On The Rocks
Joanne Chase-Mattillo was born in the beautiful Midwestern University town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. While the natural surroundings of her childhood were inspiring, the beauty of nature surrounding Los Angeles was the impetus for her entrance into the field of photography. Joanne began vigorously studying photography and other art arenas to hone her skills as a visual artist. In 2000, she graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA). She is now a full-time artist.
In addition to color and black and white film, Joanne shoots digitally and employs the techniques of infrared imaging and enjoys creating 3D anaglyphs to be viewed with red/blue lenses. As an extension of photography, she has branched out to do videos and has a YouTube Channel, THE VIDEO ART OF JOANNE CHASE-MATTILLO. Along with nature, Joanne frequently photographs female and male subjects at themed studio shoots. She often uses the photograph of models combined with images of her nature photography to create unique photo montages.
Joanne has exhibited throughout California, nationally, in Korea, France, England, Switzerland, Scotland, Greece, Spain, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Holland, Taiwan, Brazil, Dubai, and Italy.
As a photographer, I am constantly in search of iconic imagery. The craftsmanship and perfection of classic Hollywood cinema have always been an inspiration and a goal I seek to achieve in my photography. While enjoying the technology of the present and how it has enhanced photography, I am very drawn to recreate photographs that reference the best of the past. It is my intent that the viewer of the images I create will be taken out of the everyday present to a magical place where, at any time, they would dream of going. Whether photographing people or nature, I strive to honor the best and the beauty of all that I have an opportunity to capture with my camera.
Summer days are the dream moments of the year that are looked forward to in dreary seasons. The beach, pool, lakes, and oceans draw all to embrace the sun and beat the heat. When we think of summer, we embrace all that the warmth of the sun brings.
On The Way To Fishing
Gabriel Pastor is a young and creative Spanish architect based in Hamburg, Germany.
Gabriel never belonged to the place where he was living. As a child he was the “foreigner” living in Mallorca; as a young man, the Mallorcan studying in Madrid; and now as an adult, he is the Spaniard working and living in Hamburg.
As for many others, the pandemic changed everything for Gabriel. Between personal and professional tribulations, he was immersed in a continuous emotional state of longing and melancholy. He felt deeply nostalgic.
It was then, that he decided to take refuge in his creativity. Mixing his interest in 3D design with a growing and effervescent curiosity for his roots, he began to be “En Biel Seia”.
En Biel Seia is Gabriel’s artistic project.
His 3D digital pieces are inspired by Mallorcan folklore, popular music, poetry, and Catalan modernist art.
Many of the themes of the Balearic and Catalan cultural heritage are sometimes influenced by classical stories from Roman and Greek mythology and even biblical history. This cultural intersection serves as a tool for research.
The compositions are strongly influenced by the work of Anglada Camarasa, Santiago Rusiñol, and the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
With this project, Gabriel aims to learn from his roots and exploit his creativity. Using modern language, he aims to tell stories that have not yet been heard by many.
For this Open Call to the Art Show “Home” Gabriel decided to show three of the places where he first connected to his roots and felt he belonged. The Mediterranean Sea, the infamous “Raixa” in the mountains of Bunyola (Mallorca), and Lately “The almond tree alley” in the vicinity of Campos, Mallorca.
On Top
Chan Chok Ki is a Hong Kong contemporary artist. He was elected as a Chevalier Académicien, Mondial Art Academia, France. His paintings have received various awards in international art contests and were exhibited in Hong Kong, Italy, and South Korea.
He had extensive experience in academic, engineering, and business fields before becoming a full-time artist. A frequent traveler, he is deeply inspired by the diversity and richness of culture, history, and people around the globe. Often disturbed by the social divide, inequalities, and contradictions in society, he employs surreal and symbolic visual language in his oil paintings to reflect the absurdity of modern life. The vivid colors and composition of the paintings convey to viewers the artist’s strong passion, deep feelings, and optimism in life. His paintings are thought-provoking and intended to stimulate audiences to transcend boundaries and re-examine the meaning of life in modern society.
Chan Chok Ki was born in Hong Kong, a metropolitan city in Asia. I have been interested in painting since childhood and have visited museums around the world. Being in an international city that bridges east-west cultures, traditions, and modern lifestyles, I am sensitive to the absurdity, and social division of the rapidly changing society. In my paintings, I attempt to use colors, visual symbols, and surreal images to communicate with the audience. I wish to inspire people with my passions and feelings and to stimulate audiences to think out of their comfort zones and re-examine modern city lifestyles.
Once Upon A Midnight Steer
Punk surrealist, Tyler “Sour Steve” Stephens (Born Oct. 30, 1996) has been assembling intricate, thought-provoking, surrealist montage collage artworks since 2019. By combining vintage wartime adverts from the early 19th century up into the late 1950s with more modern imagery of our current political/social landscape, Sour Steve’s artwork challenges the viewer to confront the ugly incongruities and hypocrisy of our modern society.
