The Blank Canvas Project will be recognizing Artists from all around. Here are the current Featured Artists, if there is a website shown next to the name please visit it. Also be sure to check back soon for articles on the artists as well as new additions.
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Featured Musicians...
- Jason Mack
- Josh DeWall
- Seth Thomas
- Jake Stone
- Tracey Montoya
- James Dunnington
- Jonah Ortiz
- William Hutchison
- Yancy Warm
- Caitlin Mueller
- LizBeth Ogiela-Scheck
- Susan Palmer
- Andrew Kenning
- Come Together Studios
- Matt Erickson
- Marty Klopfenstein
- Susan Eades
- Fire Monkeys
- Mark Edmondson
- Peter Peter
- Keith Wilson
- Katherine Elrick
- Chad Sanders
Jason Mack:
website: MackGlass.com
email: jason@mackglass.com
Jason holds a BS from Illinois State University where he studied sculpture and art history. In the summers of 2003 and 2004 he traveled to Italy to continue studying the language and art, and meet with master glassblowers on the island of Murano.
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Josh DeWall:
website: JoshDewall.com
email: jastaglass3@hotmail.com
Josh is a very skilled glassblower. After discovering lampworking at age 17, he decided glassmaking was a lifelong commitment. He graduated from the glass program at Southern Illinois University with a BFA, which gave him the opportunity to study under some of the most renowned glass artists of our time, including, Che Rhodes, Jiyoung Lee and David Levi, among others.
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Seth Thomas:
website: NeoSites.org
email: seth@neosites.org
Seth is a web developer and current web master of The Blank Canvas Project. He is attending college for a major in Web Design and Interactive Media and will be graduating in about a year. From very advanced to very basic, Seth will build your website in a timely and affordable manner.
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Jake Stone:
email: rjstone@ilstu.edu
The write-up for Jake Stone is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Tracey Montoya:
The write-up for Tracey Montoya is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Brilliant glass fire of a oven sun
casts a glow upon everyone.
Only the artisan at this time
knows what may spring forth on his climb
careful of design hard to shun.
Other artist's displays begun
in tune with rhyme and rap as one
guitar playing be as sublime
brilliant glass fire.
Pewter and lottery squares run
so vividly humble to none.
Admiring colors is no crime
bears to mind an antique brass chime.
Unforgettable is the fun
brilliant glass fire.
Poem copyrighted April 2009 by James Dunnington
Images by Chad Sanders
Jonah Ortiz:
website: Jonah's Sculpture Gallery
email: jonahortiz@gmail.com
"In this body of work, I am exploring the changing perspective of values as we grow and become desensitized by convenience, experience, and the passage of time.
A toy such as a doll or pony may hold some sentimental attachment as an adult, but our attraction to the object comes from nostalgia and can never duplicate the value that the toy may hold to a child. The want for objects changes with age, as does the growing trend of obsolescence. At one time, the original models of the toys I used in these sculptures were discarded. By changing the material of the objects into pewter, zinc and aluminum, I change the context from discarded toy to a precious object. To coincide with this change I add my absurd humor in the hops of creating a narrative for my audience to enjoy I question how our society perceives the value of what the toys represent. Tools of measurement, convenience, and simple ways of disposal are all present within this body of work. With my sculptures, I try to create juxtaposition between the cold mechanical elements which people associate with an adult's image vocabulary, and the restrict color palette of a child. It is my goal to make work, which has the content of an adult's humor, but the form and quality of an interactive toy."
- Jonah Ortiz
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William Hutchison :
The write-up for William Hutchison is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Yancy Warm:
The write-up for Yancy Warm is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Caitlin Mueller:
PowerPoint Slides: click here
The write-up for Caitlin Mueller is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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LizBeth Ogiela-Scheck:
email: dreams2create@gmail.com
LizBeth Ogiela-Scheck paints in oil occasionally venturing into clay, other sculpture, and writing. Her works are styled in the abstract, and what she calls her personal "mind trips". She composes from her experiences, dreams, and visions as the subjects for her works. Knowing that sometimes the art is the ACT of creating the painting. LizBeth creates in order to express visually what and how she feels, thinks, and sees.
In addition to her artwork, LizBeth is the mother of three, volunteers in the community and is a contributing editor for BudgetArtists.com. It is through this work that she helps bring creation and arts to the community at-large.
