Mark McAlister A&M1

Born in Memphis, TN and moving to Williamsburg, VA at the age of 5, I was always considered a creative child. Always in my room drawing, building, writing stories, singing my own songs, but somewhere along the way I received the message from people around me. That my future didn’t lie in art and I should make other plans. So I spent my adolescence slowly drifting away from my creative nature, eventually graduating from Christopher Newport University with a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, and sought out a “normal” career path like any college graduate should have.

After bouncing around from job to job, I found myself into the construction world as an estimator, sales representative, project manager, and eventually, a general manager. Along the way I would draw and doodle while at the office, occasionally drafting the odd architectural illustration here or there, but I otherwise still disconnected from my artistic nature. That was until 2019.

The quarantines that accompanied COVID-19 served as a type of crucible that forced me to find outlets to express my feelings of worry, uncertainty, and sadness borne from isolation. It was while at home that I decided to start experimenting with painting, drawing, collage, etc – any other medium that excited my long dormant creative spirit.

My paintings developed into mixed media work, using spray paint, acrylic and oil paint, paint markers, duct tape, cut out scraps from magazines and books, as well as anything that I could find at the local hardware store to use in an unexpected way in my work. Finding initial success in the summer of 2022 with having (2) two original works selected to be displayed inside FedEx Field – home of the Washington Commanders – I began to believe that contrary to the childhood message I wrongly held onto for nearly 40 years, my future could actually lie in the arts.

In 2022, through some quite unexpected circumstances, I lost my job at the construction company I was General Manager of and after much discussion with my wife, Wendy McAlister, decided to form “McAlister Creative” and see just how far my creative and artistic talents could take me. Since then, I have done everything from handyman work, bar-tend, and assemble IKEA furniture for money – anything to keep the dream alive. However, more importantly, I’ve steadily grown my portfolio to include several murals, commissioned art pieces for private homes and office, customized shoes, customized guitars, graphic design for clothing company, and even labels for a local brewery.

I currently live in Kensington, MD with my wife of 18 years, Wendy McAlister and my three amazing boys Malachi (16), Silas (14), and Canaan (11).


Instagram: @mark_mcalister and @mcalister_creative

Phone: 202-309-3245

Website: www.TheMcAlisterCreative.com

Etsy: www.TheMcAlisterCreative.Etsy.com

Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville Hosts “Recent Works by Jenny Wilson” For the Center’s 9th Anniversary

‘I play with materials creating layers of tension and balance like a dancer moving to music. By exploring the exterior landscape and translating it through the interior lens, I leave room for improvising and allow for twists and turns that lead to unexpected destinations in my work.’

(Rockville, MD) – Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville is thrilled to host Jenny Wilson for the month of March. The exhibit, “Recent Works by Jenny Wilson” runs from February 28th through March 26th at Artists & Makers Studios, with an opening reception on Friday, March 1st, 5 – 8pm. Jenny Wilson is an award-winning musician and artist. Her background, growing up in New York City, included dance classes at the Alvin Ailey School as well as attending the High School of Art and Design and the theater at the Library at Lincoln Center. She developed an eye for seeing the beauty in nature and pattern amidst the chaos of the city. Jenny’s musical training includes a Bachelor of Music degree in Flute Performance and a Master of Music degree in Jazz Pedagogy. Jenny studied in Switzerland with pianist Art Lande and flautist Marianne Stucki at the Winterthur Konservatorium. She has performed with the Camden Shakespeare Company in Maine and plays with her husband and son in the Jenny Wilson Jazz Trio. ‘Recent Work by Jenny Wilson’ at A&M will include drawings in mixed media, acrylic painting, watercolor, and collage. Known for her large abstract landscapes, this show of Jenny’s work will also include recent small works from travels to Cape Cod, Maine, Arizona, and the Yucatan in Mexico. Enjoy additional exhibits “Marsh” with Resident Artists – on view in the Gallery Hall, along with nineteen Gallery 209 Member Artists exhibiting their latest work. Shop and support local working artists, makers, and professionals.

