With paint and brush, I have been chasing beauty for over 60 years. My interest in kimonos and my love of flowers have developed into my ongoing series, "In a Japanese Garden." And my pursuit of Beauty continues.

I love to paint. I love the color and response of the paint on the surface of whatever paper, canvas, or board that I am painting on. I think watercolor sings on paper and you can't beat the colors in acrylics. In this painting, "Tango", my love for dance comes through.

Every painting that I complete is a result of my wrestling with the question: how do my origins — the people and places and events of my past — affect my life today, and can I come to some sort of peace with them? The answers to my questions have been slow in revealing themselves to me, and I know that they may never do so. The glazing process that I use for the majority of my paintings is similar to the emotional process that I have experienced. Glazing involves the patient, time-consuming application of layer after thin layer of paint, letting each wash dry before adding the next. No colors are mixed on the palette — instead, they are applied to the paper in their pure form. Subsequent washes of paint will determine the resulting color. Painting in this manner requires much planning, patience, and forethought as each piece goes through many awkward, even ugly stages before revealing the finished product. As I work, I impatiently endure nursing my works through these stages so I can see the end result that I envisioned as I planned the piece. My paintings are really about emotional growth and overcoming obstacles from the past. They express my acceptance of the duality of life: positive coming from negative, beauty from ugliness.

My work is a reflection of my life experiences, it is my voice, my vision and my deepest feelings. It is always evolving.

For many years I worked in the environmental field but I became depressed and disillusioned with what I saw happening around me. Since 2009 I’ve had the incredible privilege of being able to live and work as an artist in China, and have traveled extensively throughout Asia. My practice has allowed me to explore who I am in the world and learn about other cultures through exposure to their art. I’ve been able to keep the incredible people I’ve met, places I’ve been, and experiences I’ve had alive in my visual creations. For me art is life and life is art - there is no separation.

I am an object maker and Nebraskan, transplanted to Kansas. I have a Master of Fine Arts in Metalsmithing from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a Bachelors of Arts in Studio Art from Hastings College. I am a Pokémon trainer, Destiny Warlock, and a Ravenclaw house member. I am married to a science teacher, parent of two cats and several house plants. I am also an asthmatic with allergies. A dyslexic perfectionist. Living with depression and anxiety. A coffee and tea drinker. From a small village. A walking cat encyclopedia. The daughter of a mechanic and medical laboratory technician. The granddaughter of farmers, teachers, machinists, and bookkeepers. A proud sister of a female Navy veteran. A disappointed American. And I am quite short.

In Remembrance 

deceased 2014

A PAINTER’S WORK IS HIS DIARY…JOURNEY. As a water media artist, my life experiences become filtered in my eye, mind, and heart. They are then transformed into my paintings… of joy and passion and adventure and reflection… I want the viewer to crawl into my work and walk through each step of motion or intensity or serenity.

My artwork is about empathy—for ourselves, our stories, and for the planet. When we spend time with artwork that moves us we experience our shared humanity and feel our connection to the natural world.

I am a mixed media collage artist and acrylic painter, having been in SLMM for a long time. My focus is on experimental and bringing old treasures to a new life in art, such as U.S cancelled postage stamps, old maps, music scores, wine labels and much more. These add an extra dimension to my art and bring an added interest from the viewer.

I work with oils, acrylics, photographs, and related media to create abstract works that  reflect complex, multi-themed visualizations. My goal is to draw the viewer into the piece, creating a conversation between the artist and the viewer.

Barbara begins each new work while in a mediation. In a space between control and mystery. The creative process is a way into something beyond the tangible and then making into a visual invitation.

I see in the Universe a mystical world of flowing energies. It is the essence of this spiritual energy and its beautiful vibrant colors that inspire my paintings.

In Memory 

deceased 2017

I am a local artist born and raised in Great Bend KS. I joined SLMM recently and have thoroughly enjoyed the network of artists and the encouragement from this amazing group of creative individuals.

I have been working with mixed media—collage and have been a SLMM member since the early 1980s.

As a long time art educator I have traveled through many mediums. I fall in love with each one. These art forms are my expression of experiences. I have a burning desire to learn new techniques, use new materials. I can easily fall into the comfort of the familiar and favorite colors and creations. I love realism as well as abstract.

I live in the desert. I steal its topographic and geologic colors and shapes. It is Earth thinly-clothed in sparse vegetation with her landforms exposed under vast expanses of sky. Colors and shapes are sensual and subtle, shifting with the changing light. On large and small scales, her topography is dramatic and artful.

My work is construction: I build art. Anything goes that contributes to composition, texture and tonality that make the final form. Whether they be paint, ink, paper, concrete, sand, rock, earth or fabric then whatever works, Works!

I love combining images from quantum physics to tribal art, from natural forms to crop circles.

