Southeast Regional Virtual Tour

Elizabeth Mesa-Gaido, Dubious Utopian Structure #3, Wood, media images, vinyl prints, paint, urethane, metal, Morehead, KY, LaGrange Art Museum Purchase Award. The Dubious Utopian Structures Series is a response to feeling a lack of control over numerous current events. Making these pieces is therapeutic, a way for me to work through emotions caused by the daily bombardment of global information with disconcerting or unknown outcomes. Creating enables me to have an outlet, when I otherwise may not have the ability to alter events or a course of action. The exhibited wall sculpture represents a specific topic, the separation of children from their parents at the Southwest border, and corresponding chain of events. The tiered, colorful, frenetic shapes are based on the silhouettes of quick, expressive line drawings I created in response to the particular event; they are essentially abstract representations of emotion. Attached to the tops of these shapes are specific images from the news media, which have been distorted in Photoshop to visually represent noise – my inability to continuously process the onslaught. While recently visiting Palm Springs, California, I became aware of the calming effect the mid-century Modernist architecture had on my thoughts and being. Designing and building the architectural structure in my sculpture is an intentional meditative and relaxing act. Repeating lines and shapes, as well as organizing negative spaces, creates harmonious visual forms, thus providing order and control to an otherwise unsteady “landscape.” The permanence of the architectural structure is called into question due to the severe sloping of the “ground.” Pulsating and increasing-in-size, parallel layers symbolically allude to seismic waves. The precarious suspension of the sculpture further depicts an uncertain and unstable situation; the metal cables temporarily halting and bracing its deteriorating trajectory.

Martin Beck, Patriarchal Funk #4, Mixed media on prepared paper, Best in Show, Juror Merit Award. For most of my adult life, I’ve had Ankylosing Spondylitis, or A.S., a systemic, inflammatory, and incurable form of arthritis characterized by stiffness and intense pain in one’s joints and connective tissues. The disease waxes and wanes; waxing is aptly called a flare. The result of these intermittent and unpredictable flares is permanent damage to the joints and tissues around them, bony growths, and in severe cases, fused vertebra – ankylosis – also called “bamboo spine.” These flares, some lasting months, have had a direct effect on my work in terms of content and process. Standing or sitting at an easel for extended periods is no longer possible. I instead focus on drawing and painting from life in two to four hours long sessions with the model. I started drawing from life at the end of 2014, mostly as a remedial exercise after the disease kept me from making art for about two years. As a result, I’ve done a lot of life drawing, and I’ve come to believe that the nude speaks most directly of the human condition. To study another’s face and form is an attempt to understand that person's essential humanity: their frailty and imperfection. My arthritic condition has made me sensitive to these qualities in others. I’ve also found that if you study anyone with the level of intensity my kind of figurative work involves, you see their beauty and strength as well. Our bodies are road maps of our individual experiences. In terms of the model, part of that is their self-expression. Hairstyle, tattoos, piercings, body hair, or lack of, makeup or lack of are all clues to a unique individual. My work then presents an emphatic confirmation of personality, identity, gender, and a way to contemplate and celebrate the human form in all its variety. Just as people are complex, the attempt to depict them involves many variables. I try to let the figure emerge from the ground and let the model’s presence inhabit the work. It is remarkable how palpably present a person is once you begin to bring them out on paper or canvas. I often quote a fictional character, Philip Marlowe from “The Singing Detective,” who is the creation of a fictional writer experiencing a severe flare of Psoriatic Arthritis: “People want all solutions and no clues. What I want are all clues and no solutions."  Wanting clues without the closure of a solution reflects the openness of our lives. I want my work to show this through the study of the nude as something that uplifts our experience of being human. Mine is not prescriptive art but does perhaps demonstrate a yearning to express and overcome at least my own humanity. The materials I use are fragile. The paper, pastel, and water media are supple and vulnerable. I work with the model in part because it is a collaboration between artist and model, and also because it allows accidents, errors, and sometimes, a fortuitous moment. As such, I am more concerned with the act of drawing than the finished piece. The 4th-century philosopher Augustine of Hippo wrote of the nature of time that there is a “present of things present, a present of things past and a present of things future.” Working from life seems to capture this essential truth of our awareness of time. These aspects of time are one source of my current fascination with the nude – to capture the artist and model in this fleeting moment and let evidence of that moment endure.

Diane Speight, Faith in Numbers, Collage/Assemblage, Winder, GA, LaGrange Art Museum Purchase Award. For more information on the artist, click image. My work explores memory, documentation and recollection through objects and other found materials. The papers and objects themselves, drive my work in an intuitive process of pairing them together to form new context and meaning.

Elizabeth McFalls, Mixed Signals, Mixed Media (silkscreen, graphite, lithograph, etc) Columbus, GA, LaGrange Art Museum Purchase Award. For more information the the artist, click image. As a practicing artist, wife, and parent areas of my life continually overlap. Rather than fighting against these seemingly disparate areas of work and home life, I have adopted a mentality of working intuitively, involving our children in the creative process, and allowing our daily experiences to be a driving force in my work. I approach making in the collaborative spirit by responding to my life, time limitations, successes, and failures in an intuitive nature. Recently, I have begun collaborating with my children, by including their drawings and prints in my collages. My work does not make direct reference to the specifics of my family: rather, I think of the pieces as echoes of our time together. Abstractions, symbols, and repeated images are used to create nonlinear visual narratives that examine issues of loss and family. Through the working process, I explore moments that blur the line between fact and fiction, life and death, humor and sorrow, moments that demonstrate the contradiction and complexity of life. To assist viewers with context, pieces often refer to ideas and images from contemporary culture. The role of modern motherhood and family, from a woman’s point of view, has not been historically or widely represented in galleries and museums. However ,it is not my desire to address the bias in the art world. It is a difficult role to navigate, mother and artist; I am looking to make work that does not merely reflect the daily life, but also challenges the stereotype of family life. I encourage conversation and thought that critically examines the marginalization of the woman’s role as a mother and artist. Rather than siloing myself into categories of “art,” “mother,” “wife” - I revel in the duality these structures create. My investigations examine my own limits in the various roles of my life and become, at times, an admission of shortcomings and strengths.

Christopher Hickey, West Studio Wall with Deco Mirror, Color Version Linocut with Digital Color Layer, Avondale Estates, GA, Lamar Dodd Art Center Purchase Award. I am interested in what the painter Jeffery Reed refers to as, the “quiet connection to the world around us”, the ability to be moved by fundamental things, the connections we experience, the palpable sense of one artist’s use of tactile and visual abilities to create something essential. I document objects, individuals, and places. These subjects (still life, figure and landscape) are the foundations of figurative art. My art practice reflects a balance between printmaking, drawing and painting.

Jesse Bibbs, Dad, Acrylic on canvas, People's Choice Award. My work intermingles the relationships between family, pop art and African American culture. As a black artist I feel it is my duty to introduce more diverse work into the art world.The approach I take when creating my work is to attempt to be as innovative and original as possible. There’s a saying that every style or concept in regards to painting has been done before and there is nothing a new artist can add to the discipline. I disagree wholeheartedly. I think you can blend figurative and abstract styles and create something new and aesthetically pleasing. Currently, I’m experimenting with portraits that display the relationships of geometric shapes and fluorescent figurative lines as well as exploring exploring traditional drip paintings using new techniques.

Selena Nawrocki, Noir Alley Square, Mixed Media, Honorable Mention Juror Merit Award. My works of mixed media images represent compositions utilizing the common thread of Interior Design. Traditional boundaries of Applied Arts have been shattered, with my axonometric drawings and renderings yielding a bas-relief sculptural quality associated with the fine arts media. An abstract room interior, rendered in informal balance, is created with line, plane, plus tints and shades of color. The effect I am seeking is a mechanized, industrial structure designed to simulate architectural construction elements. Every composition reveals, by its unique strength, how it would resolve itself as it follows the tendencies of its internal forces. I am interpreting nature in its purest, abstract state – constructing a rhythm of pictorial lyricism using reflective objects and staircases. Objects never end – forms intersect with infinite combinations of sympathetic attunements and clashing aversions. The dominant element in my work is a staircase or group of staircases, which indicates a variety of symbolic meanings. The process of ascending a staircase provides a feeling of a positive, hopeful, or purposeful journey; however, descending a staircase may imply negative, confusing, or depressing sentiments. A traditional staircase is straightforward and proposes an uncomplicated route, but a spiral, twisted staircase may suggest mystery and disorientation. My work typically utilizes a series of staircases both curving and angular providing a dynamic sense of movement while suggesting a complicated, mysterious path ultimately uniting places, ideas, and emotions. The honesty of materials is my principle focus in developing a machine-age quality enhanced with shadows and light. Even with the constant threat of chaos with the extensive use of diagonals, sharp angles, informal balance and bold color, I have sought an intuitive sense of ideal order.

Michael Sawecki, Dreamline II, Acrlic on canvas, People's Choice Award. I employ using precisely mixed and often bold, colors as a snare to entice the viewer in; once attracted the viewer can then be subtly thrown off kilter by a realization that the subjects being portrayed are not quite right with the colors being used. It is a desire for this disquieting effect that has lead me artistically. In using acrylics I’ve found that the intense artificiality of the colors available can be married to semi-realistic portrayals of landscapes, people, and semi-people in an effectively expressive way.

Crystal Berry, Blue Monday, Photograph, People's Choice Award. I am retired medical social worker and I enjoy taking pictures that tell a story or invoke a feeling.

Derrick Phillips Sr., Conversations with Grandma, Mixed media, People's Choice Award. “From Whence Come Our Help” and “Eternal Reflection” is part of my series entitled “The Resilient Family”. In this body of work I focus on the resilience of the black family which have been passed down from generation to generation. This inherited source of resilience helps us stand strong together and overcome obstacles which greatly affects our community. The target and rotunda circle symbols often painted in gold acrylics and created using wooden circles and squares chips symbolizes this resilience. These shapes that make up the target symbols represent layers of conservations, information and shared experiences. The golden bird/dove, which represents freedom and hope are also other reoccurring symbols in this series. Ultimately through my art it is my intention to encourage, inspire, and provide hope for a better tomorrow. My current series is entitled “Bullets & Nooses” which “Thug Life of a Black Panther” and “Conversation with Grandma” is included in. This series I explore a parallel between police brutality/gun violence and lynching perpetrated against African Americans. In this body of work I highlight the Tragedies and Triumphs which have been deeply stitched into fabric of our community throughout history. The Tragedies often involve those individuals who have given the ultimate sacrifice and in result have united us more as a people (E.g. Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, Tamir Rice). And the Triumphs are exhibited by those individuals who use their position and platform to proudly beat the drum for social equality in the African American community (E.g. James Baldwin, Nina Simone).

Margalena Lepore, Day Break, Oil on canvas, People's Choice Award. I capture skies because I believe in the perspective of looking up. In life, art and everything in between. Life is hard and the path is rarely clear. But the perspective of joy, the choice of joy, is one I have found makes all the difference in our circumstances. Where your eyes focus, there your heart will be as well. I fell in love with oil paint at an early age because of the ability to push the paint around the canvas. It allows me to incorporate the texture and movement of a storm rolling in or out; to add dimension to the waters and fields that support the skies. I piece my paintings together using my own photographs as inspiration. A sky may come from one place and the landscape, another. This is so I can incorporate a message I am trying to tell. My hope, when you view my work, is that you find a place of rest and healing. One in which you realize you are not alone. I write with most of my work to close the gap in our lives of feeling isolated. Words have power and, with the touch of paint, I believe it brings together the perspective of joy.

Jeanne Hewell- Chambers - Playground of Her Soul #4, fabric, batting, embroidery floss, discarded dress, Honorable Mention Juror Merit Award. At the age of 3, neighborhood teenagers hung my sister-in-law Nancy with a rope from the swing set. Her body lived, though her brain was permanently altered. At the age of 53, when it seemed like our hot fudge sundaes would never arrive, I offered a fidgety Nancy crayons and paper, and our life-changing collaboration began. I keep Nancy supplied with paper and crayons, and she spends her days drawing contentedly while I spend my days and nights meditatively stitching her drawings. It is a life-affirming collaboration that has deepened our relationship profoundly. These are selections from her first 5 sets of drawings. And yes, the pinafore is a size 3T.

Melinda Moore Lampkin, Beyond, Fabric collage, Atlanta, GA, Lamar Dodd Art Center Purchase Award. From the day we are born, we are wrapped in some kind of fabric. Soft and gauzy, bright, richly patterned and regal....Kente cloth from the Motherland, Irish linen and Chantilly lace, silk from the Far East. Bits and pieces from many places invite me to cut and shape works that come to life in my mind.

Steve Morgan, Duomo View, Photography, LaGrange, GA, Lamar Dodd Art Center Purchase Award. I have spent the last 30 years traveling the country providing disaster restoration for those in need. These travels have given me a unique opportunity to view parts of the country in a less than pristine condition. I draw on these experiences to share the difficulties people face after the unexpected happens with my photographs. As a photographer I think it's my job to “Notice”, it’s my job to notice what others may not and present them for others to see.

Betty Usdan-Zwickler, Hidden Agenda, Mixed Media-print, paint, mixed fiber, paper, Boca Raton, FL, LaGrange Art Museum Purchase Award. For 35 years, I've been a professional artist active in the South Florida art world where I've been a gallery owner, juror, curator and lecturer. I've won several awards, participated in approximately 150 juried and invitational exhibitions and am a juried member of several prestigious organizations such as the National Association of Women Artists and the Boca Raton Museum Artists Guild among others. Born to a family of textile manufacturers, all my art, but especially the fiber pieces, is informed by the numerous colored yarns and fabrics to which I have been exposed throughout my life and by extensive travel to Europe, the Middle East and Down Under. Although very different styles, the many rugs and tapestries I've encountered in the Vatican and those of the Bedouin of Petra, Jordan have been the most memorable. I'm considered an abstract mixed media artist and have worked in many disciplines: painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, textiles and collage. Generally, my artwork has an organic feel expressed by areas of rich intense color and varied textures and forms. In these collages, I have incorporated some textiles, paint, art-papers, semi-precious stones and crystals. I very often create with hardware and found objects and use recycled materials where possible. Making collages are so satisfying since I'm able to combine many of the disciplines I have explored in the past. "Hidden Agenda" is a good example. I used acrylic and gouache paints, hand-printed papers, handmade paper, packaging material and yarn. Collage work has been my latest passion because the combinations of disciplines make for interesting artwork and keep me forever challenged!