“Recent Works by Jenny Wilson”
“Marsh with Resident Artists
The Artists of Gallery 209

Opening Reception
5:00pm – 8:00pm, Friday, March 1st, 2024

Artists & Makers Studios
11810 Parklawn Drive, Suite 210
Rockville, MD 20852

Meet the Artist Saturday, March 2nd, 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Closing Reception Saturday, March 23rd, 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Viewing hours are 10:00am – 4:00pm, Monday-Saturday, and Sundays by chance or appointment. Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville, established in October 2014 by artist and arts community builder Judith HeartSong, is a 13,000 sq. ft. facility is home to 87 artists, and 80 student artists. Artists & Makers Studios – Oro Valley, AZ is a three-year-old jewel box location with talented Resident Artists, 3,575 sq ft of studios, galleries, and flex-classroom space. Construction is currently underway in San Gabriel, CA for Artists & Makers Studios’ third location, with construction set to begin shortly for the fourth location in North Hollywood, CA. A&M Studios is dedicated to providing a supportive and vibrant environment for artists to realize their creative goals – through studio practice, collaboration, education, opportunities, networking and connecting with the community beyond our doors.

Artists and Makers Studios Press Release MAR 2024 Parklawn Exhibits

Barry D. Lindley, Affiliate

Barry D. Lindley is particularly known for the strength and vigor of his paintings, as well as his expressive realism in landscape, waterscape, and cityscape and the agility and fluidity of his sketching on location around the world. Recent work emphasizes interpretations drawn from around the DC area and the Arkansas countryside, and from his travels, in places such as Alaska, Paris, Vietnam, the Caribbean, Mallorca, South America, and South Africa. He is a juried member of Washington Society of Landscape Painters, a Signature Member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society, Potomac Valley Watercolorists, and Mid-Southern Watercolorists and of the Institut des Arts Figuratifs, and is a founding member of AquaFolio International Group, with whom he has exhibited in Canada and Greece.  He is a regular Contributing Writer for the Canadian publication Watercolour Gazette, taught courses at BlackRock Center for the Arts and Eureka Springs School of the Arts, and presents lectures and workshops to artists’ groups. He has paintings in over 300 private collections and many corporate or public collections in 27 states and 7 foreign countries and has won numerous awards.

 “I travel widely and draw incessantly.  An avid birder, fisherman, hiker, and traveler, I am fascinated with the world around me and driven to express that experience. My art reflects my interest in the sensuous qualities of paint, paper and canvas, abstract design with concrete references to nature, and making paintings as a link to shared experience.  In all cases I begin with direct observations, on-site analysis, and – when possible – sketches, although I sometimes use my own reference photographs in making studio paintings.  In style, my paintings are largely interpretative, or expressive realism.  I choose medium, character of brush work, compositional emphasis, and color relationships to represent how I looked at the subject, how I felt about it, and what I want you to experience as well.”

His most recent major solo exhibition was at The Art League Gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA.

In addition to scientific degrees from DePauw University and Case Western Reserve University, he studied drawing at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis and painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he also served as Visiting Lecturer of Medical Illustration.  As a painter, he has participated in workshops but is primarily self-taught from active practice, visits to the great galleries of the world, and books.   Now a resident of Rockville, MD, he lived and worked for many years in Indiana, Ohio and Arkansas. A full-time artist after a distinguished career as a scientist and educator, he paints on location and in a studio in Rockville.

BarryLindleyArt.com

The Broken Circle Soap Co A&M AZ

We want to thank you for taking the time out of your day to spend with us. We know time is one of the most precious commodities and we are humbled and grateful you chose to spend some time with us. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

We hand make all of our bath and body products in small batches, paying the closest attention to details to ensure we make the very best products for you to enjoy. We pride ourselves on our mantra:

It’s not what we do, it’s who we are.

When we say we are all-natural, that is what we mean, No Games. No Gimmicks. No Hidden Agendas. Every ingredient we use in our products is all-natural meaning it is derived from mother nature herself-no artificial or synthetic materials. No chemicals. No names you can’t pronounce. Just the most beneficial ingredients that nature has to offer. 

