Indice dei contenuti per Issue 37 in Create! Magazine

connect on Instagram @createmagazine Dear Reader, I am thrilled to present the Women's Edition of Create! Magazine Issue #37, showcasing the exceptional works of a group of women-identifying and non-binary artists. Our annual special edition amplifies the voices of underrepresented creatives, and this year's issue is no exception. The inspiration behind this issue comes from our experience as women artists and creative entrepreneurs. We faced our unique challenges and limited opportunities on our journey, and it's important to us to do our part in amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups. The art world is still largely male-dominated, despite efforts towards gender equality, making it more important than ever to elevate the work and perspectives of women artists. Through this edition, we aim to celebrate the diversity and creativity of women…

INTERVIEW INTERVIEW WITH SAMAR HEJAZI In this interview, artist Samar Hejazi shares how she incorporates history, culture and meaning behind textiles into her creative process. Hejazi, who became interested in textiles in her mid-twenties, uses her research to lay the foundation for her work, which often explores alternative narratives. Her creative process involves immersing herself in the work, negotiating with materials, and allowing emotions and concepts to guide her choices. Hejazi's studio practice is driven by curiosity, exploration, play and artistic instinct, resulting in boundless and ever-evolving work. She has several upcoming projects, including limited edition art prints and a collection of printed and embroidered hoodies. Website: samarhejazi.com When did you become interested in textile work and embroidery? I've always been intrigued by textiles, but it wasn't until my mid-twenties that…

INTERVIEW Lee Nowell-Wilson is an American figurative artist based in Baltimore, MD, whose works capture intimate moments of daily domestic life. She earned her BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2011 and has participated in artist residencies with Stay Home Gallery in Tennessee (2021), the Street Art School in Lyon, France (2015), and Creative Paradox in Maryland (2011). Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is part of the permanent collection of the GLB Memorial Fund. I connected with the artist after the opening of her most recent solo exhibition to delve into the ideas at the heart of her latest series, what she plans to focus on next, and the tensions behind the tenderness in her artwork and creative process. Website: www.leenowellwilson.com…

This issue is juried by a leading artist advisor and curator, Marina Press Granger, and features the work of selected women-identifying and gender nonconforming artists working in a wide array of media, disciplines and creative backgrounds. Marina Press Granger has nearly 15 years of experience working in the museums and galleries in New York City. She holds a master's degree in Art History and a special place in her heart for artists.Her work has brought her in close contact with a plethora of players in the art world; artists, collectors, curators, dealers, and consultants. Granger has also curated independently and contributed to gallery exhibition catalogs. It is her advice and experience that she wishes to share with you.Since starting The Artist Advisory in 2018, Granger earned a Certification in Classical…

Website: allisonbaker.com Allison Baker earned her MFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a BFA in sculpture and a BA in gender studies from Indiana University. Her work investigates hegemonic femininity as a site of transgression and resistance with tongue planted firmly in cheek, where she deploys irony and the abject in order to make space to ponder the soulcrushing banalities of what many might term “women's work.” It's funny (hopefully), but funny with a serrated edge. ARTIST STATEMENT In my work I deploy irony and the abject in order to make space to ponder the soul-crushing banalities of what many might term “women's work.” It's funny (hopefully) but funny with a serrated edge. Fibers and textiles have been at the crux of my practice in…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? My artistic journey began when I was about two years old. My mom used to bring me to the Seattle Public Library during the day where I would fish out all kinds of books about dinosaurs and sketch all of the pictures I could find. Back then I really had a deep fascination with these images, and in this way my love of art was sparked. My journey began when I learned what this felt like, to let myself indulge in basically obsessing over something. Eventually I moved to sketching Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Matisse paintings and various still lives, picking up different tools and techniques that I would use to continuously explore new subjects. What part of your…

Website: brittyem.com Instagram: @britty.em Internationally recognized Australian painter Britty Em creates bold large-scale acrylic pieces whose symbols and stories charm and challenge viewers through a combination of playfulness, nostalgia and treatment of serious themes, including loneliness, consumerism and the unseen facets of everyday life. Britty's brilliantly colorful work clearly demonstrates her influences— from her formal education in both fine art and architectural studies, to her upbringing having a mother who was a designer, to her deep love of pop culture. Britty received her Bachelor of Architecture from Queensland University of Technology and her Bachelor of Fine Art from Griffith University. She also has a diploma in art therapy. Britty was born in Canada and at the age of 4 moved to Australia, where she grew up on the Gold Coast.…

