SYB ADCOCK

TERESA AESCHLIMAN

As a potter, Teresa Aeschliman is inspired by Iga ware, an ancient Japanese pottery wood-fired in anagama kilns dripping with molten ash. The rugged surfaces and irregular forms of Iga pots point to expressive ideas and intimate use over many lifetimes.

As a self-taught potter, Teresa attempts to infuse her pots with a similar sense of texture, time and potential, encouraging them to reveal their clay beginnings from beneath the glaze.

Teresa works out of Off Center Studios, a small pottery tucked into the mountains of Fairview, NC.

CY AMRICH

Cy believes all the arts are related, and he's tried his hand at several over the years, including poetry, music, and visual arts. He thinks all of us have the ability to be artists in one form or another, if we just take the time and allow ourselves to channel the creative energy we are born with.

His current passion is creating digital mixed media art, primarily abstract in nature. His starting point for a piece might be a monoprint, a photograph, or an acrylic painting. He then uploads the image of it to his computer, and uses digital tools to sculpt it further, before printing the final product on canvas or metal.

Cy believes in pushing boundaries, and creating art that draws you in and makes you think. He believes there is no right or wrong answer in interpreting his art. As long as a piece makes the viewer see or feel something, he considers it a success.

BARB APPLEBAUM

Barb majored in Art Education at Boston University and graduated from Wayne State University.  Over the years, she has done many different types of art, most recently "off-loom" beaded jewelry that she has sold locally.

The pandemic changed all this and Barb decided to play with other ways to do art.  Having always loved collage, she tried various techniques with different papers: magazines, her own artwork, altered papers, torn newspapers, etc.  Tearing the newspaper makes Barb feel like she actually 'painting' with the paper instead of paint.  She no longer uses paint in her work - only newspaper.

SALLY AUMAN

Combined with a love of travel, Sally’s photography and art often depict backroad locations she calls “drive-by museums”, as well as landscapes, birds and animals around the U.S. and Europe.   She is especially drawn to photographing old or abandoned buildings, structures, cars, trucks, roads, and signs because of the mystery, intrigue, and forgotten stories they hold. They are reminders of inevitable change due to shifting economy, environment or climate.  She loves to extend or create new meaning using  these images. They are glimpses and vignettes of earlier times, with a  spin, and may nudge you to wonder, question, or imagine. 

Sally started her artistic travels with Polaroid transfer, emulsion transfer, and photocopy transfer methods. These led her to encaustic and mixed media as ways to explore unique presentations of her photographic images. 

LORELLE BACON

Lorelle has been a full time artist and instructor for 32 years. Her primary mediums are Oils and Acrylics. She teaches weekly art classes and a variety of workshops locally as well as in Florida, where she teaches at Naples Art and Marco Island Art Center each February. She loves to share what she has learned with others. People ask her when she'll retire because she is 84 now, but her answer is never! When you enjoy the creative process and sharing it with others, there’s no reason to retire.

She owned her own gallery in Gulfport, FL and moved it to the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina 30 years ago. Finding that teaching and running a gallery left little time for her own painting, she sold the gallery and committed to focus on her own painting and teaching. 

Lorelle’s Jewelry and Scratchboard work is currently hanging in Re.Imagine Gallery in Fairview, NC. Her paintings are on display at Arrowhead Art Gallery in Old Fort, NC. She has won awards in exhibits locally, nationally, internationally. Entering exhibits, accepting commissioned portraits of people and pets, working on collaborative projects and teaching art classes and workshops provides Lorelle with a full and exciting life. 

BRIDGET BENTON

Bridget is an Asheville, NC based collage artist layering nature print, photography, found materials, and expressive mark-making with a mixture of filtered beeswax, tree resin, and pigments (encaustic paint). Benton describes her work as “an attempt to capture not a moment in time, but the impact of that moment. I am mapping an internal landscape.”

During her 20+ years as a working and teaching artist, Benton has established herself as a passionate educator and lifelong learner, guided by curiosity. Her master’s degree focused on the study of the creative process, which informs not only her own work but also her teaching. She is the author of the award-winning workshop in a book, The Creative Conversation: ArtMaking as Playful Prayer, and works with adults to help them find their own unique creative voice. As part of supporting creative community and education, Benton has been involved in leadership positions in several non-profit arts organizations, including the Nature Printing Society and the International Encaustic Artists.

