Dreams
Michelle Vezina Peterlin has been a professional artist for over 30 years. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she studied painting.
She is a Rhode Island Art League elected artist. She is also a member of the National Oil & Acrylic Painter Society.
She is an adjunct painter professor in the Continued Learning Department at Evansville University in Evansville, Indiana.
She is the Visual Arts Director for the New Harmony Artists’ Guild (NHAG) in New Harmony, Indiana. She is also an NHAG Board of Directors member.
Ms. Peterlin has shown her work in juried exhibits throughout the United States for 3 decades. In 2021, her work has been written about in PR Newswire and World 360 News. Her work has been published in Artistonish magazine.
My work is allegorical and tells the stories of things important to me. They reflect how I feel about social and moral issues. I consider myself a deeply spiritual person and the elements I use to represent forms come from nature, literature, and myth.
Dreams Of Arrakis
Thomas Morgan began his journey as a photographer the same way many of his peers did: with a camera passed down or gifted by his parents. Something not terribly expensive but with good glass and simple operations. His was a Yashica-MAT 124G, a late-model twin-lens reflex camera during one of its final years in production. Even then, it was an oddball, since almost everyone else he knew had already become acquainted with 35mm. But he was—and continues to be—rebellious.
Morgan moved on to and experimented with other camera formats that became extensions to his creative spark, his inner dialog brought to the fore. While he still shoots analog and sticks to composing while he shoots, he fully embraces digital, noting the medium’s seemingly endless possibilities in post-production.
“It’s a fast-moving world,” he says, “but it is through my constant pursuit of photographic exceptionalism that I’m able to see the details, the story, and the drama of the stillness between stoplights. I’ll always shoot, and most of the pictures are not going to be that good, but the ones that get through will hopefully transcend to a photograph.”
I endeavor to see the story when I’m in the moment of capturing an image, trying to transcend its history. And at that moment, I often reflect on whether anyone has stood at the same spot I did and, if so, who they were. Did she or he see what I saw? The possibilities are endless. Photography is the quiet observance of the fast-moving world in which human connection has been unwined to the last strand, but in that tethering, we see and feel the world upon which we tread. We’re passing through this time; I’m simply a vessel whose strength is the observation. I want my world to be beautiful, but I can’t force it. I want those who see my work to slow down and reflect. That’s what photography is to me: Reflections on this passing moment, and somewhere within the casting of that light, there is beauty.
Dreams Of Goddesses Hypatia
In Belsize Park, Özlem paints in the house where Piet Mondrian and Ben Nicholson both worked, just before the Second World War. Originally from Istanbul, Özlem loved to paint from an early age and was deeply influenced by the variety and depth of artistic creativity throughout the cultures of the Mediterranean region, from the ancient monuments of Ephesus to the colorful traditional woven handicrafts from the East of Turkey.
Moving to London in 2015 she began to refine her artistic style, while her background in Biology and botany, and passion for science provided a broad conceptual palette. Always curious about and inspired by nature, Özlem focused on the joy of works featuring natural scenes and imaginary worlds. She creates an idea, mixing it with her feelings and daily experience of life in which she is constantly exploring her love of classic cinema and literature, resulting in works with boundless vitality and joy.
Since 2018 Özlem has taken part in various exhibitions around the world, in New York, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK among many others, and also appearing in print and online. Her publications include Capsules Book, ‘Leaders in Contemporary Art’, (Australia), The Art Folio Annual Art Book ‘World’s Most Exciting Artists’ (USA), House and Garden Magazine, and the ‘Covart’ Project in the Copelouzos Family Art Museum, (Greece). Her awards include ‘Best in Show’ in Texas, ‘Honourable Mention’ award in Tokyo, and Precious magazine ‘Top Ten’ awards in Hong Kong.
In 2022 she participated as one of seven artists selected to create giant fiberglass eggs to celebrate the late Queen Elizabeth the Second’s Silver Jubilee by Elephant Family, a wildlife charity run by the Royal Family.
Özlem is constantly creating and sending her work to global collectors. Collectors include Anita Dobson & Brian May, Maria Friedman, and Andy Nyman.
