Christine Kornacki is a children’s book author/illustrator and book cover artist living in Shelton, CT. She creates vibrant oil paintings that invite you into her imaginative world.
She has worked for a wide variety of clients in the Kid Lit and Advertising industries. She received her BFA and MFA in Illustration from the Hartford Art School, West Hartford, CT and currently gives back to the community by teaching as an Adjunct Professor in their Illustration Department. With experience as a graphic designer, photographer, and educator, she uses this strong foundational background to bring her illustrations to life.
Her children’s books include The Sparkle Box, The First Christmas Night, and The Sparkle Egg,and the six book series for the American Girl doll characters Marie-Grace and Cecile.
Trained in a variety of fine arts media Jeni Gray-Roberts is an emerging artist working predominantly in kiln-formed glass.
Her glasswork evokes the movement of light, air and water. She is inspired by all things in nature but is especially fascinated by moving water. Her work is a reflection of the ebb and flow of the rivers and oceans she has experienced throughout her travels.
Jeni studied journalism at Moravian College and fine arts at Sam Houston State University. Her initial artistic career included radio, fashion and photography. Following that, Jeni spent 8 years at various New York City advertising agencies and a Manhattan art and events gallery. Through the Art Students League of New York City, she practiced silversmithing and then found fused glass. That is when she finally discovered her artistic purpose. Later she went on to study glass fusing and kiln work. She is a member of the Glass Art Society and her pieces can be found in private collections throughout the US.
Jeni moved from New York City in 2006 and lives and works in Deep River.
Pastel artist Carmen Zambrano was born in Peru and moved to the United States at the age of two. Carmen is now a native of Danbury, Connecticut and has been painting with pastels for the past twelve years. She uses pastels to illustrate and capture scenes from nature and the stories she reads. As a child, Carmen developed a deep appreciation for the beauty of the world around us and of the worlds created in stories. She received a BFA in Illustration from Western Connecticut State University and has been a part of the art community in Danbury from a very young age. She does a lot of painting commissions for private collections and donated paintings for Habitat for Humanity. She recently had a show that was well received at the Danbury City hall and won best in show for Illustration at the Fine Arts Show at the Danbury Fair Mall. Carmen is not only an illustrator but also a graphic designer. Her logo for the Danbury Public Schools can be seen throughout Danbury.
Andrew Laverty has shown in student shows at UMASS and Bridgewater State (Gallery 244, CVPA Campus Gallery, Anderson Gallery), Gallery X, tl6 Gallery, in New Bedford, MA and Imago Gallery in Warren, RI.
He received his undergraduate degree in graphic design from Bridgewater State.
For the last three semesters, Andrew has taught foundations courses at UMASS in structural drawing and 2d composition: printmaking.
Liam made his stage debut in the Broadway play A Doll’s House at the age of seven, and his film debut in Henry Fool (1997). His first major film role came when he starred in Stepmom (1998). Liam has since starred in numerous films and television show.s
The inspiration for this series comes from classical architecture and natural forms. It started with a question, could I make imitation feather patterns by folding a sheet of paper. I wanted the form to be modern but also reminiscent of the calculating precision of the natural world. The original inspiration is less obvious in this current examination of the process. As I followed the paper and listened to what it liked to do it showed me that it was capable of computing an impressive number of variations. It looks sturdy and it is surprisingly resistant to deformation, more so than a sheet of unfolded paper. The angles support themselves. It is inorganic in the same tradition as classical architecture, with it’s exacting angles, yet it harkens to natural forms such as sand dunes and mountain ranges. Mankind’s earliest inspirations for abstract artwork is nature which can be seen in the pyramids and the sacred geometries from the Middle East, Europe and Asia. This work is a continuation of that tradition of trying to answer that question which all artists ask, what is possible?
Jason Neely is a photographer from Middletown, Connecticut who shoots a wide range of subjects – from landscapes to street photography – with the natural world and travel two of his favorite subjects.
Neely teaches photography classes in Middletown and at the Arts Center Killingworth. His photographs have been shown throughout Connecticut, including juried shows in West Harford and Guilford. His work is part of private collections throughout the United States and in Great Britain and Ireland.
His photo of his dog, Sidney, leaping through his living room appeared in the August 2009 issue of National Geographic Magazine and was used by the rock band Weezer for the cover of their 2009 album, Raditude.
Don Dressler is an artist, inventor and entrepreneur living in Old Lyme and Glastonbury, Connecticut. Don has been active in industrial graphics and art materials for most of his life. Don holds 15 U.S. patents on inventions relating to the above fields of interest and continues to work on advancements in the areas of Art and Photography.
Jan Prentice’s avian artwork invites viewers to reconnect with nature. Her personal connection with birds began about ten years ago when she began to notice their presence on early morning walks. How was it possible that they’d always been there but she had never noticed? Her initial curiosity resulted in a full-time preoccupation. When she is not painting birds, she is outside looking for them, observing them or learning more about them.
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Jan earned a bachelor’s degree in economics followed by an MBA in Finance. During her early career she worked at Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates in Philadelphia, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, DC and AT&T in New Haven. Her art education began in earnest in 1990 and she studied at Paier College of Art, the Lyme Academy of Fine Art and the New York Botanical Garden. She eventually co-founded the Natural Science Illustration Program at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, CT in 2010 where she continues to teach nature-themed art.
Jan’s paintings are held in private and public collections throughout the United States. Her work has been shown in the internationally recognized “Birds in Art” exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum; Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT; New York State Museum; University of Colorado, Museum of Natural History; PaintAmerica Top 100, Mulvane Museum of Art, Topeka, KS; the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT as well as many other national and regional venues. She is an elected artist member at the New Haven Paint and Clay Club, Madison Art Society, and associate member of the Lyme Art Association.
Jan and her husband reside near Long Island Sound in Branford, CT, the source of much of her inspiration.
