ART: For when Reality is just a Concept.
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Portfolio of Artists
Barbara Frentsos Butler: Mixed Media
Barbara Butler, who holds a BFA from Ohio Wesleyan and an MA in Education from Bowling Green State University, works in many media: watercolor, oil and acrylic, batiked and dyed fabrics, contemporary quilts and wall hangings, and self-made paper.
A veteran teacher of 25 years, Barbara's experience includes college, children’s classes, and quilt design at the Mansfield Art Center. Her works are represented in private and public collections throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and France. One-woman exhibitions of her art have been presented in galleries in many Ohio cities.
"As an artist I do not concern myself with preconceived subject matter, nor with any definite steps toward the finished piece. My concern is to permit whatever shapes, lines, or textures to emerge as I work. Even though I work spontaneously, there are definite decisions involving all the formal and aesthetic principles in my creative process; it is not purely automatic."
"I seem to retain those rare moments of beauty and excitement and find that they emerge into a concrete form as I work. That is my final aim: that others may enjoy what I have experienced."
-more images coming soon-Mary Ann Clady: Watercolors
"I have been in the Arts for most of my life. I graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in Art Education. Since graduation, I have spent most of my time teaching and practicing art, as well as participating in various juried art shows throughout Ohio......
"My approach to art is based on my first impression of the subject, be it landscape, still-life or figurative work. I work in a loose style with emphasis on color. My choice of mediums is mainly watercolor, although I am re-visiting oils as my interest in "plein air" painting continues. I became a member of Ohio Plein Air Painting in 2006.
"In addition, I am also a member of the the Mansfield Art Center where I exhibit in the Gallery Shop there....
Mary Ann Clady's art studio is located in a 122 year old brick house called "The School House Art Studio" at 4226 Baker Road, Crestline, Ohio, and is open "by appointment".
Gail Coppock: Calligrapher, Jeweler
Gail Coppock grew up in the Appalachian Mountains and Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and followed various career paths before focusing on artwork. With a Bachelor's in English and a Master's in Psychology, she taught literature, reading, and mathematics on the high school and college levels and also worked as an inner city social worker and training center psychologist. Meanwhile, desiring some kind of creative expression as well, she began explorations into various visual media.
She has taught classes at the Mansfield Art Center, given workshops in local schools and libraries, and exhibited her artwork at juried venues and solo shows in Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia, Virginia and Florida. Her artwork can be found in homes and offices in nearly half the States - from Hawaii to New York - as well as Australia, Canada, England, France, the Netherlands and Russia.
Besides doing artwork, she spends her time flower gardening, volunteering, and hanging out with her best friend and husband, Dave.
In all of the media with which Gail works - calligraphy, watercolor, illuminated manuscripts, fused glass and beaded jewelry - her attention to detail is an expression of her personal philosophy that the wonders of the universe can be experienced just as profoundly in little things as in the grand conceptions. www.GailsArt.com
Martha Fort: Mixed Media
When I started school in Shelby, Ohio, I was surprised to find out that other people were not artists. I thought everyone could draw, just like they could see and hear. Later I realized that, while happy to possess my gift, I would need to do something else to survive, particularly in my part of the country. I received a BFA from Bowling Green State University in 1977, with a specialization in watercolor. However, I think it was another 15 years before I really knew how to watercolor. I also worked on large acrylic paintings on canvas, rejecting the hard edge work that many students were doing in the 70's. I did pastel works as studies for my paintings, but soon the pastel drawings seemed complete on their own. I did a lot of mixed media work as an illustrator, and I still like to combine more than one traditional media and am now experimenting with new combinations, including digitally manipulated art.
