Artists

NICHOLAS CONLON

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Nicholas Conlon Bio:

Visit Nicholas's studio OUT OF THE LOOP at 5257 W. Montrose Ave.

Nicholas graduated with a B.A. in Theater from Southern Illinois University.

To work with artists, engineers, designers, doctors and forward thinking people/companies in such a way that the original idea behind any concept is taken further than it can ever be expected.

email: thepinkguns@gmail.com

website: www.nicknickers.com

ANGELA DUEA

Angela Duea Bio:

Angela Williams Duea is a visual artist living in the northwest side of Chicago. Though mostly self-taught, she took early lessons in oil painting from her Grandfather and photography lessons from her Uncle, both professional artists. During the Covid pandemic, she honed her encaustic painting skills and learned a great deal from other artists. She has shown her art at galleries in Grayslake, IL and Kenosha, WI.

Angela's photography often focuses on geometric shapes, the interplay between nature and man-made structures, and quirky little details that often go unnoticed by others. She experiments with textures, layers and abstract forms in her encaustic works. "What I love about encaustic is that I can build up textures or polish surfaces smoothly, add natural objects or embed photography in the work," she says. "As a result, the finished work constantly looks different as light plays across those elements throughout the day."

email: awduea@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4angelawd/

CHRISTINA VILLA

Christina Villa Bio:

Christina is a Chicago-based painter, potter, and educator. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her artwork highlights line, gesture, and representational detailing to blur boundaries between function and ornament. Beyond the studio, an integral part of her practice includes statuary restoration, as well as teaching art appreciation and painting workshops. In 2017 she completed the FIELD/WORK Residency at Chicago Artist Coalition. Two years later, she launched Two Squares Lake Effect Project, an ongoing plein-air painting series and dialogue that seeks to find common ground through natural beauty. In fall of 2020, she opened Christina M. Villa Studio, located in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Currently, Christina is a member at The Pottery Studio, teaches K-8 Art at Saint Mary of the Angels, and does both public and private commissions. Plan your studio visit at christinamvilla.com and discover more @twosquares on Instagram

I am a potter and plein air landscape painter. Inspired by light perception and movement in nature, I capture elements of the landscape, translating the ephemeral into something permanent. Common motifs in my work include water, flowers, and the figure. I paint glazes with various finishes to emphasize texture and surface. On both canvas and clay, I use line, gesture, and representational detailing that blur boundaries between function and ornament.

email: christinavilla@gmail.com

website: www.christinavilla.com

instagram: @twosquares

JOSEPH MIKAN

Joseph Mikan Bio:

My name is Joe Mikan and I am a Chicago based artist. I was born and raised in Chicago. My work can be described as figurative and expressive exploring subject matters of sensuality and playfulness with the use of various color strokes. This brings out an energetic yet relaxed mood in a dream-like state. Some of my paintings are planned out while others come about spontaneously, in the moment. Whatever the approach may be, I enjoy making discoveries along the way.

email: joemikan749@gmail.com

EVAN KOBY FOSTER

Evan Koby Foster Bio:

Evan Koby Foster (born May 11th, 1987) is a Chicago artist influenced by Cubism, Zap Comix and Absurdism. Foster is self-taught and credits his Psychology and Philosophy college concentrations and his love of Pablo Picasso for his obsession with Cubism. His painted works explore a marriage of Cubism and Classical art. His Chicago underground comic series ‘The Hackneyed Homegrown Hipsters’ satirizes contemporary American culture. Foster’s work is eclectic, but a curious philosophical theme about the modern distortion of the human condition pervades the artist’s work.

Evan maintains the cubist medium is a "more accurate" account of how we
perceive reality. He quotes, "We, as free-roaming agents, can never truly experience an object as it is in a still life - as a single archetypal snapshot, but instead always as an ever-shifting perception - this is it's true nature. The brain’s perception is a phenomenological oversimplification of reality. All things remain as a collection of potential perspectives existing in flux, yet we experience objects as a single platonic form.”