JOANNE BETSO

While working in a scientific field for almost 40 years, Joanne never lost sight of how much she loved taking art classes in high school, college, and in night school.  Space and time were limited to actually make art - until retirement,

That’s when Joanne found cold wax and the freedom to create all of the works that she had dreamed of.  She still works in watercolors, acrylics and mixed media work but cold wax was something she had searched for for years, but didn’t know existed.

Color grabs Joanne no matter where it comes from, but the colors in nature have been most inspirational lately.

DON BEVIRT

As a photographer, Don has always been concerned with how light reacts with a surface. Interior as well as exterior light has a certain quality that is somehow both dramatic and yet somehow comforting. The color of the light and the reflective quality of how light bounces off surfaces to create interesting forms and shapes have inspired Don to create his body of work.

By using the camera in a fluid way and post visualizing the final image, Don can encounter a new reality. The photographic act consists of entering a space of intimate complicity, not to master it, but to play along with it and to demonstrate that nothing has been decided yet. The instantaneity of photography is not to be confused with the simultaneity of real time. The flow of pictures produced and erased in real time is indifferent to the fluid dimension of the photographic moment.

CYNTHIA BRODY

Cynthia Brody moved to Asheville in July of 2024, only months before Hurricane Helene. She has been creating mixed media art featuring women of different cultures, often in surreal fashion, for 50 years. Since arriving in Western North Carolina her work has been focused on life here, including bear visits and the affects of the storm. Her women are pensive as they inhabit their curious surroundings.

Although she took art courses early on, she is largely self taught and developed this style of merging manipulated photo collage and paint, a process that has become more complex since she began using digital properties in the initial creative process. Things are rarely as they seem at first glance since the photos are used out of context and come together in the painting process. Together they are part of The Badass Collection and carry a strong presence wherever they go. 

GRETCHEN CHADWICK

Gretchen has been painting for almost 40 years. Prior to Tropical Storm Helene, she had a studio in Asheville’s River Arts District for nine years. Gretchen moved to Asheville from the Philadelphia area, where she studied painting at the Brandywine Atelier, and raised her family.

Gretchen’s work is eclectic, ranging from classical realism to abstraction, but she most enjoys finding a satisfying balance between the two. She primarily works in oils and mixed media. Her recent subject matter includes moody landscapes, semi-abstracted grasses and trees. She holds a Master’s degree in transpersonal psychology, with a specialization in creativity.

HEATHER CLEMENTS

Heather combines realistic portraiture, expressive abstraction, and elements of flora and fauna to represent a symbiotic relationship with nature and an ever-evolving dive into mental health.  After growing up in Northern Virginia, she earned her BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2007.  She began her art career in Panama City, Florida, where she owned an art gallery and alternative venue space for 2 years.  After a short stint as curator of the Visual Arts Center of Northwest Florida, Heather decided to dive fully into being a full time artist, through paintings, drawings, murals, and teaching.  She has been making her living from her art for the past 15 years.  A 2-time major hurricane survivor, Heather uses art as a means for therapy and growth.  

Now residing in nature in Asheville, North Carolina, Heather is embracing creating the art her inner-most weirdo yearns to make. In recent years, she has explored creating interactive art, combining watercolor, paper-cutting, and playful elements like pull-tabs and spin wheels to create art that moves and reveals hidden elements.  These have recently been published in her completely interactive book called “Pull Me Apart.”  Heather has even expanded these into several large-scale interactive murals now featured across the country.

NAN COLE

Originally from a small town in Southern Illinois, Nan spent many years in the heart of Chicago before moving to Fairview, NC. After retiring from a long corporate career working with math and logistics, she decided to give the other side of her brain a little exercise and learned to do furniture upholstery. Furniture construction and fabric fascinate her, and Nan admit to having a bit of an obsession with upholstery fabric (ok, and maybe with old furniture, too…).

More recently, Nan has been trying her hand at various artistic pursuits, and has found it to be so much fun! Being around so many creative and talented artists and craftspeople has been inspiring for Nan, and Re.Imagine is the perfect combination of those interest It’s also been incredibly energizing, albeit a little stressful, rehabbing an old building and setting up and running her own business for the first time. Nan is the owner and administrator of Re.Imagine Gallery and Studios.

