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Judith Albert

Bio:

Judith Albert attended the Rhode Island School of Design as an Architecture Major.  She holds a B. S. in Interior Design from Case Western Reserve University.  She has studied in addition at Cleveland Institute of Art, the Valley Art Center and Orange Art Center plus workshops with many instructors in England, Mexico, Florida and in the Cleveland area.  Judith teaches watercolor on the Queen Mary 2, the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the new Queen Victoria where she has traveled to Australia, Germany, Canary Islands, and Russia.  She currently manages the gift shop at Valley Art Center.

Noah Bowers

Mary Ann Boysen

Bio:
From snowy landscapes of Ohio winters, to balmy breezes of Hawaii, and the warm friendships made in South Africa, my paintings now are more exemplary of my artistic moods than ever before.

In judging my contemporaries, I look for the elements of design, unique ideas, and execution.  And once in a while I enter a national competition just to see if I am still in the running with nationally known artists.

My love at the moment is teaching others all the things I learn when I paint. I make painting a challenge by trying new surfaces like watercolor canvas, two surfaces of Claybord®, and a new surface called Rtistx. Each surface allows a change in style and approach.

To teach these things I am developing a new website: http://www.watercolor-painting-tips.com/ in which I invite all artists to give their opinion, share techniques, and upload images to illustrate them. Along with this comes a monthly (hopefully!) newsletter with more ideas and techniques. I hope you will sign on and become a part of this effort.

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John Burnell

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John Burnell offers courses in traditional dry stone walling and is the proprietor of Mason’s Mark LLC, a Kent-based company that specializes in restoration masonry (www.masonsmark.com). Travels through Europe during his college years inspired an interest in traditional construction and historic preservation as a career. John obtained his walling certification through the Dry Stone Conservancy of Lexington, Kentucky (www.drystone.org) and he has completed stone and restoration projects locally for museums, businesses and private residences. He is a featured artisan in the recently published book, Stone Primer (2007, Storey Publishing). John genuinely enjoys sharing his knowledge and love of stonework with others. He has published articles on stonemasonry and preservation for several trade publications and, in addition to teaching workshops, he serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Historic Preservation at Ursuline College.

Rob Crombie

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Robert Crombie resides near Akron. He received his formal art training from Cooper School of Art and Kent State University.

Over the past several years he has found great inspiration in the small villages and cities he has visited in the South of France. “St. Remy holds many special memories for me. It’s like home to me. I feel peace there“. His appreciation for the architecture and the personality of each small village come through in his work..

The quality of Crombie’s work is best summarized in a quote by Sol Ostrow, Dean of Visual Arts and Chair of Painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He states “Perhaps what is most effective is his treatment of the paintings surface. His brushwork and drawing bring the paintings into life. His patterns of agitated brush marks are descriptive and in the same instance they give the paintings an abstract quality. He captures, psychologically, his subject, be it nature or the back porch on a building”.

Crombie began painting again in 2002 after more than 30 years without touching a brush. He pursued a career and family over his creativity. Now, he works on 2-3 paintings at a time. His work is on display in Cleveland, St Remy France, South Carolina as well as local galleries and Summer shows..

He has always believed the true “success” in being an oil painter is being very satisfied with your work and the final outcome of each painting. Nothing leaves his studio until it meets his approval through emotional connection, visual intensity and a personality.

“The greatest compliment is that someone is moved by or drawn to my work. I am constantly reminded who is really in charge of what is painted on that canvas. I hold the brush, I am given the blessing of vision and choices. We must all be real, be honest and put a piece of ourselves on the canvas for the world to see.

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Charles (Bud) Deihl

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Charles Deihl holds graduate degrees in painting and drawing (1963) and sculpture (1965) from Michigan State University. For 14 years he pursued dual careers as a graphic designer and illustrator and as a college art professor. In 1974 he began a university administrative career first as Head of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Cincinnati, then as the Dean of Arts and Humanities at the State University of New York College at Buffalo. He became President of Kendall College of Art and Design in 1989 and concluded his career as President of Columbus College of Art and Design.

Since 2004, Mr. Deihl has taught at the Valley Art Center. His courses have included general Drawing, Life Drawing, Master Classes, Oil Painting, and museum seminars at the Cleveland Museum of Art and Design.

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Emily English

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I received my degree from Hiram College in both Studio Art and Education. While I find great joy in painting, sculpting and creating, my true passion is teaching. My work is focused on my love for nature's complexities and intricacies. I am fascinated by the way an icicle may form or a moss pattern that might develop on a boulder. I enjoy working with handmade papers, oil paints and good old fashioned pencil and paper! Yet, my true pleasure is exposing children to opportunities where they can simply fall in love with art-- both creating it and appreciating it.

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Mark Gottsegen

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Mark Gottsegen studied painting with Philip Guston and James Weeks, and is an artist, the author of The Painter's Handbook, and the Administrator of The Art Materials Information and Education Network (www.AMIEN.org).  AMIEN is a website that provides free, unbiased information about art materials. Gottsegen taught painting, drawing, anatomy, and about the materials of art at UNC Greensboro from 1976 to 2008, until he resigned to become the Materials Research Director at the Intermuseum Conservation Association on Cleveland’s near west side.  Now called ICA Art Conservation, the ICA is the nation’s first regional not-for-profit art conservation center.  AMIEN is part of the ICA's Education Department.

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Susan Graham

John Gulyas

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Ron Hill

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Ron Hill attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where he graduated with a degree in visual communication in 1982. After working in Cleveland advertising full-time, he quit the day job in 1993 and ran a successful cartoon and illustration service. In 2002 he started teaching at Alliance High School, where he teaches College Tech-Prep Interactive Media / Commercial Art. He continues to freelance editorial cartoons and humorous illustrations. Visit Ron's website at ronhillartist.com.