Website: sullivanbeeman.com Instagram: @dsullivanbeeman Sullivan-Beeman lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, and Vancouver, Canada. While she has a BFA in cinema from the University of Southern California, she is a self-taught artist. Her work has been exhibited in notable galleries and museums such as KP Projects in Los Angeles, CA; Haven Gallery in Northport, NY; Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, CA; Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, WI; the Belskie Museum of Art & Science in Closter, NJ; Greg Moon Art in Taos, NM; Merlino Bottega Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy; and Galerie Bruno Massa in Paris, France. Sullivan-Beeman has participated in art fairs such as Scope Immersive 2020, Aqua Art Miami and PULSE Art Fair in Miami, FL; Seattle Art Fair in Seattle, WA; LA Art…

Website: frances-melhop.art Frances Melhop works in tactile mediums, exploring the tensions between the virtual and physical ways we experience the world. Her current focus is impermanence, memory, imperfection and human presence and absence in our screen and material lives. Frances Melhop, born in Christchurch, New Zealand, currently lives and works in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. She holds an MFA and BFA from the University of Reno (Nevada). Melhop's work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions worldwide at notable institutions such as Autry Museum (Los Angeles, CA), Brownsville Museum of Fine Art (Brownsville, TX), Cincinnati Art Museum (Cincinnati, OH), Murray State University (Murray, KY), Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art (Augusta, GA) and Arizona State University (Phoenix, AZ). She has exhibited collaborative works with Susan Norrie at Nancy Hoffman Gallery (New…

Website: gailwegodsky.com Curious by nature, Gail Wegodsky often includes in her highly realistic, photo-informed oil paintings unexpected situations that tease the viewer's inquisitive interest, such as figures at a distant window, a woman holding an ambiguous letter or subtle reflections in a soap bubble that cause the viewer to wonder, “what's the story here?” Her recent paintings of books and libraries are influenced by openness to learning and the delight of reading. Wisdom within books and periodicals scratches her itch to understand how the world works. In this age, when truth seems so elastic it can be stretched to include any belief no matter how implausible, libraries are quiet, protective, calm, sane sanctuaries guarding humanity's shared wisdom and logic—and the visual abundance of zillions of multicolored books gives the painter's…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? When I was a rising seventh grader my mother had to choose if I was going to take pottery or photography as my mandatory art class. Since I had spent the spring and summer of sixth grade quitting the nasty habit of nail biting, she decided photography for me, so I did not have to cut my newfound trophies. The first assignment was to shoot a roll of 35mm black-and-white film in order to learn about exposure and film development. I shot 24 frames of a tree in my front yard. My teacher, Mr. Popp, saw something different in how I perceived the world from that first assignment. He became my mentor and advocate well past university. Even…

Website: sonokuwayama.com Sono Kuwayama lives and works in New York City. Her works include installation, painting, sculpture, video and writing. For Kuwayama, an intimate connection to her materials is essential: “nearly everything she creates is sourced by hand. She forages berries and crushes charcoal to add pigment to milk compound paints while spinning her own yarn and going so far as to identify the sheep that it came from.” (Rebecca Kim, Hypebeast, 2020). The works and installations explore spatial relationships and are often site-specific. These transformations in space, transformation of materials, transformations in consciousness are all elements of her explorations. She is increasingly interested in interdisciplinary work and while traveling globally for her work, has looked towards “language” to inform her art. In some cases, this has been an exploration…

Website: orlycogan.com The tableaux I create are inspired by relationships. They evolve from personal mythologies. I work with vintage, printed fabrics and found embroideries made by women of previous and more modest eras. I act as a collaborator, modernizing their traditional work and altering its original purpose. The fabric becomes the foundation for a fantastical exploration. Through my own hand stitching I update the content of the vintage embroidery to incorporate the unladylike reality and wit of contemporary women—their struggles and the stereotypes which must now be overcome. These struggles are, in all probability, very different from those of the earlier generation of women who originally embroidered the textiles to “feminize” their homes. Much of the subject matter touches upon storytelling concerning fertility, power plays in relationships, sexuality, self-image, isolation,…

