FEATURED ARTISTS
Each month the editors choose an outstanding artist to feature from the following categories:
fine art, music, dance/choreography, photography, film, poetry/books.
Click on the photo to view the artist's page.
fine art, music, dance/choreography, photography, film, poetry/books.
Click on the photo to view the artist's page.
Photo Credit: Jill Baratta
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Sonia Stark (November Featured Artist) has always worked in a variety of mediums and styles in acknowledgement of their equal validity and in appreciation of the multi-dimensionality of art. However ostensibly different, her drawings, paintings, photographs, and sculptures are intricately related, both thematically and aesthetically. Sonia is a signature member of the National Association of Women Artists, an organization where she formerly served as president and member of the Board of Directors. She has exhibited her artwork across the United States and has received numerous awards for her paintings, designs and illustrations.
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Photo Credit: Stephen Mosher
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KT Sullivan (October Featured Artist) is a cabaret icon and Broadway performer who currently sings and plays piano every Tuesday in the lobby of the historic The Algonquin Hotel in New York City. In 2012, KT was named artistic director of The Mabel Mercer Foundation, which produces the annual Cabaret Conventions at Lincoln Center. Besides regular appearances in such New York venues as The Laurie Beechman Theatre, BIRDLAND, 54 Below, and Café Sabarsky, she stars annually at The Pheasantry in London, and has been showcased at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Spoleto Festival, Chichester Festival, CLUB RaYé in Paris, and Adelaide Festival in Australia.
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Image: Encyclopedia Britannica
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Willa Cather (September: Celebration of an Artist ~ 1873-1947) was an American novelist noted for her portrayals of the settlers and frontier life on the American plains. Today Willa Cather is one of the most important American novelists of the first half of the twentieth century. Seen as a regional writer for decades after her passing in 1947, critics have increasingly identified her as a canonical American writer, the peer of authors like Hemingway, Faulkner and Wharton. As part of our September issue celebrating "Arts in Education," this feature celebrates the female protagonists in Willa's most notable novels 150 years after her birth.
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Photo Courtesy: Cassie Fireman
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Cassie Fireman (July Featured Artist) is a singer-songwriter based in New York. Prior to launching her solo career, she played with an all-female rock band called The Panty Droppers, and then co-founded the band Dirty Mae with her husband, Ben Curtis. Dirty Mae performed throughout New York City, touring 12 states, playing over 90 shows and winning the Battle of the Bands at Grassroots 30th Annual Festival, which led to playing live onstage with “Donna and The Buffalo” at Shakori Hills, as well as being hand-picked as a performer for the Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz's Underground Sunshine Fest. The tour came to a halt in 2020 due to the pandemic, and Cassie began writing prolifically. Cassie’s debut solo album Feel Like Gold was just released.
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Photo Courtesy: Elaine Franz Witten
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Elaine Franz Witten (May Featured Artist) is a multi-award-winning, classically trained sculptor. Hallmarks of her bronzes are beautiful form, illusion of movement, creative use of negative space, and use of indigenous stone bases. Elaine’s art has been exhibited in over 150 national and international exhibitions as well as museums and reginal solo shows. Her bronzes are in public and private collections in the United States, Canada, and in the private collection of the former King of Saudi Arabia. In 2013, she became a purveyor of sculpture to the U.S. State Department for use as Presidential gifts by President Obama. Elaine is a signature member of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA).
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Photo Courtesy: April Dawn Griffin
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April Dawn Griffin (April Featured Artist) started painting at age eight, and her passion for this medium blossomed for decades. April is an autistic artist with deteriorating eyesight. However, she shares, “It weirdly doesn’t stop me from painting." Her metal work speaks to synergy in the forest. She used her paintings on metal – particularly her work on large saw blades – to draw attention to potential clear-cut logging. April appeared in the film CONNECTED: A Film About Autistic People, which provides a heartwarming look into the lives of individuals on the autism spectrum as they gather for the International Naturally Autistic People Awards in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Self-Portrait
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Laura Dodson (March Featured Artist) is an award-winning photographer, writer and educator based in New York City and Athens, Greece. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute. Her works have been the subjects of seven international, one-person exhibitions, and her art has appeared in numerous group shows. Laura currently teaches digital photography at Queens College, City University of New York and writes portfolio reviews for LensCulture magazine. Her photographs are included in several private and public collections. Her most recent exhibition was "Fictional Narratives" at Alex Ferrone Gallery.
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Photo Courtesy: Cherry Lane Theatre
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Bridgette Wimberly (February: Celebration of an Artist ~ 1954-2022) was commissioned and produced by a number of prominent theaters Off-Broadway and across the U.S. This list includes Cherry Lane Theatre, Hackney Empire-London, Opera Philadelphia, Apollo Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre, and many others. Her poems were published in six anthologies of poetry by the poetry group Cave Canem from 1999 to 2008. A partial list of her community associations and activities included member of the Board of Directors at Cherry Lane Theatre, lifetime member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Foundation for the Arts Artspire Artist, and member of The Dramatists Guild. Bridgette’s first play, Saint Lucy’s Eyes, starred Ruby Dee and received numerous notable awards.
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Photo Courtesy: Franki Love
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Franki Love (January Featured Artist) is an award-winning singer-songwriter and classically trained pianist who began playing the piano when she was four years old. She garnered success at the LA Music Awards as "Female Singer-Songwriter of the Year" and winning "Single of the Year" for her song "Shadow." In 2013, Franki successfully funded her next album release, which was dedicated to her mother who passed away from cancer in January 2013. She was mentored by legendary music producer Phil Ramone, who encouraged her to start writing the album while grieving the loss of her mom. Otias was released in 2017. Franki's latest album, The Moon, was released in 2022. This is a new age instrumental/piano album with healing frequencies and was also on the Grammy ballot.
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