As a little boy Bill Johnson always answered the question “what do you want to be when you grow up” with a very quick “an Artist”! As a senior in high school he was presented with the school’s art award. He went on to major in art in college. Two separate advisors told him he was wasting his money on an art degree. The logic was that you are either an artist or not and the only time a degree in art would be needed would be to teach or as a commercial artist. Not having money, he took the advice and dropped out. He did stay in school as a model for figure drawing classes. In this role he became a peer with the instructors and was able to have his work reviewed and get advice while being paid. Bill spent most of his life working with plants. At age 9 his family lived on a farm and he learned about vegetable gardening. At the time he did not know it was organic gardening, but it did shape his thinking about working with nature. Moving to Washington D.C. He spent 7 years working as a cook. He then worked as a staff horticulturist at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. After retiring from Hillwood in 2016 he finally grew up and is enjoying life as an artist.
Artists & Makers Studios
Kim Keller, Affiliate
Summary of Juried Exhibitions and Awards
Solo Shows
• Fall 2022: Parade Project, Abington Art Center (Jenkintown, PA)
• Spring 2023: Parade Project, Links Bridge Vineyard (Thurmont, MD)
• Spring 2023: City Color, Lyceum Gallery (Sandy Spring, MD)
2023 – Selected Group Shows
• Director’s Choice, 32nd Annual International Juried Exhibition, Viridian Artists (New York, NY)
• 31st Annual Strathmore Juried Exhibition: Play, Mansion at Strathmore (North Bethesda, MD)
• Color Love, Falls Church Art Gallery (Falls Church, VA)
• Texture, Falls Church Art Gallery (Falls Church, VA)
• Scaled Down for Spring, Wheaton Arts Parade Gallery (Wheaton, MD)
• Frames within Frames, Praxis Photo Arts Center (St. Paul, MN)
2022 – Selected Group Shows
• Life in the Pandemic and Black and White, Blank Wall Gallery (Athens, Greece)
• 5
th Chania International Photo Festival (Chania, Greece)
• Urban Landscapes and Nowhere Far, Glasgow Gallery of Photography (Glasgow, Scotland)
• Art to Art, Viewpoint Photographic Art Center (Sacramento, CA)
• Black and White: 2022, Black Box Gallery (Portland, OR)
• PhotoSpiva 2022, Spiva Center for the Arts (Joplin, MO) – Third Prize
• The Streets and Words, Words, Words, Praxis Gallery (Minneapolis, MN)
• Hill Center Gallery and Capitol Hill Art League Juried Exhibition 2022 (Washington, DC)
• Washington Gardener Annual Photo Contest 2022 (DC) – First Prize, Vignettes
• 51st Annual Labor Day Art Show, Glen Echo Partnership for Arts and Culture (Glen Echo, MD)
• Celebration, Wheaton Arts Parade Gallery (Wheaton, MD)
• Fall Salon, Torpedo Factory Art Center (Alexandria, VA)
• Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition, Gallery at the Mill (New Hope, PA)
• International Photography Exhibit by the New Jersey Photography Forum, Watchung Arts Center
(Watchung, NJ)
• SHIM Art Network and Bushwick Darkroom Show, Atlantic Gallery (New York, NY)
• 8th International Call for Entries and Black and White and All the Grays Between, Rhode Island
Center for Photographic Arts (Providence, RI)
2021
• Street Photography and Cityscapes, Blank Wall Gallery (Athens, Greece)
• The Birds, Mpls Photo Center (Minneapolis, MN)
• Hot Summer City: Street Photography Exhibition, Vestige Concept Gallery (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Click! Photography Festival Outdoor Exhibition (Raleigh, NC)
• 7
th Annual Allegany National Photography Competition & Exhibition, Allegany Arts Council
(Cumberland, MD)
• Hindsight is 2020: Street Photography in a Tumultuous Year and Official/Unofficial: Photographs
of Washington DC, Photoworks at Glen Echo Park (MD)
• 15th Annual Contest, Exposed DC (DC)
• Washington Gardener Annual Photo Contest 2021 (DC)
• All Together Now, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (Providence, RI)
Affiliations
• Board Member, Exposed DC
• Member, Silver Spring Camera Club
• Member, Close to Home Photo Salon
• Member, Wheaton Arts Parade Gallery
• Member, Falls Church Art Gallery
• Contributing Photographer, Sandy Spring Museum
Education
• PhD, Indiana University (Bloomington)
• MA, Indiana University (Bloomington)
• BA, Michigan State University (East Lansing)
Kim Keller
kllrkmbrly@yahoo.com
917-463-9326
Painting Classes with Resident Artist Cathy Hirsh
Workshops with Cathy – Try something new and also make faster progress. For beginning and intermediate artists or experienced artists new to the topic area.
