The top five artists in each category were given awards in the 8th Annual Colorful Abstractions international online art exhibition. Below are the biographies and/or artist’s statements along with the artist’s websites or emails.
To contact these artists directly for purchase inquiries or to see more of their work, please visit the 8th Annual Colorful Abstractions Exhibition page for contact information.
Congratulations again to all the winners and thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Best in Show (Traditional) – Lisa Daniels – “BLACK DIAMOND POOL” – acrylic
An “Escape Artist” one who creates abstracts inspired by subjects of architecture and nature. My style of art varies between geometric shapes, forms and lines or can be free-flowing organic. My abstracts tend to be simplistic in format inspired by colors, textures and subject matter to stir the imagination and create their own vision in what it represents to each viewer. My work is in hotels, building lobbies, galleries, tv/film and more.
To learn more about Lisa and to see more of her work, please visit her website.
Best in Show (Photography & Digital) – Gareth Jones – “PALANDIR EYE” – photography
Photography and digital art are my artistic expressions – my imagination, vision, and inquisitive mind visual life are released. I explore all images – including abstracts or concepts created from my photographs or digital art.
I strive to balance life. I attempt to give people a breather from the stress of today’s world – and I simply have to create! I see the world with all its wonders, big and small and then I put my take on it, that’s what I do and my images are my gifts to the world. I simply love to create, imagine and capture what I see, what I think. I hope my images give the viewers some spark to their day – a thought, an aha! moment, the chance to enjoy the place my image takes them. My mind is full of images, they just have to come out and I love to share them.
My artworks are in private collections around the world and are sold on a number of web galleries, through my website or directly via my Facebook pages. I have won medals in various international competitions for both photography and digital artworks in both Canada and the United States. I am an International speaker at photography clubs in Canada and the UK on “The Challenge of Creativity” and “My journey as an artist”
Finally, I am currently pushing/combining my creative interests and creating short videos containing images put to a self-composed soundtrack.
To learn more about Gareth and to see more of his work, please visit his website.
Best in Show (3 Dimensional) – Terry J Anderson – “CHROMA ONE” – plexiglass
I’ve immersed myself into art and architecture for most of my life. Childhood memories include numerous visits to the Chicago Art Institute. Early college studies, in the Chicago area, included formal art instruction. Heading to the west coast as a young adult, my interests expanded to architecture and construction.
Now living in the desert I’m inspired by the light, colors and over all Environment. Constructed Deconstruction Series: As a restorer of vintage and architecturally significant homes for over two decades I have recently focused on the creation of “Constructed Deconstruction Series”. The Series involves the process of creating a three dimensional composition of fragments of former structures.
Block Composition Series: A staple of childhood toy chests for centuries, wood blocks are influential in a child’s early spatial and mathematical development. The block compositions are a reminder of childhood play time but also evoke adult themes.
Biomorphic Studies: My Studio space in the Coachella Valley establishes a geographic point of reference for inspiration. My Citrus Twist Biomorphic Studies are inspired by the prevalence of citrus trees in the desert’s suburban neighborhoods combined with the midcentury forms ever present in the built environment of Palm Springs and surrounding environments.
To learn more about Terry and to see more of his work, please visit his website.
2nd Place (Traditional) – Jim Bob Swafford – “HEARTBEAT” – oil on canvas
Jim Bob’s first art award was at graduation from high school where he was honored as the Art Student of the year. Other awards followed throughout Jim Bob’s career. Leanin’ Tree, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado has published many of Jim Bob’s artwork on their products. Jim Bob has been the featured artist in the “Western Horseman” magazine as well as featured on the cover of the “Rocky Mountain Rider” magazine. Invitational art shows include “Artist of the West” in Colorado Springs, Colorado and “Artist West of the Concho” in San Angelo, Texas. National exhibit includes “Top 100 exhibit Arts for the Parks” in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Jim Bob was the featured artist in Spring 2014 of “The Western Associates” Western Heritage Preserved in Fine Art, and his artwork was selected for the “Images of American” the Nations Calendar. Premier commissions include a painting of the three grandnieces to the Queen of Thailand, Rodeo stars, and a painting of the Westminster Dog Show national champion German shorthair. Celebrity clients owning Jim Bob’s art includes Doug Gresham the stepson of C.S. Lewis and producer of the Narnia films, Jeff Wolf artist, and the Buddy Holly family.
To learn more about Jim or to see more of his work, please visit his website.
2nd Place (Photography & Digital) – Stan Johnson – “THEY’RE GAINING ON YOU” – digital print on aluminum
Stan Johnson moved to Arizona in 1989 and co-founded Recent Developments, LLC with his partner Cheryl Hrudka. Recent Developments is a fine art photographic concern specializing in landscapes for corporate and hospital environments. The partners took a new direction shortly after 2007 and began to explore the virtually unlimited non-representational possibilities offered by a variety of digital software.
