Southern River
Jon Feraro is a New Jersey–based emerging artist whose work is rooted in resilience, discovery, and the quiet transformation that comes from life’s most demanding chapters. At 53, his artistic practice developed not through formal training, but through lived experience—shaped by a three-year battle with cancer, now in remission, and the deeply personal act of caring for his mother after a devastating hip and femur injury.
It was during this period of caregiving, reflection, and emotional intensity that Feraro first began to paint. What started as a private, intuitive outlet quickly revealed itself as a natural and necessary form of expression. Without academic constraints, he developed a process driven by instinct—layering, scraping, and reworking surfaces in a way that mirrors both physical endurance and emotional complexity.
Working primarily in oil, Feraro creates heavily textured, abstract compositions that evoke psychological landscapes rather than literal scenes. His work often explores tension between structure and erosion, control and release—echoing themes of fragility, healing, and persistence. Rich, earthen palettes—deep greens, oxidized golds, charred blacks—suggest cycles of decay and renewal, while vertical forms and reflective passages hint at memory, presence, and reconstruction.
Feraro paints under the name Inner Terrain Studio, a concept that reflects his belief that the most compelling landscapes are internal. His work invites viewers to engage with ambiguity and to project their own emotional experiences onto the surface, creating a shared space between artist and audience.
Outside the studio, Feraro works full-time as a technical recruiter in New Jersey—a role that sharpens his ability to connect, observe, and understand people, qualities that subtly inform his artistic voice. Balancing a professional career with an evolving creative practice, he represents a growing movement of self-taught, later-in-life artists who bring depth, perspective, and authenticity to contemporary abstraction.
Now emerging onto the gallery scene, Feraro’s work stands as a testament to reinvention and the enduring human capacity to create meaning from adversity. His paintings are not just visual experiences—they are records of survival, presence, and the ongoing process of becoming.
Southern River was created while caring for his mother through an extended illness and recovery from injury. The painting emerged during a period marked by uncertainty, exhaustion, and reflection, becoming both an observation of landscape and a meditation on endurance, stillness, and emotional distance. Through muted tones and sparse forms, the work evokes the quiet emotional terrain that exists beneath moments of caregiving and waiting.
Space Junk
I’m a self-taught artist born in Ryton, Co. Durham, United Kingdom, but now live and work in Sunderland, England. My view of any kind of art is that it should leave an impression; whether it is good or bad is up to the individual. I think my style of painting and drawing is about colours and shapes, and how they interact.
I mainly paint with aerosol spray paint or acrylics and sometimes oils, inks, watercolours, mixed media, plus glass paint on sheet glass. I produce original prints using a variety of Artificial Intelligence software. I also draw using oil and chalk pastels, watercolour pencils, and digitally. I use a variety of objects to paint, such as blocks of wood, strips of paper, my fingers, and, of course, brushes. I always have music playing when I’m painting, as it keeps me in the mood of that particular artistic piece.
I’m a self-taught English Geordie artist born on the banks of the River Tyne. My view of any kind of art is that it should leave an impression; whether it is good or bad is up to the individual. I think my style of painting, drawing, and photography is about colours and shapes, and how they interact. I mainly paint with aerosol spray paint or acrylics and sometimes oils, inks, watercolours, mixed media, plus glass paint on sheet glass. I also create Digital and AI-assisted art prints, plus draw using oil and chalk pastels and watercolour pencils.
My artistic influences are Salvador Dali, Huntertwasser, Van Gogh, the Fauvists such as Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck, French and Nordic Impressionists, namely Monet, Cezanne, Munch, Osslund, and Erichsen, plus Nolde, Kalella, Klimt, Hokusai, and Wu Guangzong have also had an influence on my work.
Space Study Inside Outside
Yan Wang is an artist and printmaker from Beijing, China, currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Upon acquiring her BFA degree in Printmaking major and Artist Book concentration at Maryland Institute College of Art in 2022, she creates images that embody the monochromatic and metaphorical qualities of the memories, some made into sequential animated films, utilizing the textures created by printmaking approaches.
