Prayer
Compelled by her love of the visual arts, ELIZABETH GORCEY became a painter when she was just a young girl. At the age of 10, she won an award for her watercolor, Chinese Tea Pot, which was displayed in the New Jersey State Museum. Since then, Gorcey has developed her artistic style through her studies in both America and France.
Gorcey’s oil paintings navigate the human condition, depicting raw emotional states and the complexity of human experiences. Her works dive into the psyche, unearthing the layers of personality and emotion that lie beneath the surface. Her art stands as a poignant reminder of the shared experiences that bind us all.
Elizabeth Gorcey’s passion is to live in her truth, and she urges each of us to express ourselves authentically. Elizabeth notes, “When I look around and see what’s happening in the world today, it makes my heart break for humanity. This propels me to paint because I feel the pain, sorrow, and discontent of so many souls. I hope that the people who view my paintings recognize a piece of their own humanity, and know that they are being seen. Creating art is nourishment for my soul.”
I am fascinated with the ‘human condition’ that we are all a part of; more specifically with how each of us experiences and sees ourselves, each other, and the world on our collective journey. As a child, I was very sensitive and empathic. I would feel things very deeply and, at times, imagine I knew how those around me felt. My sensitive and creative mind literally felt the weight of humanity– My mind would ‘see’ all these highs, lows, anxieties, and triumphs overlapping and bleeding into my own personal experiences. At that age, I didn’t know how to process what I was feeling, but as an adult, I worked through what I saw on my canvas. I paint because I must.
When I look around and see what’s happening in the world today it makes my heart break for humanity and it propels me to paint. I feel the pain, sorrow, and discontent of so many souls. I hope that people who view my paintings recognize a piece of their own humanity and know they are being seen.
Predator Culture
Kim William Fink received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the Museum Art School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art), Portland, Oregon in 1975, studying painting from Mike Russo and printmaking from Clifford Smith, the first Education Director of Tamarind Institute. In 1979, he graduated from Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, and Rome, Italy with an MFA in Printmaking, studying under Romas Viesulas, John Dowel, and Rochelle Toner.
He has had over 250 solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, has lectured in numerous colleges and universities, teaching at the Chautauqua School of Art, Chautauqua, NY, the American University in Corciano, Italy, directed print workshops at RISD Rome program and the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, held Artist-in-Residencies at KALA Art Institute, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Vermont Studio Center, the Scoula Internazional de Grafica, Venice, Italy and attended the Crown
My work primarily is an act of exploration and discovery. Working with a vocabulary of accumulated images drawn largely from contemporary mass-media, and influenced by everyday objects, myth, relational concepts, philosophy, literature, and political and social concerns, I utilize text and imagery to poignantly elucidate issues in both a serious and playful way. I hone down these images to essential visual elements.
It is my goal to create a fusion of cultural realities that explore objective versus subjective visions and develop a synthesis between image and meaning by the use of metaphor, suggesting multiple interpretations. My relationship with high/low art practices incorporates hand-printing processes, and computer-assisted images mixed with collage and drawing. Images are gathered over time and appropriated from various media sources such as newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and found objects. I attempt to keep application techniques simple and basic, as the building-up
Present
Kat DiBenedetto, a versatile painter from Maryland, is known for her eclectic approach to both subject and medium. With a primary focus on acrylic paints, Kat’s dynamic portfolio also includes explorations in digital and oil painting, showcasing her adaptability and her creative curiosity.
Kat’s journey as an artist is a continuous evolution, as she embraces new techniques and mediums to express her vision. Through her variety of approaches to art making and thought-provoking creations, Kat DiBenedetto invites us to see the world through her eyes, challenging us to consider our own place within it.
This piece is a thoughtful capture of the fleeting nature of time and the profound beauty that lies within each passing moment. Time is both fragile and inevitable, an unstoppable river that flows, shaping our lives and the world around us. I invite the viewers to pause, reflect, and find solace in the present, so we can all cultivate a richer, more meaningful engagement with our everyday moments.
