Artists & Makers Studios

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

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!

I come from an artistic family. My mother is a retired art teacher and printmaker. My daughter is also an art teacher, as well as a jewelry artist. Wellfleet Dunes, my senior thesis show, at the University of Central Arkansas, was awarded the College of Arts and Communication’s, “Outstanding Art Exhibition of the Year.”  I have participated in group shows in the Black Box Gallery and the Baum Gallery of Fine Art at the University of Central Arkansas, as well as at the Cove Gallery in Wellfleet, MA. Born in Bridgeport, CT, I have lived in Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Greece and Brazil. I received a BA from Boston University and earned a BFA from the University of Central Arkansas. I currently live and work in the Washington, DC area.

I am a process-oriented artist and constant experimentation leads me to exciting discoveries. My process embodies the predominantly intuitive and responsive way that I make art. When I work, I make choices as I go based on both intuition and thoughtful consideration. I am an “accidental artist” in the sense that I am most excited by the creative challenge of responding to the visual imagery that presents itself to me. Constant experimentation leads me to exciting discoveries.

I work mostly with various media on paper (monotype and digital prints, drawing, watercolor) to create works that I cut and manipulate in an obsessive and ritualistic way. I end up with hundreds of pieces which I organize and hang on walls, creating site-specific relief installations that grow organically across space.

Margaret is a mixed media sculptor creating vessels, wall art, and wearable works.  Her creations incorporate decades of exploring the strengths and nuances of a variety of materials including polymer clay, metal, wood, and paint. 

Margaret studied art at Carnegie Mellon University, and has created award winning furniture and fine art sold through craft shows and galleries across the country. Her work is greatly influenced by natural processes of growth and decay, extensive study of botanical illustration, years of gardening, and motherhood of twin girls.

MargaretPolcawich.com 

mpolcawichstudio@gmail.com

301-356-4640

Picking up the strands of art interests from fifty years ago has been an adventure and a surprise. After retiring in ’07 from teaching, I thought dabbling in watercolors would be a pleasant hobby. Instead passion for art making has crept up behind me and has become a vital part of my life. 

Currently, experimenting with abstraction is my focus. In my artistic expressions I am looking for the universals and archetypes beneath surface realities – creating art beyond the visible. The human figure, is also a subject, —primarily as humans relate and reflect the rhythms of daily life. 

Since 2009 I have exhibited with Montgomery Art Association, and have been juried into shows with Gaithersburg Fine Art Association and Rockville Art Association where I  have received several awards.

www.gallery209art.com/marcia-bhorjee

Vicky Surles is an award-winning realist artist, working mainly in watercolor and color pencil, focusing on portraits, still life and landscapes. She’s a member of the Montgomery Art Association, Gallery 209, Wheaton Arts Parade Gallery, and a juried Signature member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society. Her work is in many private collections, as well as the US Department of State’s Art in Embassies Program. Vicky traveled and lived in Guatemala and Mexico for several years, and painted palm trees, lakes, volcanoes, Mayan people, and archeological sites.

She has exhibited in juried solo and group shows, including Garrett Park Invitational Shows, Kensington Labor Day Weekend Shows, Strathmore Artists Juried Exhibitions, Betty Mae Kramer Gallery Juried Show in the Silver Spring Civic Building, The Arts Barn in Gaithersburg, the Friendship Heights Village Center, and at the University of Maryland. Her drawings have appeared in magazines, posters and in a book about the Caribbean.

https://www.gallery209art.com/vicky-surles

Instagram: @surlesvicky

VSurlesGraphics@comcast.net

Patrick Sieg’s studio practice is focused on representational portrait and landscape paintings. A consistent theme in his work is a focus on sources of light. While his art is clearly “realistic” he strives to incorporate abstract compositional elements in his work. He finds inspiration in the work of artists John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla, Edward Hopper, Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Schmid.

Patrick is currently the President of the Rockville Art League, represented by the Cabell Gallery in Lexington, Virginia, and a Studio 209 Resident Artist in Rockville, Maryland.

After a long finance focused career with Marriott Corporation, he has revisited his love of art and oil painting and is continuing his studies and creative growth through classes at the National Gallery of Art, The Compass Atelier, the Yellow Barn Studio  (in Glen Echo, Maryland) and the Art League of Alexandria.

He has exhibited his artwork throughout the Washington, DC area and is an award winner in many juried shows.

www.patricksieg.com

pksieg@gmail.com

240-888-3252

Frank Mancino is a fine artist living and working in Silver Spring, Maryland, working primarily in charcoal, oils and acrylics. HIs work ranges from traditional figurative rendering to abstract impasto color explorations in oil and acrylics.

