Mei-Ku Huang

Mei-Ku Huang M.D. was born in Taipei, Taiwan and  immigrated to the United States as a child where he grew up in a lush Maryland suburb of Washington DC. His uneventful youth was marred only by being caught once too often doodling in his school notebooks rather than taking notes. Mei-Ku's passion for art continued with a B.A. in Studio Art from Duke University, followed by a stint as a free lance illustrator in NYC and then going on to obtain a Medical Degree from the Georgetown University School of Medicine; which was then followed by a longer stint in private practice for a number years before finally returning to his first passion - his art. Along the way, he also studied painting at Parsons School of Design in New York, and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I.

Mei-Ku's paintings are influenced by both classical as well as contemporary artists and by an interest in the effect of light and dark.  His work is characterized by a realistic flare with stylized brush stokes, hinting at his Asian background.

Voy Madeyski

Wojciech (Voy) Madeyski, native of Poland, is an Architect by profession and an Artist by passion. He pursues his interests in both architecture and art with great vigor and energy. He believes they cannot exist without each other; they are one sublime form of aesthetic experience shaping up our surroundings. Voy has been active in the Chicago architectural arena since 1966. When he came to Chicago from Paris, where he participated in many group and one man exhibits. His visual effect is achieved from dripping or pouring enamel onto a prepped and airbrush-washed canvas.  He never actually touches the canvas.  This open flow technique is how Madeyski gains a mutual aesthetic joining lose forms and the vertical linear orientation of his subject matter.

I was Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1984 and grew up in Osaka. I came to the U.S. in 2000.I started making art when I was 17 when my friend asked me to draw in his sketchbook. While I enjoyed the process, I felt like I finally found what I have been desperately looking for. I immediately wanted to pursue my career in art. I went to a community college and studied psychology and business but I couldn’t give up my passions toward art. I switched my major to art and transferred to SAIC and graduated in December, 2009. I have been painting mainly with oils for 4years. I have always focused on abstract painting.

I am most passionate about abstract painting because of the freedom I have in creating both shapes and colors. I usually paint with fingers because I feel my emotions are more directly transferred that way. Working intuitively without plans allows me to input different ideas and grow as an artist while I am painting. It helps me focus on momentary feelings within me. Color is extremely important for my works. I try to make them as intense as possible to express my passions throughout my life. I am flattered by how colors affect and interact with human minds. I use a lot of colors out of tube to represent vividness, intensity and pureness of life.

Through painting, I search for core humanity that we all share and attempt to communicate with as many people as possible.

Art has been a life long passion and learning experience for Audrey McCartney Barrett. She is an east coast native who now calls Chicago her home. Interest in observing, drawing and eventually painting began in her youth.  A self-taught artist, Audrey takes an occasional class to keep abreast of today’s art world.  Throughout her career, she has exhibited in art fairs, galleries and juried competitions garnering many awards.  Her work is presented in private and corporate collections as well as in the Illinois State Museum permanent collection.  For a time life interrupted and her painting passion was put aside.  Now retired, after twenty-five years as a Package/Graphic Designer Audrey is exclusively devoted to her art.

A never ending fascination with architectural forms and embellished facades intrigue her. Capturing the energy, rhythm and emotional feeling of a place is her challenge. Her hope is to engage the viewer and share a moment of connection.  Currently Audrey is working on cityscapes and the Illinois landscape.

Michael Goldzweig was born in Chicago, IL in 1962. He was raised in the northern suburbs of Chicago and now lives and creates in River North. Michael started to realize his passion for art at the age of six, selling his first piece when he was fifteen. He attended the American Academy of Art and graduated with honors in 1983. He has worked for the family business, Best Neon Sign Company, for 27 years.

He is the COO/Art Director at Best Neon and works on all the specialty
art work and airbrushing. Michael has completed artwork for many
motion pictures, including Home Alone 2, The Blues Brothers, The
Untouchables, Blink and Transformers III. Michael's talent and
creativity run deep in his family, which includes world renowned
artist Leonardo Nierman and Arthur Paul, who created the Playboy Bunny
logo. He has shown pieces at many Chicago and suburban galleries and
was chosen to show at NEOCON/Merchandise Mart in 2007. Michael is
currently represented at Gallerie MK, Chicago.

Michael's paintings are meant to bring out emotion, combining abstract
and photo realism. Looking at his work you can feel the passion he
posses for his art; he puts YOU in the painting. Michael's paintings
are a combination of reality, surrealism, color, texture depth and
emotion..

I am an artist. I live, breathe and feel art everyday. Art is my inner world of dreams, fantasies and exploration.  Art is everywhere. Being an artist is learning how to see; Susan Russell is known for luminous, elegant paintings that explore voyages through epiphany and fantasy in landscape and the figure.

She captures classic Renaissance values allowing an ethereal impressionistic sense to permeate throughout her work.  Working with a full palette as well as mono-chromatically she achieves a tactile sensual sense. Susan has been commissioned for many works of art for galleries, homes and corporations.

Having traveled to Rome and Paris she returned with a unique aesthetic, balancing spiritualism and the material world. Achieving a unique ephemeral glow of mythological imagery, busts, religious figures, icons, abstracts, nudes, the celestial, and the power of landscape. The techniques employed include subtractive effects, layering, washes, and varnishes bringing forth dreamlike visions.  Susan’s work stems predominantly from dreams that she orchestrates and filters through the vehicle of pigment, achieving rare perspectives rich with light and atmosphere. She considers art an evolving process and feels her art comes from an exterior muse that enters her and inspires her.