I think art making is a dialogue between me and the work. I put something down, it tells me where to go next. I try to listen.

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Creating drives my life. Whether it was within my long teaching career with 4th graders at a progressive school, or during the past 20 years of my business, Duncan Designs, I've enjoyed inventing new art forms in different mediums. Nature provides infinite inspiration for me, and it pushes me with my wet felting, in paintings, and with encaustic work.

Light Signatures—Painterly Macro Photography Dye Infused into Aluminum. Capturing the energy of creation in action.

I am an experimental artist and work with paper, fabric and found objects. My media is mixed media, collage and fluid acrylics. Nature is often a theme in my work. My goal is create a feeling of peace and tranquility and belief in a higher being.

With my work, I gather inspiration from books, dreams, or unexpected emotions. My motivation is not only getting in touch with my feelings, but also creating thought-provoking pieces for the viewer.

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The focus of my art is on Expressionism. The difference between Expressionism and Abstract Art is that Expressionism does not necessarily abandon all figural or representational elements. It can often use elements of abstraction to create an emotional effect and may utilize diverse techniques to convey nontraditional and nonrepresentational images. I am particularly influenced by many artists, abstract expressionists, and by the French Impressionists. I view my art as works that create a lasting image of the ever-changing world around us, which I interpret with romantic, lyrical, and multi-hued images. My paintings are in private collections across the country. I often donate my artwork to fund raising and charitable activities.

It was created at midnight at my cabin. The Well Fed Happy Birds were outside singing with the Music. I was holding an Expired Butterly in my hand and created the entire image with a fairly large brush. During that process I said to myself I could never do this again. I still say that because I painted every segment in the butterfly’s wings from my, since age 8, prior experience as an artist. True Layerism!

The title of the Painting is “Fly By”  and there was a “Fly By” during my husband’s Funeral 17 years ago with the painting present. The fact that our youngest granddaughter was born at that time makes it a Special Memory also.

I paint from the outside in and the inside out outdoors in nature and from my imagination in the studio. With my nursing background, I am interested in the topic of health care and art. I practice as an art therapist in private practice and work artistically in my studio in a variety of mediums.

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My creative process is simple yet complex. The techniques may be simple, but the application involves many levels and dimensions to create the final piece. Texture is an important element as well as juxtaposition of color. There are undercurrents in my work that the viewers generally do not see but often ask “how was that effect achieved?” They look on the surface. I challenge them to look into and behind the obvious. The deeper meaning may only have been what memories and emotions were evoked in working with the materials in my studio that day.

As a fine artist, I have always been fascinated by color. As a young child when my mother put me down for a nap I would stare at the quilt squares of pink, turquoise, and lemon yellow. In being a young artist, I experimented with embroidery and weaving. Since 2010 I have been a painter. First, with pastel and then added oils - what a challenge! and also paint with other mediums. Color is my thing. I strive to paint with harmonious and striking tantalizing color. My work has more than one style. Although I started in pastels, I am now working with acrylics, oils, alcohol inks. It is a journey.

I'm an artist and art educator in a small Nebraska town. My art reflects where I live and my love for experimenting with materials and ideas. My love for (and concern for) nature is often on my mind while I am creating. My focus is in pastels, but I also create in watercolor/ink as well as acrylic.

Art is a weft that adorns,and vitalizes the strands of life. My work vitalizes the strands of my life through painting, collage, assemblage and clay.

My Artist statement – Being who I am and knowing what I know, I now create an artist practice where I honor my natural creative expression. I surround myself with people who see me as an artist and value the art pieces I make. My art benefits the world as an expression of authenticity and beauty. Knowing that I am intelligent, empathic, creative, and infinitely valuable, I choose to focus on developing a deeper and broader understanding of my Artistic expression. I will also continue to build a greater understanding of the creative process and the techniques that I can master to allow me to produce artwork that opens my spirit as a conduit of Divine love and truth. I give myself permission to make mistakes and ugly artwork, understanding the power of play, exploration, and experimentation as an essential ingredient to the creative process. From this moment forward I will share my artist vision with people who honor my creative spirit. I will ask for and welcome constructive feedback and be reflective as to how I might use it to improve my creativity. Because I honor myself, I will seek those who are witness to my strength and value and who celebrate with me my artistic expression. I am an intuitive, spirited creative and the world needs me just as I am. I am of value to the work when I manifest my unique gifts in the world. As the author of my own journey, I choose to live a life in which I continue to rise above my OLD stories those that hold me back from fully expressing myself. I trust myself completely.

Myths, symbols, and legends of various cultures, sometimes referring to specific historic occurrences interwoven with modern issues, are important elements in my work. I am fascinated with the effects of time on artifacts, people, events and experiences.

Experimentation and immediacy characterize the process utilized to produce my work.

