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Now:Here:This

 

Virtual:Comunidad &

PARTICIPANTS (in alphabetical order)

The participants listed include artists who have submitted work at any time to Now: Here: This or Virtual: Comunidad.

(If you wish to communicate with any of the artists who do not have an email address or web site listed, you can send a note to peterferko@artistsunite-ny.org for forwarding.)

Claire Adas

I'm a mother and sometime writer and filmmaker.

filmography:
1995 Road Movie (feature)
1998 Persistence of Vision (feature)
2000 Dream of a Lifetime (featurette)

Joel Adas (joeladas@earthlink.net)

I am a painter living in Brooklyn.  I went to art school in painting at Rutgers and then at Purchase, so I have had the whole academic side of art.  I see myself now stripping away some of the truths that I learned in school and going back to a more basic approach.  My art is more about my immediate life; people and places that strike me as visually arresting.  There is the importance of being present at the moment when a drawing or a photograph is called for.  The paintings happen later, over time, in my studio.

Jacie Lee Almira (jacielee@aol.com)

My installation work explores personal and emotional issues and seeks answers through inquiry using mixed media sculptures, drawing, painting, and digital photography. Employing pseudo-experimental methods like collecting data, repetitive testing, and taxonomy, I analyze and document anxieties, curiosities, memories, fears, and frustrations. The objects I create are details of my body and mind, and I use methods that refer to the body itself and to objects that are tangential to it. I expose my weaknesses, reconcile my choices, and highlight my intimate dramas in an attempt to discover their mechanism or meaning, but the objects wait for results in vain, in a place where there are no clear conclusions.

anaximander (www.anaximander.de)

anaximander jumped many years between fine, liberal and interpretative arts. she was student of prof. andretti for liberal arts at the art academys in florenz & new york and as his assistant in san francisco. she studied acting in berlin, worked for several film & tv-productions and played at several theaters (theater des westens, shakesspeare company ...). since 1996 she works only as liberal artist and artistic director/curator for art-exhibitions & art- projects. nowadays she lives and works in berlin, germany.

themen / themes:
"sitte & sexus" / "JourneyJournals" / "chairs" / "eucalyptus" / "TARGETs" / "TARGETs&TargetMessages" / "box obscure" / "collaboration-s" / „wet dreams in austria“ / „red holes“ / „PURE“ / „box obscene“ / „schwarz auf weiss - in cold print“

since anaximander & malcolm delargy`s artways crossed in 2004, they are collaborating. first started with the collaboration-s cards project anaximander started 2003 with several artists worldwide, later with a collaboration on „box obscene“ & „box obscure“, which had the first exibition in february 2005 at the show „neunzehnter“ in the arthouse ACUD / berlin. meanwhile the both artists are working on several themes beside the ongoing box collaboration. they work with camera & paper, pen on paper or colours & canvas as much as with materials and items that takes their eye. from cheap barbie-like dolls (new series of box obscene / obscure) and toys, to more obscure items found in second-hand-shops, flea-markets, etc... . the artists are living and working in berlin and london.

Stephen Beveridge

Stephen Beveridge is a constant artist. Many topics, much media, varied results.

Melissa Birnbaum

As a new Washington Heights community member and supporter of new technology, I am enthusiastic about contributing to Now Hear This.
Since graduating from the School of Visual Art’s Master’s of Art in Teaching, I’ve been teaching the visual and media arts at a New York City Public High School. As an artist and art maker, my work focuses primarily on painting, drawing, and assemblage. As an art educator, I feel as though the future of making art will go hand and hand with all forms of new technology. I intend on exploring that notion as I myself continue to emerge as a visual artist. My journey has just begun.

toon botwin (www.monkeysalon.com)

toon botwin is an artist - paintings, mixed media, photographs and music producer. she is the founder and creator of monkey
salon - a collective of artists + writers + musicians + activists -which she now curates with partner jason gamm [ff blu]. jason is a musician and music producer, as well as a graphic designer and art maker - mixed media, photographs, digital images. ms
is an online visual + word + music gallery, recording label, press, and purveyor of fine hi-fidelity goods and wares through their store, monkey salon market.

