Karoline Wallace, MA, MCIT

WallaceTreeStump

karoline@karolinewallace.net, www.karolinewallace.net (under reconstruction)

These pieces are made up of an original image printed on 100% cotton fabric, machine quilted and sometimes hand beaded. This series is based on photos I have taken during my hikes up in the Wissahickon Valley with my dogs, over several years. The photos are manipulated using editing software then printed on high-quality cotton. I then free-motion quilt and sometimes hand beaded them.

Conduit, a photo quilt by C. Wallace

They are part of my Wissahickon Studies Series (c. 2014), a fiber art series which represents the most salient and memorable slices of time and space that I have had in that wonderful park. In this series, I explore the thrilling beauty of nature, the magnificence of decay, and the magical play of light that seems to be everywhere in that place. Through quilting in various thread colors and hand beading the pieces, these individual quilts reflect the beauty and my feelings of wonder at this local slice of nature. In Tree Stump, the upturned tree fascinated me as I took my weekly hikes on the trails in the park. The flower-like beauty of the decay inspires me. In Conduit, the image features a typical cement tube which forms a path to cross certain areas of the park. I was most interested in the play of light on the surface of this magical bridge.

Tree Stump Quilt, Wissahickon Studies, fabric art, $150
Conduit Quilt, Wissahickon Studies, fabric art, $150

Larry West

LarryWest

www.larrywestproductions.com

Larry West is a commercial illustrator and designer from the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia. He’s worked for the high profile band Wednesday 13, designed a shirt for the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign, and has had his work featured in “The Art of Heavy Metal.”

Forged by Satan: Goatwhore 2015 Gig Poster, digital print on archival paper, 24” x 36”, $100

Sheppard “Van” Williams

photograph by Van Williams

svan50@me.com

Since his childhood in the 50’s, S. Van Williams has been a “shutterbug” capturing family, friends and his environment. Since moving to the Mount Airy neighborhood in 2002, Van has been an avid photographer of hummingbirds, flowers and scenery throughout northwest Philadelphia and Center City. He is a member of the MAAG Photo Club. Besides his passion for photography, Van is an avid gardener and enjoys practicing yoga.

williams_HummingbirdII480x480Hummingbird Feeding on Agastache I, photograph, $75
Hummingbird Feeding on Agastache II, photograph, $75

Andrea Abrams-Herbert

earrings: Dancers, by Andrea Abrams-HerbertDancers is a set of earrings by Andrea Abrams-Herbert: Handcrafted Jewelry, aahjewelry@aol.com.

Ellen Benson

Garden Girl, mixed media, by Ellen BensonSince leaving my job as a bank Senior VP in 2002, I have been creating art nonstop! Inspired at first by boxes of old family photos and documents, I began making collages, assemblages and altered books with these very personal materials. Another inspiration has been the colors and folk art of Mexico and Guatemala, where I make an annual “pilgrimage” with a group that calls itself “the muchachas.” We visit woodcarvers, weavers, ceramic sculptors, mask makers and other artisans in their homes and studios. Currently, I am involved in Philadelphia’s Dumpster Divers, a group of artists that focuses on re-using cast-off pieces of the world around us to make found object art. To “divers,” art materials are everywhere; and finding a particular item inspires various projects. A bottle cap becomes a doll’s hat; and paint brushes resemble legs. Cigar boxes and old drawers are really “houses” for creating a story within.

About 5 years ago, I gave myself a personal challenge of making 1000 figures; making an armature out of plastic bags and masking tape, found objects, paper mache and clay. I call these my “Diva Dolls” and so far, I’ve made about 500. In 2012-13 many of my figures were featured at the Philadelphia International Airport.

You can see more of my work at www.inliquid.org and www.dumpstedivers.org, in “Found Object Art 2,” published by Schiffer Press, and in the March/April 2013 issue of the magazine, “Cloth, Paper, Scissors.”

Garden Girl is a 13″ x 5″ x 3″ mixed media piece composed of cheese box, acorns, doll, metal, paint, nest, vintage book paper by Ellen Benson, ebenson@erols.com.