Kevin Cole, Climbing Higher Ground for Aretha, Mixed Media on paper, Fairburn, GA, Lamar Dodd Art Center Purchase Award, In Toure’s book, “Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?,” he defines the term “post-blackness” as a way for African American artists to be identified such that their work can be seen beyond the sociological/stereotypical definition of “Black Art.” Early in this book, he talks about the freedom that New Blacks have to be themselves without feeling as though they are tethered to a past that they do not agree with or one that they feel they are not a product of. Truth is my work is a colorful reminder of promises still unkept, imperialism still institutionalized, and stealth deceit that has stolen the dreams and birthrights of twenty generations of a once proud people. It stands in contrast to the canon just as Norman Lewis’ work stood in contrast to those who framed early abstract expressionism. When I turned eighteen years old, my grandfather told me about a tree on his property where African-American men had been lynched by their neckties on their way to vote. The experience left a profound impression. I am personally tethered to this inescapable memory. Thus, my work is rooted in a place of targeted tragedy. Its curvilinear twists, knots, and loops are fed by the energy found in the souls of ALL those who toil and triumph everyday against the odds and against the unheralded tragedies of life. My work is a universal story with both hero and villain, good and evil. The narrative is embedded like html code. It is not visible to the eye, but it can be decoded...

Adrian Alsobrook, Untitled, Mixed Media Collage on Canvas, Five Points, AL. Mr. Alsobrook is a resident of Five Points, Alabama, where he works tirelessly on incorporating colors from life in the south on canvas and paper. He has been featured in numerous galleries throughout East Alabama and West Georgia and was also featured in a Gramercy Park, NY, show. Mr. Alsobrook's art is being collected by local art collectors and can be found in numerous homes throughout the Southeast.

Thea McElvy, Dutch and the Boys, Mixed media on gallery wrapped canvas, People's Choice Award. Generally my compositions are of tightly cropped faces, often looking at the viewer, or exaggerated foreshortening. But it is the use of extraordinarily bold color that most distinguishes my work. Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas is my chosen medium but recently I have been experimenting with mixed media. My hope is that my work will leave you feeling hopeful, inspired, happy and energized.

Roxane Hollosi, Sojourn 9, Charcoal, pen/ink, colored pencil, graphite, wax relief, water media, conte, People's Choice Award. I am a Visual Documentarian of the complex energies living in and around us. I create contemporary interpretations of these energies in order to nudge at the primal sensibilities of the viewer. My spiritual awareness and respect for the Earth, was formed by the Native American influences I experienced as a child growing up in Southern MN. My work is inspired by the nature around me and advocates for taking a look beyond your own truth, to something bigger. I want to offer work that encourages others to see something; investigate something; be curious about something, in order to make visual discoveries, as well as spiritual ones. I use rhythmic mark making with overlapping wet and dry mediums to create intricate, organic and unique textural surfaces. I invite my viewer to psychologically step through the surface of my work, stroll around awhile, and experience a moment of wonder and exploration.

Christie Moody, Lavender Wave Splash Bowl, Glass frit, People's Choice Award. Inspired by my connection with the elements of earth, sea, and sky, through my home in the North Georgia woods and my husband’s and son’s river and coastal outposts, I “paint” with glass on a light table, using hot worked, engraved, and hand and diamond sawed elements. I overlay colored glass pieces, frits, powders, and canes in a spontaneous manner to imbue a sense of arrested movement and living light to my work. I use many techniques I have developed through experimentation through my years of working with glass isolated in my Oglethorpe county studio. The work is then fired, often multiple times to fuse and bend it into vessels, sculptures, and hangings. I have succeeded if the viewer experiences a sense of my awe and wonder in the natural world.

John Vollenweider, Nature Adventures, Acrylic on canvas, People's Choice Award. I am new to all of this. I have been a dentist for the past 41 years. Recently I have discovered that I truly enjoy the creative outlet abstract art provides. I have been encouraged by many of my friends, several who I consider true artists, to submit some of my recent work. I have been encouraged by the comments I've received and have recently built a small studio in my home to continue this pursuit as I am retiring at the end of March 2020. I want to experience the process of putting my work before those much more knowledgeable than I and to learn and grow from the experience. I have a lot to learn... this is all part of the process.

Rushton McHugh, What Once Ate Must Eventually Be Eaten, Graphite, LaGrange, GA. "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." - Francis Bacon Within the fine details of the monochromatic imagery, lush landscapes spawn a legion of visionary beings of anomalous hybridity, who often, through their curious associations, form the foundations of mysterious narratives which are meant to induce a state of contemplation within the viewer, as well as a host of philosophical questions. My work is meant to dig its fingers into the cerebral landscape of the audience, motivating them to search and probe, to step back and breathe, or to move closer and feel lost within themselves.

Charles Haynes, Blue Fence, Archival Pigment Print, Atlanta, GA. I go forth in search of images. Where they actually come from is a mystery to me still. I’m looking for something I will recognize, something from what I see that makes an image possible. Each image is presented without reference to any other. I became content with the eclectic when I realized that I could communicate with photographs alone only a fraction of what I see and narrate almost none of it. The images I make have no meaning to me beyond their presence in the frame as color, line, texture and organization but hopefully they can be the beginnings of a story in the imagination of someone else. I was educated in science and art and have worked in photography as my chosen art form since 1967. I received a M.F.A from Georgia State University in photography in 1984.

Charles Haynes, Truck Reflection, Archival Pigment Print, Atlanta, GA. I go forth in search of images. Where they actually come from is a mystery to me still. I’m looking for something I will recognize, something from what I see that makes an image possible. Each image is presented without reference to any other. I became content with the eclectic when I realized that I could communicate with photographs alone only a fraction of what I see and narrate almost none of it. The images I make have no meaning to me beyond their presence in the frame as color, line, texture and organization but hopefully they can be the beginnings of a story in the imagination of someone else. I was educated in science and art and have worked in photography as my chosen art form since 1967. I received a M.F.A from Georgia State University in photography in 1984.

Rachel Short, Burnt Out Star, Oil, Ellerslie, GA. Rachel Short is an oil painter born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. Her deep-seated connection with the arts has been an overwhelming presence since childhood. She recently received her Bachelor's degree in Art from Columbus State University in 2018. Her current artistic interest and direction of work is painting various themes in nature, primarily, but not limited to landscapes. She hopes to create a connection with the viewer through her unique affinity with the natural world, including her connections with loved ones through portraiture. She enjoys experimenting with the effects of light upon these natural subjects and attempts to push and pull this concept with the viscosity of her paint application. She is fascinated with the effect of low lighting on the mood of an image. Many of her paintings are based on subjects from personal photographs taken throughout her life. She uses her passion for the outdoors to find inspiration while hiking or visiting new landscapes through travel. This may be as simple as the way a streetlamp illuminates trees at night, or a patch of mushrooms glistening in sunlight. These simple, beautiful moments in time are what inspires her to be the artist she is today.

Rick Yasko, Suggestions - Remnants, watercolor / ink, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. This watercolor composition blend the ideas, the constructions / the arrangements that are resurfacing from a past series of work that I had abandoned over 30 years ago, a suite of about three dozen editions of serigraphs, now archived. I picked up watercolor as a new media about 5 years ago, realizing that it might be the perfect vehicle for returning to my unfinished ideas initiated and then abandoned in another media. The patterning / cutout images / juxtapositions are all a continuation of thought that has rekindled the momentum of expression that was built up (and thought lost) from that previous collection. In addition, the background stenciling / running commentaries / stolen passages may be culled from even earlier drawings. I This media has provided an effective means to revisit lines of thought that once consumed my interest and has now allowed me to expand the exploration of those ideas

Jennifer Lewis, Into the Deep, Paper, Signal Mountain, TN. Thinking about the world around me, I decontextualize the elements that form larger issues or themes. Close observation and engagement of the subject is part of my process. I often get lost in the details. Each element of my work is individually coiled with strips of paper and placed together to create the whole concept. My goal is to inspire those who see my work to look more carefully at the world around them, to discover the smaller issues or pieces affecting the whole picture.

Callie Joseph, Room With A View, Fine Art Photography, New Orleans, LA. As a local New Orleanian, it's hard to not be surrounded by art from a young age. Photography, and art in general, has always been in my blood. My father and aunt were photographers, and several other members of my family are various writers, actors, musicians, and painters. I graduated from Tulane University with a dual degree in Film and Digital Media Production, and worked in the film industry throughout college and a few years after graduating. I quickly grew disillusioned with the industry, so I decided to take a year break and focus on other things. That year turned into 3, but I continued to freelance during that time as both a photographer and videographer. During that time, I was able to travel the world, and lived in the Middle East for some time. There my inspiration really took off, and I realized my strength as an artist was in travel photography. I love experiencing new people and cultures and then bringing those experiences back with me via my photographers. I can expose people to other parts of the world they may not have the opportunity to experience for themselves. What's art, if not that?

Marla Puziss, Aspen Grove, photography, Hapeville, GA. I am a transplanted northerner who moved to Atlanta from Maryland in 1989 and am still getting to know my adopted home and the South. I am a self-taught photographer. I started taking photographs with my father’s old Canon and learned by looking at great photography. My work has appeared in several online publications and in juried photography exhibitions in Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia. In my photography I try to capture the essence of ordinary people, places and things, to see them with fresh eyes and reveal them in a new way. I am drawn to the smaller towns, rural areas and byways – the “blue lines” on the old maps – and to the people who live there, to quirkiness and eccentricity. The photos "Aspen Grove" was taken during a trip to Colorado, while hiking in the woods and visiting a homestead heritage museum.

Marla Puziss,Open Door at New Hebron Primitive Baptist Church, photography, Hapeville, GA. I am a transplanted northerner who moved to Atlanta from Maryland in 1989 and am still getting to know my adopted home and the South. I am a self-taught photographer. I started taking photographs with my father’s old Canon and learned by looking at great photography. My work has appeared in several online publications and in juried photography exhibitions in Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia. In my photography I try to capture the essence of ordinary people, places and things, to see them with fresh eyes and reveal them in a new way. I am drawn to the smaller towns, rural areas and byways – the “blue lines” on the old maps – and to the people who live there, to quirkiness and eccentricity. New Hebron Primitive Baptist Church is a lovely example of the rural white clapboard churches which dot the Georgia landscape; this one is in Pike County, south of Atlanta.

Derek Cracco, Flash, Acrylic on panel, Vestavia, AL. In a nod to the French Post-Impressionist painter Georges Seurat, who devised a painting method that consisted of creating an image from thousands of colored dots, I have created a series of intimate, detailed, pointillist-style paintings that focus on repetition and attention to detail into fields of flashes, stars and light. My influences range from astronomy to particle physics, shifting and oscillating between the macro and the micro, between the illusions of light in the works and the visual disruptions the images produce when viewed at close range. These works embody a nuanced understanding of color theory. In a lineage drawn from Viktor Vasarely, I combine the subtleties of color with both optics and illusion to create retinal images that work on multiple levels. The use of the field of single dots allows me to get to the aspects of the works that I find most interesting: color and light.

Suzanne Aulds, Stargazing, Oil on canvas, Hilton Head Island, SC. I love to paint. Through painting I am free to explore the myriad forms of natural and man-made beauty that exist in our everyday environments. Traditional forms from nature, such as flowers or fresh produce, combine with man-made materials, including fabric or pottery, to create pieces that are unique and dynamic. I enjoy marrying an assortment of opposing patterns and textures to create unusual compositions. Inspiration comes from the colors and expressions of light versus shadow that are everywhere. Painting allows me to celebrate beauty.

Suzanne Aulds, Beauty, Oil on canvas, Hilton Head Island, SC. I love to paint. Through painting I am free to explore the myriad forms of natural and man-made beauty that exist in our everyday environments. Traditional forms from nature, such as flowers or fresh produce, combine with man-made materials, including fabric or pottery, to create pieces that are unique and dynamic. I enjoy marrying an assortment of opposing patterns and textures to create unusual compositions. Inspiration comes from the colors and expressions of light versus shadow that are everywhere. Painting allows me to celebrate beauty.

Jim Collins, FIFTY CLONES OF ETAIN, Mixed media collage, Signal Mountain, TN. Jim Collins mixed media collages with assemblage frames are somewhat challenging in that the art is not finalized until the viewer completes it. In general, there is no prearranged single story, idea, or philosophy inherent in the work. Because the work is made of many parts on different layers each viewer will see different parts one at a time, and in turn will assign a value to each part of the work as it relates to the whole. That is within the viewer’s frame of reference. Specifically, some will see simple pattern or recognize symbols, a logo, or familiar images. All of the apparent parts will determine what is important to each individual in making up the art. Ideally, this experience will be much like the theater, in that the stage is set and the viewer writes the play. Continuing the rich tradition of storytelling in the South.

Alexander Hamm, Deserted, Digital Photography, Columbus, GA. I do not consider myself an artist, but I do enjoy making photos. Coming from Alaska, I have always been inspired by nature to take pictures of what nature has to offer, so I do my best to capture what I feel from nature in that moment.

