EILEEN S. KAMINSKY FAMILY FOUNDATION
Sam Seawright
Sam’s Georgia roots grow generations deep on both sides of his family tree. He was raised the son of a Methodist preacher, spending his youth moving from town to town across Northeast Georgia. From an early age he was encouraged to play music and make art and continues to do both with great enthusiasm.
He graduated from the University of Georgia with a fine art major in 1981 and later received an MFA from The University of Texas, Austin in 1985.
Sam has had numerous exhibitions of his paintings in Georgia and New York where he currently resides with his wife Tara.
Andre Russell
Creating forms of conveying a message is an art form I relate with the most. My preferred art craft is screen printing though illustration is where my talent began.
During graduation year I landed an internship with Gary Lichtenstein Editions which is the avenue that refined my artistry.
I attained a Graphic Design associates that year as well landed some key relationships.
I had also learned a great deal about the world of fine art, where my signature fits in it and how to go about harnessing the development of an artist career.
Sandra DeSando
Medium: Mixed media on panel board
Born in Weehawken, New Jersey
Currently in Jersey City, New Jersey
My art work bridges a long-lost barrier of communication to other living systems.
My paintings bring to light a visual language that supports human/nature connections. My art work motivates by sharing an ecological consciousness. We may know the factual evidence of our ecological disasters, global warming, species loss, pollution and scarcity. The paintings help us get beyond the loss and recreate the connections to recharge the balance of a healing world perview.
sandradesando.wixsite.com/sandra-desando
Laura Karetzky
Laura Karetzky is a visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work probes the space between relationships as they strive to stay connected over all kinds of distances and examines how technology sustains us in various states of suspended communication. She is recipient of two Yaddo residencies, including The Milton and Sally Michel Avery Endowed Residency for visual arts (2014). Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions including The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC), Arte Laguna (Venice, Italy), and has been reviewed in American Arts Quarterly, The New York Times, Hyperallergic, and The Washington Post. She is a founding member and Visual Arts Advisor for The Mayapple Center for the Arts and Humanities, a member of the Brooklyn Information and Culture (BRIC) Contemporary Art Council, and has served as Alumni Advisor to the Academic Affairs Committee for The New York Academy of Art (2006-2012). Ms. Karetzky holds degrees from the New York Academy of Art (MFA) and Carnegie-Mellon University (BFA), with additional training at the School of Visual Arts, the New York Studio School, and the Rhode Island School of Design. She is represented by Lora Schlesinger Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.
Walter Rodriguez
My art displays imagined scenes that derive from particular reflections I have on life and relationships. Painting and drawing are at the heart of my creative process using a style that combines figurative painting, expressive line work and mixed media. Human anatomy is a prominent feature and a narrative tool in my work that I often reconfigure in order to alter layers of meaning or a message. As a result, my compositions are often contemplative of human connections and how they are affected by surrounding environments. Born in Cuba, but a NJ resident for over 21 years, I earned a BFA degree at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2002. I have served as an art educator at Newmark High School, NJ for the last 10 years.
Nava Gidanian-Kagan
Nava is an Israeli artist; currently in New York City. She is a visual artist working mainly in oil and encaustics. She earned her Mster at the New York Academy of Art and graduated from the Jerusalem Studio School. In 2014, Nava received The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award and The Terra Foundation for the Arts Award in France. She also particpated in The International School of Painting and Scultpure Residency in Italy and The Prado Museum in Spain. Nava has been in solo and group exhibitions in New York, Israel, and Italy.
Fred Fleisher
Medium: Painting/Multi-media
Born in Pennsylvania
Currently in Brooklyn, NY
Much of my work practice employs contemporary and vintage images and objects that allow me to address the cultural noise that surrounds our everyday lives. I focus on the varieties of cultural iconography and how these play out and are used within everyday norms.
I find significance in unnoticed things. I make associations with the disparate elements of my surroundings. These are informed by an American-ness, but that continues to look more and more global with influence.Think of plush talismans, pro wrestling fashion and Walt Whitman. Piloting a starship through life I use multiple mediums, across disciplines to communicate the message.