Nathalie Borozny

Photograph by Nathalie BoroznyWhat art offers is space – a certain breathing space for the spirit. — John Updike

Papermaking gives me space for my spirit.

The location of my home in Rittenhouse Town in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood holds special meaning to me because it is where paper was first made in the United States. I regularly walk along the Wissahickon Creek amassing yet another amazing collection of twigs, stones, bark — something I’ve done since childhood. I also make occasional forays into Ridley Creek State Park, and every autumn I photograph Martha’s Vineyard. My photographs are printed on handmade paper; cotton/abaca, gampi and kozu.

Fishing off Menemsha is a 4.5″ X 6.5″ injet print photograph on handmade cotton/abaca paper by Nathalie Borozny.

Ann Breinig

Cuba, mixed media, by Ann BreinigI am a mixed media artist and an incurable collector. I love to find interesting specimens of nature and culture. I delight in varied textures, shapes and colors and pick up and keep everything I find that inspires me. All this natural and cultural debris ultimately finds its way into my art. Although my art is characterized by color and composition, these small natural and cultural items seem to give my art a personal mooring. In my art I start with color, focus on composition and finish with unexpected details.

I’ve spent my life teaching Spanish to students of all ages. Almost every year of my life as a teacher included at least one trip to somewhere in the world with Spanish influence and all of my wanderings included collecting. These collections have grown through the years and add interest, depth and a personal connection to all of my art .
 Since I’ve retired I’ve had the time to produce art. I’ve focused more on what I love, the details and textures of nature and the designs of the Spanish cultures. This has helped me to slow down and really seek out and see color, texture and interesting design, both natural and manmade, that I love. I hope my art will inspire my viewers to do the same.

Cuba is a mixed media piece by Ann Breinig, annbreinig@me.com.

Bill Brookover

Out of the Fog/Pink Window by Bill BookoverI was trained as an architect and worked for almost 4 decades restoring and preserving historic buildings and landscapes. I discovered screenprinting 10 years ago and fell in love with printmaking.

As a printmaker, I’m drawn to paper and water-based inks, rather than to paints and brushes on canvas. My work is an engagement with my materials and ideas of order. When confronted with a blank page, I respond in one of two ways: either I develop a pattern of abstract geometry, or I develop a grammar of expressionist gestures. These two approaches are present in this work, in which I explore the creative possibilities of geometry and expressionist gesture in a tension between opposites: painterly against geometric, monochrome against color, spontaneous against planned.

Out of the Fog/Pink Window is a woodcut/monoprint collage by Bill Brookover, bill.brookover@gmail.com, www.billbrookover.com.

George I. Bustard, Jr.

Wheat Fields Waving, a painting by George BustardThere is, you see, this loop:
I look. I feel. I reflect. I remember.
So when the time comes to face another empty canvas,
And look with fresh eyes,
I dip into those remembered meanings.
Then, through muscle and medium, ground and detail,
Shadow and substance,
Mountains and mist,
Sea and sky, morning light and evening shadow emerge.
Or simply form and color, standing alone. Standing together.

Do I paint what I see with my outer eye? Sometimes.
Do I paint what I see with my inner eye? Always.
So… an invitation: You look. You feel. You reflect. You remember.
Do you see what I see? Do you feel what I feel?
You do?
May the loop continue.

Wheat Fields Waving is a painting by George I. Bustard, Jr., gibustard@verizon.net

Jeanne Z. Bustard

Spiraling, a painting by Jeanne BustardA few years ago, I began painting abstractly; and I enjoy the freedom and spontaneity that abstraction allows the artist. I am fascinated by the constant surprises that occur as I paint the world through the filter of my internal vision, and by the responses of viewers who look through a lens of their own.

This painting is one of a series of abstract paintings celebrating the fullness and profusion of nature. These paintings celebrate fecundity and regeneration, life and joy.

Spiraling is a painting by Jeanne Bustard, jeannebustard@verizon.net.