FEATURED ARTISTS
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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. |
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Nancy Staub Laughlin (May '21 Featured Artist) has been recognized and honored at the New Jersey State Museum and is included in the permanent collection. Other accomplishments include exhibits at the Noyes Museum, NJ, Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters in New Brunswick, Bristol/Myers Squibb, Prudential Corporate Gallery in NJ, and a select exhibit titled “Six New Jersey Masters” at Kean University’s Burger Gallery where she also had a solo exhibit. She is represented in many private and public collections and was honored to be chosen to be in the NAWA collection at the Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University. Nancy is the recipient of several notable awards, but her most memorable highlight was being reviewed by the late Sam Hunter, an art critic and acclaimed 20th century art historian, who found her work “refreshingly unique,” a common theme among many of her positive reviews.
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Basha Ruth Nelson (April '21 Featured Artist) is a New York-based installation artist and sculptor working in paper, stainless steel, aluminum and copper. Basha’s work has been exhibited widely. Solo exhibitions include: 60 Washington Square East Galleries, Flemington Gallery of the Arts, US Embassy (Nassau, Bahamas), Noho Gallery, Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Greene County Council on the Arts, Manhattanville College, Pritzker Studio & Gallery, The Project Space (New York City), Hudson Valley MOCA (formerly HVCCA), and Cunneen Hackett Cultural Center. In addition to numerous group exhibitions and inclusion in many public and private collections, Basha has exhibited internationally at Matinee Art Gallery (Nassau, Bahamas), NY Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum (Copenhagen, Denmark), Florence Biennale, Procidamerica (Italy). Basha was invited to the 2020 Venice Biennial for Architecture and Sculpture and the upcoming edition of 2022.
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Pamela Waldroup (March '21 Featured Artist) is an award-winning photographer and president of fotofoto Gallery in Huntington, NY. Pamela's intensive experience in printmaking with Dan Welden in Florence, Italy and in the Masters in Art Workshop at Southampton inspired her transition to digital photography as her primary medium. For 33 years, she taught darkroom and digital photography and fine arts while successfully exhibiting her work and the work of her students in many local and regional venues. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and has exhibited extensively in the metropolitan area in galleries and museums including: the Alex Ferrone Gallery, Salmagundi Art Club in NYC, 440 Gallery in Brooklyn, fotofoto Gallery, East End Arts Gallery, Mills Pond House Gallery, Main Street Gallery, Art League of LI, Long Island Museum, b.j. Spoke Gallery, and many others. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) in New York City.
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Afi posing with "Beautifully Played"
© Afi Ese |
February 2021 FEATURED ARTIST: Afi Ese is an African American contemporary realism and figurative conceptual artist living in Houston, Texas with roots in Togo and Mali.
The artworks of Afi Ese represent and venerate the rich history of the West African diaspora with an emphasis on generational trauma and triumph in Black America. As a child of the diaspora, her paintings are conceptualized narratives of the African plight through the eyes of a self-aware Black American. She combines and re-imagines historical events and attributes specific to the Black American experience. In doing so, she gets to shine a spotlight on the beauty and resilience of her community by using the gifts and talents given by her ancestors. Afi’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States and in South Africa. Her works are held in private collections in England, Trinidad, Canada, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and the United States. |
© Velicia Gourdin
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February 2021 FEATURED ARTIST: Velicia Gourdin is from Boston, MA. She has created illustrative and graphic design work for The New York Times, Jazz vocalist Lezlie Harrison, and a host of others. She has also been featured in many publications, including Urban Bush Babes and AFROPUNK.
Velicia is a self-taught digital artist whose work is a blend between traditional methods and the infinite flexibility of today's digital illustration tools. Focusing on diversity in her portrayal of beauty - as it relates to the fashion industry and beyond - Velicia seeks to communicate power, positivity and possibility in her work. She hopes that each line, each application of color, and each composition breaks through deep-rooted perceptions of beauty. She is currently teaching a college-level, virtual drawing class, planning various personal projects (including illustrating a children's book), and looking forward to safely visiting her grandchildren. |
Photo Credit: Joseph A. Rosen
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January 2021 FEATURED ARTIST: Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the great soul interpreters of her generation,” six-time Grammy nominee Bettye LaVette is a vocalist who can take any type of song – jazz or country, pop or rhythm & blues – and make it her own. Bettye’s commitment to artistry has earned the admiration of musical peers, such as Jon Bon Jovi. “She doesn’t just sing the song, she lives in each of them,” he said. Singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt also praised her as “…one of the most incredible R&B singers singing today…a force of nature.” After a career spanning close to six decades, Bettye was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (The Blues Foundation) in May 2020. Her latest album, Blackbirds, has garnered Bettye her sixth Grammy nomination for “Best Contemporary Blues Album.” In curating the songs for Blackbirds, Bettye has established a dialogue with the great women who preceded her while reaffirming herself as a vital, living presence.
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Featured Artists: 2020
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November 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: Amy Bright Unfried is a Wyoming-based sculptor who has exhibited nationwide in galleries and art centers from New England to Wyoming and Colorado. Her work has been selected for inclusion in many prestigious and selective juried art shows, including those of the American Artists Professional League, Allied Artists of America, the National Sculpture Society, the National Arts Club, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, the Salmagundi Club, The Pen and Brush Club, the Hudson Valley Art Association, and others. She has won dozens of awards, including the American Artists Professional League's Gold Medal, the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club's Horse's Head Award, and the Wyoming Capitol Art Exhibit's Purchase Award. Her work is part of many public and private collections.