Peggy Braun

Have been a photographer for the last 15 years. Sold a lot of pix to local calendars and have exhibited around the Lennox , Massachussetts area. In the last two years I have been doing collage and monoprinting and am beginning to exhibit those.

Linda Lou Clements (www.alphakitn.com)

My work has always tended to be either about people or politics. I work in many mediums the latest, being digital.

Lale Davidson

I used to write avant-garde short stories because I thought I had to justify the air I breathed. But now I only write what I like to read: something that transports you to a magical world and gives you enough to chew on but doesn't make you work too hard. I'm a professor of writing at Adirondack Community College and a professional storyteller; I've published in various little magazines; I've collaborated on an opera called Billie and Zelda, produced by OperaDelaware; and I direct The Writers Project at Adirondack Community College, a visiting author series.

Jaymee Dever (www.artofjaymee.com)

I have been painting as long as i can remember. From the time i was 8 years old, I was lucky enough to be included in a program for the artistically gifted. This gave me the opportunity to focus on art and receive advanced instruction from an early age. I continued to paint until 1994, when i began a 12 year hiatus to have my children. Four daughters and 12 years later, I could no longer stay away from art, and my need to create. I began painting again in August of 2006. As a fairly prolific painter, i have completed over 125 paintings since that time. I began showing my work locally and on the internet, and started selling pieces through those venues. I am working very hard to get my work seen. Currently, I paint women exclusively, because as a woman surrounded by women, I am in awe of the wealth of emotion that springs from the feminine perspective. I work to bring that emotion to life, in painting after painting. I am determined to continue painting for the rest of my life.

Misha Dontsov

Born February 12, 1969 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, former Soviet Union.
1986 Moved to St. Petersburg, Russia to study design and fine arts.
1886 Joined a group of Russian painters, "Sterligov Group", originally formed by a pupil of Kazimir Malevich.
1986-1992 Studied with the Sterligov Group and participated in the exhibits.
1992 Immigrated to the USA, New York City.
1995 Completed two-year graduate course in communications design at Pratt Institute, New York City.
Participated in numerous group shows in New York City and Chicago.
Interests include painting, photography, installation art, sculpture, and video art.

Peter Ferko (peterferko@artistsunite-ny.org)

Peter is President of Artists Unite and an artist in several media. He works primarily in photography examining issues of perception and on projects that facilitate interactions between artists. He has shown work in Washington and New York. He writes and plays music in his band The SoLow Bass Show. Peter participated for three years in an online art project/discourse entitled fivethings. He is a graphic designer and marketing consultant for arts organizations and other nonprofits.

Harley Fine (www.zerovillerecording.com)

Music Producer, recording artist, graphic artist,
photographer. Owner of zeroville recording studio in long island city (http://www.zerovillerecording.com).

I've always taken photos of the strange things that interest
me. sometimes they are magic enough to share with the world.

Keesje Fischer

Educated at the School of Fine Arts in Utrecht, Holland, Keesje returned to New York in 1999. She has exhibited internationally including the Minna Street Gallery in San Francisco, Hotel Arena in Amsterdam, and Danica Gallery in St. Croix. In New York, she has participated in LIC Open Studios and Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition’s Pier Shows, the Uptown Arts Stroll, and others. In addition to presenting her work in traditional spaces, Keesje enjoys working on public and community projects. Her community projects have included serving as artist-in-resident at a nursing home in The Netherlands, working with elementary and high school kids to paint school murals, curating a children’s art exhibit at the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland, California, and writing a public performance art project for San Francisco’s art-in-transit program. She now teaches monoprinting workshops at the Council Senior Center in Manhattan, preschool, and classes in her studio.

