Second Chances
I grew up in Manhattan with my American-born mother and my Venetian father, speaking both English and Italian at home (with an occasional bit of Venetian dialect). Many childhood summers were spent in Venice, at the beach, visiting churches and museums, and spending time with relatives. Only years later did I realize how much that formed my taste and sense of style.
At college, I chose to major in art history. Thinking I had no artistic talent because I could not draw or paint, I veered left and enrolled in law school, spending the next 20 years at firms in New York and Washington representing museums and nonprofit foundations. As an attorney, I learned to create order from chaos, as reflected in my structured art.
Eventually leaving the practice of law, I began designing multi-strand necklaces, unconsciously mirroring the opulent and joyful Venetian style, and selling them primarily through boutiques and trunk shows. Ten years later, large necklaces were no longer in style. Feeling unsatisfied when creating single-strand necklaces, I began using segments of my necklaces still in inventory along with other components to create miniature scenes.
I set up a studio at our oyster farm on Chincoteague Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. It’s a lovely, remote area with much natural beauty. Living there, I am increasingly aware of human encroachment on natural habitats and the effects of climate change, so these themes often find their way into my works. But equally influential is the peaceful feeling from viewing the nature that surrounds me, the assortment of wildlife, the pristine beach, and the exquisite sunsets over the bay.
I enjoy creating a unified whole from seemingly unrelated elements. Influenced by childhood summers in Venice, I began designing multi-strand necklaces reminiscent of the Venetian torsades. Unlike those 10-strand necklaces of identical beads, I juxtaposed colors, textures, and forms to create a vibrant balance, incorporating materials such as amber, abalone, Murano glass, pearls, and semi-precious stones.
I now use segments of those necklaces in miniature scenes. Here, too, I instill energy by juxtaposing color, form, and texture, seeking to make the eye dance rather than settle on one spot.
While scenes are inspired by a necklace, I incorporate a broad range of other materials. I use high-quality dollhouse miniatures and richly textured fabrics because they pair well with the rich components in the necklaces. Influenced by the nature surrounding my studio, I use anatomically correct models of animals and shells found on our oyster farm and while walking the shoreline of a nearby wildlife preserve. Mirrors, artboard, paper, ribbon, photographs, and found objects flesh out these scenes, along with whatever else I think a scene requires.
Scenes run the gamut from purely decorative to whimsical to commentary on social issues. Even when inspired by a serious theme, I try to make my point with gentle humor. The deeper meaning and symbolism are explained in the accompanying text and on my website. Viewers are invited to develop their own interpretations before reading mine.
Designs may appear simple but take months to complete. In the process, I employ a range of skills including woodworking, digital photography, painting, and sewing.
Scenes are set in 4” deep wooden frames that curve outward to create the illusion that the viewer is present at the scene. I use museum glass to heighten this illusion, preserve the colors, and highlight the richness of the components.
Second Opinion
Babler’s work has been juried into: Maryland Federation of Art Winter Exhibit 2026; Anderson 2025-26 Winter Exhibition; Woman Made Gallery – Chicago; 38th September Competition – Juried Exhibit at Alexandria Museum of Art; “After Dark 2025”, “Fall Juried Exhibit 2025”, and “Reflecting 2025”– Maryland Federation of Art; 38th Annual McNeese National Works on Paper Exhibition; “In the City” exhibit juror Christina Gomez (Art Institute Chicago); North American Print Biennial juror Elizabeth M. Rudy (Associate Curator of Prints Harvard Art Museums, Boston); Dubuque Museum of Art Biennial juror Pamela Hugdahl (Executive Director, Rochester Art Center); Rockford Art Museum Biennial Juried Exhibit of Contemporary Artists; Andrew James Wulf (Albany Museum of Art); Gary Freeburg (Professor/Director of Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art at James Madison University); Amanda C. Burdan (Associate Curator – Brandywine River Museum of Art); Christiane Paul (Curator of New Media Arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art); Felice Frankel (Science photographer/research scientist); Malcolm Daniel (Curator of Photographs – Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC); Kenneth Baker (Art Critic, San Francisco Chronicle); William Lieberman, Director of Zolla/Lieberman Gallery – Chicago; Annette Carlozzi (Sr. Curator at Blanton Museum of Art); Dr. Jefferson Harrison (Chief Curator Chrysler Museum of Art); Charlotta Kotik (Curator of Contemporary Art Brooklyn Museum of Art); David Houston (Chief Curator –Ogden Museum of Southern Art); Dr. Russell Panczenko (Museum of Art, Madison Wisconsin); Siri Engberg (Walker Art Center); Stephen Phillips (Phillips Collection – Washington DC); Sam Gilliam; Ed Paschke.
