Howard Bollinger
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Early Artisan Roots
As a youth, Howard spent hours observing his carpenter grandfather make toys and doll houses. On weekends, he performed with his family, a professional singing group, well-known throughout the region. Toy Man From these musicals, artisan roots, Bollinger graduated from design school and took a job that would impact his life dramatically. He climbed the corporate ladder to Senior Vice President of Product Concepts at Kenner/Hasbro Toys using his keen artistic and inventive talents. Riding The Wave Bollinger rode the wave of success to create successions of mega toy line hits. His Star Wars development became the bestselling toy line in history. Bollinger’s list of hit toys reads like a Who’s Who of toys with the famous Care Bears, Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park, M.A.S.K., Strawberry Shortcake, Littlest Pet Shop, and Batman toy lines to his credits. Visions Emerge Routinely working hand in hand with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Jim Cameron, Dan Ackroyd and the late Jim Henson to innovate 3D toys to express the action in films, Bollinger found himself drawing his spontaneous visions as he brainstormed the next toy invention. Totally his own style, this new art was emerging, bubbling up from within. In The Eye of a Creative Storm In addition to the world of feature film and toys, Bollinger traveled the globe seeking out new ideas from other inventors and studios. He faced the daunting task of creating new lines that would sell hundreds of millions year after year. The energy of it all moved him to one outlet - expressing his artistic images on whatever surface was before him. The images appeared on napkins over Hollywood dinners, on sales volume spreadsheets, Star Wars meeting agendas, and the large round oak table in his office! The artist’s free hand could not hold them back. |
Patrick McGannon
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Patrick has lived and worked in Atlanta since 1997 after relocating from his hometown of Chicago. He received a BFA from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 1989 and an MFA from Indiana University in 1991 in Drawing and Painting. While at Indiana University Patrick made two trips to Florence, Italy with IU, one trip as a student and one trip as a teacher’s assistant. These experiences began for him a love of antiquity and a lifelong endeavor to study the masters of the past and develop his skills as an artist. After receiving his MFA, Patrick taught drawing and painting at Southwest Missouri State University.
In addition to studying fine art at The Art Institute of Chicago, Patrick was a conservation assistant in the Ryerson Library of the museum. This work and experience have developed into a career over the last 25 years as a fine art conservator of paper artifacts. Working intimately with antique artifacts of the past centuries as well as contemporary artists has contributed greatly to his understanding of artists' working processes and materials. Patrick has continued to paint and attends drawing sessions weekly, where he works from a live model. He has shown at Mason Fine Art (formerly Mason Murer) and Addington Gallery in Chicago, Illinois for the last twenty years. Patrick has had paintings accepted into several national shows recently, including Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional Exhibition of 2017 and OPA’s National Exhibition in 2015. |
Russell Miyaki
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Russell Miyaki is a contemporary artist and creative director in New York city, His studio is at Metro Art Studios in Bridgeport, CT, which is a renovated historic 1800’s corset factory. Russell is 3rd generation Japanese American born and raised in New Mexico. Attended school in Colorado graduating with honors majoring in advertising design and illustration. Throughout his career he has worked for several design studios and advertising agencies winning his share of industry awards and recognition. From the One Show Interactive to multiple Webbys. But his most fulfilling moment of his career was when he risked everything he had and started his own greeting card design studio where he designed, painted and published his own lines of work.
Russell established a national fan base of followers (pre-Twitter and Facebook) working with a unique technique of design markers onto metallic paper. He called them “marker paintings”. He hand painted every single card that went out the door. His technique utilized a special stencil in order for him to marker in vibrant colors that seemed to swirl and come to life right on the surface of the metallic paper. This became a distinctive look that adorned the shelves of many boutiques gift and gallery stores across the U.S and is influential in his approach to his work. Russell works in oils, pigment sticks and acrylics on canvas, wall board and plexiglass layers. He is greatly inspired by the works of Peter Max, Juan Gris, Lee Krasner, August Macke, Franz Marc, Willem De Kooning and Jean-Michel Basquiat. “As an artist, I use my canvas as a portal, bridging my inner feelings and thoughts to the reality of life outside. Simultaneously, my canvas also serves as a mirror reflecting my deep empathy for the lives and emotions of others. It's this connection between self and society, the introspective and the universal, that gives my art its essential vitality and purpose. The unprecedented events of the past several years have had a profound influence on my work. I've been both a witness and a participant, as the world around me has become a whirlpool of emotions. However, this reflective phase led me to an enlightening realization. Rather than painting the world as it was making me feel, I shifted my focus to expressing how I wanted to feel. This wasn't a case of turning a blind eye to the harsh realities of our world, but rather an acknowledgement that the art I create can serve as a catalyst for positivity, unity, and healing. This shift resonates with the quote from P.T. Barnum that deeply resonates with me: "The noblest art is that of making others happy". It has inspired me to channel positivity and joy in my art, painting a world imbued with hope and happiness, a world that can help us rise above negativity and division. My work embodies the simplest, yet most powerful expressions of positive energy, happiness, and fun. It represents an escape from the anger and unhappiness that seems all too prevalent in today's world. My hope is that through my art, viewers are transported, if only momentarily, to a place of joy and serenity. In creating these visual affirmations, I am not just reconciling my emotions with the world; I'm offering an invitation to others to join me on this journey of hope and happiness. Currently, Russell’s work is not available as NFTs. |
Suzy Shultz
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Suzy Schultz is an artist whose paintings and drawings explore the themes of longing, struggle and the hope of transformation
She writes about her work: I am drawn to subjects that have gone through the fire - whether through hardships, doubts, failures, or just the weathering of life - and have emerged refined with beauty, dignity or resilience. My models are members of my community, my neighbors and my friends. I paint them because they give me hope that those fires of life could produce beauty, strength and dignity in myself. Through my work I attempt to show that transformation is possible, not only in my Atlanta neighborhood, but in the community at large. Suzy grew up in St. Petersburg FL, and was encouraged in her art by her artist mother, and later her boss/mentor at a mission's agency. She graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Mathematics Education and taught high school for 4 1/2 years. Taking a leave of absence, she spent a year overseas in Poland. On returning, she did some part-time graphic design work for a local mission agency and was eventually hired to help with their publications. There she was mentored and nurtured in her artistic talent and encouraged to paint for illustrations used in the magazine. When her mentor and boss left to go on the mission field six years later, she was told she needed to leave her job and paint full time, which she did. She has painted full-time since 1995 and has won many awards for her work. Her work has been featured in American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoisseur, Drawing, Watercolor Magic and The Art of Watercolour magazines. She has also had work published in Strokes of Genius 2, 3, 6, 12 and 13 and Art Journey: People, (Northlight Publishers), Splash 13, 21, 22 and 23, (F & W Media) and Oxford American. Her work has been juried into many shows, including The Philadelphia Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, American Watercolor Society, San Diego Watercolor Society, Southern Watercolor Society, Fort Wayne Museum of Art Contemporary Realism Biennial, and “Georgia Artists Select Georgia Artists” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Atlanta, GA. She is a 2018, 2019 and 2020 Art Renewal Center Salon Finalist. She was recently invited into membership of the Hudson Valley Art Association and the American Arts Professional League. |