QuickStart to Painting with Media Exploration – full-day class on fundamentals, sketching, and tools/techniques. Exercises with media reinforce concepts and help students decide what to explore further. $150 supplies and “takeaway” tools included.
JumpStart Watercolor Workshop – 6 hours of technique demonstration and student practice. $125 all supplies included.
QuickStart to Abstract Painting – full day class covering techniques to create and evaluate abstract paintings. Students will create paintings using three different approaches. $150 all supplies included.
QuickStart to Mixed Media – full day class on approaches and materials used for mixed media art. Techniques in collage, layering, and mark-making will be explored while students create 2 mixed media pieces. $180 all supplies included.
QuickStart to Flower Painting – full day class exploring different flower structures and methods to paint them, individually and in bouquets. Students bring the media, supports, and tools of their choice. $150
Weekly classes also available depending upon demand.
HirshStudio.com for more information.
Contact cathy@HirshStudio.com
The Compass Atelier with Glen Kessler
A BETTER ART SCHOOL
The Compass Atelier is home to the DMV’s best art classes! Beginners and veteran artists alike are finding The Compass Atelier THE place to start their artistic journeys or take their artistic learning to the next level!! Beginners find our classes ideal for establishing strong foundational skills, while veteran artists are constantly challenged by new projects and world-renowned artists.
- We offer WEEKLY CLASSES available seasonally throughout the year.
- Our VISITING ARTIST WORKSHOPS bring in some of the world’s best artists and teachers for inspiring lectures and workshops.
- Our STUDY ABROAD programs allow you to learn from art and culture around the world.
- And our revolutionary MASTER ARTIST PROGRAM teaches students everything they need to know to become professional artists.
What are you waiting for? Come visit our gorgeous classroom located within the robust ARTISTS & MAKERS STUDIOS ART CENTER in Rockville, MD.
For more information on all this and more visit TheCompassAtelier.com or follow us on most every social media platform.
The Mosaic Box – Classes and Workshops
Studio 30
11810 Parklawn Drive
Suite 210
Rockville, MD 20852
New Classes and Workshops Opening
Mondays 11am-2pm
Wednesdays 6-9pm
Saturdays 10am-1pm
6 WEEKS – 3 H/WEEK
$360 +$50 (material)
Or
Workshop Decoration Object with pre-cut tiles
(plates, trays, mirrors, small tables, any flat objects)
3 WEEKS – 3H/WEEK
$180 + $50/75 (material)
Please register at least 2 weeks in advance
Payment due at registration
For registration contact Brigitte Messali
301-624-3751
themosaicbox@gmail.com
themosaicbox.com
New Artist, Affiliate, San Gabriel, CA
More profiles coming soon. Join us with an Affiliate membership. See more details on how to join here: Affiliate Memberships with A&M, no matter where you live!
Lissa Rosenthal-Yoffe A&M1, Gallery 209
Lissa Rosenthal-Yoffe is a classically trained artist with extensive studies in art history. Her work is recognized for minimalist, methodical patterns, squares, and self portraiture. Her sculptures focus on constructed objects and the space created by them. She works primarily in plastic and production of multiples. Preoccupations include hex numbering systems and colors, and Blue Skies. Influences include early Minimalism and the Light and Space Movement.
Separate from her art and related art projects, Lissa’s professional nonprofit and advocacy career spans decades, from the 1990s to present. She has championed arts and cultural initiatives for leading national arts and humanities organizations and has advanced equitable access to arts and humanities in Washington, DC. Board service includes National Cherry Blossom Festival and the SoCo Arts Lab.
Instagram: @lissarosenthalyoffe
Website: www.lissarosenthal-yoffe.com
Cindy Rivarde A&M1, Gallery 209
Cindy Rivarde is an artist living and working in the Maryland Capital Region. Her work focuses on connections and resonance in response to a sense of place and time both with landscape and figurative subject matter. Early in her career, she worked as a scenic artist in the theater, which helps to inform a sense of drama and tension in her work.
Email: cindy@cindyrivarde.com
Website: www.cindyrivarde.com
IG: @cindyrivardeart
Phone: 305-903-9112
Sarah Stone, Affiliate, NoHo CA
Sarah Stone is a North American painter best known for her colorful interpretations of people and nature. She calls her style, “Contemporary Pop Folk Art,” a mixture of pop-culture, outsider influences, ancestral memories, and dreams. Her narrative works incorporate the people and wildlife she encounters in her travels, intersecting paths and patterns between lives and experiences.