She has experience in various print mediums including silkscreen, monotype, lithograph, relief, etching with aquatint, and drypoint printing.
Yan has held a solo exhibition in the Meyerhoff Piano Gallery through March and April 2022, her works have also been featured in several juried exhibitions in Rosenberg Gallery and more, and are collected by the Dolphin Press and Print Archive.
As an artist, I engage myself in the process of printmaking, creating images that collaborate with unique print mediums and reflect my themes of visual languages. Printmaking is a process based on physical materials, of not only how to control, but to adapt and absorb the visuals into my own art practices. I believe that the print mediums convey my experimental approach and thorough understanding of an artist’s process.
My works, in their concepts, always carry the nature of printing – transferring of images between surfaces that adapt to different mediums. In The Ones, by preparing the plates with images done with monotype, collage, and ink drawing, the 3-layered lithograph brings motion to the imaginary landscapes. On the other hand, Inside Outside, being a study of the interior environment in which the artists worked, explores the stillness captured by transferring images with physical motion: rubbing on carbon papers to transfer the pigments. The Garden series consists of monotypes with one-line poetry I wrote, depicting the layering of abstract floral forms.
To me, printmaking is a partner in art, not just a tool to be dominated. The variation of textures carries out my visual narratives and hooks me with their unique charms, and I aspire to capture them whether I’m working with monotype, intaglio, collagraph, or lithography. I believe that contemporary art and “new crafts” in printmaking can be better communicated to a wider range of audiences.
Space With This Creature
CHANA KIM is a South Korean artist. He was born in a place with beautiful nature called Miryang.
He spent his childhood away from his parents exploring and communicating with nature with his grandmother, and his accumulated sense of self became his artistic foundation.
He was obsessed with drawing from his childhood, but due to his parents’ neglect and traditional customs of ignoring his own art, he was not exposed to any educational approaches until his high school years. In college, he majored in ‘The Gyeongseong University Department of Visual Design’, a mixture of pure and commercial. After four years of college, he got married and continued his normal life. He entered the world outside his home at the age of 40, and a few years later his life ended with his divorce and bankruptcy. At that time, he started drawing again with a ballpoint pen on paper on his desk. Afterward, he found the tools that best suited his expression, such as charcoal and pastel. It is said that when he first picked up the charcoal, his hands were shaking so much from the amazing energy that he could not control it.
Although it is difficult due to financial difficulties, I am concentrating on my work every day, especially during quiet nights. Due to his late debut, his activities were cut off and he had almost no personal artistic connections. For economic reasons, his work is mainly displayed through online exhibitions.
Exhibition:
Cancer 2021 smart group exhibition
Biafarin Awards – 2021 Group Exhibition
Extinction – 2021 Save the Planet Group Exhibition
Envision Arts online gallery titled Beyond II
Emotions – 2021 Group Exhibition
SoloS: 5th Solo Exhibitions – 2.2022
ARTIST’S VISION 2022
CAL National 3~4. 2022. (TEXAS US)
NEGATIVE – Intersect Arts Center 6~8. 2022. (ST. Louis US)
OSTEN BIENNIAL of DRAWING 2022 (North Macedonia)
Exhibizone-Spring 2022
Biafarin Awards – 2022 Group Exhibition 1~2.2023
Publication:
2021. Envision Arts Magazine Vol. 7
Artistonish – November 2021
Observica Magazine – Special Edition.2022
Observica Magazine – Impulse Edition.2022
Artistonish – May 2022
2022. Envision Arts Magazine Vol. 9
Artistonish – November 2023
41st Edition of Artistonish 2023
It may sound strange, but I am a drawing tool. As I was drawing, I realized that there was something old inside me. His name is CHANA. He keeps showing me pieces of paper and screens that seem to have already been drawn. Of course, I can only see it if I draw it. It could be his feelings, or it could be something that transcends time and space. So sometimes it is difficult to understand, and sometimes it actually happens after a considerable amount of time has passed. I am just a partner as a tool to express it. He likes blood red and black. For him, who is primitive and faithful to his nature, after much trial and error, I prepared oil pastels and charcoal. The world they express is something that does not exist in this world, and I will continue my artistic life faithfully for that purpose.
