Circle Foundation for the arts – Circle Foundation for the Arts

Witold Śliwiński

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Polish sculptor Witold Śliwiński, began his career as an artist with drawing and graphics as well as designing company logos, arrangements and visual displays. Śliwiński continued with the design and the production of artistic and applied works in leather. Since 1996 he has been working with glass, creating works which bear the characteristics of both applied and unique forms.

"Glass is a strange substance. It is a very demanding material which requires the artist’s complete focus, coupled with an extensive knowledge and high level of expertise," he describes.

Śliwiński is a member of the Polish Union of Painters and Sculptors (Polish Applied Art) in Warsaw.

The results of his Śliwiński's practice are the culmination of his wealth of experience, creative maturity, and the passion for experimentation, combined with courage and risk-taking, to bring about new and innovative creations. That is because glass, irrespective of the way it is manufactured and processed, will always remain the "sui generis," or a "magic material."'

Selected Individual Exhibits

2020 - Rzeszow, Artistic Exhibitions Agency - “Art Glass”

2019 - Königswinter, Germany, Continuum Gallery – “GLASS & MECHANICS”

2018 - Lodz, Galery Re:Medium – “LUMINATIONS”

2018 - USA, ILLINOIS - Lakeside Arts Park At The Dole – “GLASS SCULPTURE FROM POLAND”

2017 - Cracow, Lipowa 3 Gallery, Glass and Ceramics Centre – “COMPILATIONS”

2017 - Addison (Chicago), Addison Center for the Arts – “COMPILATIONS II”

2015 - Versus Gallery exhibition, Wrocław ‒ at the European Festival of Glass – “SEX MACHINE”

Selected Collective Exhibits

2019 - England, South West Academy - Exeter Castle

2019 - Netherlands, Baarn – FINE Art & Antiques Fair in the castle Kasteel Groeneveld

2018 - Italy, Roma - 28 Piazza di Pietra - Fine Art Gallery - Final exhibition of "Malamegi Lab 10" competition.

2018 - Holandia, Epe - Galerie de Aventurijn – „WINTER at the 15th. Anniversary”

2018 - United States – OHIO, Columbus, “Downtown Art Sunday” – Hawk Galleries

Catherine Guinot

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French-Canadian Artist, Catherine Guinot currently lives and works in Paris, France. She studied Interior Architecture and Textile Design, and describes "an atypical path marked by pictorial and digital experiments. I work in many mutually-enriching fields, ranging from design, textile, graphics, 3D and 3D printing to painting, drawing, etc., moving from one to the other in a fluid, natural way."

Guinot's work has been exhibited internationally and she is represented by several galleries.

"I discovered felt-tip pens when I was two years old: a revelation! They have never left me since. Since then, my toolbox has expanded considerably. Pictorial practice gradually became an essential part of my life; more than a means of expression, it’s almost a necessity!

Everything interests and inspires me: sensations, emotions, conversations, memories, dreams, press articles, a word, a book, a photo, a poster, an exhibition, a conference, a trip, a nature getaway, a multitude of subjects... Of course, in this WHOLE, there is a direction; my senses, my mind, my soul are wired to capture what especially moves me, with a predilection for nature and its beauty. If we only pay attention, beauty and harmony are all around us, sometimes well hidden and yet...

Colour is my golden thread, my main tool. Imagination and fantasy are part of the process. Then comes expression, experimentation, exploration... My quest."

Guinot holds a Master’s in Textile Design from ENSAD, Fine Arts school in Paris - Ecole Nationale Supérieur des Arts Décoratifs and a Bachelor of Interior Architecture from ENSAAMA, Fine Arts school in Paris - Ecole Nationale des Arts Appliqués et Métiers d'Art, Olivier de Serres.

Carolyn Adams

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American artist, Carolyn Adams graduated from the Southeastern Louisiana University and then began a career in advertising but also worked in other fields. She finally decided to fully dedicate her time and energy to fine art, consequently moving to Europe where she lived and painted for 20 years. Exposure to European culture "has had a tremendous influence on my life and work as an artist."

While living in Europe, Carolyn Adams had several solo exhibits and participated in a number of group shows. Upon returning to the United States she was unable to financially survive as an artist which led her to return to work and only paint when she had the time and inspiration.