Frank began formal art study in 2004 with a drawing class at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Virginia. From there he continued art studies at both NoVa and at the Corcoran School of Art and Design in Washington, D.C., eventually receiving an Associate’s Degree in Fine Art from NoVa and a Certificate in Drawing and Painting from the Corcoran. He continued my studies in academic drawing and painting with Natasha Mokina and Victor Pohamkin at Winter Palace Studios in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., and sculpture study with Patrick Beldio at Reunion Studios in Washington, D.C. In 2019 he left the telecommunications industry after 25 years to pursue art full-time.

In addition to being a new member of Gallery 209 in Rockville, Maryland, Frank is currently a member artist at the Wheaton Arts Parade Gallery in Wheaton, Maryland, and an affiliate artist with Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, Maryland. He has shown his drawings, paintings, and sculptures at many venues over the years, including seven shows at Artomatic in the Washington, D.C. metro area (2004-2017). He is honored to be a member of Gallery 209 and is looking forward to continuing his journey with you there.

www.frankmancino.com

Instagram: fmancino1

FrankMancinoFineArt@gmail.com;

Phone: 571-294-7810

I am a painter and graphic designer who has lived and worked in Washington, DC for over 37 years. 

My paintings are about the moment, the immediacy of paint applied honestly, thickly and emotionally on canvas. I strive to convey a textural quality to the surface with layers of color and an emphasis on capturing light. I paint primarily in oil but also dabble in gouache and more recently with casein paints.

I have always loved to spend time outside and plein air painting has been a perfect match of painting in the moment and fulfilling my need to connect with nature and all its power. It gives me the space to dream and be inspired by life. My love of nature started in my childhood in the Hudson Valley and many trips to the Adirondack Mountains of NY. During COVID I started to do more studio painting where I was able to explore interpretations of nature and to paint on a larger scale.

After focusing on my graphic design career, fifteen years ago I dove back into painting and started painting in oils. I have studied painting at the Corcoran School of Art, the Yellow Barn Studio and the Art League under various artists such as Walt Bartman, Gonzalo Ruiz Navarro and Bethanne Cople. I have both exhibited and won awards at the Yellow Barn Studio and the Rockville Art League. I have exhibited at other local DC galleries including my last show at Gallery B in January 2020. My work has been purchased by collectors across the US.

Website – www.jenniferhowardartist.com

Instagram – partridge_paintings

Contact – jhoward@dearlysincerely.com

I love to make art and learn about art-making by experimenting in my studio, by viewing and discussing art with others, and through living and dreaming. My paintings are abstract or representational, often inspired by nature or the curious images in dreams. I paint with heated beeswax and fluid paints and pastels on wood, art board, canvas or paper and like to add fibrous and colorful papers, fabric, ink, beads, and found materials for fabulous textures.

I have been creating art for 20 years, have studied under Indianapolis and D.C.-area artists, and have attended many on-line art classes and workshops. I am a member of Gallery 209 at Artists & Makers Studios, the Montgomery Artist Association, International Encaustic Artists, and the Jung Society of Washington.

jfoxdreamart.com
janet@jfoxdreamart.com 
301-448-2215

I am a mosaic artist, born in the south of France, having moved to the USA in 2001 from the Middle East in 2008. I studied  mosaic techniques from the ancestral way to more modern techniques in a 3 year program at the University Saint Joseph in Beirut, Lebanon – receiving my diploma.

I flesh out my own designs, getting my inspiration from pieces of linen, carpets, and china – combining shapes and colors to create a world full of colors, texture, scent and music. A major focus of my work is to translate in mosaic some famous painters like Klimt or Van Gogh or oriental artists that I admire. I use mainly glass tiles tesserae, gold, gold based glass tiles and mirrors – but also marble, stone, broken china and Murano millefiori.

My work can be used everywhere to decorate your house – on walls or floors.

The most important thing is that EACH PIECE IS UNIQUE.

I also create objects in mosaic like shoes, masks, plates, and furniture…

I work mainly on commissions.

Classes and workshops at the Mosaic Box – Artists & Makers Studios
themosaicbox@gmail.com
themosaicbox.com
instagram: brigitte_messali_mosaic
301-624-3751

Ann is an outdoor artist, gaining her inspiration from the places she paints. The excitement in her work comes from the rapid, fresh brushstrokes and color choices to catch the light of a particular place and time. She works primarily in Maryland, in the area surrounding Washington, DC, Frederick County, and the Eastern Shore. She paints in organized plein air events in the mid-Atlantic and Key West, and has won awards in many group shows.

A Fine Arts graduate of George Washington University,  many of her classes were at the Corcoran School of Art. She has always thought of herself as an artist, from childhood, encouraged by the adults around her, including many gifted teachers. Studying at the High School of Music and Art, and growing up in New York City, art was everywhere, and museums were better than playgrounds. After a career in Federal environmental programs, she is able to pursue art more intensively. In addition to Gallery 209, her work is always on view at Gallery 322, in Frederick, MD. 

www.AnnSchaeferArt.com

instagram   ann.schaefer

annschaeferart@aol.com

Patricia Zannie, an award winning collage artist and former Art instructor at the School of Art and Design at Montgomery College.  Rather than selecting either total abstraction, or the classical Western system of perspective, she combines them in the same piece of art.  While keeping some of the assumptions in the traditional approach to the illusion of space,  she will intersperse two-dimensional patterns.  She enjoys the marriage of strong design with the creative impulse.  Using snips of magazine and other papers as if they were paint, she integrates melds and blends them with ink, marker, oil pastel, watercolor and even crayons.