Website: stephaniesachs.com Stephanie Sachs has always been a seeker. After art school, Sachs hopped on a plane to Maui, seeking adventure. As life progressed, Sachs became an inner seeker, with a daily meditation practice that increasingly allows her to clear her mind and see the depth of the beauty that surrounds her. Sachs takes this philosophy into her abstracted landscape paintings, where she tells stories celebrating the sublime power of nature and the mysteries of life. Sachs' paintings immerse the viewer in a dreamy world filled with multicolor caverns, misty rains, sweeping seas and twinkling skies. Stephanie Sachs has a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis. She has been a resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Sachs' oil paintings are in collections across the world. She…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? As a child, when I discovered that I could reproduce the world around me with a pencil and paper, I was totally captivated. I drew everything that would sit still for me. Drawing was easy for me and a delight. I particularly remember drawing every room in my house, one wall at a time. I discovered perspective early and loved making things appear real. What part of your life influences your work the most? Living in my beautiful, mid-century modern house and garden, surrounded by objects my husband and I have collected, all bathed in the pearly light of the Pacific Northwest, has influenced what I paint. I often walk around the house and garden when looking for…

Website: laurielandry.com Laurie M. Landry is a Deaf Canadian contemporary artist. Her work focuses on contemporary portraiture of marginalized subjects such as those who are Deaf or living with a disability. In her figurative art, she is currently exploring the corporeality of heterogeneous bodies. She is particularly intrigued by the ways in which the hands and bodies can communicate an idea without speaking. Landry has participated in guided artist residencies across Canada and her work has been shown in art galleries across British Columbia. She has also curated a group show featuring figurative works by contemporary female artists exploring themes of youth and aging bodies. She holds a certificate in fine arts techniques from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and has been awarded Canada Council for the Arts…

INTERVIEW INTERVIEW WITH AMELIA BRIGGS Amelia Briggs takes what could sound like a random hodgepodge of materials—like thrift store bed sheets, latex, polyester and acrylic paint—and uses them to construct visually striking works that transform the space they are in. These works do not appear to be of this world, yet are grounded in the physical realm through their highly tactile materials and organic forms. The surfaces of her works beg to be touched. Are they soft? Smooth? Sticky? Through the use of these nontraditional materials, Briggs creates sculptural pieces with whimsical and toy-like qualities. Although her work is abstract, there is something anthropomorphic about it as well, visually leaning toward the human form. One shiny red shape may appear to be a foot, while another glossy pink form may look…

INTERVIEW WITH OLIVIA ZUBKO I will always have a soft spot for artists who choose to make work using materials and processes that have traditionally been seen as “craft,” such as quilting and crocheting. This is what initially drew me to the work of Chicago-based artist Olivia Zubko. When I was first introduced to her work last summer, I fell in love with the way she beautifully fused together crochet-like fabric forms and plant life. However, what appeared to be soft, crocheted doilies in her work are actually porcelain! Using her unique method of slip casting fabric, she transforms what was once scraps of textiles to hard, yet fragile, porcelain Zubko's porcelain works puts forth a dichotomy of soft and hard, delicate and permanent. On one hand, these textile pieces…

INTERVIEW While the idyllic golden-hour sunsets and classic cars set against lush jungle backdrops in Kristen M. Brown's photographs are not what initially brought me to Costa Rica, they are indeed a part of its allure and partly responsible for why, in the past four years, I've drifted further and further from wanting to call anywhere else home. As such, I was excited to catch up with Kristen M. Brown, the Tamarindo-based fine art and commercial photographer (and avid surfer!), for this interview. I wanted to learn more about what first led her to pick up a camera and how her shared experience of uprooting her city life to start anew in the tropics has impacted her creatively. I know it certainly has had a profound impact on me, but…

Website: terezabarnard.com As an artist, I am constantly exploring the complexities and nuances of the human experience. One subject that has consistently captivated me is the portrayal of young beauty queens. On the surface, these paintings may seem to simply depict the external beauty and poise of these young women. However, for me, they represent so much more. These young women, although beautiful and confident on the outside, often carry with them the weight and challenges of being raised by someone who put their own needs above their child's. As I paint, I strive to capture the subtle emotions and vulnerabilities that lie beneath the polished facade of these beauty queens. It is my hope that, through my art, I can shed light on the often-unseen struggles and complexities of…