We pride ourselves on our transparency. We want you to know what goes into our products so that you are comfortable in knowing what you put onto your skin is the purest. With skin being the biggest organ, it is imperative that we nourish it, take care of it and treat it well. 

 With each of our products, we explain, in detail, what goes into it and what the benefits of each ingredient are. This is for your knowledge so you can feel comfortable and confident in what you are purchasing. 

Please enjoy your time here. We look forward to embarking on this new found friendship.

The Broken Circle Soap Co

February 2024 in the Galleries with Laurie Breen

Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville Welcomes
Laurie Breen and her Solo Exhibit “lost and found”

(Rockville, MD) – Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville is thrilled to host Laurie Breen for the month of February. The exhibit, “lost and found” runs from January 31st through February 21st at Artists & Makers Studios, with an opening reception on Friday, February 2nd, 5 – 8pm. Laurie begins each new painting with an open mind. She approaches the blank canvas with intuitive painting and drawing, piles of collage, lines, shapes, too many colors. She makes mistakes and creates ugliness. She builds up layers, moving toward chaos. Laurie often gets lost as she creates, but she forges ahead. She finds new paths and eventually reaches a place she could not have predicted but must have been heading for all along, a place of beauty and energy, balance and movement. Laurie’s paintings are full of saturated color, bright yellows, oranges, pinks, and reds, cool blues, and rich greens. There are pleasing shapes formed by layers of paint and drawing and collage. Her paintings evoke happiness and joy, even though her process may have been one of struggle. Look closely. Can you see the early layers peeking through? Do you see the history of the painting in the painting? Laurie Breen is a mixed media painter with a studio at the Gateway Arts Center in Brentwood, Maryland. Laurie has been painting, exhibiting and selling her work for over twenty years. Laurie is a three-time recipient of the Individual Artist Grant from the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County. Enjoy additional exhibits “Freudian” with Resident Artists – on view in the Gallery Hall, along with nineteen Gallery 209 Member Artists exhibiting their latest work. Shop and support local working artists, makers, and professionals.


“lost and found”
with Laurie Breen
“Freudian with Resident Artists
The Artists of Gallery 209

Opening Reception

5:00pm – 8:00pm, Friday, February 2nd, 2024

Artists & Makers Studios

11810 Parklawn Drive, Suite 210

Rockville, MD 20852

Meet the Artist Saturday, February 17th, 12:00pm – 3:00pm

Viewing hours are 10:00am – 4:00pm, Monday-Saturday, and Sundays by chance or appointment. Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville, established in October 2014 by artist and arts community builder Judith HeartSong, is a 13,000 sq. ft. facility is home to 87 artists, and 80 student artists. Artists & Makers Studios – Oro Valley, AZ is a three-year-old jewel box location with talented Resident Artists, 3,575 sq ft of studios, galleries, and flex-classroom space. Construction is currently underway in San Gabriel, CA for Artists & Makers Studios’ third location, with construction set to begin shortly for the fourth location in North Hollywood, CA. A&M Studios is dedicated to providing a supportive and vibrant environment for artists to realize their creative goals – through studio practice, collaboration, education, opportunities, networking and connecting with the community beyond our doors.

Artists and Makers Studios Press Release FEB 2024 Parklawn Exhibits

Deborah Brisker Burk, Affiliate AZ

I have been creating artwork since childhood. From a young age, I was fortunate to have been exposed to the great museums of the National Gallery in DC and to have been born into a family of musicians, dancers and writers. Over time my work has evolved from an impressionistic view of the world to an abstract practice.

