FEATURED
ARTISTS

Ms. Fager graduated as an Art Major from Skidmore College in 1975. She has worked in book design, television graphics, fabric and furniture design and photography.

Melinda started her own applesauce company, The Great New England Apple Company, in 2009. The label art incorporates her photograph “Cornish Cow”, shown in this exhibit.

Ms. Fager currently takes photos for New Canaan Patch, the local news and information website. Melinda also was involved for 12 years with A Better Chance, the national organization that offers minority students the opportunity to receive a first rate education and a chance to enhance their life experience. She is proud to have been a host parent to their ABC son David Cox, and she was President of the local organization.

Ms. Fager and her husband reside in New Canaan, CT.

American artist Greg Mort is widely recognized as a leading influence in contemporary art. Mort’s unmistakably modern paintings have the classic feel of the Dutch Masters but are juxtaposed with startlingly modern designs. His paintings are included in many prominent collections including the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Academy Art Museum, Portland Museum of Art, the Farnsworth, the Bradywine River Museum and many more.

A commissioned NASA artist since 1983 he also served on the Board of Visitors at the McDonald Observatory and is currently on the Executive Board of the Lowell Observatory and the Night Sky Conservation Foundation. He is a frequent speaker on the collaboration of art and science most recently appearing at the U.S. Capitol for the Congressional Institute.

Lauren Orchowski utilizes the medium of photography as a platform for her drawings, works on paper, and illuminated dioramas. Creating images and narratives in both black and white and color, she often uses a large format view camera as the foundation for her processes.

Visually exploring how cultures experience, consume, and capitalize on atmospheric environments, her documentary interests also extend to an examination of spatial typologies within society. Her work has been exhibited in cities around the world including Reykjavik, Iceland; New York City; Leipzig, Germany; and Portland, Oregon. In 2010 she was awarded 2nd Runner Up in the portfolio category in the International Photography Book Now competition for her documentary project ROCKET SCIENCE. Her work is represented in the collections of the Rutgers Archives For Printmaking at the Zimmerli Museum, New Jersey and the Indie Photobook Library.

Stanley Goldstein is an established Bay Area painter. He has had numerous solo exhibitions San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. He has work in the permanent collection of San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum’s prestigious Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts. In 2000, he was nominated for The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s SECA Award. In March of 2011 he had a solo exhibition at the Triton Museum, in Santa Clara, California.

Stanley has been reviewed in Artweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the New York Sun, and has been featured in articles in such national publications as Fine Art Connoisseur, Art and Antiques, American Art Collector, Southwest Art, including both the June and July 2003 covers of Art and Antiques.

He is represented by the George Billis Galleries, in New York and Los Angeles.

Crissie received her BFA in Illustration from Massachusetts College of Art, with additional studies at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Her eye for detail and ability to capture the moment have served her well: in 2006, Crissie was chosen to participate in the prestigious United States Air Force Art Program. At the request of the Pentagon, she documented operations overseas and at home. A recent recipient of the ASAA Founder’s Recognition Award for her work depicting Special Operations Forces, her paintings currently hang in the Pentagon, and are permanent additions to the USAF Collection.

Her paintings have been featured in the Air Force 60th Anniversary Exhibition, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of the USAF, The National Museum of Naval Aviation and various other museums and galleries across the country.

Ann Hunt Currier is a fine art color photographer. She received her BFA from Purchase College and earned an MFA in Creative Art from Hunter College. She has exhibited her work at many venues, most notably the Neuberger Museum, Kendall Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles. In 2002, she had a solo exhibit at Gallery West of Suffolk County Community College.

A recipient of many awards and grants, Currier is a 1995 Fellow in Photography of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 2002, she was awarded a commission for a public art project for Kings County Hospital Center. She is a 2003 recipient of a SURDNA Arts Teachers Fellowship, which allowed her to investigate the art of weaving in Peru’s highlands. A solo exhibition at LaGuardia Gallery featured the photographs from her journey.

Josh Ellingson lives and works as an illustrator in San Francisco, California. His artwork is featured in popular publications and websites worldwide, and he has worked with clients ranging from toy makers to tequila companies. Ellingson’s work is informed by science and popular culture with a tinge of humor and uncertainty.

Seattle artist Steve Jensen’s paintings and sculptures are widely exhibited throughout the country, both in major museums and galleries. His commissioned public sculpture is on display in nine states, as well as in China and Japan. He is the recipient of numerous fellowships and arts leadership awards.

