Artist's Statements:
Aarons, Marsha: Art has always been a part of my life in one form or another. After majoring in sociology and fine arts, I completed a Masters Degree in social work and worked in a hospital for many years. My art interests led me to garden designing and installation. When hip problems ended my career as a gardener, I began designing jewelry and chose Garden of Beaden as the name of my business. I use a wide range of materials in my jewelry including seed beads, semi- precious stones and freshwater pearls.
Berry, Ron: Drawing as a full-time artist is a new, but fulfilling endeavor for me. I work entirely in pencil color and graphite. It is pure excitement to watch the image begin to come to life as I work with my pencils. My intent is to produce a rendering of an image that is realistic, detailed and accurate. I choose subjects because I have some emotional connection to them. I simply want the viewer to experience the impact of the scene, the structure, or the figure. I'll leave it to the great artists to make us think about the human experience; but I do admire the words attributed to Michelangelo that he saw the angel in the marble and carved until he set the angel free. Would that we all could see that angel, as accurately as he. I have had a life-long love of pencil renderings on paper but very little formal art training. As my artistic process continues to mature, the realism, detail and accuracy of the images should continue to develop as well. Meanwhile, the attempt to bring a realistic, detailed and accurate image to life is itself the magic.
Burgeson, Barbara: Barbara Burgeson learned to weave traditional, Florida native and pine needle baskets twenty years ago. Her traditional baskets are as small as three inches to as tall as four feet. She taught herself to weave free form tapestry design baskets on hard oak bases and creates one of a kind pieces ranging in size from six inches to more than three feet. Incorporating local palms, pine needles and other gathered plant material to all of her tapestry baskets gives them unique patterns from every angle.
Carew, Joan: Joan is a wife, mother, grandmother and nurse who is blessed to be able to paint in both Naples and Cape Cod. As a watercolorist, Joan enjoys the richness and transparency of the color, and chooses florals and local scenes. She produces original paintings, prints, notecards, and placemats, which she displays in local shows at very reasonable prices. I hope you enjoy what you see and it bring you pleasure.
Carlson, Julie: I am drawn to the intriguing spiritual innocence of nature. Spending time outdoors slows me down to a point of stillness where I open up to observe, listen, feel, and obtain special unity with nature. That emotional attachment goes beyond intellectual reasoning into the inner depths of my soul. The mystical splendor discovered in local subjects, hills, valleys, water, flowers, and grasses naturally draws me to painting an impression of what I feel and love. That spiritual bond inspires an emotional power of unlimited energy from the light, color, and perfect detail of lives forces. When I envision something more, the outpouring of spontaneous artistic impulse is greater than myself and becomes a very personal experience of joy and excitement. Art is something I like doing so much that I can do it for the fun of it and that is where I hide my love for art.
Clemente, Teri: has been a professional artist and teacher for over twenty years. She has enjoyed teaching both children and adults. Teri views both painting and teaching as a joy she hopes to share with others. The majority of her artwork consists of watercolor paintings, mainly concentrating on the beauty of nature. The bulk of her subjects range from the intricate beauty of tropical flowers to the awe-inspiring landscapes both above and below the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Teri is also known for her tropical painted furniture and murals. Teri and her artwork may be found at art shows throughout Florida. Recently her work was featured on WGCUs television show, Expressions and in local magazines and newspapers, such as N: The Magazine of Naples and Coastal Living.
Colvin, Charlie: From golf components (mostly artifacts) I create unique golf gifts and collectibles: golf clocks, hangers, cardholders, etc. Using the same components I now "sculpt" birds and dogs (for example Poodles, Dalmations, Roadrunners, Cardinals, Woodpeckers, Peacocks, etc.)
Costanza, Anthony: I am a self-taught artist who has had an interest in creating art my entire life. For many years I was primarily a painter, even as I taught foreign languages. In the early 1980s while still teaching I began carving wood and painting my carvings. Since then I have carved 1000s of original, one-of-a-kind works and have been fortunate to garner national media attention for my art. I strive to make each new creation better than the one I last completed. Whenever possible, Ill use found wood, hand-carving without the use of power tools, and incorporating the natural cracks, grains, and knots into my finished piece
Deegan, Neil: My inspiration comes from the mountains and seacoasts of Ireland that I remember from my childhood and teenage years. I left Ireland in my late teens to live and study in London. Two years ago I returned to Ireland and toured the West of Ireland to paint and photograph the magnificent rocky coast of Galway and Clare. I have to admit that in the rain, it can be difficult to see the landscapes. Also, almost everything is green. I refuse to paint all green paintings. I like to imagine the thousands of years of colorful Irish history unfolding across the land and sea. Hence my obsession with color and curves. I also like to insert tragedy into my landscapes in the form of ruins and sunken ships foundered on the rocks. I work predominantly in oil paint because it allows time to ponder and often change composition and shapes.
Ditkof, Corky: I have been a nature photographer for 28 years. My pictures reflect my travels to Africa, Alaska, Western US, and the fantastic Floridian natural scenes. I do not computerize my pictures--the customer sees what I saw through the lens of my camera. My philosophy is to bring to the public the beauty and wonder of the different aspects of nature so the people may also enjoy them.