In her own words: "Upon retiring, I once again fully devoted myself to art. There has been a long period of time between past exhibitions and my present achievements. However, I feel my artwork now reflects my growth as an artist as I continue my career.

I feel that my age should not be a deterrent. I'm strong and healthy and I paint every day. I usually work on a series of 10 paintings at a time. First building up each painting, and then completing them with a glazing process (10 to 20 layers) I've developed over the years I apply this process to both my oil and acrylic paintings. Recently I have been working more in acrylics and exploring this medium's possibilities.

As an artist, I strive to find a statement of harmony and awareness. I am always searching for integrity in my art as I seek a balance between craftsmanship and spirituality."

Stefanie Schairer

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"I am an artist who lives and works in Berlin, Germany. My background is art therapy (MA) and social work. I have participated in national and international exhibitions, primarily in Germany and the United States during the last 14 years. I frequently collaborate with other artists on projects. These projects include "Please continue" (painting) with David Hage (USA) and Tuomo Heikkinen (Finland) and 2011 with Michael Adams (Zürich) "The barrel" adapted to the work of Caspar David Friedrich. From 2012 to 2013 JJ&SS – collaboration with Jana Jacob (Berlin). From 2015 to now collaboration with Sarah Valerie, NYC. For ten years I have been developing installations/happenings/interactions in public space.”

Publications and Awards

2018, Something in between, https://www.naturestudies.net/single-post/2018/08/01/Something-Inbetween

2016, WALK WITH THE ARTIST, catalogue

2015, Catalogue, NEUE SINNLICHKEIT“, Magdeburg

2014, WETTBÜRO#3, performance, http://wettbuero.tumblr.com

2013, “BLIND DATE”, http://www.artandtours.com/walk-with-stefanie-schairer/,

2012, LIMITED sketchbook project, NYC – The Arthouse Project,

2011, artist of the month June for interaction in public space, berlinerpool. Berlin

Galleries

collaboration with gallery104, NYC

https://gallery104.com/search?q=Stefanie+Schairer

LIFE, Seoul, South Korea

http://www.gallerylife.co.kr/artists26.html

Select Shows

2019 - Artspring, Berlin, open studio

2018 - Kap-HOORN ART for Contemporary Art, group show, Bremen, Germany

2017 - “Something in between” show with Jung In Kim, gallery LIFE, Seoul

2016 - “It is a long trip – you will have to be patient!”, project and show with Sarah Valeri (NYC) in NYC and Berlin

2015 - NEUE SINNLICHKEIT Festival in a former prison, “There is more than one”, interactive installation, group show, Magdeburg, Germany

“It is a long trip – you will have to be patient!”, project with Sarah Valerie, NYC, show in Berlin

2014 - “Open HOUSE”, Group show in NYC

Antoine Dutilh

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"I’m a French-born, British raised artist, currently residing in Moscow. I tend to focus on hyperrealism with my work, attempting to break the wall between traditional painting and digital, merging mediums to form a new, modern, twist on classic portraiture and landscapes. Transitioning to digital gave me new challenges to overcome, and opportunities to find new inspiration in the work that I produce, without being limited by my medium. I’ve adopted the look of paints in respects to the traditional fine art medium, to form a unique relationship between old and new."

Angie Shanahan

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Angie Shanahan is a visual artist working in a narrative style. As a young graduate from Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, she won a Taylor Bequest Award for Painting, a Vision Award adjudicated by Dr. James White the former Director of the National Gallery, Ireland. In 2011 Ciall11 awarded Shanahan a Painting award for "Sense of Place." Angie is also a recipient of many Council Awards. She is a director and a studio member at Backwater Artists Group, Cork as well as retains memberships in Member Cork Printmakers, Visual Artists Ireland & NIVAL, National College of Art and Design: Sub-editor, Cork Cook Book Project.

Angie has been inspired by some of Ireland's top writers such as poet WB Yeats and has collaborated with poets, Derek Mahon and William Wall. She is largely influenced by artist, writer and cartographer Tim Robinson.

Gerard Huber

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Gerard Huber was born October 2, 1949, in Waterloo, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Painting and Printmaking, 1971. Following completion of undergraduate studies, Huber studied Figure Drawing and Contemporary Theology at the University of Notre Dame, 1971, and participated in the Blossom-Kent Art Program at Kent State University, 1973. Huber earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from Cranbrook Academy of Art, 1975, studying with George Ortman.