‘CHANA KIM’ is also a combination of his first name and my last name. We will exist like that.
Space-Time
Inna Nikolaeva was born in Ukraine and now lives in Austria. An architect by training. She specialized in icon painting, decorative arts, and interior design. Inna studied Goethe’s color theory and the technique of the Swiss artist Gerhard Wagner. Architecture, painting, art history, pedagogy, and sculpture were combined in her life. This interdisciplinary experience shaped her work.
Inna draws inspiration from abstract art, which breaks the boundaries of matter, opening access to the source of formative forces. She teaches art history, painting, and sculpture for children, and conducts art seminars for teachers.
She participated in the creation of the OST-WEST Society of Artists, in group exhibitions of “Contemplative Artists” from Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Russia, and founded the Goethe Art Studio.
Because of the war in Ukraine, she had to leave her homeland and move to Austria. This crisis event became a turning point in her life. She is currently exploring the nature of shaping forces and the effects of time and movement. Her layering technique is similar to a timeline.
Inna’s works are in private collections around the world, including the USA, Greece, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Ukraine. She exhibited her works in Ukraine (Dnepr, Odessa, Kyiv), Russia (Nizhny Novgorod), Switzerland (Dornach), Austria (Vienna), Great Britain (London), USA (New York).
I am bridging the gap from icon painting through the avant-garde to the contemporary art scene. Today, more than ever, it is crucial to shift the creative paradigm towards reinterpreting our collective cultural heritage. My work is imbued with the spirit of metamodernism, drawing inspiration from abstract art, the theoretical explorations of Vasily Kandinsky and Goethe, as well as the longstanding traditions of decorative and applied arts. I perceive the world in the trinity of Science, Art, and Religion, with Art serving as the connecting link. The purpose of my artistic endeavors is to guide humanity back to its spiritual origins and eternal values. Therefore, my art is not merely a creative play of perceptions; it is an instrument for understanding the world and the human condition. Color, form, and word are the tools I employ to communicate with the viewer. The Abstraction breaks the boundaries of matter, providing access to the source of formative forces and engaging in the dialogue with the Divine. I don’t think about the motive, I am guided by color and material. I express time and semantic fields through layers – in watercolor, in wood, in paper. The layers of time on the structure create images. Images acquire existence in time and are interpreted as an extension of space. The viewer has the opportunity to read images in multiple layers. Different layers of understanding of oneself and the world. Embracing an interdisciplinary approach, I enjoy combining different techniques and utilizing natural, organic materials. I work across various genres, including painting, graphic arts, installations, and performances. I experiment with the perspective that creation takes place beyond the realm of imaginationс.
It is part of a triptych from the Series “Energy of the Universe”. It was created during the period of forced emigration due to the war in Ukraine and is a light that guides me through the dark times. Using compressed paper, I express the compression of time within myself. Playing with texture creates a vibration between plane and volume.
Spaced Out Slinky
Douglas Wolters is known for his unusual abstract photographs as well as his close-up portraits of botanical subjects. Recently, he participated in numerous group shows, both at local Washington, DC-area galleries and online. In 2024, he participated in two shows at the HMVC Gallery in New York, three shows with Gallerium, and had four images accepted by the Delaware Photographic Society Circuit. Two of Mr. Wolters’s images were selected for the Cape Cod Art Center’s “Black and White” 2023 online photography exhibit, in which 142 photographers entered and only 35 images were selected. One of Mr. Wolters’s images was selected for Exhibizone’s “Curves 2023,” an international online exhibit in which 15 countries were represented. He was also selected for the Artistonish International January 2023 exhibit. Lenswork published Mr. Wolters’s images in three recent monographs. He has also won numerous awards, including first place in B & H Photo Video’s 2021 Optic contest (which came with over $1000 worth of gear) and Best in the Macro Division in the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Photo Visions exhibit. For four years, he won a Special Award in the annual Joe Miller International Abstract exhibits. In addition, he won 3rd place in the 86th Annual Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography, for which there were 2900 entries.