In creating abstract artwork of the land, sea, sky, and figure, my intuition regarding the color, texture and shape serves as my guide. As an observer of the world around me, I strive to bring an interpretive eye to my work, based on memories, mediations and travel. Action painting, being in the flow of the here and now—a moment of time is how I am able to distill the imagery from the recesses of my psyche. Beyond that, I aim to connect to the culture and people through my work— to uplift and bring a place of serenity and inquiry to the viewer.

www. briskerburk.art

debbybriskerburk@instagram.com

debby@artvistas.com 

mobile: 240-432-0004

January 2024 in the Galleries with Bill Johnson

Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville Features
Bill Johnson and “Friends and Landscapes of the Mind”

(Rockville, MD) – Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville is delighted to host Bill Johnson for the month of January. The exhibit, “Friends and Landscapes of the Mind” runs from January 3rd through January 24th at Artists & Makers Studios, with an opening reception on Friday, January 5th, 5 – 8pm. The show features many new nonobjective mixed media paintings and some of his older work. Each painting exhibits the mysterious quality of perceived intentional figures where no intention can be pinpointed. One admirer likened this to the psychological phenomenon in which people see faces and patterns in a random stimulus. The show invites the viewer to slow the eye, open the mind, and come play in the created landscape. Another admirer described Johnson’s work as “a mystery that blurs the lines between intentional genius and happy accident.” Johnson is adept at the “first I’m hidden, and then I’m found” technique. At first glance, the average person will see only lots of color and motion; but, with a little imagination and a relaxed eye the hidden landscapes and characters emerge. Enjoy additional exhibits “White” with Resident Artists – on view in the Gallery Hall, along with nineteen Gallery 209 Member Artists exhibiting their latest work. Shop and support working artists, makers, and professionals.


“Friends and Landscapes of the Mind”
with Bill Johnson
“White with Resident Artists
The Artists of Gallery 209

Opening Reception
5:00pm – 8:00pm, Friday, January 5th, 2024

Artists & Makers Studios
11810 Parklawn Drive, Suite 210
Rockville, MD 20852

Meet the Artist Saturday, January 13th, 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Artists and Makers Studios Press Release JAN 2024 Parklawn Exhibits

MAR/APR in the Galleries with Mark Hamilton

Artists & Makers Studios – Oro Valley, AZ
Mark Hamilton
When Materials Collide and Decide: Letting Paint, Rust, and Glass Form and Inform

(Oro Valley, AZ) – Artists & Makers Studios in Oro Valley is pleased to announce the new gallery exhibition of mixed media sculpture and painting by Mark Hamilton When Materials Collide and Decide: Letting Paint, Rust, and Glass Form and Inform. Painting with a brush would require Mark Hamilton to impose his will on the direction the colors flow. But pouring allows the paint to act with self-determination. Texture and viscosity temper, while the artist waits in wonder. Witnessing its agency allows Hamilton to take a moment without control. Hamilton works in concert with the material, rather than monopolizing the conversation. Like stubborn children with (often brilliant) minds of their own, the colors meander across the canvas, rather than follow his direction. Hamilton loves sifting through an 800-pound stash of rusty clutch plates or glass castoffs. Because somewhere in there lies his next piece. Once assembled, the reciprocal relationship between gloss, sheen, and coarseness emerges. Mark Hamilton bonds these elements into a coherent, organic structure, to be illuminated by sunlight or neon.

Mark Hamilton
When Materials Collide and Decide: Letting Paint, Rust, and Glass Form and Inform

Artists & Makers Studios – Oro Valley
Steam Pump Village
11061 North Oracle Road, Suite 150
Oro Valley, AZ 85737

Viewing hours are Thursday – Saturday 10am – 4pm, or by chance or appointment.

 

Gary Corbett A&M AZ

Gary is a photographer and auctioneer. Here is a snippet of an interview by SHOUTOUT COLORADO

We live in an age of acrimony, fed by soundbites and stereotypes. What inspires me is the opposite. As a benefit-fundraising auctioneer for so many years, every bias of my own — religious, political, cultural, racial, gender, ideological — gets challenged constantly by the incredible generosity and commitment displayed from a broad swath of our community to a variety of causes.

A poem by William Carlos Williams, profound in its simplicity, means a lot to me:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Melinda Lowy A&M1

Melinda Lowy is a national award-winning quilter and is actively involved in local art quilt scene and has exhibited nationally. She is a member of Surface Design Association and Studio Art Quilts Associates. Locally she is a member of Potomac Fiber Arts Guild, Fiber Art Study Group and several small critique or art quilt groups. 