Largely self-taught in painting, she studied children’s book illustration and film animation at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts before relocating to LA. There she discovered the Venice studios of Roger Corman where she worked as a prop maker, animator, and set muralist. This began a lengthy career designing for film and theater productions, laying the foundation for her current multi-disciplinary art practice.
Sarah paints with acrylics on wood and mural fabric (pellon/polytab) often also employing three dimensional and mixed media materials in her work.
She has exhibited in galleries across the US, including Ghost Gallery, Seattle; La Luz de Jesus Gallery, LA; Sylvia White Gallery, Agoura; Gabba Gallery, LA; the Ontario Museum of History and Art; San Luis Obispo Museum of Art; The Autry Museum; and Lancaster MOAH/Cedar.
She lives and works in a canyon in the Santa Susana Mountains where the cycles of nature provide daily inspiration.
Rebekah Vermeulen, Affiliate AZ
Art has been a significant part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child, the act of creating held both an at-home feeling and an out-of-this-world feeling that wholly captivated me. And that captivation never faded. However, I didn’t have a serious passion for drawing or painting until after I had been diagnosed at eighteen years old with an autoimmune disease. It was during the following years while my health slowly improved that I began drawing simply as a means to occupy myself. But over time, I started to realize that I had a growing passion and desire to pursue art full-time.
In the spring of 2022, I graduated from the Milan Art Institute’s Mastery Program. My work is often a mixture of mediums and techniques, subjects and themes, but always rooted in what I find beautiful and what my heart leaps at. I’m deeply inspired by nature and everyday miracles and strive to always be intentional about looking for the beauty within the ordinary.
Email: rebekahvermeulenart@gmail.com
Website: https://rebekahvermeulen.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebekah.vermeulen/
Victoria Hanks, Affiliate
www.instagram.com/victoriaallenhanks
Victoria Hanks studied painting, drawing, sculpture and printmaking at New York University and Brooklyn College, earned a BFA at Montclair State University and an MFA at the University of Hartford. A practicing studio painter, she studied and painted in Italy and in residencies in New England and upstate New York. She has exhibited nationally and internationally. Hanks has also written critical pieces for New York Arts Magazine and other arts periodicals and has taught studio and lecture classes at Montclair State University, Brookdale Community College and Monmouth University.
In addition, Hanks has created various site-specific installations in Venice, Italy (outdoor paper sculpture), New York, NY (Amos Eno Gallery wall painting), Newark, NJ (Newark National Building wall painting), Montclair, NJ (Montclair State University Cali building stairwell mural), Long Branch, NJ (Shore Institute of Contemporary Art wall painting), Halsey Street, Newark, NJ (window installation).
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS
2018 Mend Me, Too, The Creativity Caravan, Montclair, NJ
2013 The End, art629, Asbury Park, NJ
2009 Vessel, Solo Project, Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, NJ
The Beingness of Animals, Newark Arts Council/Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
2004 The Adventures of Suzy Creamcheez and Dr. ViaGreat, Soho20 Chelsea, New York, NY
2000 Whatsits, Amos Eno Gallery, New York, NY
1999 the thingness of the thing, Amos Eno Gallery, NYC
1996 Recent Work, Zuzuˆs Gallery, Hartford, CT.
1996 Stations and Satellites, Taub Gallery, W. Hartford, CT.
1991 New Paintings, Fine Art Center, Passaic, NJ
1989 Fertile Imaginings, Fine Art Center, Passaic, NJ
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 The Hillyer Gallery, Washington, DC, Invasion
Studio Gallery, Washington, DC, My Muse
Washington Sculpture Group, Center for Hellenic Studies/Harvard University, Washington, DC, Images Show
2021 Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore, MD, IDENTITY Online Winter Show
2020 The Art League, Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA, Patron’s Show
Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, A Light in the Darkness
Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD, Mid Fall Madness
Circle Gallery (online exhibition), Annapolis, MD, Money, Money, Money
Towson Arts Collective, Towson, MD, Holiday Show
2019 Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, New Jersey Crafts Annual: New Directions in Fiber Art
Jersey City Arts Council, Jersey City, NJ, 14C Art Fair
2018 Atelier Rosal, Rahway, NJ, Op Ed
Shenandoah Museum of Contemporary Art, Strasburg, VA, The Strasburg Biennial
Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ, hankifers Window Installation
2017 Valley Arts Community Gallery, Orange, NJ, First Annual Members Show
2016 Firehouse Gallery, Orange, NJ, POL!T!CO: Money and Effect
2013 National Museum of Animals & Society, Los Angeles, CA, UnCooped: Deconstructing the Domesticated Chicken
2011 Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ Art Reaction Benefit
2010 Keydar Art Studio, Newark, NJ White Christmas
2009 City Without Walls, Newark, NJ Metro 26
Silpe Gallery, Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, CT, Alumni 120 Show
Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, X-RAY VISION
2008 Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, Long Branch, NJ, The Benny Show
Transcultural Exchange, St Pancras Railway Station, London, 2008 London Biennial
The Silpe Gallery, Hartford Art School, W. Hartford, CT, Size is Relative
Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, NJ, Boson Exotic
2007 The George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, Discoveries
Protest Space, New York, NY, Time’s Up
Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ, Singularity in the Communal Tide
Art Gotham, New York, NY, Square Foot Show
Downtown Association, New York, NY, The Skyline Show
Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, NJ, Sanctuary
2006 Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, NJ, Bridge Art Fair, Miami ’06.
