Rise Up
Ann Ribbens can best be described as a fiber artist who deploys a wide range of surface design techniques. Ann seeks to provide rich visual details while giving the viewer a “wide-angle” view. Her portfolio includes representational and abstract fiber pieces. Ann’s artistic journey as a fiber artist was probably inevitable. Ann comes from many generations of women who made fantastically beautiful quilts. They were farm women with great sensibilities for color and pattern. Of course, they used scraps because that’s what was available to them. Little girls’ dresses and men’s suits alike found new lives in these wonderful quilts. Ann’s mother was an accomplished knitter and tailor. She taught Ann how to sew when she was a teenager. Ann remembers making a turquoise wool dress, fully lined (because she was allergic to wool), when she was 16. In college, Ann sewed a corduroy sport coat for her boyfriend at the time. She wonders where it is now!
Ann has been working as a fiber artist since 1985. Exploring the quilting world seemed like the best way to get through our impossibly long Minnesota winters. Though sewing skills come in handy for quilt making, so much more precision was involved to ensure that corners lined up correctly and that the color scheme worked. Like many young quilters of the day, Ann found these prescriptions very restrictive.
In the mid-90s, Ann abandoned making traditional quilts. She joined an organization for contemporary quilters and found a whole new artistic outlet. Ann experimented with various media, including textile paints, dyeing my own fabrics, and embellishing her work with hand embroidery and beading. Over the years, Ann has done shibori (Japanese tie-dye technique), raw edge piecing, stenciling, screen printing, and many other techniques. She has rarely repeated the same process in exactly the same way. Now Ann prefers working in small formats, or “wall” quilts. Five years ago, Ann learned natural dye techniques and incorporated them into her art practice. Ann has a natural dye garden and benefits from the botanicals she can harvest to impart watercolor and textural effects on fiber. In recent years, she has added sculptural dimensions to her repertoire to create 3D pieces.
Ann Ribbens’ work has been shown in the following juried exhibitions: Art League Rhode Island, Providence, RI; Cape Cod Cultural Center, Yarmouth, MA; River Arts, Prairie du Sac, WI; Studio Art Quilters Association (SAQA) Legacy exhibit; the Fitchburg (MA) Art Museum where she was awarded first place in the textile category; Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA; Mosesian Art Center, Watertown, MA; the Brush Gallery and the Loading Dock Gallery, Lowell, MA; Schweinfurth Museum, Auburn, NY; Gallery One, Ellensburg, WA; The Wickford Art Association, North Kingstown, RI; Minnesota State Fair (where she was awarded a third place) and other Twin Cities venues. Ann Ribbens’ work has appeared in books and in textile magazines, including the Surface Design Journal. Ann Ribbens has delivered several public presentations on her art practice.
I am a Massachusetts artist whose medium is fiber. Recently, my fiber art has focused on memory, environmental issues, and women’s relationships to their bodies. In 2017, I spent three months traveling around Australia. A frequent topic of conversation there was the decline of the Great Barrier Reef. I decided to commemorate ocean life that struggles to survive as the climate changes. I began to stitch a shibori (a Japanese tie-dye technique) piece on screen-printed cloth I had brought with me. “Urchins” references the tension between what is alive in the waters “down under” and the threats to sea life’s existence. “Rise Up” is an artwork where the landscape is tropical. The image on the bottom of the panel shows an elephant in a richly textured botanical setting. In the middle of the piece, birds swirl over a stylized jungle, but plumes of smoke are visible in the background. In the top section, a fire, perhaps caused by humans, erupts, and birds “rise up” to save themselves.
Rise Up Anyway!
Education: Political Science BA, Juris Doctorate, Masters, Religion & Ethical Leadership; Ph.D. Philosophy in Religion.
Escondido Municipal Gallery, & Surfing Madonna-2nd Place 2022.
Adopted from Germany, a naturalized US citizen by age 5, and raised in various countries until around her 12th year, Arlette Stella currently resides in Palm Desert, California with her husband, dog, and tortoise. As an Adjunct Professor, she teaches classes such as Buddhism, History of the US Supreme Court, and Perspectives on Death and Dying.
Arlette Stella is a late-blooming, self-taught artist, who purposefully took up painting in the Fall of 2019. She has been in several shows and exhibits, both in person and online since then. Her creative side is informed by her extensive education, decades as a Professor & a lawyer, alongside her travel adventures & life experiences.
For me, the juncture between education, imagination, and experience yearn to illustrate and inspire kindness through my art. My earliest artistic endeavor was poetry. Then came photography. Then came school, jobs, and life.