You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him find it within himself. — Galileo "I have been alternately surprised, gratified and puzzled by our human ability to both create and then solve our own struggles. It is as if Galileo’s quote implied that all we need is to listen to ourselves, our real selves, to grow, thrive and prosper. It seems simple, yet the compelling demands of daily life work against our ability to listen and know ourselves.

My paintings attempt to give the viewer a small space in which to focus totally on themself and their own unique responses to the piece. The images are layered, complex and non–representational. Each is intended to be a tangible and unique bit of reality for which the viewer will provide meaning."

I feel that just like life, creating art is a journey of discovery. Each piece of work that I get involved in is a metaphorical symbol of where I am mentally, physically and spiritually in my process of coming to awareness. By mixing the media and creating various layers I am able to convey subtle sensitivities that would normally not be evident in a flat painting. The layers give emotional depth. Working intuitively, always thinking in the potential, I find that accidents can impart a special subtle life & breath to a concept.

My art invites personal reflection exploring the interconnectedness of nature, life, spirit and time. I invite you to take this magical journey with me.

There is something magical about being in the studio. Tubes of paint, scruffy brushes, collage materials and pristine canvas MEET to begin a layered dance. What were once elusive dreams now emerge as music to the eye and soul.

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Have been expanding my horizons to include cast glass pieces. Both bronze and glass go to outside foundries, but the cast stone and "found" work I do in-house.

I’m Susan Lackey, a contemporary painter working in both acrylic and mixed media. Intriguing and playful images are the common threads in my work. My style is expressive abstraction and what sets it apart from others is that I strive to suggest. I don’t tell the whole story. I leave it open-ended so you can connect with my paintings on a level that is meaningful to you. I’m delighted and inspired by the personal stories that people attach to my paintings. In addition to painting, I am also a poet. Many of my poems are inspired by my paintings and often developed as I paint. My creative process of representing a feeling or mood in visual images and in rhyming words is very similar.

My goal as a painter is to bring all that I have become into visual existence using acquired artistic knowledge and intuition to develop a concept of reality.

Vibrant Colors and rich textures explode on the surface of my non-objective work. My paintings are always a process. I work intuitively as the image evolves. Varied layers of glazing give lushness and depth, while the addition of mediums helps to create the textures that emerge in the final image. I work pushing and pulling shapes, surfaces, and colors, until I am excited with the uniqueness of each piece.

In every season of life, there is something to celebrate! As I paint and collage with materials that touch my soul it brings me hope, peace and a purpose to life.

I began as a ceramic artist and moved into mixed-media flatwork and assemblages. I enjoy playing with papers, found objects, and paint and rarely plan a piece, but rather begin it and then react to it, layering and layering, letting the piece tell me where to go. I'm drawn to the natural world as well as to strong shapes (circles and squares, spirals), and I sometimes incorporate found objects that I discover on walks around my city—rusted bits discarded by others, treasured by me.

I am an abstract/impressionist painter in water media. I love playing with color, shapes, layers and introducing textures

I like to work with material like quilter picking out the pattern. I enjoy work with loose colors as ink that flows all over the page. It blooms and runs on the page to create an image.

In Remembrance

deceased 2023

With heavy hearts we share the sad news that Nina Mihm passed away on January 16, 2023. Nina was a long time member of SLMM, serving on the Board in 2006-2007 and as President 2008-2013. She also co-edited SLMM's publication "Visual Journeys' with Mary Carroll Nelson in 2010. Nina was awarded a 'Lifetime' membership in 2013 and will be remembered for her leadership, loyalty and dedication.

My artwork is earthy, organic and multimedia. I enjoy painting from nature then interpreting my images into collages using textures. I work experimentally, painting positive and negative shapes, and adding embellishments. I am always looking for a way to interpret what I see in a more creative way.

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I think of my work as inventories of compositional lines and shapes inspired by my drawings, paintings, and photographs. Influenced by daily visuals seen in our landscapes and buildings I create abstract work that captures the essence of these elements that seem to stay with me and shape my body of work. While exploring planet earth I become a collector of visuals saved for future use. In the studio these elements gain energy and take form. Using layers of translucent and opaque glass with the tools of a painter, I construct improvisational works that are schematic in design and invite the viewer to move into a space of speculation.

In Remembrance 

deceased 2022

My preoccupation has been to study and express the multidimensional nature of the world we experience.

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I love touching, tearing and gluing paper. I am a collage artist. Life is a collage. It’s layered, textured and complex.

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Jessica Nojek is an abstract, acrylic painter in love with layering, texture, and gold metal leaf based in Albuquerque, NM. She works in abstract layers and gold metal leaf as a contemplation on the layers within our mind between our darkness and light; our ego and heart. In life we have moments of clarity tied to something bigger than what and who we think we are, and the back and forth in our minds and hearts between clarity and thought is the “what” that I attempt to share with others through art.

