Dancing In Light 5

I am the youngest child of a dad who was a merchant marine and a mom who was a community activist. I spent my time reading books and watching Star Trek. My love for photography fully started when I was gifted my very first film camera in 1978. I still have that camera. Digital photography started in 2010. I am self-taught in this arena but have had much help from Pace University’s Continuing Adult Education and School of Visual Arts, along my journey.

My work is an expression of my emotions. Sometimes my emotions are scattered and sometimes not. I express myself best in black and white, yet there are moments when color is a must. We walk through life and miss the beauty. It’s only for a fleeting moment when we come to something that we gravitate to. My camera allows me to revisit those moments.

Background on Series of Callas:

Some of these photos were taken during a difficult time in my life. There was a moment in my life when I lost my spouse, my home and I lost a part of me. I snapped these photos while living in a small room at my mother’s home. I had just picked up a Nikon D90 and started teaching myself how to use this newfound digital camera. I photographed these images in natural light.

These photos helped me through not only the loss of my spouse but my life as I knew it. From ashes, beauty is born.

Awards:

2024 Silver Award Exposure Award One Shot Photo Contest
2024 People’s Vote Award Exposure Award One Shot Photo Contest
2024 Nominee Exposure Award One Shot Photo Contest
2024 Nominee 1839 Awards Color Photography Contest
2024 Honorable Mention London Photography Awards
2024 People’s Vote Award reFocus Awards Color Photography Contest
2024 Silver Award Muse Photography Awards
2024 Silver Award Muse Photography Awards
2024 Gold Award European Photography Awards
2023 People’s Vote Award reFocus Awards Black & White Photography Contest
2023 Gold Award Muse Photography Awards
2023 Bronze Award reFocus Awards Color Photography Contest
2023 Nominee 16th International Color Awards
2023 Silver Award New York Photography Awards
2022 Nominee 15th Annual International Color Awards
2022 Honorable Mention New York Photography Awards
2022 Honorable Mention reFocus Awards Black & White Photography Contest
2022 People’s Vote Award reFocus Awards Black & White Photography Contest

My work is an expression of my emotions. Sometimes my emotions are scattered and sometimes not. I express myself best in black and white, yet there are moments when color is a must. We walk through life and sometimes miss the beauty. It’s only for a fleeting moment when we come to something that we gravitate to. My camera allows me to revisit those moments.

Dancing In The Net

Zhanna Urodovskikh, originally from Samara, Russia, has been drawing and painting since childhood. After studying art at an art school, she received a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the Samara State University of Architecture and Engineering. Though life paths led her to California and a career in a completely different field, her love for art and creativity remained strong. In 2019, she returned to drawing and painting after a long break, and since 2021, she has been actively participating in juried art shows. Zhanna has been a member of the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery since February 2024 and a member of Studio Art Magic since October 2025.

I love to experiment with mediums and colors and often mix different techniques, which gives my art more life. This is evident in my dynamic use of mixed media, incorporating everything from expressive brushstrokes and thick impasto textures to collage elements and graphic lines. As an artist, I want to help people see the beauty of simple things around us. My work encourages viewers to see more than just an object, but to see connections with life, feelings, and emotions that can be awakened through art. The recurring motifs in my work—such as the expressive “blue cat,” vivid still life paintings, and warm, evocative landscapes—serve as anchors for these deeper emotional connections.

Dancing On A Volcano The Edge Of This Hill Is The Edge Of The World

Meet Sue Anderson, the creative force behind Susan Locke Photography. Susan is a talented photographer with a passion for capturing the beauty of the world around us. Her work is a celebration of the natural world and the moments that make life special.

Susan’s passion for photography started in high school, where she discovered her love for capturing the beauty of the world around her. She continued to pursue her passion in college, taking photography classes to expand her knowledge and hone her skills.

After college, Susan received a certificate in portraiture from the New York Institute of Photography, which provided her with a solid foundation in the art of portrait photography. However, she is also mostly self-taught, constantly experimenting and pushing herself to try new techniques and approaches to her craft.

My work is an ethereal and dreamy journey into the realm of surreal, fantasy, and magical aspects of life. I create breathtaking self-portrait composites that are steeped in symbolism. They are inspired by my dreams and the surreal world of my imagination. They are a celebration of the limitless potential of the human mind and the power of the imagination. My images are rich with symbolism inviting viewers to delve deeper and discover new insights and perspectives. My goal is for my images to be both captivating and thought-provoking and to transport my viewers to a world where anything is possible.

