Author: Iris

Deborah K. Tash, born in 1949 in the Bay Area, works in both image and word—blending painting and poetry into something deeply personal and quietly otherworldly. Her practice is shaped by a mixed cultural background: Mexican heritage on her mother’s side, and Celtic lineage on her father’s. That layered ancestry becomes a kind of compass in her work, guiding her toward subjects that explore identity, memory, and the spiritual weight of place. Tash identifies as a Mestiza—not just by bloodline but as a way of navigating the in-between. Her work often feels like it lives there: between cultures, between dream…

José Brito isn’t interested in pleasantries. He doesn’t paint for harmony or interior design. His work has no interest in being agreeable. Based in Portugal, Brito uses painting like a pressure valve—releasing tension, memory, and resistance. His tools are heavy: black ink, glued headlines, shredded paper, scraped layers. His canvases read like documents from a place where the surface has cracked and the truth seeps through. Nothing is polished. Nothing is clean. The materials he uses—old newsprint, advertisements, ink stains—aren’t there for texture alone. They’re carriers of history, arguments, warnings. Brito doesn’t tidy them up. He lets them speak in…

Oenone Hammersley creates art that feels rooted in the soil, air, and water. Her connection to nature runs deep—she paints with the urgency of someone who has been paying attention for a long time. Rainforests, rivers, wildlife, and open skies aren’t just her subjects—they’re the lifeblood of her work. Using a blend of realism and abstraction, Hammersley captures both the physical beauty of the natural world and the quiet warning signs that it’s under threat. Her paintings hold space for wonder and concern. They’re not loud, but they don’t whisper either. There’s clarity in her brushwork, a sense of responsibility…

Born in 1967 in Lancashire, UK, Stuart Beck grew up with painting close at hand. His father was his first teacher—introducing him not just to brushes and pigment, but to the idea that art could be part of daily life. That early connection stayed with him. Over time, Beck carved out his own direction, leaning into abstraction while keeping one foot firmly planted in observation. His work doesn’t look like the world, but it’s shaped by it—by nature, by buildings, by culture picked up across time and travel. He paints what lingers in the background: the weathered edge of a…

Tucked inside Germantown, Philadelphia, Oronde Kairi paints the pulse of the world around him. His canvases are alive with color, sound, and rhythm, pulling from the everyday scenes of city life. Music, sports, family, memory—they all show up, not as distant references, but as lived experience. His work doesn’t just look back. It carries those moments forward. Kairi paints with clarity and emotional weight. His colors are loud, his lines are confident, and his scenes are full of warmth and humanity. A glance across his work reveals a kind of visual storytelling that feels familiar—even intimate. He doesn’t just paint…

Carolin Rechberg moves through art like a traveler collecting textures, sounds, and sensations. Born in Starnberg, Germany, she doesn’t stay still—not in her practice, not in her ideas. She moves between ceramics, sculpture, painting, performance, poetry, photography, textiles, sound art, and installation as naturally as breathing. But this isn’t about having range for its own sake. It’s about presence. For Rechberg, the process—the movement of hands, the act of listening, the gesture of layering materials—is the work. Her art isn’t just something to look at. It’s something to feel through. She brings her body into conversation with space, letting the…

Cheryl Crane-Hunter is a multifaceted artist whose work not only captivates the eye but also speaks to something deeper. Her background in art education and her enduring connection to nature have shaped a creative practice that’s both expressive and reflective. She doesn’t just paint scenes—she paints moments of stillness, transition, and spirit. Her work feels like a conversation with the invisible threads that hold our world together. Rooted in a belief that creation is guided by something beyond the self, Cheryl’s approach is meditative and intuitive. The brush becomes a tool for listening. Color, composition, and symbolism come together in…

Doug Caplan was born in 1965 in Montreal, Quebec. His story with photography starts quietly. In his early teens, he got a black-and-white Polaroid camera—a gift from his parents. It wasn’t much, just a plastic body with a disposable flash and a signature smell from the film chemicals. But it stuck with him. Not as a job, not even as a deep passion at first—just a feeling that photography had something to offer. Years passed. Life happened. It wasn’t until the early ’90s, after getting married, that Caplan picked up a camera again. This time, it stayed with him. He’s…

Born in 1959 in Moscow, Idaho, Linda Cancel’s earliest memory is etched with light—watching fireworks burst over the Snake River at just fifteen months old. That brief, dazzling moment set something in motion. From a young age, Linda was attuned to atmosphere, to shadow and glow, to the way light can press into memory. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, she absorbed its quiet drama: misted mountains, cool rivers, the hush of snowfall. At twelve, she began private oil painting lessons with William F. Pogue, who introduced her to the deep well of narrative art rooted in the Golden Age…

Albert Deak creates art that maps experiences beyond the surface of things. Trained in ceramics at a respected University of Art and Design in Eastern Europe in 1989, he began with a strong foundation in form and material. Over time, his work expanded into graphics, painting, and digital media, each step opening new ways to explore and express. Rather than relying on set formulas, Deak builds each piece as a search—an act of visual translation shaped by science, philosophy, and imagination. Influenced by Pollock’s freedom, Richter’s ambiguity, and Kandinsky’s spiritual use of color and form, Deak has carved out a…