As a professional cellist and educator, I came to photography only after retirement. And as a musician, I bring a somewhat unusual set of perceptions to photography. Line, rhythm, harmony, and structure in music find their counterparts naturally in images.
One of my specialties is abstract photography, using a technique I have developed. Its starting point is always an actual photograph. I then manipulate the form and color with software, transforming it into a wholly new image. I am also devoted to photographing a series of botanical close-ups (or macro photography). These images resemble a theme with endless variations in detail, color, form, and beauty.
Spare
Jack Girard is currently Professor Emeritus for Art and Art History at Transylvania University, in Lexington, KY, USA, where he taught multi-level drawing, painting, and upper-level all-media studios, along with periodic travel courses to Ireland and New York City. Mr. Girard’s work has been extensively exhibited and is represented in many corporate, institutional, and private collections in the United States and overseas.
“I work primarily in painting and collage, mainly because they mirror the disjunctions that define my studio approach and lifestyle—sporadic moments of industry often followed by weeks of process. Current subjects that inform my works include conflict, current events, history, and literature.”
Spare Time
Babler’s work has been juried into: The Boston Printmakers 2026 North American Print Biennial”; Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts 115th Juried National Exhibition; 91st National Exhibition, Cooperstown NY, “Spatial” MFA juried exhibition; GALEX 59 National Exhibition 2026; 38th September Competition Juried Exhibit at Alexandria Museum of Art; ”Autumn 2026 Member Exhibit”, “After Dark 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 (Rochester Art Center); Rockford Art Museum Biennial Juried Exhibit of Contemporary Artists; 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 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; and Ed Paschke.
A Ragdale Residency Fellow and a juried member of the Illinois Arts Council’s Arts-In-Education Roster, she has exhibited at Northwestern University, Concordia University, Rockford Art Museum, and the Alexandria Museum of Art. She was a fine art consultant for Grumbacher/Prismacolor, along with developing a program for Blick Art. Her artwork is in corporate, university, and private art collections.
Art has a special magic of its own by creating worlds of illusion, surprise, and beauty. Artists are magicians drawing on a wide range of tools to surprise and challenge the viewer with visual narratives. Playing with space, mirrors, and hands is used to confuse and intrigue the viewer as to what is up and what is down in a “watch the hands” trick. Viewers are invited to take a path surrounded by stately tall trees to a mysterious red door in a disappearing act. Symbols of relaxation magically float as the viewer dreams of relaxing in their spare time. My submissions encourage the viewer to experience visual “realms of magic”.
Sparrow
I’m Chris Busch from Dallas, Pennsylvania. I grew up in Pennsylvania in the Blue Mountains. My work is inspired by history, wildlife, and the natural world. Throughout my life, I’ve been fascinated by images, light, and color. I work in oil and acrylic painting, and photography. I have experience with photo editing software and use my photos as a reference for painted works, combining elements from different photos to create something new.
“Sparrow” was inspired by a little bird I watched singing its heart out by a quiet lake on a bright, warm summer day, echoing the simple joy of life.
The “Old Lighthouse” was inspired by a trip I took one summer to Lake Erie. The lighthouse itself is a real place; it was built in 1872 and is still in operation on the shores of Lake Erie.
“Desert Bighorn” depicts an imaginative sunset in the desert in the southwestern US. Desert bighorn sheep are a subspecies of bighorn sheep that adapted to life in the desert. The painting was done with acrylic paint, combining fluid art and traditional painting techniques.