Website: allisonharrell.com Allison Harrell is committed to unifying, inclusive theories that can empower understanding and positive outcomes. A love of scientific principles coupled with a curious, intuitive nature drove her to art. She uses hands-on experimentation to demonstrate energy and its implications for consciousness and impact. Her artwork draws from personal growth experiences, theoretical discoveries and current affairs. She merges traditional and new art media with optics instruments, original soundscapes and image capture. Her practice relies on multidisciplinary research and meditative visualization. Harrell (b. 1983, Knoxville, TN) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, and East Hampton, NY. She received her BA in art from Maryville College (Maryville, TN), followed by an MFA in photography from the Academy of Art University (San Francisco, CA). Harrell's New York art career debuted with…

Website: tinapsoinos.com Tina Psoinos explores the feminine in its different manifestations. Through a multidisciplinary practice that includes abstract painting, pop art and photography, Psoinos' work empowers and uplifts. Psoinos uses mark making inspired by nature and patterns found in city life in her abstracted work. The same mark making becomes the background in Psoinos' pop art, using mixed traditional and streetart techniques with urban art aesthetics, while sneaking in personal references of her Greek heritage and her life in Manhattan. Drawing on powerful imagery, she uses these concepts to also create and develop inspired site-specific installations. Psoinos was born in Athens, Greece, and currently lives and works in New York City. She received a BFA and continued her studies towards a masters in photography at Hunter College (New York, NY)…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? I have been creating art since I was a child. I was raised in a household with a mother as an architect, who herself was highly creative, so I was always encouraged to play and create, whether it was drawing, sewing, painting or making objects. Art never seemed like something separate from myself. It just always was and is a way of being. As I grew older, art became more of a way to communicate thoughts and ideas and to wrestle with concepts of my own self. I am grateful that art has become not only a career, but a practice that enriches my life. What part of your life influences your work the most? I have always…

Website: catrigdon.art Instagram: @catrigdon.art Cat Rigdon is a multidisciplinary artist based in Dallas, Texas. She grew up on the island of Cyprus during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The island's strong folk art and naturalism culture is reflected in Rigdon's work through her depictions of ancient funerary goods and vessels. She graduated from Texas State University in 2014, moving to Dallas as a Decorative Arts Junior Specialist and Cataloger for Heritage Auctions. Currently, Rigdon is an advocate for emerging artists in North Texas through her role at The Cedars Union as the Manager of Marketing and Programming. She is a co-op member of the artist organization TRADE Oak Cliff and maintains her studio practice at her residency with the Carillon Gallery at Tarrant County College.…

Website: erinelizabetho.com Erin Elizabeth O'Neill (b. 1983, St. Louis, Missouri) lives and works in Chicago. She received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2008 for painting and drawing. Her work reflects a deep love of figurative symbolist art. “Painting and drawing with watercolor and ballpoint pen, I depict images of my inner child using my daughter as a reference in my art. These drawings are created in tandem with my own mental health journey, as I confront generational trauma and grief. Accessing my inner child had a profound impact on my ability to heal emotional scars I had been bearing for decades. I began to recognize the power of engaging my inner child as a spiritual guide. I believe our role in human suffering could be shifted…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? Oh, I remember from about 4 years old I would sneak over to my Grandad's house and paint with him in his ‘40s round egg caravan (trailer) studio. I just loved the smell of pine turps and paint and watching him do all his Impressionistic brushwork. What part of your life influences your work the most? Working as a photographer in the editorial fashion industry is still resonating with me. The importance and symbolic messages and memories clothes can hold. I am currently working on a series of pressure-printed dresses with bodies stitched across them. My original intention of becoming a clinical psychologist also echoes through my thought processes and conceptual development of projects. What materials are you…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? I have always had a natural knack for drawing, and I was encouraged to enjoy the practice. In junior high, I came across an exhibition of a local pastel painter at the mall who portrayed landscapes. It immediately piqued my interest, and I thought to myself, “I'd like to know how to do that.” So, I called and began taking lessons. The lessons were held weekly at her home, and there was another student in the same time slot. She would provide us with a photo to copy and then leave the room. We would commence working on it, and she would return every 20 minutes to offer feedback and direction before leaving again. After the second lesson,…