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Mary Hobbs

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I have over 40 years of drawing experience and have won numerous awards and honors. I have been a fashion illustrator and art director. Some of my clients included Bobbie Brooks, Lampll Fashions, Richman Brothers, Campus Sportswear, Milgrim’s, May Co., Higbee’s, Halle’s, The Plain Dealer, etc. I have done furniture ads for such notables as Brewster and Stroud, J.L. Goodman, all now gone. I spent 5 years at Sedlak Interiors which is doing well and still strong. I learned a lot while a retail artist for 5 years at The Plain Dealer.

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Brandon Holschuh

Darlene Jackson

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Gary Kusner

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Elaine Levin

Janice Lombardo

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Silk is one of the most beautiful canvasses I use to create unique, wearable and frameable art.  Different types of silk, various silk dyes, resists, fabric markers, painting techniques, and my imagination inspire some of my most beautiful pieces.  I truly enjoy sharing my passion for silk in my silk painting classes. Having been a silk painting artist, business owner and teacher for the past five years I also have a BS in Business Management, am a member of SPIN (Silk Painters International), LEA (Lake Erie Artists, LLC) and the Professional Women’s Institute at Lakeland Community College. Visit my website at www.silkcessories.com.

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Kim Mettee

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As a lifetime artist my focus has toggled between various media all of which common threads are woven. My world is a celebration of colors and shapes, rhythmic and life giving that stimulate and sing. Whether painting or designing jewelry, steady hands meticulously and lovingly render creations of beauty.
My designs are an investment of my knowledge and experience reflecting the exuberance and intensity by which I closely observe and interpret my surroundings. At the same time my creative process is instinctive and emotional. I use a variety of elements ranging from ancient to antique, vintage to contemporary beads and components. The use of repurposed materials reflects a philosophy that I am passionate about, reduce, reuse, recycle.
I love to mix it up with wood, shell, silk, suede, fiber, metal, glass, salvage, items from nature just to name a few. The riot of colors, patterns and meanings is funneled and refined into intensely personal works of art. Each creation is one-of-a-kind and stands alone as an heirloom adornment of personal expression.

Visit Kim's website at http://www.kimmetteedesigns.com

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Jan Mettee

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Jan Mettee is a watercolor artist who has lived in the Chagrin Falls area for over 20 years. Her paintings most often reflect her love   for this area and for the Finger Lakes region of New York, where her family has owned a summer cottage for nearly 60 years. As a painter and teacher, she celebrates close-up images of every day life, and explores the effects of watercolor on a variety of paper surfaces.

Educated at Skidmore College and Kean College, she became a student of watercolor years later at the Valley Art Center in Chagrin and eventually one of its instructors. Working primarily in her home studio, she also teaches and conducts workshops throughout northeast Ohio. In the fall, she spends several weeks as an instructor in New York.

An award winning artist, Jan’s work has been selected for exhibition in local, state and national shows. Locally, a number of her pieces are included in Cleveland’s Hillcrest Hospital Collection.

In 2005, she was commissioned by the city of Rochester, NY to create a painting for their Annual Lilac Festival Poster. She is represented in New York by the Rini Rohrer Gallery.

A member of the Ohio Watercolor Society, she received their transparent watercolor society award in 2005.

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Susan Morse

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Susan Morse is a colored pencil artist with degrees from Oberlin College and the Cleveland Institute of Art.  She is president of the guild of Nature Artists (associated with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History), and teaches children and adults including workshops at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.

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Cathy Davies Paetz

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Aline Peterson

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In 1983 with two small children to support I worked part time at Delphi Stained Glass. I started with flat glass windows, quickly moving into sandblasting. In a short time I tried fusing (melting glass in a kiln). I was hooked! Mostly self taught, I have never graduated from the School of Hard Knocks, my favorite class being Trial and Error. Along with the failures have come many breakthoughs that guide my design. I continued to learn new techinques, lampworking, off hand glass blowing and sand casting are a few. My new work combines design elements of several techniques.

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Sandy Richert

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Joan Rusek

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Tracy Shea

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I have been making pottery since 1982. I fell in love with clay immediately and at a young age. This memory is part of what motivates my love of teaching children about such a “magical” medium. I have had a few years of ceramics education at area community colleges and   Akron University, but most of my education has been through studio work, making pottery at Hale Farm and Village, contact with other working artists, and through motherhood and family life. I also have a background in textile silk screening and mail order catalog production.

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Michael Steinberg

Ray Thurston

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Ray Thurston’s appreciation of the innate characteristics of natural wood began years ago while pursuing his educational studies in the field of art. After retiring in 1983 from the Mentor, OH school system, where he was a school administrator, he devoted his life to wood carving and progressed to the professional level.

The intrinsic beauty of different wood species has always been fascinating to Ray and one of his primary goals is to enhance that beauty adding only the artist’s choice of subject to accomplish creative expression. Ray’s imaginative and one-of-a-kind driftwood pieces along with his realistic carvings are making his works sought by people and collectors who appreciate fine art.

Ray’s work is exhibited in art galleries in Ohio and Florida. He has won recognition in local, state and international competitions throughout the United States and Canada. Ray has been awarded numerous Best of Show ribbons and special awards such as “Most Innovative”, “Best of Skill”, “Most Creative” and “The People’s Choice.”

Stories highlighting Ray’s carvings have appeared in newspapers and television. Feature articles have also been published in the National Wood Carving Magazine and The Guild of Master Craftmen Publication of England. Ray’s desire is to create wood carvings that the public will enjoy viewing as much as he enjoys carving them.

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Kathy Vencl

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