Dreams Of Shopping Malls Past
Austin Lubetkin is a visual artist and software engineer whose work is shaped by his experiences of autism and synesthesia. He sees language, sound, and emotion as colors and patterns, and translates this sensory crossover into bold, graphic compositions. Using the visual language of advertising, social media, and luxury branding, his work explores how identity, beauty, and neurodivergence are packaged, judged, and sold. Clean lines, saturated color, and layered text often appear in his pieces, reflecting both the overstimulation of modern life and the need for structure within it. Lubetkin’s work has been exhibited at the Sasse Museum and in an international exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has also served as both curator and featured artist for an exhibition at the Orlando Science Museum, focusing on the intersection of technology and perception. In February 2026, he will present a solo show at TAG Gallery in Los Angeles, California.
“Dreams of Shopping Malls Past” is a self-portrait of how my autistic, synesthetic mind remembers the heyday of malls: part playground, part pressure chamber. The endless escalator becomes a data stream, pulling you toward a glowing future that still feeds into a single, hungry mouth. I use hyper-saturated color and glossy surfaces to echo advertising, but the composition is slightly surreal and off-balance, hinting at anxiety beneath the shine. For me, this piece tracks the emotional physics of consumption and nostalgia, turning a familiar public space into an x-ray of desire, overwhelm, and control.
Dreams Of Tranquil Dreams
Lale Gerger’s life and artistry are a testament to resilience and passion for expression. Born in Colorado and was immersed in Turkey’s culture until she was twelve. Her adolescence spanned the U.S., England, Kuwait, and Mexico, culminating in a return to the U.S. and later, Turkey, at 24. These experiences broadened her global perspective and shaped her artistic outlook.
During her middle school years in America, Gerger’s struggle with language and cultural assimilation led her to discover her passion for the arts. A theatre class became her sanctuary, highlighting the power of artistic expression in fostering connection and understanding. She pursued a degree in Theatre from UCLA and later earned her Master’s degree from the University of Florida, exploring the nexus of art, health, and business.
Gerger’s professional life took a practical turn as she embarked on a career in HR, driven by her responsibilities as the first single woman to adopt in Turkey, a five-year legal battle that saw two laws change. Simultaneously, she worked as an actress and director. Her mother’s battle with cancer and the economic impact of COVID-19 led her to find solace in art again. After multiple layoffs during the pandemic, she shifted to painting full-time.
Now in Florida, Gerger is a celebrated contemporary abstract painter. Her vibrant works capture universal and oceanic essences. Through her “Shine Your Light” series, she encourages finding your own light and shining it for others, which she describes as her golden thread.
Gerger has earned numerous accolades, including the Award of Excellence from the Gainesville Fine Arts Association in 2022 – 2025. She participates in fine art festivals across Florida and Georgia and regularly exhibits at various galleries. As she continues to evolve as an artist, Lale remains committed to creating meaningful connections and fostering positivity through her art.
As an artist based in Gainesville, Florida, I aim to combine artistry, empathy, and resilience in my creative journey. From my theatre background to navigating personal challenges, art has been my compass. Through mediums like acrylics and pen and ink, I explore life’s complexities, inviting viewers to embrace resilience and share their light.
My journey is a testament to the transformative power of art in navigating life’s challenges and discovering purpose amid adversity. Driven by a deep passion for the arts, I received my theatre degree at UCLA and then went to Turkey, where I reconnected with my cultural roots while working both as an actress for the State Theatre and as a faculty member at a conservatory.
However, a pivotal moment in my personal life reshaped my path. Through a five-year legal battle, I fought for the right to adopt as a single woman in Turkey, ultimately changing laws and welcoming my son into my life.
Returning to the United States, I delved into nonprofit work and later ventured into Human Resources to provide stability for my child. During a personal tragedy with my mother’s cancer diagnosis and the onset of the pandemic, I rediscovered solace in art.
Spanning a diverse range of mediums and techniques, with a focus on acrylics through abstract art, my artwork reflects a unique perspective on life’s complexities. Art has always been my solace and my form of expression, helping me navigate through life’s trials. I am continually inspired by the resilience of the human spirit, the profound beauty of the cosmos, and the strength of inspirational women. My technique combines meticulous attention to detail with spontaneous expression, making my art unique in its genuine reflection of life’s dualities—light and dark, struggle and triumph.
Dreamscape
Growing up on the edge of Aledo, a small town in western Illinois, has heavily shaped my work. Because of our close proximity to the Mississippi River, we were surrounded by rolling hills and the mighty river’s tributaries. Playful interactions with the surrounding natural world nourished me then and continue to feed me today.
