One day on a solitary bicycle ride down a quiet road, I saw the cloud-filled sky before me suddenly punctured by searching rays of afternoon light. The sun drawing a powerful line between heaven and earth and me. At that moment I felt purely connected to the world, and sitting on my bicycle at age eight I embraced a life in which intuition leads and living symbols abound.

I work in the ancient medium of encaustic: pigmented beeswax mixed with resin. Working methodically on wood panel, I build up hundreds of layers of color and texture using molten wax. In between each brushstroke I use heat to bind each layer to the one set down before it. [Encaustic, from the ancient Greek enkaustikos, means “to heat” or “to burn”, is found in the portraiture of Greco-Roman Egypt, from 100 B.C. to A.D. 200.] Once the wax is cooled, I inscribe the surface with marks, textures, and symbols that unify the strata of the wax.

In my work the figure is at the center of a magical and symbolic universe. The medium of encaustic provides a place for this union of form and content: the wax surface is the skin, the skin bears the marks of a story. It is within this interplay of image, abrasion, luminosity and texture that I create an opportunity to find something, a space for things to fall into place.

I find that there is a rhythm to the process of encaustic painting that is both arduous and eloquent: the measured flow of wax melting and wax hardening, the immediacy of each intention solidifying as a brushstroke or drip and the application of heat as confirmation of the thought.

Here are the scratches and imperfect drips of one in dialogue with the internal and what surrounds. This is the ride on the bicycle. Forms appear, wax drips, and draws a line connecting the heavens and the eart

In 1992 Rey Alfonso left Cuba and settled in San Francisco. Over the next six years Alfonso labored to become proficient in the metal world by working with both sculptors and metal craftsmen to attain an exhaustive knowledge of metal design and fabrication.  His talent and ideas were quickly recognized and several of his public works and sculptural signs remain visible in San Francisco. It was his work with aluminum on a large scale commission that first intrigued and later obsessed Alfonso as he developed his present style. Today Alfonso’s work can be found in collections in more than 40 countries. He has created works for individuals and organizations ranging from the San Francisco Opera House to the Mayo Clinic. In 2010, he was commissioned by Hilton Worldwide to create over 150 works for the private collections of the company’s owners and investors.

You’ll sound good right from the start and you can play songs the first day. The Strumstick feels good to play, you’ll pick it up again and again. We designed the Strumstick for people who don’t play any music, and are sure they can’t play any music. There are no wrong notes; there are just the notes of a simple scale. Since there are no wrong notes, there are no mistakes; you can have fun making sounds without worrying about “getting it right”.

American artist and craftswoman Lucy Moore designs and makes all her stuffed animals, puppets, and blankets and has been doing so for over forty years. What began as her hobby became her business. Lucy’s Toys uses the highest quality man made faux fur because she will only make high quality washable stuffed animals, puppets, and blankets

I love working in silver, two tone metals, and textures.  I am inspired by my love of scuba diving and gardening.  I usually start any collection with the bracelet, my favorite piece of jewelry to create.  Most of these pieces were created with the forging techniques of microfolding,anticlastic raising, and traditional forging.  The two tones are created either with mokume gane sheet metal or canes or by fusing or soldering various metals together Textures are by roller printing, etching or hammer.  Most of the two tone work is hand patina’d to enhance the affect of the metals.  I hand fabricate and forge all of my work in my studio.

Over the past few years the artist has been painting exclusively in encaustics. He specializes in wildlife and landscapes using his traditional drawing and painting skills in an impressionistic style.

Encaustic is a 100% natural product that consists of beeswax, damar resin (natural tree sap) and pigments.

Using a heated palette to keep the wax molten; an industrial heat gun in one hand and a brush in the other, he is constantly heating the board, his brush and the beeswax to create his paintings.

Being inspired by nature, his paintings represent personal experiences that he hopes brings a feeling of serenity and awareness of the animals and fragile environment that surrounds all of us.

The soft breeze, a magnificent sky, the cool water…..All elements that drive my creativity along with a light touch of the paintbrush, feeling of peace and sense of place.  As a child of the Great Lakes I grew up with a landscape of water, woods, rocks, expansive horizon  and a sense that everything around us is so much larger and more mysterious then we will ever comprehend.  I strive to re-create the peaceful, contemporary landscape in my art.  To expand upon the beautiful palette that nature provides us.

I refer to my jewelry as comfortably contemporary with a retro feel.  I want the woman who wears my jewelry to get noticed when she walks into a room: bold yet feminine.  My techniques are not limited to one discipline of metalsmithing. Rather than design based on techniques, my designs utilize the technique that will fully enhance the design aspects of the piece. My favorite metals technique is forging.  Often it is incorporated in the fabrication of my designs.   Inspired by nature, I try and capture the fun and whimsy found in nature while bringing an underlying sophistication.  My goal as a designer is to create forms that produce an energy and excitement for the wearer.

Deborah Marie lives and works in the small town of Saint Johns, MI.  As well as an award winning artist and author, she teaches locally in her community.  Her love of teaching matches her love of jewelry designing and fabricating.  Each piece is hand fabricated in her Michigan studio from silver and gold with touches of gems, pearls, and organic materials.   The results are innovative styles, cuts, and color capturing the energy of the design.

Dubbed the  “Front Man” by the Detroit Free Press, Paul has made a name for himself photographing classic automobiles. His attraction to vintage cars lies in what he calls the “automobile’s character or face of the car.” Paul’s most recent body of work often focuses on pre-1960’s vehicles expressive grills and sculptural chrome work in order to emphasize the attention to detail that gives vintage cars distinctive personalities.
Statement: My work is photographed  both digitally & traditionally at outdoor locations in Michigan. Each image is digitally manipulated through a series of subtle changes that serve both to isolate sculptural components of a classic car from its original context as well as enhance the brilliant colors that define the character of each vehicle. The effect produces iconographic images of both rare and familiar cars of the past and present. In my home studio the images are then printed on linen coated paper using archival methods.