She previously served as Treasurer for the Surface Design Association and also as Chair of the Website Committee.She resides in Silver Spring, MD and is retired from a career at a non-profit scientific society, where she managed their higher education programs. She continues to manage a small non-profit scientific society on a part-time basis.

Awards

2021

Innovative Use of Materials (given by Fiber Art Study Group) – Indian Palace, Creative Crafts Council, Strathmore Mansion, Rockville, MD

2019

2nd Place Fiber – Past to Present, Creative Crafts Council, Strathmore Mansion, Rockville, MD

2006

Best Quilt in Show – Deco Album, Southern Maryland Quilt and Needlework Show, Sotterley

2002

American Quilters Society 2001 Winning Quilts Exhibit – Still Crazy After All These Ties,Tokyo Quilt Show, Tokyo, Japan

2001

3rd place, Mixed Techniques category – Still Crazy After All These Ties, American Quilter’s Society Show, Paducah, KY

2000

Best Quilt in Show- Still Crazy After All These Ties, Southern Maryland Quilt and Needlework Show, Sotterley

Honorable Mention, Other Techniques category- Still Crazy After All These Ties, Quilter’s Heritage Celebration,
Lancaster, PA

1999 

Mountain Mist Best of Show Award; Annapolis Quilt Guild Best of Show Award; Southern Comforts Best of Show Award; Best of Show and Grand Champion- Still Crazy After All These Ties, Maryland State Fair, Timonium, MD

Published Work

2012

Selected Image for Show Postcard,Celebrating Our Past. 2012 QSDS Invitational Exhibit, Ross Art Museum

2011

Featured in Artist’s Spotlight, Chevy Chase Patch online newsletter and video, June 11, 2011 issue

2002 

American Quilter’s Society Wall Calendar

2001

Fall issue, American Quilter Magazine

American Quilter’s Society video, 2001 Quilt Show and Contest

2000

More Snippet Sensations by Cindy Walters

1999

Maryland Quilts video, MPT On Location Magazine, Maryland Public Television Selected Recognition

MelindaLowy.com

Seema Reza A&M1

Seema Reza is the author of A Constellation of Half-Lives & When the World Breaks Open. 

Based in Maryland, she has led writing workshops within correctional facilities, military and civilian hospitals, elementary and secondary schools, and universities. She is the CEO of Community Building Art Works, a unique arts organization that encourages the use of the arts as a tool for narration, self-care and socialization among a military population struggling with emotional and physical injuries. Reza’s work with veterans is featured in the 2018 HBO documentary We Are Not Done Yet. She was awarded the Col John Gioia Patriot Award by the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore for her work with service members. An alumnus of Goddard College and VONA, she has had writing online and in print in McSweeney’s, The LA Review, The Feminist Wire, The Offing, and Entropy among others. Case studies from her work with military populations have appeared in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Related Diseases in Combat Veterans. She has performed across the country at universities, theaters, festivals, bookstores, conferences, & one fine mattress shop.  

Writing. Reading. Educating.

Poetry

Permission (California Journal of Poetics)

This Poem is Want (The Offing)

A Letter to My Coffin (Hematopoiesis)

Belemnite (Hematopoiesis)

Cycles(Beltway Poetry)

Help (Rogue Agent)

I can’t sleep & Muslim Community Center(Anomaly)

Places Temporarily Submerged (Duende)

When We Remember These Nights (Hematopoiesis) 

While We Sleep & Apples (Hermeneutic Chaos)

 Essays

Teaching Poetry in a Correctional Facility (The Washington Post)

The Work of Waking the Sleeping in a Broken World: We Are Together (The Feminist Wire)

Becoming Ourselves Through Writing (Elephant Journal)

Warnings for My Sons (The Manifestation)

Counseling (Full Grown People)

Meeting(Full Grown People)

Chicken Soup (Pithead Chapel)

Letting Go(abcd lady)

Fear (Referential Magazine)

Am I Allowed to Be Sad? (Entropy)

