Chelsea Best
Chelsea Best is a multidisciplinary artist whose paintings are studies of surfaces as they relate to time, evolving and growing richer as they age. Her work attempts to showcase how time transforms and elevates, revealing great beauty and depth in objects otherwise ordinary.
The process is as much physical as it is visual, a constant practice of discovery: of oneself and the world around them. Layers are built to be stripped away, revealing a nostalgic collage that marries one’s inner and outer landscapes, everchanging as they are.
Kelly Edwards
Kelly Edwards is a watercolor and mixed media artist and owner of Arbor Gallery in Carmel, NY who finds inspiration in the beauty of nature, expressionism, art nouveau and the watercolor medium itself. Becoming an artist in order to develop an ability to counter a need for control, she allows herself to embrace the unexpected in her work.
Luis Fonseca
CV - Luis Fonseca
b. 1956, Tunja, Colombia
Lives and works in The Bronx, NY.
Education
2005 MA School Counseling, Manhattan College, Bronx, NY
2000 BA Photography, The City College of New York, NY, NY
Exhibits:
2025
The Shape of Memory - Bank Art Gallery, Newburgh, NY (Juried)
What Democracy Looks Like - Palmer Art Gallery, Larchmonet, NY (Juried)
Drawn from Life 2025: Identity – Upstream Gallery, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY (Juried)
Heatwave – Colors of Summer – Mamaroneck Artists Guild Gallery, Larchmont, NY
Paperworks: Made in America – Upstream Gallery, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY (Juried)
Urban Jungle – Garrison Art Center x Segundo Beso, Cold Spring, NY (Juried)
The Environment: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow – Mamaroneck Artists Guild Gallery
Beyond the Feminine Mystique – Blue Door Art Center, Yonkers, NY
ArtExpo New York – Pier 36, New York, NY (via Artboxy)
20th Small Works Juried Show – Mamaroneck Artists Guild Gallery
Philip Gebhardt
Philip is a life long New York State resident who developed a passion for art making at a young age. He studied art at Fairleigh Dickinson University before receiving a BFA from Marist College. He has a Masters in Art Teaching from The School of Visual Arts with 15 years of teaching experience working in both New York City and the Hudson Valley. Philip has a studio in Hudson, NY which he also uses as a venue for group art exhibits.
George Kimmerling
George Kimmerling (b. 1960) received a BA in philosophy from Stony Brook University and a BFA from the Corcoran College of Art. He earned an MFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design, attended the Whitney Independent Study Program, and was a graduate fellow at the NYU American Photography Institute.
His work has been exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt, the New Museum, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Momenta Art, Bellwether gallery, and Nicole Klagsbrun gallery, among numerous venues across the United States and internationally. He has had residencies in the PS1/MoMA National Studio Program, at the MacDowell Colony, and through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and is represented in collections at the New Museum, Corcoran Gallery Archives, West Collection, and Artists Space.
In addition, he has taught and/or lectured at the University of Chicago, Syracuse University, RISD, Hunter College, Corcoran College of Art and Design, McMaster University.
Dede Lifgren
Dede Lifgren first pursued a degree in political science at SUNY, but a spontaneous application to study fine arts in France completely shifted her path. Studying and traveling throughout Europe deepened her connection to art and eventually led her to the San Francisco Art Institute.
After moving back to NY, she founded several successful creative businesses, including VersaTile (ceramic tile murals), Capuchinz (patterned hats and jewelry), and Walls of the Wild (life-size animal and plant wall decals).
Alongside these ventures, Dede has maintained a dedicated fine art practice working in paint, clay, and cement to create two and three dimensional pieces. Her current work focuses on sculptural wall art made from recycled cardboard — a mundane, everyday material she cuts, weaves, reshapes, and paints into richly textured, dimensional forms. Through this transformation, her work explores beauty in the overlooked, turning everyday cardboard into bold expressive work that feels both familiar.