Joseloff Gallery, Hartford Art School, W. Hartford, CT., Alumni Small Works Exhibition
Newark National Building, Newark, NJ, Newark Between Us
Art Gotham, NYC, The Skyline Show
2005 1 Washington Place, Newark, NJ, Facing Newark
473 Broadway Gallery, NYC, The 7 Deadly Sins
2004 Transcultural Exchange, THE TILE PROJECT, International traveling exhibition
Soho20 Chelsea, NYC, Room 605
Brent Sikkema Gallery, NYV, Visual Aids Benefit
Stedman Gallery, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowship
Exhibition
Seton Hall University, School of Law, Newark, NJ, with CWW, Living in an Immaterial World
Downtown Arts Club, The Knitting Factory, NYC, ART BART
2003 Soho20 Chelsea, NYC, Small Works Invitational
473 Broadway Gallery, NYC, Drawing Conclusions
ENMU-R, Roswell, NM, The Regular Paper Show
Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC, DogDays of Summer
Southeast Museum, Brewster, NY, The Brewster Project
2002 Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, Benefit Art Raffle 2002
The Fuller Museum, Brockton, MA, Transcultural Exchange
Rockland Center for the Arts, W. Nyack, NY, 9 Choose 9
2001 Greely Square Gallery, New York, NY, Emerging American Artists
Arlington Art Center, Arlington, MA, Construction Show
Museum of New Art, Detroit, MI, DOCUMENTA
Museum of New Art, Detroit, MI, MONA Art Auction
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH, The Art is in the Mail(ing)
2000 TransHudson Gallery, New York, NY, Nomads Forever
Visual Arts Gallery, Lincroft, NJ, EXIT 109
1999 Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, MSU China Faculty
Exhibition Exchange Transcultural Exchange, Korea, Nomads
1998 Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ, Faculty Show
Amos Eno Gallery, New York, NY, Nothing Serious
Artistˆs Space, New York, NY Night of 1,000 Drawings
Organization of Independent Artists, New York, NY Wall to Wall
Trans Hudson Gallery, New York, NY No Boundaries
Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY Annual Salon Show
City Without Walls, Newark, NJ For the Sake of Beauty
Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, New York, NY Annual Venice Show
Amos Eno Gallery, New York, NY Some Artists
1997 Artistˆs Space, New York, NY Night of 1,000 Drawings
Amos Eno Gallery, New York, NY Nothing Serious
Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, New York, NY Annual Venice Show
Monmouth University Gallery, W. Long Branch, NJ Faculty Show
1996 Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY Captured Space
Ward-Nasse Gallery, New York, NY Lines of Descent
Artwell Gallery, Torrington, Ct, WORD
1995 IUAV, Venice, Italy, site specific installation, Manipulated Space
IUAV, Venice, Italy, Works in Progress
Untitled #130 Ltd. Gallery, Wayne, NY, Quiet, Flowing and Juicy
Organization of Independent Artists, New York, NY Salon Show2
Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY Montclair in Manhattan
1993 City Without Walls, Newark, NJ New Members Show
Organization of Independent Artists, New York, Salon Show
1992 Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY Montclair in Manhattan
Blackwell Street Center for the Arts, Dover, NJ Doors and Windows
JURIED EXHIBITIONS
2022 Protect Habitat, Save the World, Washington, DC
Fiber Options 2022, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD, Honorable Mention
2021 Orange Reclaimed, i19 Gallery, West Orange, NJ
2020 Strokes of Genius, Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD
The Endangered, Can Art Save Them? Art Impact International, Inc., Washington, DC
2017 11th Annual Passion Through Art, Atlantic Health System Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ
2017 Incarceration, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
2017 Emerging Artists 2017, Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY
2015 Fourth Annual Art Show, NJ Law Center, New Brunswick, NJ
2012 Annual Juried Art Competition South Arkansas Art Center, El Dorado, AK
Metro Show, City Without Walls, Newark, NJ
2004 Metro Show, City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
2003 Marks, Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA
1998 10th Annual National Art Competition, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO
International Juried Show, NJ Center for the Visual Arts, Summit, NJ
19th Annual Juried Show, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
1997 Annual Womenˆs Works Exhibit, Old Court House Arts Center, Woodstock, IL
1996 Paper, Art and the Book, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
Annual Goldfarb Exhibition, Joseloff Gallery, W. Hartford, Ct.