The Partnership Compulsion (The Nervous Breakdown)

 

SeemaReza.com

Kore Fitness – Kristine Harris A&M AZ

Pilates and Art

 

I have a passion for fitness and have been helping people reach their fitness and health goals for the past 17 years. I became a Certified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor in 2006 and have worked with clients of all different ages and fitness levels. I have worked extensively in physical therapy clinics for several years and have developed exercise and Pilates based programs to guide my clients to their post-rehabilitation goals. in 2020,

I became certified as a Polestar Rehabilitative Pilates Practitioner with specialization in developing core strength and stability as well as balance and mobility which are vital for maintaining overall health. 


Certifications

Bachelor of Science (BS)

TRX Suspension Training

CPR/ AED Certified

ACE Fitness Nutrition Specialist 

Personal Trainer

Polestar Pilates Instructor

AFAA – Aerobics and Fitness  Association of America

Polestar Reformer Pilates

 

“Exercise not only changes your body, it changes your mind, your attitude, and your mood.”

Kore-fit.com

 

Don Zavis & Sean Smiley, A&M AZ

Burgeoning Art Brokerage and Sales Coaching

We are a national sales training, international keynote speaking and award-winning sales coaching organization for the Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing and Professional Services Industries. Our practice focuses on educational workshops, private one-on-one sales coaching/training, keynote addresses, group sales training/coaching, webinars, conference calls, recorded materials, Zoom, Skype, social media, and written materials.

DonZavis.com

Shavana Smiley A&M AZ

Shavana Smiley

lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

born Tucson, AZ 1992

shavana@shavanasmiley.com
www.shavanasmiley.com

Exhibitions
2021 Sexy Sex, Gallery Perchee, (Virtual)
Talisman, Monica King Projects (Virtual)
2020 Bushwick Open Studios 2020, (Virtual)
Nature, Virtual Online Show at yupinpramotepipop.com
Dearly Disillusioned: In the Making, The McNichols Civic Center, Denver, CO
2019 Synthesis: Art and Nature in the Post-Digital Age, Masur Museum, Monroe, LA
2018 Border Walls, The Border Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2017 ∞ = ø, Space 776, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Better Than Real, Miller Contemporary, New York, NY (Solo)
Work, Miller Contemporary, New York, NY
4 Hours Specific, Space 776, Brooklyn, NY
Art Expo New York, New York, NY
2015 The New New People, Big Irv’s Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Hex Art, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
Cubicle The Musical, 537 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL
Undergraduate Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
Nippon 22, 900 North Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL
2014 Design Show, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
The Walk, Millennium Park, Chicago, IL
SAIC at 900, 900 North Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL
2013 Five Gals, 20 North State Street, Chicago, IL
Underwater, Johrei Fellowship, Tucson, AZ (Solo)
2012 Next Gallery, The Charlestowne Mall, Chicago, IL
Art Bash, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2011 The Scholarship Collection, The Westin La Paloma, Tucson, AZ (Solo)
Where Desert Meets Water, Floating Stone, Tubac, AZ
Mujeres, Raices Taller 222, Tucson, AZ
Viviendo Verde, Raices Taller 222, Tucson, AZ
2010 Small Wonders, The Drawing Studio, Tucson, AZ
2008 Milagros Gallery, La Encantada, Tucson, AZ

Education
2015 Bachelors of Fine Arts with Honors, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Lauren Cook, Affiliate

Lauren Cook’s artwork is informed by her rural midwestern heritage, her deep appreciation of nature, an insatiable curiosity about diverse human cultures both ancient and contemporary, and how these interests converge as the world deals with environmental and civil sustainability. As an artist, she revels in finding the creative flow and interplay between these themes as expressed in her paintings and experimentations with materials in 2D and 3D forms. Her creative life is also strongly influenced by her work as an arts activist and educator, and in particular by the exchanges of teaching and learning she experiences with her inspiring students and colleagues. Her art is exhibited in group and solo shows.  For more information on her art visit laurencook.com.