Lisa Penny
Lisa Penny is a Mixed Media artist working with a wide variety of materials. Her journey began with a BA in Marketing and graphic design for publishing and content. Her personal artwork path began with textile arts before expanding into mixed materials and painting. During the COVID-19 pandemic and eldercare, her work embraced more non-objective abstraction, creating deconstructive creations that reflect the era’s emotional depth and transformation. Influenced by Fauvism and Orphism, she combines color and 3-dimensional materials to evoke rich textures. Lisa's work has exhibited in galleries and museums, has been featured in books, magazines, and digital publications, and is enjoyed in private collections internationally.
Danielle Rogers
I reside in Danbury, Ct. I was born in Belgium where I received my degree in “Early childhood education” . I moved to the United States of America in 1973.
I started painting with acrylics around 1976 while raising my family.
I also enjoy poetry, photography, collages, ink drawings and more.
My work mostly expresses itself in an abstract-realistic form as my feelings about my experiences, places, people, events and especially animals compel me to show them through my paintings. I’ve always been fascinated by the combination and the relationship of color.
Cindy Sumerano
Cindy Sumerano is a painter, metalsmith and educator based in Hurley, NY. Holding two degrees from SUNY New Paltz, she continued her studies in printmaking, painting and metal smithing in studios locally, across the United States and in Italy. Currently working primarily in acrylic painting, Cindy’s work, whatever the medium, is representational and expresses her interest in light, structure, and visual story telling.
Joann Zwolski
I received my BFA from Pratt Institute, and my MA from the College of New Rochelle. I have exhibited my artwork in several solo and group shows throughout the tri-state area and the state of Delaware. I have taught art for over thirty-five years to students from kindergarten to high school and have been teaching adults drawing for many years in a variety of places. I was a trustee, including the chairman, with Putnam Arts Council and I am currently a trustee with the Peekskill Arts Alliance Board.
Leslie Bijoux
Leslie Bijoux is a Somers, New York-based painter and mixed media artist. Her work reflects a fascination with mark-making, layers and textures. She often uses unconventional tools such as legos to create patterns and textures, and sharp objects such as nails to scrape through layers of paint.
Mark Edwards
Mark Edwards is a local artist from Rochester, NY, graduated from SUNY Buffalo, and has worked in the animation industry for 20 years. He has exhibited at Arbor Gallery (10/2023).
Harriet Forman Barrett
Harriet Forman Barrett, a multi-disciplinary artist, has been involved in the arts since the early childhood. High School of Music and Art ‘65 Oil Painting Award. Pratt Institute BFA. Through each medium, she invokes the power of collective spirituality, the feminine, the empowerment of being and the careful balance within that. Her artwork is held in private collections throughout the world. Young Americans ’69 Museum of Contemporary Crafts Competition and Exhibition, World Silver Show in Mexico City in ‘73, Monmouth Museum ‘77, the Samuel Dorsky Museum ‘20, the Hammond Museum 12/20 - 6/21, the American Artists Professional League’s 93rd Grant National Exhibition ‘21, Cunneen-Hackett-One Woman Show ‘22, Arts in the Loft ‘22-24, Lace Mill Gallery ’24-‘25, One Woman Show at Wired Gallery, ‘24, Bank Art Gallery ‘25, Arbor Gallery ‘25. Beautiful article in Art Times, Volume 29 No. 1 July/August ‘12 Profile: Harriet Forman Barrett.
Carol Herd-Rodriguez
Carol Herd-Rodriguez lives in the Hudson Valley where she grew up. She has a lifelong fascination with the Hudson River and takes inspiration from the rhythm and beauty of the Hudson Valley.
As a child, Carol gained a great sense of wonder. Her passion for creating was ignited by her maker mother’s constant crafting, sewing, and floral arranging. Growing up in a home where art was appreciated and making ideas visually manifest was encouraged.
She studied art at SUNY Purchase, focusing on sculpture and papermaking for her BFA. Later, she received a full scholarship to pursue an MFA at the University of Illinois.