She is a Ragdale Residency Fellow, a juried member of the Illinois Arts Council’s Arts-In-Education Roster, and has exhibited at Northwestern University, Concordia University, Rockford Art Museum, and the Alexandria Museum of Art. She was a fine art consultant and advisor for Grumbacher/Prismacolor, along with developing a program for Blick. Her artwork is in corporate, university, and private art collections.
Humor can be a key element of art and an invitation for us all not to be too serious 24/7. Art can be fun, visualizing playful experiences. Looking carefully at a work of art, a viewer may see a small detail, making them stop to smile or even laugh aloud. I often add humor to my work, creating work with a tongue-in-cheek view. The titles of my work are also part of the work’s humor. In my painting “Second Opinion,” a trio of friends enjoy a fun shopping experience together, but still feel the need to “phone-a-friend” or their favorite lifeline for a second opinion. The choice of high-intensity colors and movement enhances the playfulness of the scene.
Second Skin
Tanvi Ramesh is a fiber and mixed-media artist based in Fremont, California. Her work explores the intersections of sustainability, form, and cultural storytelling, blending traditional crochet with sculptural experimentation. Often working with repurposed and natural materials, she investigates how fiber can shift from soft craft to structural form, balancing the rigidity of starched lattices and mesh with the fluidity of spirals, curves, and shadows. In 2024, she launched her crochet small business, Tanvi’s Crochet Closet, where she uses recycled and sustainable yarn to create custom pieces and educates her community about textile waste and sustainable art practices. Her practice is inspired by natural patterns such as shells, roots, and her favorite plants, reimagined through fiber and mixed media. Through her art, Ramesh seeks to create works that highlight both resilience and vulnerability, inviting viewers to consider sustainability as both artistic process and cultural metaphor.
Through the use of sustainable materials, my work reimagines curves as dynamic, living forms, examining how fiber can serve as both structure and metaphor. I prioritize sustainable supplies and always use recycled yarns and fibers in my fiber art and crochet projects. I turn the commonplace and repurposed into studies of entanglement using these materials, where rigidity and organic, flowing movement coexist and resilience and fragility meet. Both tension and harmony are emphasized by the contrast between the soft curves and the starched fibers. I encourage viewers to view curves as structural languages that link nature, craft, and imagination rather than just as ornamentation. My aim is to produce works that strike a balance between intimacy and expansiveness, wherein minor acts of reuse convey more significant ideas about sustainability, renewal, and interconnectedness.
Secret Garden
My work has been juried and accepted by museum curators, gallery owners, educators and national and international artists including: 2023 North American Print Biennial juried by Elizabeth M. Rudy (Associate Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums, Boston MA); Dubuque Museum of Art 2023 Biennial juried by Pamela Hugdahl (Executive Director, Rochester Art Center); Rockford Art Museum Biennial 2022 Juried Exhibit of Contemporary Artists juried by Frank Juarez publisher of Art Dose magazine; Andrew James Wulf, Ph.D. (Director – Albany Museum of Art); Gary Freeburg (Professor and Director of Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art at James Madison University); Amanda C. Burdan (Associate Curator – Brandywine River Museum of Art); Christiane Paul (Director of Media Studies at New School, NY and Curator of New Media Arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art); Felice Frankel (Science photographer and research scientist); Malcolm Daniel (Curator of Photographs – Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC); Kenneth Baker (Art Critic, San Francisco Chronicle); Keith Carter, internationally recognized photographer and educator; William Lieberman, Director of Zolla/Lieberman Gallery – Chicago; Annette Carlozzi (Sr. Curator at Blanton Museum of Art); Dr. Jefferson Harrison (Chief Curator Chrysler Museum of Art); Charlotta Kotik (Curator of Contemporary Art Brooklyn Museum of Art); David Houston (Chief Curator –Ogden Museum of Southern Art); Dr. Russell Panczenko (Director – Museum of Art, Madison Wisconsin); Siri Engberg (Walker Art Center); Dorothy Simpson Krause (Educator and Authority on digital art); Stephen Phillips (Phillips Collection – Washington DC); Sam Gilliam (international artist); and Ed Paschke (international artist).
