www.waldenart.com
Valerie Walden’s paintings are representational rather than literal. For her, that means a realistic but stylized ideology of a scene that evokes the mood or emotion at a particular moment in time. She strives to interpret the inherent vitality of nature through soft pastels and oil paints.
shannysstudio.com
Shanny Lott believes that art is about the deliciousness of color and light and how it feeds the soul. Lott began her career as an artist in the 60s when she studied sculpture under Charles Umlauf at The University of Texas. That was, until many years later when she discovered how much her soul delighted in the world of painting. Today, Lott uses paint, pastels and paper collage to create scenes of birds, trees that symbolize the relationship between artists and patrons in an ongoing and timeless loop.
1180pandora.com
Sun McColgin has conspired to turn his home into a living, breathing work of art. McColgin uses art as a means to connect human experiences to the natural world by crafting sculptures from simple shapes he cuts up and reassembles. His sculptures convey a false sense of stasis—something that looks strong stable could topple at any given moment.
vertallee.com
Brad and Kat Murph founded Vertallee Letterpress in 2006 to give their customers perfect letterpress and a better production experience where the job is done in the same place from start to finish by the same people who own the business. Vertallee provides a range of services, from creating stationery packages to printing client-designed projects, and everything in between.
Glenda Kronke is a native Texan who has lived on both the East and West Coasts. Her love of glass began in 1983 and has followed her throughout her career. She has worked for and been mentored by glass artists from around the country and is now enjoying life as a full time studio artist living in Austin.
Hatch Workshop is an affiliation of friends who enjoy all that is thoughtful and well-crafted. Their work is inspired by people they’ve met and things they’ve seen. By combining their love of traditional wood joinery, old machinery and dumpster diving, they are able to produce furniture that is durable, resourceful and comfortable. Each piece is collaboratively designed and built in house.
Carly Weaver was born in California, but grew up in Virginia, where she attended the James Madison University and majored in painting. Upon graduation she moved to Boston, where she worked for Ritz Camera and continued to paint. She showed in restaurants and put on group shows for others, but the turning point was when two of her paintings were bought by an influential interior designer and hung in the designer’s shop on Copley Square, an affluent area in Boston. Life was good but like most Austin transplants, she wanted to afford a home, so moved here three years ago. On-line she took a Texas Tech course on, “Orientation Mobility,” and got a job with The Blind Rehabilitation Center. She is also a gifted remodeler and is working on transforming her home single handedly.
Foster Talge was born in Texas and graduated from UT with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. The bridge into the art world from the mechanical world came with designing clocks, which he turned into a very successful business, Tres Studios. His biggest challenge, to date, has been the Metal Tree Sculpture, which stands outside his studio off Cesar Chavez, at the ArtPost compound. After this monumental endeavor, Foster would like to do further large pieces. He enjoys the challenge and has the equipment to handle the job. He is also planning a new form of artistry, designing a series of patina metal paintings, created using difficult chemicals to create various effects.
Lee Anne Gardner-Warrenfells seeks out curbsides with discarded tires, stops the car and loads them in to convert them into tire planters. Bulk trash days are her favorite. Old tires with the wheel still in them are the best – instant pedestal. She has ‘tire elves’ too who magically place them in front of her garage at weird times of the day and night. Lee Anne’s career as an art educator and mom of two heavily influences her choice of shapes, patterns and colors, but she is influenced daily by things around her – everything from SpongeBob to candy boxes to vintage chairs to local murals to the pipes she sees on the pool ceiling when she is swimming backstroke. Sometimes the tires just ‘speak’ to her and the colors and patterns come intuitively.
By basing his sculptures on shamanistic objects from China, Roger Foster’s creations symbolize the power and energy from the Earth, the Sun, or the Sky. Foster enjoys being apart of the rising art scene in Austin and admires the integration of all artistic aspects within the city
Robbie Ortiz was born in New Braunfels. Went to school, didn’t finish. Got into some mischief. Moved to Austin in 1993. Drew a lot. Had a bunch of jobs. Learned a lot. Now here I am still drawing. Ortiz’s main materials are colored pencil, pen, and acrylic. No formal training, just reading books and making a bunch of art.
Stephen W. Schwake is an artist who lives in Austin. He mostly makes oil paintings, but also makes prints, drawings, and the occasional sculpture. He makes glass etchings and carvings too. Craftsmanship is vital to his work; his tablesaw is just as important as his best sable brush. He graduated with a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999. His influences include, but are not limited to: 80′s skateboard graphics, hot rods, science, especially biology, stained glass, American roots music, mid-century Modern design, art history, and World War II fighter planes.
Photographer Sarah Wilson explores issues of community and culture through environmental portraiture. After nine years of studying and working in New York City, Wilson has returned to her hometown of Austin, Texas, where she works as an editorial photographer for magazines such as The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Time, The Atlantic Monthly, Texas Monthly, Mother Jones, and others. Work from Wilson’s personal projects has been acquired by the permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, and the Lishui Photography Museum of China. In the last year, Wilson’s personal project Blind Prom has exhibited in New Orleans, Austin, New York City, and China.
Barbara Lugge lives in Austin, Texas. Her current work includes hand-stitched portraits and landscapes, and abstract paper constructions. After graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin with a BS in Advertising, Lugge found a way to incorporate her life-long love for stitching into a new art form. She began experimenting two years ago with stitching on watercolor canvas. She wanted to do something different than traditional stitching and traditional watercolor. Lugge started with a self-portrait and now has an entire exhibit of stitching on canvas.
With deeply seeded roots in the DIY subculture, Industry Screen Studios has grown from a bedroom operation to a full fledged screen print studio. From concert posters and fine art prints to custom t-shirts and apparel, Industry stays true to the hand pressed aesthetic of screen printing. Offering hands on workshops and print demonstrations, Industry hopes to keep the DIY flame of yore alive and well. Studio artists all have a street art background that has led them to commercial work and have been featured in magazines from Alternative Press to Case.
A native of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, Alfonso Huerta’s unique perspective blends an awareness of the beauty of everyday objects with a playful surrealism and lush tropical colors. He currently lives and works in Austin. Alfonso paints primarily in egg tempera, beeswax and pastels, and he also does pencil drawings and has produced a limited edition of prints. He has exhibited in Mexico and has done two sponsored shows for the City of Austin. In addition, Alfonso has had shows at the Dougherty Arts Center, St. Edwards University and a solo exhibition at La Pena Gallery.
It’s probably no coincidence that two of America’s most eccentrically exciting and unpredictable directors, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino, are big fans of glitter artist Sue Zola and have snapped up her work for their art collections. Zola, like Lynch and Tarantino, has created her own unique niche in the art world, one of the only artists dedicated to not only incorporating, but exclusively utilizing, the uber-difficult material of glitter in her pieces. Zola somehow manages to use the fun, shiny, messy, tactile substance to evoke emotion and lovingly, and with dead-on accuracy, recreate the faces and logos of iconic American entertainers and symbolic Pop culture products.
In 2002, Jennifer Balkan quit her full-time job doing social scientific research and threw herself into oil painting.