SUSAN COLEMAN

Susan grew up in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. After college she spent 38 years working in health care management, primarily in the Washington, DC Metro Area.

In retirement she wanted to do something creative. She was always interested in learning to paint and intrigued by watching skilled artists. While still working she took several oil painting classes to learn some of the basics.

After retiring, Susan moved to Asheville in the summer of 2018 and took art classes at AB Tech and painting classes at Black Mountain Center of the Arts. Her subjects were mostly scenes from nature and older outdoor structures that would help develop skills with depth, light, perspective, shading, and color mixing.

Susan developed an interest in collage after taking a class and joining a collage club in 2023. She uses paper, paint and other media to create ‘scenes’ of places she has hiked. Susan is an artist in the Re.Imagine Gallery in Fairview, NC where three of her oil paintings are on display. Susan also has an oil painting in the Asheville Strong Exhibition at the Asheville Art Museum until May 5, 2025.

JOANNA D’ANDREA

A native New Englander, nature lover, an elementary classroom teacher for over thirty years, and always an artist, Joanna has long experimented with pencils, paints, and fabrics as outlets for creative expression. 

Initially interested in clothing construction, quilting, and art quilting, her interests in watercolors, portrait drawing, and ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art) shifted for focus in yet another direction!

She has been a member of the Asheville Quilt Guild, Mountain Art Quilters, Fairview Area Art League, and SAQA.

FRANCINE D'ANTUONO

Francine D’Antuono is a graduate of the University of Maryland in 1979 with a degree in fine art and applied design, she has enjoyed a long successful career as an illustrator and graphic designer. She relocated to the mountains of Western North Carolina in 2015. Francine’s illustrations and graphics have appeared commercially nationwide in zoos, aquariums, and museum shops.

In 2005, she returned to her childhood passion of horses and riding. Inspiration from rural surroundings fueled her motivation to return to her fine art roots. Many of her subjects are equine often transported into fantasy settings inspired by her travels. Flora and fauna are also frequent subjects that she approaches with a subtle sense of whimsy. Francine’s main medium is Gouache (opaque watercolors) and other water mediums.

Francine's original paintings are custom framed in exotic hardwood frames created by her husband Rich, who is a professional fine woodworker. Rich and Francine work together to ensure that each presentation compliments and enhances the colors and subject matter of each painting.

LYNDA DONALDSON

Lynda Donaldson has lived in the mountains of North Carolina for 7 years. She moved from north Georgia where she learned the craft of stained glass art work. Working exclusively with the Tiffany foil method, she transforms shard of colored glass into intricate, jewel-like compositions. Her compositions exhibit richly textured surfaces, precise solder lines, and harmonious interplay of light and color that bring each piece to life.

Over nearly two decades, Lynda’s work has found homes in private collections around the globe – England, Scotland, Australia, Canada, and throughout the United States. Whether suspended in a window or displayed on a mantel, each creation reflects her deep respect for the material’shistory, and her playful spirit of reinvention.

Continually exploring new color palettes and patterns, Lynda remains committed to expanding the possibilities for the Tiffany foil technique—and to sharing the timeless magic of stained glass with audiences near and far.

Today, Lynda’s pieces can be found in Re. Imagine Gallery in Fairview, North Carolina, and Multitudes Gallery in Blue Ridge, GA. Lynda also accepts requests for custom commissions.

PAULA ENTIN

Paula has been quilting for several decades and is frequently accepted into juried quilt shows around the country. She had a one-person show at the NC Arboretum in the fall of 2019.

She is a member of the Asheville Quilt Guild, the Mountain Art Quilters, and the Fairview Area Art League.

Her current focus is the juxtaposition of both hard and soft materials, outside of traditional art quilts and cotton fabrics, that gives the viewer a deeper look into the things that surround us on a daily basis.  Fabric, leather, steel, wood, and glass touch us and show us our world.  She strives to incorporate unlikely partnerships, to upcycle, and to open up the viewers’ minds concerning fiber art and how it can live in our homes.