Connecticut Women Artists Show, The John Ely Slade House, New Haven, CT
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
2021 Ms. Ann Cole, Annapolis, MD
Ms. Joann Vaughan, Annapolis, MD
2020 Ms. Nancy Collins, Alexandria, VA
Ms. Shelby Claire de Lune, Alexandria, VA
Ms. Lisa Taylor, Pasadena, MD
Ms. Anne Rossilli, Bethesda, MD
2019, Anonymous, Montclair, NJ
2009 Mr. Ben Goldman, Newark, NJ
2006 Mr. Jack Baldwin LeClair, Franklin, NJ
2004 Ms. Illene Sunshine, New York, NY
2003 Ms. Danielle Arrecas, Tinton Falls, NJ
Ms. Lise Alcala, Cardiff by the Sea, CA
Catholic Charities Community Services, Bronx, NY
2002 Mr. Patrick Wornock, Brooklyn, NY
2001 Ms. Jane Harris, Brooklyn, NY
2000 Mr. Harsha Reddy, NYC
1999 Mr. Tony Zaza, Hoboken, New Jersey
1998 Mr. Michael Neuhaus, New Jersey
1997 Mr. T. Winn, NYC
Mr. Peter Strounitsos, NYC
Ms. Nicci Havekost, New Mexico
1996 Ms. Shandry Castelow, Tennessee
Mr. Douglas Ferrari, New Jersey
1994 Montclair State University, NJ
Mr. David Gray, NJ
1992 Mr. Kevin Lennox, Maryland
Mr. Thomas Myers, NJ
1989 Mr. & Mrs. Bob Poda, NYC
Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Vanslembrouck, Belgium
Ms. Christine Rhodes, England
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2019 The Glen Ridge Paper, Interview: Local Artist Has Two Works in MAM by Daniel Jackovino
2012 Artery NYC, Interview: Inside the Mosh Pit with Vicky Allen Hanks by Tony Zaza
NYU Venice 1974-2011, Artists & Angiola Churchill published by NYU Steinhardt
2009 Star-Ledger, Newark in the Frame, reported by John Zeaman
2006 Jersey Journal, Behind the Seens, reported by Cotton Delo
2004 Cream Cycles/The Adventures of Suzy Creamcheez, etc., catalog essay by Tony Zaza
1998 Artnet Magazine, New York Reviews, No Boundaries, A Global Selection of NYU Artists, Trans Hudson Gallery, reviewed by Meredith Mendelsohn
AWARDS
2015 Fellowship, Edna St. Vincent Millay Colony, Austerlitz, NY
2002 Fellowship, New Jersey State Council of the Arts, Trenton, NJ
1997 Angel Award at the Vermont Studio Center via Monmouth University, W. Long Branch, NJ
1996 Graduate Award, Joseloff Gallery, Annual Goldfarb Exhibition, W. Hartford, Ct.
EXPERIENCE
2008 Curator, The Benny Show, SICA, Long Branch, NJ
2004 Curator, 7 Deadly Sins show, 473 Broadway Gallery, NYC
1998-99 Freelance writer, NYArts Magazine, New York, NY
1997-99 Adjunct Faculty, Drawing I, Intro to the Visual Arts, Painting I, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
Adjunct, Art Appreciation, History of Art, Ancient to Medieval, History of Art,
Renaissance to Modern, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ
Adjunct, Art Appreciation, Monmouth University, W. Long Branch, NJ
1998 Panelist, Artists Talk on Art, Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY, What Makes a Coop Gallery Successful
1997 Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
1996 Internship, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
EDUCATION
1996 University of Hartford, Hartford Art School, W. Hartford, CT, MFA
1995 New York University, Venice, Italy, Graduate studies
1995 Brooklyn College of CUNY, Brooklyn, NY, Graduate studies
1994 Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, BFA, Summa Cum Laude
Elizabeth Matthews A&M1
Elizabeth Matthews is an oil painter working in the New Romanticism style using dramatic landscape as a metaphor and setting to confront challenging life experiences. Matthews lives and works in the Washington, DC metro area with a studio in Bethesda, MD. She was born in Salt Lake City and taught art in the Utah school system for ten years. Her education includes an M.Ed. in teaching and learning from Utah State University; and a BFA from Brigham Young University in painting and drawing; a K-12 teaching certification and a gifted and talented endorsement.