President Sorest Loser Of All Time
Nikyra earned a BA in Advertising and BFA in Fine Art before going on to obtain her Masters of Fine Arts degree at Idaho State University with an emphasis in Digital Media. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University teaching graphic design. When not teaching and creating art, she spends the day in her garden or relaxing with her dogs, Miah and Cricket.
Social media has become an integral component of everyday life. The younger generations have grown up in a world where aspects of various social media platforms have always existed. My artwork examines the effects social media is having on adolescents’ mental health and the negative environments children can be exposed to online without parental knowledge. I am showing this dynamic by calling out those who leave negative comments on other people’s social media posts. The comments that I have collected from platforms, such as Instagram, range from death threats to insulting a person based on their appearance. My objective in using these comments in my artwork is to give them a physical presence. Currently, I’ve expanded my interest in how people have responded to Covid and the current political climate through their online commentary and media headlines.
Pretty Bird
I was born in Poughkeepsie, NY. I began my adult art journey at The Beverly Hills Adult Education Center, where I studied figure sculpting. From there, I moved on to The Brentwood Art Center in Santa Monica. Then, The Jayne Behman’s Art Center. My watercolors were mostly inspired by high-fashion photographs of celebrities and models. This is where my love of bold, bright, joyous colors was born. I moved to NYC for 4 years and studied at The 92nd Street Y. I then studied glass mosaic art. There, I created a unique style in just my first piece. I added a relief-style dimension to my mosaics, which is rarely seen in the medium. I switched from glass to paper art. The Paper art is done either in 2 dimensions or 3. Some of the works are raised off the surface and are then box-framed. I have been awarded ribbons for my work at The Off Track Gallery in Encinitas and the Carlsbad Oceanside Art League in Carlsbad Village. My work has also been featured at The Escondido Arts Partnership, Art on 30th Street, The Visions Museum of Textile Art at Liberty Station, HMVC Gallery in NYC, KBM Gallery in LA, Art Scene West in San Diego, and The Dragon and Butterfly Gallery in LA. My works have appeared at the San Diego County Fair Fine Arts Show. In addition to my love of creating for myself, I teach many crafting and art classes. They include: Holiday Craft projects, Paper Collage Classes, Gourd Painting, Handbag Design, Hand Painted Glass, Stenciling, Paper Flower Classes, Stained glass on glass design, Decoupage on glass and paper mache, and Acrylic and Decoupage classes.
I have worked with clay, watercolor, stained glass mosaics, collage, acrylic, and decoupage and acrylic on canvas. I teach many types of classes at Vi La Jolla Village. My works have appeared in gallery shows in Palm Springs, NYC, Palm Desert, CA, Escondido, Encinitas, North Park, Liberty Station, and other galleries in San Diego.
I have participated in many art shows and have appeared in many juried shows, including the San Diego County Fair Fine Arts shows.
I also teach crafting classes. My passion is to inspire others and to create joyful and beautiful things.
Pretty In Pink
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest Washington State, photographer and artist Micah Smith has steadily been on the rise as a fresh new perspective to the world behind nature’s lens and smooth paintbrush. Bringing new light where the untrained eye is blind, Micah captures moments and colors using her love for nature as a muse in art. As a child, Micah created art, as she aged seeing her talent professional-known artists Bud and wife Nickie Balm took her under their artistic mentoring and instructional lessons for 14 years. They started molding her skills in sketching/pastels and painting. Micah also took classes at the local college for Fine Arts. When Micah turned 15 her Father Michael Smith, professional photographer and creator of Shrimpwhistlephotography, gave Micah her first digital camera and strict regiment of digital photography lessons. Michael spent hours training his daughter to capture a world using moments and angles, she also became an early self-taught digital editor before the age of 21. Micah enjoyed working beside her father as a partner photographer. Near the end of 2022 tragically Micah, 34, lost her father to suicide. Heartbroken she wanted to stop her art. Turning 35, she was not ready to throw in the towel and wanted her fathers legacy to carry on through the work they did together, now her work. Taking over his website soon to be released and still doing art in watercolors in her spare time helps keep her training fresh. Micah still plans to keep exposing the world to things that she wishes others could see, that she runs into daily. Currently, she enjoys going out with her husband Zachary, a new photographer, sharing with him the same lessons she learned from her father so they can spend time together behind the lens.
