Farah Nieuwenhuizen

Farah Nieuwenhuizen

Farah Nieuwenhuizen has lived and traveled throughout Western Europe, Brazil, Canada, and the United States of America. These experiences laid the basis for her lifelong concern with cultural diversity.

She studied painting at the Escola de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before she continued her studies in the visual arts at Washington University in St. Louis and at the University of Missouri in Columbia where she received her bachelor's degree in art education, K–12.

For twenty years she taught at Hickman High School in Columbia, where she was recognized as an outstanding teacher. She has written and reviewed art curriculum for the Columbia Public Schools. While teaching at Hickman High School, she became the major contributor to the production of the annual multicultural assembly.

Ms. Nieuwenhuizen has received several awards for her painting, batik, ceramics, jewelry, and fiber arts at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia and art shows at the Boone County National Bank and the Columbia Art League. Her artwork has been on display in several regional art exhibits. Also, she has taught art education at the University of Missouri's College of Education, where she received a High Flyer Award in fall 2001.

Imperial Topaz

Pendant

Smokey Topaz

Pendant

Faceted Smokey Topaz

Pendant

Moon Stone

Pendant

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Randy McDermit

Randy McDermit

I am a local Columbia artist who has spent the majority of my life in or around Columbia. Most of my work has been with acrylic paint; however, I’ve also worked with charcoal, pastel, and pen and ink. I began college as an art major at Columbia College, but after two years I changed my major to psychology and transferred to MIZZOU. I didn’t pick it up again until after I graduated, moved to St. Louis, and started working for the state of Missouri. In St. Louis I moved into a studio apartment and started doing charcoal drawings, posting them all over my walls. At that time I wasn’t concerned with a finished product. I just attacked the paper with aggression and vigor and then set it aside to start another one. I didn’t show them to anyone for months, but steadily I felt I was making progress. Eventually I started working in bits of color using pastels until I developed a love of color.

My early work was almost exclusively charcoal and pastel and greatly shaped the development of my style. I always enjoyed the feel and expressiveness of charcoal and pastel. My application was loose, physical and cathartic. Whether it was the medium that drew me to my subject matter or the other way around, I found satisfaction in depicting simple, dramatic gestures, figures and faces. It was more about capturing the intensity of a single moment rather than complex narratives or concepts. When I made the gradual transition from pastel to acrylic, I brought with me the same approach. The translation has produced some interesting results, and those early days continue to influence my direction. When I get off track, I always go back and do a few charcoals to reconnect.

I have always found the task in every artwork is to bridge the elements of connection and conflict. I feel like if I am authentically connected and present everything else will fall into place. The older I get, the more I trust my intuition. I trust that if I am fully engaged in the process of self expression, a truth will reveal itself. Not every truth, but a truth nevertheless.

contact:
W:artaccidental.blogspot.com
Tel: 573-424-0216

Mechanical Romance

Floral Arrangement

Tattoo

The Tower

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Hope Martin

Hope Martin

Hello, I'm Hope Martin, a wildlife & nature artist in Columbia. I've been exploring art in soft pastels for over 10 years. Formerly a graphic designer, a desire to be with my kids drew me away from the corporate world. Exploring outdoors with them revived my love for art and nature. My art now intricately captures the colors and details of the world around me. The process of creating art is a heartfelt expression of my connection with nature's beauty. Through my artwork, I aim to share this wonder and inspire others to see & explore nature.

My medium of choice is pastels. I also use black ink with watercolor and sometimes instant coffee.

contact:
573-239-5606
www.hopemartinartist.com

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Karen Marshall

Karen Marshall (aka Kate Verna)

Kate Verna Photography

Karen Marshall has been a resident of Columbia since 2003, graduating in 2007 from Mizzou with an interdisciplinary degree in Women’s Studies and Photography.

She has had a lifelong love of photography and began taking photos in grade school. Her work covers a wide range of subject matter, although she particularly enjoys taking pictures of animals, interesting textures, and places that are seemingly lost in time such as long forgotten ruins on Route 66.