Having been married to two photographers, I learned to love photography and to use a camera well enough for my purposes. Taking photographic images is very important to me, helping me to study composition, light, positive/negative, color, texture and pattern. Now photography is a major part of my art life, and I use my photographic images in a variety of forms of manipulations, as well as on their own. I encourage art students to always have a camera with them and to become proficient with it. One of my biggest joys in life is teaching art classes at the Mansfield Art Center in Mansfield, Ohio, which I have done since 1989. I also taught at Antonelli School of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio. www.marthafort.com
Mindy Wilson Duncan: Collage Artist and Painter
Mindy Duncan is a noted professional artist who has received numerous awards and recognition for her expressive collages and paintings. A graduate of Ashland University, Ashland Ohio, Mindy has been an Art Educator at Mansfield Senior High School since 1995. Her passion for art is coupled with her passion for educating our young people about the importance of art in their lives.
Artists Statement: As a child my heart would dance and fly. I could and would pretend or act out whomever or whatever I wanted to be. The beauty of the whole thing is that through this wonderful journey, pairing art with life, the process although different is the same. In essence my work is an extension of my experiences, personal or created; it is through the process of creating that keeps me forever bound to the child.
Mindy Duncan’s work is in public and private collections throughout the United States. Currently, her work may be seen at The
Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield,Ohio, Art Works on Main, Mansfield,Ohio and The Kada Gallery, Erie, Pennsylvania.
Jason Kaufman - Mixed Media
In December of 2007 Jason Kaufman received a Bachelor of Art Degree from Kent State University in Crafts, with a focus in Glass-Working. He is currently living and making artwork in Mansfield, Ohio. Jason is pursuing exhibition opportunities and working as a substitute teacher for Ashland City Schools.
Jason is formally trained in mold making techniques and in small and large scale casting of glass, metal, and polymer. He has experience in woodworking, metalworking, glassblowing, painting, and ceramics. He also composes poetry and is writing a novel under the working title The Artificer's Dress.
Jason received a merit award for his sculpture Object #16 at the 2008 Ohio All-Media Art Competition at the Ashland University's Coburn Gallery. Since graduating he has also exhibited at The Mansfield Art Center and Art 101 Gallery in Ashland, where he was the featured artist for May, 2008. Jason also participated in the first annual "Art Around the Block" in downtown Mansfield.
Diane E. Kaye: Glass
Artist Statement: my works of art are an attempt to interpret my dreams and realities in black, white and color, knowing the
viewer may interpret the work in association with their dreams, realities, and colors.
Diane has studied the arts at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio; Troy State University, Troy Alabama; Ohio State University,
Mansfield, Ohio; Wooster College, Wooster, Ohio; Miami University Summer Craft, Oxford, Ohio; Ohio State University,
Columbus, Ohio; Paper Press, Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio; ICON Glass Studio, Cleveland,
Ohio and Fundcion, Barcelona, Spain.
She has works in private collections across the country including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio. Publicly she has shown in art centers, community centers and galleries.
Shirley Wells Kerruish: Acrylic and Mixed Media
Shirley Wells Kerruish's artwork is show in both museums and personal collections throughout the United States, from New York to Florida, to Nebraska. In Ohio, collections of her work can be seen at the Toledo Federation of Arts and the Butler Art Institute, both in Toledo.
Artist Statement: "When I was child, I attended children's classes at the Toledo Art Museum. I remember how the paintings in the galleries impressed me. I always wanted to be in the Arts......
"Living in Mansfield, I feel a deep regard for the Mansfield Art Center with it's wonderful shows and art classes. The Art Center will give the children of Mansfield the same feelings that I experienced as a child, and these young people will want to continue to have art in their lives, as well...
"A love of Art, Nature, people, music, and toys: my creativity is inspired by all of these things......."
Shirley Wells Kerruish's artwork is show in both museums and personal collections throughout the United States, from New York to Florida, to Nebraska. In Ohio, collections of her work can be seen at the Toledo Federation of Arts and the Butler Art Institute, both in Toledo.
Artist Statement: "When I was child, I attended children's classes at the Toledo Art Museum. I remember how the paintings in the galleries impressed me. I always wanted to be in the Arts......
"Living in Mansfield, I feel a deep regard for the Mansfield Art Center with it's wonderful shows and art classes. The Art Center will give the children of Mansfield the same feelings that I experienced as a child, and these young people will want to continue to have art in their lives, as well...