Website: katryals.com Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, Kat Ryals (b. 1988) is a Brooklynbased artist, curator and photographer. Ryals received a BFA in photography from Savannah College of Art and Design and an MFA & Adv. Certificate in museum education from Brooklyn College. She has shown her work nationally, including in a solo booth at SPRING/BREAK Art Show in 2020 and 2022, a two-person show at Ortega y Gasset Projects in 2022 and in recent group exhibitions with ChaShaMa, Ortega y Gasset Projects and the Wassaic Project. She has also completed several artist residencies, including the Wassaic Project (2017, 2019, 2022), ChaNorth (2019), Peter Bullough Foundation (2021) and a Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center (2018). She is the co-founder of the online arts platform, PARADICE PALASE, based out of…

Instagram: @thekaterusek Kate Rusek (b. 1985, Newark, OH) is a sculptor and textile artist. Influenced by man-made environmental catastrophes, personal narrative and ecological systems, she assembles highly tactile sculptures transmuting this landscape into abundant maximalism. Engaging with history-laden excess, Rusek shapes scenes that interrogate the binary between the natural and manufactured worlds. Her work is an action to transmute urban ruin into an anti-economic act of rebellion. Manipulation vacillates between repetitive, meditative techniques in ceramic and broad, energetic, gestural flattenings of found object sculpture. Through a multidisciplinary approach, Rusek's work posits a regenerative future and considers psychological perception, the valuable and a care ethic through a lens of desire and abundance. Rusek earned dual BFAs from the University of Miami and an MA from SCAD. The artist has participated in…

Website: paintedwithlipstick.com I've always had a passion for art but, more importantly, a longing to create and connect with those around me. I moved around for most of my childhood, always experiencing new places, new people, a new life and my art developed as a way to document and understand my everchanging surroundings. Over the years my passion grew, I pursued art throughout school and eventually received an art scholarship to the University of Oklahoma. Although I loved art, I never saw it as a viable career path. Growing up everyone would always say I was “so talented” but that I can't just be a “starving artist.” Unfortunately, that stereotype stuck with me after graduation and as I endured an unfulfilling career in advertising. Drained from advertising, I finally gave…

Website: rachelmo.com Instagram: @rachelmorrisseyart Rachel Morrissey was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1986. Morrissey received her MFA in May 2016 from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She earned a Post-Baccalaureate degree from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 2014 and a BFA in Studio Art from Indiana University in 2009. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including Visionary Art Collective, I Like Your Work podcast, Friend of the Artist, Candy Floss, Art Seen and Women United Art Magazine. She is a mother of two young children. Morrissey currently lives and works in her home studio in Medfield, Massachusetts. She is represented by Voltz Clarke Gallery in New York City.…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? During my kindergarten days, I vividly recall having a reusable tub of clay on my desk. It was my go-to toy during free playtime, and it never failed to bring a smile to my face. While other girls would invite me to play house with baby dolls and a toy kitchen, I politely declined their invitations; this clay was my preferred playmate. Looking back, it's no wonder my current home is often messy, and I prefer to spend my time creating in my studio. What part of your life influences your work the most? I am a seeker who hopped on a plane looking for adventure and found my home in Maui. This beautiful island has since left…

Website: margaretjolly.net I paint the plastic that surrounds me in my house every day. The “geometric” paintings have been created using a bucket, a bowl, a bottle and a water strainer—all made of plastic that is non-biodegradable, and all of which I bought myself without a second thought. The chemical formula paintings are dreamlike and imprecise, in the way that we buy and use plastic without engaging the logical part of our brain. Plastic just turns up in the way that things just turn up in dreams, and who am I to question where it came from or why? Desperate to help save our planet, I vow never ever to use plastic again. It is clogging up the sea, it is killing the sea creatures and birds, microplastic has woven…

Website: kaylarumpp.com Kayla Rumpp she/her (b.1994) is a painter, sculptor and educator from Tennessee, currently living in Iowa City as she pursues her MFA in painting and drawing from the University of Iowa (2023). Her work explores the relationship between painting and sculpture, and is informed by a fascination with childlike ways of making and seeing within a practice of play. Rumpp earned a BFA in 2D studio art (2016), a MS in art education (2017) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a MA in painting and drawing (with a secondary emphasis in sculpture and intermedia) from the University of Iowa (2022). She has been featured in several publications, including New American Paintings, Burnaway, The Tennessean, Sixth Finch journal and Nashville Scene. Her work has been shown in venues…

