David Lancaster

We all live in a continuum of moments, some fleeting and others memorable for a lifetime.  A crowd of people can experience the same moment yet their individual interpretations can be very different.  I try to summarize my movement through life as a collection of my experiences.  The challenge for me is to capture the emotion and life of my experiences on two dimensional photographic paper and have the viewer feel the mood of the subject matter.  

I started taking photographs in my teen years.   My father gave me his old Minolta 35mm SLR from the1960's to take pictures at our family gatherings.  Several years later I took photographs while studying at the Biosphere 2 Center in Oracle Arizona.  The marketing director generously gave me all the film I needed and developed it for me.  In return my photos were used for marketing purposes of the Center.  I had the opportunity to take thousands of photos of the students and numerous landscapes.  Several years later, when I started medical school, my Minolta retired to the camera bag.  Later, after a fifteen year hiatus, I purchased a Canon digital EOS 6d and have been busy photographing everything since then.  I like to use my family as models in many of my photos.  I continue to focus on landscapes and portraits but now I try to incorporate thematic threads within my work. 

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Gladys Swan

From an early age, the arts have offered me a path for exploration and a wonderful opportunity to determine how I see the world.  My efforts have taken various forms both as a writer and a visual artist. In high school and college I wrote poetry and short stories, took  classes in art and drama and acted in plays. For a time I aspired to be an actress.  As I have explored these various pathways I have come to see that the imagination is an extraordinary way of knowing and should be highly valued.  

Though I concentrated on writing novels and short stories during the years I taught literature, I also spent a decade working in ceramics, learning a great deal about form.    I was fortunate enough to receive a fellowship from the Lily Endowment for a project devoted to classes in art, the study of  Inuit art and mythology,  and travel to the Eastern Arctic to visit the creative environment. I took a number of art classes at Purdue and      continued my study of painting and printmaking  at UMC

Travel and study, as well as visits to museums in the States,  Europe and Latin America have been important to me.  A summer of drawing and visits to museums based in Florence with visits to other Italian cities was a rich experience. I have had the unique pleasure  of holding and looking  at Cezanne water colors at the Louvre in Paris.

As the first writer since the inception of the Vermont Studio Center to be awarded a fellowship for a residence in painting, I have spent a good deal of time there both as a painter and a Guest Writer.  A fellowship for a residency at the Center now supports those who care to cross boundaries. My interests in the creative process have led me to develop a workshop, "Heightening Imagination: Writing and Drawing from the Image."  No prior experience required.  I have taught the workshop in Columbia, Taos, and other parts of the country. As my novels and short story collections have been published, I have had the opportunity to do the cover paintings for the books, as well as for those of other writers who have asked me to do theirs.

Much of my work in both art and writing   is set in New Mexico, where I grew up.  Its landscape and  variety of cultures still inspire  me.  I also  enjoy plein aire painting here in Missouri and in the  Maine woods, where I live in the summer.  My painting has moved from the figurative to the abstract over the years.  I try to paint from the images and colors that move through me and suggest what the painting wants to be.   A number of paintings have elements of both the figurative and the abstract.  . I work in both water colors and oils. I owe a great deal to the inspiration of  Fauves and such artists as  Bonnard, Emil Nolde, John Marin, Charles Burchfield, Paul Klee Joan Mitchell  and Keith Crown.  

I now devote my time to both  writing and painting and share a studio with artists Jane Mudd and Chris  Frederick  at the Orr Street Studios.

We have been together since the beginning of the studios.

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Leanne Tippett Mosby

Even though the course of my career took me down other paths, I have always been an artist at heart.  From receiving my very first camera, a Kodak 110 instamatic, at age eight, to taking every high school art class available, I have always enjoyed the prospect of creating.  Although I dabble in jewelry and painting, more recently I have focused more heavily on photography.  After wanting to do so for 15 years, I had the amazing experience of taking the Summer Intensive at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography – where I made many new friends and was able to eat, sleep and breathe photography for six wonderful weeks.  I enjoy every type of photography from portrait, to abstract, landscape, to macro and beyond.  Most importantly, photography is a way for me to document everything from grand adventures to intimate family gatherings…but being able to sell a piece here and there would certainly be icing on the cake!  

I hope you enjoy these photos.  If you have an interest in any of these images, or would like to commission a special photograph, please contact me at (573) 999-2737 or ljtmosby@gmail.com.

