((Left) Joy King by Dominique Ovalle-Kongsli (right) Dominique Ovalle-Kongsli) Dominique grew up in the Bay Area where her earliest memories are of a house filled with music — two pianos being played on separate sides of the house. “My entire family is musical, and I remember painting to music as soon as I could hold…
(Snow Flurry by Valerie Smith) Some people inherit their passion through years of practice or discovery, but for artist Valerie Smith, it began at five years old with a flipped-over wooden table, a crayon, and her mother’s encouragement. “I thought I was drawing a dog,” Valerie recalls, chuckling. “My mom came over and said, ‘Valerie,…
(Stephanie Cissna) Raised in the urban sprawl of Los Angeles, Stephanie grew up surrounded by city life. “As a child, I was always drawing, always creating, and I knew I wanted to be an artist,” she recalls. “My parents valued art. My mother’s oil and watercolor paintings were displayed in our home, while my father…
(Emerging Cathedrals by Krystal Allen) Krystal’s journey into art began as a child in Orchard Park, New York. She learned that announcing she was bored inspired her mother to give her tiring chores. Pads and pencils became her constant companions. “Drawing kept me busy and, more importantly, it became a way for me to process…
(Photography by Michele Adams) When asked, landscape photographer Michelle Adams decided that her favorite image is one of the Milky Way, titled Reflections, taken from Todd Lake three years ago. “My day began with a phone call from my sister at 4am, saying these words, ‘He’s gone. It was peaceful.’ That call was the capstone…
