Artists in Residence

With no training in art, my process is experimental. I break all the rules because I don’t know them. Acrylics and oils—yes. Spray enamel, foam brushes, and found objects—why not? What I do know is that all things have roots, roots provide nourishment, and painting nourishes the roots that support my growth in my art.

My work as a visual artist revolves around ideas of self-portraiture, in a non-traditional sense. I believe that starting with myself and my experiences gives me the best framework to produce authentic and vulnerable work that also inevitably evokes familiar feelings in others. I see each painting as a portrait of a piece of me or my life, layered with all the filters I have developed in the way I view the world. Much of the emotions and moods in my pieces stem from childhood and issues surrounding mental health and, as I am now a therapist, I continue to draw from and incorporate larger feelings that I encounter as threads throughout humanity. In all my work, I aim to create beauty, connection, and authentic conversation.

Sarah is an artist based in Utopia Beach, specializing in screen-prints and etchings.  Sarah’s work is a representation or a reflection of life experiences.  “My art documents a moment in time, it is a visual representation of my life experiences.”

Hannah Steele is an oil painter based in Boston. She paints images of the familiar, seeking to amplify awareness of the everyday, transport into a psychological space, and embed otherwise passing moments into a tactile memory.

Barbara Yerace has been a glass artist for over 40 years operating a hot glass studio, but the last few years she has turned her attention to the exploration of Native American Spirit Animals and the lessons they bring us. The pieces created with glass beads are a culmination of research and love for the animals she studies.

Monty Montgomery is an artist based in Virginia, specializing in bold, colorful lines and abstract patterns. Influenced by his mother who was a kindergarten teacher, Montgomery’s interest in art began with coloring books at a young age, developing a fascination with borders and the boundaries of emotional expression which is still reflected in his work today.

Carrie is a Pittsburgh native with a degree in communications from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She is a full-time artist who makes radiant paintings inspired by nature. Carrie transitioned to her art career after working at local and national nonprofits serving vulnerable children. Her art can be found in private and public collections across the United States and abroad. She paints outdoors and in her studio in Columbus, Ohio. It “It feels like a wondrous magic trick to make something out of nothing. I still find it amazing to capture a full human experience on a two-dimensional surface. I want to share my delight with the subject matter, the color and with the process with the viewer.”

Dorit Brauer is a Pittsburgh-based abstract artist. Her work has been exhibited in Israel, Germany, and the US. Brauer considers the creation of art a sacred ritual; she meditates and reaches a higher state of consciousness prior to the artistic expression on the canvas. Her bold and colorful oil paintings are her love letter to life. The viewer is invited to look deeply and dive into the world of their inner self, to see each color individually; to let it represent a memory, a thought, an emotion, a place, a lover, while embracing the colorful tapestry of life and allowing the puzzle pieces of each experience to mend together into wholeness.

After 43 years as an electronics field technician for Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, Don began woodworking as a hobby during his retirement. Inspired by making wooden toys for his grandchildren, he began exploring the use of a lathe (a machine for shaping wood that turns the piece being worked on against changeable cutting tools). With his first finished bowl, he was hooked, falling in love with the technique of bowl making. He has since expanded his lathe toolkit, studied under other wood turners, and spends every day possible in his woodshop “puttering”.

I believe that beauty will save the world. Even if not, it certainly makes it a better place. Whether painting portraits of animals or people, landscapes or still life compositions, my goal is to celebrate the beauty that surrounds us. My oil painting technique can be described as traditional all prima. I employ bold powerful brushstrokes. I often exaggerate colors and find shapes that create rhythms. In my recent body of work, animals play an important role. I love adding a healthy dose of humor to my paintings. When I see people smile as they look at my works, it makes me happy. Of course, the animals can be silly and amusing, but we all know they are also super smart. Animals always have a story to tell, and I’m trying to do my best transcribing their stories and capturing their souls.

Michael Miller is a landscape painter living and working in Northeast Ohio. The barns and pastural landscapes are inspired by his love of history and the surrounding countryside. Interested in barns from a young age when his parents took him to Gettysburg, Michael strives to bring the beauty of the American Barn front and center and call on the viewer to reflect on a time that is passing.

It was at the age of 63 that Wendy Warner decided it was time to attain life’s dream. “I grew up enthralled by my grandfather’s art and calligraphy,” Wendy says. “I never understood how lines and shapes could jump off a surface and appear to come to life. Art has always fascinated me.” Originally from the Boston area and now from Dillsburg, PA, Wendy works in oil, with a particular interest in both portraiture and plein air. Picking up the brushes and palette later in life has given Wendy a more mature perspective on her craft. She takes a patient and meticulous approach to painting, allowing her to produce her finest works.

After 43 years as an electronics field technician for Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, Don began woodworking as a hobby during his retirement. Inspired by making wooden toys for his grandchildren, he began exploring the use of a lathe (a machine for shaping wood that turns the piece being worked on against changeable cutting tools). With his first finished bowl, he was hooked, falling in love with the technique of bowl making. He has since expanded his lathe toolkit, studied under other wood turners, and spends every day possible in his woodshop “puttering”.