ARTIST PROFILES
Below is a partial list of MRAA members. The complete list may be found here.
Diane Balister
Diane paints in her studio in Scott’s Addition and on location when the opportunity presents itself – most often using oil on canvas. She creates contemporary, original paintings of people, creatures, and her impressions of the world we live in. She is especially fond of lively colors and movement. She is a native of Virginia, where she met her husband Michael, and they raised their large, blended family. She has traveled extensively, often visiting Great Britain where her husband was born. She draws from her life experiences and travels in her work. She moved to the Charleston, SC area in 2000 and discovered the joy of painting en plein air. She has recently returned to her native Virginia. Her portraits of animals and children are in demand and her paintings from life are on display in many homes and galleries. More examples of her work can be found at balister.com. Contact Diane for a studio visit, or to attend one of her many local shows, by email: diane@balister.com
Nellie Rose Blair
Nellie Rose Blair is an intuitive painter inspired by yoga, meditation, and nature. Her passion is creating large abstract paintings with a spontaneous yet contemplative quality. In her representational work, she is drawn to elements of nature such as aspen trees, ginkgo leaves, zinnias, and roses. For Nellie, the artistic process feeds her spiritual practice, and her kundalini yoga and meditation practice helps to fuel her creative vision.
Instagram: nellie.rose.blooms
Aaron Bowles
Aaron Bowles is a contemporary painter whose themes involve nature, dreams, relationships, and our connection to each other. His abstract landscape work is of the water and its light and the deep woods. His dramatic figurative work involves the mystery of men and women together. Aaron works in a contemporary expressionist style using colorful, textured compositions and abstract structure. Aaron studied painting at East Carolina University and graphic design and illustration at VCU. He is a former Assistant Professor of Art at George Mason University. He is represented by several galleries and is in many private collections. Aaron works from his studio in the Scott’s Addition area of Richmond, VA. AaronBowles.com
Andrew Bryant
Andrew is a software engineer and generative artist from Virginia. His work explores the connections between digital and physical spaces, and the principles that undergird them.
Surrounded by constant change, his artwork seeks stillness by highlighting ideas that have stood the test of time. It expands boundaries and challenges the perceptions of the worlds we inhabit.
Computer code is the centerpiece of his artwork. He writes code to create or manipulate images using the Clojure, Python, or Processing programming languages. He also incorporates photos he takes and pen plots into his artwork.
Steve Ferretti
My motivation in creating abstract works of art is primarily for personal fulfillment. When opportunities arise, I exhibit my work and offer it to new and seasoned collectors. I’m drawn to Abstraction because it is a personal visual expression able to connect in a manner individual to each viewer. In beginning a new piece, sometimes my intent is clearly defined before I begin, other times I begin blindly and allow my intuition to lead me along an uncharted path. My mind needs to be clear and my mood positive and calm to produce my best work. My inspiration comes from observation of details rather than the big picture of things. These might include textures on a wall or floor surface, glazes on pottery, patterns on rocks or peeling paint on the walls of an old building. My choices of media include acrylic paints, cold wax and oils, monotype printing and photography. I find it difficult to title my work because I prefer not to influence the viewer’s interpretation of the work. My work is exhibited primarily in the Richmond area and select venues beyond. My hope is that my work and my support of the arts community will contribute to making and promoting Richmond, Virginia as a distinctive destination for the arts.
Susan Fisher
Showing us an impressionistic dance between sketch and realism, Susan Fisher paints with a distinctive style. Many of her images are from “the mind’s eye” taking us to places that we have never been and conveying feelings that resonate with most viewers. Self trained, she has painted prolifically since she was 12 years old. As an adult, she studied in studio for eight years with Professor Erjun Zhao focused on portrait, landscape and figure. Susan is the president of the Metropolitan Richmond Artists Association. She grew up in the city of Richmond and lives there still. SusanFisherArt.com
Keziah Gehring
Keziah is an emerging young artist who works mostly with figures in oil. She is fascinated by texture and uses palette knife frequently in her paintings, as well as other mediums that make her work stand out from the canvas. With a minor in Studio Art from Randolph-Macon College, which includes a semester of studio classes in Florence, Italy, Keziah continues her growth as an artist under the instruction of Susan Fisher here in Richmond. Most of her work is inspired by photographs taken on her extensive travels abroad and revolves around a captivation with locals in their most raw environment.
James Green
James is a mostly self-taught abstract artist living in the Richmond area for the past 35 years. He has worked in cold wax medium with oil/ink, encaustics and acrylics for the past 12 years and an amateur Photographer since college. He is heavily influenced by elements of nature and incorporates heavy texture in his paintings that invoke a visually tactile response for the viewer. His approach to his painting is very organic and spontaneous.
His formal education and professional career was in the Computer Science field but has been an artist since his first drawing experience at age 10.