Artistic Process: For many years I worked as a software engineer. Thus my approach to my art is very logical. For each concept, I decode the parts in my mind’s eye, visualizing each detail in order to determine how to photograph them, so that the final composite fits together elegantly. Each image consists of many separate photographs that I merge in Photoshop adding additional colors and textures along the way. Although each image requires a considerable amount of post-production processing, I always try to capture as much in my camera as possible. In the end, it all comes down to problem-solving and finding a way to capture the impossible. I strive to create images that reflect a universe on the borderline between dreams and reality.

During the pandemic, I found solace and inspiration in music while working on my art. These works were directly inspired by various songs. Each photograph is a visual representation of the emotions and feelings that the lyrics evoked in me. These images are infused with the same sense of wonder and magic that can be found in the songs, and they are a celebration of the transformative power of art.

Dancing Spirits

GIPAHO’s ruling planet is Jupiter, and her assigned element is Fire!

Born & raised on a Dairy Farm in Berlin/Germany- living & working in Honolulu as a Healthcare Prof in the Medical Coding, CTR field, since 2008. A current licensed LMT/MMT… Her twin self, she calls the creative side in her, the implemented gifts influencing her passion to build with her hands Artwork, different materials like Clay, Glass, Metal, Fabrics, and Fiber. GIPAHO is influenced by our vivid colors of Mother Nature’s shapes, forms, creatures’ variety & beauty- fascinated by perfectly uniqueness… those moments she captures with her camera, her so-called 3rd eye, first, before converting /expressing in her Multi-Media Artwork. Photography is another field she has been inspired by since the 70-ties, starting with B/W images.

Since 2015 GIPAHO has been very inspired to dig her hands into clay, work the wheel, or form sculptures supported by her Higher Self influence. The variety firing process takes place in electric, gas kiln, Pit firing, or Raku.

“If we can re-learn (like when we were kids) walking through our Live journey here on Mother Earth with joy, with open eyes, loving-kindness, awareness; being able to listen to our inner voice/intuition, we will detect talents, God-given implemented gifts and USE IT” GIPAHO believes.

GIPAHO was accepted by Jurors into the following exhibitions:

Hawaii Handweavers’ Hui & The Glass Fusion Collective: Surrounded by Water, August 2 – 19, 2023
Juror Stacie Robinson, DOWNTOWN ART CENTER Honolulu

HMVC GALLERY NEW YORK- “REBEL-REBEL”, 11/2022
“PARADISE PINK”, 02/2023- SUMMER FEELS 07/2023
Jurors Heini Mika & Vincent Chang

Hawaii Craftsmen Biennial juried art exhibition
Fiber Hawaii 2022: “In of or About Fiber” -June 8, 2022
Juror Amos Kotomori- DAC HONOLULU
https://www.hawaiicraftsmen.org/page-1853317

OLELO ART Interview with Producer Lisa Coen 2022
https://olelo.granicus.com/player/clip/82288?view_id=18&redirect=true&h=877f659d6c25f83f3f90da34d6349376

54 BEAUTIFUL GLASS PIECES BY 17 GLASS ARTISTS
ON THE WALL- January 17, 2022, HPU GALLERY
https://archive.glassfusioncollective.com/on-the-wall

Contemporary Photography Hawai’i 2022 “EGOMIND”
Juror Katherine Love
https://pnmlab.com/contemporary-photography-in-hawaii-2022-individual-entries/

Hawaii Handweavers Hui
“Inspirations ” 2021 Biennial Juried Exhibition
Juror Mark Mitsuda
https://glassfusioncollective.com/inspirations-2021/

CEDAR STREET GALLERIES – 2021-ongoing
https://cedarstreetgalleries.com/bin/works.cgi?Artist=Gipaho

THE ARTS AT MARKS GARAGE- 2021-ongoing
https://artsatmarks.com/

Kahaluʻu Gallery & Gardens Hawaii- presenting GIPAHO’s Artwork 2019-ongoing
https://kahaluugalleryandgardens.com/

I experienced when I was young to better carry my TRUE SELF inside, not sharing with other human beings my feelings; often being misunderstood, and not meeting their criteria of LIFE Standards, Guidelines, and Rules.

I loved, being on my own, surrounded by Mother Nature created pure beauty, smell, forms, shapes, and living creatures. Reading and becoming interested in Hawaiian Mythology much later, I learned to be aware we have connections with something larger than ourselves, supporting us.