BILL EVERETT

For over thirty years, Bill has taught Christian Social Ethics in Catholic, Methodist, and inter-denominational seminaries in the US, as well as in India, Germany, and South Africa. He has written numerous academic books and articles as well as poetry, a memoir, and an eco-historical novel.

In 2000 he began building round communion tables and related furniture for churches and chapels from North Carolina to Massachusetts. He has been turning bowls since 2002. Living in Waynesville, NC, he draws on native hardwoods from the southern Appalachians for his creations. Many of his bowls and tables incorporate mosaics and precious stone inlays, where he is helped by his wife Sylvia, a noted artist working in many media around spiritual and religious themes.

SEYNA FREDRICKSON

Seyna’s first and best love is portraits, starting with portraits of her classmates and teachers. At Brandeis University Seyna majored in psychology with a minor in art. The studio facilities were wonderful, and she discovered clay sculpture and sculptural portraits, which she continued doing as an adjunct to her main consulting occupations for nearly 50 years.

Leading up to retirement in 2017, Seyna explored other art forms: doll-making and silk painting. From 2013 to 2015 her artist dolls were featured in shows at UT Southwestern Medical Center and NorthPark shopping mall, winning two First Prizes, one Honorable Mention, and two Best of Shows. Her doll representation of Pope Francis was auctioned off by Catholic Charities in 2020 and resides in the front lobby of Advent Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

Seyna’s husband is a master gardener, and between the flowers he has planted and the flora of this Western North Carolina area, she has painted many Flower Portraits, up close and personal, expressing the many emotions they inspire. Seyna’s other favored mediums include silk painting, watercolor, pastels, and oil painting.

PAUL FREHE

Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1948, Paul studied in California at UCSD and Long Beach University before moving east in 1993.  He is an accomplished ceramic artist as well as a sculptor having taught at the Ringling College of Art and Design.  Paul resides in Asheville, NC and exhibits locally.

Paul's work is a constant experiment—an open-ended investigation using a wide range of materials, many of them reclaimed, salvaged, or otherwise overlooked. His practice revolves around elevating the mundane: fragments of material culture, forgotten objects, and castoffs, reassembled into forms that feel both extravagant and intimate.

RECLAIMED is a guiding principle for Paul: an eco-conscious approach that turns the overlooked and discarded into something new. Whether it’s a rusted bolt, a broken appliance part, or the packaging detritus of daily life, he aims to reframe these materials—to give them new narratives while honoring the stories they carry from the past. He believes everything has the potential to be transformed.

NICK GENTILE

Nick is an artist living in Asheville, North Carolina who works with metals, found objects, and century-old machine parts to fabricate sculptures that embrace and punctuate the raw materials used in their design and construction.

Nick explores the haunting abstraction of biological and mechanical to reimagine elements of industry to create something new yet familiar. His work utilizes a variety of self-taught metalworking skills including forming, welding, brazing, and casting.

DON GILMAN

Don is a resident of Asheville.  His whimsical designs are made of hand-forged copper and locally obtained stones in their natural state.

In addition to displaying at Re.Imagine Gallery, he is a cast member of Marquee Asheville and volunteers at Haw Creek Forge located in the Mill at Riverside.

MARCIA GLEASON

At the heart of Marcia’s creative process is a desire to create unity. Looking back on her life, she has seen this principle unfold in many ways. Marcia has had a long career as a psychotherapist working with individuals and couples as well as leading workshops and training programs - the process of assisting others in integrating fragmented parts of themselves into an experience of wholeness is, to her, a form of art.

Twenty-five years ago, Marcia began quilting. She was drawn to the process of using fragments of colorful cloth and transforming them into fabric art. Subsequently she became certified in a powerful method of integrating art with personal growth called SoulCollage®, which she now teaches. Collage involves the same principle of fusing together various images to discover something new and transcendent about ourselves.

Recently her emphasis has shifted to mixed media art, because of her love of combining different materials and seeing what happens. Marcia’s current work combines various molding textures and gels that are then embellished with acrylic paint. Finally, she adds elements of both handmade and found objects.

NANCY GRINDSTAFF

The daughter of a crafter, Nancy has created for as long as she can remember. Making mosaic “anything” had been her favorite for over 25 years.

