3rd Annual Figures & Faces Art Exhibition Monthly Winning Artists

Nadine Manuel was a computer games artist for 8 years before embarking on her true passion as a portrait painter, using oil on canvas as her chosen medium. Born in Wales, United Kingdom to a father who loved to paint in oils, a love of this medium was nurtured in her from an early age. Nadine went on to study illustration at The University of Westminster and animation at the Royal College of Art in London. Eventually landing a job as computer games artist for Blitz Games in the UK, creating concept art, textures and 3D models. Although she enjoyed being a computer games artist, she longed for self-expression and to create work that had strong personal meaning. Nadine strives to capture expressions and moods in her portraits, sometimes revealed in a fleeting expression or a situation that gives clues to the person being portrayed. She likes to gain knowledge of the person she will paint, ideally through person-to-person interaction. Promoting a deeper understanding of the subject, she feels it is part of the joy of capturing the essence of the sitter. Since 2008, Nadine has lived in Australia, England and Germany. She currently resides in Oakville, Ontario where she lives with her family.

Please visit Nadine’s website if you are interested in seeing more of her work.

After 25 years as a writer, producer and director of filmed entertainment, primarily for television, Harry Longstreet embarked on his second career as a photographer. Based in Washington State, Harry is always looking for images that speak to the human condition and the world around us. He favors ambient light and un-posed… unaware subjects. No one just takes up space. The human condition is an entire canvas of thoughts, emotions and reactions to circumstances. In Harry’s photography, he tries to capture the truth about diverse people and how they live and reflect their respective spaces. His subjects never know they have been photographed. He doesn’t set-up or pose any shot and never shoots with anything but available light. In the last ten years, he has had a number of one-man shows and his work has appeared in more than two hundred national and international juried exhibitions. Harry is twice a Single Image Merit Award recipient from Black & White Magazine and twice a Single Image Merit Award winner from Color Magazine. In 2013, he was awarded the Gold Medal (monochrome) in the International Varna Salon, and in 2014, he took Best in Show in the annual CVG Washington State competition.

When he is not busy with his wife, children and grandchildren, Harry keeps the creative juices flowing with his still photography. Please visit Harry’s website if you are interested in purchasing this award winning piece or if you would like to see more of his work.

I am a retired veterinarian, who has pursued photography for many years, and since retirement, it has become my main pastime and new profession. I have always strived to find and do things that satisfy my cravings for creativity. Photography is one of the things that makes me feel creative, and that I can best express my feelings. For many years, I did film photography, but once I retired, I discovered the digital media in photography, and was amazed at the latitude of ways the photographer could express him(her) self. I am not a purist in photography, and don’t mind taking liberties in the interpretation of an image, and really only care about the final image, as my statement.

To purchase this award winning photograph or to see more of Michael’s work please visit his website.

I was always in searching for something… was it identity?… And it is not only my quest. The need for belonging? We belong to a country, a culture, a family, a child… a man or a woman? We belong to a God…? To somewhat or someone. Races, religions, countries and their boundaries. I don’t believe in boundaries, they are only in our minds. I believe in people. In what connects us and puts us apart from each other. In what we learn from each encounter, from each illusive separation… But always in searching for meeting the higher self, to be yourself… and yet to discover and recognize you are one with all the others. I felt connected my entire life to the nature but also to the invisible world of our souls, that world where is no separation between life and us. I believe love never ends because I believe in oneness. I feel a part of me breathing in every plant, animal or sound. I sense the subtle energy of the water as if it is mine. I paint what I meet, what I feel, see, embrace and what I love. I want to give to someone else the power to enhance the higher vibration, the pulsation of our true nature… the vision to abandon all past and future and reveal the nature of consciousness. I want to inspire people to see the beauty in every detail. Every detail of the nature matters like every step we made. I dream to bring colour into people lives. Every colour has its magnificent energy that helps us to stay connected to our Divine Source. It helps us to love and appreciate ourselves and all that surround us… and to remain connected to everything in our world through love…

To purchase this award winning print or to view more of Anca’s artwork please email her directly.

Barbara Mierau-Klein’s fine art images reflect her fascination with the beauty of color and light. Her artwork covers a wide variety of subjects, sometimes with whimsical elements, at times with a hint of the fantastical, often with elements of nature, always with intriguing color and light effects. Discovering the world of digital photo compositing a few years ago, Barbara fell in love with the creative possibilities. Layering multiple images, textures and effects feels like working with magic and allows her to design something unique and new that transforms and morphs the reality of the constituent parts. She hopes her art captures your imagination as well, resonates with you, and makes you pause and wonder if only for a moment.

As a passionate landscape and nature photographer since her teenage years, many of the photos Barbara uses in her compositions are her own. Yet going wherever her inspiration of the day may take her, she also uses stock photos and relies on textures and artistic elements from others. A native of Germany, Barbara lives in the Washington, D.C. area. Lately, she has found her way back to spending more time in Germany and Europe again, or she is off travelling the world to capture photos of beautiful landscapes and nature. You can enjoy her photographs and publications on her photography website www.barbaramierauklein.com.

Barbara’s more recent published and award wining digital art images are on display on her portfolio site www.artboja.com/art/0xmo9f and in select galleries in the US.

Julia Jenkins is an emerging artist and an exhibiting member of the Lahaina Arts Society in Maui, HI. She has won several awards for her work, such as the Deans’s Award for her charcoal drawing at the New Paltz college fine arts exhibition. Julia is exhibiting her work in solo and group exhibitions in Hawaii, such as the Lahaina Arts Gallery and the Treehouse Gallery. She is currently residing on the beautiful island of Maui, painting everyday in paradise.

To see more of Julia’s artwork please email her directly.