William Grote, Preaching to the Choir, Mixed, Covington, LA. What has been extremely important to the art process over the past several years has been working outside of my studio in Louisiana. What I have found most stimulating is to place myself in another location and allow that environment to influence me. The newness and freshness of that environment can be quite stimulating and exciting. This has released me and my art from being tethered to one studio, one geography, one sameness. Confronted with new environment, the possibilities stimulate new directions, and all is possible. I attempt to express this freshness and excitement in the art that is produced at that location. The utilization of local discarded and found objects determines either their profound affect or, more often than not, manifestations humor and whimsy. This I particularly like. These influences keep my art fresh and keep me off balance, which translates to the art. The gathering and making of these art objects are perhaps akin to collecting my own natural history. As Sculptor Barry Baker writes “A studio is place of work: a space for doing and thinking and without this activity it has no purpose or value. The awareness that something is happening, whether it be physical or mental, busy or contemplative is all-important”. “Artist Space” Studio at Dean Clough Halafax, England 1989-1993

Alvaro Labanino, White Hot, Oil on linen, Miami, FL. Alvaro Labañino creates paintings that function as thresholds to his mind; exposing through his artworks a world of thoughts, life experiences, dreams, nightmares, and fears which he often materializes in the form of personal objects, domestic spaces, and landscapes. His works focus on his immediate and private retreats, as well as on his purposeful travels. Labañino saturates the commonplace with significance and emotion, often portraying the whereabouts of his native Little Havana or the interior of his studio-apartment. The spaces are devoid of the human figure and describe the solitude that he habitually seeks, and which life sometimes imposes without invitation. He draws further inspiration from his memories of having grown up in a working-class family in a rather coarse neighborhood; whereas we're offered a strikingly dissimilar perspective of how Labañino experiences his surroundings in his contrastingly idyllic landscapes, despite the coextensive absence of the human figure. Death, conqueror of all that is living, looms over his character; yet, before succumbing to a condition that is all too human, he thirsts for discovery and knowledge. As a traveler, he sets out to enrich his finite existence. As recluse, he ponders intensively about his life and the people that give meaning to it. Labañino is especially absorbed in painting and its rich and extensive history. His major influences hail from the School of London, the German Expressionists, as well as him finding insight in artists René Magritte, Juan Gris, Vincent van Gogh, Johannes Vermeer, El Greco, among others. His paintings are methodically structured, despite that they may be sometimes somewhat enigmatic in their breakdown. Often, images are segmented into flat areas of colors and contours that interact in varying intensities and temperatures that communicate the artist's intended temperament. He repeatedly makes available pieces of his conventional life through these labyrinthine artworks, as he continues to experiment with and contest both representational and abstract painting in his works.

Dianne Cutler, Tolkein's Dream, Plaster, Chattahoochee Hills, GA. I am a plaster artist. There are not many of us out there. So few, in fact, that there is no category for us in the description portion of applications. I struggle with this and yet at the same time I find it amusing that I cannot be pigeonholed. I am not a painter, nor a ceramicist. I am certainly not a metal worker or a woodworker, photographer, nor do I draw or create sculptures. But, honestly, my work appears 3 dimensional, yet it is definitely 2-D. I guess I fall into the generic category of multimedia. I don’t like that either. It feels like a category the lumps all of the “others” that no one else can accurately pinpoint. It is unsettling to be called a multimedia artist because what I do is inherently sculptural, yet I try to bring forth the essence of the subject, like in a still life painting. I have a love affair with nature and most in particular trees, leaves and flowers. I grew up on the edge of a patch of woods in Essex Center, Vermont. Some of my fondest memories are of foraging the landscape, picking wildflowers and berries to bring home to my mother. It is from these wanderings that I developed my affinity with nature. Every living thing carries a vibrational blueprint that includes its essence and personality, form and function. My hope is that when you look at my work, you can also see what I see, the essence of the plant and how it speaks to me. My work is etherial and fragile. It is a suggestion and a hint of something past. It is the manifestation of a personal conversation that I have with plants. I use the finest plaster and wash the panels with natural mineral pigments from some of the last remaining quarries in France. A plaster sealant is applied to help protect the pigment and the plaster. I am a self taught artist on a never ending journey to express something that is true and of beauty. It is a labor of love and one that I hope you will enjoy too!

Phillip Mosier, Roswell Road; Sandy Springs, Georgia 2019, Color photography, Decatur, GA. The heart and soul of a city is in its people. My documentary work attempts to escape the objectifying gaze of the photographer by discovering and bearing accurate witness to culture. I have no preconceptions; the truth is always surprising. I interview as well as photograph people, cooperate with them to portray the lives of individuals, families, workshops, street corners, and small factories. These are worthy of distinction; they are the products of history alive before us now. I use the best possible cameras and materials, take all the time necessary to find the depths behind surface. My challenge and my reward lie in responsibility to my subjects and to my viewers, to awaken the possibilities of culture, myth, and folklore.

Louise Brown, Self-portrait, Graphite and collage, Gainesville, FL. I try to resist explanation or analysis of my work, hoping it speaks for itself. But there are a few things I can say to you. Beauty and mystery are primary concerns when constructing a narrative in my drawings. Universal vulnerability is a recurring theme of interest. Sometimes the images appear whole to me, while others are a series of pushes and pulls to become finished. I strive to create levels of illusion and reality to give my drawings a charged, dramatic atmosphere. Graphite is my preferred medium, as I love the range of values and the special textures it allows. Erasing is one of my favorite methods. The gesture of my hand reminds you that I am here, within the work. I intend for my craft and the content to merge, giving the viewer a glimpse of my personal vision. The drawings are deeply personal. When finished, I step back to let the image take its own breath, hoping my drawings speak to you.

Brian Rust, Out of History Series #30, high-fired red clay, Augusta, GA. (Greek-Inspired Vessels) Clay is one of the most ancient and adaptable human materials. I have worked with clay since the 1970’s when I first learned to throw, experiment with surfaces and firing techniques. I have always loved the back-and-forth of the ceramic process. Through forming and firing, you are in control of the media at times and not in control at others. My artistic journey and curiosity led me to work in several other media such as nature-based sculpture and digital photography, but I have always felt grounded (some pun intended) in clay as a medium. A university studio art position in Georgia afforded me the opportunity to teach a wide range of subjects such as metal casting, sculptural installation, carving, and world humanities over the past 28 years. My interest in thrown and altered ceramic forms was rekindled after leading several student study abroad groups to Greece. Experiencing the museums and archaeological ruins of Athens and other locations gave me a new appreciation for the depth and breadth of the beauty of those ancient ceramic vessels and their rich painted surfaces. The pots, storage containers, oil lamps, ritual figurines, and coffins of Hellas speak to the immediacy and longevity of clay as the most human of materials. I set out to create a series of sculptural clay forms that reference both the functional and the fragmented nature of those ancient works. These vessels start on the pottery wheel and are formed to be part pot and part sculptural ruin. They are sculpted out of local Georgia red clay which is high fired to produce a weathered/ eroded surface. Collectively, the series is titled Out of History. This title references both the formulation of and reflection on these incredible vessels.

Franca Nucci, Haynes, Dance Mara, Dance, Mixed Media, Atlanta, GA. After many years of working exclusively in collage using found objects, mostly paper and textile remnants, in the last two years I have become attracted to the idea of adding paint and photographs and making the images more personal. I found an ideal subject in 2016 while cleaning out my late mother’s house. I found the letters that my Dad wrote to her during World War II before they were married. There were about 800 of them written from 1941 to 1945, all from him to her. Presumably the letters from her to him are lost. I didn’t read them right away, mostly because it didn’t feel right, that would be an invasion of their privacy perhaps. A year or so passed and I changed my mind. I became curious to see how the tumultuous changes of country and language had affected them. They were both immigrants. My mother came to the United States as a teenager, my father as a young man in the 30's. They met because their parents were acquaintances in Italy. My father graduated from NYU in 1941 and immediately enlisted in the army. The conflict he had left in Europe was soon to engulf the world. The letters became the inspiration for a series. There will be six pieces in all, five representing every year of their long distance correspondence and, ultimately, their courtship. These three include a study, the 24" square and the remaining two represent the years 1941 and 1942. Children seldom if ever know the intimacies of their parent's courtship, the first time they express love for each other and the worry of what separation and the results of war would do to their hopes and dreams. At least from my father's letters I was admitted into that world and the inspiration for these collages was immediate. The letters became a way for me to see my parents when they were young, something I had never really thought about. As a child, I had a naive sense of time, I thought that my parents were always parents and that I would be a child forever and that I would never grow up. As I continue I realize the work is becoming a tribute to their enduring love for each other and their adopted country.

Jean Cauthen, Roadside Attractions, Oil on canvas, Charlotte, NC. Inspiration surrounds us. But the well I return to most often is to the history of the art form I love. Painters from Bruegel to Klimt, Goya, Degas to the improvisation of Joan Mitchell. Many of the themes demonstrated remain relevant to today’s world.

AnnaBrooke Greene, AJ, Fabric, Cut Paper, Yarn, Acrylic, Watercolor, Prismacolor, Sylvester, GA As a feminist artist, I work to reject the contrived stereotypes of feminism and to celebrate not only my personal feminist identity but also the intersectional nature of our identities as women and as human beings. As an interdisciplinary mixed media artist, I utilize multiple mediums including painting, drawing, and printmaking in correlation with materials such as textiles, yarn, and cut paper. Collage elements and hand sewing reference traditional women’s work and examine the boundaries between art and craft. All work together to explore the interconnections of feminism and femininity. In developing my own visual language, I use the female figure as well as conventional feminine colors and patterns. I reference traditional pattern and flora work to utilize associated ideas of femininity. I use the figure in both the general and personal sense by showcasing women as a whole through silhouettes and celebrating unique individuals through contemporary portraits. I use my developed visual language to investigate themes of environmental and women’s issues as well as social controversies and identity. To explore these issues, I develop overlapping formal elements and motifs which reference the intersectional nature of identity. Organic line work represents a constant theme of fluidity and resilience. I showcase the diversity, power, and beauty that stems from the complexities and connections of my subjects. Being large in scale, my work evokes equality among the viewer and the piece. Large patterns and life size figures allow me to direct the viewer's attention towards the conversation with the subject. My large scale works with mixed media and hand sewing work to dismiss tropes and redefine our associations with gender equality. My ultimate goal is for the viewer to walk away with an understanding of the nature that is feminism, incorporating it into their mindset moving forward.

Brian Rust, Out of History series #32, High-fired red clay, Augusta, GA. Out of History Series (Greek-Inspired Vessels) Clay is one of the most ancient and adaptable human materials. I have worked with clay since the 1970’s when I first learned to throw, experiment with surfaces and firing techniques. I have always loved the back-and-forth of the ceramic process. Through forming and firing, you are in control of the media at times and not in control at others. My artistic journey and curiosity led me to work in several other media such as nature-based sculpture and digital photography, but I have always felt grounded (some pun intended) in clay as a medium. A university studio art position in Georgia afforded me the opportunity to teach a wide range of subjects such as metal casting, sculptural installation, carving, and world humanities over the past 28 years. My interest in thrown and altered ceramic forms was rekindled after leading several student study abroad groups to Greece. Experiencing the museums and archaeological ruins of Athens and other locations gave me a new appreciation for the depth and breadth of the beauty of those ancient ceramic vessels and their rich painted surfaces. The pots, storage containers, oil lamps, ritual figurines, and coffins of Hellas speak to the immediacy and longevity of clay as the most human of materials. I set out to create a series of sculptural clay forms that reference both the functional and the fragmented nature of those ancient works. These vessels start on the pottery wheel and are formed to be part pot and part sculptural ruin. They are sculpted out of local Georgia red clay which is high fired to produce a weathered/ eroded surface. Collectively, the series is titled Out of History. This title references both the formulation of and reflection on these incredible vessels.

Alexandra Knox, Ritual, Pigment Print on Adhesive Textile, Loris, SC. My most recent body of work utilizes themes relating to body and identity, from the perspective of a mother, partner and individual. I am interested in the ways the function and purpose of my body has changed, including sexual objectivity to now something that provides food, nourishment and comfort for another. I approach these ideas through various methods, including casting, construction and performance. While the different series in this body of work investigate separate ideas relating to motherhood and the pre and postpartum body, a shared use of material can be seen throughout. Construction materials such as gypsum board, 2x4s and joint compound reference community building and the domestic lifestyle, while beeswax, horsehair and salt lick blocks allude to the forced domestication of farm animals. The aforementioned materials act as metaphor, suggesting the labor intensive role of a woman and mother in the household, with a specific focus on body and identity.

M. Alexander Gray, Sideling Hill Creek Aqueduct, Allegheny County, Maryland, Woodcut, Alexandria, VA. I am a printmaker who creates highly detailed woodcuts and engravings. My work is inspired by the past – my own past, that of my region, and that of printmaking itself as an artistic medium.

Jon Brinley, Enchantment, Wood fired / Salt, Midland, GA. A lifetime ……. that’s the best answer I can give when someone asks how long it takes to make a good pot. Always searching for the perfect clay or glaze, always testing, always learning. I read somewhere that “it’s like raising children"- you do your best to make sure they are ready for the world once you are able to let them go. As a working potter in West-central Georgia I am committed to understanding locally sourced materials and using them in the same ways potters of the Southeast and southern Appalachia have for centuries, but with a modern twist- only controlling them to a point where each ingredient’s unique character will show. Each pot is an expression of where it came from, and the unique properties of local materials offer exciting advantages for this type of work, especially on the large scale pieces. Every aspect of the process reveals itself- from the wood used to fire the kiln, the clay to make the work; the minerals in the water for the glazes. Every element plays an important roll in the finished piece. Each kiln load takes 3-4 months to throw, trim, dry and glaze. Taking up to a week to load the kiln, setting each pot purposefully in the direction needed for the flame to hit it. Then after 20-24 hours of stoking wood into the 100 cubic foot kiln, reaching temperatures above 2,400 degrees, it is left to cool down for 3-4 days. Another week of washing, grinding, cleaning up and smoothing each piece so they can be sent on the next journey....yours.