About 10 years ago, Nancy decided the space over her garage needed “something.” When she couldn’t find art that worked, Nancy realized she’d have to create it myself. That’s when she discovered the joy of designing and painting barn quilts, scaled down in size for houses and gardens.

Nancy has taught barn quilt techniques for several Asheville area art centers and also create traditional and non-traditional barn quilt designs in her Outdoorable Art business.

ELLEN ‘EJ’ HAACK

Ellen holds a Master’s Degree in clothing and textile design. Born in rural Michigan, nature has always been important in her life. She has lived in Fairview, NC since 2016.

Starting with sewing and designing in 4-H, Ellen began painting in watercolors while traveling as an adult. Oil painting has become important to her in the past six years.

Ellen’s work is color-driven and neurographically changing, evolving into collages incorporating fabric, watercolor, oils, pencils, and inks.

SARA HALL

Sara is a fiber and bead artist living and working in Fairview, North Carolina. Early in her 32-year career in upholstery fabric design and product development, Sara discovered needle-weaving with seed beads as a portable, meditative medium in which she could engage while traveling frequently on business. Since retiring from the textile industry in 2020, Sara has continued to pursue her passion for beadwork and has taken the opportunity to get back to her fiber art “roots.” She finds nature and music to be her strongest healing and nurturing forces, as well as greatest inspirations. Most recently she enjoys eco-printing unique compositions of leaves, flowers, and dyes on silk.

In 2021, Sara entered her first juried art competition at the Museum of Beadwork in Portland, Maine. Her piece entitled “Petalura” won the grand prize and is currently in the museum’s collection. In addition to beads and fiber art, she enjoys reading, hiking, singing, cooking, scuba diving, and her dogs. She treasures time with family and friends.

WREN HENDRICKSON

Wren’s jewelry evolves from her heart and is inspired by the flow and patterns in the natural environment around her. She creates her jewelry using traditional fabrication techniques, meaning that everything she makes is individually crafted by hand in the metal itself, without molds or casting. Each piece is unique and individual, and while Wren has a distinct style and follows similar design themes, they are never exactly the same. A lot of her designs are completely one-of-a-kind. They speak to her as she makes them, and she listens and lets them flow from her hands, heart, and mind.

Wren uses 18K yellow and white, and 14K rose and green golds for their best color. Many of the Diamonds she sets are warm, natural colors, champagne to cognac, and golden or lemon yellow. She likes combining different colored gemstones and metals, using different textures, and finishes. Wren has fun making jewelry, and finds it very spontaneous and intuitive. She loves the special meaning jewelry has in people’s lives and the ways it is used to celebrate events and feelings. Wren likes creating art that she hopes will be valued for its meaning into future generations, and loves creating special custom pieces or recycling old jewelry into something new and personal.

HEIDI HOFFER

Heidi’s charcoal portrait artworks are inspired by live clients drawn in portrait settings, dramatic Victorian daguerreotypes, and ancient ancestors. She loves the stories of her people, researching and drawing costumes, and is well-versed in dramatic theatrical lighting. Each commissioned or historic portrait is developed to tell a poignant story through light and shadow.

Heidi is a veteran scenographer, having designed the environment, lighting, and costumes for well over 250 entertainment productions. She holds two Masters Degrees; Theater Design and Technology from Northern Illinois University and Scenography from Northwestern University. Heidi has worked as a set, costume and lighting designer for theater, opera, musicals, television, films, and academic institutions in the United States and abroad. Her expertise in theatrical lighting plays a leading role in her portraiture.

PHIL HULSEY

Throughout life art has always been Philip Hulsey’s passion, but never a full-time pursuit. Careers in Art Education and Landscape Design provided creative outlets for the artist, however his preferred medium of painting lent inspiration and a truer sense of accomplishment. Three major series of paintings gain prominence: The Liquid Series, abstractions about movement and change, Journey of the Orbs, surrealistic images which represent a spiritual search, and The Chakras, predominately realistic plant vortices inspired by Philip’s interest in the metaphysical and his love of plants and nature. Living systems, plants, and water are constant sources of creative stimulation.

Originally a Virginian, an adventurist spirit and desire for change led Philip to South Florida and New Orleans. Upon retirement Asheville became home where the full-time pursuit of art began. A new concept, Tribal Spirit Masks, was born. These sculptures, created from gourds and natural materials mostly found in the wilderness, celebrate nature and give the artist a fresh new approach to his art.