Pamela Flynn

I am a mixed media artist. I received an MFA from New Jersey City University and I make my art in Freehold, NJ. I take photographs as I travel anywhere and use these images in my work.

Olga & Alexander Florensky

OLGA FLORENSKAYA (born: 1960) and ALEXANDER FLORENSKY (born: 1960) graduated from the Mukhina College of Art and Design (Leningrad) in 1982. The founders of MITKI artist group (1985). In 1990 were trained at the INSTITUT DES HAUTES ETUDES EN ARTS PLASTIQUES (director: Pontus Hulten). Are the authors of 3 animated films: “MITKIMAYER” (A. Florensky, 1992) and “MIRACLE OF MIRACLES” (O. Florenskaya, 1994), “TROPHY FILMS” (O&A Florensky, 2003). Have taken part in a large number of film festivals both in Russia and abroad (1993-2004). Set up the publishing house MITKILIBRIS (1994).
A. Florensky is a founder of the art gallery MITKI - VKHUTEMAS (established 1997, St Petersburg). Works by O. and A. Florensky are in the collections of the following museums: the State Russian Museum (St Petersburg), the State Tretyakov Picture Gallery (Moscow), the Pushkin Fine Art Museum (Moscow), many art museums in Russia (Yaroslavl, Tver, Omsk, Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, Ivanovo, Saratov, Sochi, Kursk etc).,and also in KIASMA (Helsinki), Helsinki City Art Museum, and Victoiria & Albert Museum (London). The Florenskys are married since 1981. They have been working together on joint projects since 1995. Artists live and work in St Petersburg.


Stacy Flores

If Stacy Flores had to pick a career, it would be a professional student! Currently majoring in the graphic design BFA program at the Fashion Institute of Technology, she will have earned her third degree and making a great time of it. The shift in career came about because she was appalled at the catty and superficial environment of being a chemist in the fragrance and cosmetics industries. Clearly something smelled rotten so she bounced onto better and happier things. She currently lives in Inwood/Washington Heights and is one of those rare born and raised New Yawkers. Air, art, tea, chocolate, and laughter keep her going.

Tim Folzenlogen

www.timfolzenlogen.com

Anthony Gonzalez (www.anthonygonzalez.com)

Most recent exhibit was a one man show at the Herbert H. Lehman Suite and Papers at Columbia University School of International affairs here in NYC. Anthony Gonzalez is a former recipient of an Edward G. McDowell Travel Grant. The only person in the long history of the award to receive it based on a portfolio submission consisting exclusively of drawings. His political editorial illustrations have appeared in such journals as The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and The Nation.

Karen Greene

I have been in love with  photography all of my life.  I received my first camera, a plastic Brownie, at age eight, and have not stopped since.  My  BxW darkroom education was acquired during lunch hours from the very patient hospital photographers at a job during 1969-70.  Although I mostly shoot in digital format in color now, I have retained the “available light,” tri-x, city street photographer discipline and attitude.  A camera is always on my person because one never knows when the fleeting light and the subject will be just right.  A native New Yorker, I work as a psychologist in public mental health in the state hospital system.  Photography  provides a creative outlet to balance the work in mental health.  It is the mechanical eye which takes in and holds the beauty around me, capturing intensity, shadow and light in an intensely meditative experience.  Many of my photographs have been influenced by artists such as Georgia O’Keefe and M.C. Escher.  Like them, I have found art and beauty in unexpected places.  I love the interplay of shadow, light and water, and the many levels of reality which may be revealed in a flower, tree bark, fountain spray or a puddle.   I am currently working on a portfolio of art deco themes in classic office buildings, and another on the art deco apartment buildings of upper Manhattan.  Most of the work presented in my exhibitions over the last 25 years has about the Heights or NYC street photography.  I am a member of Northern Manhattan Artists Alliance and Artists Unite. 

