Claudia Zeber-Martell began as a painter, and surface decoration is therefore a dominant element in her work, with images balanced between internal visualization and external stimuli. “My focus often combines forms, colors and dimensions found in nature, from the organic and geometric to the whimsical, and I concentrate on developing positive images that enrich the environment and create harmony.

Michael Martell’s pottery has evolved over the past two decades from traditional salt-glazed and wood-fired stoneware to expressive graceful pieces with more contemporary form. “Form is so much a part of our everyday lives, and I’ve been fortunate to be able to explore it through clay; the slightest movement of the hands creates subtle changes in the shape of the pot. That is constantly amazing to me.”

Collaboration can be an enriching process for two artists, and by challenging each other, a balance is achieved, and the contribution of each person’s particular skills has here resulted in a product that surpasses what each could achieve alone. “We enjoy the daily overlapping of our personal and professional lives, and we believe it enhances our individual creativity.”

www.zeber-martell.com

www.lagergallery.com

My unique technique involves the art of reverse painting on glass and acrylic glass with enamel pigments. I enjoy painting in a simple sophisticated style as each piece reflects my personal stories and family history. All paintings are created one at a time with the same concept evolving from one original to the next original.

I’ve taken an American icon, the T-shirt, and re-envisioned it. I seek to elevate them to wearable art status without losing qualities I admire, namely accessibility and comfort. I work with them as a form, much like a clay artist works with teapots as a form. My aim is to keep the tops pure, which for me means without superfluous design. I offer texture and visual tension through the seaming itself, which I call squiggly embroidery. The seaming is created using a “merrow” machine. The raised seams signal design that’s unconventional, informal and honest. The thread color or, more accurately, the mix of colored threads in each seam balances the texture and introduces grace notes into the composition, making my version of wearable art into the apparel version of hand-made stoneware; casual, inventive, and strikingly designed, but without the formality of porcelain. The designs integrate function and beauty, and I think of the tops as abbreviated and pure because the embellishment is integral to the construction.

Kirké clothing is made in my Northeast Minneapolis studio. I design the tops, draft all of the patterns and change them into the sizes that I offer. Debbie, my assistant, works with me 12 hours per week to help with sewing. I work full time. If you are visiting Minneapolis and would like to visit the studio, please call. If I am there I welcome your visit.

My bio (which my husband wrote for me) follows.

From a first home near Elvis’s Graceland mansion to an adult life spent in places as far-flung as Greece and Japan, Karen Bernthal has always had a talent for the subtly exotic, for creative clothing that offers quirkiness with a heart. What can’t be doubted is her passion for her wearable art. Her latest twist is hip, casual yet stylish, inside out tops that take normally hidden seaming and transforms it into a showcase element.

Her label name, Kirké, comes from Greek mythology and refers to the goddess Circe, who famously turned Odyssey’s men into pigs. Karen’s clothes don’t turn men into wild animals but they do turn the women who wear them into figures with perhaps just a little more divinity to them! Also an avid gardener, Karen takes pleasure in introducing beauty into everyone’s life. Original, independent, shy and honest, Karen exudes offbeat integrity and her clothes do, too.

http://www.kirkedesignstudio.com

Maija  studied at the Paier School of Art in Connecticut, graduated from the University of Georgia in 1964, and further studied at the University of South Florida.  Her early career  was spent teaching art in the Georgia and Florida School Systems, and later in designing needlepoint canvases for the NeedleBug Company of Virginia.

Maija is a full time professional Florida Artist. She has been exhibiting her art for over 27 years.   I guess we would call her a survivor.  She still loves it, and says she will continue to exhibit outdoors as long as she gets a “kick” out of it.

She has exhibited with the Miniature Art Society of Florida, the Florida Watercolor Society, the American Watercolor Society, and in 1986 she was accepted as a Signature member into the highly prestigious National Watercolor Society. She is a member of the Florida Plein Air Painters. Presently, she works entirely in oils.

IMPRESSIONISTIC PAINTING with a contemporary feel is a good way to describe Maija’s style of work.  Maija likes to paint on location.  She responds to everything around her. In these paintings, she uses her environment, color, composition, and her own emotions to create the essence of the place she sees in front of her.
HER PERSONAL LIFE:  She loves to paint. She loves being outdoors.  She loves people. She says, “I enjoy talking to anyone who will listen. I ‘like’ to listen, and understand what makes them tick. I really love a good laugh.

She has the uncanny ability to find the quirky side of things.   She really likes to play.  A few bumps or bruises won’t stop her.  It makes the experience that much more memorable.

ARTIST’S COMMENT:
“My paintings are also influenced by a memory of a place I have been, or an experience I have had.  Through my paintings, I hope I can share this experience.”

“Thank you for your interest.  I hope my work will enhance your surroundings, and give you many years of pleasure.”

http://www.baynesstudio.com

Thank you for wearing a piece of MAGICK jewelry.

Falcher Fusager

http://www.itsmagick.com

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Larry Humphrey is a photographer whose work is characterized as the interaction of light, form, color and texture.

“I’m a finder. I find subjects and compose them so they are isolated from their environment.”

http://www.larryhumphrey.com/

My work is inspired mostly by my travels in the United States and abroad. Colors and textures in nature, mosaics in Spain, and architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright, create seeds of ideas. A whole new world of inspiration opened up for me under water with my emergence into scuba diving. With a digital camera, I shoot close ups of color saturated sea life, capturing the repetitive patterns of coral, sponges, and other sea creatures.

Color is my passion. Using low water immersion techniques, I dye cotton fabrics, mixing hundreds of hues from red, yellow, and blue MX dyes. There are always new combinations and shades to explore! Sometimes I create a color inspired by an exotic coral I have seen, other times the shades I dye become the inspiration for a piece.

Drafting each geometric design in my mind, I rework color and balance until I see it completely, then cut and sew thousands of pieces to create the image. With the free form designs, I spend hours drawing the image in pencil, then make a copy, cut it up and use it for pattern pieces when I sew. I piece and applique by machine. No adhesives are used and I leave no raw edges. Framing is conservation and museum quality. Conservation glass offers 97% UV protection. Larger work has museum glass, which has UV protection, plus is AR-Reflection Free.

http://www.sandigarris.com

Wu was born in Guangdong China and settled in Hong Kong in 1958. He started painting in 1969 and later completed an extension course in basic 3-dimensional design workshop at the Hong Kong Polytechnic In 1989 he was awarded in Hong Kong Urban Council Fine Arts Award (Sculpture). He was recognized by the Hong Kong Museum of Art with the Urban Council Fine Art Award in the Urban Council Sculpture Design Competition in 1994 (Category I &lI, Hong Kong City Hall and Salisbury Garden Hong Kong). 1995 won the full Free Man Fellowship to exchange experience in USA and worked in Vermont Studio Center (USA) in 1996. His works were selected by Hong Kong Museum of Art Hong Kong Artists Series Exhibitions’ in 1995. He had been appointed to be a judge of Hong Kong Art Development Council and immigrated to Canada and working on his creative works in 1998 In 2004 he won the chance to representing Canada to join the “International Stone Sculpture Symposium” hosted by ECHO research Institute. From 2005-2007, he won several awards from painting exhibitions in the United States

http://manwaiwu.com