“Digital art’s nearest living relative is photography. Generations passed before photography was allowed in the “family” picture. Things are moving a good deal faster today. Digital art is facing a similar gauntlet, but the course will be far shorter.”
Stan Johnson is a structural expressionist. At first, the two concepts seem ill suited. This awkward synthesis creates the dynamic tension in His work. By alternating structure (expression) in the figure and expression (structure) in ground, the forces at play can be reconciled. This process can be reversed as well.
To learn more about Stan and to see more of his work, please visit his website.
2nd Place (3 Dimensional) – Karen Wallace – “FIREWORKS” – kiln-formed glass
Karen Wallace creates kiln-formed glass objects in brilliant hues and complex designs for people who love vibrant color and luscious lines. Whether it’s a modern-day take on the traditional murine construction of 16th century Murano, Italy, or carefully-engineered flowing and mingling, she enjoys creating special glass components and then designing vessels around them. Everything starts with sheets of colored glass. Techniques range from simply cutting the sheets and stacking them in geometric patterns to harnessing the liquid properties of glass to create rippling organic flows and patterned cane at molten temperatures. Once elements — sometimes hundreds of them — have been placed together and fused into a solid mass, Karen shapes the work with diamond-plated saws and lapidary tools and uses further heat work to bend it into soft forms.
To learn more about Karen and to see more of her work, please visit her website.
3rd Place (Traditional) – Linda McCord – “LOST TREASURES” – acrylic on canvas
Linda McCord lives in Washington state and works in her studio full time. She works in most of the two-dimensional mediums. She was a gallery owner for 10 years, and taught painting and printmaking at her local college. She has taken numerous international awards, and her art in the collection of museums, churches, hospitals, and colleges. She is a signature member of International Society of Acrylic Painters, Northwest Watercolor Society, Georgia Watercolor Society and California Watercolor Association. McCord’s series titled, In the 90’s won the Gold Award at the 2022 MiKiHASi, Memories an international exhibit that was featured in a film. She focuses on light and shadow, composition, and value change. McCord says, “I design my art around mathematical concepts rather than emotion.”
The Dreams of Nature series of abstract acrylics are intended to appear dreamlike and represent nature. Focus is on rhythm, texture, form, and pattern. Interpretation of dreams was popular even in Bible times, and some psychologists use dreams as an analytical theory today. The subtle pen and ink look in the negative space that repeats itself throughout the image is the focus of many of the pieces in this series. My art is an expression of an inner need to escape and find a place where I can go on a creative journey. Creating art is fun and sometimes frustrating but never, never boring. I love being an artist.
To learn more about Linda and to see more of her work, please visit her website.
3rd Place (Photography & Digital) – Chad Sain – “GOLDEN WAVES” – digital photography
“Taking the time to slowdown, to pause and to observe that which surrounds us fuels my creative process to make images that I feel are extraordinary. Having the ability to share them with others makes me happy.”
Chad Sain is a California photographer. Discovering a passion for photography after extensive careers in the military and then in business, his works highlight the extraordinary often overlooked within the “ordinary” that surrounds our daily life. For those that know him, that which makes him stop and grab his camera is often a mystery to them. What drives his creativity is making and sharing something special and unique. He has earned accolades for his active support to various non-profit organizations as well as earning recognition from State and Congressional Representatives. He has also earned numerous awards and has been showcased in various exhibitions. This series is a study using photographs to create colorful abstractions while limiting post-editing manipulations. It is his hope you will enjoy these images. To learn more about Chad and to see more of his work, please visit his website.
3rd Place (3 Dimensional) – Justin (Jet) Joyner – “FRAGILITY” – alabaster
Justin Joyner is an 18-year-old high school senior who attends the South Carolina Governor’s School for Arts and Humanities. While Justin enjoys drawing and painting, his greatest strength is in his sculptural pieces. From an early age, Justin had an interest in molding objects to create different forms. Growing up he would find different ways to merge objects to create sculptures using what he had around him (often cardboard and metal clothes hangers). After high school, Justin plans to attend an arts college and pursue a career in the fine arts.
To learn more about Justin and to see more of his work, he can be reached via his Email.
4th Place (Traditional) – Harrie Handler – “MOMENTS OF CLARITY” – acrylic
Harrie still resides in her birthplace of Tucson, Arizona. She began a teaching career after graduation, teaching high school photography for in the T.U.S.D during the day, and Art for personal development at night for Pima Community College.
After retirement, Harrie was contracted to lead two commercial interior design projects, and was able to concentrate on her painting which is now her preferred art form. While her original emphasis was oil painting, she currently paints mostly in acrylic.