 In love with color since she held her first crayon, appreciating the works of Matisse, she creates “fauvist-like” mixed media imaginary landscapes.  Like Rauschenberg and Warhol, “I rebel against the esthetics of traditional ‘Western Classical’ approach to Art and include elements of Zen design as found in the Japanese design concepts that influenced Post Impressionists such as Van Gogh and Toulouse Lautrec.” As an intuitive artist, each artwork is an exploration of creativity, materials and techniques, and is a  mystery, until it’s completed.

www.patzannie.com

patriciacollages@yahoo.com

The results of my creative explorations are paintings (abstract and impressionistic), mosaics, and 3D sculptures. My art usually includes integration of recycled materials and old tools and I use a range of media including alcohol inks, watercolor, glass acrylics and gels, paper, and elements from nature.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WindowDreams

window.dream.art@gmail.com

408-718-6822

I am an artist and author living in Gaithersburg, MD. When painting, I have worked primarily in oils, acrylics and water colors. I have been a member of the Maryland Federation of Art, the Montgomery Artists Association, the Gaithersburg Fine Artists Association, Cultural Arts Advisory Committee (CAAC) for the City of Gaithersburg and as a juror for art shows around the Mid-Atlantic region. My work has appeared and been discussed on CBS, Bloomberg News, ABC radio and local TV stations. 

Website: jimhoehnart.com

Instagram: instagram.com/jimhoehnart

Email: jhoehnart@gmail.com

My current painting style may have been influenced by my childhood art experience in Tokyo where I grew up.   Viewing woodblock art painted centuries ago by Japanese master artists deeply made an impression, particularly the unique bold composition and harmonious colors. Painting watercolor using a pouring technique reminds me of the essence of woodblock paintings. Through my art I desire to capture simple yet inspiring surroundings in everyday places and in new places when I travel.   I hope my painting will evoke joy in viewers’  hearts as it gives me great joy to paint.

My highest achievement was winning a Gold medal at Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s 39th International Juried Exhibition in 2018.  Due to this award the image of my painting appeared in the “21 Best Water-media Paintings of the Year” article in the February 2019 issue of “Watercolor Artists” magazine.

Website: www.angelalacyart.com

Instagram: angela_lacy_art

email: alacy1130@gmail.com

cell: 240-447-5356

Barbara is a plein air and studio painter, working primarily in oils. She is also a Teaching Artist at Art Works Now in Hyattsville, a School Docent at National Gallery of Art, and an art therapist.

When painting plein air Barbara finds inspiration mainly from local landscapes and the French countryside. In the studio she works on subjects such as chefs, cafés, and patisseries.  She has exhibited at local venues such as Politics and Prose, Gallery B in Bethesda, Brookside Gardens, and the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation Fellowship Hall Gallery.

Travel near and far introduced me to the joy of plein air painting.  My imagination responded to the challenge to study light, color, and design in the landscape.   I work in oil and gouache.  My work is representational but expressionistic, seeking to capture the feeling of cityscapes and natural landscapes.  I also like to paint people, animals, and objects, from life rather than from photographs.  My plein-air experience includes a dozen years in classes with Walt Bartman plus more than twenty workshops with Walt in Maine, Big Sur, the Bahamas, Sicily, Prague and Budapest, Mallorca, Santorini (twice), Florence, Ireland, Mexico, Argentina, France, Cuba (twice) and the Italian Lakes, as well as Tilghman Island.  I take advantage of local workshops by other Maryland artists and enjoy participating in a variety of plein-air paint-outs such as the Frederick County Barnstormers (annual), the Yellow Barn Green Paint-Out, and the Kensington Labor Day Art Show (annual).  And I enjoy painting with other artist friends on our own trips to near and far places.  Italy (anywhere), southern France, and Penobscot Bay, Maine are my favorite painting destinations.

I held solo exhibitions of my work at the Yellow Barn Gallery in 2006, 2008, and 2014 and participate frequently in Montgomery Art Association, Chevy Chase and Potomac Women’s Clubs, and Gaithersburg Fine Arts group shows.  My paintings have been accepted in many juried shows sponsored by the Yellow Barn, the Gaithersburg Fine Arts Association, the Hill Center, and the Bethesda Urban Partnership and have won numerous awards, including first prizes and Best in Show in a number of shows.  I have been a member of Gallery 209 at Artists & Makers Studios, Rockville, MD since its inception in 2017. 

Website: https://www.jeannepowell.com
e-mail:  j.w.powell@verizon.net
Phone: 301-926-7568