This week, Margie Kinsley is showing us how creativity, while instinctive, is labyrinthine work through and through.

The potency of creativity is startling, isn’t it? The way creative urges cross-breed and multiply, the way that they cannibalize artistic instincts in order to push forward toward the appealingly unknown.

If the hungers of a true artist are insatiable, then it follows that artists must have mighty heterogeneous palates.

For Margie, the wires that she uses to furl together her jewelry design have been a short fuse for the detonation of great artistic combustion. She’s not wary of blowing sky high the conceptions of herself as an artist or of experimenting with foreign mediums until they become comfortable old friends. Her jewelry-making, born of a pragmatic foundation, has given way to art photography and sketching.

We’re looking forward to future evolutions of this “bad girl” artist.

Check out more of Margie’s work on her website, or click over to her permanent Hearted-Artist gallery.

Please let us know what YOU think about Margie’s work by leaving a comment below, and by rating her portfolio. Come back in two weeks – to check out our next hearted artist!

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P.S. You’ll never be cool like Margie if you don’t submit your artist portfolio! And if you’ve already submitted, we’ll be picking another hearted artist in two weeks – it might just be you!

Craig “Uncle Dreg” Booth might claim to not have a clue what he’s doing, and maybe he doesn’t, but the result is extremely cool.

Uncle Dreg calls it “art photography” because the creative juices don’t stop flowing just because the shutter snaps. His work becomes charged around the edges and electrocuted with color.

A simple stroll down Court Avenue in downtown Canton becomes a glowing etch-a-sketch portrait, like a neon x-ray that shows off the hidden energy lurking under the surface of our everyday surroundings. Uncle Dreg reveals the heat and passion that surrounds a young woman like an aura.  He shows us the apprehension that soaks a businessman embarking on a trip on a lonely train platform.

Some pieces show distinctly sinister undertones. Others are just plain unorthodox. But all of them are cool.

For more about Uncle Dreg, be sure to click over to his permanent Hearted-Artist gallery. You can also see his work in person at 2nd April Galerie’s The Dreg Spot or his website.

Please let us know what YOU think about Uncle Dreg’s work by leaving a comment below, and by rating his portfolio. Come back next week – same time, same place – to check out our next hearted artist!

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P.S. You’ll never be cool like Uncle Dreg if you don’t submit your artist portfolio! And if you’ve already submitted, we’ll be picking another hearted artist next week – it might just be you!

It takes a daring eye to capture these moments like he does. There’s no “fortunate accident” in his shutter work, he photographs while weaving a fastidious story into what appears in the viewfinder.

I am especially enamored of Thom’s dealings in downtown Canton architecture. His work in infrared, especially, provides a sense of foreboding and awe, as though these monoliths are standing stoically at the twilight of the apocalypse, staring down disaster and ruin, and coming out no worse for the experience. There is a dark, menacing quality, sure, but they’re beautiful, too.

His edge-of-the-world view continues even when he moves on to flesh and bone subjects – I marvel at the gritty portrait of artist Joseph Close and others. And he certainly takes a “devil may care” point of view in his new Factory of Terror Series.

Then Thom completely transitions into cheery, lighthearted, but no less riveting images that still have a trace of dark comedy. His photo portfolio has everything from the Glenmoor Gathering to downtown summer festivals and musical performances.

At the end of the day, the universe wants what it wants. And it wants Thom to keep on taking pictures.

For more about Thom, visit his website and be sure to click over to his permanent Hearted-Artist gallery.

Please let us know what YOU think about Thom’s work by leaving a comment below, and by rating his portfolio. Come back next week – same time, same place – to check out our next hearted artist!

P.S. You’ll never be cool like Thom if you don’t submit your artist portfolio! And if you’ve already submitted, we’ll be picking another hearted artist next week – it might just be you!

Canton ceramic artist Diann Adams shows off diverse, traditional textures in modern molds.

Diann’s work teeters along a pastoral path. Her golden forms sing of prosperous bounty. Her shapes in shades of blue reminisce the vault of heaven. Her modern marbled pots salute ancient stone relics. And her Raku-inspired creations warm the spirit like a hearth fire.

And in true spirit of the artist community, Diann is the protege of another hearted artist, one Laura Kolinski-Schultz. Diann has done well by her teacher.

She’s a member of the CMA’s Ceramic Artists Guild, and her work is available in the gift shop of the Canton Museum of Art. You may also contact Diann for commissions.

Check out more about Diann over at her permanent Hearted-Artist gallery.

Please let us know what YOU think about Diann’s work by leaving a comment below, and by rating her portfolio. Come back next week – same time, same place – to check out our next hearted artist!
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P.S. You’ll never be cool like Diann if you don’t submit your artist portfolio! And if you’ve already submitted, we’ll be picking another hearted artist next week – it might just be you!