Karen’s other passion is travel. She has been to every continent except Africa and Antarctica, and hopes to one day take an extended around the world trip and document it in photos. Karen always has her camera with her on trips and has an extensive body of work from her travels.

Black and white and sepia photography also interest Karen. She experiments with making some street photography and landscape photos black and white or sepia evoking a timelessness.

Why Kate Verna?

The name Kate Verna came from combining a nickname with her grandmother's maiden name as a tribute to her. Karen’s photos of Italy were taken during a trip to visit the Verna side of the family.

Awards

• 2012 - Honorable mention in the Columbia, Missouri, Visions Photography competition.

• 2013 - Photo selected to be in a juried show, the Visions Pho-Rest, at Art in the Park in Columbia.

• 2014 & 2015- Two cat photos selected to appear in the Baker Taylor Publishing cat calendar, one in 2014 and one in 2015.

• 2015 - Missouri State Fair honorable mention in the open photography competition for a photo of Westphalia, Missouri.

contact:
W: www.katevernaphotography.com

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Jennifer L. Market

Jennifer L. Market

As a photographer, I have found the natural beauty contained within Missouri and beyond to be my inspiration. I have been toting a camera along as part of my everyday life and my travels for over 20 years and strive to take that extra time to capture what others may miss in a hectic busy world. As one who was trained originally to shoot images onto film and has now transitioned to digital equipment, I still strive to perfect the image before pressing the shutter and not embellishing afterwards in the darkroom or via computer. I keep those methods in my photographic toolbox, but I try to frame and edit an image onsite naturally, using available light and shadow, and let the compositions speak for themselves.

In some ways photography has become an integral part of all of our lives, whether it is a way to remember a special moment like a child’s birthday or to capture a trip and keep the images in a scrapbook to share with others who weren’t there. Some also consider these moments to be art and frame the images to be mounted on walls to enhance their everyday life. I hope that what I showcase here now, and in the future, leaves you inspired to take the time to find and appreciate the hidden magic in your everyday life.

contact info:
T: 573-443-7710
W: jlmarketphotography.com

Parhelion

Alley Spring Sluice

Lost in The Garden

Sun Diamonds

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Ken Logsdon

Ken Logsdon

Around 1991, I met an artist in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, at an arts fair. Turned out this artist, Edie Dismuke, lived just a few blocks from me in northwest Denver. She made postage stamp jewelry and cards. One day when I was visiting her home studio, I suggested she add Churchill quotations (a passion of mine at the time) to her Churchill stamp cards. She declined but said something like "Be my guest." Thus Post-a-Quote was born. In two years time, I left a successful business partnership and moved with my wife Lynnette and two children to Columbia, Missouri, to pursue Post-a-Quote fulltime. I've been at it ever since.

Post-a-Quote was named before there was a worldwide web like today's. The name was a pun. On a blank greeting card I would handwrite a quotation to match an image on a postage stamp. The buyer of the card would then, in the British manner, “post” it to friends or family.

I have continued for the last 22 years to handwrite the quotations on each and every card. I'm often asked why, and I always say I do it because it further connects me to the words. I came to Post-a-Quote as a reader and collector of quotations, not as an artist. In that regard, I am self-taught. That's not to say that in addition to Ms. Dismuke there have not been people along the way who have helped me better myself as an artist.

Though I began with postage stamps as the anchor for the quote, over the years I began using vintage illustrations, artwork by noted Oklahoma artist D.J. Lafon and photographs by my sister, Claudia Hunter. Eventually my photo bug of earlier years was reignited. I discovered I could be my own illustrator for all those quotes I loved and for which I couldn't find a matching image. It is my own photos that I use now almost exclusively.

A couple of years ago I became involved with the Columbia Art League and have exhibited my photographs in several shows. The themed nature of the exhibits has challenged me and, I believe, made me a better artist. The Interpretations show of August 2013, dreamed up by Diana Moxon, the executive director of CAL, challenged me further artistically than anything so far. I look forward to more challenges in that venue.

In addition to quote cards I also do photo cards. Both are available in Columbia or can be purchased online. You may email me to see if I have a retailer in your area.