"A love of Art, Nature, people, music, and toys: my creativity is inspired by all of these things......."
Irene Maginniss: Fiber/Paper Collage
“My works speak of memories, thoughts and human energies. The patterns of our daily life, our pasts that leave impressions,
and the hopes and dreams for tomorrow, are all part of the fabric of my mixed media creations.”
The art of Irene Maginniss includes processes and a wealth of surface design techniques that are used to continually
embellish, alter and add to the picture plane, which might be paper, canvas, fabric, or additional found papers and objects.
Painting with acrylics to which wall paper pastes have been added allows for spontaneous and expressive color play, pattern
and texture creation. Making papers using cotton linter pulps can include embedding fabric & misc. fibers, pulp painting,
embossing, stitching, drawing, stamping and inlay. The random threads in her works allude to the spontaneity and fluidity of
the painting & papermaking processes. The grid arrangement hints at order and structure, yet the irregular placement of
colors and the richly embellished surfaces are asymmetrical in composition.
A graduate of Ohio State University, Maginniss has had additional coursework at Miami & Ashland Universities, Haystack
Mountain School of Crafts, and she continues to study and expand her knowledge and interest in surface design. She has
exhibited extensively throughout the United States in national and invitational shows, festivals and galleries. Selected
exhibitions include Philadelphia Craft Show, Ann Arbor Street Fair, Smithsonian Craft Show, and American Craft Council in
Baltimore, MD. Her works are included in many public and private collections including Hallmark, The Dana Corporation, The
Ohio Craft Museum and in the collection of Olga Hirshhorn of Washington, DC. She has received numerous awards and
recognitions at the Mansfield Art Center, Conard Gallery, Columbus Street Fair, Lakefront Festival of Arts in Milwaukee, WI,
Old Orchard Art Fair in Chicago, etc. Maginniss has taught and lead workshops, been an Artist in Residence in the schools,
and lectured at all levels. She is currently teaching in Lexington Public Schools and continues to be an advocate for the arts.
Paul McClain - Painter
I paint almost exclusively recognizable subject matter; I do so in what starts out as an abstract that is vaguely realistic. I begin with one thin applied coat of warm or cool yellow, followed with a large undercoat roughed in on top. At this point, the canvas is very vague and open to major changes. It is at this point where I begin to be what I consider an “impressionistic-realist”. I don’t try to be either in a pure classical sense. I use broken strokes of color impressionistically upon large areas of flat, more concise realistically applied areas as a kind of hybrid cross.
I have developed my own personal distinct style that is very recognizable not unlike handwriting. You will know my paintings before you see my signature. By using accurate true color, proper perspective, with a sense of atmospheric light, your eyes are fooled into seeing more than is actually there. When viewed from about ten feet, your mind fills in the blanks-giving you the “impression of realism”!
I achieve these results with a limited oil palette of warm and cool primary colors. These colors include: Grumbacher red (warm), Grumbacher Thio violet (cool), Cadmium yellow medium (warm), Cadmium yellow light (cool), French Ultramarine blue (warm), Thalo blue (cool), Dioxazine purple as an extra violet and Titanium white.
The subject matter comes from the local sights of Mansfield, Ohio and my travels around the United States and Canada. I never travel without a camera or sketch pad and never forget the fishing poles!
Please take time to visit Paul's website: www.thepaintersart.com
Gunther Meisse II: Photographer
From his first photographic camera made from a saltine cracker tin at age six, Gunther's passion for capturing images of our surroundings continues to be his lifetime devotion. He is constantly amazed with God's creations and feels inspired to show others this beauty. Though nature photography seems to be the biggest part of his work, he insists that there are no boundaries and loves to look for new challenges that present themselves. "As my life evolves, so will my perception of a great image."
As a professional photojournalist, one of his biggest accomplishments was receiving the National Press Photographers Association's "Photographer of the Year Award," giving him the opportunity to travel the country speaking about photography and the art of storytelling. Because of his great love for his work, Gunther will continue to share his perception of this beautiful world in which we live.