Carole Wagner Greenwood

One of my earliest memories is that of the first art I ever made. I was four or five years old, and had decided to re-create my beloved grandfather’s stuffed cabbage. I went out to the backyard-gathered white pebbles for the rice, red clay for the tomato-seasoned ground veal and curled brown leaves for the cabbage. For what seemed like hours, I toiled in my playroom re-constructing the perfectly rolled packages my grandfather lovingly made every Sunday. And somehow I knew that mine were delicious, too.

What I understand now is that I was not simply copying - rather I was imbuing these sacred objects with memory – the sounds and smells of the kitchen, my grandfather’s proud smile as I savored each bite, the first sense of deep family connections felt around my grandmother’s dining room table.

So, as I did then, I do now.
The memories are now of other memories, many times removed, but with a physical form – and they are of people, places and experiences yet to be imagined by the small child. But still, I approach it as deliberately as that first time.

Carole is a sculptor and the chef/owner of Buck's Fishing and Camping in Washington, D.C. She trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu, Lenotre and La Varenne. Carole's most recent exhibition was a solo show at Strand on Volta in Washington, D.C. in 2003.

Jason Gubbiotti

Jason lives and worked in Washington, D.C., before moving to France. He is a 1998 graduate of the Corcoran College of Art and Design. He had his first solo exhibition at Fusebox in July 2002. His recent group exhibitions include Kiang Gallery in Atlanta, Artpoint, in conjunction with Art Basel Miami Beach; Situation Room at St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s, MD; and Strictly Painting III, at the McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA. He is the recipient of a Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant. He will had his second solo exhibition at Fusebox in February 2004.

Melissa Guion

I live in Washington Heights. I'm currently working on a children's book entitled HOW I MET MRS. THROCKMORTON.

Mike Guerin

I am a stay at home dad in living suburban Northern New Jersey with my two children and my wife. I attended The Germaine School of Photography in Manhattan back in the early 90's. Before being a stay at home dad I worked in a catalog photography studio as an assistant.

Maggie Hernandez (www.magsart.com)

Maggie Hernandez, native of Washington Heights/Inwood, NY is an abstract painter with a passion for color and movement. Her paintings often create what has been described as “a world within a world”. “I believe the energy of a space has a profound effect on the stories that emerge in my paintings and I often use live ‘models’ or music to increase the potential influence”. Maggie lives and works in New York City and studied fine art at the Fashion Institute of Technology, NY. Her work is privately collected and has shown at various venues in the tri-state area. Contact: maggie@magsart.com 212.568.7506 .

Erin Hiser

Erin Hiser was born and raised in California. She received her BA in Art in 2002 from the University of California Santa Cruz with a concept driven focus in Intermedia. Upon graduation she relocated to the pacific northwest. In addition to making art she is involved in creative writing projects and studies voice. She moved to New York in September 2005.

Nick Holliday

I am a psychiatrist, but I have been making art all of my life, primarily collages for the past 8 years. I have shown my art in various places, in New York City and elsewhere. My work is represented by the Pavel Zoubok Gallery in New York City.

James Huckenpahler

James works primarily in electronic media; he is currently engaged in growing digital images of skin, both human and inhuman. He is a former faculty member of the Corcoran College of Art and Design, and a former member of the Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran Advisory Board. He is represented in DC by FUSEBOX, and in Atlanta by Kiang Gallery.

Tatiana Ivanovna

i am a citizen of the world, residing on planet earth---
simply doing the best i can to live a life during crazy times.
you can send your fan mail to me at:
berlinnewyork2002@yahoo.com

Karey Kessler

Education: MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 2001; BA University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, May 1996. Additional coursework at: The Slade School of Fine Arts and Central Saint Martins, London, England, 1997. Represented in Pierogi Gallery flat files, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 2003-present. Represented in Drawing Center slide files, Soho, New York, 2002-present. Gallery Manager, District of Columbia Arts Center.

