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Honoring the Women of
Stanek Gallery
Stanek Gallery is participating in (re)FOCUS: Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts, a citywide festival recognizing women artists. Stanek Gallery recognizes the critical role of women in the arts and is celebrating their creative contributions with a virtual exhibition that opened on International Women's Day and comes to life for one day on May 18th with a free cocktail reception and silent auction. Scroll to the end of this page to learn more and view the artworks in the auction.
Join us May 18th, 2024
5:00pm - 8:00pm
Walk-ins welcome, RSVPs appreciated
This special exhibition to Honor to Women of Stanek Gallery was curated in association with "(re)FOCUS: Then and Now" which shines a light on women in art and Feminist Art from the inaugural show held in 1974 as well as contemporary women artists.
Wine and light fare will be served as you peruse the work of our current exhibition Serious Play and featured women artists. Admission is free and open to the public but space is limited. RSVP's are recommended. Come support women in the arts!
Click the link below to reserve your tickets.
Silent Auction
All works included in the show are available for bids! At Stanek Gallery, our silent auctions are a fan favorite - unlike traditional auctions, our artists are compensated for their artwork. Bid on your favorite work in person at
the event or virtually.
Registration opens May 6th at 8:00am
Registration closes May 17th at 7 pm
and
continues in person at the event May 18th
To reach a representative and register for the auction email us here
Bidding opens May 17th at noon
Bidding closes May 18th at 7:30pm
All work in the exhibition is available for purchase before the auction opens. Call us 215-908-3277 or or visit the show on artsy and select "Purchase"
Artwork in the Auction
Registering for the silent auction is easy! Just call us and we'll take care of you.
Stanek Gallery is a woman-owned, all-women-run gallery in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia where 50% of represented artists are also women. Our innovative exhibition programs demonstrate how distinctive styles, content, and genres can coexist in the same room with harmony and intrigue. At Stanek Gallery, we do not dictate what the artist creates, and we do not discriminate. The highly selective curation process prioritizes quality of content, craft, and creativity above all else, so it is no surprise that women make up half of our exhibiting artists.
Our represented women artists are Tamie Beldue, Jacqueline Boyd, Deborah Fine, Barbara Fisher, Carson Fox, Stanka Kordic, Donna Quinn, Kathy Loev Putnam, Nicole Michaud, Mary Nomecos, Rachel Romano, Leona Shanks, Mary Spinelli, Katherine Stanek, Louise Strawbridge, Christina Weaver, and Treacy Ziegler. This exhibition also includes work by guest artist Donna Usher as well as gallery assistant Isabella Del Signore and manager, Jennifer Bedford.
Source: Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2019, as reported in The Art Newspaper article, “Gallery representation dwindles for 'established' female artists, new research finds,” January 25, 2019.
Stanek Gallery is one of the 8% of galleries in the Artsy database that represents more women than men.
Stanek Gallery is a woman-owned, all-women-run gallery in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia where over 50% of represented artists are also women. Our innovative exhibition programs demonstrate how distinctive styles, content, and genres can coexist in the same room with harmony and intrigue. At Stanek Gallery, we do not dictate what the artist creates, and we do not discriminate. The highly selective curation process prioritizes quality of content, craft, and creativity above all else, so it is no surprise that we represent the number of women artists that we do. The full list of all our represented artists can be found on our gallery artists page.
Photographs taken by Gallery Assistant Bella Lucy of Gallery Owner & Director Katherine Stanek and Gallery Artists Treacy Ziegler, Rachel Romano, and Nicole Michaud.
The Women We Are Honoring In This Project Are:
Jennifer Bedford
Born in Alnwick, England, Jennifer Bedford is a dual English and American citizen currently residing in Philadelphia. Bedford has always had a deep love for art, art history, and the philosophy of art and has worked in art studios, museums, and now Stanek Gallery as the gallery manager. Bedford attended the University of Delaware between 2011-2015 and received a BA in Art History and another in Art Conservation. There, she learned how to create, understand, replicate, and repair artworks from a multitude of cultures, time periods, and materials. Then, she moved back to Europe to complete an MA in the History and Philosophy of Art, travel, visit museums, and make art. When her final semester in Paris ended, Bedford found herself returning to Pennsylvania, where she spent her childhood, and revisiting her love for painting and gilding. She worked on commissions, at an art studio for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, and as a TA to help pay for her PhD in Art History at Tyler School of Art and Architecture which focused on Artificial Intelligence and the concept of creativity as a skill. Ultimately, Bedford left the program during COVID, turned a room in her apartment into an art studio, and started working as a gallery manager at Stanek Gallery. She is a certified archery instructor, has published a short novel, and is currently collaborating on a children’s book with artist Bella Lucy. Bedford continues to live and work in Philadelphia, travel the globe, and paint figurative works in oil.
