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The Crossroads Art Center has included information about artists in residence on this page. You may click on an image of the art work to enlarge it.

Jennifer Risley, a Memphis native newly settled in Richmond, is a young, up-and-coming photographer specializing in black and white prints. Traveling extensively over the past few years, she has developed a varied portfolio ranging from sweeping landscapes and fine architectural details to street scenes that capture the unique urban personalities of cities such as Paris, Venice, San Francisco, Memphis, and New York. Jennifer usually prefers the simplicity and elegance of black and white, choosing to focus on unusual perspectives and interesting contrasts. Her images have been featured in promotional brochures and websites, alumni magazines, yearbooks, CD artwork, and even on bicycle jerseys. Jennifer’s photographs are on display throughout the Southeast, including at Crossroads Gallery in Richmond.

You may visit Jennifer Risley Fine Art Photography at www.jenniferrisley.smugmug.com.

”MORE ALIVE THEN STILL ALIVE”

ARTIST STATEMENT

I came to the United States as an immigrant from the Netherlands in 1956. Europe was still recovering from World War II. Many families immigrated to the United States or Canada to get away from the bombed-out ruins, the lack of jobs, meager food supplies and of course the horrible memories of war. My family was fortunate to come to rural town in Virginia were life was filled with abundance. Everything was so new and exciting. Life was simple but very good.

I was ten years old and my art career was already four years old. Since art supplies were expensive and a car was a priority in America, I invented my own art materials. I used the pine needles that fell near the pond to do "earth drawings"Š. I used old newspapers and pieces of charcoal from the wood-burning stove to do “charcoal drawings.” There was never any question as to my dedication to becoming a painter. After all, I came from a country that is known as “the land of painters.”

My painting dialogue has always concentrated on color. Color is light and light represents and supports life. The subject matter in my paintings seems simple and humble at first glance. But are they really??? They are a spiritual memory of the past and of the future. Once it was a great treasured gift to take a whole apple to school for my lunch. My mother had told me countless stories of how she ate tulip bulbs to keep her alive during the war. Pieces of glass and pottery appear in my paintings.

Once I used to go with my father to the bombed-out ruins to find chards of old tiles, porcelain, pottery or glassware. I realized very early on that one¹s heritage and roots are deeply embedded in everyday functions. It is an intense journey to encounter the simple and to make it complex. I explore what I see and experience within myself. I embrace the visual process and walk on the edge of a different reality with courage and conviction that I will return from my journey a richer human being and perhaps a painter with something to say.

For more information and photots go to www.ezairgallery.com/Christaphora_Robeers.html

Painting is truly magical. It allows me to share meaningful moments in my life and to tell, without words, treasured stories of my family and my travels halfway around the world. Oils are my medium of choice, and I concentrate on composition and light. I want my paintings to sparkle; I play my shapes like pieces of a puzzle. Yet, painting is much more than a means of expression. It is my best friend.

A native of Richmond whose father was a mechanical engineer at American Tobacco, and mother a graduate of the Medical College of VA School of Nursing. Both parents were first of their generation to leave Tobacco farming. Iris, graduated from Stuart Circle School of Nursing, married, raised her children and while working the graveyard shift at Reynolds Metal Co went to VCU. majoring in Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture.

Her love of travel has taken her on painting excursions to England, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Peru, Mexico and Honduras.

Her work has been shown in France and Scotland as well as VCU, Virginias Museum Studio Gallery, Reynolds Metals,

Shockoe Bottom Art Center and was most recently in a group show with Richmond Metropolitan Artist Association at the

Crossroads Art Center. Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne and Van Gogh are just a few of her all time favorite artists. In this interview she quoted Joseph Solman, "the subject yields more pattern, more poetry, more drama, greater abstract design and tension than any shapes we may invent".

Currently as a student of Christapfoora Robeers new color Juxtapositions have begun to show up in her work.

Having lived in rural Virginia my entire adult life, I find most of my inspiration for paintings comes from driving down a country road!

Most of my paintings seem to reveal that a landscape was touched by man or that man’s work is touched by Mother Nature, if only a dirt road carving its way through a field or forest. Inspired by sunny days, the light catches the details of trees or buildings and casts shadows against vibrant colors. A building, abandoned or no longer maintained, returns to earth’s elements. A patina of a steel door, aged wooden siding on an old barn, or a rusting tin roof takes on a beauty that only nature can create.