I see the world as a web of interconnected facets, finding commonalities among seemingly disparate elements, in literature, in music, & in my art.

After 20 years of painting I tried a ceramics class. I found my medium and can't wait to touch clay! My work is abstract and I name my sculptures for women artists who could use a bit of publicity.

My work is a culmination of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects I experience at a particular time. Starting with random marks and strokes, I add many layers of colour to allow unexpected images to appear. As I tap into my intuition, the paint ‘speaks to me’ and tells me what it wants to become.

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My art embodies the music, harmony, and mystery of the Universe, the underlying energy of our world, the music of being within all things, creating a peaceful, harmonious space wherein one can experience silence, still–point, and oneness with all.

"All Paths Lead Home", we all return to the loving source of all life.

My work is truly mixed media, involving many processes and including a number of types of water-soluble media. I begin by creating a collection of painted, printed, and chemically altered papers. It's a slow and beautiful undertaking, always filled with surprises and discoveries. I often incorporate found papers from my repository of family archives—a piece of music, a letter, a page from an old ledger. It's important to me to include the voices and essence of those who came before me. The paper that I create and incorporate forms the foundation of my design. I craft each piece in layers, freely combining and adding paint, watercolor dyes, watercolor pencils, sumi and gel inks, gloss varnish, and other media to develop richness, depth and glow. Lately, I have been incorporating pen and ink as the final layer in my work. The evolution of each piece is a slow process requiring a certain brand of meditative Zen. My art is all about letting the process unfold. It cannot be hurried.

My work investigates our surroundings and how they interact with memory, permanence, change, and regrowth. How do we process our sense of place and the collective memories that go with it, even as it changes? By capturing images and combining hand-worked elements into digital layers, I create abstracted viewpoints that explore timelessness, familiarity, and recognition.

Janet is a poet who paints stories of spirituality, psychology, healing, the unknown and unlimited possibilities. Instead of words, she uses layers of painted paper, photographs, sometimes found objects, and paint on canvas. You are invited to step into her stories.

In Memory 

deceased 2014

What do I do that I love? I create… constantly, consistently and creatively. I strive to realize my dreams, often portraying them in my art with hard work & devotion, looking above for guidance. Color—intensity—texture—vitality—these are my friends.

Documenting the mind exposing energy vibrations of a core frequency that allow me to become who I really am.

Embedded stones in earthen layers enrich & reveal mysteries.... as do the artists’ painted layers in time. 
For workshop information, see links.

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I am a Mixed Media Artist combining art mediums, often incorporating calligraphy/lettering art, with realism, collage and other objects in my paintings. I also enjoy facepainting and being known as a real artist who facepaints. Teaching the traditions of fine art and calligraphy/lettering art and then encouraging my students to be creative in their art and go beyond the rules of tradition gives me great pleasure in their exploration.

I make ceramic sculpture and mixed media paintings from my spirit, which reveal the exploration of my history, experiences, emotions and moods.

In Remembrance

deceased 2021

"Art has always been a process of self discovery, healing and integration for me. Focused image–making and random experimentation with materials are partners in the work. Most of my paintings express different aspects of my experience of the inner spiritual world, drawing upon my dreams, personal symbols and world religions. They begin with a seed idea and then expand to include the thoughts, feelings and images that emerge during the painting process."

Energetic lines and marks in my work symbolize the perpetual omni–action of Mind.

The Natural World has been for me a source of wonder and awe, sensory input, and beauty. More important, however, I have become increasingly fascinated with the elegant systems of the natural world and the interconnectedness of things. My education and career in human behavior and psychology, along with a life-long love of Native American philosophy and spirituality has enriched this sense of connectedness. My work strives to reflect the spirit of Nature and the nature of Spirit.

I am a watercolorist passionate about the creative process. I look for the rhythms and the experience of my subject matter.

Enjoying the beauty of nature and recreating my sense of it all using mediums of the day is what I love to do most in the world. I like to look at things up close to see how they grow, what they are composed of, the colors they represent etc. My first love is watercolor but have experimented with many other mediums over the years. I love to take walks and pic up " treasures" along the way. I am happiest to create Art that inspires and brings happiness and healing to others.

"My paintings are improvisational tempered by decreasing realism… Although my palette changes as I experiment, warm colors predominate; red is my favorite color. My travels and life experiences form the backdrop and intuition gives final enhancements."

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I once read that artists paint to discover personal truth and in turn find their visual voice and develop their individual painter language. My experience indicates that there is definitely a correlation between my search for personal identity, “isness,” and my choices of what and how I paint. I use layering to interweave my outer physical and inner emotional and spiritual responses to specific natural subjects that convey a like identity necessity, “isness.” My hope is that my work speaks a painter language that resonates with like personal truth seekers.