“My work reflects the perceptive bombardment of the human condition, our modern metamorphic state and the losing of ourselves within ourselves. We are ever-shifting entities of luminous beauty and monstrous darkness.”

email: fetusboyproductions@gmail.com

website: www.evankobyfosterart.com

instagram: @fetusboyproductions

JOSEPH FRUMKIN

Joseph Frumkin Bio:

Joe has been experimenting with glass for many years. From his beginnings in glass fusing, to dabbling in stained glass, he has settled and found comfort in glass mosaic. After a year of course work at the Chicago Mosaic School, he enrolled in a 5-day workshop under the mentorship of famed Scottish Mosaic artist, Dugald MacInnes. Duggie’s expertise in stone mosaic work influenced the pieces displayed at Triple R Gallery space. Joe dedicates these pieces to Duggie and thanks him for his guidance. For without it, he wouldn’t have had the courage to display them. Joe would also like to thank his dear friend, the Chicago writer Terry Galvan, for their creative input on the titles of these works. He highly recommends their work and recommends you see their creativity first-hand when they read at fiction events across Chicago.

email: frumkinj626@gmail.com

KELLY MANTECK

Kelly Manteck Bio:

KAMera Chicago Photography is owned by Kelly A. Manteck. Born and raised in Chicago, Kelly completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2013, a Master of Education in Early Childhood / Early Childhood Special Education and a Master of Education in Secondary Education - Humanities (English & Art) from Grand Canyon University in 2020. In addition to owning KAMera Chicago, Kelly has also taught high school digital art and English. She is a volunteer Docent for the Chicago Architecture Center leading the River Cruise in addition to walking tours.

Chicago is home to the skyscraper, and architecture as innovative as that of the city of Chicago must not be overlooked, but instead cherished and preserved. Kelly's architectural photography is more than just a series of photographs; instead, they are a testament to the beauty of architecture and a plea for the preservation of this large-scale artwork. Within Kelly's photography, it is her goal to show viewers that architecture isn’t just a building that we inhabit but instead a form of art and history – a masterpiece. She uses the landscape as her canvas to get others to see the architecture as the beauty that it truly is. Kelly's work takes the buildings and turns them into geometric wonders that transform the urban landscape into an incredible work of art. Architects aren’t just builders, but instead, artists, and their art is brilliant.

In 2012, Kelly's photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House were published in WTTW Channel 11's National documentary titled '10 Buildings That Changed America'. She has also shown in several galleries around Chicago and has a piece on permanent display in the Chicago history video in the Chicago Architecture Center's Chicago Gallery.

email: kamteck@yahoo.com

website: www.kamerachicago.com

facebook: www.facebook.com/kamerachicago

instagram: @kamerachicago

ARTURO REYES

Arturo Reyes Bio:

Arturo Reyes grew up in the agricultural center of the San Joaquin valley heartland of California. He spent much of his youth in the dusty fields with migrant workers, picking seasonal crops with his four siblings and mother, Guadalupe. "You name it, I've picked it," he laughs. "In the fields I listened to my mother sing rancheros and that vibration of music, sound and the intense color of the world around me affected me so profoundly. It still resonates in all of my paintings today and in all my color choices."

His early life was peppered with instability and abuse, leaving him hungry for another life, so he left home at 16. "It's taken a long time to get here, comfortable with myself; all of me. As a child I was ashamed of my heritage and later, my sexuality. By trying so hard to blend in, I discovered I didn’t, and I don't! And it's ok. because it's wonderful to be you... Just how you are!! " Now, he finds himself going back to his Latin roots, celebrating his heritage, and seeing the beauty in all of it.

Arturo is a modern abstract expressionist. A painter's palette of emotions is expressed on canvas and paper in a color action painting technique. His work consists of an array of delicate, erratic, and chaotic movement of energy of artistic line in mesmerizing soft hues and bold, lush color.

