally and nationally. Ms. Fien is on the board of Collage Artists of America and is the exhibit chair.

Matriarch And Her Following

Jenni Souter is a native of Sandusky OH. After studying art, art education, and environmental art education, she graduated from Bowling Green State University with a bachelor’s of fine art majoring in painting with a minor in art education. She has continued to nurture and cultivate her passion for art through her role as an elementary art teacher. Through her instruction and guidance, young minds are introduced to the world of art and art history. Jenni has found innovation through her relationship with her students to continue producing her own art. Not only has she inspired the artistic experience of her students by instilling in them a positive self-image, but they have served as inspiration for her to create unique and imaginative paintings. She has been published, has private collections & exhibited in NYC, Chicago, Hollywood CA, Miami Fl, Detroit MI, Bowling Green OH, Canada, Japan, Spain, London, Greece, United Arab of Emeritus, Africa, Germany, China, Singapore, and the Louvre in France.

Internationally known, Jenni Souter says, ”My art is a pleasing aesthetic experience. After the suicide of a loved one, I began to be able to see the world using the abstract color of a rainbow. My art has a decadent metallic underpainting with a jolly rancher-like final coat which is a pure colorful bold eye candy. I use Pebeo oil paints. I worked very hard during COVID and made artwork covering many subjects including landscapes and flowers like O’Keeffe. Perhaps I most identify with Mary Cassatt’s subject matter of children because motherhood has been paramount for me and now I get to share the joys of motherhood with you.”

May Flowers 1.0

I was born and raised in NYC, but I lived mostly in the Bronx. I attended CCNY where I graduated with a BS in Mathematics and an MA in Mathematics Education. I taught high school mathematics in The Bronx. I have always been interested in the arts and started writing poems and playing guitar at age 19. I studied poetry under Professor Robert O’Clair. I studied guitar at The Guitar Workshop. I studied painting and drawing at SUNY in Purchase. I have had paintings in 8 live group shows at Jones Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri, paintings at 3 live group shows in Arbor Gallery, Carmel, NY, paintings and photos in 3 live group shows at Putnam Arts Council in Mahopac, NY. and 1 painting in a live group show at the Mahopac Public Library. Also, I have exhibited in many online shows. I have exhibited at HMVCGalleryNewYork virtually since its inception for over 2 years. A wonderful state-of-the-art gallery with outstanding artists! My poems have been published.in magazines, books, and at HVMOCA. I performed some of my poems in April 2024 at HVMOCA with numerous other artists at Writing The Walls 2024. I self-published a children’s book, ”Mr. Fine Goes to the Eye Doctor”. My principal artistic interest has been abstract painting and drawing for the last 11 years, but I have written many poems as well. I live in Putnam County, NY.

My work in fine arts has principally been in 2 classes of abstract paintings: oils and water-based paints. However, I have completed numerous works in drawing. I focus on color, texture, methodology of delivery, and composition. In composition, I am interested in positive space and negative space as well. I believe the painting/drawing is a manifestation of my emotional state of both conscious and unconscious feelings.

May Flowers 1.1

I was born and raised in NYC but mostly in The Bronx. I attended CCNY where I graduated with a BS in Mathematics and an MA in Mathematics Education. I taught high school mathematics in The Bronx. I have always been interested in the arts and started writing poems and playing guitar at age 19. I studied poetry under Professor Robert O’Clair. I studied guitar at The Guitar Workshop. I studied painting and drawing at SUNY in Purchase. I have had paintings in 8 live group shows at Jones Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri, and 2 at Arbor Gallery, Carmel, NY. Also, I have exhibited in many online shows. I have exhibited continuously at HMVCGalleryNewYork virtually since its inception. A wonderful state-of-the-art gallery with outstanding artists! My poems have been published.in magazines, books, and at HVMOCA. I am currently performing some of my literary work at HVMOCA with other artists on April 13,20 and 21 2024 at Writing The Walls 2024. I self-published a children’s book, ”Mr. Fine Goes to the Eye Doctor”. My principal artistic interest has been abstract painting and drawing for the last 10 years, but I have written many poems as well. I live in Putnam County, NY.