Before we walk into the world of art or photography, we must first understand the tools we have to use to create the magic behind the scenes. My father, before his passing, had a quote I would love to share with you all, it is how we create and how we see the world through a different set of eyes. Please enjoy yourselves by stepping into our shoes.
“We are the silent voices that shout the loudest. We are the visions of those gone before us and those who will follow. We are hunters who hunger for capturing the moment before it slips into the abyss. We are those who realize that the eyes are our first and most important piece of equipment. We are those who see…We are those who share… We are the artists, creators of our craft… We are photographers.” – Michael Smith
Pretty Poppies
Kim Lanier is a self-taught, emerging artist based in Texas. With a background steeped in music and creativity, Kim’s journey into the world of art has been both organic and transformative.
Kim grew up singing with her Father in church, which laid the foundation for her deep connection to music and performance. Her family owned and operated a successful country music show, The Alvin Opry, for more than 25 years, where Kim honed her musical talents. Over her professional music career, she achieved notable accolades, including winning 2nd place in the Houston American Idol Contest in the early 2000s and 2nd place in the Magnolia Opry Singer Competition in 1989.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a diagnosis of Lupus marked a turning point in Kim’s life, prompting her to seek a new creative outlet. She turned to painting, discovering a passion that has since become her heart’s passion and soul’s salvation. For over three years, Kim has been dedicated to creating cheerful, colorful, and whimsical artworks that promote positivity and well-being. Her preferred mediums are watercolor, ink, and acrylics, with figures and nature being frequent subjects of her pieces.
Kim’s art is deeply intuitive and inspired by everyday life, conversations, and music. She follows her creative instincts, allowing the process to lead her to new and expressive forms. Each piece she creates is imbued with emotion, aiming to evoke feelings and stretch the imagination and introspection of her viewers.
In addition to her artistic pursuits, Kim holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.
Kim’s work has already started to make an impact, and she continues to gain recognition as a new artist. Her journey from music to art is a testament to her resilience and unwavering passion for creative expression.
My journey into art has been an organic and transformative evolution, guided by a lifelong connection to creativity and self-expression. With roots deeply tied to music, I grew up singing with my Father in Church and performing as part of my family’s country music show, The Alvin Opry, which thrived for over 25 years. Those years shaped my love for storytelling and connection through the arts, leading to notable achievements like placing 2nd in both the Houston American Idol Contest in the early 2000s and the Magnolia Opry Singer Competition in 1989.
When the COVID-19 pandemic and a Lupus diagnosis reshaped my path, I found a new outlet in painting – a new way to express my emotions and stories that have always driven me. My work can be categorized as “Intuitive Expressionism”, a style that allows me to create directly from the heart without constraints. I paint freehand, letting the flow of paint guide me through the process, trusting my instincts to shape the colors, forms, and emotions that emerge. Each piece is an organic exploration, reflecting the spontaneous energy of the moment and capturing a raw, unfiltered expression of thought and feeling. This intuitive approach ensures that every painting is a unique journey, designed to evoke emotions and invite viewers into a deeper connection with the story unfolding on the canvas.
Painting is both my passion and salvation, especially in recent years. Creating has become a new way to heal, explore, and connect – drawing inspiration from my family and favorite memories.
Pride
Victoria Li is a self-taught artist who began paper quilling while studying for her MBA in Supply Chain Management. She used the technique to decompress after long days of working a full-time job while also constantly studying, finding that the art process was not only a soothing way to ground herself and her busy mind, but also a medium for her to capture the beauty of everything that she loved, and of which brings her inspiration. What Victoria could never sketch, or draw, she found she could portray much more coherently and vibrantly with paper and collage.
She considers herself a very typical 90s child who not only loves art but was raised in 80s and 90s music and pop culture. What she found herself inspired by as a child often shows up in her pieces. Victoria is also an avid reader and believes that through books, she has lived many lives. When she is not working on commissioned artworks, her passion is creating paper-quilled portraits of her favorite fictional characters or of women who she strongly believes have paved her way as a BIPOC woman living and continuously navigating the ever-changing society.