After retirement from a successful career in the ICT world, August quickly discovered his immense passion for artistic photography, digital art and low key & grunge photography. Therefore, it was no surprise when he joined the training of the “father of digital art”, the famous Sebastian Michaels based in Arizona (USA). August almost got molded in a record time, becoming a master in low key studio work, grunge photo art as well as full blast digital art and artistic photography. He was selected as one of Photoshop Artistry’s international Top-500 which is called “Kaizen” and this group of top digital artists produce the most magical works of art. His work has been published in almost 20 international publications all over the globe of which the latest was a full blown biography of him in the Brazil based GSP Online magazine. August was invited by Eikon Culture Visual Reflections, being the ONLY South African between artists of over 70 countries to participate in three international exhibitions in Italy. The first one took place in Sicily, Italy. The upcoming one in September, is in San Benedetto Del Tronto, also in Italy. You will recognise his name as Auguste Naude on their page. During the months of September and October 2017, August will also be exhibiting fourteen of his compositions at the incredibly modern Heaven Art Gallery, based in Scottsdale, Arizona (USA). His work will be on display during those months and will be accessible internationally. August has exhibited and is exhibiting a total of three compositions in three different exhibitions at the Blank Wall Gallery, based in Athens, Greece of which the latest composition to be exhibited in October 2017 is one of the works attached.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more of August’s work please visit his website.

British artist Shabana Kauser, creates realistic oil paintings that are influenced by her rich British and Pakistani roots. As a first generation immigrant in the UK, her work displays a fusion of both cultures. Shabana’s parents emigrated from Pakistan and settled in the UK in the 1970’s. She was then born, raised and lived in the UK for nearly 30 years. Her home life obviously incorporated various aspects of the Pakistani culture, all while growing up and adapting to the British way of life.

Being a self taught artist, Shabana found her love for creating art after she moved from London, UK to Arkansas. Her creation process involves studying values and capturing extreme degrees of light into her work. She enjoys capturing details and drawing the viewer into the realism of each piece. Her most recent oil paintings capture the traditional ‘Dupatta’ (large amount of fabric worn as a scarf in South Asian countries) intertwined with memories of her upbringing. Behind the vibrant ‘Dupatta’ shown in her work there is a story of two cultures that heavily influenced her. Shabana has held various art receptions, exhibited her work and has been voted into a number of juried shows. She is currently represented by a local gallery in Arkansas. Her art collectors come from various parts of the US, UK and Australia. She also recently studied at the University of Arts in London.

Follow her journey on facebook or instagram (Shabana Kauser Art), or check out her blogs on her website – www.shabanakauserart.com

Monique Sullivan earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a concentration in Photography from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her work is inspired by her dreams, spirituality and creative idealism. Her range of artworks includes painting, photography, printmaking, installation and video. Her artistic influences are works from artists like Andy Warhol, David LaChapelle, Frida Kahlo, Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. She is a member of the San Antonio Art League and The Greater San Antonio Camera Club. She has participated in activities such as the Student Art Guild and been Vice President of Media Coordination at her Exposure Photography Club. Her exhibition of shows include awards for photography, video and mixed media. She lives in San Antonio with her husband and two children.

Artist statement

My work speaks about the interpretation of personal connection between the models and myself, expressed through customized layers of color. The colors on the figure evoke a realistic quality that is true to nature. This realism is balanced and enhanced by an abstract background with a modernist color palette. These colors also personify the energy and emotional state of the model. I am inspired by the work of “Sharon Sprung”, which speaks a similar language through, as she describes it, “manipulated layer upon layer in order to create a work of art as equivalent to the complexity of real life as possible.” I create images that resonate with warmth and sensitivity as well as tranquility that reflect my internal.

Biography

Seon Young Kim was born in Teaback, South Korea and currently works and resides in New York. She has studied figure painting with Sharon Sprung at The National Academy and The Art Students League. Her work evokes a realistic quality that is true to nature. This realism is balanced and enhanced by an abstract background with a modernist color palette. These colors also personify the energy and emotional state of the model. She received her BFA in Fine Art at the Hansung University and a Four-years certificate program at the National Academy . Kim has exhibited in solo exhibitions at 312 Gallery, Manhattan, NY and has been included in various important exhibitions including “Annual Exhibition” at Audubon Artists, NY, National Juried Art Show, Wide Open 4, Brooklyn and Me, Myself and Eye, Flow Art Space, St Paul, MN and “Portraits”, Gensler Office, NY ,“Alternative Reality” at Space Womb Gallery, NY, The really affordable. Kim was honored with the Beatrice Jackson Award at the Audubon Artists and honorable Mention at the Wide Open.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more of Seon Young Kim’s work, please email her directly.

I began studying Photography around 1962 at the Institute of Design in Chicago. My studies with Aaron Siskind, Joe Jachna, Arthur Siegal and Wynn Bullock gave me first hand experience with truly creative photographers. Next at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1967, working on an MFA in Photography, I began photographing the nude with Wendy, my wife. Then for over forty-five years, I explored various techniques and processes while photographing the nude as a central theme. In 1982 I won a NYSCA-CAPS Photography Fellowship and in 2009, I won the Ultimate Eye Foundation’s grant for Figurative Photography. I currently head the film Photography program at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

The Nude at Home

I use the extreme wide angle distortions of the round oatmeal cylindrical pinhole camera with 8×10 B&W film and digital colorization to create a series of visceral images. Through successive pulling of curves in Photoshop, B&W values are replaced with subtle color. I photograph the model nude in her home, apartment or studio. With the model in her own space, all the objects in the image are a part of the life of the model. Then the pose, the furniture and the long, two minute exposures reveal an intimate portrait of the subject. As this work evolved, I have had three solo shows in Poughkeepsie, Beacon and Phoenicia, NY.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more of Dan’s work, please visit his website.