Following graduate school Carol lived in Mexico for a year and began her journey into painting there. Today, Carol lives and maintains her studio in the river towns along the Hudson River. She paints daily in her studio, on the Metro North Hudson Line trains or en
Rita Leduc
RITA LEDUC is an interdisciplinary artist whose creative relationship with ecosystems informs work on human and societal scales. Recent collaborations include Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, The Preserve at Vassar, MacLeish Field Station, and Nantucket Harbor. Leduc has shared her practice—publications, courses, presentations, and exhibitions—widely, including at The Museum of the White Mountains (NH), The Nature of Cities Festival (Berlin), Grizedale Forest (UK), and Syracuse University (NY). She has received support from NYFA, the Jerome Foundation, and others. She is a member of The Place Collective, founder and director of GROUNDWORK, and facult in Rutgers University's program, "Creative Expression and the Environment." She received her MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from SAIC, and BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Michael McCarthy
Michael McCarthy, PhD, is a researcher whose work focuses on emotions and social and emotional development in youth and across families. Trained in qualitative and mixed-methods research, his scholarship examines how emotional experience, relationships, and social contexts shape development and family life over time. His work attends closely to how emotions are expressed, remembered, and carried through everyday interactions and life transitions. He does not identify as an artist. Echoes of Us emerges from this research-informed perspective, using personal photographs and materials to explore emotional memory, rupture, and continuity within family life, and how ordinary artifacts can hold and reflect emotional experience across time.
Joanne Ponzo
Joanne resides in South Salem, NY. She earned a BFA in Fine Arts and a MA, masters in Art Education. She has taught Art in public schools in NYC and Westchester County. She also worked over ten years as an art therapist in special education, as well as in private settings, and currently teaches art at a local preschool. Joanne has explored a wide range of media throughout her creative practice and currently focuses on watercolor and oil painting. Her work has been exhibited in local galleries, private events, and venues throughout NY, CT, and MA, and is held in numerous public and private collections. She is a member of the Ridgefield Guild of Artists, and The Carriage Barn Art Center.
James Sparks
I have been an art educator and painter for almost fifty years teaching studio art, photography and art history at the university level.
I taught for 21 years an Adjunct Professor of Art at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, New York, and retired in 2023. Currently, I am now an instructor of photography and drawing at Railyard Art Center in Croton Falls, NY. My teaching approach has always been to emphasize the multi-disciplinary nature of the creative process to cognitive philosophy, psychology and, really, to all the humanities. Put more simply, stressing cognitive science as a portal into the origins of artistic creativity from an evolutionary perspective.
My personal imagery explores the fluid boundaries between representational and abstraction in Nature, discovering a new awareness and appreciation of beauty and what is worth looking at.
Jean Tock
A graphic designer, photographer and art director with more than 20 years’ experience in the publishing and financial industries, I now focus on the creation of original fine art that expresses my individual style and views. I enjoy working with recycled and found objects, as well as vintage toys and games. My studio is in Carmel, New York in the lower Hudson Valley.
Russ Brandon
Russ Brandon is a New York artist with Puerto Rican roots. He has a story shaped by his upbringing in Bronx projects and his family’s move to suburban Mamaroneck when he was 11. His blend of urban and suburban experiences, coupled with his rich Puerto Rican heritage, has deeply influenced his art.
From a young age, Russ exhibited a natural talent for drawing and painting – a therapeutic outlet that has evolved into a meaningful artistic practice. He has admirations for famous artists like; John Singer Sargent, Degas, Rembrandt and Norman Rockwell, just to name a few.
Russ, later in his life, has only recently started to exhibit his work. In September of 2025, he had his first exhibit. A solo show, at the Mahopac Public Library. Another solo show on the way in July & August, 2026 at the Mamaroneck Public Library.
Matthew Franz
Originating from Philadelphia and coming up during the vibrant 1980s, Matthew draws profound inspiration from the vivid palettes, substantial forms, and assertive strokes inherent in the graffiti milieu of that period. Currently refining their craft in the artistic community of Ridgefield, CT, he has found a nurturing environment to continue his creative journey.
His artistic style serves as a visual manifestation of the innermost sparks of his spirit, capturing an unwavering commitment to absolute independence and expressing his innate emotions through the language of bold color, cubism, and geometric abstraction. Coming from a creative family, he nurtured a lifelong passion for the arts. Geometric abstraction lets him channel his love for color and shift from art as a hobby to his vocation, aiming to foster connection and communication. His pieces fuse vivid colors, bold lines, and angular shapes, resulting in luminous and energetic narratives.