In addition to her personal work as an artist, Cook teaches visual arts including Advanced Placement Art and Design at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. She also offers private art instruction, small group Summer Studio Sessions and custom Studio Nites events from her personal studio in Chevy Chase, Maryland as well as online.   She is a committed arts activist and currently serves as chair of the board of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland. Cook has experience with independent curation, K-12 and collegiate level curricula and teacher training, serves as a jurist for competitive exhibitions and awards, and presents at regional and national conferences.

Cook holds a Master of Art in Art Education from Maryland Institute College of Art, a Master of Business Administration, Management of Science and Technology from George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Philosophy from Grand Valley University.  Cook is a member of the International Society for Education through Art, the National Art Education Association, the Maryland Art Education Association, the Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery, the Maryland Federation of Art, Artists and Makers Studios, Montgomery Art Association and presents at regional and national conferences.  

LaurenCook.com

Marty Plevel A&M AZ

Marty Plevel – Visual Artist,  Rug Painter and Feng Shui Practitioner

Painting, drawing and other art forms have become a passion; a way for me to be transformed, to express myself, to feel productive, and to keep my creative juices flowing. Most importantly, it feels good to do it – my way. It is more than what meets the eye.

While most of my visual art work is in watercolor, most notably my “Garage Series”, I also paint other subjects and do rub-out oil painting and pencil portraits. I paint rugs for homes and offices, teach rug painting to adults, and most recently have been making earrings with re-purposed materials. Additionally I have been a certified feng shui practitioner since 2001.

After retiring from teaching I have had time and energy to pursue my fine art interests. I also became a certified Feng Shui practitioner to facilitate improvement in the quality and harmony in the lives of others. I use this knowledge to keep working on my own quality of life. Life is good.

ChangeByDesignArizona.com

Nancy Bautzmann A&M AZ

Nancy Bautzmann, O.P.A.
Signature member of Oil Painters of America

I teach drawing, watercolor and oil painting.

Nancy Bautzmann is considered one of the premier oil painters in Southern Arizona and had shown her work for many years at the prestigious El Presidio Art Gallery in Tucson AZ as well as the Silver Hat Gallery in Tubac Az. In addition, her work has been on display in multiple galleries throughout the country including New York City, Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, Indianapolis, Phoenix AZ, and Carmel CA. She has taught art since 1988.

Nancy’s extreme realism oil renderings are the result of her unique technique, which combines reflections and contrasts to create a 3-dimensional effect so real one feels they can reach out and touch the objects in the painting. Her subject matter varies from the exquisite desert flora and landscapes of Southern Arizona to precise still life renderings of objects.

NancyBautzmann.com

Jami Oscherwitz A&M1

As a mixed media resin artist, I am compelled to create works that are functional and/or decorative. Influenced by colors and textures from living in various parts of the country continually satisfies my ongoing desire to share my work and relish in the emotion it evokes from others. Working in this medium has taught me to relinquish control and discover the pleasure of new effects. Continuous exploration leads me down a path of never-ending design resulting in unique one of a kind works.

cell 773.490.4913
www.resinroxx.com
@resinroxx

Pinterest: resinroxx
TikTok: resinroxx
Facebook: resinroxx

Bridget Kuzma A&M1

Bridget Kuzma is a painter and Art Therapist. She completed her BA in psychology with a minor in studio art at The University of Dallas. Her primary medium is oil paint, she also works with found objects and clay. She recently completed her masters in Art Therapy and studied human figure sculpture at the Pratt Institute. Bridget has shown her work in Austin, Brooklyn, DC and Maryland and is inspired by these places and other  countries she has lived in including Italy, Ireland, and Ecuador. Her artistic and clinical approach to the creative process views it as a way to engage with emotional and natural terrains alike; to explore inner and outer landscapes. Her background includes over 15 years of work at non-profits and hospitals in MD, DC and NY with people facing serious illnesses and the end of life. She is inspired by the depths of the human journey alongside encounters with beauty and light in people and nature. Her work is rooted in curiosity as meaning unfolds through color, texture, and form.

Bill Johnson, Affiliate

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.

BillJohnsonArt.com

Pin It on Pinterest