Artists: R
George Radwan
AboutGeorge Radwan received a BFA in Advertising Design from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. After working on Madison Avenue as an art director for many years, George changed careers and is now working as a project manager at Lanserring Inc., in Soho, New York, a bespoke kitchen, dressing room, wine room and millwork manufacturer. George has exhibited at the Art Place Gallery in Fairfield, CT, Gordon Fine Arts Gallery in Westport, CT and in the member exhibit at the Edward Hopper House Museum in Nyack, NY. He is also a member of the Westport Artists Collective, Rowayton Arts Center, Carriage Barn Arts Center and the Ridgefield Guild of Artists.
Artist Statement
George Radwan is a mixed media artist who works in mediums including cement, plaster, sand, rusty metal, weathered wood, and found objects. In George’s work, the material is the hero. He works to promote the truth of materials, achieved by leaving them in their raw, unfinished expression. Concrete with fissures, interstices and imperfections leave evidence of the construction process. By letting the materials in his pieces speak, one becomes aware of the material as much – sometimes more – than in what has been created. Inclusion of found materials introduces an unexpected, and often surprising, whimsy.
Kerstin Warner Rao
About
Kerstin Rao holds a Fine Art degree from Vassar College, with some graduate work at the School of Visual Arts and in Florence, Italy. She has spoken about creativity in Denmark, in a TEDx talk, and as a chapter leader with the Imagination Foundation. Kerstin trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade and Second City and now performs improv comedy with her team, Fairfield of Dreams. After a 34 year teaching career, Kerstin currently devotes her time to growing her art-based business, Vivid Cottage, here in Westport. ( https://www.vividcottage.com/ )
Artist Statement
Curiosity leads me to unexpected delights with each piece I create, whether it’s a striking bouquet from the Westport Farmers Market in ink and colored pencil, leading a giant rubber duck parade with my students, or constructing a 7-foot-tall, wearable Ruth Bader Ginsburg figure for a protest march. My art speaks to the exuberance of life, a vibrant appreciation of our world, and, when I’m really lucky, sparks the creative spirit in someone else.
Photo credits: Kerstin with RBG by Jerri Graham, Kerstin with rubber duck by Pamela Einarsen.
Nancy Reinker
About
Nancy Reinker has attended Kent State University (The School of Fine Art) and The Cleveland Institute of Art. She is also a student of the Silvermine School of Art in New Canaan, CT. Reinker has affiliations with Art Place Gallery (Southport, CT), New Haven Paint and Clay (New Haven, CT), and The National Association of Women Artists. Her work can be found in the permanent collections at the Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, CT, Greens Farm Academy in Fairfield, CT, and and the New Haven Paint and Clay Club in New Haven, CT. More information and work can be found on her website: www.nancyreinker.com
Artist Statement
In my paintings and drawings, I investigate the nuances of nature, human and otherwise. By "fracturing" the surface of shapes and ideas about shapes, the simple becomes complex, the complex becomes understandable. To achieve this, I use the drawn or painted line and compartments of color on various surfaces. The resulting images are an intense focus on an intimate optical experience. It is a visual excursion beneath, between, among and around the surface of all living forms, human and otherwise. The work is a journey that appreciates the glory of all creation.
Acrylic on canvas 52 x 34 inches
Acrylic on canvas 21 x 22 inches
Acrylic on canvas 60 x 48 inches
Acrylic on canvas 60 x 40 inches SOLD
Ink on polystyrene
Ink on canvas 20 x 16 inches
Barbara Ringer
About
Born and raised in the South Bronx, Barbara Ringer lived in Switzerland and Germany before settling down in Ridgefield, Connecticut. After attending NYU film school, she worked extensively in television production here and in Europe. Transitioning from the black and white darkroom to color digital photography, she started customizing frames in burnt wood and metal. Her artwork has been in numerous exhibitions in NY and CT, and she is proud to have been one of the eight selected artists in the 2016 SOLOS exhibition at Westport Arts Center. Website: www.barbararinger.com
Artist Statement
The childhood memories that are captured in the happy photos of family albums are not usually the moments that impact who we become as adults... our quirks and issues often can be traced to some childhood trauma or just a shady memory. Using dolls as surrogates and toys from the past I set up scenarios that evoke the fears, anxieties, and nightmares that are often part of early childhood experience. I like to think my images bridge darkness and playfulness. These somewhat sinister narratives are extended into the custom frames I construct with wood, metal, and decoupage.
Dorothy Robertshaw
About
As both an artist and interior designer, I feel that art is a center jewel of a room. Sometimes my design workflows from a signature piece of art, sometimes it becomes the perfect completion to an allover ode to color , content and form. As a multi media artist creator; I do art for the love of it. It feeds my soul just like music.
Katherine Ross
About
Katherine has been teaching art to adults and children for 25 years, privately and publicly, including the Katona Museum of Art and Westport Art Center, the Side By Side School in Norwalk and the Bridge Academy in Bridgeport. She specializes in portfolio development for college-bound high school students.
She is a member of the Arts Advisory Committee of Westport, served on Westport Cultural Arts Committee, co-chaired and served as town representative of the Art Smarts Program in the public schools. and is a member of The Westport Art Center, WAC Collective, Rowayton Art Center, and Center for Contemporary Printmaking.
Artist Statement
There is beauty right in front of us!
Acrylic, 12 x 12
Watercolor, 44 x 32.5
Acrylic, 12 x 12
Oil on canvas 21 x 37 inches NFS
Monotype, chine colle 16 x 20 inches $600
Watercolor 13 x 16 inches NFS