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Photo Credit: SYM DSGN
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October 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: Despina Symeou is a London-based painter and printmaker. After studying fine art, printmaking and photography, Despina specialized in jewelry design and received her B.A. (Hons) from Middlesex University in North West London. Despina began showing her figurative work in 2010 with her solo show “Skin Shapes.” Since then, she has exhibited her work in and around London with the Printmakers Council, biannually with The Affordable Art Fair UK, and as a member of ArtCan, a nonprofit focused on artist collaboration, which enables her work to reach a wider audience. In 2018, Despina was shortlisted for The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Many of her paintings and prints are in private collections worldwide, and her etchings are held in the Victoria & Albert Collection Fund and the Scarborough Museum Trust.
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September 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: Merrill French is an award-winning oil painter who started drawing and painting at an early age and never stopped, even though her formal education was in the sciences. Her work has been widely exhibited in New York and Connecticut as well as Massachusetts. Merrill has received numerous awards, including the New Britain Museum of American Art’s People’s Choice Award (2019, 2020), several awards from the National Association of Women Artists, a Grumbacher Gold Medal (Kent Art Association), and the Salmagundi Club Award for Excellence. Her work is also included in the following permanent collections: Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University (NJ), Adams & Company Real Estate in New York, NY (a 20 painting commission) and the Belfast Public Library in Maine.
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Photo Credit: Crystal Clear SHOTS
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July 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: JACELYN is a Toronto-based singer-songwriter, actress and former host of CTV. She has played on the same bills as Keith Urban, Blue Rodeo, Johnny Reid, Megan Patrick and Colin James, to name a few. JACELYN has toured in Europe, Asia, Central and South America, the U.S. and the Caribbean. Awards include “Emerging Vocalist of the Year” (MARTY Awards), “Artist of the Year, Adult Contemporary” (Niagara Music Awards), and “Single of the Year, ‘Growin’ Up’” (Niagara Music Awards). Internationally recognized composer/arranger/pianist, Amina Figarova, partnered with JACELYN to arrange and produce her upcoming debut album, Dovetailing, which will be released in the fall. Her latest single release “Kaleidoscope,” a song that addresses mental health issues, is a collaborative effort with Figarova, and ASHA, an American rapper.
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May 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: Valerie Patterson is an award-winning watercolorist based in New York. She recently retired from a 34-year career teaching art. Her paintings have been exhibited extensively throughout the United States in both group and solo exhibitions, including exhibitions at The Bond St. Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), The Visual Arts Center At Clarington (Ontario, Canada), The Dayton International Peace Museum (Dayton, OH), Monkdogz Urban Art (Manhattan), and many others. Her awards and recognitions are numerous, including Juror’s Award Of Excellence for the Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center National Juried Exhibition “Ebb & Flow: The Power Of Water” and several Awards Of Excellence and a Featured Artist Award from Manhattan Arts International.
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April 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: Belinda Greb is an Oregon-based, landscape and wildlife photographer. After the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred, she decided to focus her life on what she truly loved; so she began to pursue a neglected passion for photographing the beauty of the natural world and animals. Her photographs are a representation of her passionate belief that we can only live as our authentic selves if we reverently acknowledge our essential relationship to the world that we inhabit and share with all living beings. Her work has been exhibited at New Zone Gallery in Eugene, Oregon and has sold internationally. Belinda’s work has also been featured in numerous online publications. One of her photographs, “Cougar Reservoir on a Snowy Day,” was published in the UK Sunday Times for a featured interview with the environmental writer, Barry Lopez.
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March 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: Pennie Brantley is a New York-based acclaimed artist. She has had an active career for forty years, exhibiting in museums, art centers and galleries. Among these are the prestigious Hyde Collection Museum, Boston Center for the Arts, National Arts Club in NYC, Paul Robeson Cultural Center at Penn State University, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Her work has been selected for important exhibitions by distinguished curators, including Director of the Guggenheim, Richard Armstrong, and others. Elected to the National Association of Women Artists based in NYC, Pennie has received many honors for her paintings, including the Leibowitz Award, NYC, and was awarded a grant from the NY Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). She has also worked tirelessly to improve conditions and opportunities for other artists.
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Photo Credit: Satra N. Smith
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February 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell is a Washington, D.C.-based fine artist and mixed media designer, originally from Denver, CO.
Her work is largely composed of messages regarding the experience of the Black woman in America with themes of motherhood and culture. Her pieces contain patterns, textures and textiles definitive of the new tribe of Black and American. Her aim is to create pieces that are definitive around the culture of Black America as a tribe of new American African people whose existence began during the transatlantic slave trade. Zsudayka’s work has been included in exhibitions and gallery spaces throughout the U.S, and she is the recipient of several grants. She and her husband, James Terrell (who is also an artist), own Terrell Arts DC and work closely with nonprofits to develop youth art programming in their community. |
Photo Credit: Joshua McClain
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January 2020 FEATURED ARTIST: Monica Pasqual is best known for her work with the Bay Area "super-group" Blame Sally, of whom rock critic Joel Selvin wrote: “…one of the most powerful word-of-mouth success stories I’ve heard in recent years." However, Monica has managed to maintain an impressive solo career both before and during the Blame Sally years. Already the winner of six Independent Music Awards (IMAs) and six Emmy Awards, she took home three more IMAs with songs from her new album release and sixth solo effort, "You Can't Kill Light." In 2017, the new album’s title song and video, “You Can’t Kill Light,” garnered her radio play and views across the U.S. and was performed live by Pasqual at both the 2018 and the 2019 Bay Area Women's Marches as well as throughout Germany, where she toured in the spring of 2017 with cellist Joshua McClain. Her songs have been used on numerous network television shows, and she has composed soundtracks for PBS, The History Channel and National Geographic TV.
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