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Steven Wilson

View fullsize

My work is the therapeutic expression of my pathology and soul. It is the interpretation of the world and its dimensions; both real and those I have created.

http://stevenwilsonart.weebly.com/

Apparatus & Consent

If I defend thee, then battle shall by my breast, and war shall be my womb

Lewranthi

Liebenacht, Distance is perspective

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Margaret Leslie Utterback

Margaret Leslie Utterback

"There are moments in our lives,
there are moments in a day, when
we seem to see beyond the usual.
Such are the moments of our greatest happiness.
Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom.
If one could but recall his vision by some
sort of sign. It was in this hope
that the arts were invented.
Sign-posts on the way to what may be.
Sign-posts toward greater knowledge."
Robert Henri; The Art Spirit

Today the sky is absolutely cobalt above, fading to pale rose madder at the horizon. I yearn for a stick of pastel with the same sense of blue, a sense of endless atmosphere. And one that would tell of the warmth or coolness of the breeze as it moves around me. And a stick of pastel that would generate the radiating sunlight, at dawn, at noon, or dusk. Today the objects in front of me are composed of a silent history. And again, I yearn for a stick of pastel that would tell it's tale, complicated with it's "self" and mine and another and another. The reality is that no single stick of color can replicate the beauty of nature or the complexities of a relationship. To copy is impossible; the attempt to copy is mundane. A painting is an image; a combination of the reality, the painter, and the viewer. And the reality is fleeting, instants of impressions, transmitted from the eye to the brain and translated in minute portions of time. The translated image of the painting only carries the "sign" of the artists visual "language," in hopes of a non-verbal communication and a connection with a reality.

contact:
E: Leslie Utterback
Tel: 573-445-2189
W: www.ottercreekstudio.com

Waterplay

pastel
19x25

The Chosen Path

pastel
16x20

Convergence

pastel
25x19

Rocheport Elevator

pastel
12x19

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Jennifer Slouha

Jennifer Slouha

Jennifer Slouha is a self-taught artist living in Holts Summit, Missouri.  Her preferred mediums are professional grade colored pencils, graphite pencils and acrylic paint.  These media allow her to pursue a passion for realism and fine detail.  Her process involves the use of rich tonality and perspective.  Jennifer starts with researching the subject and begins forming the composition.  Then she creates a simple line drawing and begins building depth until the image takes form. Each colored pencil drawing requires from 30 to 100 hours to complete.

Jennifer enjoys creating highly technical pieces and continually works on improving her skills.  She specializes in commissioned photorealistic automotive artwork but also creates art in many other subjects such as pets, wildlife, cityscapes, and portraits

She is a member of the Columbia Art League in Columbia, Missouri and participates in the Community Exhibit Program, exhibiting her artwork throughout the city on a rotating basis.  She has also been accepted into Capital Arts Gallery in Jefferson City, Missouri, the Art House Gallery of Fulton, Missouri, and the Lake Fine Art Academy & Galleria in Osage Beach, Missouri for representation.  She was commissioned to create a series of automotive artwork for Missouri Auto Auction in Columbia, MO.  Her artwork has won awards and been published numerous times.  She has also been the sketch artist for an episode of the Travel Channel’s television series “The Dead Files”.

contact:
T: 573-397-3573
W:www.jenniferslouha.com

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Eric Seat

Eric Seat

by Lindsey Howald
with permission of the Columbia Daily Tribune

Eric Seat is a different kind of illustrator.

In a career field increasingly populated by graphic designers toting Macbooks, he works with traditional media - acrylics, oils, board. He holds texture and stylistic exaggerations to be as important and inspiring as the meaning of the text his work is meant to highlight.

And while the great illustrator Norman Rockwell created warm and fuzzy family scenes, Seat's portraits are delightfully eerie.

"I would like to think of it as more of a fine art," Seat said of his work.

The 27-year-old earned his bachelor's degree in communication arts and design from Virginia Commonwealth University. After attending the Illustration Academy, a workshop that features, among others, Kansas City's Mark English, Seat came away inspired by illustrators who had moved the genre from magazine pages to art gallery walls.

That's why, when Seat moved to Columbia from Leesburg, Va., he landed in an art gallery. This is his fourth month in the city, and he recently joined Columbia Art League and staffs the gallery once a week.

His portrait of Michael Moore, the filmmaker who made a name bashing President George W. Bush in films like Fahrenheit 9/11, also appeared in CAL's "Politically Speaking" exhibition. "It was a little portrait I did for my portfolio," he said. Asked if it lends some insight into his own political leanings, Seat stepped around a firm answer.

"I don't necessarily do portraits of people I like," he said. "I just thought I'd do it for my portfolio since he's in the public eye a lot. I was definitely interested in having political beliefs" portrayed in my artwork "a while ago, but not so much now."