Follow him on Instagram at walkingontheedgestudio, email to james@walkingontheedge.studio
Mike Haubenstock
Mike Haubenstock lives in Glen Allen, Virginia where he produces beautiful and soothing oil paintings. Starting with drawing lessons in 2003, he moved on to oils when he desired to learn more about painting. He continues to refine his technique and paints what inspires him almost every day. While fundamentally representational, Mike’s painting uses color and depth to inspire and create continual interest. Inspiration comes from architecture, landscapes, still life and, most importantly, color, which moves the artist as well as the audience. One of his early themes was fruit and vegetables, which complimented his passion for cooking. This evolved into a series of paintings of the raw ingredients of recipes, such as eggplant parmesan and guacamole. This theme continues, and he recently did some some cocktail recipes, such as Bloody Mary or Sangria. Other works include arches (architectural and natural) and the exteriors of Richmond restaurants. He has participated in juried shows in Richmond VA and San Diego. mikehaubenstock.com
Jo Kennedy
Jo is an abstract painter who works in acrylic, mixed media, and collage. Holding an MFA from VCU and a Master of Humanities from University of Richmond, Jo has studied painting in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and with private instructors. Her work can be seen at Stravitz Fine Art Gallery in Virginia Beach. Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, I spent much of my childhood in the outdoors where the contours and rhythms of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the fertile valley and the winding Shenandoah River indelibly imprinted my childhood memory and imagination. My paintings are informed by a strong sense of place and my desire to create, define and claim the small physical space of the canvas in relation to the larger canvas of the natural world. While my abstract paintings are not traditional landscapes, I like to think of them as landscapes of the heart and memory.
Website: jokennedyart.com
Email: appletreestudio@yahoo.com
Bart Levy
Bart Levy, an emerging artist, works mostly in oils, but also oil pastel, and some printmaking. She works mostly from her own photos in her studio, as well as some en plein air. She has exhibited in galleries, group shows and solo shows in Virginia and North Carolina. Levy expresses the peacefulness and sometimes austerity of the North Carolina and Virginia rural areas, from the mountains to the wide-open countryside, to the beaches of the coast. Her florals and still life paintings concern shape, color, and light. She records the beauty and simplicity of daily life. Design is a vital aspect of all her paintings. bartlevyart.com
Lorraine Meade
Color, texture, line, and form come together piece by piece in the work of mosaic artist Lorraine Meade. From the intricate details in her smallest piece of wearable mosaics to the 40-foot long mosaic wave adorning the walls of the University of Richmond’s Heilman Dining Center, Lorraine’s art reveals curiosity, whimsy, and beauty. Lorraine creates at Heartspace Studios in North Chesterfield and displays her work at Crossroads Art Center. She accepts commissions, teaches group and individual classes, and participates in local shows. mosaiquecreations.com • heartspacestudiosrva.com • facebook.com/mosaiquecreations
Sandra Moran
Originally inspired by the scenery near her upstate New York home, “Sandy” grew up drawing; she was a doodler. After studying at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology she designed children’s clothing, and pursued art classes at Pratt Institute. After moving to Richmond, she took watercolor classes at the Visual Arts Center for five years and had her first show there in 2008. She enjoys studying the science of watercolor because each color reacts differently with other colors and the papers. Moran specializes in painting landscapes and people. The sources of her inspiration range from photos to old memories. She likes capturing a special moment. Moran attended Nimrod art center in Bath County, and the Maine Frederick Church camp summer arts programs. I’m still developing my skills, she explains.
Trish Poupore
Trish Poupore enjoys creating portraits and landscapes in oil or oil pastel, particularly scenes around Richmond and Allegheny County. She enjoys transporting the viewer to times and places of nature, comfort, warmth, nostalgia and hopefulness through light and color. Over the last 15 years she has enjoyed workshops and classes at Nimrod Hall, the Visual Art Center of Richmond, and painting with friends. She exhibits her work and sells cards in the Richmond area. Ppoupore@gmail.com
Janet Ringle
Janet Ringle is a self-taught artist living in the Richmond area for the past 31 years. Her work consists mostly of abstract works, and she paints primarily in oil, cold wax, oil sticks, acrylics and encaustics.
Over the past 15 years she has attended workshops and classes at the VMFA Studio School, the Visual Art Center of Richmond, and through online academies. She exhibits her work in the Richmond area, as well as online at JanetRingle.com.
Her professional career was in digital marketing and communications. However, as a child of two artists, she has been drawing and painting her entire life.
Janet feels inspiration is unlimited living in RVA. From the river, nearby mountains and beaches, and from the city’s wonderful museums and galleries to its incredible street art, the possibilities are endless.
Follow Janet on Instagram at @j.lambdin.ringle_art or on her website at JanetRingle.com, or contact her at J.Lambdin.Ringle@gmail.com.