Gunther is president of Meisse Productions, a full-service multimedia production company located in Mansfield, Ohio.
To see additional work of Gunther's please visit here: http://www.allprohd.com/art/gallery.html
Patricia Pattillo Miller: Painter
Patricia holds a BFA from Rhode Island College in Providence, RI, and has continued her studies at the New York Academy, the
National Academy, the Art Student’s League, and in private workshops. Advanced studies include painting seminars in
portraiture with Daniel Greene in North Salem, N.Y. These seminars have taken Patricia to Brittany & Normandy, France, as
well as Brighton, England, as a monitor and assistant for Daniel Greene’s workshops.
Patricia has specialized in Portraiture and her preferred mediums are oils and pastels. In addition to portraits, her
interests include landscapes, botanical, and wildlife studies. Her award winning scientific illustrations and paintings have
been published and appear in science classrooms throughout the United States.
Recent Juried Exhibitions include the Mansfield Art Center Fall Members Show and the May Show; the All Ohio Art Exhibit, OSU
Mansfield; and the Pastel Society of America Annual Exhibit, NY, N.Y.
Patricia lives in Mansfield with her husband and her two children.
-Images coming soon-
Annette Poitau - Painter
French-born American painter Annette Poitau received her MFA with honors from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. She also studied at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. After showing her work extensively in France, she moved to California, where she lived for 12 years. She currently works full time at her studio in Oberlin, Ohio. Her paintings are displayed in numerous private and public collections in the U.S., throughout Europe, and in Japan.
Annette’s paintings are rich in color and texture. Even when abstract, they are grounded in dynamic natural forms, especially those of the human body. The artist states: “Every painting is a sort of intimate dance with matter and primordial gestures, a dialogue between my will and the chemical reaction of the colors, their disappearance and their reemergence in new incarnations. The painting reveals itself with time. It makes its own sense, discovers its soul.”
Visit www.annettepoitau.com
French-born American painter Annette Poitau received her MFA with honors from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. She also studied at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. After showing her work extensively in France, she moved to California, where she lived for 12 years. She currently works full time at her studio in Oberlin, Ohio. Her paintings are displayed in numerous private and public collections in the U.S., throughout Europe, and in Japan.
Annette’s paintings are rich in color and texture. Even when abstract, they are grounded in dynamic natural forms, especially those of the human body. The artist states: “Every painting is a sort of intimate dance with matter and primordial gestures, a dialogue between my will and the chemical reaction of the colors, their disappearance and their reemergence in new incarnations. The painting reveals itself with time. It makes its own sense, discovers its soul.”
Visit www.annettepoitau.com
Kim Quick: Ceramics
Kim Quick's first ceramic attraction was,and still is, porcelain, and her favorite expression of this is thru functional pottery. She prefers to make things people use in their hands and enjoy in their homes , from the smallest bowl to the largest platter. Quick points out the attractive qualities in the porcelain, noting its fluidity as well as the appearance of colors on its surface.
All Quick's work is wheel thrown or slab built and altered. Bowls, teapots, mugs, dishes and vases are wheel thrown and her large trays are slab built and altered. She loves to work on the wheel, but large interesting flat pieces are achieved best with the slab roller. Quick fires in electric Skutt kilns, in the range of cone 5-7. She sometimes does a ramp firing to bring out various crystals or allow the colors to run. She likes using a dark red clay on occasion to create dark pieces that accent the brighter colors of the porcelain pieces to make a balance of darks and lights. Recently, after a trip to Istanbul, Quick started using more texture through carvings in the clay, inspired by the many motifs seen in the architectures throughout Greece and Turkey.
When asked about her inspirations, she says, "My husband and I love to travel and I find that continuous inspiration for my work. People also constantly inspire me, all people and I tr to do as many commissions as I can without compromising the integrity of my work. Each time I try something I've never done before I always learn something! I also try and attend at least two workshops a year with potters further along in their careers than myself, which keeps me humble. As difficult and challenging as this work can be, I am continually inspired by all the incredibly talented potters I meet and whose work I admire. It truly is a wonderful life.