DANA IRWIN

Dana earned a BFA in graphic design at University of Georgia with post-graduate studies at Tyler School of Art in Pennsylvania, Art Students League in NY, School of Visual Arts in NY, and Pythagorian Art Institute, Samos, Greece.

Her career as Art Director for national book and magazine publishers spanned 35 years in New York City, San Francisco, and Asheville, NC. Presently she is a member of the Saints of Paint, a collective funding non-profits and artists based in Asheville, NC.

Her artwork has been shown at Greenville Museum of Art in SC, Upstairs Gallery in Tryon, NC, Semi-Public in Asheville, NC and is found in collections in the US and Europe. Her painting, Blue Ridges at Craggy, was selected to be part of an international exhibit in the US embassy in Pristina, Kosovo, 2019-2021. The exhibit is known as Art in the Embassies Program, US Department of State.

Dana freelances graphic design, creates art from her home studio, and works as an assistant at Re.Imagine Gallery and Studios.

CHARLES KELSO

KIM KUPER

Kimberly Kuper is a self-taught mixed media artist, hoping to harmonize expressive energy and quiet space. Inspired by wild places, she finds the mountains and surrounding landscape a never-ending source of ideas. 

JANET LINK

Multifaceted is a good description of Janet’s work. She designs and creates jewelry and oil, acrylic and alcohol ink paintings and prints. She enjoys sharing ideas and methods by teaching a variety of art classes and workshops.

Art in various forms has always been part of Janet’s life and a way for her to express herself. Her mother was her first influence in being creative when she was very young. She sees color and designs all around her  and loves learning new techniques. Having painted for over 45 years, she trained in oils and acrylic but fell in love with alcohol ink and watercolors. Janet loves to wear jewelry and feels like wearing it is art - when she creates her jewelry her hope is that others will enjoy wearing it as well.

Janet grew up in Levittown, PA and moved to Asheville 36 years ago where she raised her two children and found her wonderful husband. Asheville is also home to JLArt studio, and Asheville’s beautiful surroundings have become part of her art. Janet has a degree in education with a minor in Art. She believes that being creative is an important part of our wellbeing, and is happiest when she is working in her studio creating something. 

CATHY MANDEVILLE

Growing up in the mountains of Western North Carolina, spending much time outdoors, and hiking with her family has instilled in Cathy a great appreciation for the beauty of our mountains and surrounding landscapes. She has always had the desire to depict her interpretation of this beauty on canvas.

More of her inspiration comes from the works of the great American painters of the Hudson River School of the late 19th century such as Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Church. After spending a few years in a beginner’s class, Cathy realized that she had the overwhelming desire to paint more realistically. She began taking classes from local artist, John Mac Kah at his private studio in 2008 and have been studying there since. Through studying with John, Cathy has learned the old master’s techniques of using traditional gesso, making her own panels, and painting with traditional oils. Cathy believes her talent and the beauty of this creation surrounding her is an invaluable gift from God that should not be taken for granted. It is her hope that her artistic interpretations of this beauty will spark some meaningful memory and bring a sense of joy to those who view it.

FLETA MONAGHAN

Formerly based in Asheville’s River Arts District, Fleta Monaghan is a lifelong painter working in oils, acrylics. encaustic and mixed media. She is
the founder and director of 310 ART School of fine arts, established in 2006 - as well as being an instructor.

Fleta’s works reflect time, space, human relationships and personal experiences. Her studio and school is now relocated to Fairview NC, just minutes from downtown Asheville, Black Mountain and south Asheville.

YVETTE MONROE (In memoriam)

Yvette, a Fairview resident since 2015 (and is incredibly grateful to be so), is delighted to be part of Re-Imagine Gallery. Long fascinated by the beauty of gemstones, she harmonizes natural (undyed) gemstones with silver, 22k gold vermeil, gold fill, bronze and titanium; hand working metal, setting stones, and threading the gems.

It’s a joy to work with these natural pieces of color, energy, and light, exploring the endless possibilities.

Yvette sadly passed away last year. She is missed and fondly remembered by her artistic community.