Her work is currently included in the Potomac River Life exhibit at the Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA. She has work in the respected art collection of Salt Lake Community College and her work has recently been recognized with two honorable mention awards at The Art League Gallery in Alexandria, VA (2022); “Painting of Exceptional Merit” artist award from Rehoboth Art League (2022 & 2021); and an FY21 EMGRR artist award from Arts Fairfax (2020). Other distinctions include solo exhibits at Bountiful Davis Art Center (2020) and Finch Lane Gallery (2019); and painting awards at Utah Valley University’s Woodbury Gallery (2020) and the Springville Museum of Art (2017).
Damien Carter A&M1
Once I got that wedding bug I couldn’t let it go. Being a part of milestones in your life and being able to preserve them for you is an honor and a privilege for me. When you choose me as your photographer 2 things I can guarantee and that is my eye for storytelling and timeless images.
Inge Burman A&M1
Originally from Pretoria, South Africa, I lived and worked in Cape Town from 1995-2022. I recently relocated to Maryland and have joined Artists & Makers Studios.
I hold a BA Visual Arts (2010) and an associate’s degree in journalism. Additionally, I have pursued continuing education and training, including mentorship, community arts facilitation and volunteering.
My work has encompassed oils, acrylics and watercolors, pastels, ceramic sculpture, linocut printing and collage, and often incorporated embroidery and knitting. My thematic/conceptual interests concern the complexities of the human condition and the role of duality in our social and psychological worlds.
I have participated in several group exhibitions over the years including at Beit Berl, Israel (1982), the Natal Society of Arts, the AVA and Ruth Prowse Art School (1990’s), the Innovative Threads Exhibition at Artspace Durban (2007), and the ‘Mi’Story Exhibition at the Jean Welz Gallery in Worcester. In 2012 my work, ‘Hestia’s Lament’ was a finalist in the prestigious Vuleka competition, in 2013 ‘Emancipation 11’ appeared in the Sasol New Signatures finals. In 2014 I had two works, ’Urban Palimpsest’ and ‘Mirage’ in the finals of the Vuleka competition and in 2015 I won first place with ‘Undergrowth’. Most recently, my work appeared in “Paper” at Glen Carlou gallery in 2021 and Edg Gallery – an online exhibition in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rosalind A. Manahan – Bezaworx A&M AZ
Rosalind, or Joy to many, has always been an enthusiast of design-related art, mainly architecture, interior design, graphic design, packaging, and other commercial art, even as a child. As a 6-year old, she created her own envelopes using magazine ads and made her own stickers and stationery set. She worked tirelessly on her school posters, making sure they grabbed attention. In high school, she enjoyed creating stencils by hand for a t-shirt project. She found the packaging art and materials interesting and was fascinated with structures that had a uniquely impressive interior or exterior.
While working as a designer and later as an art director at a print and packaging company in California, Rosalind was able to lead several design projects and develop websites for notable local companies. In 2010, she (with her husband Manuel) founded Bezaworx LLC, a graphic design company that assists small businesses and organizations with their branding, printing, and marketing needs. A few years later, two other services were added – garment decoration and promotional products distribution, both born out of several requests from friends and clients.
Rosalind has extensive experience in print design and marketing in a deadline-driven and budget-conscious setting. She loves the creative and problem-solving nature involved in the fast-paced branding and promotional industry. There’s gratification in being able to produce or provide the client’s items in a timely manner and in the most affordable way.
Rosalind holds a B.S. Degree in Architecture from Saint Louis University, Philippines. She remembers being totally immersed in Industrial/Graphic Design, one of the subjects covered in the course wherein she had to design toys, packages, and brochures from scratch by hand without any digital files. After graduating and passing the board exam, she worked as a drafter and junior architect for a few short years in Baguio City, her hometown. She feels blessed that she was able to raise and stay with her 2 boys, now teenagers, while slowly building her small business.
Our website is: https://www.bezaworx.com/
IG: @bezaworx
FB: https://www.facebook.com/bezaworxllc
Email: team@bezaworx.com
Helen Hanssen Woodworks A&M1
Helen Hanssen is a maker and craft person interested in hand-tool woodworking. Influenced by the work she did working in historic preservation and graphic design, Ms. Hanssen became enamored of traditional joinery methods and 18th century hand tools. Shaping wood with antique hand tools allows for her to bring all her passions together, including her background in Japanese art and design. Through the use of hand tools, she embraces the physical demands of ripping, crosscutting, and re-sawing timber after the furniture parts have been carefully laid out.