Today the artist in me has demanded breath & exposure. The names & messages of these works are the meeting place for my writer/poet & painter self to collaborate.
My deeply philosophical & innately abstract nature is evident in every stroke of this work. Even a blank canvas does not interfere with the active dialogue I enjoy with color and canvas.
Being partially color blind, my work tends to be bright and colorful. For me, however, I need to use bright colors in order to see what I am doing.
I always aim to engender the kindness within you that in turn urges you to action.
Rising
Jason Shih was born in 1972 in Lukang Town, Taiwan, which is renowned for its traditional crafts. He relocated to Taipei City during his school years and attended art classes at Minzu Elementary School, Minglun Junior High School, and Zhongzheng High School. In 1991, Jason enrolled in the Fine Arts Department of the National Taipei University of the Arts, studying sculpture under Professor Lee Kuang-yu and graduating in 1996. Following his military service, he pursued further education at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, USA, studying metal sculpture under Leonard A. Urso at the School for American Crafts, where he earned his MFA degree in 2001. Subsequently, he served as an assistant to renowned New York metal sculptor Albert Paley, gaining valuable experience in metal crafts and large-scale public arts.
Returning to Taiwan in 2002, Jason embarked on a prolific career in public art. Over the next two decades, he completed over 80 large-scale public art projects in Taiwan. His international engagements included residencies at the Wangsan Kaitian Festival in South Korea (2003), JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design in Adelaide, Australia (2004), and as the inaugural artist-in-residence at the New Taipei City Gold Museum (2008).
Alongside his creative endeavors, Jason pursued advanced studies in art theory, earning his Ph.D. from the China Academy of Art in 2015 and an MBA from National Taiwan Normal University in 2022. With a diverse cultural background spanning Taiwan, the United States, and mainland China, and extensive professional training in fine arts, crafts, public art, and management, Jason decided in 2022 to refocus on his sculpture creations. He currently resides in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, continuing to explore the diverse realms of sculpture and public art.
Sculpture is to interpret the beauty of light and shadow, rhythm and volume through the visual techniques of color, shape, and texture. The qualities that the creators of sculpture pursue to touch people’s hearts are actually as abstract as temperature and smell, but rich in profound penetrating power. This aura that directly points to people’s hearts and the aesthetic sense that makes people enter the drama in resonance may also be like nostalgia, embodied in the nostalgia of seeing things and thinking about them and the timid expectation of being close to the hometown.
Sea breeze, mountain mist, morning sun, sunset, in addition to shape and color, there is also the memory of temperature. Cooking smoke, hot soup, wooden tables, pottery cups, and the echo of the smell is the gradual tone of nostalgia. In people’s daily aesthetic experience, the memory of temperature and smell accompanied by touch often becomes a kind of fuse to revisit the journey of old dreams. The work involved in sculpture creation is to “condense” and record all kinds of beautiful presence in this beautiful time and space in an appropriate way and with true emotions.
As a professional sculptor, Jason likes to experience the taste of life with perceptual observation in the subtle moments and also likes the ever-changing situation of game shapes in the poetic imaginary space. For Jason, art creation is to share various moods and stories in daily life.
Rising Above
Patsy Lindamood is a self-taught graphite artist whose creative journey began later in life and has evolved into a distinctive voice in representational art. Initially focused on wildlife, her subject matter now spans a diverse range of “scapes”—from rugged workboats and wading birds to grain silos, abandoned homesteads, and architectural landmarks such as courthouses and cathedrals. Balancing a career in finance and technology with her artistic pursuits, Lindamood has built an impressive body of work that reflects both technical mastery and a deep appreciation for form and texture.
Her achievements include Non-Resident Artist membership in New York City’s historic Salmagundi Club and signature memberships in the International Guild of Realism, American Artists Professional League, Allied Artists of America, American Plains Artists, Society of Animal Artists, and Artists for Conservation. In 2024, Lindamood was honored as Rockport Master Artist, culminating in a solo exhibition, Rockport Coastlines, at the Rockport Center for the Arts in Texas. Her graphite work Cathedral of the Madeleine earned Third Place in International Artist Magazine’s Art Prize Challenge No. 143 (Cityscapes), and her pieces have repeatedly been recognized as finalists in the prestigious ARC Salon Competition. She also received an Honorable Mention for Shadow Play in the 2025 Almenara Prize, with multiple other works included as finalists, and has been a finalist in Strokes of Genius for five consecutive years.