Jon Brinley, Green Goddess, Wood fired / Salt, Midland, GA. A lifetime ……. that’s the best answer I can give when someone asks how long it takes to make a good pot. Always searching for the perfect clay or glaze, always testing, always learning. I read somewhere that “it’s like raising children"- you do your best to make sure they are ready for the world once you are able to let them go. As a working potter in West-central Georgia I am committed to understanding locally sourced materials and using them in the same ways potters of the Southeast and southern Appalachia have for centuries, but with a modern twist- only controlling them to a point where each ingredient’s unique character will show. Each pot is an expression of where it came from, and the unique properties of local materials offer exciting advantages for this type of work, especially on the large scale pieces. Every aspect of the process reveals itself- from the wood used to fire the kiln, the clay to make the work; the minerals in the water for the glazes. Every element plays an important roll in the finished piece. Each kiln load takes 3-4 months to throw, trim, dry and glaze. Taking up to a week to load the kiln, setting each pot purposefully in the direction needed for the flame to hit it. Then after 20-24 hours of stoking wood into the 100 cubic foot kiln, reaching temperatures above 2,400 degrees, it is left to cool down for 3-4 days. Another week of washing, grinding, cleaning up and smoothing each piece so they can be sent on the next journey....yours.

Sarah Swanson, Bummed and Looming, Graphite on paper, Hogansville, GA. Sarah Swanson is a wife, mother, artist, gallery owner, and a registered nurse. Her primary passion as an artist is drawing, and by far her favorite pastime is to put pencil to paper and draw what she sees. She’s even described it as something she has to do. As a child she could be happy for hours drawing and that has not dimmed in the least for her as an adult. Her works often combine the real and surreal, simple scenes with dramatic, unexpected elements. Sarah opened her gallery The Suffering Artist in 2016, and uses it to feature multiple exhibits per year and provide monthly painting classes. You can see more information about Sarah and the gallery at http://www.thesufferingartist.com.

Nick Gruenberg, Wall and Tree, Wedowee, Alabama, Archival quality pigment print. Conservation grade matting. Atlanta, GA. Self-taught photographer of working-class, industrial and rural areas of Alabama. Archival quality pigment prints, conservation grade mattes and backing. Photographs taken using 35mm film or digital cameras. Recently I've been using Sigma digital cameras whose quality is compared to medium format cameras.

Sarah Swanson, Induce Madness, Graphite on paper, Hogansville, GA. Sarah Swanson is a wife, mother, artist, gallery owner, and a registered nurse. Her primary passion as an artist is drawing, and by far her favorite pastime is to put pencil to paper and draw what she sees. She’s even described it as something she has to do. As a child she could be happy for hours drawing and that has not dimmed in the least for her as an adult. Her works often combine the real and surreal, simple scenes with dramatic, unexpected elements. Sarah opened her gallery The Suffering Artist in 2016, and uses it to feature multiple exhibits per year and provide monthly painting classes. You can see more information about Sarah and the gallery at http://www.thesufferingartist.com.

Sarah Swanson, With Malice Aforethought, Graphite on paper, Hogansville, GA. Sarah Swanson is a wife, mother, artist, gallery owner, and a registered nurse. Her primary passion as an artist is drawing, and by far her favorite pastime is to put pencil to paper and draw what she sees. She’s even described it as something she has to do. As a child she could be happy for hours drawing and that has not dimmed in the least for her as an adult. Her works often combine the real and surreal, simple scenes with dramatic, unexpected elements. Sarah opened her gallery The Suffering Artist in 2016, and uses it to feature multiple exhibits per year and provide monthly painting classes. You can see more information about Sarah and the gallery at http://www.thesufferingartist.com.

Peter Essick, Construction Site, Tucker, Georgia, Archival Pigment Photograph, Stone Mountain, GA. Construction Sites are areas of rapid change to the environment. Forest, farms, old structures or empty lots are converted to new buildings with large capital investments of energy and resources. As such, construction sites are snapshots of how a society views development and progress. The old jobs verse the environment argument has taken on new meaning in the age of climate change, population growth, forever chemicals and sustainability. Construction sites are either the symbols or price of progress to those in the immediate vicinity. I see these temporary landscapes as metaphors for how we are choosing to construct the future.

Nick Gruenberg, Six Air Conditioners, Talladega, Alabama, Archival quality pigment print. Conservation grade matting. Atlanta, GA. Self-taught photographer of working-class, industrial and rural areas of Alabama. Archival quality pigment prints, conservation grade mattes and backing. Photographs taken using 35mm film or digital cameras. Recently I've been using Sigma digital cameras whose quality is compared to medium format cameras.

Ruth Simon McRae, Swatches 2, Collage, Taylorsville, GA. The primary focus for my work is to create emotion with surprising and meaningful color relationships. I have a passion for the warmth and feel of textiles and am drawn to handcraft and the textile arts. Throughout my career I have been intrigued by complex, repeating pattern designs. My interest in textiles stems from a childhood surrounded by fabrics, from the fabrics in my father’s interior design studio to the fabulous clothes of the 1960s. In 1970, I purchased a 100-year-old loom and taught myself to weave, focusing on pictorial tapestries. After reading the writing of Anni Albers, I was inspired to learn more about how to produce fabrics with textile machinery. I worked for textile firms and designed woven, printed and knitted textiles for both home furnishings and apparel markets. In 1978, I moved to Georgia, the Carpet Capital of the World, and enjoyed a long career in the carpet and floor covering industry. I am inspired by the art of Romare Bearden (1911-1988) who integrated textiles and painting. I, too, think about painting in a way that blurs the lines between the two mediums, and have created a series made entirely from textiles, stretched like canvas, assembled with stitching instead of glue. Experimentation with materiality – merging complex color combinations, pattern design, and the rich, evocative textures of textiles – drives my work in painting, printmaking, mixed media, and recently, ceramics.

Timothy Ellmers, Silent Scream, Oil on Panel, Hendersonville, NC. As a self-taught artist living in Hendersonville, NC, I have found a passion for painting both landscapes and portraits. Both styles of compositions communicate their own stories and emotions as they are all captured within a single moment in time. From the subtle forms and basic geometric shapes found within a landscape and human contours, reveals itself to the simplicity of what nature and our environment have to offer. I consider my painting approach simple and loose, as I approach each subject, in the same manner, no matter how complex it appears. My initial approach to painting begins with breaking down my subject visually into basic shapes. Translating these shapes into a composition using appropriate color, and value is crucial in deciding if the painting in on the right track to what I am seeing visually. I make sure to step back and compare all aspects of the painting and subject often for appropriate adjustment in value, color, or composition when needed. Oil and acrylic are my mediums of choice to paint with on either smooth hardwood panels or oil primed canvas. I always begin with a sketch, being sure to map out my value structure and assess my proposed composition. I paint plein air whenever possible, but I also paint in the studio from my plein air sketches, photographs, or live model. When a viewer looks closely at my paintings, they would see that each brushstroke was taken with thought, dedicated ease, and determination. In keeping my number of strokes limited allows for me to remain impressionistic as I want to suggest rather than render. When you step back and see the composition as a whole, the formation of the brush strokes takes on a beautiful harmonious composition. I enjoy conveying a story in each of my paintings and find that my work is inherently narrative. As I continue to grow as an artist, I will continue exploring new ways of expression with oil or acyclic well beyond my comfort zone. With every painting, growth is inevitable.

Alyssa Freeman, Oil Lamp, Photography, LaGrange, GA. 'm a photographer who strives to capture the raw reality and beauty of the world as it is, no matter where I find myself. I want to see the beauty and potential in all things, and show that to others as well.

Anne Waldrop, Fur Lined Demitasse and the Mystery of Life, Oil on canvas, deer fur, aluminum, cast plaster, wood, Roanoke, VA. Throughout my vocation as an artist I have devoted study and practice to themes of the Feminine: birth, creation, birthright, and growth. I am interested in spiritual teachings, that is, of the mystery of the seen and the unseen and the inherent interconnectedness of all things to one to another that are manifested in diverse and infinite ways. Each of my works is a portrait. I use any material necessary; wood, paint, metal, fabric, found objects, plaster etc. to investigate a concept, a symbol, or a person. These ideas manifest themselves as nonrepresentational forms such as “seeds of potential” or as a vivid painting of a matriarchal woman and the artifacts that reflect her life. In much of the work my paintings are becoming sculptures and the sculptures are becoming paintings. The push and pull of never quite finding a direct format allows the work to create its own boundaries therefore remaining peculiar and pulsating with content. Connectivity is the thread that runs through the work. Our connection to other people, the earth and our spirituality is the seed of creativity and the process I am most passionate about; weaving together disparate materials with color and meaning and deep curiosity.

Ashlan McHugh, The Warmth Triptych ,Soft pastel, LaGrange, GA. "The art of putting colors side by side in such a way that their real aspect is effaced, so that familiar objects […] become united in a single poetically disciplined image. Visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, 'What does that mean?'.” - René Magritte My art is an external manifestation of my internal process. I travel between mediums, subject matter, and circumstance as an artistic nomad, using my intuition, guided by my internal process, willing to listen to my environment to manifest the art that is waiting there to be found. Those moments where the natural and unconventional meet seems to be where I find the most fulfilling and questionable parts of life. For this series, soft pastels facilitate realistic yet poetic imagery - off-kilter, picturesque scenes that emotionally entice. They are tangible - hands on paper with vivid pigments left behind to communicate - and immediate - ideas to paper quickly while the inspiration is at hand. During REM sleep, we enter a dream state in which our consciousness amalgamates the sensory, cognitive, and emotional occurrences experienced in waking life into a surreal narrative to be experienced metaphorically. In parallel, my own experience with EMDR therapy, using similar rapid eye movements to reprocess trauma, has manifested these dreamlike, surreal narratives. I even want the frame to become part of the narrative. Frames are seen to separate art from its surrounding but it is an illusion that art ends where the frame begins. My art will blend with your sensory, cognitive, and emotional occurrences to create a new, unique metaphorical narrative. Much like the boundary of reality is blurred moments after waking from a dream, so do I want to blur the boundary between my art and your reality. With this series, I want you to question your impressions, your intuition, and your judgment. Are you simply an observer witnessing or a voyeur encroaching uninvited? Are you looking at apathy or acceptance, dissociation or meditative retreat, destruction or transformation? And what does that mean to you?

Ashan Pridgon, More than Sports, Ceramic, Stoneware, Carrollton, GA. My work investigates the significant role and relationship that hair plays in African-American culture. Throughout history, African-Americans have used the styling of hair as a way of passing down tradition and expressing their individuality, cultural and political beliefs. Since the late 1970’s there has been a constant struggle for African-Americans to wear their hair naturally without backlash from society. In my work, I use culturally based objects such as hair combs, Afro picks, head wraps and other accessories to symbolize black pride. I use this framework to generate abstracted ceramic vessels and sculptures. The content of my work becomes amplified by the use of medium, large and life-sized scale to emphasize the importance of black identity and the challenges African-Americans face in society. The sculptures are anthropomorphized in form, which implies a sense of movement and freedom of defining space. Pinching techniques are used in both vessels and sculptures to create a rhythm and pattern which parallels the styling hair. The drawings of men and women on the vessels and sculptures display a range of styles, and history of hairstyles, that embody distinct personalities to express specific identities and struggles. My work draws on elements of popular culture, West African art, traditional pottery, and documentation of traditions passed from one generation to another. There is a great importance and symbolization of what hair represents culturally and individually to African-Americans in my work. Hair care is a method to express identity, culture and self-love. Through my perspective and experience, I have made work that sheds light on hair being essential to African-American growth, identity and way of life.

Barbara Mann, Seed to Plant Wall Vase, Copper, sterling silver, brass, steel, glass. wood, Watkinsville, GA. My on-going series of work is focused on the origins of life on earth, evolution and the carbon cycle. As a jeweler and metalsmith I am fascinated with materials and processes. I am inspired by new scientific discoveries and technologies that are changing what we know and how we view life on earth. My artwork is an interpretation of some of these new findings that I find astonishing and provocative. From molecules and single cells to the vast carbon cycle and astrophysics, advances in knowledge offer new forms of insight and wonder about our world and possibilities for the future.

Barry Motes, HIV- E.coli Quartet, Acrylic on panel, Prospect, KY. These paintings are based on microscopic images of viruses, cancers, and other diseases. The abstract patterns of these diseases are ironically beautiful as they may be deadly and permeate our world unseen. I often combine these paintings in random arrangements.

Antuco Chicaiza, Blood Lines, Mixed media on canvas, Sweetwater, TN. The subject of my work consist of my relationships with family and friends, memories of the past, the struggle for social justice, and the workings of the political system. My sketch book is with me 24/7. Figures, phrases, graffiti, and graphic designs are recorded as I encounter them. Recently digital images have been added to these elements and to the painted images that have always been part of the work. Both my sketch book and work share the quality of a diary of the my thoughts and feelings. One of the biggest influences that have shaped my work is growing up in two different cultures and countries, and at different economic levels. My goal is the get people to start a conversation weather it be positive or negative about my art, I just want them to question, look and think.