In her abstract painting, she is inspired daily by the shapes and forms, textures, shadows and color seen in water, clouds, rust, peeling paint and ordinary objects. In her landscape paintings, she is inspired by her travels trying to create a respite from the chaos in our lives. She lures the viewer to enter into the landscape becoming part of it. Wanting the viewer to experience calmness with movement, peacefulness with spaciousness and tranquility with optimism.
She has had many solo shows and continues to win international awards for her paintings. Her favorite awards are a Lifetime Membership to Artworkarchive.com from the “International Society of Acrylic Painters 2020 All-Member Online Exhibition,” and First Place Abstract Online Exhibit March 2022, International art competition for www.lightspacetime.art. She recently exhibited at the Tucson Airport and has been featured in SAAG sketchbook, other Tucson magazines and in International Art Review magazines. No matter the form–painting, photography or interior design-Harrie’s creative abilities and attention to detail offers viewers truly beautiful art.
To learn more about Harrie and to see more of her work, please visit her website.
4th Place (Photography & Digital) – Marc Chicoine (Gato) – “DESERT MOON” – digital painting
Marc Chicoine (Gato) is an artist and freestyle dancer based in NYC. After attending Northwestern University in Chicago he moved to NYC for 4 years before pursuing an MFA at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He believes that embodiment and liveness are intrinsic elements of dance and visual art, and he strives to bring a sense of presence, authenticity, and connection to his work. He hopes he generates pieces that move people and inspire them to consider how they ~wiggle~ through their own lives.
To learn more about Marc and to see more of his work, please visit his website.
4th Place (3 Dimensional) – Jade Knox – “ENTANGLED” – clay and acrylic media
The subconscious mind is the closest one may come to an extra dimensional universe. A place where the past experience influences present action, where accumulated knowledge changes the context of memory, and where the future is imagined. Space and time are warped in this universe, and yet it is the foundation of our own subjective realities. I have found a relationship between color, form, and texture to my own internal cluster of memory, emotion, and imagination. Experimenting in these tangible projections has allowed me to begin to unravel my infinitely entangled identity and better understand my place in our ever expanding reality.
To learn more about Jade and to see more of her work, she can be reached via her Email.
5th Place (Traditional) – Jaren Dahlstrom – “BERKELEY RED SQUARE” – acrylic on Masonite
Biography: Jaren Dahlstrom was born in San Francisco, CA 1945. Having grown up near San Francisco, CA in 1945. At an early age I was fascinated by reflections, and how light plays on water. He has always been always drawing and painting from a young child. For the past 20 years he has returned to reflections as an inspiration. Using his computer to distort, and creates even more abstracted images as the basis for his paintings. Combining geometric shapes with the manipulated computer generated image he paints the resulting print in a style he calls “abstract reality”.
Artist Statement: Jaren Dahlstrom captures reflected light on water and other surfaces. The fleeting illusions, undulating constantly on a liquid world of enhanced color distorted by movement, creating abstract images of even the most mundane objects. These objects Captured in a moment in time are never to be repeated in the exact same way. A moment when light and water fuse to form an illusion of magic reality. Transitory and yet more intense than the real. This fusion of light creates intense colors, surprising contrasts and fantastic shapes contrasted with the geometric shapes you find in his painting in the current exhibition.
To learn more about Jaren and to see more of his work, please visit his website.
5th Place (Photography & Digital) – Ilona Abou-Zolof – “CORNERED” – digital painting
I am an image maker and a digital artist. Taking images gives me as much fun as processing them. Digital tools and painting help convert my photos and composites into digital art. Learning new ways of making my art different gives me pleasure; I evolve and move on so I do not get bored with my viewers or myself. I regularly publish in International Art Magazines and participate in numerous Art Exhibitions. It is incredible what we can produce in the digital age, and it’s fun.
To learn more about Ilona and to see more of her work, please visit her website.
5th Place (3 Dimensional) – Gerry O’Meara – “NOSTALGIA” – clay
Born in Tokyo, Japan, Gerry O’Meara has spent most of her life in Augusta, Georgia. She received her BFA from the University of Georgia with a concentration in textiles, but it was not until after her retirement from the practice of Medicine that she has been able to pursue her passion for creating fine art. Her current focus is on making aesthetically pleasing ceramics with functional integrity. Most of her pieces are wheel-thrown as she enjoys both the meditative component and the technical challenges of the process. Her work has been shown in several juried shows including the annual student shows at Augusta University (where she is a Lifelong Learner), Savannah Clay Community’s SIP show, and Woman – 2022 Exhibition via Exhibizone. In 2022, one of her pieces was chosen to be part of the Philip Morseberger permanent art collection at Augusta University. She was selected and participated as a vendor at the ArtsCity Festival/Art in the Heart of Augusta Festival in 2021 and 2022. Recently, she was invited to participate in “Toi et Moi” – a group exhibit. Additionally, she has been commissioned by several private individuals to make site-specific pieces for their homes.
To learn more about Gerry and to see more of her work, she can be reached via her Email.