Recently I have been intrigued with recreating this effect on canvas with the use of paints, glazes and textures, and it has taken me in a different, slightly abstract direction that I find exciting and rewarding, because it’s not so much “just a pretty picture,” but, hopefully, evokes a unique personal response from the viewer.

You may visit the artist's website at www.loisshipleyfineart.embarqspace.com.

"Why I became an Artist"

I have always had a great love for art and the expression of art. On 1995, my 27 year-old son was murdered and I developed a fear of losing his image and the sound of his voice. I did not get to say goodbye and I wanted a portrait, not of his face, but of his soul, who he was. I began by attending John Tyler Community College, tried several mediums and fell in love with oils. I have worked non-stop with different art teachers and completed a number of workshops with an end goal of doing portraits. From this, and being a member of the Richmond Metropolitan Art Association, I have developed real friendships with many talented artists and enjoy our shared love for art.

I was raised on a farm in Ohio and loved animals so as I have walked through this art journey I have found a real love of painting all animals, especially ones from my youth, I want each animal to have its own personality and an attitude showing from the canvas, I sometimes think of a person then paint their attitude in the animal.

I have painted my son at different ages of his life, never losing sight of his final picture, and I have never forgotten the sound of his voice.

Kenneth Smiegowski of Kenneth Smiegowski Studios LLC has been a painter and/or fine art photographer for over forty years.

He studied painting and commercial art at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and served a two year painting apprenticeship with Iwan Lotton, a prominent Chicago area artist.

Ken’s oil paintings are held in private and corporate collections. He has worked with and sold photography in 35 mm, medium format, 4x5 and digital

His photographs have appeared in calendars, post cards, coffee mugs, tee-shirts, prints, and guide books in the Grand Canyon National Park, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Smoky Mountains National Park, Zion National Park, Capital Reef National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Custer State Park, Black Hills National Forest, and Devils Tower National Monument.

Ken’s images have appeared in Sierra Club Magazine and its calendars and datebooks, Audubon field guides, Wisconsin Trails Magazine and their calendars and giftware, Lake Superior Magazine and their calendars and giftware, Blue Ridge Country Magazine, Impact Graphics products, Landmark Graphics products, Northwood Press Books and other assorted regional magazines and trade publications.

Ken has lectured at and taught not-for-credit classes (before digital) in nature photography and macro photography at the College of Lake County in suburban Chicago.

Kenneth Smiegowski’s background as a classical oil painter show in his use of color, composition and light. His fusion of painter and photographer create works not typical of either discipline separately. The digital photographer side brings the detail and clarity, while the painter side brings the soul and mood.

Ken has numerous collectors who claim to see the painter in him come thru in his photographic art. He hopes you too will join the growing list of informed and enthusiastic buyers who look for, and are collecting his amazing work. His work can be viewed at the Crossroads Art Center in Richmond Virginia or on his website www.kensphotographs.com.

Born in Texas, raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Elizabeth majored in dance at Stephens College and went on to earn a M.A. in Expressive Arts Therapy at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For the next 25 years, in Massachusetts and in Virginia, Elizabeth established Movement Therapy programs in mental health facilities, day treatment centers, nursing homes, schools, day care centers and recreational centers. She has danced with children 2 to 102 years of age! Five years ago she retired to travel with her husband, John, and to paint and mosaic.

Elizabeth’s favorite medium is watercolor, as it is so free-flowing, spontaneous and surprising. She applies the watercolor and then waits for the subjects to emerge. More often than not, Women emerge. With a pen, she lovingly defines each one.

Elizabeth’s web site: www.cafepress.com/SteeleWomanKind

Local artist, Lynn Stewart, moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania in the late 1960’s and has been known in our area for her musical abilities. She has also had a visual arts interest since she was a child, and attended a program for the talented and gifted sponsored by Penn State University when she was still in High School.

In the 1970’s her painting and photography interests led her to pursue a formal education. She was awarded an Associate Degree in Photography from J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College in the 1989. Her love for the County of Hanover led to an exploration of historic buildings there, using various films, including infrared, which she has exhibited throughout the Hanover area.

After transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Print Making with a minor in Art History. She also took several graduate classes in Photography there.