May Flowers 1.3

I was born and raised in NYC, but mostly in The Bronx. I attended CCNY, where I graduated with a BS in Mathematics and an MA in Mathematics Education. I taught high school mathematics in the Bronx. I have always been interested in the arts and started writing poems and playing guitar at age 19. I studied poetry under Professor Robert O’Clair. I studied guitar at The Guitar Workshop. I studied painting and drawing at SUNY Purchase. I have had paintings in 8 live group shows at Jones Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri, paintings at 5 live group shows in Arbor Gallery, Carmel, NY, paintings and photos in 6 live group shows at Putnam Arts Council in Mahopac, NY, and 1 painting in a live group show at the Mahopac Public Library. Also, I have exhibited in many online shows. I have exhibited at HMVCGalleryNewYork virtually since its inception for 3 years. A wonderful state-of-the-art gallery with outstanding artists! My poems have been published in magazines, books, and at HVMOCA. I performed some of my poems in April 2024 and 2025 at HVMOCA with numerous other artists at Writing The Walls. I self-published a children’s book, ”Mr. Fine Goes to the Eye Doctor”, in 1993. My principal artistic interest has been abstract painting and drawing for the last 12 years, but I have written many poems as well. I live in Putnam County, NY

My work in fine arts has principally been in 2 classes of abstract paintings: oils and water-based paints. However, I have completed numerous works in drawing. Recently, I have experimented with spray paints. I focus on color, texture, methodology of delivery, and composition. In composition, I am interested in positive space and negative space as well. I believe the painting/drawing is a manifestation of my emotional state of both conscious and unconscious feelings.

May This Be A Morning Of Innocent Beginning When The Gift Within You Slips Clear

Karen Kurka Jensen is an accomplished contemporary ink and watercolor artist, who portrays her deep connection to nature through mystical landscapes and abstract images. Jensen grew up in Minnesota where she was sidetracked from a library career following a traumatic car accident. She went in search of alternative healing after doctors could not relieve her chronic pain. She met a traditional Chinese healer who not only treated her successfully but introduced her to Chinese culture and heritage. This “accident” led her down a path of discovery, falling in love with the art of sumi-e. Karen met and began studying with American sumi-e masters, Susan Frame and Susan Christie shortly after they returned from formal studies overseas in China and Japan, where their teachers were Zhuo He-Jun and Lu Yen Shao. She has continued research studies on her own from renowned sumi-e artists such as Diana Kan and Gao Xingjian.

As an artist who specializes in sumi-e art, I am deeply passionate about exploring the relationship between art and spirituality. My artwork is a reflection of my innermost thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, and is intended to serve as a vehicle for self-expression, meditation, and contemplation. For me, sumi-e is the perfect medium.

Sumi-e, also known as Japanese ink painting, is a traditional art form that is deeply rooted in heart and vision. In my art, I strive to capture the spiritual essence of my subject. Whether I’m painting a landscape or an abstract expression, my goal is to create a piece of art that speaks to the viewer on a deeper level.

Ultimately, my expressive and spiritual sumi-e art is a reflection of my own personal journey. Through my artwork, I seek to explore and express my own thoughts, feelings, and spirituality, while also providing a source of inspiration and reflection for others. Whether viewed as a simple piece of art or as a vehicle for meditation and contemplation, I hope that my work serves to uplift and inspire all who encounter it.

Me Blond 56

Stephanie Bing studied painting in the master class of internationally renowned art professor Klaus Jürgen-Fischer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Mainz and photography in the master class of Professor Dr. Vladimir Spacek from Prague. Born in 1967 in Mannheim, Germany, Bing graduated with distinction from high school in Offenburg. Subsequently, she studied fine arts, painting, photography, art history, German, and literature at Johannes Gutenberg University and the Academy of Fine Arts in Mainz, again graduating with distinction.

Following her education, she worked as an associate professor for the Bavarian Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and the Bavarian Chamber of Architects until 2002.

Bing focused on design, architecture, aesthetic perception, and digital media to promote visual literacy.

Since 1991, her work has been shown in national and international exhibitions.

I compose bright, surprising settings like a luxury jewel box and assimilate my interiors to unknown sanctuaries with high vibes. Everything in my paintings is playful, ambiguous, and multi-layered. I love variations within a theme and image quotations. My artwork is more than an assemblage of colors and patterns to please the eye. I build new environments that relate to nothing seen before. My pure aesthetic energy flows out of my artwork and brightens the viewer’s mind with pure buzz and excitement. I love to break the traditional methods of spatial visualization and the three-dimensional physical illusions of a room to make the viewer’s perception of reality absurd. I want to allow my audience to look behind the bare, well-known pictorial sphere by leaving behind the classically taught composition and inventing more layers within the two-dimensional canvas. By breaking the classical view, I can generate a new experience for my audience, pointing them to emotional reality. I turn my motives into bright, cheering works of art, like an explosion of colors and organic shapes. Creating is like breathing. Painting is surviving. The painting process itself is of the utmost importance in my daily life. I like to plunge into my painting process as others fall into a pool. Creating a new image is an effort to balance between visualizing and reflecting on my surroundings and emotions. The subjects of my work reflect a myriad of daily impressions from traveling and being in motion. While painting, I get an extraordinary sense of personal and creative freedom. I capture detailed and precise moments that bring a fresh and intriguing perspective to the world’s reality. As the viewer sees now existing in a different light, context, or resolution, familiar objects appear as something new.