-Ken Logsdon
contact:
W:www.postaquote.com

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Peggy King

Peggy King

Snow Flake Glass

An affirmed non-artist, I “found” glass at the age of 50. After working for decades as an office manager and then energy analyst, it was a complete surprise when the right side of my brain kicked in. I am unable to explain why, on a whim, I signed up for a lampworking class. Melting that glass over a torch to create a bead was pure magic. But I became frustrated when I didn’t seem to have the ability to make the bead look like I wanted. So I went back and took a class on fusing. Melting glass became an immediate passion and I bought my first kiln that very same day.

Early in my glass journey I learned that the skills I used in an earlier flirtation with patchwork quilting transferred directly to my glass work. I have become known for my ability to effectively combine color, texture and pattern in my artwork. My enamel pieces are a riot of color, demanding attention with their bright, saturated colors. My dichroic glass works make a distinct statement in their bold designs. I enjoy incorporating a variety of highly detailed decorative accents, including hand made lampworked elements and hand pulled murinni.

Following where my passion for glass took me, and with some gentle encouragement by a dear lady, I joined The Best of Missouri Hands (BOMH) and found a place for myself among the remarkable, accepting people there. Suddenly there were more doors open to me than I knew what to do with and opportunities to give something of myself back to the organization, including serving on the Board of Directors, and as President for two terms. Through my association with BOMH, I have been taken in, accepted and encouraged by all manner of artists, and been able to contribute to their journey even as they contribute to mine.

The practice of melting glass to create beautiful works of art is ancient. Today’s studio glass industry is ever changing with new technologies, products, and techniques. This gift was bestowed upon me as I began looking to retirement from my real world job. Now, as I look to the future, there are many ideas in my head and products or techniques on my list of things I want to work with, I know my glass art will continue to provide a rich and active retirement.

contact info:
W:www.snowflakeglass.com
Past President, Best of
Missouri Hands

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Kerry Mulvania Hirth

Kerry Mulvania Hirth

Kerry Hirth uses her synesthetic experience of musical harmony as color to create visual music in vibrant linear patterns. Her work captures the complexity and richness of musical patterns, and explores the ways they point to the source of music in life experiences. By engaging the colors of real and enchanted landscapes, her drawings of music gain a unique sense of time, place, and the extraordinary relationship between music and the natural world.

Kerry Hirth was born in the Midwest and currently lives and works near Columbia, Missouri. Kerry's work has been presented in gallery exhibitions nationally and internationally, as well as closer to home. She collaborates with musicians, with noteworthy local projects including a live demonstration with the Missouri Symphony Society orchestra, creating backgrounds for live performance at the MU School of Fine Arts, and the permanent installation of a large scale work in the atrium of the Bond Life Sciences Center. Kerry's approach to music and visual art has been shaped by her unique academic background, which includes studying music, philosophy, and computer networks. Kerry works full-time as an artist in her studio "Mount Erebus Workshop" adjacent to her home, where she lives with her husband Andy Hirth.

contact info:
W: www.kerryhirth.com

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Jan Hager-Klein

Jan Hager-Klein

I’m a listener and a watcher...have been all my life. My professional life took me to 11 countries in Europe, Asia, all over the USA as a Human Resources manager, a counselor, and college professor.

Now I’m in Missouri and have enjoyed painting for the last 14 years, alone or with friends on destination painting experiences. Italy has called us twice; Hopetown, Bahamas was a great alone get away; and Carmel, California calls again and again. I’ve taken classes at Webster University and private lessons with Dong Feng Li, Billyo O’Donnel, John Porter Lasater IV, Qiang Huang, and with Ruo Li.

I paint because I like the process. Each painting is like a puzzle that I slowly put together whether is it a landscape, city scape, interior, or abstract. I come from painters with a mother, brother, and a son who all make their living as painters. I grew up with my mother - Helen Hager - painting to classical music when I got home from school. The smell of turpentine and open windows back then was a peaceful happy time.

I hope you enjoy my work.