Susan D. Shafer: Mixed Media
Both the form and media chosen by Susan Shafer for her paintings, collages, and drawing are driven by a basic idea. The ideas are her world,past and present: Memories, visions, and re-visions, and these works often include visual symbols, elements from nature, or figures.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Shafer has exhibited two-dimensional art works extensively in local, regional, and national juried, invitational and one and two person exhibitions, including the Butler Museum of American Art, Mansfield Art Center, Virginia Museum of Art; Cleveland Museum of Art; Columbus Museum of Art; Expo-Ohio; Upper Arlington Arts Center; Beck Center; Dairy Barn; Coburn Gallery; and Albrecht-Kemper Museum (St. Joseph, MO.)
She has received numerous jurors' awards, including the first Frey Award at the Mansfield Art Center.
After earning degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University, Ashland University, and Miami University (OH), she studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
As a visual art educator actively committed to Arts Education, she received a fellowship study from the Vermont Studio Center. She worked extensively with the Ohio Art Education Association and the Ohio Partnership for the Visual Arts sponsored for the Getty Center for the Arts.
Her works were exhibited as an integral part of the collaborative arts performance ALBUM with Kay Raplenovich, soprano, and J. David More, composer, which was supported by an Ohio Arts Council Music Project Grant, and presented in many venues in the state of Ohio.
Both the form and media chosen by Susan Shafer for her paintings, collages, and drawing are driven by a basic idea. The ideas are her world,past and present: Memories, visions, and re-visions, and these works often include visual symbols, elements from nature, or figures.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Shafer has exhibited two-dimensional art works extensively in local, regional, and national juried, invitational and one and two person exhibitions, including the Butler Museum of American Art, Mansfield Art Center, Virginia Museum of Art; Cleveland Museum of Art; Columbus Museum of Art; Expo-Ohio; Upper Arlington Arts Center; Beck Center; Dairy Barn; Coburn Gallery; and Albrecht-Kemper Museum (St. Joseph, MO.)
She has received numerous jurors' awards, including the first Frey Award at the Mansfield Art Center.
After earning degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University, Ashland University, and Miami University (OH), she studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
As a visual art educator actively committed to Arts Education, she received a fellowship study from the Vermont Studio Center. She worked extensively with the Ohio Art Education Association and the Ohio Partnership for the Visual Arts sponsored for the Getty Center for the Arts.
Her works were exhibited as an integral part of the collaborative arts performance ALBUM with Kay Raplenovich, soprano, and J. David More, composer, which was supported by an Ohio Arts Council Music Project Grant, and presented in many venues in the state of Ohio.
Dean Smith: Photographer
A native of Mansfield, Ohio, Dean has been making photographs for over 30 years. Dean works in several film formats but primarily uses a 4x5 view camera to produce precise detail-rich images.
“In my photography, I hope to reveal some of the rich radiance of the natural world; radiance that is too often unnoticed by the casual observer. I consider one of my images a success when the observer feels some measure of the awe that I felt when I tripped the shutter.”
Dean’s photographs are frequently in the May and Member’s shows of the Mansfield Art Center and in several private
collections.
Jef Stanton: Ceramics
I began working with clay in the spring of 1993. Although I was an Art major at Ohio State in the early 1970’s, my focus was
mainly on painting and graphics. I had not seriously worked with clay as a medium until I took a ceramics class at the
Mansfield Art Center. That was when I began my quest to make the perfect dog dish.
Artist Statement:“There seems to be an unexplainable magic in clay for me. The way it can e formed into any shape, by a never ending array of methods; and remember every fingerprint of cut mark place on it, has fascinated me from the beginning.”
“Form and function have been very important to the evolution of my work. I strive to have each piece stand as a work of art
that is enhanced by the simple beauty of its function. Balance and ease of use have always been a primary concern.”