ARTIST PROFILE Mariana Gómez (@marianagomezart) is a Colombian artist whose take on 21st century feminist art provides a breath of fresh, innovative air to the preceding works and the traditions of women artists and feminist artists such as Judy Chicago, Ana Mendieta and Marina Abramović. Her multidisciplinary approach to feminist art aims to capture the collective image of women and the female nude form: of all ages, races and sizes. Her commercial and sociopolitical artworks highlight themes relating to women from everyday domestic life to menstruation to violence. Although her family suggested that Mariana choose a stable career in architecture or graphic design, they realized that art could become a lucrative career for Gómez when a collector purchased her final BFA Degree collection, “Heroe's Misogyny,” created at Los Andes University…

CAREER-IN-FOCUS Welcome to our section dedicated to providing you with tips and resources that focus on advancing your career as an artist! When I first started this section, it began with the intent to gather resources from artists and other professionals in the field as a way to collectively share the knowledge we've learned. Because, as many of us have probably experienced, there are many things that were not covered in art school. In the past, this section has focused on tips to advance your art career, including how to approach galleries and best practices in pricing your artwork. However, through the year, this section has changed shape. It has transformed into a space for artists to voice their needs, to discuss the parts of being an artist that often…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? The infinite possibilities of how to do something. I wouldn't call it love—one is simply grabbed by it. Art can be beautiful, but also difficult, painful, complicated and, in my opinion, at its greatest when it's tough, whether made tough by subject or form. I'd call it the first and most immediate of its compelling mystery, felt both in the making and in the receiving of it. The second half of the mystery is its link to generations of accumulated experience, a sort cultural evolutionary soul incorporating much thinking that is lost or incomprehensible to us today. Here is my first and most enduring connection. What part of your life influences your work the most? Not sure there's…

Instagram: @abhikapahwa New Delhi-bred. New York-based. I work with my hands, and eat with them too. (Materials are a toy shop, and I am a toddler with reckless abandon.) My mother is a classically trained Mohiniyattam dancer. She speaks the languages of mythology and movement. My father is a culinary entrepreneur. Through food as a catalyst, he activates service as an essential tenet of culture. My sister and I were raised by individuals who fought (and hard) to help us explore our own foundations in what it means to embody the “feminine,” “feminist,” “Indian,” “intersectional”— what it means to uphold strength and vulnerability as synonymous virtue; what it means to find our rhythms passing rotis around the dinner table. Abhika translates to “fearless.” I am intrigued by cultural fetishization as…

Website: melissagile.com Melissa Gile is a self-taught artist working out of her home studio located in Hamburg, Germany. She grew up in Seattle and has been happy to also call Germany her home since 2014. Inspired by her adventure of finding home away from home, her paintings explore her intimate relationship with the near and the far in her current series “Dreamland.” By playing with perspective and color, she facilitates a variety of moods that share her romantic journey of finding a home in two different worlds. She explores the beauty of this experience by inviting spontaneity and play into her process. Starting with a vibrant, contrasting color palette, she sets the tone of the painting with a delicious gradient base layer. Out of the movement and imperfections of this…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? I grew up with a view of the Acropolis. The city of Athens (Greece) essentially served as a museum, where I grew up surrounded by art. In my own family, both grandmothers were creatives, one being painter and the other one passionate with needlework, making intricate crochet doilies. But it wasn't my birthplace or my family tradition that influenced my decision to become an artist. To me, art was just a natural extension of self. In college, photography was a prerequisite for another class but for me it was love at first sight! It became a tool of expression, a way of viewing and understanding the world, a way of life; it paved the path to what is…

Website: tanyalevina.com Instagram: @tanya.levina.art Born in Minsk, Belarus, Tanya Levina moved to New York City in 1995. Levina studied painting at the Art Students League, Slade School of Fine Arts in London and the New York Academy of Art. Tanya Levina is a recipient of a COJECO BluePrint Fellowship award and has been featured in numerous exhibitions at venues, including Trask Gallery at the National Arts Club, NYC; Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, MD; and MoRA (Museum of Russian Art) in Jersey City, NJ. Her work can be found in private collections in London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston.…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? When my mother was pregnant with me, she purposefully dreamt of Pre-Raphaelite beauties so that I would be artistic and hopefully resemble one. I was born with red curly hair and a need to create, so I believe it worked! I have always known that I would go into the arts and have luckily had a family who is fully supportive of this path. What part of your life influences your work the most? I happily grew up in Southern Cyprus, playing in archeological sites like the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos, Aphrodite's Rock, and the Kourion Amphitheatre. We moved abruptly to the United States in the early 2000s and I have tried to fill the void…