I discovered early, when young, that my 3rd eye through the camera, is a true companion to express my Higher Self without saying a word. Some people are gifted to see things, like our forest/-tree spirits, when dancing & following their joyful Soul sounds without judgment, limitations-freely. So, I try to do the same. Naturally, when working with different materials like clay, metal, fabrics, and mixed media, I often discover images in those materials with a smile; when my Soul was imprinting, sharing a scenery, like in the Raku fired piece “Dancing Spirits”, I share with you here at the HMVC exhibit. I enjoy Raku firing. It originated in Japan, a process, where you fire your hand-built sculptures, vessels placed in a drum at a low temperature and rapidly cooled. It is a short firing compared to the kiln firing which can take place over 11 hours. I admire and welcome every of my Kiln, Raku or Pit fired pieces when surviving the fire flames, – presenting their glazes/color and form in their most beautiful dresses/surfaces. Working in art, with any kind of material, is healing your Body and soul – I really believe, keep creating.

Dancing With The Stars

Janet Leombruni is currently President of CT Women Artists. She is an Elected Member of the CT Academy of Fine Art, West Hartford Art League, and her work is part of multiple collections in the US and Europe.

Most recently, she held solo shows, Hidden in Plain Sight, at the Monastery Gallery in West Hartford, CT, and FIAT LUXE at the Art League of New Britain. Leombruni has held artist talks at Kehler-Liddell Gallery in New Haven, and the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, and was a featured artist for the CWA Art Chat Series. Her work is currently in the Jorgensen Gallery, UCONN, the Monastery Gallery in West Hartford, and CAFA+.

She has shown in the Mattatuck Museum CT, Slater Memorial Museum, CT, Barnes-Franklin Gallery at Tunxis, CT, Flinn Gallery with the Greenwich Art Society, Theaterworks, Hartford, CT, CAFA at Lyme Academy of the Arts and Sill Gallery, Old Lyme, the New Britain Museum of American Art and New Haven Paint and Clay. She is currently included in an exhibition in SOHO20 Chelsea, NYC, been in KBM Gallery Riverside, CA, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, San Fernando, CA, dodomu Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, and San Rafael, CA.

Leombruni received a BA from Hartford Art School, an MA in Education from UCONN, and a Master Plus 30 in Painting and Art Education from CCSU.

Much of Leombruni’s paintings tell the stories of her many experiences in the classroom over the years. They also explore relationships, sometimes utilizing tropes or idioms in the form of children’s literature, myths, films, or portray stories as told to her by her students. She examines themes of hope, impulsivity, family, fantasy, innocence, and coming of age. Her colors are powerful. Leombruni seeks to draw the viewer in, to elicit an emotional response. She asks the viewer to determine: What is really going on here?

Dante’s Inferno

Mary Beth King is an abstract artist inspired by the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. After more than 15 years working in digital marketing and social media, she left her career behind to pursue her passion for painting. Working with fluid acrylics, textured acrylics, oils, textiles, clay, and various other formats, she creates vibrant, dynamic, luxe pieces that celebrate bold colors and engage viewers with touchable texture and depth.

Her art is designed to spark joy – because that’s what her transition from the corporate world to art has given her: tremendous, unbridled joy. She aims to connect with viewers and transform spaces with work that is energetic and emotionally resonant. Her art is also intentionally meant to take up space, exploring and challenging societal conventions of women expected to stay small, stay quiet, and stay in their place. But in every piece, Mary Beth’s work invites viewers to deeply engage with their own emotions and find inspiration and meaning in the vibrant interplay of color and form; there is no one way to feel or experience Mary Beth’s pieces. Rather, she creates art that offers joy and incites meaningful personal reflection among viewers and collectors.

Dare To Say Diversity

Before art became his passion, much of Rich Sheaffer’s prior career in engineering and management was rather mundane. The exceptions were when he did not follow conventional wisdom and explored on his own without necessarily doing things the accepted, “correct” way. That is when breakthroughs occur, discoveries are made and quantum improvements can be initiated. It is with that spirit that Rich creates art by inspiration and imagination rather than more conventional rules of how art should be created. Rich’s works reflect the angst of a common man regarding events occurring in society, and some of his works have also predicted future events. When events are so outrageous that he is left at a loss for words … he paints. Rich is active with the Artists Guild of the San Diego Museum of Art, the Artist Alliance of the Oceanside Museum of Art, and others.

