South Carolina’s Susan Lenz uses found and otherwise everyday objects — from buttons and bottle caps to clock parts and curtain rings — in her layered, hand-stitched mixed-media art. The company/studio: Mouse House Inc., a custom picture framing shop in Columbia that Lenz and her husband Steve Dingman started in 1987. The couple live above…
A lifelong athlete, Maryland artist Brandon Donahue collects and repurposes basketballs, footballs and other sports equipment into larger, flower-like assemblages. The artist: The Memphis native graduates with a BS from Tennessee State University (TSU) and earned an MFA from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Donahue now lives in Baltimore, where he works as an…
Nashville-based painter Lizzy Love likes playing with color, patterns and shapes in her abstract, figurative works. The artist: Love grew up in Memphis, and took private art lessons at an early age. She graduated with a BA in studio art from the University of Mississippi. The company/studio: Lizzy Love Art, based in Nashville, started roughly in 2015.…
Scale, shape and color drive the work of South Carolina painter Liz Rundorff Smith. The artist: Born in Greenville, PA, her family moved to Littleton, CO, when she was four. The family moved back to western Pennsylvania when she was 15. She received a BA in studio art with a concentration in sculpture from the College…
Trained as a traditional metalsmith, Maryland designer Jowita Allen uses recycled plastic bottles, nylon and other ordinary materials to make her modern and often playful jewelry. The artist: Allen began making jewelry and wearable objects as a teenager while growing up in Poland. In 2005, she moved to the United States and settled in Washington,…
North Carolina sculptor and designer Tom Haney creates a modern offshoot of the time-honored, Old World tradition of automata. The artist: Born in Cincinnati, Haney grew up in a large creative family, and earned a degree in industrial design from the University of Cincinnati. Before he became a full-time artist in 2000, Haney made props,…
Texas-based printmaker Elvia Perrin uses abstract imagery, geometric lines and clean-cut shapes in her handmade, minimalist wall art. The artist: Born in Rosenberg, TX, Perrin earned a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in studio art, and an MFA in printmaking at the University of North Texas in Denton. After…
Through gestures and postures in his sculptures, Florida artist Todd K. Fox communicates moments of both joy and sadness with the awareness that one cannot exist without the other. The artist: Born in Orlando, Fox was introduced to the art of Raku at age 11 by a childhood friend. He had a kiln and received…
A self-taught artist, Atlanta’s Hopeton St. Clair Hibbert wants to be known for the textural aspects of his abstract work, ranging from photography and painting to sculpture. The artist: Grew up in Hillsborough, NJ, and moved to Atlanta in his teens. He graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, SC, with an AA degree…
Vicki Essig is known for her detailed and Zen-like handwoven mixed-media art. But in a recent, atypical work, the North Carolina artist used her own home-grown silkworms to make a dress, which sold to a collector. The artist: Born in Denver, the artist grew up in Colorado. She lived in Europe for four years before…