Working exclusively on cradled Ampersand Claybord, Lindamood applies graphite in a painterly manner, a technique inspired by her earlier experience with pastels. She believes compelling graphite art demands strong composition, dynamic shapes, and a full range of values to create depth and dimension. Through this approach, Lindamood transforms a monochromatic medium into works of striking realism and emotional resonance.
My work is rooted in representation, yet it resists the confines of photorealism. From a distance, my drawings may be mistaken for photographs, but closer inspection reveals the unmistakable presence of the artist’s hand—the subtle marks, the deliberate strokes—that transform the image into something painterly and alive. I am not pursuing visual perfection; I am pursuing visual perception.
Graphite has become my primary medium because of its stark honesty. Stripped of color, the work becomes a meditation on essentials. In shades of grey, the visual language is reduced to line, shape, and value, and the underlying story emerges with greater poignancy. Working in graphite is, for me, akin to writing a short story rather than a novel—concise, distilled, and arresting. These tonal explorations resonate with memory and recognition, evoking emotion without embellishment.
My fascination with cityscapes stems from their inherent structure and rhythm. Architectural forms offer a visual symphony of lines, angles, and patterns that speak to my sense of order and design. Each building becomes a canvas of repetition and variation, while glass surfaces introduce complexity through transparency and reflection. These urban environments challenge me to capture not just their physical presence, but the layered stories they reveal with every glance.
Rising To The Top
Gerrit van Ommering is a fine art photographer based in Gold River, California. Originally from the Netherlands, he relocated to the United States at the age of 19 to pursue a dynamic career in the aerospace industry, specializing in the invention, design, development, and deployment of space systems. Following retirement, he transitioned to photography – channeling his technical expertise and creative drive into a new artistic medium. His photography work, much of which is creative and abstract, explores the tension between realism and imagination.
Gerrit is actively involved in Northern California’s photography and arts communities. He is active in the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center and Gallery, the Sierra Camera Club, Sacramento Fine Arts, Rancho Cordova Arts, and many others. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and competitions, earning regional awards and entering several private collections.
In July 2024, he co-presented the successful duo exhibition “REALISMFantasy” with his wife Lucille at the Mills Station Arts & Culture Center, where he contributed the 31-print “Fantasy” segment. He had a 24-print solo exhibition, “Embellished Emblems,” at Gallery 1075 in West Sacramento during June 2025. In 2025 alone, he had a total of 95 images accepted in 46 physical and online/magazine exhibits. His website is focused-eclecticism.com.
I have always been drawn to images that surprise—ones that feel a little offbeat, mysterious, or just plain strange. While I do plenty of straight or lightly enhanced photography, what I really enjoy is taking an image and pushing it into new territory: twisting, layering, and abstracting until it feels like something unexpected has emerged.
My eye tends to land on unusual shapes, odd juxtapositions, or scenes that others might overlook. I collect these visual ingredients and let instinct take over in the editing process. Sometimes I know where I’m going; often I don’t. I just keep experimenting until something clicks—when the image feels done.
In our smartphone era, billions of photos are taken each year. To even barely stand out, I feel the need to create something different, often strange, abstract, or slightly weird. If my work can get someone to stop for even a few seconds and think, “What am I looking at?” or “How did he do that?” then I have succeeded.
The pieces I am submitting for “Fun in Progress” tend to follow that notion. They try to reimagine and reinterpret the scene or subject to add fun and a bit of surprise, reflecting the fun I had in making them.
Riveted
I started life as a painter. I was mentored by Ilya Bolotowsky and Ibram Lassaw. I worked with notables such as Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Alphonso Ossorio and Larry Rivers. I worked as curator at The Parrish Museum in Southampton, The Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton, The Metropolitan Museum/Queens Museum and lectured at the Cloisters. And worked closely with Victor D’Amico on the “Barge” for the Museum of Modern Art.
I started making pottery when taking my Master’s degree in painting at Pratt Institute. Little did I know that pottery would turn out to be my passion. My work was a feature story on the Fine Living Channel’s program Back to Basics.
It’s hard to make a living as an artist, so I became an advertising Executive Creative Director/Art Director and film director. I ran several agencies, served on their Board of Directors, owned my own agency and managed healthy profits for my clients. My strength is seeing the big picture, growing organizations, and optimizing profitability, an emphasis on quality.
I work primarily in porcelain. I was strictly a wheel throwing potter. The pandemic opened me to avenues I hadn’t explored. Now hand-building is part of my wheel thrown pieces. I take real world objects as inspiration and create them in my vision. Cultural insights and 30 years as an advertising Creative Director create new paths to explore.
