WILLIAM ELSTON (Paintings, Drawings, and Prints)

William Elston's first experiments with painting ​en plein air​ were while he was still in high school, three decades before the current plein air revival. Rural and urban landscape continue to be his principal subjects.

William Elston has taught at Fort Wright College, The Spokane Art School, The Academy for Realist Art (now The Gage Academy,) the Frye Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, and has been a guest lecturer at Marymount Manhattan College in New York, Whitworth College in Spokane, Eastern Washington University in Cheney, the University of Washington in Seattle, and The Gage Academy. He continues to teach ongoing plein air classes and workshops in Seattle and surrounding areas.

His work has been widely collected in the United States and in Europe, and is included in many public, private and corporate collections. HIs self portrait is currently on display at the Cascadia Art Gallery in Edmonds. www.williamelston.com

JANIS GRAVES (Miniatures and Small Paintings)

Janis Graves is a native of the Pacific Northwest. Since childhood her world was one of colors and textures. From the moment her father showed her the nuances of color in a dog-eared coloring book. She never lost interest in trying to capture the superlative beauty in her everyday world.

The development of skills has progressed to allow Janis to instruct in various mediums including pastel, oil, and acrylic. Primarily in a realist style but also enjoying the use of impressionism, contemporary, and whimsy. Janis has had the pleasure of working with a wealth of known artists such as Ned Mueller, Richard McKinley, Bill Hosner, Jill Soukup, Liana Bennett, Susan Oglvie and many more.

Janis is a member of Women Painters of Washington, Oil Painters of America, American Women Artist. Puget Sound Group of NW Artists and a signature member of the Northwest Pastel Society.

Her works have been seen in several galleries such as The Cole Gallery, Edmonds, The American Art Co, Tacoma, Scott Milo Gallery, Anacortes, Clymer Museum of Art, Ellensburg and Wild Horse Gallery, Bellingham. www.janisgraves.com

VICKI HALPER (3-Dimensional Art)

Vicki Halper is a Seattle curator and art historian specializing in American craft and art of the Pacific Northwest. She is a former associate curator of modern art at Seattle Art Museum and James Renwick Senior Fellow of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is widely published and has worked for many institutions, including the Renwick Gallery in Washington D.C., Museum of Glass, Tacoma Art Museum, Museum of Northwest Art, Bellevue Arts Museum, and Wichita Art Museum.

MICHELLE DUNN MARSH (Photography)

Image by Sylvia Plachy

Michelle Dunn Marsh is currently the executive director and curator of Photographic Center NW (PCNW) “celebrates beauty, fosters awareness of individual and collective biases, and develops discerning consumers and creators of visual media through teaching the history and future of the photographic medium.”

Over the last two decades, Michelle served in executive and creative roles in the fields of art photography and publishing. Her commitment to education, collaboration, and achievement of excellence have defined her career and gained her national recognition. Michelle’s professional experience includes fifteen years with Aperture Foundation in New York City, first as a designer and later as deputy director for the organization, and as Co-Publisher of Aperture magazine. She was senior editor of art and design at Chronicle Books, San Francisco, and was a tenured professor in graphic design at Seattle Central Community College. She has recently launched Minor Matters Books, a community publishing platform for contemporary art. www.minormattersbooks.com/pages/michelle-dunn-marsh