Since the events of 2016, Rich Sheaffer has been developing a genre of art he calls Socio-Political Abstractionism. While political art is common, it has generally taken the form of such things as cartoons and caricatures. Socio-Political Abstractionism, in contrast, is an art form in which hot-button social topics being divisively debated in the political milieu are “abstractionized” and expressed via painting in abstract form, to inspire thought and discussion. Such works are primitive expressions of dreams or visions that express the events and angst of our time in history. His works are experimental and inspired by current events; he never knows from the onset how the final work will appear. Topics covered by Rich have included societal fear and anger, climate change, human rights, assaults against diversity, truth versus “alternative facts”, degradation of kindness and compassion, migration issues, attacks against democracy, risks of conflict and war, self-created chaos, and so on.

Dark Matter

Lynn Burnes is a Denver abstract and nonobjective artist who has been painting in oils, acrylics, and mixed media for over 20 years. Her work has been described by others as vibrant, exploratory, colorful, expressionist, geometric, and sometimes Cubist. Her fields of study have included mathematics, philosophy, and science, which have inspired her love of space, geometry, and time, revealed in many of her works. She has exhibited in over 40 art shows and galleries in the United States and has received several awards for artistic achievement. She has studied under various artists, including Victoria Kwasinski, Joan Fullerton, Joanne Burney (Art Students League of Denver), Pat Dews, and Gretchen Norwalk. Recently, she was added to the board of the Colorado Women’s Art Center and Museum.

Exhibitions and Shows

She Makes an Impression, Colorado Women’s Art Center and Museum exhibition, December 2025
Second Place in show, 30th Annual Gateway to the Rockies Show, Aurora Artists Guild, November 2025
Women’s Caucus for Art (national), Looking Out: A Connected Perspective (online), Summer 2025
HMVC New York Gallery 2023, 2024, and 2025
Red Bluff Art Gallery, Abstract Expressions 2022, 2023, 2024, Corning, California
28th Annual Gateway to the Rockies Show, Aurora Artists Guild, November 2023, Aurora, Colorado
Las Laguna Art Gallery, June 2021 and July 2022, Laguna, California
Colorado Visions, North Metro Arts Alliance, Westminster, Colorado, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021
Foothills Art Center, Members’ Show, Golden, Colorado, 2018
32nd Annual National Fine Art Show, Louisville Art Association, Louisville, Colorado, 2017
31st Annual National Fine Art Show, Louisville Art Association, Louisville, Colorado, 2016
Annual Members’ Exhibit, Paletteers Art Club, College Hill Library, Westminster, Colorado 2016
New Trends, Colorado Watercolor Society, Avista Adventist Hospital, Lafayette, Colorado 2016
Square Deal Gallery, Denver, Colorado 2015

Many of my paintings are abstract and inspired by a strong sense of place, such as one experiences in nature, in an urban landscape, or even beyond, into the universe. My work explores geometric designs and composition by using odd shapes, often bright colors, and illusions of space and depth.

Painting abstractly is a passionate challenge of mine, and I like experimenting with acrylics and oils, applying them to the canvas in interpretations of such topics as time, water, nature, physics, or the cosmos. As an intuitive and exploratory painter, I work mostly in acrylics, oils, and mixed media.

My favorite inspirational art periods are the ones leading up to and including Abstract Expressionism (both American and European), from 1905 to 1950, when artists globally were diverging from traditional representation and forging new visual imagery in spite of nonacceptance and even ridicule from art critics and the general public.

My work has been shown in many metro-Denver art shows and was recently juried into several national shows.

Das Zweite Gesicht

Born in Vienna, Austria, studying veterinary medicine, working as a virologist and expert in laboratory diagnosis at the Federal Institute for the Control of Viral Diseases in Animals, retired in 2012. She has been drawing and painting since childhood but interrupted this passion during her professional life. After her retirement, she started self-taught again, first with pastels, and later also with watercolor, coal, and acrylic. Her main topic is animals, besides plants, and landscapes, paintings of humans are the exception. Since 2013 she participated in numerous exhibitions in Austria and other countries, physically and
digitally. Meanwhile, she received some awards for her artwork.

My parents taught me to open my eyes to the different wonders of creation and from childhood on I try to reflect these impressions in my paintings. Animals in all of their unique and rich beauty and their emotions were my main topic and will ever be. I try to give my painted animals a soal by the look of their eyes and hope it can be seen. Showing my artwork to the public is also an attempt to support the awareness of the voiceless creatures we should protect instead of abusing and destroying them.