While he might be hopeful about linking illustration with fine art, Seat depends on assignments from publications. Therefore his portfolio is ultimately designed to market his drawing talents. Inspired by the exaggerated caricatures of Philip Burke and grotesque figures of Lucian Freud, Seat's portfolio contains recognizable subjects such as Moore, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kurt Vonnegut.

"For illustration work, it definitely needs to be an image that fits the needs for the publication," he said. He must be doing something right: His work has received awards from the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts magazine and Print magazine.

He moved away from the busy sprawl of the Washington, D.C., bedroom community with his retired parents. Talented but shy, he's still struggling to find his footing.

"You know, finding work in illustration is certainly a slow progression for me," Seat said. In Virginia, he produced work for Military History magazine and taught occasional illustration workshops while working part time in a frame store. He's currently working on a series of illustrations for Read magazine, depicting George Orwell's Animal Farm for middle school-age readers.

Eric Seat selected for international
illustration competition
in New York City
(Feb. 2010)

contact:
W: www.ericseat.com
Tel: 703-727-5372

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Amy Schomaker

Amy Schomaker

Amy Schomaker’s love of texture and form are apparent in her diverse use of handmade paper, painted paper and low-relief dimensional collages and paintings. 

She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1990 concentrating in oil painting and printmaking. A St. Louis native, she now considers Columbia Missouri her home. 

Amy is continuing to learn new techniques and applications in papermaking as a member of the Fiber Arts Study Group through the Columbia Weaver’s and Spinners Guild. Her work can be seen in a variety of locations throughout Columbia in the Art League’s Community Exhibit Program.

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A medley of artwork lines both walls like playful sentinels. These are the colorfully manifest creations of Columbia artist Amy Schomaker, bringing life and light to the otherwise gray corridor of Boone County Regional Hospital. Bold acrylic paintings, silkscreen prints, delicate torn paper collages, and painted paper creations hang neatly, side by side. She holds no objections against exhibiting early work alongside her latest creations. “Art doesn’t have an expiration date like milk,” Schomaker contends. 

Schomaker pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in oil painting as well as printmaking at the University of Missouri in the late 1980s. Additional art making techniques were acquired throughout the four years Schomaker spent teaching art to middle school students and the influences she encountered as a member of the Columbia Weaver’s and Spinner’s guild. Schomaker attributes much of her artistic growth to Leandra Spangler, a mentor and friend, who set inspiration in her to continue developing as an artist.

Although Schomaker’s artwork has many influences, the most essential influence is her own: and it proves to be the single tie that binds the variety of art forms together. Each work embodies Schomaker’s veneration of nature and her playful dance with unconventionality and inventiveness.

“You don’t have to color inside [the lines],” Schomaker insists. She allows this concept to trickle over into her paintings which are layered, folded, cut, burned, or torn to effect multi-dimensionality. Variations on these techniques encourage shadow play arising from the surrounding light situations to pass through the artwork, resulting in many transient impressions of the painting. 

Organic elements enter into Schomaker’s hand painted paper modeling and collages. She adds cooked down plant fibers to her handmade paper before “combing” distinctive textures onto each paper sheet. Her paper works are a continuation on the theme of mingling actual and applied perspectives and are what she describes as “low relief sculptures.” 

Schomaker regularly participates in quarterly community exhibit programs, Fiber Arts tours, and regional art exhibits. She has her sights set on expanding her audience and will undoubtedly continue developing and applying new techniques in her art forms as life itself unfolds alongside her.

by Lindsey Cole

The Fiddler

paper mâché

Chasm

acrylic on canvas

Reaching for the Sun

acrylic on paper
collage

Paper Lantern

Paper ornament/lantern
handmade paper
with block printed symbols

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Deni Cary Phillips

Deni Cary Phillips

Deni Cary Phillips

Infinity Photographs

denicaryphillipsphotographs.com

573-424-9693

Intimate Landscapes

Deni Cary Phillips has had a camera in her hands since childhood. Unable to develop prints in the darkroom, she was thrilled when digital photography gave her creative control of processing. Deni shoots outdoors and the natural environment almost exclusively. Travel photography, landscapes and ancient architecture, and intimate landscapes are her favorite subjects. Self-taught for many years, she is also a graduate of The Arcanum, a now-defunct online school where she studied under a number of well-known photographers, as well as a student of Don Giannatti's commercial photography classes. Her work is on permanent display in a number of local residences and commercial buildings in Columbia Missouri. She is happy to work with clients to create right-sized photographs from her collection. Contact Deni through Columbia Art League for more engagement with the "Visions of Eagle Bluffs" collection, or to see more of her work.