A Ragdale Residency Fellow, I am a juried member of the Illinois Arts Council’s Arts-In-Education Roster. My work has been in exhibits including Northwestern University, Concordia University, Rockford Art Museum, and Alexandria Museum of Art, receiving national and regional awards.
As an artist, I am a visual storyteller. Art is my voice where I create visual puzzles with purposeful ambiguity. The intent is for the viewer to become involved and react. A curator has described my artwork as smart and thoughtful and dense with information; gorgeous with color. Mysterious and challenging…puzzles for the viewer to solve.
In my piece “Secret Garden” a woman exudes total joy as she is surrounded by beauty and color. Her arms reach out to invite the viewer to also experience this total happiness. My second submission “Bubbling Over” portrays joy through color and motion. Active and brightly colored forms move directly toward the viewer including them in a state of happiness.
I am an artist who voices thoughts and emotions through visual media. As a visual communicator, I have a passion for art. There is nothing I love more than the challenge of creating artwork to involve the viewer while communicating a message.
Secular Flow
Born in Argentina to a Cuban mother and a Chilean father, I have lived in various cities including Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Bogota, New York City, Miami, and presently Raleigh, North Carolina. My diverse upbringing, never quite belonging to any one place, has shaped me into the cultural sponge and artist I am today. From a young age, creativity has been an integral part of my life, with early achievements in winning poetry contests and publishing two books. After studying graphic design at Parsons, I have exhibited my artwork in Chile, New York City, and Miami. Currently, I express my artistry through both tattooing and painting, contributing to the local art scene in Raleigh.
I create pop surrealist compositions using impressionistic and pointillism brushstrokes. My work aims to provoke philosophical reflections through the juxtaposition of vivid imagery and intricate technique.
See No
Kylo-Patrick Hart is an award-winning photographer (Americana Photo Awards, Budapest International Foto Awards, European Photography Awards, Global Photography Awards, Golden Shot International Photography Awards, London Photography Awards, New York Photography Awards, Pollux Awards, Tokyo International Foto Awards, etc.) and chair of the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media at Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, Texas, USA). He received his formal training in digital media arts while a student at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, with additional instruction provided by offerings of the Maine Media Workshops and Santa Fe Workshops. As an artist, his motivation is to discover and capture the beauty, even when it is not always readily self-evident, that surrounds us continuously in all areas of our everyday lives. His photographs have been exhibited in numerous cities throughout the United States and several countries on four continents.
Photography has been my passion since early childhood. I believe the finest images are those that are serious yet playful, aesthetically appealing yet a bit quirky. My overall approach to photography and related forms of artistic production results from the combined influences of Cubism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Impressionism, and Surrealism, all of which affect how I see the world around me and then proceed to document it. This process involves important decisions regarding matters of abstraction, distortion, fragmentation, and emotional affect as well as whether to capture a subject realistically or instead quite innovatively. As both an artist and an admirer, my favorite photographs tend to be ones whose contents speak loudly for themselves — even when it is not immediately clear exactly what they are saying. They seek to inspire their viewers to wrestle with their intriguing contents and, as a result, ponder various aspects of our surrounding world in new and unique ways.
See You In Spring
Dorothea Ney received a BA at the Academy of Fine Arts, Bremen, Germany.
She lived and worked in Berlin, Germany, doing installations and wood sculptures, receiving awards from the Stiftung Kulturfonds and the cultural Senate of Berlin, de. In 2000 she moved with her husband to NM and opened a garden design business to survive.
Inspired by the light and space in NM she recently began to paint again full time.
I work with acrylics, oil colors, and crayons on canvas and like to work in groups of paintings exploring one theme.
My current paintings are both an exploration and a response to my bi-cultural experience, weaving together the softer colors and light in Germany with the wilder, bolder colors in NM. Both opposites feed into my works creating imaginary landscapes of my soul.