Matthew is the recipient of a 2023 Artful Gives grant, has shown at RPAC Gallery, Ridgefield Playhouse, Mothership on Main, and The Meeting House. He has also been featured in 068 Magazine. He can be reached at matthew.franz68@gmail.com and found on social media @mjfranzart.
Colleen Kastner
Colleen Kastner is a South African-born mixed media artist currently living in Connecticut. She studied art Broward College, Florida, but considers most of her best teaching to have come from online classes and experimenting by herself in her studio.
She creates abstract landscapes with a mix of charcoal, collage, inks, acrylic and oil. Her work blends her past lives - as a journalist and a psychotherapist – and explores beauty in the layered, broken stories of our lives. Her love of landscapes comes from the wild open spaces of her homeland in Africa and a spiritual response to the magnificence of the natural world.
Colleen recently exhibited in a solo show at Ridgefield Library and at juried shows at the Bascom Center for the Visual Arts, RGA, RPAC Gallery, ALFA Gallery, and GCWS and won Best in Show and two second place awards from jurors at ALHC shows.
Holli Levy
Holli Levy is a fine artist based in Fairfield County, Connecticut, celebrated for her vibrant encaustic and mixed-media paintings. Using encaustic paint, natural materials, papers, and her own photography, she creates richly layered works that blend texture, depth, and narrative. Her art has been featured in numerous juried exhibitions and solo shows, earning awards that highlight her distinctive vision and craftsmanship. Most recently, one of Holli’s paintings was added to the permanent collection of the Encaustic Art Institute Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Deeply inspired by the natural world, she gathers materials while traveling, hiking, or observing her surroundings, later integrating them into her work. These organic elements, paired with her mastery of the encaustic process, evoke the serenity and beauty of nature. Continuously evolving, Holli pursues advanced studies and mentorships, embracing new techniques that expand her creative expression and artistic journey.
Jerry Michalak
Based in the Hudson Valley, Jerry Michalak bridges observation and abstraction in his art, capturing the subtle and ongoing changes in landscapes and other visual experiences. His distinctive series of abstract winter scenes—often depicting woodlands in muted colors—invite a contemplative experience, echoing John Cage’s idea that “There’s not enough nothing in it.” In his latest works, Michalak paints the limits between reality, abstraction, and fantasy, incorporating images from his immediate natural surroundings and imagination. Jerry continues to exhibit locally and in the Hudson Valley region. For further information and gallery submissions visit: www.jmichalak.com
Jaili Ramirez
Jaili Ramirez is a New York based painter whose work is rooted in memory, emotion, and the reclaiming of personal and collective stories, culture, and self. Through both abstract and figurative painting, she explores themes of loss, belonging, and stories that often go untold. Drawing from family history, spiritual imagery, and lived experience, her work uses layered brushstrokes and rich, intuitive color to create spaces that feel restorative and reflective. Ramirez’s paintings invite viewers to slow down and sit with self-compassion, tenderness, and an acknowledgment of resilience. Through painting, she seeks to honor overlooked narratives and offer moments of rest, connection, and return.
Heidi Stein
Heidi Stein is a local artist who has exhibited with the Putnam Arts Council and the Mahopac Public Library Gallery. She teaches classes in gel plate printing, card-making and mixed media art. Heidi has a solo show coming up at the Field Gallery in Peekskill for the month of June. It’s entitled “Untold Stories” and captures moments in time through ephemera like handwritten letters and gel-printed papers collaged on acrylic paintings. Daily activities, like writing, cooking and reading, are forgotten with the passage of time, but art transposes the ordinary into something extraordinary.
Joan Wheeler
Ms. Wheeler is a contemporary American artist residing in Easton, Ct. Her painting and textiles comment on the world around her and its reflection in her psyche. Ms. Wheeler is a recipient of the Connecticut Artist Fellowship Grant. Her work has been featured in solo or group shows in the following museums, including the Museum Of Contemporary Art Westport, the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee,New Britain Museum of American Art, the New York Hall of Science, the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, the Discovery Museum, the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, the Mattatuck Museum, the Barnum Museum, Monmouth Museum, the Morris Museum, and Shore Institute for Contemporary Arts. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Housatonic Museum and the Mattatuck Museum.