Amy Broderick, Ex Libris, Hand-Cut Reclaimed Index Cards, Jupiter, FL. I grew up surrounded by books, conversations, and ideas that unfolded in multiple languages. Growing up in this environment made me passionate about language and curious about its possibilities as a living organism and its potential as a creative tool. I have also come to realize the potential that language has to structure our existence, our understanding of the universe, and our relationship to it. Language is the tool (or one tool) that we humans use to bring order out of the chaos. Meanwhile, more recently, I have nurtured an associated interest in language’s vessels – the page itself, the letter itself, the mouth itself. My work explores our human quest to use language – especially in its material form as letters and on pages – to bring the wilds of the universe into order—in effect to describe or name them into submission. Ultimately, I am obsessed with our obsession to engage in this practice, and I am committed to celebrating the ultimate entropy or outright futility of this quest. Over time, I have made monumental, black and white drawings that transform words into a swirling, inflating, exploding confluence of text that floats through space and across the surface in every possible direction. I enjoyed the physicality of large, direct, drawing-based work—dense layers of material, extreme shifts in scale, and marks that evoke the action of my hand. I aimed to seduce the viewer into a confrontation with the ways in which language is used to misrepresent, manipulate, obscure, and conceal truth and meaning. The large drawings evolved into smaller cartographic fragments and cut paper compositions that painstakingly recorded information that so incomplete or so far out of context that it is unrecognizable or useless. Cartography intersected with botany, as notions of colonization and invasion – especially here in South Florida – intertwine. Meanwhile, my longtime interest in photography moved toward the center of my studio practice. Drawing-based practice, paper cutting, and photography have consequently coexisted in my studio work. As these practices intersected with one another, my interests in language and understanding, as well as order and entropy intersected with the experiences of being a tenured academic and a mom. Incremental and seemingly rote actions can yield transcendent outcomes. Three-ring binders can flop open to reveal some kind of strange narrative magic. Index cards can sizzle with energy like the butterfly whose wings are pinched briefly between the gentle fingertips of a curious kid. Passion can erode when too carefully categorized, but epiphanies will disrupt the routine in the space of a breath.

Amy Broderick, Mate, Archival Inkjet Print, Jupiter, FL. I grew up surrounded by books, conversations, and ideas that unfolded in multiple languages. Growing up in this environment made me passionate about language and curious about its possibilities as a living organism and its potential as a creative tool. I have also come to realize the potential that language has to structure our existence, our understanding of the universe, and our relationship to it. Language is the tool (or one tool) that we humans use to bring order out of the chaos. Meanwhile, more recently, I have nurtured an associated interest in language’s vessels – the page itself, the letter itself, the mouth itself. My work explores our human quest to use language – especially in its material form as letters and on pages – to bring the wilds of the universe into order—in effect to describe or name them into submission. Ultimately, I am obsessed with our obsession to engage in this practice, and I am committed to celebrating the ultimate entropy or outright futility of this quest. Over time, I have made monumental, black and white drawings that transform words into a swirling, inflating, exploding confluence of text that floats through space and across the surface in every possible direction. I enjoyed the physicality of large, direct, drawing-based work—dense layers of material, extreme shifts in scale, and marks that evoke the action of my hand. I aimed to seduce the viewer into a confrontation with the ways in which language is used to misrepresent, manipulate, obscure, and conceal truth and meaning. The large drawings evolved into smaller cartographic fragments and cut paper compositions that painstakingly recorded information that so incomplete or so far out of context that it is unrecognizable or useless. Cartography intersected with botany, as notions of colonization and invasion – especially here in South Florida – intertwine. Meanwhile, my longtime interest in photography moved toward the center of my studio practice. Drawing-based practice, paper cutting, and photography have consequently coexisted in my studio work. As these practices intersected with one another, my interests in language and understanding, as well as order and entropy intersected with the experiences of being a tenured academic and a mom. Incremental and seemingly rote actions can yield transcendent outcomes. Three-ring binders can flop open to reveal some kind of strange narrative magic. Index cards can sizzle with energy like the butterfly whose wings are pinched briefly between the gentle fingertips of a curious kid. Passion can erode when too carefully categorized, but epiphanies will disrupt the routine in the space of a breath.

Charles Fowler, Vision #5 - Elements of Eddie Martin, Ink, paper, Columbus, GA. Charles K. Fowler is a Columbus, GA Multimedia Artist that currently resides at Pasaquan in Buena Vista, GA. Charles graduated at Columbus State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts focusing on sculpture and video installations. After college, Charles went on to curate small pop-up exhibitions, one at the F&N Gallery in Philadelphia, with Co-curator Kirsten Dunn, and a couple at the Buena Vista Projects, where Charles was the Assistant Curator. After being recommended to apply for the internship with the Kohler Foundation to help with the two-year restoration of Pasaquan. His time working with Kohler helped him develop his latest body of work. After the restoration was done, Charles became the current caretaker of Pasaquan, and has been for two years. At the beginning of his time caretaking, Charles mentioned he would be having vivid dreams of being visited by wizards, mystics, and sometimes St. EOM. To combat being obliviously inspired by St. EOM, Charles rejected his colorful sculptural past to begin again. He started to create black and white drawings through repetitive mark-making, he’s a form of meditation, believing you can see something coming from the drawings, your mind creating images inside his geometric shapes, that’s why he called his latest drawing series, “Visions”.

Cynthia Wagner, Last Known Survivor, Photography, Huntsville, AL. believe fiction is a shortcut to truth. I'm compelled to manufacture fictional vignettes from vintage photographs, digital images, hand marbled paper, bee’s wax/dammar resin (encaustic medium), paint, ink, and other mixed media materials. This allows me to investigate and attempt some understanding of the complex and absurd features of the world we live in. I am especially interested in exploring the socio and physiological aspects of humanity, including issues of gender role and the transitory nature of life. Additionally, I'm fascinated by the similarities in the way that both the human brain and computer technology create fictional worlds. I consider myself a visual narrator telling stories through several artistic mediums.

Crystal Berry, Symmetry Photography, Douglasville, GA. I am retired medical social worker and I enjoy taking pictures that tell a story or invoke a feeling.

Cynthia Wagner, Thrissa, Common Existence, Mixed Media, Huntsville, AL. I believe fiction is a shortcut to truth. I'm compelled to manufacture fictional vignettes from vintage photographs, digital images, hand marbled paper, bee’s wax/dammar resin (encaustic medium), paint, ink, and other mixed media materials. This allows me to investigate and attempt some understanding of the complex and absurd features of the world we live in. I am especially interested in exploring the socio and physiological aspects of humanity, including issues of gender role and the transitory nature of life. Additionally, I'm fascinated by the similarities in the way that both the human brain and computer technology create fictional worlds. I consider myself a visual narrator telling stories through several artistic mediums.

David Boyd, Jr., The Red Carpet Treatment, Oil on canvas, Newnan, GA. It has taken me 10 years of painting to discover why I do what I do, and why I am drawn so strongly to the imagery I represent. I grew up in a small town outside of Atlanta, at a time when the suburbs of Atlanta were still “out in the country.” I was fortunate to spend many weekends with my grandparents in rural Georgia, where the woods and old rusty cars and tractors were my playground. Today, when I see the rusting memorabilia of the rural south, I feel a deep sense of nostalgia. This imagery is inspiration for my creative expression, although it actually originates from a time in which I never actually lived: A time when working the land was part of our daily survival, and the automobile was both a new modern convenience and an exciting new art form. Remnants of this life are rapidly becoming extinct, as it is only a matter of time before those rusty cars are completely disintegrated back into the earth. As a nod to my childhood memories as well as the passing of time, I want to preserve Southern American life in its current state of decay... “landscapes of rust.” I use my plein air work as a way to “capture a feeling.” I use my camera to record a moment. Back in my studio I like to combine these into large scale paintings of those things I wish I could keep forever... old signs, decaying building, old cars, trucks and tractors, and beautiful rural landscapes. My paintings are my memories, and accordingly, some of my painting take the angle of a child’s viewpoint; lower to the ground. My wife, Julie, and I spend our vacations and summers traveling the United States in search of those places that still exist in my memory.

Don Dougan, Sighs in the Wind, Cast paper, ceramic, glass, wire, bronze-powder, wood, paint, Marietta, GA. I work primarily in stone, though bronze, glass, ceramic, wood, found objects and mixed media are often used with the stone to contrast and create dialogues within the materials. In most of my work the first principle is to approach the specific material at hand. I react to the inherent qualities of the material(s) — such as size, shape, color or textures — and strive to refine those elements into something physically meaningful. This develops intuitively with very little conscious attempt to create logical or rational content except for revealing the implications that are embodied in the materials. As working time passes and the piece grows my perceptions begin to perceive nuances and evidence of character emerges through the physical parameters of the work. The title of the work is almost always the last stage of the making procedure. Finding the right title is when I discover the elusive meaning I was working towards through the intuitive process. Often these titles reveal aspects of archetypical characters from stories or mythology as well as from history or the arts. I view the title as a key to the door into the viewer’s perceptions. My works could be considered visual poems.

Dori Nix, Denali View from Kesugi Ridge, Photography, Phenix City, AL. From my earliest memories, the visual compositions produced by the technology of a camera have always sent my mind into a state of satisfaction. At an early age, I got ahold of several film cameras and chased after the process of what I would now refer to as visual storytelling. As my interest in photography progressed, I studied prominent pieces from history and would find myself analyzing every bit of composition while playing out potential storylines behind each frame. I yearned to know more about the individuals captured in the photographs and wished I had been around to document their story. Through my youth, I was never comfortable with having attention on myself or opening up to share my life experiences with others. When I would find myself behind the camera and viewing others in a light they had not seen themselves in, I felt at home. It was a familiar comfort that set my anxiety at ease to be able to listen to someone else share their story and to witness the glow or weight they carried day-to-day because of it. I soon discovered the emotions I began to develop that tied to my work and it pushed me into a better understanding of what visual storytelling meant in my work. My passion in photography soon expanded to display not only the delight I experienced from hearing peoples’ stories but the jaw-dropping vastness of the earth we were created in and how the two merge together. While living in Alaska, I gathered research around texture, landscapes, color, wildlife and native culture that ignited a fire in me to push my work in a direction that was deeper and could hold to the saying of “a picture is worth a thousand words”. I am drawn most to creating work that speaks more than what initially catches the viewer's eye. A single frame may be limited in portrating a setting or the tone, but a prominent part of my process is being in the moment while capturing individuals so that I can bring my research full circle in telling their story. Through the years of working in an intimate space of documenting the lives of others, I’ve discovered a strength of my own – recognizing the potential in others and how to reflect the nature of their life clearly and accurately in a cohesive body of work.

Edward Tepper, Out of the Storm, Photography - Archival Glicee Print, Glen Allen, VA. Ed’s passion is to create photographic stories that impacts you, the viewer. It may make you feel happy or sad. It may astonish you. It may make you angry or at peace. It may create conflict or harmony. Different viewers will have different reactions to his photos and that’s ok. His goal is that you will feel something. Ed learned about the art and craft of photography from on-line courses, books, seminars, videos, from a lot of experimentation, trial and error and using the latest technology available. He expanded his learning to include how to do his own printing, matting and framing and very much enjoys controlling the entire artistic process. Ed lives in the Richmond, VA area and is actively involved in the robust arts community there. He is a juried member of ArtSpace, a Richmond based non-profit art gallery and the Metropolitan Richmond Artists Association. His photos have appeared in Glave Kocen Gallery, Montpelier Center for Arts & Education, Anne’s Visual Arts Studio, Columbus (GA) State University Rankin Arts Photography Center, 311 Gallery (Raleigh, NC) Crossroads Art Gallery and Art Works. He shares his knowledge by teaching courses on photographic technique and how to use digital editing programs. Most importantly to him is that he donates his photographic talents to the Richmond SPCA, the American Red Cross, Paws for Purple Hearts and The Appalachian Great White Pyrenees Rescue Center, helping those great organizations accomplish their missions.

Elana Hagler, Calindez Edwards, Pastel on paper, Pike Road, AL. My love for painting and drawing started at a young age, when many of my classmates would take the time to sit for me. I have always been intensely interested in people, their likenesses, their experiences, and the attempt to capture and distill their essence. My fascination with understanding people on a deeper level led me to major in Psychology in addition to Studio Art. I am enthralled by the greatest and most mysterious examples of portraiture in the past, including the work of Degas, Velázquez, Goya, and Pontormo, as well as the Egyptian Fayum portraits and ancient Roman Frescoes. In this day and age of constantly being confronted with a multiplicity of flickering images, what a profound experience it is to truly see and be seen.

Elana Hagler, Carlecia III, Pastel and charcoal on paper, Pike Road, AL. My love for painting and drawing started at a young age, when many of my classmates would take the time to sit for me. I have always been intensely interested in people, their likenesses, their experiences, and the attempt to capture and distill their essence. My fascination with understanding people on a deeper level led me to major in Psychology in addition to Studio Art. I am enthralled by the greatest and most mysterious examples of portraiture in the past, including the work of Degas, Velázquez, Goya, and Pontormo, as well as the Egyptian Fayum portraits and ancient Roman Frescoes. In this day and age of constantly being confronted with a multiplicity of flickering images, what a profound experience it is to truly see and be seen.

Eric Kaepplinger, Deficiencies of Character, Wood, canvas, acrylic, graphite and rope. Atlanta, GA. My paintings and sculptures explore the possibilities of abstraction and form invention in relation to intuition, texture and line. My process is largely focused on the cutting, creating and manufacturing of shapes out of canvas. The results after layering and building are sometimes sculptural or a hybrid of two and three dimensions, surfaces that recollect my childhood growing up in the Rocky Mountains. When I was a kid I could just place my hands on a boulder and feel the adventure of climbing and potential conquest fill me before I even began to climb and I know the purpose of my artwork is to fill the viewer with the same feeling in a visual sense. This body of work marries that process with the theme of overcoming our greatest faults. The raw potential that is simmering to be free. Self bondage of fear, addiction or anything else that might be holding us back. Atlanta based artist with a bachelors degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Antuco Chicaiza, Southern Pride, Fabric, Sweetwater, TN. The subject of my work consist of my relationships with family and friends, memories of the past, the struggle for social justice, and the workings of the political system. My sketch book is with me 24/7. Figures, phrases, graffiti, and graphic designs are recorded as I encounter them. Recently digital images have been added to these elements and to the painted images that have always been part of the work. Both my sketch book and work share the quality of a diary of the my thoughts and feelings. One of the biggest influences that have shaped my work is growing up in two different cultures and countries, and at different economic levels. My goal is the get people to start a conversation weather it be positive or negative about my art, I just want them to question, look and think.