In 2020, Sour Steve became the youngest artist in the California punk art collective:
Destroy Art. Together, the team uses art as activism to fight off bigotry, hatred, and injustice as seen fit and use their talents to promote love, empowerment, and community. The artwork of Sour Steve has been featured in two fanzines both published by Destroy Art. Sour Steve has also won numerous art competitions across the Southeast and has participated in art exhibitions around the state of North Carolina and two group exhibitions in San Francisco, California.
Hand-cut from an enormous selection of diverse sources from old textbooks of early industrial era technology, children’s encyclopedias, and old magazines whose pages had withered and rotted decades before the artist was born, the art of Sour Steve pays homage to then (and sometimes still today) unrecognized artists of the past while simultaneously looking to the future with witty, tongue-in-cheek insight reminiscent of the likes of Max Ernst or John Heartfield. Nothing is sacred in the surrealist landfill of Sour Steve: the embodiment of hope for a continuing punk tradition of sabotaging and repurposing propaganda to draw (or cut) the truth from the lie.
One Moment
Snjezana—whose name, whispered like winter wind, means Snow White in Croatian—was born in a land veiled by the shadows of communism. In a world where electricity meant the flickering of candlelight, voices were silenced, and scarcity was a daily companion, her name stood out like a promise. A symbol of light, innocence, and quiet strength, Snow White was not just her name, but a foreshadowing of the fairy tale she would one day live.
Her early memories are laced with candlelight and courage. She studied by flame, walked on dirt floors, and learned that even in silence, stories could sing. Her grandfather crafted toys from scraps of wood and told her tales of mystical lands and brave princesses. Her grandmother nurtured her imagination and taught her to love the wild, the soft, the growing things. Though her family had little, they gave her everything that mattered: wonder, wisdom, stories, love, and the roots of resilience.
Separated from her mother before the age of two, Snjezana remained with her grandparents and family until, many years later, they made a bold and secret decision. One crisp autumn morning, under the hush of moonlight, they crossed a graveyard, took a train, and boarded a plane that would carry her into a different kind of magic and marvels she’d never imagined. It felt like stepping directly into one of her grandfather’s stories.
And in many ways, it was. That moment marked the beginning of her own fairytale—not without darkness, but always with light.
Today, Snjezana’s art is born from this winding path and the course of her own life—infused with survival, memory, and the beauty she’s collected from both struggle and serenity. Each creation carries whispers from her past, the pulse of nature, and the longing to connect hearts through color, meaning, faith, hope, peace, and love.
My art style is born from lived experiences, deep imagination, and an ongoing love affair with discovery. I’ve always been a creative soul, and for me, art isn’t something I chose; it’s something that’s always chosen me.
Much of my inspiration comes in quiet moments: during dreams, just before waking, or in the stillness between thoughts when I am surrounded by the people, nature and animals, and things I love. I experiment freely with color, texture, and movement, letting intuition lead rather than rules. I believe my style is a reflection of my life: layered, evolving, sometimes chaotic, but always infused with hope and heart.
Through my art, I hope to awaken a sense of wonder, reflection, and emotional connection. I want to remind people—especially in the midst of chaos or numbness or unbearable pain or trials – that beauty still exists, hope, love, and laughter still exist, even in the smallest things. Sometimes it’s hidden in texture, sometimes in light, sometimes in the space between colors. But it’s always there, waiting to be seen.
I create, because I am, because it is the one place where I feel most at peace—where time disappears, and something greater begins to flow through me. In those sacred moments, I feel closest to God. My hands may move the inks, but the inspiration doesn’t come from me alone. It’s a form of prayer, a conversation between heaven and earth, one of gratitude for this life, and I am simply the vessel.
My work is a way of saying: pause, breathe, look again. There is magic in the ordinary. There is strength in softness. There is meaning in your story, even the painful chapters. I create not just to express, but to offer a new lens—one that invites gratitude, imagination, peace, and healing.
One Step Beyond – Arsia Mons, Mars
John Calabrese received his BA in Art from Catholic University, Washington, D. C., MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, and his Ph. D. in Comparative Arts from Ohio University, Athens.
He is Professor Emeritus of Art at Texas Woman’s University, Denton, where he taught art history, aesthetics, history of film noir, the films of Alfred Hitchcock, and was in charge of the studies abroad art history program, which he initiated. He has published articles on Paul Klee, J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” and Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” and “The Trouble with Harry.”
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 (many of which are actual, specifically named astronomical objects). 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.
