susan lenz

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…

john shuptrine

Through his camera sculpture, Virginia’s John Shuptrine blends his interest in photography with his love of wood. The company/studio: John Shuptrine Art, started about eight years ago. The doctor-turned-artist works in his home workshop in Lynchburg, where he has lived for 35 years. In the beginning: While Shuptrine was in the process of retiring from…

brandon donahue

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…

linda bobinger

Georgia sculptor Linda Bobinger uses humor and distortion in her female forms. The artist: Bobinger taught various art-related classes, mostly in Camden County for 31 years. She has been a full-time artist for three years. The company/studio: Linda Bobinger Sculpture is based in Brunswick. The ceramic artist has studio space in her backyard, but she…

tom haney

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,…

todd k. fox

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…

greg reuter

Sculptor Greg Reuter works in clay, bronze and iron. The Texas-based artist describes his unfussy, well-crafted work as “impressionistic with a gestural quality.” The artist: Born in Santa Monica, CA, Reuter grew up mostly in the San Francisco Bay area. He earned a BA degree at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland and…

dave lasker

One grandfather was a carpenter. The other was a machinist. Both influenced Dave Lasker’s work and career as a contemporary furniture designer and sculptor in Atlanta. The artist: Born in West Seneca, NY, Lasker lived in Providence, RI. Before heading off to college, he worked construction jobs during the summer months in high school. He…

jenifer thoem

With her hand-built ceramic sculptures, Georgia’s Jenifer Thoem can take a wall from wanting to wow. The artist: The Georgia native grew up on a farm in Rome, GA, where her desire to create and build things began and was encouraged by her parents. At Georgia Southern University, she discovered clay and earned a BFA…