Her first love however, has always been painting with oils. After retiring as Program Director for Hanover County Parks and Recreation Department, she has now found the time to get back in the studio and paint. Her paintings continue to evolve and borders on impressionism and/or expressionism. Most of her paintings have an underlying feeling that she wants to convey. Her goal is to “let the paint speak through the brush strokes”.

Lynn now lives in King William County with her husband, Edmund “Penn” Goggin. For more information you may contact her at llsartist@msn.com.

My paintings consist of bold colors and a deep sense of emotion. I often paint with a limited palette, rather focusing on brushstrokes, texture and form to find a balance. I am drawn to the drama and the pain connecting us all in our humanity and strive to create beauty out of the most difficult circumstances.

I am not attempting to abstract the physical world; I am trying to get to the person behind the mask. Edvard Munch said: “Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye. It also includes the inner pictures of the soul.” I draw my subject matter from inside of myself hoping to create a constant conversation between the viewer and the painting, especially since abstracts do not seem to answer but ask.

My work combines my European past and my American present. My paintings are upbeat and symbolize the strength and positive attitude that are part of the American spirit and therefore part of my newfound life in the United States. My passion for bold colors comes from a group of artists called “The Blue Rider” of the 1920s, especially Franz Marc; other influences are American artists Mark Rothko and Wolf Kahn. My paintings are included in private collections in the United States and Europe. I am represented by Alex Gallery in Washington D.C., as well as by 1212 Gallery, Judy Newcomb Gallery and I am a member of Artspace Gallery, all in Richmond, VA.

Visit the artist website at www.abstrackart.com

"My Artwork expresses my desire to take everyday subject matter and elevate them to a new life, either through vivid color or dramatic contrast. In doing so, I hope that people will become more aware of their surroundings. As the world changes so too will my paintings, and the subjects I paint. Therefore I am only limited by the size of my paper or canvas and my imagination."



Susan’s talent and skill emphasize rich color and vibrant imagination. She has been the recipient of many awards locally as well as nationally. She is a signature member of The National Watercolor Society, Baltimore Watercolor Society, Southern Watercolor Society, Missouri Watercolor Society, Texas Watercolor Society, Virginia Watercolor Society, Watercolor West and Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club in New York City. You can view more of her work and awards at www.susanstuller.com.

Her work can be found in over 30 corporate collections as well as private collections in the United States. She also has paintings in North Light Book’s Splash 10: Passionate Brushstrokes and the soon to be released Splash 11: New Directions.

Susan has been an art instructor for over 20 years. She teaches 4 mixed media painting classes a week at Crossroads Art Center. She also teaches workshops locally as well as nationally.

Biography
Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley, Anne Sylvest was imprinted early in life with the beauty of the mountains, the valley, the fields and the undulating river. These impressions and memories have greatly influenced her painting.

Moving to the Richmond area as a young adult, she continued to paint over the years with periods of time being shared in the interests of schooling, mothering four children, nursing education and practice and, with her husband, the establishing of a holistic health care center in 1988 where she served as administrator until March, 1990, at which time she left the position to return to her studio on a full-time basis.

There were times - sometimes years - due to circumstances, that the artist was unable to paint. But as painting is a mental and spiritual, as well as physical activity, visualization continued on those levels throughout any non-painting period so that when brushes and colors were again taken up it was as if she had never laid them down. The “affliction” seemed to be a progressive condition.

In the unfolding of her life, the experiences brought to the artist have been witnessed to and recorded in her work.

David Tanner is a portrait and figurative painter based in Richmond, Virginia. Since receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1991, Tanner has received portrait commissions throughout the Eastern United States. His focus on commercial illustration during his university training later transformed to a fine arts focus, specializing in oil portraiture and paintings of the human figure.

An experienced instructor, Tanner teaches drawing and painting at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio School and The Hand Workshop Art Center. Tanner is currently an Artist-in-Residence with the Virginia Museum’s Statewide Partnership Program, instructing portraiture workshops throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Tanner is an active member of The Portrait Society of America and The American Society for Classical Realism. Whether painting traditional oil portraits, still-lifes, or creating unique figure studies celebrating the beauty of the human form, Tanner upholds the fine traditions of realist painters both past and present. His work can be seen at Crossroads Art Center in Richmond, Virginia, or at his personal studio; to make an appointment to visit the studio, please call (804) 938-4457. An online portfolio can be viewed at www.tannerportraits.com.

