Gwendolyn Parrish
Girl in Color

PARRISH, Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn is a self-taught artist born in West Chester, PA. She has enjoyed art since she was a young child. One of her big influences came from her mother, a first generation artist who had lessons as a young child. Her medium of choice was oils. Gwendolyn is a second generation artist and has a son who is a third generation artist and currently works in New York as a Art Director in a production design company. In Gwendolyn’s earlier years she was a cosmetologist in Pennsylvania and Virginia. She likes to participate in juried art shows locally and in several shows in New York, where she was named the 2004 first runner-up in the New York Independent Film, Music & Arts Festival. That inspired her to begin taking art lessons here at the Gallery School with Mary-Ellen Christ, to help improve her techniques in painting. She has pieces in private homes and has some of her work has been pictured local newspapers and also in a New York publication in 2006. Her style is a mixture of contemporary abstract and surreal styles.

Joni Peters
Golden Girl
$120

PETERS, Joni

Joni is a mostly self-taught artist, but she has studied oil painting with Helen Cieniewicz and commercial art and writing with Barbara Cimochowski . Joni works in oils, pastel, pencil, colored pencil, marker, acrylic and watercolor. She has created many commissioned pieces, from lettering boats to calligraphy, portrait work, logo design and custom-designed greeting cards. Joni has also illustrated two children's books: Hokey Pokey Caterpillar and The Turtle and the Elephant. Her work is versatile and ranges from realistic to illustrative, with much attention to detail.

PIERSON, Jackie

My name is Jackie Pierson. I was born and raised in Montgomery County Pennsylvania and have lived here all my life. Like many of us, I am unemployed at this time, but for the last 8 years, I have started something that I have long dreamed of doing - painting with oils.

I have always had an interest an interest in art. As a child I did "uncommissioned art work" on my bedroom walls, much of the chagrin of my parents. My first relatively serious projects were painting flowers and vines on the floors, one the walls, or wherever there was a black spot in my home. I then started painting on canvas. The subject of my oil paintings are often landscapes from photographs, flowers in my garden or whatever catches my eye. In several cases, I have moved to larger canvases. I have just finished my second mural on a wall. I have been accepted to a numerous amount of shows from the past year and to continue on this path. I am a member of Berks Art Alliance and Artbridge. My dream is to do what I love, paint.

RITVALSKY, Lynette Stone (Let)

I have been artistic since early childhood, working in several different mediums through my school years. My first professional art jobs were in graphics and layout designs that included magazine spreads, packaging and billboard art. Through the years I moved into primitive folk art and then discovered my love for stained glass design. However these storybpoard mosaics recently emerged as something new and unexpected. Eash mosaic has a theme or tells a little story. The entire process for one of these is quite delightful, from searching yard sales and thrift stores to listening to what each dish or trinket has to say and combining them for one piece. My intent with this particular medium is to produce a smile, a moment of happiness as one looks for all the hidden treasures.

SIEMEL, Dora

Dora Siemel was born in Corumba, Matto Grosso, Brazil. Dora's sculpture medium is clay, and she works from her own studio in Green Lane, Pennsylvania.  All her pieces are hand built and the colors come from any combination of glazes, oxides, paints and waxes. Her work has been accepted at various juried shows including the Woodmere Art Museum Show and the Phillips Mills Art Show and has won numerous local awards.  In addition to being a sculptor, Dora is a computer consultant, a martial artist and a yoga instructor.  She is a published poet who sings, writes songs, and plays the guitar. www.dorasiemel.com

STOCKER, Maureen
Instructor

Maureen S. Stocker is currently teaching World History at Woodbury High School in New Jersey. She is also the Fine Arts instructor for Woodbury’s Alternative School program.  Maureen majored in Fine Arts at the Fashion Institute of Technology and graduated summa cum laude from Moore College of Art and Design with a BFA in Studio Art and Art History.  In 2007, Maureen graduated with honors from La Salle University with an MA in Secondary Education and published a paper entitled, “The Educational Theory of Booker T. Washington.”  In the past, Maureen worked as a graphic designer at Details, Inc. in Philadelphia and was employed by Freeman’s Auction House where she catalogued and appraised Non-Western Art in addition to her formal role in Client Services.  Her areas of interest include drawing, painting and Tribal Art.