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 Courtesy: Elaine Franz Witten
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Elaine Franz Witten 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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Featured Artists: 2022
Photo Courtesy: Irene Backalenick
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At 101 years young, Irene Backalenick (November Featured Artist) has had an admirable career as a longtime freelance journalist and theater critic, retiring in 2015 at the age of 94. Never one to stop learning, Irene took up a new passion in her 90s – writing poetry. Irene has written for numerous national publications, including The New York Times. In 1975, she received a New York Times Publisher's Award. She is co-founder of the Connecticut Critics Circle and the Connecticut Press Club, and she is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, among others. She is the author of two books of poetry and several plays, which began production at The Watermark in Bridgeport, Connecticut (a senior facility where she now lives).
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Photo Credit: Dash Stratton
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Kim Wozencraft (September Featured Artist) has authored six novels, including the recently released title Neglect, from Arcade/Simon and Schuster, and the internationally bestselling Rush, adapted into a film starring Jennifer Jason Leigh. She co-edited the book Slam, a companion edition to the award-winning film, was executive editor at Prison Life magazine, and has written for HBO Films. Norman Mailer called her book, The Catch, "the best novel I've read about drug smugglers and narcs." Her work has appeared in The Best American Essays, Texas Monthly, New York Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, and numerous literary magazines and anthologies.
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Alex Ferrone (July Featured Artist) is based on the North Fork of New York. As a female commercial and fine art aerial photographer, her works have been published widely, including in Wine Spectator, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Pinhole Journal; have been highlighted in numerous online magazines; and have been featured on TV. Alex has exhibited her fine art photographs in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums nationally in New York, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and Colorado as well as internationally in Italy and Spain. Her works are held in private collections in the United States, Italy and France. She is also an independent curator and juror as well as owner and director of Alex Ferrone Gallery in Cutchogue, NY.
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Patricia Watwood (May 2022 Featured Artist) is a leading figure in the contemporary figurative movement. She has exhibited at the Beijing World Art Museum, The European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), and The Butler Museum. Her work is included in the collections of the St. Louis University Museum of Art and the New Britain Museum of American Art. Her commissioned portraits hang in institutions, such as St. Louis City Hall, Washington University, Kennedy School of Government, and at the Harvard Art Museums. Patricia is the current First Vice President of the Salmagundi Club (2021). She is also a Signature member of the Portrait Society of America and was named a Living Master by the Art Renewal Center. Her first book, The Path of Drawing (Monacelli Studio Press) will be released in late 2022.
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Ivonne Fernández y González, M.Sc. (April 2022 Featured Artist) is a German-Spanish multidisciplinary artist and social psychologist. Since her autism diagnosis, she has been active in the autism rights and neurodiversity movement and founded the German nonprofit association NeuroDivers e.V. Ivonne understands art as catharsis, a constructive way to banish dark feelings and thoughts - fear of transience, death, meaninglessness and emptiness, anger in the face of everyday lies, exclusions and injustices in the world. Ivonne believes that art and education are essential for human well-being. She conceives art projects for children on the autism spectrum. It is through her work with children that she expresses her sunny, light and colorful side.
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Portrait Collaboration Credit:
Carole Kunstadt & Kevin Kunstadt |
Carole Kunstadt (March 2022 Featured Artist) is a New York-based fine artist whose works often invoke a metaphysical quality. Her pieces reference antique books, bookplates and artifacts - deconstructing paper and text and using it in metaphorical ways. Through the exploration of the materials, history, memory and time merge in a hybrid form. She has won numerous awards and her works are included in many private and public collections, including the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library in Brunswick, ME and The Book Arts Collection, National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. The PBS/OFF BOOK Book Arts mini documentary featured Carole in the segment, "Transforming the Sacred."
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Photo Credit: Lester Booth
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Queen Sheena (February 2022 Featured Artist) is a Tennessee-based singer-songwriter. When she was ten years old, she began writing poetry and singing in her church youth choir. Over the years, she developed a deep passion for writing poetry, singing, and expressing herself through the arts. After writing her first song, she knew she wanted to reach a broader audience and has since performed at venues in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. Queen Sheena released her first single in 2018 titled “1964” which tells the story of the civil rights movement. In July of that year, she released her highly anticipated, self-titled debut EP, which showcases her soulful voice and incredible songwriting abilities. Since then, she has released two more singles – “A Long Way from Home” and her most recent hit song, “Amen.”
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A Viky Garden "Selfie"
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Viky Garden (January 2022 Featured Artist) was born in Wellington, Aotearoa and currently lives in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland with her husband Steve Garden, co-founder of Rattle Records, a contemporary music label in New Zealand. Since the age of 15, she has predominantly used herself as the model for her work. Through this singular practice, Viky primarily explores the nature of impermanence and similar themes that reflect personal and universal aspects of the female experience. Unable to attend art school, she began painting in earnest at the age of 27. Since then, she has had 26 solo exhibitions and has participated in numerous group shows, both in her homeland and internationally. Viky’s work is held in private collections in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Canada, U.S. and Europe.
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