Faculty
Rob Adamson, Painting
www.robadamsonstudio.blogspot.com
Rob Adamson is a passionate painter and teacher, who for 27 years has been drawn to the landscapes and cityscapes of cities throughout the United States including landscapes of the Intermountain West. Rob also paints commissioned portraits. He earned an AAS in illustration from Salt Lake Community College in 1989, a BFA from the University of Utah in 1993 and an MFA in painting and drawing from Brigham Young University in 2007.
Rob is a Professor at the Salt Lake Community College in the Visual Art Department. He teaches classes in drawing, painting, landscape painting, portrait painting and figure drawing. He also enjoys teaching workshops at the Scottsdale Artists’ School in Scottsdale Arizona and serves as a faculty member for the annual Plein Air Utah Workshop in Midway Utah, Sep 13-16, 2023.
Rob is a member of the Plein Air Painters of Utah, a signature member of the American Impressionist Society and a signature member of the Oil Painters of America. His award-winning work is included in many private and public collections and has been displayed in galleries and museums throughout the United States.
Most recently Rob received the community award at the 2022 SLCC Presidents Show.
Rob is represented by 15th Street Gallery and Southam Gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah.
When Rob is not painting or teaching, he enjoys playing the drums in his family band. Instagram: adamsonfamilyband
Richard K. Blades, Painting
www.richardkbladesartist.co.uk
Richard was born in 1978 and raised in East Anglia. His passion for painting began whilst living in Cornwall in his mid-twenties, working under the influence of professional painters based in the Rame Peninsula. Although academically trained, obtaining a BA in Fine Art from the University of Plymouth, Richard regards himself as a self-taught painter. Having grown up in East Anglia, much of Richard’s work is based on and inspired by the skies and landscapes of the area but having traveled widely, his paintings take on a universal quality. Along with the landscape, he is also a still-life painter, fascinated by the quiet corners of studios and how light falls upon objects and plants. Richard, who recently moved to Norfolk after a decade in London, says of his work
“I am primarily an expressive landscape painter working in the English Romantic tradition. I feel a deep connection to the landscape and the artists who also chose the sky, sea, and land as their sources of inspiration. Turner, Constable, Seago, Daubigney, and Courbet are my personal favourites. The gaps between generations and hundreds of years matter little. Regardless of what has changed in this world, the technological advancements, and societal shifts, the landscape is always there, as something eternal, the ever-changing muse, always present, yet never the same. ”
Richard’s work is regularly exhibited in Cornwall and London and is held in private collections, both in the UK and abroad.
Anne Blair-Brown, Painting
Anne Blair Brown was born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island and raised in in Nashville, TN where she currently resides. Her work centers on intimate scenes inspired by local surroundings as well as travel in the US and abroad.
“My artwork starts in reality and evolves through my imagination. As an impressionist, I believe in a painting process that enables me to tap into my creativity rather than trying to copy and perfect. My goal is to invite you, the viewer, to connect to the painting such that you personalize the experience and use your own imagination to complete the story.”
Currently, Anne’s work can be seen at art galleries across America including Provincetown, MA, Kennebunkport, ME, Charleston, SC, Bluffton, SC, and Leipers Fork, TN.
She is a Master Member of The American Impressionist Society and Signature Member of The Oil Painters of America. She is the Past President of the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast (PAP-SE) and remains active in the group. She is also an active member of The Chestnut Group, a nonprofit group of artists dedicated to preserving endangered ecosystems, historic locales, and aesthetically and environmentally significant places.
Ellina Chetverikova, Painting
Ellina Chetverikova was born in Severodonetsk, Ukraine in 1989. Her love of painting and drawing had developed very early. She was always drawn to represent her surrounding world and loved creating images from life. Ellina moved to USA, Cincinnati OH as an exchange student to pursue her education in Arts, received her BFA from Art Academy of Cincinnati, OH in 2012 and her MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, NY in 2014. She received an honorable One-yeah Manifest Residency in 2016, Jentel Residency in 2020 and Meg Hunt Artist Residency with Wrangell Mountain Center in Alaska.
Ellina self-published three books with the collection of her recent works in 2018, 2019 and 2021. She has been exhibiting her work at various galleries around the United States. Ellina had also been an painting instructor in varies arts institutions as Rochester Institute of Technology, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Manifest Drawing Center, University of Cincinnati DAAP and Penn Studio School.
Ellina is represented by Sugarlift Gallery in NYC. Currently living and creating in Cincinnati, OH.
Eric Clift-Thompson, Writing for Visual Artists
Eric Clift-Thompson (He/They) is an Ohio transgender artist, storyteller, and educator whose zines combine poetry and short stories with printmaking and illustration to tell macabre fables that connect a horror niche of the LGBTQ community. His work has been featured in places such as Sean-Christopher Gallery, ROY G BIV Gallery, the cover of Botticelli Magazine, and the private collection of politician Morgan Harper. Eric’s dedication to accessibility and representation was recognized by Shawnee State University where he received the 2019 Lavender Graduation Campus Advocate Award the year he graduated magna cum laude with his BFA. He earned his MFA in Visual Arts at Columbus College of Art & Design where he also graduated magna cum laude, and is an adjunct professor at the Columbus College of Art & Design.