Elliott, Donna: My objective is to create beautifully designed paintings, whether they are non-objective works or have a subject. I work in several media, mostly watercolors,acrylics and pastels. I love intense color and try to realize a feeling or emotion in my work. Often my paintings are rhythmic, especially the more abstract works which I think of as visual music. I grew up in the Chicago area and spent many hours studying the gorgeous works at the Chicago Art Institute. I fell in love with the Impressionists works and think they have had some influence on my own paintings. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a BS in Art Education and taught Art for a few years at the high school level and later Watercolor Painting at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, WI. I started my career as a commercial artist in the New York, NY area and began painting abstract expressionist works in oils for competitions. In my European travels I was able to study the oil paintings and watercolors of the great masters and especially liked Leonardo da Vinci's wonderful sense of design, rhythm and movement, and Vincent Van Gogh's beautiful colors. I have also seen interesting and unique works in Russia, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. I have also studied with some of the modern masters, Karen Vernon, Judy Wagner, Tom Lynch (watercolors), Alan Flattman, Greg Biolchini, Brenda Roop and Doug Dawson (pastels). Many awards have been presented to me at the numerous juried exhibits I have entered. My paintings have been show in New York city, NJ, all through WI, and IL. My works are in many collections, both corporate and private, throughout this country.
Estrada, Lisa Festa: I have been working in Polymer Clay for over 7 years and it always inspires me. This medium has incredible flexibility with so many possibilities in colors and textures. My degree is in Communications and my background is in Sales Promotion but it wasnt until I was homebound because of my pregnancy, did my creative adventure begin. I began by painting on baby clothes for my newest addition and then branched out into other art forms until I found polymer clay. Once I started creating things from polymer clay I was hooked. I am totally self taught from books and tutorials I have read over the years and I try to learn a new technique every few months to add something new to my collection. I began with fun yet functional business card couches and slowly added to that purses and shoes. I create polymer clay jewelry, but that is not my true passion. My true passion is the actual creation of the pendant! What draws me to Polymer Clay is the one of a kind factor you can achieve never knowing exactly how it will turn out until the finished product.The very unique nature of this medium is the motivating factor of my designs.
Gill, Muffy Clark: Southwest Florida artist Muffy Clark Gill uses the ancient batik process to produce paintings on fabric. Her images of the tropics, its people, landscape and architecture and specifically her ongoing series of Floridas Seminole Indians, have earned significant recognition through awards, public and private commissions:
Over the past fifteen years, she has received more than thirty awards in local and national art exhibitions and festivals. Muffy and her husband Warren love to travel, collect rum, play steel drums, and grow tropical fruit and plants on their two acre farm in the city of Naples, Florida.
Dennis, Goodman: I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and always loved being outdoors. Natures beauty has always amazed me. I moved to Naples in 1985 and started taking pictures in high school. The beautiful scenery all around Naples spoke to me and I realized that I had tremendous passion for preserving my visions through photography. After owning my own business for several years, I decided to change my career and pursue my dream which is photography. With my wife and 2 daughters supporting this decision I decided to take a leap of faith and pursue it. Several friends and family members always commented on the photography they saw in my wifes scrapbooks and said to me Why dont you sell these photos? More and more times I heard this and after looking at all the thousands of photos I had taken over the years and the great stories those photos told, the inspiration took me to where I am today. Most of my photography comes from the Florida Everglades. I enjoy taking the day and exploring the vast swamp land hunting for that perfect shot. The connection I have when I am in the Everglades is indescribable. There is endless array of wildlife including birds, alligators, snakes, foliage and much more that my eye sees something different on each adventure. My inspiration comes from the beauty in nature and it has become spiritual expedition as well. My goal as an artist is to showcase the beauty and wonders of Gods amazing creations that surround this world today as I see it. Touching the emotions of another and to have them experience the photograph as if they were taking the picture is my focus. The ever changing light and the details of the swamp are captured in the hidden world we often do not see or experience. The natural scenery you see in my photos represents the beauty of nature as God created it there. Nothing is more pleasing to me then when a shot resonates with others and gives them inspiration. I love when my photo can tell a story give someone a visual of the swamp in their mind and make them feel like they were there with me. My journey to follow my passion and to follow the plan that God has put forth for me is what is really important in my life and my familys life. Through my photography I hope people realize how important it is to preserve our wetlands and the Everglades as God intended for future generations to come. My work has been published in several publications such as GulfShore Life, Destination Naples, Naples Daily News, Ava Maria College and many other magazines and upscale publications.
Haring, Barbara: has been a full-time potter for more than 30 years working at craft fairs along the East Coast and working out of her New York City studio. She currently shares a summer studio/ on-site gallery in Maine and she shares a Naples studio during the fall with potter Rinny Ryan. Barbara states "I have taught hand building classes for the past 12 years. My work includes a variety of slab-formed and coil-built sculptural and functional containers; a series of trays, plates and platters, many with landscapes or birch tree imagery; miniature clay chairs; and small textured vases with fluted rims. My most recent work combines clay elements with other natural materials."
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"Galway Bay Ireland"
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A-I Artists
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