The deadline for submissions will be here before you know it as April 30 is right around the corner. Don’t miss this opportunity to have your work included – we want nothing more than to see the artists of Stark County (hearted and otherwise) to succeed. This book is one small way to get your work out there.

Indigo Ink Press, a new nonprofit independent publisher in Canton, Ohio, has announced that it will launch with Stark ARThology, the first book dedicated exclusively to the work of talented and creative visual artists in Stark County, Ohio.

Local artists are invited to submit work for consideration in the book through April 30, 2010.

About the Book

Stark ARThology will be a coffee table style hardcover book that showcases artwork through stunning oversized visuals. The book will feature artists who work in all visual media – including painting, pen and ink, pencil, photography, ceramics, jewelry, fiber arts, mixed media and more.

The book will be sold through local galleries, studios, art venues, specialty retailers and online through the Indigo Ink website and Amazon.com. The book will also be made available for free to high school and Stark County District Libraries. A portion of the proceeds from book sales will be donated to ArtsinStark’s SmArts Program.

The book will be published this fall in time for the holiday gift-giving season and is made possible through a special project grant from ArtsinStark, The County Arts Council.

Artist Benefits

Artists selected for the book will receive two free copies and professional photography services for the selected piece(s), as well as a professional artist headshot photo. Stark ARThology will be celebrated at a launch party in November.

An advisory committee will select artists and pieces for the book. Artists must submit work by April 30 to be considered. Submissions are being accepted online and there are more details available on our website at indigoinkpress.org.

If you have any questions, please contact Jessica Bennett via email at editor@indigoinkpress.org, or call (330) 417-7715.

On behalf of rogue spray enamel artist Steven Ehret, bite your tongue.

[slide]

Despite the lonely, esoteric and languishing spirit that infects much of his work, Steve’s work is infectious. And even when he’s painting on walls, I’m left thinking thank god for this “debasement.”

When Steve says that he draws inspiration from the people and places he encounters each day, one can hardly believe him. At first. But somewhere among the dilapidated, dingy hovels and the frenzied fiends that populate his pieces, it doesn’t take too much imagination to connect the hyperbolic dots.

Steve’s work imbibes the feeling of a merry riot. His isn’t a style that leaves you at the canvas edge. It’s an entire existence, happy in its gritty, sinister promenade. The creatures he creates, ones he lovingly calls “phontasmal,” are sometimes beleaguered, always beguiling, and often belligerent, but each surges with its own life – without moving an inch they are animated, stirring and memorable, to say the least.

If you’re looking for Steve’s work, you can look online at his site or blog, at the William Rupnik Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio, or you can look around the city. He exhibited at the recent Stark Naked Salon exhibit at Massillon Museum of Art, and got rave reviews.

Whether with a can of spray paint or the more refined tools of the trade – with Steve, it’s not his work that is obscene, but his talent.

For more about Steve, be sure to click over to his permanent Hearted-Artist gallery.

Please let us know what YOU think about Steve’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!

[ratings]

P.S. You’ll never be cool like Steve 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.

[slide]

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!
[ratings]

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.”

[slide]

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!

[ratings]

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…

[slide]

… 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!

[ratings]

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!

[ratings]

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!