Website: sarahalsaied.net Sarah Alsaied is an artist from Kuwait based in the Midwest, United States. Alsaied earned a BA in studio arts with ceramics emphasis at University of Southern Indiana (2018) and an MFA with sculpture emphasis at Wichita State University (2022). In 2021, Alsaied contributed in the organizing, co-creating and co-designing of a Juneteenth parade float in Wichita, KS, and a reimagined mascot puppet for the homecoming parade for Wichita State University. Currently, she is an artist in residence at the New Harmony Clay Project Center. Outside of the studio, Alsaied is a wanderer who enjoys cooking, sporty activities, and jewelry making.…

Website: joannesteinhardt.com Steinhardt lives and works in the Greater New York City metropolitan area. She holds a Master of Fine Art from the Maine College of Art and a Bachelor of Science in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology: School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. Steinhardt's work has been exhibited in France at Les Moulins, in New York City at, among others, the Equity Gallery, Carter Burden Gallery, El Barrio ArtSpace, and in Florida at The Tampa Museum of Art, The Polk County Museum, Scarfone/Hartley Gallery, and Covivant Gallery. She has lectured and led workshops at numerous institutions around the U.S. and abroad, including NYU Tisch ITP, Parsons, the Garden School, the Pingry School, Harrison School for the Arts, and La Bienal del fin del Mundo in Ushuaia, Argentina. Previously,…

Website: zhaiwenqing.com Wenqing Zhai (b.1998) is a contemporary painter who works mainly in acrylics. She was born in Dalian, and currently lives and works in Beijing, China. She earned her BFA degree from Pennsylvania State University in 2021. She is concerned with issues surrounding the problems that the rapid development of population and technology brought to human lives. Her works are often described as “ironic” and “humorous” under influence of surrealism and pop culture. As a young emerging artist, her work has been included in several exhibitions and articles from Zoller Gallery, Artsinsquare, and Overstandard magazine.…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? First, I must say, I am a fortunate and lucky human. My parents introduced me to theater and music lessons at an early age. These experiences really opened my mini brain to the idea of art affecting your body and emotions, drawing out feelings and sensations to shape a sense of identity and self. These performative mediums were so visceral and expanded my outlook. I studied sculpture and theater when I landed at university from these seeds. I had another brain-expanding experience when my mother sat me down in front of a sewing machine. Garment and textiles have always been mediums that feel like home, so to magically have agency and be in conversation with these materials, beyond…

What sparked your love of art? When did your artistic journey begin? I'm not sure that I can pinpoint where exactly my love of art began but some of my earliest memories are of me coloring when I was a little girl. I loved anything that was colorful, which eventually led to me loving to look at other people's art. I can't tell you how many hours I stared at my Lisa Frank folders in school and just dreamed of being able to recreate them! I moved around a lot as a child and I believe my love of drawing was a way for me to try to document and understand my ever-changing surroundings. When my friends would come over to play, I would force them to play art class…

Website: katiesouthworthart.com Katie Southworth is an internationally collected abstract artist currently based in Bridgeport, CT. Originally from Darien, Connecticut, she graduated from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, with bachelor's degrees in studio art and psychology. She received her Master's in Teaching at the Tufts School of the Museum of Fine Arts in May 2018. In August 2021, after three years of teaching elementary art, she decided to pursue her fine art career full time. Over 200 of her original works are in private collections in 50+ cities across the nation and abroad. Katie works out of her own studio within an artist community building in Bridgeport called The Knowlton. She is currently unrepresented and enjoying her career as an independent artist.…

Website: keeyaofficial.com KEEYA (b. Khia Poitier) is a multimedia artist and performer based in Nassau, Bahamas. Her diverse approach to art making includes digital and analog collage, music and motion media. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has exhibited at galleries in The Bahamas, the United States, London and Germany. In her fine art practice, KEEYA shines a spotlight on Black joy in the margins—positioning the autobiographical as authoritative and inherently valuable, rendering the personal as a space for both the political and catharsis. Through her solo music project, KEEYA explores personal identity and celebrity culture. She released her debut EP “Paradise” with Alacran Records in 2020. Her work, in all of its manifestations, is an exploration and celebration of her intersecting identities and…