In 1994 Huber received a Mid-America Arts Alliance/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Painting. He has been a Resident Fellow at The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont (2008); twice at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Lynchburg, Virginia (1987, 1988); and once at the Cummington Community of Art, Cummington, Massachusetts (1988). Huber has been a Visiting Artist/Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy, 2013 and 2015.

Huber’s airbrushed acrylic paintings have been exhibited in more than 60 exhibitions including the Joslyn Museum of Art, Omaha, Nebraska; the Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY; Parsons School of Design, New York, NY; Salmagundi Club, New York, NY; the Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas; and many others. His paintings are represented by the Lizardi/Harp Gallery in Los Angeles, California.

Huber is a tenured professor in the Department of Art at Texas A&M University-Commerce, Commerce, Texas (formerly East Texas State University).

His studio is located at 3500 Oak Lawn Avenue, #275 Dallas, Texas 75219

www.gerardhuber.com

gerardhuber33@gmail.com

(214) 528-5167

“Gorgeously painted voluptuous male figures are the protagonists in Gerard Huber's mesmerizing compositions. Perfectly rendered in a classical style the works bring Grecian ideals of beauty into a contemporary context.

In "Reflection I" Huber's own David is depicted among a variety of symbolic motifs cunningly placed to make it impossible for the viewer to evade the narrative.

Often literally in conversation with ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, the nude characters display a tenderness that comes in contrast with taboo expectations and stereotypic assumptions surrounding what it means to be a strong man. The brawny figures with every muscle and vain painted in exhaustive detail come to contrast with their gentle gestures and tranquil poses. These complex characters manage to exude power from their vulnerability as they seem comfortable and resolved with the combination of strength, power, softness, and emotionality they simultaneously represent.

What is significant in Huber's work is not his extraordinary capacity for realism but more importantly his ability to think and create in a post-modern context where the pieces become mesmerizing for the multiplicity and complexity of the content they evoke whether that is a conversation on art itself, on sexuality or the strong man etiquette.”

- Circle Foundation for the Arts, Director

Despina Kyriacou

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British Photographer, Despina Kyriacou studied Fine Art and specialized in Photography during the final year of her degree course (1982-85).

"I used photography as a means of expression and have been preoccupied with it ever since."

In 1986, Kyriacou was commissioned to photograph the North East Yorkshire coast, followed by an exhibition at the Impressions Gallery of Photography. In 1988 she participated at a group show at South London Art Gallery and in 1994 at St.Thomas's Hospital, London. The following year she showed at South Bank Centre. In 2003 she had a solo show at Riversidestudios and the same year she presented work at Battersea Arts Fair. In 2014, Kyriacou participated at Brick Lane Art Fair and showed in a group exhibit at The Mall Galleries, London. In 2015 she participated at Art Now: The Artists Fair London. In 2016 and 2017 she showed again at the Artist Fair and Brick Lane Gallery.

Francesca O’Malley

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"Growing up in New York was a real benefit. I attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School as a child, and also studied piano into my twenties. I attended Pratt Institute and ultimately earned a Master's degree in painting. After my graduate studies were complete, I found myself in the publishing world, which was friendly to women. I designed books and finally earned my current title Art/Design Director. I am grateful for this experience and exposure to technological tools, and software, which now help me in making art. My marriage to a scientist has been the source of many interesting conversations concerning the nature of reality, the multiverse, and so on. These discussions help to inform my current work in which I explore space and dimension, light, symbol, and the human figure, often placing these things in contradiction to each other. I tend to work in series and often use images appropriated from NASA or satellite maps reconstituted as backgrounds—sometimes chosen for their beauty, or just as random geographic locations. We can be virtually anywhere thanks to technology. Graphic or typographic glyphs are also incorporated at times, adding another layer of interest and meaning."

JIYOUNG KIM

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What themes does your work involve?

I compared the completeness of the day and the period to a puzzle using formative elements. I expressed the psychological comfort and relief that I feel on my way home from my busy life and abstract and structured formative constructs. I tried to make a completed structure as one piece of peace was compared to my ‘day’ and my shape was matched like a puzzle and this gathered. Different shapes and sizes showed that each day is always different and new. After the primary tapestry work, the tapestry of the architectural structure was completed by adding 3 dimensional and linear elements using the off-loom coiling technique. It showed design and structural forms by giving different heights and three-dimensionality of all the different color planes due to the volume and texture of the thread.

