Care Hanson is a visual artist with an eclectic practice that includes acrylic on canvas, altered book art journals, mixed media on recycled cardboard, nature mandalas and hand stitching. She thrives on color exploration, using intuition and a spirit of ‘just try.’

Her favorite art is a bit open ended, leaving room for conversation with the viewer. Care worked as a job placement counselor for Superior Staffing until 2013. Since then, creative play has been her daily habit and way of life.

For more, check out her Instagram page.

About the Artist

Charlotte Lees transforms and translates the elements of nature to express a personal vision of her environment. Beauty matters and her goal is to create lasting images that connect man to his surroundings.

She was born and raised in Cleveland. Ms. Lees received the Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in 1995 for her outstanding body of sculpture.

Living on wooded property, trees became the perfect material for her wall and free standing images. Many of the cherry trees were logged, planked and carefully aged before carving. Most of her wood sculptures are intricately painted. This is a result of her early training as a graduate student at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Being well travelled she has incorporated images from diverse cultures into her work. On a recent trip to Oaxaca, Mexico she became fascinated with embossed metal and has incorporated this technique into her artist vocabulary.

Art is her passion and Ms. Lees has successfully completed both public and private commissions in stainless steel, aluminum, bronze and wood. She has said that she enjoys the freedom of developing concepts without material constraints. As well as commissions Ms. Lees has had numerous museum and gallery exhibitions. She is constantly trying to expand her artistic vocabulary by exploring the work through “fresh eyes” and looks forward to the challenge of creating new sculptural ideas.

You can view one example of her public art sculpture SIDE by SIDE at the pocket park on Third Ave. in the Harrison West Community of Columbus.

Charlotte Lees is an archived artist at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio.

About the Artist

Dawn Tekler (b. South Bend, Indiana) earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Cleveland Institute of Art with a major in Photography and a minor in Video and Film History. Currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio and has a gallery at W.78th Street Studios. We are open every 3rd Friday of the month 5-9pm or by appointment. My encaustic (hot wax painting) work started as an experimental departure from my photography, as I began to find photographing a literal scene unsatisfactory.

Trained in the darkroom, physical interaction with a medium is essential to my creative process. I was thus drawn to the idea of overlaying my photographs with encaustic wax. The wax freezes the scene so the viewer can return repeatedly to find new detail and meaning. This approach is carried over from my voyeuristic approach to photography.

Steel mills are an inspiration for my work. I draw from them a sense of history, power and energy. The mills' stained and compressed terrain from trucks and trains, rusted fences, power lines and towers that create dizzying patterns when traced with the eye. Juxtaposing concepts of harsh industry against the ethereal atmosphere, my ultimate goal is to preserve my vision of the scarred earth from decades of punishment.

Recently my work has evolved even further. I've created a new body of work that does not incorporate any photographs whatsoever, allowing me to push the limits of the medium by stripping down to what is minimally necessary to convey my vision. I am free to explore color and texture without restraint. I’m excited for this new direction in my work, and look forward to continuing my creative exploration of the deconstruction process.

dawntekler.com

About the Artist

Hilary Gent is a Cleveland artist who works with oil and latex mediums inspired by the urban and natural landscape. Gent earned her BFA from Kent State University in 2003. Her paintings are included in public collections such as The Cleveland Clinic, Summa Hospitals, Sherwin Williams, cARTa and Hilton Hotels Corporation, and numerous private collections.

Gent has spent the last fourteen years staging public art exhibits, launching art walks, and planning elaborate receptions for individuals and organizations, all of which have transformed the way residents and visitors view the Northeast Ohio Region. She was one of the first visionaries to plant roots at 78th Street Studios, where she curates unforgettable art events through her HEDGE Gallery, which now represents 20 regional artists.

Hilary actively served on the board of SPACES Gallery and volunteered with the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Association and ARTneo, the Museum for Northeast Ohio Art. She currently serves on the board of The Print Club of Cleveland. She has earned awards and grants for her efforts to collaborate with nearby agencies, resulting in programming that has stimulated the entire Gordon Square Arts District.

In economic development terms, Hilary’s motivation to present that arts as a vehicle for elevating a neighborhood has provided urban planners with prime elements upon which to build larger community plans.

About the Artist

Sarah Treanor is a mixed media artist whose work is strongly tied to nature. Although she is proficient in many mediums, Sarah works primarily in encaustic, assemblage, ceramic and experimental photographic techniques. She weaves these varied mediums together with a connection to nature and spirituality rooted in loved ones lost. The dance between mediums energizes her, while her intuitive connections lead her forward.
 Sarah’s work has been exhibited around the United States, licensed for book covers internationally, and won various awards and publication honors. Her art is in national and international collections. Sarah Treanor lives in Akron, OH and can be found frequenting the many local area parks for inspiration for her work. streanor.com

About the Artist

Kathy Arnold Artist’s Statement: As a 28 year resident of Hudson and the former owner of Whistler’s Glen Alpacas for 20 + years, I have always had an interest in the fiber arts. I learned to knit, crochet, sew and hook rugs in my early teens. After college, I started a manufacturing company and designed children’s clothing and home accessories which were marketed to stores and catalogs both nationally and internationally. When my husband was transferred to Ohio, I sold the business and moved to Hudson. Discovering alpacas in 1999, we started Whistler’s Glen Alpacas, and were recognized within the industry as a premier breeding business.

As the alpaca industry matured in the US more emphasis was placed on the fiber produced. This shift from building a national herd base to developing fiber awareness and use fit perfectly into my background.

I had a farm based shop and sold yarn and original designs. I also taught spinning, weaving, and felting at fiber festivals, stores, and guilds. And marketed my original designs at juried art shows. I no longer have alpacas, but have continued to expand and hone my fiber skills. I am now concentrating on using my hand spun art yarn in freeform extravagant wallhangings that combine elements from knitting, crochet, macrame, weaving, and felting. I also have continued to develop my needle felting skills concentrating on armature based projects. Most are inspired by nature with a whimsical twist.

About the Artist: Gwen Waight

My studio is in Peninsula, Ohio in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I have resided and worked in Ohio for 17 years. I received my degree from the University of Iowa in sculpture and worked in my dad’s ceramic studio for ten years. It was in my father’s studio that I learned my appreciation of three-dimensional space. It was also my dad’s non-sentimental nature of tossing/ burning all things deemed unnecessary clutter that rooted my deep need to covet and collect almost everything. I studied ceramics in college and love, really, all things clay, thus also why I have an awesome collection of cups, mugs and unomi. I however never felt like clay was the medium by which I wanted to express myself. With found objects and assemblage I truly discovered my voice. The objects I lean towards always seem to have lived and have a story to tell....some objects are complete memories for me and just as a writer will string words together to create a work I assemble objects to create my art. I love the fact that like words, smells and colors; objects hold meaning and memories.

The wonderful thing is that sometimes the viewer has similar or completely different ones than my own. I feel that found object assemblage is just like painting in 3D or perhaps, collaging. For me, it is a better process because I don’t start with a blank canvas and I get to move my objects around without having to “paint” over something I don’t like or have to wait for paint to dry. Often in my studio I will have three or four different pieces going at the same time. I start sometimes with an idea first and search for the objects that are going to express that idea or I start with an object or several objects that shout so loudly that they need to be together.

I appreciate the opportunity to talk about my art and to show some of what I do.

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