Victoria has had her pieces displayed in a handful of Gallerium.com exhibitions, as well as won local, national, and international awards for various of her portrait works. Her piece “Overtime” was displayed in the Wilson Arts National Juried Art Show in Wilson, North Carolina, and won second place overall.
I have free-handed almost all the paper-quilled pieces that I’ve completed. I learned as a child that I could not replicate what I had in my mind’s eye onto paper with crayons or markers, so I was extremely surprised when I started paper quilling and working with paper so that I could make it look the way I imagined. As an adult, I still cannot draw so there is often very little sketching involved in anything I do—just paper strips, cardstock, tweezers, and glue.
I am still always learning new paper quilling techniques and every time I begin a new project, I find myself trying new things to do with the paper strips to fill blank space in a way that shows eye-catching textures and is awe-inspiring.
I’m a daydreamer by nature so I try very much to show that in my art as well. In the last few years, art and daydreams served as coping mechanisms for living life post-global pandemic, and in a way, my mental health has improved greatly because of it. My hope is also that creating art and talking about the processes for which it has helped me to overcome my anxieties and stress, will open doors for those in need of a similar form of therapy.
Pride Of Liberty
As an LGBTQ+ photo artist and digital painter living in the Coachella Valley (originally from Malaysia & Canada), I enjoy creating photography-based artwork that expresses my personal bond with the greater community and its cultural diversities. Capturing images of nature, architecture, and social life that reveal realistic representation and the complexity of our natural beauty, identity, pride, and liberty allows me to share my emotional, mental, and spiritual connection with art enthusiasts.
My photographic artwork has received multiple awards in both nationally and internationally juried exhibitions, online & book publications, on wearable art fashion, and on TV newscasts in the US, Canada, Germany, and France (Paris), and Hungary (Budapest), including a “Winner” and “Finalist” in the Budapest ArtBIAS 2 International Exhibition (June 2024), “Best in Show” & “Exhibition Finalist” at Fusion Art, a “Bronze Award” & “Artist of the Month: (Oct & July 2023) with Camelback Gallery, and multiple “Honorable Mention”, “Special Merits” and “Recognitions” awards in 2023 and 2024 with Light Space & Time, Teravarna galleries). Locally, I am a member of the following galleries and have exhibited at: the Artists Council Center at the Galen, Palm Desert, and the Desert Art Center, Palm Springs.
Exhibitions:
The Holy Art Galery Paris, Sept. 2024, The Greater Joshua Tree 2nd Art Expo, September 2024; Living Out Palm Springs Art Project, 2024; Teravarna Art Gallery June, July & May 2024 Los Angeles, CA; Blue Space Gallery “Representation vs Abstraction – 2024” Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, 2024, D.C, Artist Council Art Center at the Galen, “Through the Lens” & ACE Exhibition 2024, 2023 Shows, Palm Desert, “Mid-Mod Show 2024”, “PS Pride Show 2023” and “Mini Masterpieces, 2023” shows @ Desert Art Center, Palm Springs, Desert Open Studios 2023; KBM Gallery, Riverside, CA; Las Laguna Gallery 2024, Laguna CA; Decagon Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, MVA Gallery, PA; Asian Heritage Center Fine Art Competition, Colorado Springs Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin, MO; Picture Awards, Berlin, Germany; SOLO Artist @ Exhibizone & Gallerium Art 2023, Canada; the Art Resilience 2023 Exhibition @ Musee de Peinture de Saint Frajou, France.
Publications:
“60 Artistes Du Mouvement Art Resilience”, France; 2024
Fictional Narrative, Decagon Gallery, 2023
Exploring modernistic contemporary photo art allows me to combine digital painting techniques with photography to venture beyond the traditional form. I love experimenting with lighting, exposure, tone, angle, texture, and scale to highlight the unique features and natural vibrancy of a raw image and transform it into a refreshed form of artistry. As I grow with the freedom in creativity, I find myself broadening to embrace abstraction, impressionism, and surrealism while preserving a photographic eye. Daring to imagine and evolve with my artwork is being the “David” in conquering the “Goliath” of new design technology. At this stage, the “Best of Me” is only just emerging and I am excited to see where I am headed on this humbling journey in art.