TIMOTHY SLUSHER

Having always felt most connected to Spirit when in nature, Tim says he feels something opened within him when he began living in the woods of Western North Carolina. His awareness of Spirit in all things became elevated. He says he began to see beyond the surface of the natural forms he encountered and started perceiving their deeper beingness. This deeper vision inspired Tim to give form to the spirit these objects were revealing to him, and he began to explore and create contemporary spiritual fetishes.

The art form of fetishes dates back centuries. Fetishes are allies, used as tools for prayer, meditation, healing and inspiration. They remind us of the spirit and interconnectedness of all life. Tim intends to reflect that spiritual essence and energy in each piece he creates. Beginning with a single element, a unique piece of wood or found object, he builds upon its character, bringing forth and embellishing the aliveness he perceives in that object.

After graduating from the the Art Institute of Pittsburg, Tim spent 25 years in interior design, working on projects nationally and internationally. He is now exploring his own inner vision, surrounded and held by the beauty of nature in Fairview, NC.

SUSAN MEYER SINYAI

In 1987, when her two daughters were young, Susan finally discovered what she wanted to be when she grew up. She enrolled in the Art Department at UNC Asheville to embark on a second college career, having graduated earlier from UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in Sociology. She completed my BFA at UNC Asheville with the highest honors. Since graduating from UNCA in 1994, Susan has been a working artist, exhibiting in local galleries and winning awards in numerous local, regional and national shows. She was one of the primary collaborators with Tucker Cooke and other artists in the life-sized reproduction of Raphael’s School of Athens, which hangs in the student center at UNCA. Her work was chosen to be published in America’s Best of Pastel Artists (Kennedy Publishing 2009) and in Contemporary Painters (Schiffer Publishing 2012), and I was the featured artist in The Asheville Laurel in April, 2012.

Susan considers herself an oil painter, loving the medium because it is both predictable and challenging.  But the pastel medium is her first love, compelling mainly for its vibrancy, its immediacy, its delicious depth of color and luscious texture.

MICHAEL SZMANT

JAN WIDNER

As a Contemporary Abstract artist, Jan has expanded the abstract concept to mixed media collage. She creates all her own papers using mono-printing and scraps from her previous works and rearranges them into compositions that inspire emotions and storytelling.   

She has a BFA and has been lovingly teaching the fundamentals of art to young kiddos in her home studio going on 20 years. Currently, her works are in two galleries in Asheville/Fairview.

Jan continues to experiment with new techniques and concepts developing a body of work that is beyond the norm.

KELLY WILLIAMS

Kelly Williams is a Portland-based painter working at the intersection of material, meaning, and place. With over two decades of experience, her encaustic and mixed media practice integrates site-specific materials—Pacific Northwest forest fire ash, Irish peat ash, foraged pigments, charred fragments, holy well water, and rain—to explore themes of transformation, resilience, and connection to the land.

Rooted in a background in psychology and social work, her process is both physical and reflective. She gathers materials from disrupted environments across Oregon and beyond, embedding them into wax and resin to create surfaces that hold environmental and emotional weight.

She works in both abstract and figurative modes, often exploring parallels between the land and the body. Through layered materials and process, her paintings reflect how both are shaped by time and experience.

Williams’ work has been exhibited and collected nationally and internationally, and supported by grants from the Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, Regional Arts & Culture Council, and the International Encaustic Association. She has completed multiple residencies in Ireland, deepening her engagement with ritual materials and cultural landscape. She teaches through Painting with Fire, R&F Handmade Paints, and from her Portland studio.

CINDY WALTON

Cindy Walton, originally of St. Petersburg, Florida, is a long-time resident of Asheville, North Carolina. Being a committed artist from her childhood, she proceeded to earn a BA in Studio Art from Salem College and a BFA in Painting from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. At its roots, Walton’s work is spontaneous. She emphasizes nature, shape, form, and color, but this is all achieved by first applying paint randomly to the surface and embarking on a journey through the process of painting. Her process is an emotional reaction to the paint and environment, which in the end creates a piece of the artist’s inner-self that ignites a mutual connection within the viewer.

Walton is an active teacher of her craft and has received multiple fellowships around the country to continue to develop as an artist. Her work has been exhibited internationally and has also become part of major corporate and private collections throughout the years.