His painter's insight can be seen and felt through his delivery and his own unique execution of his work. The emotion is unmistakably raw, and his passion is unwavering.

email: bluepup7013@gmail.com

website: www.arturoreyes.org

cell: 773-531-6503

JORDAN MUMMER

Jordan Mummer Bio:

Jordan typically paints in oil and acrylic on wood or canvas. Born and raised on the northwest side of Chicago, Jordan lived in the city his whole life until moving to Evanston, IL in 2021. Some themes that Jordan often explores in his paintings include peoples’ societal “blind spots” and an inability to move forward due to a lack of understanding of themselves and their situations. The subjects of his paintings may be thinking: “I can’t move forward in my life because I feel I am missing something.”

His love of art began in childhood. He started painting in high school and attended the American Academy of Art where he received an Associate’s Degree in Painting and Illustration in 1993. His parents, Walter and Dorothy Mummer, were both artists who met and fell in love while attending the American Academy of Art in the 1950’s. Jordan has taught art classes to adults and children at the Northern Indiana Arts Association (now South Shore Arts) and has consistently added to his art education by attending classes at The Art Institute and Evanston Art Center.

While attending the American Academy of Art, Jordan won the Society of Illustrators competition where his painting “commonplace” was published in Illustrators 35. He has shown in various group shows in Chicago and Indiana, commissioned many pieces, and participated in selling work at local art fairs.

Currently a busy stay at home father of two children, he has a home studio where he spends as much time as he can. As the children are getting older, Jordan is looking forward to more participation in the arts.

email: jordanmummerpainting@gmail.com

website: www.jordanmummer.com

HOLLY HUTTO

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Holly Hutto Bio:

Holly’s recent paintings and painted assemblage sculptures are done in an illustrative painterly style. Each influenced by worlds folktales and mythology, capturing the dreamlike quality of the stories that have shaped the psyche of our world. Holly is inspired by the commonalities in the stories that people around the world have shared throughout history – and the ability for these stories to speak to us abstractly, on a subconscious level. Using repurposed boxes, wood, and cardboard, she has crafted and painted imagery related to these stories, interpreting the symbols of the archetypes through her art.

email: hollyhutto@hotmail.com

EMMY SAVAGE

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Emmy Savage Bio:

Writer and painter, Emmy Savage recently moved to Chicago after spending nine years in South Central Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains. While there she began writing about the landscape and in 2022 published a book on hiking as spiritual practice. In her paintings, she continues to explore how we experience the transformative effect of the natural world as she responds with color and gesture to things so elemental as trees and water. Emmy holds an MA degree from the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars and an MFA degree from the University of Iowa.

email: emmysavage@yahoo.com

website: esavage.fineartstudioonline.com

JON HARTMANN

Jon Hartmann Bio:

Jon is an unorthodox thinker, and it shows in his artwork. His method is simple: “Shut off your brain, grab a paintbrush, and let your unconscious mind show you what it will.” His main goal is to seek deeper knowledge of everything he encounters. His main sources of influence are Carl Gustav Jung, Mircea Eliade, Joseph Campbell and Alan Watts. He is a lifelong resident of Chicago, calling Jefferson Park home for the last 20 years. Jon is naturally curious and willing to test boundaries. How you react is up to you.

email: jon.sevenfingerstudio@gmail.com

instagram: @sevenfingersstudio

TIM SOUERS

Tim Souers Bio:

Tim was an art director for over 30 years. Did thousands of storyboards, hundreds of commercials. That may sound irrelevant, but it involved lots of art, and just as importantly, telling stories. Tim likes to tell stories in watercolors, too. Paintings with characters, emotion, some humor… with the love of layering of transparent colors, the wild things that happen with wet paint, and capturing a feeling or emotion with those things. Tim paints what he loves - plants and animals, landscapes and portraits. And of course, baseball. There are stories, some simple and some complex, to uncover in all these things.

email: TimJSouers@gmail.com

instagram: @tim_cubby_blue

website: www.TimSouers.com

LORENZO

Lorenzo Bio:

As a Hispanic artist who has left his footprints in New York, L.A., and now, back home in Chicago, his work has grown to reflect the struggles and happiness of his many travels and extraneous experiences. Painting and drawing from a young age became his soul-seeking destination. His residing urban environment has always lived within Lorenzo's art.