Much of my youth was spent barefoot and outdoors, exploring with my gang the nearby countryside, creating pirate ships and castles from the enormous pile of brush that sat at the end of our lot. Other times, I relished my time alone, sitting under the canopy of the giant elms that surrounded our home. There, I’d spend hours making environments amongst gnarly roots using sticks and mud.
My mother’s garden provided a bounty of fresh vegetables and berries for our family, and every imaginable fruit tree filled the summer air with its sweet scents and offered climbing opportunities to pluck ripened fruit. I sprang from these deeply felt interactions with my natural environment. Because of my roots, I hold a belief that all things are connected and interdependent. Nature was my first teacher.
My official art education began in college, where I focused on building technique as I grew my unique artist’s voice. As an undergraduate, I was fortunate to study for one year in Oslo, Norway, at Kunstøg Håndsverk Skole on a fellowship. This experience expanded my world, and a love of traveling became a passion. Later, I traveled to Japan, Turkey, and India through art educator fellowships, eager to understand the deep geographical and philosophical contexts in which art making is grounded in different cultures. Everywhere I found meaningful beauty in connecting with people.
My real-life work is my art. I have had many careers in the arts after receiving my MFA in Sculpture/Papermaking from the University of Illinois. I have held the positions of artisan and R&D for Editions in Cast Paper, art educator and curriculum designer, art exhibition designer and handler. Throughout my working life, my art-making has remained a constant. Now that I have retired, it is my focus.
In 1980, I took a Zen workshop at the University of Illinois with Professor Shōzō Satō. He was assisted by Kimiko Gunji, who later became my Ikebana teacher. This was a pivotal experience. For five weeks, our small group was immersed in three cultural arts of Japan: calligraphy, ikebana, and tea ceremony. Later, I took more calligraphy classes with Professor Sato at Japan House. What has remained with me is the power of holding intention when approaching my work. This does not mean that I determine ahead of time what my work will look like when finished. In the practice of Japanese calligraphy, one empties oneself of random thoughts and then focuses on the intrinsic meaning of the pictograph to be painted. Likewise, I consider the feeling or tone I seek in my work before I begin.
I have recently returned to using sumi-e ink for the initial mark-making in my paintings, using an array of unconventional ways to apply the ink that include sticks, yucca leaves, and an asphalt roofing brush. These tools are less controllable, and I embrace the possibility of surprises that they offer. I then step back and look at the relationships between these marks. I look at the piece as a whole and decide which connections need to be emphasized, subdued, or eliminated. This parallels the process that I use in my practice of Ikebana.
In my work, I am investigating relationships through the lens of cause and effect. My aim is to explore how we come to a resolution from the decisions that we make and the actions that we take. On a functional level, as an artist, my process embodies this idea. Initially, I work freely and spontaneously and move steadily towards resolution through intuitive decision making, embracing happy accidents.
I am interested in how a viewer’s perceptions make meaning from a work of art. The book by neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel, Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, has impacted my understanding of the ways the brain functions to interpret art differently, depending on whether the subject is recognizable or abstract. Abstract or non-objective art engages a part of the brain associated with memory and emotions. This promotes deeper self-reflection. Appreciating this has prompted me to explore new ways to connect more deeply with the viewers of my work.
Dreamscape #6
Alena Rezanova is a multidisciplinary artist and digital retoucher exploring the fusion of the incompatible.
Born in Minsk, Belarus, she moved to the United States in 2011, living in New York and California before settling in Florida.
Her background in advertising and marketing led her to photography, which became her profession in 2013. In New York, Alena worked in product photography, where she transformed ordinary objects through light, composition, and retouching, making them more visually appealing. This experience gave her a refined sense of everyday aesthetics and gradually led to the realization that her true interest lay beyond commercial visuals.
Since 2020, she has focused on retouching, remaining in the world of photography while gradually shifting toward painting as her primary form of self-expression.
It was in Florida that her deeper artistic exploration began—a rethinking of visual language and expression through art. In her practice, she actively incorporates artificial intelligence as a tool for generating ideas, exploring forms and textures, and integrating digital technologies into traditional artistic methods.
Since 2023, she has consciously embraced the path of an artist, dedicating herself to the search for her unique visual signature.
My center is where I am.
I am a metamodernist artist exploring the world, myself, and art. I believe in the power of experimentation because the familiar has long been explored.