My abstract paintings translate the beauty and the energetics of the natural world into the abstract. I want the viewer to feel: that the source of life is magical.
Currently, I am creating a body of work on canvas that I would like to share with others.
Seeing Jazz
At 65, after decades of not creating art, Lisa Joy Newcomb reinvented herself as an artist.
Ms Newcomb has been honored with one best of show, five first place awards in photography, a second place in abstract photography award, and a third place award. She has had three one-woman shows. One through HMVC Gallery New York, one through Artel Gallery in Pensacola, FL, and one through the University of Delaware. Her work has been seen from coast to coast, including several times through the HMVC Gallery in New York and the Las LaGuna Gallery in California. Pictorem, based out of Montreal, Canada, has Lisa as a featured artist. Ms. Newcomb’s work has been seen in public arenas including New York’s Times Square electronic billboards, Montgomery International Airport, the Regions Bank Corporate Gallery in Montgomery, Alabama, the Sanger Theater in Pensacola, Florida, and the Hilton Pensacola Beach, Florida. Three books have also been presented Ms Newcomb. They are: “Nobis II, 2023,” and the “Emerald Coast Review,” 2023, and 2025. “Emerald Coast Review 2025” uses Ms Newcomb’s photograph as its cover image.
The photographs she creates are abstractions in fluidity, rich in joy and filled with color, pattern, curiosity, and a gentle message. The dance of light that for most of her life she sought in the ocean, she is now looking for in the melding of glass and fabric with occasional surprise elements. Lisa’s work is usually printed on aluminum.
Ms Newcomb’s highest degree is a master’s in social work. Professionally, she worked as a social worker and as a realtor. She was raised in the Mid Atlantic, experienced her young adulthood in New England and the Midwest, and for the last 28 years, the Deep South has been home with her husband. It was in the Deep South that she raised an interesting, dynamic, kind-hearted daughter. Lisa was a docent at the Pensacola Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Art for over 17 years. She is currently a national member of Pen Women.
Ms Newcomb’s uplifting work can be seen on her website at Pictorem. You may order it there to your specifications.
I create photos as peaceful, playful, healing stimuli while I make observations of humanity and the environment. Drawing upon different objects, I explore melding them into a unified whole. Part of my process is setting up compositions, in the form of an assemblage, visually weaving together beautiful glass, flowing fabric, with vibrant colors and patterns into integrated fluid formations seeking to reshape light, pattern, and color into a visual oasis. I then tightly crop and photograph. My intent is to transcend and transform objects into images that visually excite while calming the soul, often with a gentle message.
A lifelong passion for art and artists influenced my work. I nod to Miriam Schapiro, a leader in the Pattern and Decoration Movement. Having lived much of my life by the shore, I have always loved the play of light in watery reflections. I am drawn to artists who capture light; Stephen Rolfe Powell’s glass delights me. Mark Rothko believed in the visceral effect of color. He wanted people to have an experience within his pictures. I seek to have my work viscerally affect the viewer.
CromaLuxe high definition images printed on aluminum are my preferred substrate. The reflective surface enhances and enriches the dynamics of the glass used in my imagery. Images can be ordered in small jewel-like prints or large dynamic pieces.
Seeking A Soft Place To Land
I am a visual artist, sculptor, author, illustrator, and publisher. I was born and raised in Washington, DC, and I currently reside in Hillsborough, NC. I received my BFA in painting from Boston University and my MFA in Painting from the University of Arizona.
Being an animal activist and feminist, my artwork flows from what moves me and from where I find beauty: women, animals, the earth, color, pattern, and light. My art represents the deep connection I feel with these elements. Through my artwork, I create a world as I would like it to be, where harmony exists between animals and humans, and where nature thrives. My work includes pen and ink drawings, papier-mâché sculptures, vessels, collages, abstracts in cold wax and oil, and 3-dimensional oil on canvas paintings featuring women and animals. These paintings test the boundaries of what a “painting” is. They are created on a free-form canvas and involve papier-mâché sculpture, beadwork, and mixed media. “Art is where I go for refuge, replenishing, and how I pay homage to what sustains me.”