As a choreographer, dancer, actor, and painter, he captured his unbridled energy through the use of colors and curves passionately placing them on canvas. We can now enter into a small part of his world, through his eyes.

The choice of color in his work (or lack thereof...) motivates and drives each story forward, albeit based on either religion, culture, desire, love, selfishness, thoughtfulness, or all of the above, each piece of work has its own unique story...

Lorenzo continues to grow stylistically motivated by the great artists of our time. They will always be a part of his thoughts, inspiration, and his passion so they may guide his hand through each work of art.

email: lorenzo@lorenzo.art

instagram: @artworkbylorenzo

website: www.lorenzo.art

Facebook: facebook.lorenzo.art

LISA GIACOMINO

Lisa Giacomino Bio:

Lisa is a self-taught Zen Doodle (aka – Zentangle) Artist. Lisa has explored many art mediums but finds the most passion in relaxing her mind and creating Zen doodles.

“My goal is to make art accessible to people, and to create a piece that is not only mentally stimulating but also offers comfort and relaxation. I encourage anyone viewing my art to use their imagination and have fun!”

Lisa’s art has been steadily evolving for over 15 years and has led her to Triple R Gallery to exhibit for the first time. Lisa spent her childhood in Jefferson Park and currently resides in Harwood Heights.

email: elle44designs@gmail.com

instagram: @elle44designs

RICH CONTI

Rich Conti Bio:

I've always been fascinated with wood that is "rich in the rhythms" of texture, pattern, and color variation. But only recently, have I been creating artwork with wood. My father was an avid woodcarver, but I really never learned technique from him, I just admired the work he did. My craft takes me in a different direction. I like to raid the scrap piles of the local lumber stores for materials. I ﬁnd end cuts or cuts with knots or cracks or live ends which are not useful for the furniture makers. I reﬁne these cuts and combine them with standard dimensional lumber or exotic hardwoods. I also frequent the reclamation stores for my products. I look for character and interesting variations in the wood that are overlooked. My goal is not just to create a functional shelf to have something sit on. I strive to make the shelf a piece of artwork to be admired as much as the items it supports.

I began making shelving when I took a beginning class at the Chicago Industrial Arts and Design Center and it spiraled from there, I learned woodturning at Chicago School of Woodworking. I have recently began incorporating mosaics into my wood. I call this series "WOODSAICS" and these pieces are more abstract in nature. I blend the mosaics into the intrinsic ﬂow of the wood.

I’m a recently retired physical therapist who spent 40 years working with children and adults with disabilities. In addition to wood art, I am an actively performing musician (percussion) in the Chicago’s premier world music band Funkadesi. And if that’s not enough, I do photography and have a collection of bonsai. I think all these art forms are related……they are all “Rich In Rhythms”

email: richinrhythm@aol.com

website: www.richinrhythm.com

DOMINICK MAINO

Dominick Maino Bio:

Dominick easily brings his profession into the act of photographic creation.

As a Professor Emeritus at the Illinois College of Optometry/Illinois Eye Institute, he is aware of the importance of single, clear, and comfortable, two-eyed vision.

As a tenor and musician, he understands the interplay of melody, harmony and even dissonance within a work written for a chorus, an orchestra, and even within a photographic image. Each of these concepts is applied to his image making. His art speaks to his clarity of vision; his understanding of the universal rhythm that surrounds us all; his ability to process visual information into an artful expression and his enthusiastic outlook upon the world.

His photography skills have featured the Irish American Heritage Center, Six Corners County Fair, Chicago Fringe Festival, the Filament Theatre, Illinois College of Optometry, St. Bartholomew Parish, College of Optometrists in Vision Development, various political events, Small Business Saturday and other community activities. His exhibitions as a featured artist have taken place at the Nine2Five Gallery in Kansas City, Gallery ABBA (Beloit, Wi), the Addison Rotunda, the Cook County Treasurer’s Office, and at Casa Italia in Stone Park. His local showings include Fannie’s Café, City News Café, St. Bartholomew Church and Finom Café. As well as his images have appeared in the Kansas City Voices (a juried art journal), The Archdiocese of Chicago: A Journey of Faith (uncredited), and the covers of the Catholic New World, Optometric Education and Optometry & Vision Development.

email: dmaino@ico.edu

website: https://dmaino.wixsite.com/dmainophoto

MARYANN WATTELLE

Maryann Wattelle Bio:

Maryann has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has also attended Parsons School of Design in NYC and Yakima Valley College in Yakima, WA.

