ZsuZsanna Donnell is a well regarded artist who uses creating as a catalyst for personal discovery. She works with acrylic, oil, pencil, fabric and ink, she strives to paint without a set goal in mind, allowing the medium itself to communicate through her efforts. Similarly, Donnell avoids singular interpretations of her abstract work, and hopes that viewers come to their own conclusions about the images she makes and what they mean.
Donnell’s work has been displayed by numerous prestigious institutions including Boston WGBH TV, SOWA Boston, Cambridge Art Association, Arts League of Lowell, the Newburyport Art Association, Paula Estey Gallery, Brush Art Gallery, and the Florida Watercolor Society. She currently works out of her studio in the Boston.
Colorado native Brenda Bennett is a licensed artist and teacher at Colorado Free University. She explores the cohesion of handmade papers, sprayed ink and stencils, with inspiration often coming from a hike she took or a photo she made. Bennett is drawn to bright, vivid colors as she creates her pieces, her favorites being those that call to mind the outdoors, such as aspen trees, birds, and horses. The experience of her work is as layered as the paintings themselves: From a distance, the viewer sees the overall image she intends – and, up close, uncovers delightful surprises within the patterns, images and typography contained on individual scraps of paper. Bennett hopes for this contrast to result in curiosity and amusement, as well as to challenge assumptions about what can be seen and revealed. This contradiction is true in art, she believes, and people. Bennett works from a home studio, with her family and a pair of ferrets nearby.
Jacqueline Kok is an illustrator from The Netherlands. She has a deep love for nature, which is the major inspiration for her work. Creativity has always been an important part of her life and drawing is her favourite way to capture the world around her. She loves to draw and paint subjects from nature and to show the beauty of the plant and animal kingdoms, both with realistic and with stylized drawings. As a dedicated gardener she grows many plants, both edible and for decoration and these are frequently modelling for her work.
Next to painting she likes to draw letters and illustrate quotes and enjoys seeking new quotes or recipes to illustrate.
Her work is a combination of hand-drawn artwork and digital work. She enjoys creating surface patterns from her drawings and loves seeing her work on stationary and fabric.
Eclectic, quirky, and playful with a dry sense of humor that doesn’t quit, Bonnie laughs easily and loudly as she moves through the world creating her cartoon illustrations and patterns for the greeting card, paper, and gift markets.
Bonnie was bit by the art bug in 3rd grade after entering the school’s “Fire Prevention Week” poster contest. When the poster she created of her mother potentially blowing up the house while simultaneously smoking and using hairspray won 1st prize for Bonnie, there was no going back. In her late thirties, she finished her B.A. in Women’s Studies & Art and her Master’s in Clinical Counseling, which earned her an honorary Doctorate in Stress from her family & friends. After working as a counselor for over ten years, she decided to pursue her art professionally. Bonnie spent the last five years training full-time with well-known professionals in the pattern design field, honing her unique style and developing a high level of proficiency in pattern design and illustration. Using Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign, she draws or paints every day and you’ll often find her in her home studio, happily working during the middle of the night.
Bonnie really enjoys the collaboration process with clients and welcomes feedback during the creative process. She considers any revisions as a personal challenge to create artwork exactly how a client wants and has been told that she is “awesome” to work with. Bonnie particularly likes working with clients who have a sense of humor, an edgy idea, or are looking for witty designs. Whether she’s creating patterns, greeting cards, illustrations, or gift items, Bonnie creates art to help people laugh through dark times and she uses humor around difficult subjects, such as aging, death, menopause, mental health, and general weirdness in the world.
Bonnie is originally from New England and currently resides in rural North Carolina. Her long-running cartoon series, The Adventures of Joe & Hilde, is based on her thirty-one year marriage to her husband—-the love of her life and total opposite to her in every regard. In addition to drawing inspiration from her marriage, Bonnie appreciates that Oliver, her cat, his feral friends and her two adult children all graciously allow her to use their lives as subject matter for her cartoons and illustrations.
Allison Staffin was born with a silver crayon in her mouth and has been drawing and creating every since. Allison has always loved visiting museums, craft shows, and flea markets and collecting vintage posters, advertising art, old tins, purses, postcards, and other antique pieces. Allison lives in an 1864 farmhouse filled with an eclectic mix of her collections and home décor pieces. These passions inspire her designs.
A degree in Graphic Design and Advertising gave Allison the skills to develop a boutique design studio specializing in package design, which she ran for 20 years. She created packaging, branding, promotional materials and displays for companies such as Revlon, Liz Claiborne, L’oreal, Twinings Tea, and others.
Her fascination with old photos and memorabilia compelled her to create a greeting card line which debuted in 2013 at the Jacob Javits Center to much acclaim. Her cards can be found in boutiques, gift shops, and museum stores.
She expanded into surface and textile designs several years ago. She has worked with major retailers and her designs will be found on shelves, walls, and floors by next winter.
Allison was recognized in 2014 by Worldwide Branding, in 2015 by Women of Distinction, and Artsy Shark in 2016.
Lisa Lane has worked as a professional creative designer in both corporate environments and her own studio for over 15 years. After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Art and a Master’s degree in Textiles & Clothing, she spent the next 10 years working as a Textile Designer for several Fortune 500 companies at corporate headquarters (mostly in the Children’s market) before starting her own freelance design business, Lisa Lane Designs.
Her specialty is fun, vibrant, whimsical art, inspired predominantly by nature and animals, that makes people of all ages smile. She often combines both traditional and digital drawing & painting techniques to create unique prints and graphics that have been sold in retailers such as JCPenney, Target, Bloomingdales, Buy Buy Baby, Petco, and more.
When she’s not creating art, Lisa can be found volunteering at dog rescues, outdoors around L.A.’s beaches or hiking trails with her own rescue dog, or practicing various forms of aerial arts for fitness.
Patricia’s intention is not to imitate nature, but to capture and interpret how it makes her feel.
Whether she is painting vast landscapes on canvas or tiny florals on wood board, using brushes or palette knives, oils or acrylics, she lets go and trusts her intuition.
When it all comes together, the result is an artwork that is filled with exciting and contrasting hues, saturated with joy and free-flowing essence that elevates her Spirt.
Her purpose is to ignite positive emotions in anyone who comes across her work.
Laura Marr’s illustration work uses her signature undulating line to communicate multi-layered visual messages.
Marr’s award winning illustration work can be seen on many brand identity campaigns, logo marks, gift books, print collateral, environmental museum signage, special event invitations and décor, maps, package design, retail stationery, gift items, and apparel. Marr has also illustrated for magazines, books, and for clients such as Capital One, McGraw-Hill, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, and The University of Texas Performing Arts Center.
She holds a BFA in Graphic Design & Illustration from Baylor University, with additional study at the Santa Reparata School of Art in Florence, Italy.
Marr is the author of Inky Richmond, an award-winning upscale gift/activity book that highlights some of the most beloved sites and landmarks in Richmond, Virginia.