G Jackson Tanner, To Skotádi, Golden Fluid Acrylics, Springfield, VA. Though it appears similar to Pointillism, my personal experience with mass-production printing is more closely linked to my new application methodology. This work was produced by hand using the physicality I have to use with the use of basic painting tools; neither automated presses, nor were pneumatic processes utilized. I control every transition of color by building multiple chromatic layers to create the image that you see. This repetitive process produces highly complex color fields that overlap and work together to evoke the sense that the image could have been manufactured through a mechanical automated process. The unique paint application creates a surface texture that is inviting to our tactile natures, as though it wants to be touched. Lastly, the Greek title is a subtle homage to the foundations of Western art.

Gail Wegodsky, Faux Geisha, Oil on panel, Sandy Springs, GA. Painting is a spiritual pursuit in which prayer is in the form of close examination of the visual world, and then its approximate recreation with paint.

Gary Mesa-Gaido, String Theory Series #4, Dye-sublimation Print on Aluminum, Morehed, KY. Quantum physics studies the very smallest objects in nature (for example subatomic particles), while relativity tends to study nature at the very largest (like planets, galaxies, and the universe). String Theory attempts to unify these two fascinating areas of study. As of yet, there is no visual evidence that demonstrates to the average person what String Theory actually looks like. As a result, I am inspired to visualize this theory, not literally, but through invention. I experiment with layering multiple digital combinations of macro images (for example an aerial view of the ground from an airplane) with micro images (for instance zooming in on flora), as well as ratios relevant to the golden section and Fibonacci sequence. The abstract, composited images are additionally infused with color from the visible electromagnetic spectrum. There are increasing possibilities for the output of these images through digital printmaking technologies, and I currently utilize the dye-sublimation process of printing on aluminum; this particular metal is more reflective than printing on paper, and thus more accurately represents each digital image’s color, light, and interference layers in an analogue form.

Gary Mesa-Gaido, String Theory Series #5, Dye-sublimation Print on Aluminum, Morehed, KY. Quantum physics studies the very smallest objects in nature (for example subatomic particles), while relativity tends to study nature at the very largest (like planets, galaxies, and the universe). String Theory attempts to unify these two fascinating areas of study. As of yet, there is no visual evidence that demonstrates to the average person what String Theory actually looks like. As a result, I am inspired to visualize this theory, not literally, but through invention. I experiment with layering multiple digital combinations of macro images (for example an aerial view of the ground from an airplane) with micro images (for instance zooming in on flora), as well as ratios relevant to the golden section and Fibonacci sequence. The abstract, composited images are additionally infused with color from the visible electromagnetic spectrum. There are increasing possibilities for the output of these images through digital printmaking technologies, and I currently utilize the dye-sublimation process of printing on aluminum; this particular metal is more reflective than printing on paper, and thus more accurately represents each digital image’s color, light, and interference layers in an analogue form.

Harriet Dye, I See You Harriet Dye, Photographic Print, Atlanta, GA. As a young girl, I read an article in Reader’s Digest about Treetops, a hotel in Kenya which offered guests the opportunity to observe local wildlife at a waterhole adjacent to the hotel. From that time on, I dreamed of an African safari – of seeing lions, giraffes, elephants et al roaming free in the places where they lived. “Go to Africa” got stowed away in my mental Bucket List. The dream never died, and in 2019 I finally made it on safari in Tanzania, Africa which was everything I had ever imagined and much more. I hope these images convey just a glimpse of the thrill of these wildlife encounters so that the viewer understands why “Go to Africa” is somehow still on my Bucket List! As D. Elliot said “If you can only visit two continents in your lifetime, visit Africa twice!”

Henry Jacobs, Muddy Mixing, Photography, LaGrange, GA. There is something about the way Southern people engage with their environment. Perhaps it’s because of the immense fecundity of the South. The richness of this land—its heat, lushness, isolation—becomes part of the fiber of life. Waterways take a central role in my work because it’s where I spend a good deal of time. For all that they are worth – our source of drinking water, power, irrigation, recreation, etc. – we often do little to protect and conserve them. And the disconnection only grows deeper as more people choose to live isolated from natural environments. But there are those few who will search for an alligator snapping turtle and tromp through kudzu to collect a water sample. I want to celebrate them and open a window to others, all the while bringing attention to the danger that lurks ahead if we remain on our current path. In LaGrange, Georgia I look for moments of change. Like most towns in rural America, LaGrange seems to be searching for a new identity. As a millennial I’ve connected with this on a personal level and it’s brought me closer to the world of documentary photography; I often use my phone to take photos, edit and then share them within a brief moment of time. There are scenes of storm clouds gathering over a shiny relic of the past, an immigrant grandmother in a calm moment and children exploring the world around them. Images like these help me process change, and by sharing them, hopefully they will help others too. I’m grateful to have a camera and my hope is to continue documenting the time and place I find myself in these days.

Melissa Huang, Another Day Another Girl, Oil on canvas, Atlanta, GA. In my paintings, prints, and video work, I explore how contemporary culture values perfection and the resulting dangers of perfectionism. Digital image manipulation has blurred the lines between reality and the idealized self, which often creates an unsettling gap between who we really are and how we wish to be perceived. My oil paintings visualize this pressure through computer-manipulated, channel shift imagery as well as surreal paintings portraying a ghostly double self. The average person is no longer able to identify when images of bodies have been digitally edited to achieve a naturally unattainable goal. Image editing apps, deepfake technology, and simple photo editing software has made it possible to construct an entirely new you that only exists through social media and digital means. I engage with this concept in my series of channel manipulation paintings, in which I use Photoshop to create warped, ghostly second images of the self, then captured in oil paint. By creating layered paintings pairing “true” versions of a person with translucent, distorted imagery I am engaging with this culture of digitally attaining otherwise unattainable perfection. There is both a connection and divide between the real and performative self. Without one, the other would not exist. People are under constant pressure to attain a certain physical look and projected persona, and we’re achieving this goal by constructing new, digital identities. In my paintings, people exist in a space between reality and fantasy, building more perfect bodies and living alongside their own idealized spirits.

Melissa Huang, Double, Oil on panel, Atlanta, GA. In my paintings, prints, and video work, I explore how contemporary culture values perfection and the resulting dangers of perfectionism. Digital image manipulation has blurred the lines between reality and the idealized self, which often creates an unsettling gap between who we really are and how we wish to be perceived. My oil paintings visualize this pressure through computer-manipulated, channel shift imagery as well as surreal paintings portraying a ghostly double self. The average person is no longer able to identify when images of bodies have been digitally edited to achieve a naturally unattainable goal. Image editing apps, deepfake technology, and simple photo editing software has made it possible to construct an entirely new you that only exists through social media and digital means. I engage with this concept in my series of channel manipulation paintings, in which I use Photoshop to create warped, ghostly second images of the self, then captured in oil paint. By creating layered paintings pairing “true” versions of a person with translucent, distorted imagery I am engaging with this culture of digitally attaining otherwise unattainable perfection. There is both a connection and divide between the real and performative self. Without one, the other would not exist. People are under constant pressure to attain a certain physical look and projected persona, and we’re achieving this goal by constructing new, digital identities. In my paintings, people exist in a space between reality and fantasy, building more perfect bodies and living alongside their own idealized spirits.

Jack Girard, Millennial I, Collage/Mixed Media on Rives Paper, Lexington, KY. I work primarily in collage, as the form allows for long-term image development and/or brief, spontaneous, expressive moments. I usually work with a 30 x 40” format—like sheets from an over-sized ream of paper—a comfortable scale that echoes pages from a journal and finally a palimpsest. I enjoy the play between real and illusionary space and like to engage the viewer with found and familiar imagery frequently arranged into a context that is often disjunctive. I work primarily from my own experience, and measure success on the accuracy of those recollections. Subject areas that interest me are many, although I keep returning to social themes for primary source material.

Jack Girard, Millennial lI, Collage/Mixed Media on Rives Paper, Lexington, KY. I work primarily in collage, as the form allows for long-term image development and/or brief, spontaneous, expressive moments. I usually work with a 30 x 40” format—like sheets from an over-sized ream of paper—a comfortable scale that echoes pages from a journal and finally a palimpsest. I enjoy the play between real and illusionary space and like to engage the viewer with found and familiar imagery frequently arranged into a context that is often disjunctive. I work primarily from my own experience, and measure success on the accuracy of those recollections. Subject areas that interest me are many, although I keep returning to social themes for primary source material.

Jayme Ogles, Little Crown, Charcoal on toned paper, Franklin, GA.

Jeanne Hewell-Chambers, The Coming of Light Front, Art quilt / fiber art, Cashiers, NC. The Coming of Light: On one visit with my sister-in-law Nancy - who became mentally impaired when neighborhood teenagers hung her with a rope from the swing set - I put not paper and a box of crayons (her preferred medium), but a bag of fabric scraps in front of her. Once she arranged them to her liking, I appliquéd her colorful, chaotic creation on a background of black and white fabric to create what I lovingly refer to as a family portrait. Nancy, you see, was born into a family of engineers and doctors who tend to see the world in grids, formulas, and precise measurements. Nancy is the color in what can sometimes seem like a black and white world. Note: This is the only time she was willing to lay down her crayons. To this day, Nancy refuses to create with anything other than crayons and paper.

Jennifer Diaz, Trace a Path, Porcelain, glaze, Atlanta, GA. Jennifer’s work creates tension in the space of repetition and texture. Jennifer makes work that you crave to touch, ache to reach out your hand and feel. The fact that she creates work for fine art spaces means that often patrons but cannot touch, leaving a feeling of desire that settles into the consciousness. Her work is often made as a reaction to life, culture, and current events. Her art has been shown at MOCA GA, Callanwolde, Clay Center of New Orleans, as well as in private collections. Jennifer is currently working on a collaborative immersive sculpture with David Newburn. Jennifer was also chosen as an artist in Emory’s “Science Wonder Art” program for 2019-2020, which connects an artist and a scientist to create a unique piece of art.

Julia Knight, Butterfly Woman, Bronze, Decatur, GA. Holding the animate world in my hands is at the heart of my work. I am interested in the faces and figures of people, animals, everything that breathes around me. With soft wax I sculpt what animates or enlivens the forms that breathe. Then casting the result directly into bronze allows the experience to be recorded unchanged. Thus the immediacy of the exploration of a particular feature of a face or figure is retained. With each small accumulation of wax or the dent made by the pressure of the heated tools, the peculiar beauty of the life within is revealed and set by the molten bronze. Then the sculpture becomes a story of its own – a story you can hold in your hands.

Kay Vinson, Snow on the Mountain, Oil pigment over acrylic, Mountain Brook, AL. It has been noted that my work has a distinctly Asian feel. This is not a conscious decision but may be the result of my years of travel to Japan and my lifelong interest in Eastern philosophy. I am attracted to simplicity of form, asymmetry, and worn, weathered looking surfaces. Those Zen-like elements show up time and time again in my painting. Over the years my work has evolved into a more abstract style, reducing images to simple shapes that to me are elegant in their simplicity. There’s a strong emphasis on color and texture. In my current paintings I ad layers of oil pigment on top of textured acrylic to create sensual surfaces that are rich with depth and nuance.

Ken Lever, Trident Vase, Black Walnut, Tallassee, AL. I’ve always been fascinated by the inherent intricacy of wood, none of it is ever the same. Every time I cut into a piece its like a Christmas present, you never know what’s inside. To me that’s the biggest allure of sculpting, it just draws me in. It creates a palette that I could never dream of, or replicate. Mother nature does the work for me, all I do is try to exploit it into something all can enjoy. I can see ideas in the wood before I start. Cutting into, peeling back the layers allows me to find the most interesting aspects of the grain, defects, imperfections to achieve the look I seek. My goal is to release the inner beauty of the natural medium. I like to think that my process merely frees the art trapped inside. Forms and shapes come from a life long appreciation of arts spanning centuries and cultures. Chinese, Egyptian, European mixed with current masters of the trade make for a good base to explore my ever-evolving repertoire. The Southeast is rich in various woods and even marble, which is a newer medium (to me) to explore, it has a lot of similarities, both are an extraction method, both have grain, and the processes of carving are really close, so it was an easy line to cross. I’ve been involved with the Sylacauga Marble Fest since 2012, working with Master carvers from Italy, and a wide variety of artists from around the world. Expanding the ever-growing repertoire of artistic styles, so goes the life journey of an artist.

Ken Lever, Threaded, Sylacauga Marble, Tallassee, AL. I’ve always been fascinated by the inherent intricacy of wood, none of it is ever the same. Every time I cut into a piece its like a Christmas present, you never know what’s inside. To me that’s the biggest allure of sculpting, it just draws me in. It creates a palette that I could never dream of, or replicate. Mother nature does the work for me, all I do is try to exploit it into something all can enjoy. I can see ideas in the wood before I start. Cutting into, peeling back the layers allows me to find the most interesting aspects of the grain, defects, imperfections to achieve the look I seek. My goal is to release the inner beauty of the natural medium. I like to think that my process merely frees the art trapped inside. Forms and shapes come from a life long appreciation of arts spanning centuries and cultures. Chinese, Egyptian, European mixed with current masters of the trade make for a good base to explore my ever-evolving repertoire. The Southeast is rich in various woods and even marble, which is a newer medium (to me) to explore, it has a lot of similarities, both are an extraction method, both have grain, and the processes of carving are really close, so it was an easy line to cross. I’ve been involved with the Sylacauga Marble Fest since 2012, working with Master carvers from Italy, and a wide variety of artists from around the world. Expanding the ever-growing repertoire of artistic styles, so goes the life journey of an artist.