One Tree Two Visions
Arlet Gomez, a contemporary painter from Cuba, knew from a very young age that art was her path, so with the support of her family she focused on studying art at all levels that her country offered. She first graduated from a painting academy, and then received a Degree in Fine Arts, [2009] from ISA, University of Arts in Cuba. Now a professional artist in Palm Beach, Florida, she is compelled by the need to express her desires for coexistence, freedom, longing for roots, and enlightenment of the human essence. With eight solo exhibitions and several group shows around the world, her artistic career began with large canvases of vibrant colors that mostly included the Braille system in their compositions. She seeks to transport painting as a technique to another dimension and turn it into an inclusive experience. Each piece is a direct reflection of her childhood memories, personal stories from her homeland, and her migration to Europe and America, thus translating feelings and longings into visual experiences. Gomez’s work explores the connection between human beings and nature and their spiritual threads, linking destiny with origins, and apprehension with enlightenment. As she continues to evolve, she hopes that each stage of her art will be a contemplative invitation visualized in light of the freedom of contemporary art.
My work is a celebration of gratitude, joy, and the beauty that surrounds us. I am constantly exploring ways to depict everyday life through colors and lines, finding beauty in ordinary scenes and freezing stories that define our identity. Childhood memories and nature inspire my art, which is painted in an impressionistic style with vibrant colors, light contrast, texture variations, and layers. I also incorporate Braille texts to engage other senses in the act of appreciation. My art captures moments in natural environments, such as the sky, ocean, and nature, reflecting the unfiltered human experience. Through my work, I aim to share the essence of self-discovery and invite viewers to join me on this vibrant journey of celebration.
Oneness 3
Matt Cohen completed his degree in painting from the School of Visual Arts, NYC, and has an MA in art from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has been an adjunct lecturer of art history at Fitchburg State University since 2008 and lives in Vermont
The works in mixed media contain areas of layered etched painted plexiglass and wire mesh. These are my reflections on certain Spanish Baroque paintings that create depth in the darker realms of their works. My Lamentation is a direct response to Ribera’s painting of the same name. The exploration of these dark areas involves a spatial expanse that reflects and separates the use of revealed spaces in some of these Baroque paintings. It is difficult to see in reproduction, but these dark areas contain colors created by the materials mentioned above.
Only In Dreams
Victoria Steed is a North Carolina-based watercolor artist whose work is deeply inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds her. Growing up in the picturesque landscapes of Northern California, Victoria developed a profound connection to nature, which is vividly reflected in her art. Her paintings capture the essence of the region’s diverse scenery, from the rugged coastline and serene forests to the rolling vineyards and vibrant wildflower meadows.
Victoria’s journey with watercolor began in her early childhood when she found joy in the fluidity and unpredictability of the medium. Over the years, she honed her skills and developed a distinctive style characterized by delicate washes, intricate details, and a harmonious blend of colors. Her work is celebrated for its ability to convey not just the visual splendor of her subjects, but also the emotional and sensory experiences they evoke.
Drawing inspiration from the ever-changing light and seasons, Victoria’s paintings offer a contemplative and immersive experience. She seeks to highlight the ephemeral beauty of nature, capturing moments that often go unnoticed. Each piece invites viewers to pause and appreciate the subtle, yet profound, details of the natural world.
Victoria has exhibited her work in various galleries across the United States. Her paintings are held in private collections nationwide, admired for their tranquility and evocative power.
When she’s not painting, Victoria enjoys exploring the great outdoors and finding new inspirations in the trails, coasts, and gardens of North Carolina. Through her art, she hopes to foster a deeper appreciation for the natural environment and inspire others to find beauty in the everyday.
As a watercolor artist, my work seeks to capture the delicate interplay of light, color, and emotion. Watercolor, with its fluidity and unpredictability, is the perfect medium to express the transient beauty I see in the world around me. Each stroke and wash allows me to convey not just the visual, but the visceral essence of my subjects, whether they be landscapes, figures, or abstract compositions.
My inspiration comes from the natural world and the fleeting moments that often go unnoticed. The way sunlight filters through leaves, the subtle shifts in the sky at dawn and dusk, and the quietude of a still-life arrangement all find their way into my paintings. Through watercolor, I strive to evoke a sense of peace, wonder, and contemplation in the viewer, inviting them to pause and appreciate the ephemeral nature of life.
The transparency and luminosity of watercolor enable me to explore the depths of color and texture, creating layers that reflect the complexity and beauty of the world. I embrace the serendipitous nature of the medium, where the mingling of water and pigment can lead to unexpected and delightful results. This element of surprise is integral to my creative process, reminding me to let go and allow the painting to evolve organically.
In my work, I aim to balance control and spontaneity, structure, and fluidity. This dynamic tension is where I find the most expressive potential. By pushing the boundaries of traditional watercolor techniques, I endeavor to create works that are not only visually engaging but also resonate on a deeper emotional level.
Ultimately, my goal is to create art that speaks to the heart, offering a moment of respite and reflection in our fast-paced world. Through my watercolors, I hope to share the joy and serenity I find in the simple, yet profound beauty that surrounds us all.