Color Photographs

Artists Describing Their Art:

Rickie Dickerson - I work from the core, I smear my guts on the canvas, all the pain and confusion...joy, lust and anger...right before your very eyes. I have to paint, I have no choice. My mentor, Luise "Mignon" Andersen, introduced me to acrylic paint and threw me deeper into the river of creativity. Everything I do is just to keep me from drowning... As for the photography, that's compulsive as well....

Vincenzo Montella - Vincenzo Montella was born in Benevento, Italy the 7/14/1952 and lives in Naples where works as psychiatrist. He is graduated in Medicine and Philosophy and specialist in psychiatry and family psychotherapy. He is artist, poet and photographer. He studied photography at the Toscana Photographic Workshops attending courses of William Allard, Michael Yamashita, Machiel Botman, Alex Webb, Jeff Jacobson, Arkady Llove, Sarah Moon, Carol Dragon. ...

David Bechtol - Photography is an integral part of my life. Each image captured attempts to take the viewer on a journey, to transport them to that place of wonder and grandeur as I experienced it, to feel the sense of awe, beauty and peacefulness. As a boy growing up in rural Michigan, I had many chances to take long, slow walks in the forest, soaking in all the beauty a child sees in nature. Now I use photography to slow down life and try to take in all that nature has to offer as I once did those many years ago. I am a self-taught photographer and have studied the photographic process for over 50 years. My interest includes the digital realm where my technical background lets me exploit all that the camera can capture. Throughout my travels, I try to bring back and share a vision of some of the awe-inspiring vistas I encounter. No matter where you are in the world, natures extraordinary beauty is around every corner. I believe that great images are always around us. They are ours to capture with our vision and share with the world. ...

Nancy Bechtol - Artists explore and give the world a view of their personal heightened awareness. I visualize and think with keen beliefs and insights. Reflection of human and societal concerns which cross emotional boundaries-- communicating that which is unspoken. My traditional art foundations of drawing, painting and printmaking, evolved into video, digital photography and experimental media. I use digital photography and imaging to envision the concepts originating from the creative pulse.An individual artist explores and gives the world a view of their personal heightened awareness. Artists see and think with keen beliefs and insights.Reflection of human and societal concerns which cross emotional boundaries-- communicating that which is unspoken. My traditional art foundations of drawing, painting and printmaking, evolved into video, digital photography and experimental media. I use digital photography and imaging to envision the concepts originating from the creative pulse....

Jim Lively - Whether portrayed in the abstract, realism, or somewhere in between, I am most influenced by both the beautiful and unattractive components of contemporary urban culture. Many times, one painting will reflect both components. My art tends to focus upon interesting juxtapositions of close-up images of human faces. Often, the larger images border upon realism and are caught expressing a panoply of emotions usually directed at the other images that share the canvas. Several of my recent works such as the tongue in cheek entitled "Lenin and Things" contain unlikely combinations of images such as a statue of Lenin which is dwarfed by a billboard size fashion model displaying a vacuous stare. A number of works contain both large images and interrelated small images. For example in the painting "Staring at Natalie", all the smaller images are a depiction of a collective group of voyeurs staring at a larger image of a posed fashion model. I want those viewing the painting to be the ultimate voyeur. The viewer is not only drawn initially to the larger image in its own right but also cannot help but then notice the relationship of the smaller images to the large image. Works displayed ...

Ruth Zachary - My goal is to create striking images that touch the viewer emotionally. I try to capture the essence of a subject or scene, so that the viewer reacts with an immediate recognition, and immediate click of Yes. I depend upon composition, simplicity, shape and contrast, as well as my own aesthetic sense and emotional responses. I love creating art through photography. For me it is an opportunity for self-expression, a means of capturing a moment in time and creating beauty, as well as am important means of communication. My education includes a Masters in Social Work and a BA in English Literature. I have done formal study in drawing and pastel, but my photographic study has been informal and self-taught. Since 1980, I have been a frequent visitor to Monhegan Island, 12 miles off the coast of Maine, a remote lobstering island with a summer artists colony. On Monhegan, I became friends with a group of painters and photographers. I applied what I learned from them to my own work. Those I am most grateful to include Frances Kornbluth, Leo Brooks, Robin Young, Judi Wagner, Josie Vargas and Nancy Stanich. I show my art summers on Monhegan Island ...