Kevin Cole, Lessons That Lead to Blessings, Wood Cut, Fairburn, GA. In Toure’s book, “Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?,” he defines the term “post-blackness” as a way for African American artists to be identified such that their work can be seen beyond the sociological/stereotypical definition of “Black Art.” Early in this book, he talks about the freedom that New Blacks have to be themselves without feeling as though they are tethered to a past that they do not agree with or one that they feel they are not a product of. Truth is my work is a colorful reminder of promises still unkept, imperialism still institutionalized, and stealth deceit that has stolen the dreams and birthrights of twenty generations of a once proud people. It stands in contrast to the canon just as Norman Lewis’ work stood in contrast to those who framed early abstract expressionism. When I turned eighteen years old, my grandfather told me about a tree on his property where African-American men had been lynched by their neckties on their way to vote. The experience left a profound impression. I am personally tethered to this inescapable memory. Thus, my work is rooted in a place of targeted tragedy. Its curvilinear twists, knots, and loops are fed by the energy found in the souls of ALL those who toil and triumph everyday against the odds and against the unheralded tragedies of life. My work is a universal story with both hero and villain, good and evil. The narrative is embedded like html code. It is not visible to the eye, but it can be decoded...

Kris Rehring, Homberg in Shadow, Oil on aluminum, Knoxville, TN. My practice includes figurative and landscape oil painting. Communicating the energy of the experience in front of a subject is of primary importance. I play with flat passages of color, pushing boundaries, layers and marks. What can be expressed through fields of broken color and saturation? And what color substitutions can be made while still maintaining the integrity of form? Design often finds its way into my urban landscapes. Repeating geometric forms create patterns I find captivating. I am attracted to passages and rhythms within representational form. The tradition of painting from the model is also a regular part of my studio practice. I work within a limited amount of time to capture the form and tone by close observation and rendering.

Lauren Bradshaw, Infiltration, Stoneware, underglaze, glaze, Duluth, GA. Architectural and geological references are used to portray concepts of structure, collapse, growth, and decay within this series of sculptures. The attempt to find balance between control and chaos is represented by forms that threaten to lose their equilibrium and stability. The deconstruction of these forms represents the ultimate futility of structure as a means of control. I choose clay as the material to communicate this idea as it has both the properties of strength and weakness. I have realized that trying to control things, including my materials, is the root of my anxiety. Embracing disorder and intuitively allowing the materials to guide my direction brings relief. This realization caused me to change my approach and has ultimately become the content of the work itself. Accepting the inevitability of impermanence leads me to embrace the unpredictable results derived from experimentation, accident, and failure.

Leslie Shirah, Current, Cast Handmade Abaca and Kozo Paper, Graphite Pencil, Columbus, GA. I am fascinated by nature with its complex and beautiful intricacies. The biology of plants and animals in regards to habitat and growth influences the direction of my work. I like to think of myself as a researcher in the field when I am in out in nature. I document various textures, patterns, and colors. The smell of the air, the beautiful color, and touch and sensation of texture often influence my choice of material and process. Textiles are prominent in my work because of the various physical and visual textures that can be achieved. It’s versatility and ability to mimic existing textures in nature is why I am drawn to them. Paper can be manipulated to appear soft, vulnerable, but can also reflect rigidity, strength. Because of my passion and appreciation for nature I am concerned with the negative impact that human consumption has on flora and fauna. The progression of negative change in regards to our natural world is accelerating. I want to bring attention to its fragility and the importance of sustainability. This is a precarious balance and through my work I want to highlight current issues of sustainability and bring attention to them through texture, color, line, and the temporal nature of natural materials.

Lori Harrell, Angarika, Photography - Archival Matte Print, West Point, GA. For the past few years, I have photographed the magic that is in our private lake and a project grew out of photographing the reflections of my surroundings. The more I experimented with the project, the more intrigued I became with it. I was amazed to find images coming out of my camera that reminded me of my favorite impressionists. The combination of reflected objects, movement of the water, and the camera's shutter speed produced enchanting images which are generally not visible to the human eye. I attempt to create reflection images of ethereal beauty that appear to be a product of a painter’s brush rather than a photographer's camera, as the water becomes the canvas and the reflection the paint. For me, reflections create a magic of their own that is more interesting than our actual surroundings!

Lori Harrell, Bad Moon Rising, Photography - Archival Matte Print, West Point, GA. For the past few years, I have photographed the magic that is in our private lake and a project grew out of photographing the reflections of my surroundings. The more I experimented with the project, the more intrigued I became with it. I was amazed to find images coming out of my camera that reminded me of my favorite impressionists. The combination of reflected objects, movement of the water, and the camera's shutter speed produced enchanting images which are generally not visible to the human eye. I attempt to create reflection images of ethereal beauty that appear to be a product of a painter’s brush rather than a photographer's camera, as the water becomes the canvas and the reflection the paint. For me, reflections create a magic of their own that is more interesting than our actual surroundings!

Lydia Thompson, Post Migration Series - Carrier #1, Ceramics and Wood, Charlotte, NC. This work expresses her ideas about transitional human migration and how neighborhoods are rapidly changing in our society today. The forms are snap shots as a result of human abandonment through forced evictions, upward mobility, death, and gentrification. The architectural structures are altered to mimic deterioration caused by neglect and weather conditions. The front and back walls of the house remain part of the structure and the side walls remain open to observe the interior space and its contents. The floor serves as a cradle and platform where objects intersect in meaning and mixed ancestries. Her work has been included in galleries, art centers, and museums such as the Society for Contemporary Crafts, Pennsylvania; Baltimore Clayworks; the Ohr O’Keefe Museum in Biloxi, Mississippi; the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft; Te Temauta Gallery in New Zealand, and Guldegaard in Denmark. Her work is in private and public collections in North Carolina, Virginia, New Mexico, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. She has conducted workshops for youths and adults, given public lectures and served as juror and curator for national and regional exhibitions. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Ohio State University and her Master of Fine Arts degree from the New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Her awards include a Fulbright Hayes grant to conduct research on traditional architecture in Nigeria and has been an AIR at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark, and at the Medalta Ceramic Center in Alberta, Canada.

Martin Beck, Two Figures, Mixed media on prepared paper, Lexington, KY. For most of my adult life, I’ve had Ankylosing Spondylitis, or A.S., a systemic, inflammatory, and incurable form of arthritis characterized by stiffness and intense pain in one’s joints and connective tissues. The disease waxes and wanes; waxing is aptly called a flare. The result of these intermittent and unpredictable flares is permanent damage to the joints and tissues around them, bony growths, and in severe cases, fused vertebra – ankylosis – also called “bamboo spine.” These flares, some lasting months, have had a direct effect on my work in terms of content and process. Standing or sitting at an easel for extended periods is no longer possible. I instead focus on drawing and painting from life in two to four hours long sessions with the model. I started drawing from life at the end of 2014, mostly as a remedial exercise after the disease kept me from making art for about two years. As a result, I’ve done a lot of life drawing, and I’ve come to believe that the nude speaks most directly of the human condition. To study another’s face and form is an attempt to understand that person's essential humanity: their frailty and imperfection. My arthritic condition has made me sensitive to these qualities in others. I’ve also found that if you study anyone with the level of intensity my kind of figurative work involves, you see their beauty and strength as well. Our bodies are road maps of our individual experiences. In terms of the model, part of that is their self-expression. Hairstyle, tattoos, piercings, body hair, or lack of, makeup or lack of are all clues to a unique individual. My work then presents an emphatic confirmation of personality, identity, gender, and a way to contemplate and celebrate the human form in all its variety. Just as people are complex, the attempt to depict them involves many variables. I try to let the figure emerge from the ground and let the model’s presence inhabit the work. It is remarkable how palpably present a person is once you begin to bring them out on paper or canvas. I often quote a fictional character, Philip Marlowe from “The Singing Detective,” who is the creation of a fictional writer experiencing a severe flare of Psoriatic Arthritis: “People want all solutions and no clues. What I want are all clues and no solutions."  Wanting clues without the closure of a solution reflects the openness of our lives. I want my work to show this through the study of the nude as something that uplifts our experience of being human. Mine is not prescriptive art but does perhaps demonstrate a yearning to express and overcome at least my own humanity. The materials I use are fragile. The paper, pastel, and water media are supple and vulnerable. I work with the model in part because it is a collaboration between artist and model, and also because it allows accidents, errors, and sometimes, a fortuitous moment. As such, I am more concerned with the act of drawing than the finished piece. The 4th-century philosopher Augustine of Hippo wrote of the nature of time that there is a “present of things present, a present of things past and a present of things future.” Working from life seems to capture this essential truth of our awareness of time. These aspects of time are one source of my current fascination with the nude – to capture the artist and model in this fleeting moment and let evidence of that moment endure.

Mary Dobbins, The Irish Tin Whistle Player, Oil, Hoover, AL. I remember always being interested in art and began to be involved with artist endeavors in high school. That inspired and motivated me from then to now. Years after having children I later I returned to university and resumed my major in art and earned a bachelors degree in Fine Art. Life often takes us down paths we don’t anticipate. Soon after I finished my degree, my husband and I moved around the world with his job. When we returned to the States, I thought I’d missed the window in life to pursue further developing drawing and painting skills. I didn’t get back to the arts seriously until about 6 years ago after my husband retired and we moved back to the south. Circumstances led me to meet artists and kindled the enthusiasm, nurtured the passion I’d forgotten. Truthfully I do think I’m probably becoming a better artist now than I would have earlier in life when a good critique would have challenged my then fragile confidence. I love painting people (often portraits), landscapes, animals and sometimes still lives. Learning more with each painting about lighting, values and composition is addictive. Though I’ve painted in watercolor, acrylic my true love is oils. Creating an interpretation from my resources is exhilarating. I love a looser style of painting allowing the viewer to have their own avenue to identify and find their own creativity in the painting. I believe the arts belongs to all humans and elevates our souls and senses in ways nothing else can.

Maryann Bonk, The Dreaming Tree, Oil, Newnan, GA. I have always loved drawing and painting, but until recently, life got in the way. Over the years, I majored in Fashion Design at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, took art lessons from several talented artists in St. Petersburg, Apopka and Longwood, Florida. But it wasn’t until recently that I was able to really work at my art making. In 2013, I retired from my full-time job at the Orlando Police Department and relocated to Newnan, Georgia. I began weekly oil painting classes at Farrago Studios in downtown Newnan soon after I moved to town. I haven’t stopped painting! Painting “en plein air” is my newest passion. I enjoy many subjects around me in central Georgia but I find that I am still drawn to the water – oceans, beaches, rivers – and also to boats – sailing, beached or working. The majority of my work today is in oils but I have studied watercolors and will soon be exploring that media again. What do I love most about painting? That I never stop learning.

Melanie O'Keefe, Morning Light, Oil on canvas, Hoover, AL. I think the nature is the most beautiful part of our world. I love to nature in different forms. My intention is for the viewer to feel like they walk right into the painting and relax. I love to use light to highlight the different aspects of focal point.

Patrick Foster, Loves Me Not, Oil on canvas, Albany, GA. My work is, in part, both my ongoing description of and path through 15 years of clinical depression . Although each piece is intensely personal in meaning, I try to keep the emotions universal enough for any viewer to identify with. Allegory and story figure heavily in most works, and clues to a personal meaning may be found in my symbols and vocabulary, but conveying my own “story” is not my primary aim. Rather, I prefer to let each work be a mirror rather than a declaration.

Paulette Wright, Contemplating The Fall, Photography, Raleigh, NC. Photography, to me, is a necessity. Heading to dinner in the car I will frame a photograph in my head, silently wishing I had my camera in hand. I see interesting shapes, leaf patterns, light, shadow, animals - any of these can grab my attention and require I use my Nikon or wither. I make mental mapping notes so I can return later, when the light is the same. When vacationing I have to force myself to put the camera down once in awhile as it is constantly pressed to my eye. I grew up on a farm in rural Ohio. I was at my Dad's side constantly and helped with the livestock, the tractors and machinery, and in the fields. Consequently, I love old barns and sheds, and the way the light plays off the old paint and wood. Fields of wheat can make me weep with their beauty. Sunsets are a thrill to me, also. I enjoy experimenting with my lenses to find variations in landscapes, or to get in really close to find a detail others might miss. Photoshop has put a whole new twist on my work. Softening or highlighting small areas can make a good photo even better. I hope you enjoy looking at my work and envision what I see when I look through my view finder.

Philip Carpenter, Snipper, Graphite on paper, Atlanta, GA. Making color pencil drawings replaced painting for me fifteen years ago, but the processes are similar in that each drawing requires its own painterly invention to describe surfaces and to create effective illusions. My interests sometimes wander as I am lured away by the pleasures of irony: combining pop culture icons with facsimiles of traditional works of art, the prosaic and the precious. But I always return to making portraits of ordinary things, mostly utilitarian objects that come my way. I meticulously record the beauty of their wear as my way of knowing them physically while honoring their often unknowable histories. The drawings combine my knack for realism with my minimalist sensibilities.

Donna Pickens, Oceans Rising, Encaustic & impasto wax on board, Montgomery, AL. After moving from Atlanta to Montgomery in 2004 and leaving behind a career of creating large scale installations and public sculptures, I returned to drawing and painting and began exploring encaustics, an exciting medium mixing beeswax with paint. With this new medium, I continued to explore many of the same themes, including my concerns about the impact of global warming and symbolic images of transition or passage from one reality to another – from past to present, from temporal to spiritual, and from external to internal psychological states of mind. For the past three years I’ve explored techniques of creating more sculptural or three-dimensional works of art, melting impasto wax mixed with beeswax and pouring this on some areas of the surface before painting with encaustics. Two of my entries, "Excavations" and "Oceans Rising" were created using this technique.

Sabrina Barilone, Prison, Stoneware, underglaze, glaze, steel, over-sized flask, Macon, GA. My piece, "Prison" speaks to the inheritance of addictive personality types that can lead to alcoholism. using a direct assertion with an over-sized steel flask mimicking the torso that blends into a steel prison. It addresses how we deal with our inner struggles. Sometimes we hide in distractions lacking the learned tools to cope. We become prisoner to those distractions. "Addiction is due 50 percent to genetic predisposition and 50 percent to poor coping skills." We use the tools in our toolbox of life. Some tools are learned, some traded, some borrowed, and some are inherited.