In the fast-paced 21st century, where the digital and the physical merge, boundaries dissolve, and the rhythm accelerates, it’s easy to lose oneself in the chaos of events and the endless race for goals.
My art is a point of stillness. It helps to pause, find one’s center, and reconstruct reality, creating space for new meanings and realizations.
My inspiration comes from the Russian and European avant-garde—their boldness, strength, and drive to create a new order from chaos.
My method is balanced—on the edge between abstraction and figuration, between consciousness and the unconscious, between timeless values and cutting-edge technologies. I seek harmony in contrasts and provocation in the ordinary—where courage meets freedom, the most interesting things are born.
My tool is artificial intelligence, which allows me to uncover new dimensions of art through experiments with form, texture, and movement. Using AI to create canvases and videos, I speak the language of the digital era while preserving the depth of human meaning and emotion.
My art is a portal inward, a mirror-like space where everyone can see their own fluidity, strength, and take personal responsibility for perceiving and shaping the world.
My goal is to remind: the center is always within. It is where we choose to be.
This is how antifragility is born.
Dreamy
Tikran Bayat is a Dutch-Armenian artist, sculptor, and honorary member of Armenia’s Artist Union. He specializes in metal art, wall art, and abstract sculptures created of brass, bronze, steel, lead, marble, obsidian crystalline, and wood. His artwork was exhibited in Armenia, Iran, the Netherlands, Spain, Kuwait and UAE.
Tikran Bayat won the “Golden Duck” award for “No Limits International Art Exhibition” for “Heartbeat” and “Dreamy”, the “Exceptional Artist 2023” award of “Hamazkayin Cultural Organization”, World Art Dubai 2024’s “Artist of the Week” award, and his artwork was selected by the prestigious Biennale Chianciano 2024 to be displayed in Italy.
“As an artist, I strive to create thought-provoking work. Through my art, I explore love, courage, mindfulness, and the importance of living in harmony with nature. I invite viewers to reflect on the fragility of our lives, love, mental peace, and nature. My sculptures underline the connection between happiness, gratitude, and mindfulness”.
Art is a space where thinkers and dreamers come together to be inspired, challenged, and provoked to look at things from a different perspective. A woman’s confidence, courage, and dedication to perfection, to her career or loved ones is what I see as beauty. I aim to elevate the voices and perspectives of these intelligent and ambitious creatures who inspire, challenge, and transform us despite the many challenges they face in life (war, poverty, inequality). Some of my sculptures express my concern about global warming, desertification, loss of human touch, real interactions, and simplicity in life. Through my artwork, I hope to inspire a deeper understanding and appreciation of the beauty and fragility of mental peace and Mother Nature and underline the interconnectivity between humanity and everything that surrounds us.
Dreamy Days At Lily Pond
I am a self-taught artist who has been immersed in the world of art since childhood. My journey with art began with a deep fascination for the natural world, which continues to be the core inspiration for my work. I specialize in acrylic paint and watercolors, mediums that allow me to explore the delicate interplay of light and color.
My paintings are often dreamlike landscapes and impressionistic floral scenes, characterized by their soft and bright palettes. I gravitate towards shades of peaches and pinks, which infuse my work with a sense of warmth and serenity. Whether depicting the gentle curve of a petal or the vast expanse of the sea, my art aims to capture the ephemeral beauty of nature.
Through my work, I hope to evoke a sense of calm and wonder, inviting viewers to step into a world where the colors of nature are celebrated in all their soft, radiant glory.
My art is a reflection of my deep connection with nature, a bond that has been nurtured since childhood. As a self-taught artist, I have always found solace and inspiration in the natural world, where the delicate details of flowers and the vast, calming presence of the sea captivate me. These elements serve as the foundation of my creative process.
Working with acrylic paint and watercolors, I am drawn to the soft and bright hues of peaches and pinks, which have become signature tones in my work. These colors allow me to explore the gentle interplay of light and atmosphere, creating pieces that are both serene and vibrant. My paintings often take the form of dreamlike landscapes and impressionistic floral scenes, where reality merges with imagination, evoking a sense of peace and wonder.
Through my art, I aim to offer viewers a moment of tranquility and a reminder of the beauty that exists in the world around us. My work is an invitation to pause, to breathe, and to immerse oneself in the simple yet profound elegance of nature.