Diana Scott-Auger
Returning to her first love after an early retirement from an award-winning journalism career, Diana, whose studio is now in Zion Crossroads, Va., transitioned from oils to acrylics, ironically becoming a slow painter in a fast medium. Whether born of a visceral reaction to the bark of a dying tree or the vicarious thrill of watching a kayaker battle the current, images on her canvases very gradually grow into visual stories through textural brush strokes, glazing, and patient attention to detail. Diana earned a B.A. in art history from Bennington College. She also did graduate study in fine arts at Boston University and took classes at the Art Students League of New York. Her work is in many private collections throughout much of the United States. She is represented by Annie Gould Gallery in historic Gordonsville, VA. dianascottauger.com
N. Blake Seals
N Blake Seals was born in Huntington, NY, attended the School of Visual Arts, in NYC, and currently resides in Virginia. Blake has managed a comic book shop, served in the US Navy Reserve as a Corpsman with the Marines, volunteered as a firefighter/paramedic and works as an organ transplant coordinator. He has also owned and managed world-class recording facilities, shown his artwork in New York City, worked on Marvel and Archie comics, traveled the world as a black belt in Matsubayashi-Ryu Karate-Do and is an award-winning author and graphic designer. Blake’s work is derived from the seemingly disparate disciplines of comic book illustration and abstract mark making, Blake is inspired by city landmarks, pop culture and non-representational work. Blake’s digital paintings typically start as impressionistic drawings, hand-drawn abstract doodles, and painted color fields on paper. Then they are combined, transformed, and manipulated in the computer and output onto various substrates.
Mary Montague Sikes
Although her first official art training did not come until her college days at the University of Mary Washington, painter Mary Montague Sikes says she has always been an artist. From early childhood days in Fredericksburg, Virginia studying cloud formations, she has loved color and dreamed of how it might be used in unusual and exciting ways. At the College of William & Mary, she discovered acrylic paints and fell in love with sculptural form and design. Later, she studied painting and earned an MFA degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. Over the years, every art medium has attracted her attention at some point and brought joy to her West Point studio. Working on both wooden panels and canvas, she currently is experimenting with oil and cold wax as well as anything that brings texture to her work. The delight of intense watercolor on Yupo (a synthetic paper) also intrigues her. She has traveled extensively in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean and often brings the sights and sounds of exotic places into her work. Sometimes, she paints and writes intuitively which recently resulted in the publication of the book, Spirit Visions Soul Songs. www.marymontaguesikes.com
Alice Simon
Art has fluctuated through Alice Simon’s career; painting has given her both meaning and purpose. She cherishes where she grew up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia but has called the flat lands of Hanover County home for the majority of her years. She studied with Mort Traylor at the Virginia Art Institute and received her BFA and MIS degrees from VCU. Shehas painted in realism to layered abstracts; her motives for the work may have changed. But her changing has been the need to express in parallel visual terms her thoughts and feelings in new inventive ways. Lines and edges have softened over time inspired by circumstances or the environment of color. Sometimes bold or low tones, other times simple observations have made her canvases come to life. But the unmistakeable sound of the work had to be heard before she declared each piece finished. Her work can be seen in Luray, Virginia at the Warehouse Art Gallery and often at Crossroads Art Gallery in Richmond, Virginia or on her website at simonfineart.com.
Robert Winne
As a life-long sportsman, Robert’s paintings are inspired from his interaction with the outdoors, primarily with the beaches, inlets and marshes along the North Carolina coastline. A graduate of Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, NC with a Graphic Design degree, Robert has served as an Illustrator with the Department of Defense, an adjunct professor teaching Airbrush Illustration at John Tyler Community College and a free-lance Illustrator for Ad agencies and corporate clients throughout Virginia. In 2004, Robert transformed his skills from a structured graphic design professional into an artist creating beautifully crafted abstract paintings. Robert works primarily in Acrylic, Oil and Cold Wax. Robert is represented by Stravitz Fine Art Gallery in Virginia Beach stravitzartgallery.com/ and has a gallery of his works at Crossroads Art Center in Richmond crossroadsartcenter.com/collections/robert-winne
Website: robertwinne.com
Instagram: instagram.com/robertwinnefineart/
Douglas Orr Zeigler
Douglas Orr Zeigler was born in Dixon, Illinois and attended The University of Chicago and The Art Institute of Chicago (BFA). He studied drawing, painting and design with several European emigre faculty who emphasized the traditional disciplines. In this rich environment, he developed an approach to an individual vision which is grounded in representation, but also taps expressive, spontaneous impulses—and yields to immediate responses of color, line, form and texture. Zeigler works from his studio in Manakin Sabot, Virginia. He accepts commissions for a wide variety of artwork. Zeigler states that the visual artist has a responsibility to be faithful to his will to create, to go to those places where his vision takes form by means of paint on canvas or pigmented water on paper. Nature is his starting point, but the subconscious guides his response to what he “knows” or “sees.” His goal as an artist is to enable others to share the beauty and excitement of the creative spirit. zeiglerart.com
MRAA Members: If you would like to appear on this page send 1 jpg image (square format works best) and a 1 paragraph biography (150 words maximum) with a web link to bryant.andrew01@gmail.com.