When released, this stream, bubbling just below the surface, eclipses the finite but beautfiul shell that has been restricting its flow. And so we have a whole new vision in the word “bombshell.”

To define her work solely in terms of well-illustrated, buxom beauties would be to miss the crux of her message.

Megan’s In the Blood is more self-empowering than self-deprecating; more self-portrait than sexy siren. It shows the artist’s dual nature, and indeed the dual nature of every woman who wishes at once to please convention and damn the lot of them. The inner battle between good and evil here is more akin to the battle between passion and decorum. One’s perspective leads to judging which is which.

All of her pieces, in fact, display this countenance, the ability to be grim while beautiful, to be shocking while lovely, or to be disarming while at peace. The women she brings to life look as though they can fend for themselves. As though had Megan not given them life with pen or brush, they would have forced their way out of the tube or bottle on their own steam.

Megan Mars’ work is beautiful, so much less for the bomb shell than for the bomb core.

Check out more of Megan’s work on her website, or click over to her permanent Hearted-Artist gallery.

Please let us know what YOU think about Megan’s work by leaving a comment below, and by rating her portfolio. Come back next week – same time, same place – to check out our next hearted artist!

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P.S. You’ll never be cool like Megan if you don’t submit your artist portfolio! And if you’ve already submitted, we’ll be picking another hearted artist next week – it might just be you!

But if you look more closely, it’s obvious that her work captures brilliantly many of life’s firsts, many of life’s thrills…

… a father-daughter ride on the carousel filled with booming laughter and young squeals…

… a first, flushed kiss atop the giant Ferris Wheel, all tension and nerves…

…the memories wrapped up inside a classic fender, memories of the hand that molded it.

Don’t see it? Don’t worry; she didn’t think you would at first. Joanne is hoping to make you give these everyday occurrences the second look that they deserve. There’s beauty here, and that’s what makes Joanne’s work so much more than ordinary. She takes something commonplace, pulls a thread, and unravels something astonishing.

Joanne offers a little bit of déjà vu in her work, something vaguely familiar, warm and welcoming. She’s helping us all rediscover the everyday things that Stark County offers up daily – something I think everyone who makes their home here is trying to do in one way or another. Her wonderful work is available for sale in a variety of formats, including smartly-priced greeting cards and other gift items so that you can treat friends and family to the same unexpected experience you’ve had.

You may think these images are straightforward, that there is no abstraction in the way they are captured, but give them another look and see if you can’t find some further meaning, some greater story inside.

Check out more of Joanne’s work at her blog or on Flickr, or click over to her permanent Hearted-Artist gallery.

Please let us know what YOU think about Joanne’s work by leaving a comment below, and by rating her portfolio. Come back next week – same time, same place – to check out our next hearted artist!

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P.S. You’ll never be cool like Joanne if you don’t submit your artist portfolio! And if you’ve already submitted, we’ll be picking another hearted artist next week – it might just be you!

Picking the first hearted artist was really tough, because there are so many cool artists in Stark County (and we received a great many portfolios from them to kickoff this site!) But it was truly tough because Heart Stark Art is meant to introduce, or in some cases “reintroduce” Northeast Ohio to what Stark County has cooking in the arts, and we have a smorgasboard! We wanted someone who could show off how diverse, eclectic and fun the arts are in our community.

So when Bili submitted to the site, we were thrilled because his work is off the wall but accessible and most of all, his creativity is versatile. And he’s all over Stark County, working in Massillon, but bringing his vision down to Acme Artists in downtown Canton and to other shows and events around the community. He also has a great website where you can see even more of his work.

In short, he’s an artist who gets it. From his paintings and videos to his unique sculptural creations turned toys, his work represents serious talent and serious fun!

To view Bili’s permanent mini gallery on Heart Stark Art, click here. Who can resist those Pygmy Pachyderms? Not me.

Please let us know what YOU think about Bili’s work by leaving a comment below, and by rating his portfolio. Come back next week – same time, same place – to check out our next hearted artist!

P.S. You’ll never be cool like Bili if you don’t submit your artist portfolio! And if you’ve already submitted, we’ll be picking another hearted artist next week – it might just be you!

Each week following this first unveiling, we’ll unveil a new artist that we heart – complete with online portfolio!

Want to be an artist we heart? Submit your portfolio online now!

Spread the word about our site so that people in Northeast Ohio (and beyond!) can discover awesome artists who are living, learning & creating in Stark County, Ohio.

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Our first hearted artist will debut in JULY – please visit ♥starkart.org to view our very first hearted artist, sure to be one of the finest artists in Stark County. Calling all Stark County artists! Want to be a hearted-artist? Submit your artist portfolio here or learn more about our process! We’re looking for Stark County artists in all creative media.

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