You can often see her work in various locations around her home town, Columbia, Missouri, as well as online: Facebook, Instagram at InfinityPhotoDeni, and on her website, denicaryphillipsphotographs.com.

 "Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving." 

Ansel Adams

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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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Bill Manion

Bill Manion

Returning to regular work with brush and pen has been an experience to which I have long looked forward. Now time and a fun place to work give me the opportunity to try styles and combinations.

I don’t have any rules going into a painting or a cartoon. Sometimes I have an idea of what I want but most of the time I just let the abstraction happen or the humor of the character build. I love the shape of bottles and vessels and work these into much of what I do. I am interested in cartoon outlines and the flows of abstract. All figure paintings start with a cartoon. Under all paintings somewhere there is an abstract. Some of my work blends the two. As an abstract grows with layer after layer of color I begin to see a form or a shape, or I will sketch out a form and begin, looking for the energy of color that makes a work pop.

Works of art should brighten and highlight every wall, so I like to play with color. I am not afraid of color, especially the deep hues and tones of red and its compliments. A blend of red and yellow, wet into wet, makes me smile. A black and white painting or drawing can gain dimension with that splash of color that gives it life or makes a mood. I love watching how light changes through a wine bottle. I love the colors of sunsets over the water. I will keep trying to capture those colors, tones, humor, moods, and the great feeling of forever sunsets that a work of art brings to me and to others.

Designs, cartoons, and the love of fine art has been a part of my life since high school. The dream of learning to draw and paint showed in air brushed T-shirts in college. Later, a cartoon, “Catch Pen,” laughing with the Cowboy life by “Billy Bob and friends,” was in rodeo news and horseman magazines for several years. A time to get serious with a business career delayed regular art work for several years. I continued to study with artist friends around the country while building a major art collection and working with art support groups in several cities. Moving back to Missouri with a fun studio overlooking the Lake of the Ozarks, I have returned to drawing, design, and movement of color. Paintings have placed in juried shows along with character development and design for commercial operations.

in studio with Mystique

Bill Manion

Summer Beach

Chateau Mouton Rothschild

Bacigalupi Vineyards

Shudda Hadda Chardonnay!

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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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India Marie Knowles

India Marie Knowles

For as long as I can remember there has been an artist within eager to break free and express herself. Occasionally I have found an outlet for my high need to create, but jewelry making has captured my imagination as nothing I have tried before. Since retiring from my private practice as a licensed professional counselor in 2002, what I began as a hobby has evolved into an addiction and is now a small business. Most of my work incorporates semiprecious gemstones and sterling silver or 14K gold-filled wire and findings. I also enjoy using lampwork and other handcrafted beads.

Most recently, however, bead embroidery has become my obsession. Gemstones, small freshwater pearls, tiny seed beads and bugle beads lend themselves to unlimited designs and color. I love allowing the patterns to evolve as I work rather than utilizing a plan. Pieces that are asymmetrical in design almost always prove to be gratifying to me, as I like seeing the final coming together of seemingly disparate components.

It is always a joy to see people wearing and apparently enjoying pieces I have made, and I am especially pleased when items are purchased as gifts. A song by Harry Chapin entitled “Mr Tanner” comes to mind when I consider my work. Mr. Tanner, the owner of a dry cleaning shop, loved to sing but was panned by critics in his first New York concert. The line, “He did not know how well he sang; it just made him whole” is a poignant theme in the song. As I look at the works of other jewelry artists, I do not know how well I create; it just makes me whole.

Items are available for viewing and/or purchase at
Columbia Art League in Columbia and Missouri Hawthorn Galleries in Springfield, Missouri, or by appointment (contact info below).

contact info:
Tel: 573-449-7754

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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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Sharyn Hyatt

Sharyn Hyatt

Sharyn received her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia, her Masters of Fine Arts from Clemson University, and has studied and traveled in Europe. She has taught art at the secondary and college levels, has published in several journals, and has work on the cover of three books. Hyatt's work can be found in numerous public and private collections including the Asheville Art Museum, Southwestern Bell of St. Louis, Boone County National Bank, the University of Missouri Hospital and Clinics, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, and the collection of August Busch Jr. In addition she has shown in numerous group shows as well as in 14 solo exhibitions.

For the past 25 years, Hyatt has considered her most creative endeavor to be teaching and she has had the privilege of working with more than 2,000 emerging young artists. Sharyn feels most comfortable with the titles "teacher" and "mom" but as of 2008 could be found edging back into the art scene.

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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.

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W: www.kerryhirth.com

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