bios

bios

mike bailey
Artsit from East Bridgewater, Massachusettes

joe ciardiello
Joe Ciardiello is an award winning artist/illustrator who has created work for most major magazines, newspapers and book publishers. There's a sense of rhythm and improvisation in his line that relates to his love of music. Joe also plays the drums in blues and jazz groups.
He lives in western New Jersey.

hannah fink
I work with a variety of found objects and recycled materials forming garments that are often either enormous or diminutive in size. These objects hang from the ceiling, attach to the wall or are freestanding, with highly  textured, nuanced surfaces that appear to be well-worn relics from a distant past.

billy fred hellams
My name is Billy Fred Hellams. I was born August 10, 1955 on the road in Carolina and have always had an inquisitive and creative spirit. I am a self-taught artist who sculpts, paints, draws, assembles and juxtaposes media into my interpretations using mostly recycled materials.

My folk name is F R E D which is part of my true name and has several acronyms, Found Recycled Eclectic Designs and Folk Recycle Every Day.

This is “Why I Am”.

dion hitchings
When describing my art you can call it primitive narrative, childlike, colorful, self-revealing, erotic, funny, strange and lots of eyes. My inspirations come from many places – people I see and work with, dreams, plants at the nursery, news items, guests on the jerry springer show and nature. I try to draw/paint a self-portrait every day to keep up the discipline and grow in what I do. Artists that have influenced me over the years are jean michel basquait, aubrey beardsley, peter max, toulouse-lautrec, gustav klimt and the illustrator alan cober.

bob hoke
I’m an itinerant bohemian hobo dumpster-diving artist/painter...63 yrs old. I have lived in NYC, Washington D.C., Miami Beach, Columbus, Ohio, Nashville, TN, and I have traveled almost everywhere pushing my stuff in peoples faces...Jazz Fest New Orleans, House of Blues, Orlando, Slotin Folkart and Outsider Show, Atlanta, A Day in the Country at KY Folk Art Center, Morehead, KY, Whofest, Atlanta, and Kentuck, Al...now I live in Hannibal, Missouri along the banks of the Mississippi where I wander the town scrounging old wood, metal,      plastic...whatever I can put some paint on!

jennifer levine
Levine was an avid painter as a small child. Inspired by her own daughter, she picked up a brush again 5 years ago and emerged again as a painter. She now has an established local following with her work featured in a variety of downtown Montclair venues.

With a BA in Jewish studies from UMASS/Amherst, she also completed the two-year conservatory program at the San Francisco School of Circus Arts. Children know and love her Princess Moxie performances and book series. Levines' theme-portraits and large-scale paintings on canvas and wood covey the same whimsical themes of her publications, recording and performance art.

t marie nolan
Self-taught artist, T Marie Nolan, lives in the basement of an old church near the Mississippi River in Mark Twain’s hometown, Hannibal, MO, Nolan was born in Connecticut on February 28, 1954, the eighth of eleven children. Library work of all kinds (bookmobile driver, book repair, storyteller) occupied her until the mid 1980’s when art became her full time calling. Materials salvaged from local construction dumpsters are her canvas. Dumpster diving is part of the journey. Her paintings depict Adams and Eves, Saints and Sinners, and the various unique characters that inhabit T Marie’s mind. Nolan’s work has been exhibited at outsider folk art events such as Slotin Folk Fest, House of Blues and Kentuck.

kim robertson
I paint the moment. My world is raw, visceral, and emotional. My marks are sure, angry, confused, tentative, and free. They reflect the confluence of my daily life, personal interactions, turmoil, love, dreams and demons. My acrylic and mixed media paintings on canvas, wood and found objects, are a diary of my travels through personal pain and growth. They express my humanity and hope. My work is a vehicle for self exploration and acceptance. I invite you to view them in hope that my personal themes connect us through our shared experiences.

bart r. schultz
My name is Bart Schultz. I'm a self taught artist and I do my own thing. I am untrained and unpolished. My style is rough and raw. My goal as an artist is to create original, innovative works in my own style that reflect my thoughts, visions and personality. I strive to create something new and fresh every day.
I like to work with materials that I have at hand and I enjoy the challenge of recycling and repurposing the ordinary into the unusual and unexpected. In my lifetime, I've experimented with a number of materials including clay, wood, metal, fiber, tape and trash. I use whatever I have or whatever I find. I'm an avid dumpster diver and I ritualistically pick up discarded objects from the ground and "see" them as something else.  I am driven by an inner energy, a streaming "voice" that tells me to use my hands and my head to translate my visions. It's a voice that never stops. It doesn't let me rest.
 
I've spent most of the last five years making primitive figures out of masking tape. To date, I've made close to 600 pieces. I'm still making tape figures, just in limited numbers as I explore other projects.  I'm currently working with torn painter's drop cloth to create portraits, paintings and contemporary sculptures. I played around with this process from 2000-05 and my most recent series of tape figures that incorporated canvas backgrounds spawned a new interest in taking the process to the next level.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.

john stringfellow
John Stringfellow is an artist living in Frenchtown, New Jersey.

andy tobias
Randy Tobias was born in San Francisco, 1954. At the age of 3 his family moved to Oregon. Randy spent all his early years there. In 1968 Randy took an art class, this is where he first worked on a potters wheel. During the next 20 years he never quit making pottery, and one day he read an article on "Face jugs of North Carolina". This was the spark that led him to what he does today. Now, married to his wife Judy, and living in North Carolina, Randy's focus is on southern folk pottery, and artwork. This includes, face jugs, bottle folks, roosters, snakes, and paintings on rusty tin.