Marlena Kudlicka

Education
1993-98 MFA painting and drawing, Department of Painting, Graphics and Sculpture , Academy of Fine Art , Poznan, Poland
1988-93 BFA painting, Wyspianski’s College of Art, Jaroslaw, Poland

Grants Residences
2004/2005 International Residency Program, Location One, New York
2003/2004/2005 Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
2003 Omi International Arts Center, New York
2002 Grant of Young Art in painting and installation, Poznan, Poland
1997/1998 Grant of the Main Head of Academy of Fine Art, Poznan, Poland

Selected solo exhibitions
2005 ‘The image that emits no shadow /SUNSET/’, Location One, New York
(2 p.show)
2004 ‘POINT OF VIEW’, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany

Selected group exhibitions
2005 'SUNSET' Location One, New York (two persons show)
2004 Biennial Euroart, Swinoujscie, Poland
‘Interference' , Romerstrasse, Stuttgart, Germany
‘Run up’, R Gallery, Poznan, Poland
2003 Open Day , Art Omi International Arts Center, New York
‘Bielska Jesien’, Painting Competition, City Gallery, Bielsko Biala,Poland
‘E. Geppert’s Painting Competition’, City Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland

Jason Laning

Jason Laning is an artist, writer, and activist living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He sometimes writes about art and politics for his blog (artsoldier.blogspot.com).

Dominik Lejman (www.lejman.art.pl)

Dominik Lejman was born in Gdansk and lives in Gdynia, Poland. In his work, Dominik explores time-based painting in relation to his practice of using video projection layers that are optically merged with the physical painted image. More recently, Dominik has used video documentary footage and statistical data to create his "crowd mural" projections as a way of presenting an ornament of social accumulation and crowd tension. Currently he is creating painting/ video projection murals where each brushstroke/ pixel is constituted by live video feeds (live webcams in reall time and live streams) taken directly from the Internet.

Dominik has exhibited at the Prague Biennial, the Balkan Biennial, the Contemporary Art Center in Warsaw, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Hamburger Banhoff in Berlin and at Luxe Gallery in New York City.

Lilia Levin

I was born and grew up in Russia, came to America at 17 -- two decades ago. New York is my absolute home. I went to Barnard (BA) and Hunter (MFA), have been in a number of group shows, worked in technical, medical, and fashion illustration, had illustrations published in literary magazines and Slate. I am working on a children's book and I teach art to kids at PS 87 (Arts in Action program) and at my own studio here in Washington Heights -- my program is called Art Next Door.

Miriam Leuchter

Miriam Leuchter is an editor, writer and photographer who lives in New York City and occasionally Rome.

Susan Malitz

Ms. Malitz recently received her MFA in painting from CUNY Hunter College. She also holds a Master of Architecture from University of Oregon at Eugene and a B.A. in Physics from UC Berkeley. Ms. Malitz has shown work in group and solo exhibitions in New York, Portland and Seattle. Her work can be seen in the Drawing Center's Viewing Program, and at Digging Pitt Gallery in Pittsburgh. She lives and works in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan.

John Mason

John Mason, Nashville, Tennessee has been drawing and painting from an early age. He studied watercolor under Rex Gorleigh at Studio-on-the-Canal, painting under Joe Stefanelli, and drawing and painting under George Ortman. His drawings have been published in Blake Studies, Panache, and other magazines. In 2001 he received a PhD from the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt, with a minor in Classics.

Mark Masyga

I'm a painter living in Brooklyn. My work is informed by architecture and spatial relationships. The contrasts between wide-open spaces and tight, congested areas interests me, and often times people comment that my tiny paintings have agorophobic qualities.

Jayme McLellan

Jayme is a photographer and co-founder/director of the nonprofit gallery, Transformer, in Washington D.C. She is the former Development Director of the DCAC alternative arts space in Washington, DC. Jayme received her BA in English and Photography from St. Mary's College, Maryland.