“The glazing techniques I explore are influenced by the pushing, pulling, and pooling of the various glaze combinations as they become molten, and then cool in the kiln. I generally use a combination of application techniques which helps to
contribute to the organic beauty of each piece.”
“There is something so extraordinarily pleasing about manipulating clay into a shape that feels right, looks right and is a
pleasure to handle.”
Kate Westfall: Textiles
Kate Westfall is a musician, artist, and poet in Mansfield, Ohio. She studied Fine Art at Ashland University, and received her BA in Creative Writing at Miami University of Ohio. Her involvement in artistic fields includes music and poetry performances, collaborative works with photographers and studio artists, painting, digital art, quilting, mobiles, and sculpture.
"My visual art stems from the ideal of capturing one's imagination by manifesting it into a physical presence whenever possible."
About Brain Blankets:
"For artists, all components of life are potential venues for creativity - from one's manner of speech, to the arrangement of furniture, to one's daily clothing choices. Finding particular enjoyment in the arena of costuming and fashion design, my exploration into the traditional craft of crochet quickly steered itself on to the heads around me. Brain Blankets were born - from a need to approach all activities creatively and an inclination toware creative adornment."
Please visit these websites to see more of Westfall's Brain Blankets:
www.myspace.com/brainblankets
music: www.myspace.com/vokatemusica
poetry and art: www.myspace.com/vokate
Kate Westfall is a musician, artist, and poet in Mansfield, Ohio. She studied Fine Art at Ashland University, and received her BA in Creative Writing at Miami University of Ohio. Her involvement in artistic fields includes music and poetry performances, collaborative works with photographers and studio artists, painting, digital art, quilting, mobiles, and sculpture.
"My visual art stems from the ideal of capturing one's imagination by manifesting it into a physical presence whenever possible."
About Brain Blankets:
"For artists, all components of life are potential venues for creativity - from one's manner of speech, to the arrangement of furniture, to one's daily clothing choices. Finding particular enjoyment in the arena of costuming and fashion design, my exploration into the traditional craft of crochet quickly steered itself on to the heads around me. Brain Blankets were born - from a need to approach all activities creatively and an inclination toware creative adornment."
Please visit these websites to see more of Westfall's Brain Blankets:
www.myspace.com/brainblankets
music: www.myspace.com/vokatemusica
poetry and art: www.myspace.com/vokate
Eileen Wolford: Photographer
Architecture, nature, elegant ruins, these are the subjects most often explored in the photographs of Eileen Wolford. Her
professional career spans forty years – first as an industrial photographer in the steel industry; then, operating her own
industrial photography business. Now, she photographs for fine art venues only, exhibiting throughout the Midwest.
She has had solo shows at the Mansfield Art Center; Cleveland Garden Center; Wooster Art Center; Wisp ‘o the Willow Art
Gallery, Tiffin; 2 Co’s Gallery, Shadowbox Cabaret, and Capital Club, all of Columbus. Invitational shows include FAVA
Gallery, Oberlin; Trumbull Art Gallery, Warren; Three Rivers Arts Festival; Ohio State University- Mansfield; and Taipei
Cultural Center, Taiwan. She has received numerous awards and distinctions and her work has appeared in many books and
periodicals.
In describing her motivations, Eileen says, “Growing up on an isolated farm in Richland County, I spent great amounts of time
alone in fields and woods, and I took for granted the forces and complexities of nature. When leaving my childhood home, I
was bored with rural things and wanted to embrace all that I thought was cosmopolitan and sophisticated. Now, four decades
later, my work is back where I started, as I have recognized that my Midwestern landscape is one of great subtlety and
beauty.
As I crisscross these mostly-rural states, I am horrified to see century-old farmhouses, barns, corncribs and even small
towns falling victim to suburban development, corporate agriculture and other economic changes. The buildings that once
nestled into this landscape have mostly disappeared and the fenced fields of family farms and giant old trees are harder and
harder to find.”
Eileen works solely in black and white and she works simply – available light, fine lenses and meticulous working methods. Her archival gelatin silver prints are produced in her darkroom using centuries-old photographic processes.