I believe pottery is the bond between the earth, art, and utility and serves as our emotional connection to our environment. The surface decoration is a blank canvas to capture an idea, convey a feeling, add a tactile element, accentuate a prominent pattern or shape. I was an adjunct professor at The Art Institute of Phoenix, CMO at Arizona Clay Association and board member of the American Advertising Federation.
I started life as a painter, mentored by Ilya Bolotowsky, Robert Dash, Wilhelm de Kooning and Alphonso Ossorio. As I was working on my Master’s degree, my closest friends were potters. They encouraged me to get on the wheel. So it started.
I work primarily in porcelain. For many years I was strictly a wheel-throwing potter. The pandemic opened me to avenues that never existed for me. Now hand-building is part of all wheel-thrown pieces. I use commercial and industrial objects as inspiration and create them to an eclectic and eccentric vision. Cultural insights and 30 years as an advertising Creative Director, have me always working on new concepts, new artistic strategies, opening alternate areas to explore.
I believe pottery is the bond between the earth, art, and utility and serves as our emotional connection to our environment.
RMNP Nymph Lake
I have been an active Landscape photographer since the mid-1980s. Starting with large-format film. Primarily black and white. Then migrating to color transparency film. As with most photographers I have embraced digital imagery. I am now working on high-quality digital Color Landscapes.
I focused on the technique and art of Photography. With heavy influences from Ansel Adams. Edward and Brett Weston. Including the friends of photography and f64 groups.
Highland Ranch Rec Center, Highlands Ranch,
Camera Obscura Gallery. Denver Colorado,
Photographer Forum,
Finalist two years running and featured in the companion tabletop book both years.
Denver Architecture Foundation/ Colorado Photographic Arts Center
Group show 12/04/20 – 03/01/2021
Group show at the Loveland public library for the years 2022 to 2023
Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR. 07/01/2022 to 07/20/2022
Into the West Gallery, Broomfield Co. 9/16/2022 to 09/18/2022
I have been an active Landscape photographer since the mid-1980s. Starting with large-format film. As with most photographers, I since embraced digital imagery. I am now working on high-quality digital Color Landscapes. I focused on the technique and art of Photography. With heavy influences from Ansel Adams. Edward and Brett Weston. Including the friends of photography and f64 groups.
My goal and joy are to capture and display the magnificence of mother earth. My wife once asked me why I go back to the same place over and over. I replied that I go back because it is always different each time I go.
Road Curved In Stone
There were two periods of painting in my life, first one happened during the university ages from 1998-2004 when I participated in some exhibitions. The second one started in 2022 up to now, and I constantly painted and participated in exhibitions since then too.
As a woman living on a farm in the natural preserve area of Central Europe, my main themes are nature, wildlife, and animals. My goal is to connect the spectator with the inner streams of nature, the hidden places of forests, and rocks, and the life of the animals living there.
I also like painting human rural structures or buildings in landscapes to show that human constructions can be in harmony with nature too.
Roadside Reflections At Port Rowan
Dr. Amara Pope, an accomplished artist and academic, brings over a decade of expertise in marketing, brand management, and digital media across various industries. She holds a Ph.D. in Media Studies from Western University, where her research delved into the complex intersections of media, culture, and race, with a particular focus on popular music and digital media. Her academic journey also includes a Master’s in Communication Studies from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Joint Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Rhetoric and Professional Writing and Fine Arts with a Digital Media Specialization from the University of Waterloo.
Dr. Pope is a fervent advocate for amplifying underrepresented voices and promoting diversity, a mission she passionately discussed in her TEDx Talk. She has delivered thought-provoking lectures at prestigious institutions such as the University of Southern California and has been a sought-after speaker at conferences and as a guest panelist across Canada. Her insightful perspectives have been featured in prominent media outlets including CTV, CBC, and Vice, among others.
Beyond her professional endeavors, Dr. Pope finds solace and inspiration in the world of art. She enjoys weightlifting and is an avid painter, working with oil, acrylic, and mixed media to create compelling artwork. Her diverse skill set and dedication to both her academic and artistic pursuits make her a multifaceted individual committed to fostering a deeper understanding of media, culture, and the arts.
The painting captures a tranquil summer afternoon in Port Rowan, a small town where simplicity and serenity intertwine. At the heart of the scene is an old truck, its faded blue paint and rusty edges telling stories of countless journeys and hard-working days. The truck is parked in front of a historic church, its weathered stone facade and modest steeple standing as a testament to the passage of time. The sky is clear, adding to the sense of calm. I visit Port Rowan a few times each summer, and here I attempt to encapsulate the essence of rural life, where every element, from the old truck to the venerable church, plays a part in the harmonious depiction of a peaceful summer.