While struggling through a complex divorce in 2006, I asked an Attorney what I should do to make sure my kids were always in my life. His answer? Be a “visible parent”. Cringing at the thought of turning my presence in my kids lives into theater, I searched for an honest way to make my involvement in my kids lives as “visible” as possible. Thus began my career as an Artist in the medium of lunch bag and Sharpie. Three years later, I have 50/50 custody of my sons and drawing a cartoon on my school-age son's lunch bag each day has become a ritual!

So why show these lunch bags at Artomatic? It's fun! Plus, I want to bring attention to the fact that Maryland is one of a small number of states in which there is still no presumption of joint custody. So until there is an order from a Court that says otherwise, either parent can simply take the children and leave the state. There are reasons for the law to be like this, but there appears to be very little oversight to prevent abuse. If you're interested, please visit my website for more information.

Paige Friedeman is a multi-medium studio artist. Following her passion to create, she has made sculptures, paintings, drawings, prints and many other art pieces. A graduate from the University of Maryland's Studio Art Program, she continues to follow her innate calling to create. Paige not only creates works in the 2-Dimensional realm, but has been involved in the dance world as well, choreographing and teaching children for over 6 years.

Paige feels her "Kokeshi Series" for this event is a reflection of my creative journey through the past few years and a playful expression of my joy of collecting these dolls over the years.

The kokeshi doll is a traditional folk art form of Japan, dating back to approximately 1830. Originally made by craftsmen during the winter months for sale to tourists, they have come to symbolize Japan to people around the world. Traditional kokeshi dolls have distinctive characteristics connecting them to their specific region of origin. All traditional dolls will be made of wood with a slender body, roundish head, handpainted features and no arms or legs.

Whether emotional, spiritual, or cultural, these works are meant to reflect who I was, who I think I am, and who I will continue to strive to be.

Please enjoy.

Wajid Hussain is a 3-D Poet & Writer. Coming from an engineering background he brings a unique perspective to being a Northern Poet and poetic expression. In his latest exhibition, Wajid explores the power of communication. Having performed his poetry in the North-East he is looking forward to sharing both his art and spoken word with an American audience.

most of my art comes from memory/dream.. specific feeling of a place & time - muddled but true

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My work is an exploration of familiar things. I am fascinated with life that goes unnoticed around us. My camera takes me down the path to another dimension that allows me to uncover beauty and harmony in both nature and man-made objects. This process also engages me in discovering light, reflections, angles and space. I am looking to draw the viewers into the photograph and let them explore.
Sometimes when I want to say more than my camera and even Photoshop allow me I turn to painting.

I'm not interested in what passes for reality. I feel that what I do depicts the reality that's behind the reality we experience. On a good day I feel like I've tapped into the reality that's behind that one.

It's hard for me to describe exactly what I do and why I do it - even to myself. So, I just do it. My goal is to make something that I would like to have on my wall. I always start out with an idea of what I'm going to do but pieces rarely end up there. They take on lives of their own and I work with them until they're "right". Sometimes this process is easy and sometimes it's not. But it's always spiritual and part of me always ends up in each piece I create. And if you really like something I've done it's because the part of me that ended up in that piece has touched that same part in you.

I grew up in Detroit, MI and always spent time drawing. After graduating from Howard University I took some painting classes from the Catholic Un. Adult Ed. Program. Around 1998 I returned to my first love, creating art. I have been taking pastel painting classes and workshops at the Art League, where I'm an Artist Member. I also belong to VECCA in Woodstock, VA.

I love painting in pastels because they allows me to directly apply color to the canvas. The mixing and blending of colors is always fun and a challenge. I enjoy the process of using pastels to create and interpret an image as I see it into a painting.

I fully believe that artists need to demonstrate technical expertise in their field. Abstract non-objective works lose meaning when the artist does not control the result.

Born in the beautiful North East of England, not five miles distant from Washington Old Hall, I studied and practiced chemistry before discovering creative glass. I gained a Masters in glass and have developed a creative practice at National Glass Centre in the UK. Inspired by an impulse to discover new ways of working I aim to translate captivating concepts into compelling physical forms that engage clients with fusions of visual and material languages.

My exhibits at Artomatic show sculptural kiln glass that blurs the boundaries of conceptual art, contemporary craft and design. This collection is handmade by fusing and slumping Pasteur pipettes. Pasteur pipettes are named after Louis Pasteur the father of microbiology. They are ‘tools of biotechnology’ that charge the exhibits with a symbolic and historic meaning. Exhibited forms highlight the fragility and complexity of life and hint at a narrative that explores the evolving realm of genetic engineering through tension and balance.

My work is exhibited internationally and was short listed for the Bombay Sapphire Prize and British Glass Biennale in 2008,

Biography

I have been involved in sculpture for the past fifteen years. Specializing in glass for the past ten years and graduated from the University for Sunderland in 2001 with a bachelors of Art degree in Glass, then went on to working in the glass department at the university of Sunderland were I still work part time.
I also works for the national glass centre in Sunderland designing and making as part of the hot glass teem.
I completed a Masters of Art degree in glass in 2006 at the University of Sunderland.

My interests are in sculpture and my aims are creating glass and mixed media sculpture that sits comfortably in a natural environment. Influences mainly arrive from observations of the natural environment, seeds, plants and how there grow and evolve and exists in the environment.

My own studio is in the national glass centre were he works building his glass sculpture using many different techniques, such as hot glass, kiln glass and cold glass.

An amateur photographer.

The aim of my painting is to explore the relationship between art and mathematics, primarily geometry. My method is unique in that I apply paint with objects, car parts, tires, blocks of wood, records, etc., rather then brushes. Early on I combined this method of application with Jackson Pollock’s pouring method to create colorful textured paintings. In the last few years I have drifted away from the Pollock influence and towards geometric forms in minimal compositions.

I have recently began creating compositions around one central object such as a fork or spoon. Some of my latest paintings in this series, that I call everyday things, are in this show.

Go to my Home page to see some of my other paintings.