Christine Alfery Bio As a full time professional artist, Christine Alfery's style shows a maturity that comes from a lifetime of creating. In college she was taught to paint every day, and she still does. Many artists begin their story at local art fairs – and Christine’s story is no different. She spent years growing her local reputation, being accepted into larger and more prestigious shows until she received a check from an art distributer out of the New York area. He wanted all of her brown landscapes – she obliged and the relationship grew from there. Christine spent the 80’s and early 90’s working to meet the seeming endless appetite for her work. She thrived as she began creating colorful canvas acrylics. She explored new color pallets as she worked with interior designers. She began to experiment with various media including handmade paper, textiles , watercolors, yarns, gold leaf, and more. While Christine’s popularity allowed her to thrive, she also found that collectors had specific requests. Glitz sold - so she included gold and glitter. Landscapes sold - so more landscapes were created. During this time Christine created and sold thousands of original works. Soon she was so busy meeting demand she often sent artwork out without even signing them. While she thought she had found artistic “success” she eventually realized her success was limiting her creativity. “I was just repeating the works that were good sellers. I was just making art to match someone’s couch and it was limiting my creativity and reducing the value of my artwork.” She made one of the hardest decisions of her life and walked away. Working for herself, she opened a showroom in High Point, North Carolina and worked with a network of over 30 national sales reps. She began exploring again – creating new styles, trying new mediums and techniques. But once again success led her to focus on the desires of her collectors. She realized she needed to walk away from the interior design business altogether. In the early 2000’s Christine studied and taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. During this time she completely stopped selling her artwork and rather sought creativity and authenticity. Building upon her extensive oeuvre, her style continued to evolve and mature. She pushed boundaries and created many experimental works that remain in her personal collection. A lifetime of creativity, successes, learning, and continuously seeking led Christine to her current studio in Northern Wisconsin. There she continues to explore watercolor on paper, large canvas works, and any other medium that sparks her imagination – valuing authenticity, individuality, and freedom in her works above all else. She is a signature member of 12 National Watercolor Societies, and her work has been honored with hundreds of distinctions and awards in juried museum and gallery exhibitions across the United States and abroad. She has been recognized with Purple Sage Brush status in the Texas Watercolor Society and was juried by the Wisconsin Watercolor Society to represent the State of Wisconsin in the National Watercolor Society’s 50 Stars Centennial Celebration Exhibition, where she was also honored with the Ruth Rossman Award. Today, Christine is a leader in her local arts community and beyond. She continues to create every day. Kate Aubrey Maryville, Tennessee Artist’s Bio A devoted watercolorist for over 40 years and a great lover of people and portraiture, Kate Aubrey began drawing while sprawled on the living room floor at age six. Since then, she has graduated to easels, studying with such notable artists as Charles Reid, John Salminen, Stephen Quiller, Ted Nuttall, Don Andrews, Jeannie McGuire, and Lian Quan Zhen. Life has taken her to six states across the USA from Anchorage, Alaska where she picked up her first watercolor brush to the deep, rich artist’s culture of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. While in Alaska, she worked as one of first women in the oil field at Prudhoe Bay, painting in her spare time. It all shows up in her work. Arriving in Tennessee’s Knoxville area in 2014 to settle (she fervently hopes) for good, Kate teaches watercolor workshops inside and outside of Tennessee. She is a member and past Vice President of the Knoxville Watercolor Society, as well as a member of the Arts Alliance of Knoxville and the Oak Ridge Art Center. Farther afield, she is a member of the National Watercolor Society and the Watercolor Society of Alabama, and her paintings have earned awards and signature memberships in the Northwest Watercolor Society, the Southern Watercolor Society, the Tennessee Watercolor Society. She is also a Master Artist at the Cape Cod Art Center in Massachusetts. Her work has earned many awards in multiple national and international exhibitions and has appeared in “Watercolor Artist Magazine”, “American Art Collector Magazine”, The Best of Watercolor Presented by Artists