Describe your creative process.

In 'Piece Together,' we produced a result that can go beyond a flat work through basic molding elements such as lines and faces to three dimensions. By substituting various colors and expressing the contrast between colors, we created an idea sketch to show the color and a texture sample to show the three-dimensional effect, and specifically composed the details of the work. The motif of the night view taken on the way home is expressed in various colors and abstract forms. In order to record these moments as a work, abstract work was performed using geometric shapes after photographing. I think that the planning and sampling I made before entering the work are also important processes, and it is the beginning of the work from this moment.

What influences your work? What inspires you? Why do you make art?

It’s hard to deny that the difficult part of making artwork is to aim at an in-depth approach and analyze ‘The relationship between Textile’s Formativeness and Intention of the Expression’ based on research and experiment of multilateral material rather than focusing only on technique. Analyzing the ‘Diverse possibility of material expression’ and ‘What can be the most efficient way to express intended meaning in pieces’ in terms of diverse perspectives is becoming the new paradigm. It’s never easy to make artwork, but if the plans for my art progress following my own extent, it is relatively convenient to make the outgrowth. And I think the ultimate output when I finish my artwork is feeling the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction particularly based on ‘Agony' and 'Attempt'.

What is good art? What makes a piece of art great?

Recently, the tendency of art is mixed genres and ambiguous division. Following ‘Post-modernism’, the current art field is denying standardized and rigid structure, and trying to reach new styles different from the old paradigm. Moreover, attempts to ‘Decategorization’ and ‘Getting out from the textural interpretation of scriptures’ are increasing, which leads to experimental attempts with a variety of materials in different perspectives. This shows that ‘Fusion Art’ is the rising star in the modern society of art.

I think that it is important to become the opportunity for new possibilities of beauty and the soul of plastic experimentalists regardless of particularly structured genres. Therefore, these attempts ultimately led us to step up for the field of ‘Total Art’ and then 'Good Art'.

What is the role of the artist today?

I would like to be an artist who communicates my thoughts and beliefs with the world through my own artistic sense. I strongly believe that the most prestigious factor to appeal one’s own pieces are to attach new media and methods that change the paradigm of fixed thoughts and expression in art. For example, understanding customary acts or connotative meaning in culture would be ‘new’ to those who are not from this own country nor living on this earth. Because for those who are not used to that particular atmosphere or hard to understand that particular context, the approach to understanding this particular theme would be interpreted as ‘New attempt’ or ‘Challenge’, which would lead to higher engagement in art pieces.

Witold Śliwiński

Catherine Guinot

Carolyn Adams

"For years I have studied and experimented with the Imprimatura technique of the Old Masters. As an artist, I am concerned with the concepts of space and its relationship to the extremities of chiaroscuro and color intensity. I use this technique to achieve the desired results in my artwork."

Stefanie Schairer

"My proving ground I do find in painting, installation and performance/interaction in public space.
In my work, I am exploring and playing with different types of paint, colors, forms patterns and materials. My inspiration to play comes from observing human interactions and behaviors."

Antoine Dutilh

"My work is evolving towards creating scenes that subtly exaggerate reality. Patience is really important to me in art, it clearly shows when someone puts thought and time into a piece; Jeremy Geddes is the perfect example of this, I really admire his work."

Angie Shanahan

"Inspiration: Landscape with traces of human culture/history, finding plain common objects and seeing an aesthetic in them. That particular water-defined place between land and sea, the coast and islands. Often water acts as a unifying theme in my work; ideas of displacement and metamorphosis."

Gerard Huber

"My strategy is to employ beauty as a subversive instrument of seduction, a peacefully sensual way of drawing the viewer into a space that challenges heteronormative assumptions of male competition, and which demonstrates that same-sex relationships are wholesome, healthy and life-affirming."

Despina Kyriacou

Francesca O’Malley

"The ethos of our times is bound up with technology which affects us on a daily basis. The reach of technology, our connection to other realities through screens and the internet effects our perceptions. Advances in tech and science make this moment unlike any other time in history."