Seattle artist Steve Jensen’s paintings and sculptures are widely exhibited throughout the country, both in major museums and galleries. His commissioned public sculpture is on display in nine states, as well as in China and Japan. He is the recipient of numerous fellowships and arts leadership awards.

J. Matthew Riva was born in London, England and was educated in the United States. Beyond his education, Riva spends much of his time in the company of such artists as P. Beard, J. Schnabel, and Lucien Clergue, as well as philosophers, astronauts, and scientists. At an impressionable age, his natural curiosity was met with information, which led to questions about what we were, how we are, and what we want to be. He has traveled extensively in East Africa, Europe, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the U.S. and Mexico. These travels have lead to many adventures, which have afforded him the vantage points of other cultures’ perspectives. These perspectives allow him to create structures upon which to construct vessels for a vision. These experiences, along with a natural calling for creative expression, have fueled an insatiable hunger to paint.

J. Matthew Riva was born in London, England and was educated in the United States. Beyond his education, Riva spends much of his time in the company of such artists as P. Beard, J. Schnabel, and Lucien Clergue, as well as philosophers, astronauts, and scientists. At an impressionable age, his natural curiosity was met with information, which led to questions about what we were, how we are, and what we want to be. He has traveled extensively in East Africa, Europe, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the U.S. and Mexico. These travels have lead to many adventures, which have afforded him the vantage points of other cultures’ perspectives. These perspectives allow him to create structures upon which to construct vessels for a vision. These experiences, along with a natural calling for creative expression, have fueled an insatiable hunger to paint.

J. Matthew Riva was born in London, England and was educated in the United States. Beyond his education, Riva spends much of his time in the company of such artists as P. Beard, J. Schnabel, and Lucien Clergue, as well as philosophers, astronauts, and scientists. At an impressionable age, his natural curiosity was met with information, which led to questions about what we were, how we are, and what we want to be. He has traveled extensively in East Africa, Europe, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the U.S. and Mexico. These travels have lead to many adventures, which have afforded him the vantage points of other cultures’ perspectives. These perspectives allow him to create structures upon which to construct vessels for a vision. These experiences, along with a natural calling for creative expression, have fueled an insatiable hunger to paint.

J. Matthew Riva was born in London, England and was educated in the United States. Beyond his education, Riva spends much of his time in the company of such artists as P. Beard, J. Schnabel, and Lucien Clergue, as well as philosophers, astronauts, and scientists. At an impressionable age, his natural curiosity was met with information, which led to questions about what we were, how we are, and what we want to be. He has traveled extensively in East Africa, Europe, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the U.S. and Mexico. These travels have lead to many adventures, which have afforded him the vantage points of other cultures’ perspectives. These perspectives allow him to create structures upon which to construct vessels for a vision. These experiences, along with a natural calling for creative expression, have fueled an insatiable hunger to paint.

J. Matthew Riva was born in London, England and was educated in the United States. Beyond his education, Riva spends much of his time in the company of such artists as P. Beard, J. Schnabel, and Lucien Clergue, as well as philosophers, astronauts, and scientists. At an impressionable age, his natural curiosity was met with information, which led to questions about what we were, how we are, and what we want to be. He has traveled extensively in East Africa, Europe, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the U.S. and Mexico. These travels have lead to many adventures, which have afforded him the vantage points of other cultures’ perspectives. These perspectives allow him to create structures upon which to construct vessels for a vision. These experiences, along with a natural calling for creative expression, have fueled an insatiable hunger to paint.

Drue is a contemporary artist based in Silicon Valley. Born in Tokyo and trained in Sumi-e. A graduate of Stanford University. Her artworks have integrated Asian brush painting techniques with gunshots, hospital beds, alpine snow water and storm and heartbeat recordings. She received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research & Education Institute Award for her extensive community service. In addition to numerous corporate and private commissions, she has done collaborations with Grammy award winner Wynton Marsalis, winemaker Jim Clendenen and over 20 organizations.

Drue has been named a Cultural Leader by the World Economic Forum. She has presented solo sessions at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China as well as given talks at TEDx Tokyo, TEDx Silicon Valley and TEDxWomen. Her work has been featured on CNN, CBS, ABC, Stanford Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Chronicle of Higher Education, and many others. She established the Drue Kataoka art scholarship for youth in 2001.

For more background on UP! please read: http://www.valleyzen.com/2008/10/17/drues-art-in-the-first-in-space-art-exhibit-on-richard-garriotts-space-mission/