The Creating of My Work
"Many of my works start in my dreams: Visions that cannot be explained in words. Sometimes it is hard to remember the vision. But I have found that my hands have not forgotten the dream; the hands carry it forward. These paintings also seem to appear very quickly on the canvas. It is like I enter a trance state where my mind speaks to my hands without going through my consciousness. At times there seems to be a connecting 'theme' or thread through several paintings. I have found that these paintings must be forged from within and not be controlled. Painted until the entire concept of several visions is developed and born."
And then as Keith Haring (1958-1990) said,
"The only way art lives is through the experience of the observer. The reality of art begins in the eyes of the beholder, through imagination, invitation and confrontation."
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Susan Palmer:
The write-up for Susan Palmer is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Andrew Kenning:
website:Keith Wilson
An Illinois lad to the core.......finding some soul in the mind west.
"When Andrew Kenning emerged from the sea, the sand around him shook in fear. Sonic waves emitted from him with such force that the wind itself was put to challenge. Gliding through the thoughts of others, he sneaks into the subconscious of the collective masses, filtering their inner light into sound, disrupting the flow of thought and rerouting it to dangerous new places, from which it may never return."
Come Together Studios:
website: loveway714
The write-up for Come Together Studios is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Matt Erickson:
The write-up for Matt Erickson is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Marty Klopfenstein:
The write-up for Marty Klopenstein is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Susan Eades:
website:Spainter
I began spray paint art after a trip to Memphis and watching it performed there. I enjoy seeing the expressions of people watching as I perform.
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Fire Monkeys:
website:Fire Monkey
The write-up for Fire Monkey is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Mark Edmondson:
The write-up for Mark Edmondson is not yet availible. Please check back soon.
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Peter Peter:
Peter Peter is a photographic artist based in Bloomington IL. Working exclusively in 35mm black&white film Peter's work shows a devotion to analog processing. Often featuring the local scene in his photography his most recent projects focus on portraiture. Peter will be doing a live exhibition and exhibiting his as well as the works of local artist and close associate Jeramy Armstrong at the 2009 Earth art and music festival.
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Keith Wilson:
website:Keith Wilson
Big O and Keith met a few years ago in the art world in Central Illinois. We have worked together throughout that time and recently combined our work in our live art. We have two totally different styles, but they blend well together. While working together it has made us better artists that come from two different backgrounds. Keith is from Peoria, IL while Big O is from Serbia. Quite a bit different, yet we are the same... Many pieces are from recycled objects, spray paint back drops, acrylic and oil combos. During our live art we fuse together as one, and we hope the world follows. Peace, love and art!!!
Keith & Big O
Katherine Elrick:
website:Katherine's Website
I'm a novice entrepreneur of the arts. My pieces range from landscape and portrait paintings, portrait sketches, and cartoons/caricatures, to plays, poems, novels and short stories. I've had more poems published than cartoons, but this spring I wrote and drew for the Indy newspaper, as well as for ISU's English online journal Euphemism. I am a Masters student at Illinois State University, where I major in Politics and Government.
I've always had to work with too many passions. I love philosophy, so it comes out in my writing. I love to travel, so it comes out in my art. The people I love and hate are both characterized in my novels and my sketches. When working with all of these tumultuous impulses, I find in the end I can't have one passion without another. But mostly, I love to see what other people think of what becomes a finished piece.
Chad Sanders:
website:atticstudio.blogspot.com
I attempt to paint the everyday in the hopes of telling small stories.My paintings are meant to stimulate thought through concrete objects, abstract shapes and brush strokes. I have not always pursued art as I am now. Previously I was a trained chef and cooked professionally for nearly 20 years. For personal reasons I've had to leave this passion behind and pick up a new with something that I have dabbled in since I was a kid. If you would like to see what I am up to you can go to my blog at atticstudio.blogspot.com
Thank you
Chad
Brilliant glass fire of a oven sun
casts a glow upon everyone.
Only the artisan at this time
knows what may spring forth on his climb
careful of design hard to shun.
Other artist's displays begun
in tune with rhyme and rap as one
guitar playing be as sublime
brilliant glass fire.
Pewter and lottery squares run
so vividly humble to none.
Admiring colors is no crime
bears to mind an antique brass chime.
Unforgettable is the fun
brilliant glass fire.
Poem copyrighted April 2009 by James Dunnington
Images by Chad Sanders