My heart is on display, and you are welcome to view. Your imagination is safe to wander here and it’s graciously okay to touch.

What fortifies your fortitude? How do you get to the place you most delight in? Do you have a favorite tree or mountain range? Is it possible to let color rejuvenate our souls? Can you allow yourself to admire a lingering sunset or sunrise; and to lose track of time? How can we let our imaginations stray? Should we ….

When attempting to transfer what I see into paint thoughts are what I want to gift the viewer. Paintings start with a realistic view and then either finish and linger, then the palette takes over. My hope is that you will be drawn into look and become connected, to feel what colors feel like to me.

email: mwattelle@icloud.com

JENNIFER SCOTT

Jennifer Scott Bio:

Jennifer Scott is a mostly self-taught artist, located in Chicago, Illinois. When a life-altering illness left her bedridden and searching for her lost identity, a childhood passion for art was reborn. Jenny uses acrylic paint - often on texture-prepped canvases. The artist uses the bumpy, uneven texture of the canvas as a metaphor for the ups and downs we each experience as we navigate our lives. The rugged surface instantly removes any ill-perceived thoughts of achieving perfection – relieving pressure and allowing added freedom for artistic expression. While the artist likes to tackle an array of subject matter, much of her work is inspired by the beauty of Creation. Jennifer often attempts to personify elements of nature, to depict stories of human experience and emotion.

email: jennycody1@gmail.com

website: www.jenniferscott-artist.com

BRAD MEESE

Brad Meese Bio:

Brad Meese's work explores themes of space and perception within the urban environment. His images speak to his understanding not only of the technical aspects of his craft, but also to his unique artistic vision, combining elements of documentary photography with a cinematic sensibility that challenges the viewers perceptions of a landscape - the city - that is familiar to so many. These talents and vision are also extended toward Meese's work in the natural environment, work that reveals and conceals its subject matter, often employing elements of the subject itself to obscure or illuminate the landscape. Meese has exhibited largely in the Chicago area where he also lives and works. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University (1999) and following that completed a one-year specialized photographic program at Focal Point Visual Arts Learning Centre in Vancouver B.C. (2001).

email: brad@bradmeese.com

website: www.bradmeese.com

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bradmeese

MARY FOSTER

Mary Foster Bio:

I was born in Chicago and grew up in the nearby suburbs. I currently reside in Chicago and work out of my home studio. My work revolves around my interest and fascination of the design, texture and color of plants and animals that I find in nature, so much of which is missed by a passerby. I spend a lot of time deciphering the light, colors and patterns in an attempt to extract that energy, the playfulness or striking color and light to create images that I hope will make the passerby pause, if only for a moment and reflect and be reminded of the world they live in and its beauty.

I am constantly experimenting and creating art based on moments in time that capture my attention and give me cause to stop and soak up what I see and experience. Throughout my life, I’ve been painting drawing and observing the world around me to find those unique moments. I’m always looking for new materials that will bring interest and excitement to the work. There is a reoccurring theme of bold color and pattern that I’m constantly evolving and modifying.

Most times, I start by taking photos of plants and scenery that inspire. I am particularly interested in the geometric patterns created by trees and woodland settings. On some occasions, I start by sketching an idea and then take photos or research images that will support concept. The paint I use is gouache which provides a flat, matte finish and because of its viscosity, allows me to create the geometric patterns and fine details. My woodcuts involve carving a block of cherry, printing one color black on mulberry paper and then hand painting with gouache. This technique provides an array of color options.

email: fosterideas@comcast.net

website: www.maryfosterstudios.com