Vikki Michalios

Working and living in the New York/New Jersey area since 1995
Education:
MFA: 1995 University of Oregon
BA: Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
Residencies & Workshops:
Chautauqua Summer Institute 1994 & 95
Vermont Studio Center 1992, & 1997
Millay Colony 2004 (november)
Numerous exhibitions in New York, New Jersey, Chicago Ill, Portland OR, Portland Maine, West Virginia and others

Theresa Murphy (www.windoseat.com)

living in paris
working in image and word and music and cuisine
in the company of two cats

Rosa Naparstek (RNaparstek@aol.com)

I work with found objects, family photographs and text (original nursery rhymes). I explore both the "ordering of things"--how we attach meaning to "random" juxtaposition of objects--and "the order of things"--looking at our inner landscapes for the emotional roots of the world we create personally and politically. Much of what I do centers around childhood memories and experiences and is concerned with questions of cruelty and its source within us.

I have come to believe that the primary source of evil lies in our
ability to deny our own pain, fear, and vulnerability. In our mistaken belief that we can protect ourselves from life as it is, we inflict the worst horrors onto others and ourselves.

Wendy Newton

Wendy lives in New York City with her husband and son, and her life and work usually defy attempts at traditional categorization. She is an aspiring yogi, diligent poet, and makes art in various media, mostly involving natural materials, found objects, words, and some photography. She graduated from Oberlin College in Art History and studied filmaking at the All Union State Institute for Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow and at USC Film School. She is Senior Program Associate at the Trust for Mutual Understanding, a foundation supporting exchanges in the visual and performing arts between the United States, Russia, and Eastern and Central Europe.

Isabela Oldak

I work and live in Poznan, Poland. I paint abstract art. I usually take my inspiration from fashion, design art and my own observations. Usually I build installations with paintings.

My art projects are deliberations about art in the context of fashion, market and culture of the consumption. It is also a metaphor of condition of contemporary art, how it is perceived, what are the rules that rule it . I'm thinking of consumers' satisfaction but not only. We can't forget culture institutions rules, politics and art market.
For me art is never ending searching for the truth and defining the world, focusing on its problems. Art is a necessary element which helps us to build the culture, alternative world, created from people's emotions and subjective insights. The major role of my art is not being the passive object for contemplation. Through all the subjects I talk about how it forces us to think and discuss.

Though I rather prefer to ask questions not to give answers, it stimulates the audience and gives them a chance to look for an answer in themselves. In this way I arouse the desire of searching for the truth, analyse the world around us.

Art always helps humans to understand all this which remains beyond their perception, enclose them to transcendent.

Scott J. Plunkett 

I was born in Wisconsin, moved to New York in 1983. My artistic practice is located between photography and painting.  I work with the idea of Surface/Reflection/Reality, focusing on themes of social interaction and power.  My own suburban background was an experience of shallow surface beauty covering a much starker reality. By focusing on ignored or derided media constructs, I explore this cultural disconnect through my work.

PP (www.patpower.us)

Originally from Maryland, I've lived in New York since 1979. For a living I design for print and the web, build sites, and do some photography. For fun and love I make collages. My inspiration is found-materials [the older the better]. I often Photoshop enhance them, tho wish I didn't love that because there is no tangible original, but I can't forgo the delicious Photoshop opacity option.

Sky Pape (sky@skypape.com, www.skypape.com)

Sky Pape has exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Japan. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the
National Museum of Women in the Arts, and other public and private collections. Her various awards and honors include significant grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts. Sky Pape's artwork is represented by June Kelly Gallery. She lives and works in
New York City’s Inwood neighborhood.