Magazine” (Splash 21), and the “American Watercolor Weekly” e-zine. Most recently, her painting, “What I Know Now”, has been accepted for publication in “Splash 22 - The Creative Spark”. When she is not teaching, she and her very large standard poodle can be found in her studio concentrating on her figure and floral paintings with a dash of still life or Apples thrown in. Although, truth be told, the poodle prefers bones…. Website: www.kateaubrey.com E-mail: [email protected] Studio: 865-268-5797 Cell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³*KRVW5DQFK'DQFLQJ7UHH´ *KRVW5DQFK1HZ0H[LFR Bio Enda Bardell I am originally from Estonia, via Sweden, now living and working in Vancouver, Canada. From an early age I have been an explorer, seeking new challenges, which have taken me through many stimulating creative careers such costume designer in the motion picture industry, fabric artist and founder of former Enda B. Fashion Limited. My early studies have been at Vancouver Art School (now ECUAD) with studio courses and workshops with prominent Canadian artists such as Toni Onley and Joan Balzar, both of whom became friends and mentors. My current work is primarily in watercolours, painting the feeling of memorable landscapes of where I have visited. However, I also have a strong connection with hard edge abstract in acrylics. I have exhibited my work in numerous group and solo exhibitions locally and internationally. One of my early abstracts from the Estonian Art in Exile exhibition is now in the permanent historic collection in KUMU, the National Museum of Art in Tallinn, Estonia. The other one is in the Tartu Art Museum, Tartu, Estonia. About the Artist MARNIE BECKER After a career in education and social work Marnie Becker began to study drawing and painting by taking several introductory courses at the Art Institute of Chicago, but it was in a portrait workshop taught by Ted Nuttall in 2011 that she realized she had found her passion. She has continued to study, most often with Ted, to refine her skills and develop her unique style. Marnie had mainly concentrated on the impressionist portraits which have become her signature pieces. After gaining success with these Marnie has begun to move in an abstract direction with both portraits and urban scenes. She likes to edit photos to concentrate on the shapes of the painting, leaving out many details. She has earned signature status in quite a few watercolor societies, including Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Southern Watercolor Society, Watercolor West, Western , and most recently, American Watercolor Society. Additionally she is featured in Splash, Best of Watercolor, 19 and 20, and Watercolor Artist magazine included her painting, Communal Table, in an article in 2017. Artist Magazine has recently featured her work, Red Bandana, in an article titled 12 Watercolor Artists Who Are Making A Splash, in May 2019. In September 2019 Marnie was the subject of an in-depth article about her work in the international magazine, The Art Of Watercolour. MATTHEW BIRD American Painter Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Matthew graduated with honors from the Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, New York, in 2000. He is a Signature Member of numerous organizations, including the National Watercolor Society, where he serves as vice president. His award-winning watercolor paintings have been exhibited in juried shows across the United States, as well as in Canada, China, England, Greece, Hong Kong, and Italy. His work is in museum and private collections. Matthew has been featured in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine as one of “Today’s Masters” (Feb. & Oct. 2018, Feb. & April 2019), American Art Collector Magazine (Issue 158, 171), Watercolor Magazine as “One To Watch” (Dec. 2017), The Artist’s Magazine (July/August 2017), The Art Of Watercolour Magazine (Issue 32), and in the Splash “best of watercolor” book series. Matthew lives with his wife and children outside Baltimore, where he maintains his studio. Artist Statement The subject matter of my figure and still life paintings communicate my deep love and respect for nature and life. Some paintings stem from a joy or narrative that is from my own experiences. Other pieces reflect the simple beauty I find in everyday objects composed together. I have focused on developing my craft to capture the beauty of what surrounds me with precision and clarity; and strive to convey that to all people through the universal language of representational art. It is my desire that when others see my work they may be inspired by the perceptible signs of the real Creator. email: [email protected] phone: 1-410-581-9988 portfolio: MatthewBird.com Jessica L Bryant, NWWS www.jessicabryant.com Passionate about nature and wilderness, Jessica is frequently found in the less traveled areas of our National Parks and other wilderness areas.