TAC (The Art Center), Highland Park, IL Nov. 2009-Jan. 2010; awarded First Place

TAC (The Art Center), Highland Park, IL Nov. 2009-Jan. 2010; awarded First Place

Northbrook Public Library, Northbrook, IL, 2009

Evanston Art Walk, Evanston, IL, 2009

Highland Park Art Walk, Highland Park, IL, 2009

TAC (The Art Center), Highland Park, IL, Dec. 2008-Jan. 2009

Evanston Art Walk, Evanston, IL, 2008

Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, IL. 2008

North Shore Art League, Winnetka, IL 2007

Evanston Art Center Student Gallery, Evanston IL, 2007

Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2006

Wilmette Public Library, Wilmette, IL, 2005

Wilmette Public Library, Wilmette, IL, 2004

Wilmette Public Library, Wilmette, IL, 2003

Wilmette Public Library, Wilmette, IL 2002

Suburban Fine Arts Center, Highland Park, IL, 2002

As a child growing up in Shorewood, Wisconsin, I eagerly sought time to make art. My schooling encouraged my pursuit of art as I attended the Layton School of Art and the Milwaukee Art Institute when I was young. After graduating from Marquette University I pursued a business career in advertising, then real estate where I designed and built several commercial buildings. My wife would often encourage me to keep up with my art even as we raised our four children. My passion for painting was ever present and my goal was always to make room for my art.

My journey in art has taken me along an exciting growth path. In the early 90’s I enrolled in drawing classes at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. I then studied for three years at Atelier Prohl where I was trained in the traditions of the ateliers (studios) of Paris and the Boston school of classic realism. Black and white drawings were first, followed by black and white painting the second year. After mastering reproducing the exact image of still life or portrait, the third year we advanced to full color oil painting. From there I quickly worked hard to loosen up my style to a more impressionistic approach. I enjoyed painting landscapes “en plein air”
in both oil and watercolor. This led to a commission to do a watercolor of the 1998 Milwaukee Symphony Showcase House in Oconomowoc. Commissions also came to
paint portraits in oil. I continued to study at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) including being juried into Terry Coffman’s Master’s Painting Class. I have worked under the direction of Sally Duback at her Grafton Studio. I also studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2007 my painting was one of 68 accepted out
of 780 juried entries into the Wisconsin Biennial Exhibition at the Haggerty Museum
of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

I have been a member and former officer of the League of Milwaukee Artists for 16 years. I am also a member of the Wisconsin Visual Artists (formerly Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors).

My study of personal affects, is both figurative and intimate.  Shapes of color and the effect of light uniquely stages each object and suggests a narrative.The work is not about a literal content but about a pictorial and conceptual experience. It is the difference between a detail and a perception, between imitation and representation.   I hope to present the viewer with pleasure and insight into the wider world by focusing on a small aspect of it.

Marie Kirk Burke received a B.F.A.  from Boston College, studied at the Decordava Museum School in Lincoln Ma. and earned a certificate in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a juried associate member of the Palette and Chisel in Chicago and The Chicago Artists Coalition

Recent Exhibitions 

Home in the City, Chicago IL.  "The Art of Design"  2009 -Selected Participant

Flat Iron Fine Arts Building Chicago, IL.  " Six Points" 2009 -Group Exhibition                                                                                            McCord Art Gallery, Palos Park IL. "Crowning Glory" 2009 -juried

The Merchandise Mart  Chicago IL. " Chicago Art Open" 2008 -juried                                                                                                           Evanston Art Center, Evanston IL. 2008 Biennial Exhibition-juried

McCord Art Gallery, Palos Park IL. "Essence of Color", 2008 -juried

McCord Art Gallery, Palos Park, IL. "Works in Pastel", 2007-juried  

Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL Mark DeSuvero Peace Tower 2007 -Selected Participant                                                                                           

South-Western Michigan Art Attack, 2007and 2008- featured artist

The Stanley Clark School, South Bend, IN. Group Exhibition  2006

Vivian Noe-Griffith was born into an Air Force family, where she had the opportunity to live in many different parts of the world.  Her favorite place has always been Chicago where she spent many summers as a child. Subsequently, she was exposed to a variety of cultures and artistic styles.  From early childhood she studied both dance and visual art. She took classes in drawing, painting, and sculpture, as well as training in ballet for fifteen years.

 In college, she earned a MSE degree in Speech Pathology, Audiology and Special Education. She then worked as a Speech Therapist and teacher for twenty years while continuing to create art on a part time basis. In 2005 she began working as a full time artist.

 Noe states, “Training in both ballet and art simultaneously allowed my mind and body to learn to work together in harmony. My art is inspired by the world around me and by my unique background. My goal is to capture the rhythm and beauty of my surroundings onto canvas in an expression that is familiar, yet unknown.”

Vivian paints with passion, using a spiritual and loose style, and loves experimenting with texture, layers and various mediums.  As her talent developed, Noe began to focus on capturing the beauty and warmth found in nature in an abstract style. She continues to be inspired by her love for dance, the outdoors and global cultures.

Tom Matucci brings a fresh look to paintings. His unique process of manipulating paint and organic materials create an exquisite fusion that pushes the boundaries of painting.

Tom is known for his rich textures and organic forms. A tactile look is achieved, delighting the sense of touch as well as sight. The viewer is seduced by the complexity of color and textures, thick and thin paint. His work has a captivating earthy quality that strikes a primordial chord with the viewer.

Matucci’s work is at once dynamic and powerful, quiet and moody. His paintings have been called dimensional poetry, conveying a textural story left to the viewer’s own interpretation.

Tom’s artwork is represented in galleries nationwide, and has been exhibited in solo and group shows. Tom’s collectors span the globe from Napa Valley to Hollywood, Atlanta to Houston, Chicago to New York, South Africa to Paris.