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Diane Epstein

Diane Epstein

I have been a freelance graphic designer for more than thirty-six years throughout the Midwest. I have designed print materials for many fields including television, magazines, small business, educational programs, and the non-profit sector. I have been involved in all stages of the graphics process from design to final print.

Over the last few years I have been drawing/painting with pastels and watercolors, creating portraits of people and animals. My passion is drawing portraits for the parents of children who have either passed on or have a terminal illness. These are sent to the parents as a condolence gift.

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Cynthia Durost

Cynthia Durost

I paint because I am struck by the multitude of colors and sights of Nature. I paint as a form of meditation releasing my energy, joy, sadness, or love. I paint as an expression of my relation to the whole, to Nature. The browns, blues, ochres, reds, purples, blacks, and yellow are so vivid; even the snow presents color in reverse. I also have a longing for the space of Nature: the sky, the water, the trees, the rocks opening up. I see the relationship between forms and space - two trees stand juxtaposed leaning and finally encircling each other, two friends. I want only to keep recording my feeling in the natural space. The best of my painting experience exists in my being present spontaneously painting with the flow of water and color.

Sometimes, I paint a scene over and over, later to learn a message exists. In New Mexico, for instance, I paint a mountain scene again and again, later to learn Zuni women ascend the heights of this mountain to gather a ceremonial flower which grows only on this mountain. I am drawn to certain places, the fields and marshes and woods of New England, the canyonlands, rivers, and mountains of New Mexico and Arizona, the islands of Cape Verde, or the rainforests of Costa Rica. There is for me a connecting force between mind and Nature, a play of consciousness and spirit. I acknowledge land and wild animals, and especially the space without the importance of humans. The artist in me follows instinct and intuition, is connected to all peoples, crosses all boundaries, is open and searching.

I also believe firmly in sharing and passing on the tradition and experience of painting and being an artist. In this exchange with many others, I continue to learn and grow and play.

contact info:
T: 573-355-2294

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Marilyn Cummins

Marilyn Cummins

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there lay in me an invincible summer." – Albert Camus

I’ve loved to sketch and paint since I was a young girl on the farm, and I was fortunate to have a great art teacher (Mel Panter) in my small-town high school. But art was one of many interests, and not the one I pursued as a college major and career (ag journalism, in newspaper, magazine, PR/advertising agencies, and my own business for the past 26 years).  Still, the latent artist in me was always there: taking me into art museums on every business and vacation trip; collecting art supplies too rarely used; and, visiting galleries and meeting artists whose world my creative soul wanted to join. 

It wasn’t until I was in my late 40s and settled back in Columbia, that a magazine assignment to cover the local art community in word and photos led me to learn of the first painting workshop offered by an artist I greatly admired: Joel Sager. It was time to get serious about creating art, and with Joel’s encouragement, I followed up the 2007 summer workshops by studying with him nearly every week for close to five years, soaking up his expert guidance and being inspired by observing his process in the studio we shared for a time.

I began working in a favorite technique of Joel’s at the time: layering oils, acrylic, collage and tar washes in multimedia paintings, sometimes based on watercolor sketches inspired by my own photography of the land or of people. I needed to find my own voice, though, and in time, my rather minimalist landscape studies and other watercolor works began to stand on their own and became a trademark of mine. This still amazes me, after fearing and avoiding the medium for so many years.

As I continue to work and experiment with a variety of media – oil, watercolor, mixed-media in two and three dimensions, Chinese brush painting, photography – I strive to let go vs. trying to control the medium or create exact representations. When I’m successful, the invincible summer in me is able to find its voice and reach out to others in ways that are sometimes peaceful and serene; other times edgy and ironic.

For many years, I called Columbia’s Orr Street Studios home, but due to COVID-19 and other issues, I’ve moved back to my home studio with a peaceful view of my yard and woods. I encourage you to come visit Invincible Summer Studios virtually (for now), and also to pursue your own creative dreams, no matter your age or time in life. I believe there is an invincible summer in each of us.

Marilyn Cummins
Invincible Summer Studios

contact info:
Tel: 573-239-1229

www.invinciblesummerstudios.com

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