My name is William Thomsen. I am a local, Richmond, metal sculpture artist. Being a native of Richmond and an avid sportsman, I have always had an appreciation of the outdoors. My goal is to bring part of the outdoors into my customer’s home or garden. My objective as an artist is to reproduce wildlife in its own habitat.

I offer a wide variety of sculptures and I am working on new ones all the time. If you have an idea for your own home, commissions are available.

Each sculpture is made from steel and designed to last a lifetime. Every piece is cut, shaped and welded by hand. A 4 foot stand is supplied with each statue. You simply hammer it into the ground where you want your statue to be. The statues themselves fit into the stands and they are all interchangeable. There is an optional indoor stand for indoor use as well.

Each sculpture is made by me one piece at a time. No two are exactly alike and all of them are signed and dated.

Visit Bill's website www.twinriversmetalart.com.

"I became interested in paper-cutting and cut paper as media in about 1980. I have studied the techniques and history of Polish, Swiss/German, and Oriental paper-cutting. I have also explored the art of cut paper by artists such as Matisse, Romare Bearden, and Eric Carle. Over the years it has become my passion and favorite media (for me) in the visual arts. I have learned from and honor traditions of other artists, but I have developed my own style and techniques. My greatest inspiration is nature. Animals, especially, stimulate some of my favorite subjects for my cut paper pictures."
                                                              Gene Mason Toutsi

A friend introduced me to painting about six years ago and my goal is to continue taking classes and workshops so that I can complete works that not only will I enjoy painting, but which will also bring pleasure to others.

My paintings have been juried into many shows in Richmond and Petersburg, It has been displayed at Crossroads Art Center, Petersburg Regional Art Center, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, King George County Art Fair, where I won a ribbon; and various venues with the Tuckahoe Artists Association. My work is also on display at the Artifacts Gallery in Lynchburg. I am delighted to say many of my paintings are now hanging in private homes.

I began painting classes with Carol Campbell, then took classes with Ann Chaddock Bolton I am currently attending classes by Christaphora Robeers

I am a member of the Bon Air Artists Association and the Tuckahoe Arts Association (Recording Secretary 04-05).

I’ve been painting for about 10 years. During much of that time, my approach was to paint representationally. In other words, I painted things the way I saw them although I avoided being too tight in my interpretation on the canvas.

I have to admit, until recently, I was never a fan of abstract paintings. I found it difficult to appreciate the talent or comprehend the hidden meaning the artist buried in the canvas. That all changed for me a couple of years ago.

It was actually a fortuitous accident that sent me down my path toward abstraction. I was painting a landscape and was not happy with the product of my work. So I started wielding my brush and vigorously slapping on paint to cover up my disappointment. And as I did, something interesting started to emerge. I continued down this new and once forbidden path and found myself delighted with the discovery.

As I experimented further with more and more paintings, I started to view abstracts in a whole new light. Eventually, I realized that an abstract painting doesn’t have to have some deeper esoteric meaning. In fact, my view is much simpler. It is all about the emotional response a work creates in the viewer.

To me, a particular painting works when you connect with it. Sometimes you can be drawn in by the depth or the colors, other times you can find the shapes or textures appealing. Whatever it is, the painting gives you a reason to stare for more than a fleeting moment. The connection is usually instantaneous. It happens or it doesn’t and it’s different for everyone.

So when asked what my paintings mean, I find myself stumped for a proper answer. They are not meant to mean anything. If they are successful, they grab you. It can be a bold yank or a gentle tug. They may evoke a smile or a pause. But if they work, they connect with you at some emotional level and give you whatever you need or are open to get from them.

As an artist, I enjoy getting lost in the process of creating; taking twists and turns that inevitably lead me down a path. I don’t take my strokes and marks on the canvas too seriously. If I did, I’d be afraid to push the painting to a new and often unexpected place.

While I usually have an idea or image in mind when I start a painting, I rarely end up with a work that matches my original vision. In most of my abstracts, I use a palette knife as my primary tool. I’ve found that using a palette knife, instead of a brush, is very liberating. Freed from a need to duplicate an image, it has allowed me to be bolder and less inhibited in my paintings.

Please visit the artist's website at willturnerart.artspan.com

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