Patricia Steele-Raible, Graveyard Fields, Mixed media on deep wood panel, Charlotte, NC. Reading and writing are as important to my art as painting. As part of my process they allows me to gather information, observe from different angles, and create from another, perhaps changed perspective. The final artwork becomes less about the product and more about what the process can reveal. My paintings are layered and fragmented, using second-hand and hand-made materials. Because of their relationship with "what has come before" these materials allow me to express emotions and ideas visually. The process itself is not linear, but rather resembles a conversation. It allows for overlap, a back and forth, a push and pull.

Janet Newton, RED ENVELOPE, Digital Photography, Douglasville, GA. My first interest in photography began while I was on a summer retreat and I took a film photography session with a darkroom developing class. Instantly, I fell in love. I made my first camera out of a shoebox while in photography class. I started taking pictures and designing my schools yearbook for 4 years. I soon began my passion of photography photographing corporate events and weddings including videos. My camera choice in 2020 is a NIKON D500. I joined local camera clubs and enjoy every minute exploring amazing locations to photograph. I spend my time photographing macro in my garden where I grow many varieties of plants and flowers. I can spend as long as I want to work the scene. I look for the early mornings or the golden hour to photograph, but my favorite is right after a rain as I captured my macro entry “The Red Envelope”, raindrops sliding down a red leaf folded over while I’m lying on the ground. The composition of this image gave the look of an envelope. Recently I was traveling in the mountains when I came across a hydrangea plant that had just lost its leaves from an overnight frost in November. Scattered all over the ground I saw this leave patterns in all colors. I stood right over them and took a couple of shots. Not until I saw the wonderful contrast of colors and patterns in my computer, I just said wow! I titled it “Hydrangea Fall Leaves”. I use a 150-600mm lens to keep the distance from any possible dangerous wildlife. My image “Inner Wisdom” had me wondering what this magnificent orangutan might be thinking; his eyes were fixed on mine and vice versa. His sharp eyes will draw you in and tell you more than words can say. Enjoying a sunset on a beach, out of the corner of my eye I spotted this mysterious, powerful woman dressed so feminine like she just appeared from the past. She was timeless. She symbolizes all strong women so I titled this image, “The Lady in the Cloche Hat”. I broke the photography rule; put her on the thirds and looking out of the scene with a curvy mat and elegant frame. I love the quick means of digital photography. I can always take another shot. I’m following my passion in photography.

Rob Anderson, Doe Run, Fall, Oil on canvas, Park Hills, KY. In my paintings, I investigate all I can within my surroundings, pulling out intensities where they may be seemingly lacking. Through the visual restraints, My work explores the subtleties of the ordinary human experience. The paintings are mostly done from direct observation, allowing me to slow down and examine the things usually seen through a glance and left overlooked; the mundane. I am interested in making quiet images focusing on the senses rather than the sensational. The geometric nature of the images creates a sense of solitude, allowing the pictures to slowly unfold to the eye, and developing into unique situations within the image. my creativity is often found. Developing images from what is in front of me is essential to my work. Since I am only dealing with what is within my general experience, I believe that I am speaking honestly through the medium. As an artist I am interested in the endless possibilities steaming from the situations we commonly are confronted with on a day to day basis. The developed abstractions then move beyond the common into a newly created situation. Allowing the work to create an experience which runs parallel to the natural stimuli, never fully mimicking or trying to be something other than what it is, a painting, coming from a place of earnest essentials.

Ron Buffington, Databerg (Strange Loop), Gouache, ink on paper, Signal Mountain, TN. Every painting begins as a thing, a contingent tableau composed of inert material capable of achieving an energetic vitality. Yet it is one of the purposes of culture to convert paintings into objects. They are appraised by critics; they are interpreted by historians; they are acquired by collectors. It is as if, in order to avoid being surprised by what we see, we must transform the painting into something comprehensible. How is the painter to prevent—or at least forestall—this reduction? One strategy might be to paint nothing; not to refuse to paint, but to paint, actively, no-thing. In order to avoid “dissolving into the milieu of human knowledge,” Jane Bennett argues that things must remain “detached,” “radically free” (Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things). A painting that shows nothing except itself presents the viewer with nothing to view, instead prioritizing the experience of viewing. Such a painting refuses to work properly; it prefers not to be interpreted or appraised; it declines to organize itself around our desires. Such a painting, merely and irreducibly a thing, confronts the viewer with nothing more—nor less—than vibrant matter.

Sandra Teepen, Big Red African Fabrics From My Collection, Quilted Fiber Collage, Atlanta, GA. My post New Orleans collage began in a 4-day trip that included workshop sessions with the women from Gees Bend. We all fell in love with a huge stash of seersucker stripes in the center of the room. I made a good start with this collage (and some others) and completed the piece at home in Atlanta. I find that fabrics speak to me and from that flows the design, such as "My Dreams and Sorrows."

Sandra Teepen, Art Quilt for New Arrival - Made to be Chewed On, Quilted Fiber Collage, Atlanta, GA. My post New Orleans collage began in a 4-day trip that included workshop sessions with the women from Gees Bend. We all fell in love with a huge stash of seersucker stripes in the center of the room. I made a good start with this collage (and some others) and completed the piece at home in Atlanta. I find that fabrics speak to me and from that flows the design, such as "My Dreams and Sorrows."

Sabrina Barilone, Try Anyway, Earthenware, cold finish, Macon, GA. With my piece, "Try Anyway," I am exploring a concept; one that has sat with me and continued to push its presence. It started as a source of pain addressing a cycling accident in another country that left me with five compound and three hairline fractures to my head and several reconstructive surgeries. The accident shook me, to say the least, and for a time hindered my sense of adventure, exploration and independence. I had to decide if I was going to let it immobilize me or push me to persevere? My sculpture “Try Anyway” is a figure capturing the initial impact suspended in the moments when our consequences are thrust upon us without possibility of escape. Although the pose is painful and dramatic, the message is hopeful and positive. This piece is an exploration of facing fear and accepting failure as a means of living. Giving fear power stops one from experiencing life. Fear stifles our dream. Because when fear overcomes your true desires, you live a life without the journey. We are left with safe memories and a lifetime of regret. The twisted figures fully acknowledge the negative repercussions of the choices. It is that full acceptance of failure. Because fear not only impedes living, it can also impede growth. It is understanding that we must always be terrible at new things and accepting of mistakes as knots of knowledge in a tapestry of wisdom.

Talbot Selby, EOS 2, Pigment Print, Conway, SC. Inspired by the magic of the place this body of work focuses on the root (John the Conqueror),rootwork (conjure), and the archetypal South. To make a root or to conjure is to create something in a moment, as if it is magic. It’s about working without fear and choosing the darkness or the light. To conjure is to create something that is sacred while simultaneously exploring the depths of the taboo.

Steve Morgan, Reflections of Port Stefano, Photography, LaGrange, GA. I have spent the last 30 years traveling the country providing disaster restoration for those in need. These travels have given me a unique opportunity to view parts of the country in a less than pristine condition. I draw on these experiences to share the difficulties people face after the unexpected happens with my photographs. As a photographer I think it's my job to “Notice”, it’s my job to notice what others may not and present them for others to see.

Susie Garrett, Looking Right, Colored Pencil, clock spring, shaped metal, hardware, on pap, Huntsville, AL. Sculpture, woodworking, metal fabrication, and graphic design represent some of my forms of expression, drawing being the major component of all the work I create. In my current body of work I combine colored pencil drawings with metal objects, specifically rusted metal. The drawings are created using small strokes, layering several colored pencils over one another to create new colors. This layering process is repeated multiple times, gradually building up values that define the forms. The items I choose come from a variety of sources; salvaged wood from broken chairs, small furniture and shipping pallets; dissembled sewing machines, radios, and small appliances; fabricated objects that are cut and shaped out of salvaged metal; or combining all of the above to create a new object.

Tawni Blamble, A Piece of a String Quartet, Digital Photography, Roswell, GA. Photographing everyday life in new and different ways is something I enjoy, and I have done so for over 30 years. The message in my photos is that if you just slow down and look closely, you can find beauty in things you look at every day. I appreciate the patterns in ordinary things, using the contrast of light and dark to capture feelings. However, my favorite photos are ones in which I capture bright colors. I got my start taking candid photos for school yearbooks and photographing high school and college baseball games. That has now evolved into fine art car and motorcycle photography, still life photos, painting my own backdrops and travel photography. My most recent photography trips were to Cuba, Arizona, the Florida Keys and the Florida Everglades. Along with winning awards for my car photos in various exhibits in North Georgia, one photo of an old Chevy was used on a promotional poster for the 2018 John Thornton Chevrolet car exhibit at the Douglas County Art and History Museum. My photos have also been included in “Local Car” and “South by Southeast” magazines. I earned a Certificate of Photography from Emory University in January 2016. As a member of Sweetwater Camera Club in Douglasville GA, I was the Featured Member in the Chapel Hill News & Views in the June 2016 issue and had a personal exhibit at the Dog River Library in August 2016. My photographs have been selected to be exhibited in Georgia at Arts Clayton (2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019), the Cultural Arts Center in Douglasville (2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019) and the LaGrange Regional Exhibition (2018).

Tawni Blamble, Spring Snowflakes, Digital Photography, Roswell, GA. Photographing everyday life in new and different ways is something I enjoy, and I have done so for over 30 years. The message in my photos is that if you just slow down and look closely, you can find beauty in things you look at every day. I appreciate the patterns in ordinary things, using the contrast of light and dark to capture feelings. However, my favorite photos are ones in which I capture bright colors. I got my start taking candid photos for school yearbooks and photographing high school and college baseball games. That has now evolved into fine art car and motorcycle photography, still life photos, painting my own backdrops and travel photography. My most recent photography trips were to Cuba, Arizona, the Florida Keys and the Florida Everglades. Along with winning awards for my car photos in various exhibits in North Georgia, one photo of an old Chevy was used on a promotional poster for the 2018 John Thornton Chevrolet car exhibit at the Douglas County Art and History Museum. My photos have also been included in “Local Car” and “South by Southeast” magazines. I earned a Certificate of Photography from Emory University in January 2016. As a member of Sweetwater Camera Club in Douglasville GA, I was the Featured Member in the Chapel Hill News & Views in the June 2016 issue and had a personal exhibit at the Dog River Library in August 2016. My photographs have been selected to be exhibited in Georgia at Arts Clayton (2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019), the Cultural Arts Center in Douglasville (2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019) and the LaGrange Regional Exhibition (2018).

Teressa Phillips, A Foot a Day, Photography, Columbus, GA. A well worked equation, a meaningful poem, and a salient image can all elicit the same sense of emotion for me. Science, mathematics, visual art, music, and language all contain a lyrical nature that I seek to find and convey through my work. While many areas of photography interest me, finding the beauty and uniqueness of commonplace things and scenes is the thread that holds my interests together. Photography provides me a way to show others how I view the world.

Timothy Short, Justin's Apotheosis (Right), Oil on canvas, Columbus, GA. s an oil painter, I investigate the Black figure within constructed narrative spaces by venerating the everyday people I know using cosmological and celestial imagery. I grant an iconography to the subjects of my work, detailing them in darker palettes meant to subvert associations of lighter colors and spaces as inherently good or divine. I also use the Black halo or sphere as a metaphorical symbol that serves as a portal for the Black consciousness. In my work, Black folks travel throughout time and space in Black spheres powered by the living Black experiences of all Black persons. These Black spheres are gateways to safe spaces and demonstrate the power of Black emotionality and conviction. My inspirations are Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Jordan Casteel amongst many other painters, a host of manga and comics, and great Black music.

Timothy Short, Justin's Apotheosis (Left), Oil on canvas, Columbus, GA. s an oil painter, I investigate the Black figure within constructed narrative spaces by venerating the everyday people I know using cosmological and celestial imagery. I grant an iconography to the subjects of my work, detailing them in darker palettes meant to subvert associations of lighter colors and spaces as inherently good or divine. I also use the Black halo or sphere as a metaphorical symbol that serves as a portal for the Black consciousness. In my work, Black folks travel throughout time and space in Black spheres powered by the living Black experiences of all Black persons. These Black spheres are gateways to safe spaces and demonstrate the power of Black emotionality and conviction. My inspirations are Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Jordan Casteel amongst many other painters, a host of manga and comics, and great Black music.

Timothy Short, Jessica Dreams, Oil on wood, Columbus, GA. As an oil painter, I investigate the Black figure within constructed narrative spaces by venerating the everyday people I know using cosmological and celestial imagery. I grant an iconography to the subjects of my work, detailing them in darker palettes meant to subvert associations of lighter colors and spaces as inherently good or divine. I also use the Black halo or sphere as a metaphorical symbol that serves as a portal for the Black consciousness. In my work, Black folks travel throughout time and space in Black spheres powered by the living Black experiences of all Black persons. These Black spheres are gateways to safe spaces and demonstrate the power of Black emotionality and conviction. My inspirations are Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Jordan Casteel amongst many other painters, a host of manga and comics, and great Black music.

Warren Simons, Bear Creek Swamp, Photography, Montgomery, AL. The world is full of visual surprises hiding in plain sight. Warren Simons does not search for them. He aims to stay calm, move slowly, and look deeply. With no preconceived ideas of what he will see and photograph, he lets the visual surprises find him. Simons's images express moments of clear, fresh connection with the visual world, creating beautiful, original compositions where eye, mind, and heart converge. He follows his own road of exploration, learning from photographers, painters, art teachers, writers, potters, and poets. Simons has won numerous awards for his work. He has practiced the art of seeing with the camera for 16 years. Having grown up in Massachusetts, he lived in New York City for 25 years and now makes his home in Montgomery, AL.

Cathy Fussell, Desert Sunrise, Cotton fabrics and thread, Columbus, GA. Quilts are about history and art and politics and stories and patience and beauty and community and economics and place and expression and freedom and transition and family and warmth – and love. And they’re feminized and devalued. All that is why I’m so into quilts and quiltmaking.