Meadow

Subodh Maheshwari was born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, North India, where she learned folk art and classical music. She passionately believes: “In the threshold of my life, my present is the window to the past and a key to the future”. She acquired her degrees and studied art at Agra University, California State University, Fullerton, and the University of California, Irvine. Subodh has won numerous awards, including the regional Fellowship Award at UCI in 1986, the Bharat Gaurav Award in India in 2015, and the 60 Masters Award in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She is also registered in Marquis “Who’s Who in America”, the standard in biographical information. Her paintings have also won awards in a variety of categories, including landscape, open, all women, nature, elements, seasons, and abstract.

Subodh is a diversified artist who enjoys telling stories through her artwork, whether it is through landscape, flowers, or abstract art. Her art is a fusion of Eastern symbolism and Western composition, influenced by 16th and 17th-century Rajasthani and Mughal art, and accented by poetry, passages, and phrases in Hindi, Sanskrit, and English. She admires Georgia O’Keeffe for her floral influence and Frida Kahlo for her courage. Whether it is the serene beauty of nature, her spirituality, or the current political climate, she finds inspiration. Having a life shared between India and America, she sees the beautiful similarities, like love, which transcends all borders. Highly individual in her style, her works are described as emotional, mysterious, personal, spiritual, and humorous.

This mysterious and atmospheric painting reveals a forest scene that blurs the line between nature and spirit. Subtle human faces, some smiling and others solemn, are delicately embedded in the vertical forms of tree trunks, suggesting a quiet fusion of humanity with the natural world. Muted tones of green, grey, and soft blush flow like mist through the layered textures, giving the impression of a forest alive with memory and unseen watchers. The figures seem to emerge and vanish at once, evoking themes of presence, ancestry, and the silent sentience of nature.

Meditation

Born an infant in 1950, I grew up in the easy 50’s turbulent 60’s early 70’s. Into the HIV ’80s into the quiet 90’s parenting a lot in the early ’00s and hitting 60 in 2010 focusing on my and my art. It was 8 years of writing until I found my way back to the camera seriously taking classes and being in a group with fellow photographers.

I have been taking pictures my whole life but really seriously in the early 90’s and again in the last 8-10 years. I use my iPhone, Canon Point and Shoot, and Canon 70D I would like a mirrorless 5D, but I am not sure it worth the price.

I print mostly at home and would like a larger printer but again I am not sure if I have the space and money. My academic history is just that history. My writing history is just that history. My photos have appeared in galleries, museums, online, and on the cover page of a journal.

Aging for me has been a slow painful process. I have not been ill or had an accident. Nothing major has occurred, just the slow process of decay. Currently 73 — April 3 is my birthday — I grapple with death a recurring theme in my life. With one bout of major depression in my life for a year and a half when I was 22-24, the scar of this event has never left. Add to that scar growing up homosexual in a time when it was still a diagnosis, before 1973 when the APA took it out of the DSM. I have struggled with the question of whether am I good enough, man enough in a world that has hated me. Male Jewish White Gay Privileged American now toward the end of my life, the final 1/3, the finale, not so grand. I photograph myself struggling to make sense of myself, now ‘A Stranger in a Strange Land.’ Grokking where I’ve been, HELL. ‘Selfieing’ myself with 3 cameras — the one on my iPhone 14pro, my Canon Point and Shoot, and my DSLR 70D — documenting the pains and joys of the simple home existence of my life through the use of selfie sticks, delayed shutter, tripods, backdrops, lighting and more. Here I introduce NKA Dove Nasir, an aging content and malcontent ‘mjwgpa’ cisgender human from CKA (currently known as) Earth. Documenting glimpses of his home, 3 rooms, his life in play and torment, his memoir in pictures…in an Ed McMahon intro, “Here’s Dove!”