Mark Proctor (www.markproctorphotography.com)

Mark Proctor grew up in New England and moved to New york immediately after graduating from college. After pursing an acting career for ten years he began studying shiatsu. He soon traded acting for massage therapy and has now been working as a massage therapist and an instructor at the Swedish Institute for over 16 years. In addition to teaching, he also currently holds the position of Chairman of the Western Massage Department. Three years ago he received a gift of a digital camera and began enthusiastically taking images from his unique vantage point. His portfolio of remarkable images shows his love of nature and his unique way of seeing color, textures and patterns. Mark Proctor shoots primarily in the New York City, New England and Tri-State areas. His website displays many of his images as well as cards and gifts.

Jacqueline Rosa

(Born 1964) I am in the process of exploring the elements through various mediums. Watercolor appeals to me because of the fluid unpredictable nature. I like surprises and sometimes I hate surprises, but such is life. Additionally I work with gemstones and silver to create pieces to illuminate the individual. My future includes working with wood, words and clay. Retired from NYC and Wall Street life, I reside contently in Connecticut and work with children at a local elementary school.

Michael Shetterley (mikeshet@yahoo.com)

I am a working artist working a full time job in the catering industry as a chef. Fighting to paint everyday despite that and frustrated with the hours I can't spend in the studio. Waiting for the day that painting and creating is all I have to do. Things are really quite good though.

Ken Shung (www.kenshung.com)

Ken Shung , born in New York, is a photographer known for his lingerie advertising and editorial portraits. He is also a Professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York. You may also see him riding his yellow fold-up bicycle south of 23rd street ringing his bell at you.

Karien Vandekerkhove (www.karienvandekerkhove.com)

Over the past years Karien Vandekerkhove has created a series of works in a variety of media and uses drawing, installation, scale models and photography as her primary modes of expression. Since her residency at the Chinati Foundation in 1997 her work has been seen in various galleries and museums.

Sight, smell,space and undoubtable 'memory' are regular actors in Vandekerkhove's presented projects. In writing and speaking about her images she often uses terms like 'almost perfect' and 'clean'. The "1/9 pink baby skin + 8/9 black burned charcoal" progression for example, offers possibilities of whiteness as 'unbearable places of being clear' by means of framed voids into black outlines. As are the small scale drawings in the "Pre-Ovt" cycle where 'clean stains' painted in antiseptic liquids are floating like little marks onto super white paper. The 'spreading of the imperfection' has been restrained by the choice of the painting materials. Drawing as an 'act of responsible staining

Renee Tamara Watabe

I studied fine arts at School of Visual Arts in NYC, briefly, in the early eighties. For years afterwards, I stopped making art, and it was my son's battle with cancer that compelled me return to drawing, photography and collage, first for comfort, and then as a stronger and stronger affirmation of life. Art is a powerful healer.

I have worked as a patient advocate, art therapist and massage therapist in various hospital settings.
Mostly, I am a Mom. I like this quote by Rumi:

"Don't turn your head.
Keep looking at the bandaged place.
That's where the light enters you."

Monika Weiss

Through drawing, performance, video, sculpture and installation, New York-based Polish artist Monika Weiss creates environments that relate to the body and to the space it inhabits between biology and culture. Monika Weiss received her Master's degree in painting and drawing from the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw in 1990. She has been a visiting artist at universities in Europe and the United States, including The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, 2002; University of Maryland, 1999; Georgia State University School of Art and Design, 1997-98; Spelman College, 1996; and Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts, 1994-95. Solo exhibitions include Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta,1997; BMB Gallery, Amsterdam, 1993 and 1996; and Galerie Espace Degree, Luxembourg, 1995. Her works are part of the permanent collection of the Albertina Museum, Vienna, BMB Gallery in Amsterdam, Galerie Samuel Lallouz in Montreal and the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, New York. Recent exhibitions in New York include installation Ennoia in collaboration with Stephen Vitiello at Diapason Gallery. More recently in New York her works presented by Art in General, the Whitney Museum of American, and El Museo del Barrio's. In 2004 Weiss' works were presented by the Chelsea Art Museum, NY in her first U.S. monographic exhibition. She is currently a member of the New York-based artists' and curators' organization Nomads + Residents.