Ms. Hanssen finds using antique hand-tools in her workshop a satisfying experience and enjoys restoring vintage tools— many of which started out as rusted metal or dried up wood. A number of her hand planes date from the early1800s to 1960s and required some degree of tuning and refining. She believes working with hand tools isn’t all about creating an end product but rather the pleasure in the journey such as feeling the bite of a sharp chisel or driving a tenon home with one final tap.
Wanting to set up a small apartment workshop, many of Ms. Hanssen’s early projects were “shop furniture” designed by Christopher Schwarz at the Lost Art Press, such as the Dutch tool chest, a Japanese tool box, a saw bench, and a Roubo-tyle workbench. For a beginner, these projects act as a deep learning primer for hand-tool woodworking. From this hand-tool foundation, Ms. Hanssen started attending multiple woodworking classes taught by Aspen Golann (Bench brush, Windsor Chair, and pencil-making) at the Florida School of Woodworking in Tampa, Florida.
Recently retired from her position with the federal government, Ms. Hanssen is now embarking on her hand-tool woodworking adventure full-time.
Education
Helen Hanssen grew up in Maryland and received her BA in East Asian Studies with an emphasis on Japanese art history from the University of Maryland, College Park. She later studied graphic and web design at the Corcoran College of Art + Design and fine art B&W photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Ms. Hanssen had a gratifying 39-year career working for the federal government in Washington, DC as a web and graphic designer.
Jay Jacobs, Affiliate AZ
Although Jay’s propensity for drawing and painting was evident at an early age, it remained largely dormant until later in life. Jay Jacobs grew up in Newark and later, Maplewood, New Jersey in the 1950s and 1960s.His parents recognized his promising art ability and enrolled him in art classes at the Newark Arts School. His first painting made in 1963 still hangs in his mother’s residence.
As a teenager, athletics and academics took precedence over art. In fact, Jay’s interest in creating art was limited for the next four decades. During that time, he obtained a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1972 followed by a Medical Degree in 1978. Jay became board-certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. In 1983, he and his wife, Debbie, moved to Mesa, Arizona to begin a 35-year Cardiology career. During that time, they raised two daughters. His art talent surfaced occasionally in school and family projects.
Prior to retirement, Jay’s fascination with drawing and painting was reignited, and he began taking classes and workshops in various mediums and styles. Once he was fully retired, he immersed himself in art. He read extensively, studied and experimented with various art forms and styles. He attended art classes and even enrolled in online art history courses.
Having grown up in the New York metropolitan area, Jacobs was intrigued and influenced by the art and lifestyle of the abstract expressionist of the New York School. He particularly related to the free-flowing drip paintings of Jackson Pollock. The work of these expressionists inspired Jacobs and contributed profoundly on the development of his artistic voice.
With the assistance of his mentor, Marianne Mitchell an established artist and instructor, Jacobs transformed from representation abstraction to his current free-flowing style. Jacobs’ cardiology experience which encompassed the pressure of making continual life-and-death decisions reduced the fear of failure anxiety faced by many artists. Jacobs’ philosophy is “mistakes” may not be mistakes but his sub-conscious at work. Sometimes, mistakes become the central focus of a piece. However, Jay remains undeterred and unafraid to attempt a variety of palettes and techniques. While creating, Jacobs discovered a technique using rubber bands that mimics the effect that Pollock obtained by dripping his paints.
As a self-proclaimed introvert, Jay allows his art to express his “inner self”. He states, “Paintings are visual lyrical expression of thoughts expressions that I find difficult to express with word”. Marianne Mitchell believe he has an intuitiveness that reflects his sub-conscious and enhances his style. Jacobs approaches each painting without the knowledge of the final composition. He selects colors and applies random marks while employing subconscious thoughts, emotions and previous experiences.
With the use of lines, shapes, colors, layering and textures, he creates a visual lyrical composition. Jay wants the viewer’s eyes to flow freely around the canvas. The results enable one to discover something new with each viewing. The painting is complete when it demonstrates a visual lyrical interpretation of his “inner vibes”.
Currently represented by Arredon Art Gallery in San Diego. Jay had a successful one-man show in March 2022. His artwork is now displayed in over 20 private collections.
Are you that collector? Jacobs realizes that abstract expressionism is not for everyone. His art is searching for the special collector who appreciates the beauty and complexity represented in his visual free-flowing lyrical compositions.