Eric finds inspiration in folklore, macabre aesthetics, alternative subcultures, and music- particularly the sounds and culture of early music.
Joe Gyurcsak, Painting
Mr. Gyurcsak paints a broad range of subject matter including interiors, still life, figure and landscape painting. He has a keen sense for capturing the essence of his subject matter with a bold and candid approach. He exhibits in galleries across the country his award winning paintings continue to pique the interest of collectors nationwide.
Education
Johnson Atelier Sculpture Foundation, 1989, Apprentice Program
School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, 1983-86 BFA
Kean University, 1982-83, Union, NJ
Parsons School of Design, 1981-82, New York, NY
Continued study
Workshops or demonstrations for professional development with artists Scott Burdick, Susan Lyon, David Leffel, CW Mundy, Dan Gerhartz, Skip Whitcomb, Ken Backhaus, Quang Ho, Richard Schimd, Marcia Burtt, Rose Frantzen, Nelson Shanks and John Howard Sanden.
Current Gallery Representation -
Artful Deposit, Bordentown, NJ
Edward Montgomery Gallery, Carmel-By-Sea, CA
Hagan Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, SC
Troika Gallery of Fine Art, Easton, Maryland
Career Accomplishments
1998 -Present Joseph is the Resident Artist / Brand Manager for Blick / Utrecht Art Supplies. He is author of painting articles, instructor, and juror and art materials expert. Joseph also travels extensively conducting lectures, painting demonstrations and workshops at major art institutions throughout the United States.
Edmond Praybe, Painting
Edmond Praybe is a painter concerned with the convergence of perception and abstraction. His work pairs intense direct observation of the motif with abstractions of structure, rhythm, shape and color. He received his BFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art and MFA from the New York Studio School. Edmond’s work has been shown widely at juried and invitational exhibitions. He has been the recipient of the Hohenberg Travel Grant, two Mercedes Matter Awards and was a National Parks Artist-In-Residence at Catoctin Mountain Park. Edmond teaches studio classes and lectures regularly in-person and online. He is a member of Zeuxis: an association of still life painters and is currently represented by Peterson Contemporary in Bend, OR, and Tregony Gallery in Cornwall, UK.
Konstantin Rudnichenko, Painting
Konstantin Rudnichenko is a Ukrainian artist based in Connecticut. He studied at the Art Students League of New York with various teachers including: Leonid Gervits, Robin Smith and Harvey Dinnerstein. His paintings are represented in numerous public, private and corporate collections. Through his works he depicts the very essence of the subject capturing exquisite likeness and luminosity Konstantin was deeply influenced by the old master’s works serving as both a foundation and source of inspiration for the artist’s distinctive style.
He remains deeply committed to his craft, continually refining his technique while exploring new avenues of artistic expression.
Tushar Sabale, Painting
Tushar Sabale is an award winning Indian born, British artist based in London. He mainly paints ‘en plein air’ in oil colours but occasionally enjoys painting objects and has transitioned from painting portraits to landscapes in the recent years. He places his work between ‘Impressionism’ and ‘Realism’ with some ‘Luminist’ touches.
He is one of the youngest elected members of the prestigious ‘The Wapping Group of Artists’, established in 1946 with only 25 full members at any given time. Tushar is also a proud member of ‘The British Plein Air Painters’, a group of 30 professional artists based in the UK that share a passion for painting outdoors.
He is the co-founder of ‘The London Plein Air Group’ that has more than 200 artist members who come together every month to paint in the city of London.
In 2023, Tushar appeared on ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’- Series 8 as one of the Pod artists. It was filmed at Royal Ascot and aired on Sky Arts on 8 February 2023. He was one of the top 3 shortlisted artists. Tushar has won many competitions and received National and International awards for his paintings. He was recently awarded ‘Green & Stone Award’ and is also the recipient of the prestigious ‘Cadogan Award’ by the Chelsea Art Society.
Tushar regularly exhibits in Mall Galleries for the Federation of British Artists at The NEAC (New English Art Club), RSMA (Royal Society of Marine Artists), ING Discerning Eye and his works are held in many private collections around the globe.
Nithya Swaminathan, Painting
Nithya Swaminathan is an observational painter who was born and raised in India, and has been living in Germany for the last 15 years. She has been drawing since forever and oil painting for about 2 decades now. Over the last few years, she has also ventured into gouache and loves it.
Her work mostly focuses on contemporary still life, painted from direct observation. Nithya’s work celebrates the beauty in the ordinary things - she is constantly inspired by her immediate surroundings and finds great joy in bringing it to life on a canvas.
In addition to her still life painting, she is an avid sketcher and records all her travels in her sketchbooks. She also regularly pursues Life Drawing, and believes all these various artistic pursuits feed into one another. As a lifelong learner, she has taken workshops from a variety of artists both in person and online.
Her work is held in private collections worldwide.
Shannon Vaught, Painting
Shannon Vaught is a representational realist painter, born in 1996 just outside of Detroit, Michigan.
She earned her BFA in Drawing + Painting at the Laguna College of Art + Design in 2019. Shannon works and teaches out of her Columbus, Ohio studio where she now lives. She is currently focused on making narrative portrait and figure paintings, primarily in the alla prima approach. Shannon’s work has been exhibited locally and nationally.