Dorothy McGeorge, Affiliate
Art is Biography
Dorothy McDonough McGeorge
Dorothy McGeorge has most recently returned to the Washington area. Her paintings over the years have chronicled her surroundings from the open plains of Nebraska, the suburbs of Washington, D.C., the urban cityscapes of Montreal, Quebec and most recently the Southwest in New Mexico.
Her undergraduate degree in Fine Art is from Saint Mary’s College of Maryland where she studied with Baltimore realists Earl Hoffman and Tom Rowe. She earned her Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska in 1993, where she studied with James Eisentrager and Karen Kunc.
In her thesis, “Monumental Images of the Midwest,” she used Dynamic Symmetry, a classical approach to organizing the picture plane into segments to compel the viewer to share the whole of the image through its parts. The idea of perfect proportions found in nature, supported by mathematical principals, has a direct influence on her work. The University of Nebraska had an impressive staff of highly regarded, regionally and nationally know artists, including painters Dan Howard, James Eisentrager and keith Jacobshagen and printmaker Karen Kunc.
She worked mostly with James Eisentrager who believed strongly in the gestalt principle that we perceive visual data in organized or configured terms and Dynamic Symmetry, a term presented in the 1920s by art theorist Jay Hambridge. These principles can be seen not only in the work of impressionist and post impressionists, but in more contemporary and sometimes abstract work of artists like Richard Diebenkorn and Willem de Kooning.
After receiving her masters, she became an artist with the Hayden Galley in Lincoln, Nebraska which was associated with the Sheldon Memorial Museum of Art. The subject of her work shifted from grain elevators (monumental midwestern images) to smaller local architectural images and familiar city and industrial scenes. When she moved to Washington, D.C. area in1995 she continued supplying the gallery with paintings of Lincoln with local structures until 2005
In 2005 she moved to Montreal Quebec. There she worked from her studio in the Complex du Canal Lachine, in St. Henry. Her work was of the City of Montreal, cityscapes of structures that reflected the character of the place through perspectives that transformed the colors and shapes of surfaces through direct sunlight and shadow. Her work shown mostly there at Espace D’ Art du Canal.
In 2011, she moved to New Mexico, there she chose to paint structures along historic Route 66 which were starting to disappear from the landscape. She showed he work in three different galleries there, the Old Schoolhouse Gallery, the Watermelon Gallery and the Gallery at 400 in Old Town.
Sandra Pérez-Ramos A&M1, Gallery 209
Sandra Pérez-Ramos is a Puerto Rican artist and community art leader working in the DC/MD area. Inspired by Design from the 1950’s – 70’s, global folk arts and textiles, she invents colorful, whimsical narratives that explore fantasy or mystical and natural connections. Her intention is to create uplifting works that encourage healing, inspire connection and celebrate diverse cultures. Her body of work includes drawings, public art, murals, mixed media, fiber arts and digital, NFT art.
Her works have received numerous awards, including the Maryland State Arts Council 2022 Project Implementation Grant for her public art design “The Gathering Tree” for the Glenmont Forest Neighborhood Park, in collaboration with artist S. Diekmeyer. Her sculpture for the National Cherry Blossom Festival 2021 was acquired by the Children’s National Hospital in DC, for its permanent, public collection. In 2020, she designed the commemorative poster for Hispanic Heritage Month for M-NCPPC PG Parks and Recreation and her work “Sun Fades, Moon Rises” is part of PG County’s permanent collection. Her drawings were acquired by The Marie Reed Project for Community Of Hope in DC, by Mayor Tracey Furman, for the Kensington Town Hall in MD and by Artists & Makers Studios, arts center in Rockville, MD. Her murals for the Wheaton Gateway Project, Pike District Connector and AHCMC #Art HappensHere are currently in Wheaton, Bethesda and Silver Spring. She served in multiple leadership roles in local art co-ops and non profit organizations, including Wheaton Arts Parade, former The Latino Art League of Greater Washington, DC and Montgomery Art Association.
Websites:
www.sandraperezramos.com
https://opensea.io/collection/festive-masks
Social media:
IG: @art.sandraperezramos
FB: www.facebook.com/art.sandraperezramos
E-mail: sandraperezramos@hotmail.com
PH: (301)300-2343
Colleen Darkow A&M1
I am a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory with a major in flute performance. I worked as a freelance classical musician for over 35 years. As a sewist and maker, I was mainly taught by my grandmother and mother, and of course, self-learning. I create purses, cross-body bags, notebooks, instrument covers and handmade accessories for musicians using colorful textiles, and accessories for creatives!