Tamie Beldue
Born in upstate New York, Tamie Beldue is a contemporary American artist focused in mixed media drawings. Beldue received a BFA from the Columbus College of Art & Design and earned her MFA at the University of Cincinnati. Beldue has exhibited extensively in the US in group and solo exhibitions, including the Fort Wayne Museum of Art Realism Biennial, Southern Ohio Museum, North Carolina Museum of Art, Mobile Museum of Art, the Arnot Art Museum’s Re-Presenting Representation and the Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery. Her works are in the permanent collections of the Arnot Museum of Art, The DeYoung Museum, Howard & Judy Tullman Collection, James T. Dyke Collection of Contemporary Drawings and the Sandy & Diane Besser Collection. Currently she is represented by Blue Spiral Galleries in Asheville, NC and is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville.
Jacqueline Boyd
Jacqueline Boyd was born and raised in Brigantine, New Jersey. The artist built a professional career managing her family sign shop alongside her father and two brothers. With a burning desire to create, Boyd uprooted her life and committed to her calling for painting in the early 2000s. The determined artist commuted from the comfort of her island home to Philadelphia every day to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 2007. Boyd’s work is inspired by her deep connections to home, family, and nature that have fulfilled her day-to-day life on the coast.
Jacqueline Boyd shows her gratitude for these elements by painting imagery of treasured spaces, places, landscapes, and daily objects such as plants, books, and personal memorabilia. Although her paintings begin as recognizable compositions, Boyd alters the perceived reality of the imagery by adding and subtracting paint and blending subjects together with one another as well as with the background. She plays with perspective, transparency, texture, and color to visualize the essence of a place or thing, rather than reproducing reality. The result is imagery that resonates with viewers.
Jacqueline Boyd maintains a consistent studio practice where intuition guides the brush as she captures her emotional relationship to the subject matter. Her subjects continue to evolve and flourish, even past the painting plane. Boyd pushes her practice by experimenting with found materials, exemplified in her newest collage series: “Fragments.” The artist has been recognized locally for her vision by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and has been featured in galleries throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Jacqueline Boyd shows her gratitude for these elements by painting imagery of treasured spaces, places, landscapes, and daily objects such as plants, books, and personal memorabilia. Although her paintings begin as recognizable compositions, Boyd alters the perceived reality of the imagery by adding and subtracting paint and blending subjects together with one another as well as with the background. She plays with perspective, transparency, texture, and color to visualize the essence of a place or thing, rather than reproducing reality. The result is imagery that resonates with viewers.
Jacqueline Boyd maintains a consistent studio practice where intuition guides the brush as she captures her emotional relationship to the subject matter. Her subjects continue to evolve and flourish, even past the painting plane. Boyd pushes her practice by experimenting with found materials, exemplified in her newest collage series: “Fragments.” The artist has been recognized locally for her vision by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and has been featured in galleries throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Isabella Del Signore
Isabella Del Signore was born in the "Main Line" area outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2000. She found her personal style of kinetic lines and intricate detail in high school, where she found her hunger for art and realized that it HAD to be her livelihood. It was then that Isabella Del Signore became determined to make it so.
Isabella Del Signore obtained her BFA from The Pennsylvania State University in 2022 which also enabled her to study abroad at Studio Arts College International in Florence, Italy in 2020. Additionally, Del Signore recently completed a residency at Mauser Ecohouse in Costa Rica where she painted 3 large-scale murals. Despite her young age, Del Signore has made big moves in the art world and has already been exhibited at Stanek Gallery, Main Line Art Center, Bellefonte Art Museum, 3 Dots Downtown, and Sitar Arts Center. She has also been commissioned to produce public murals in Haverford High School, Housing Transitions and 3 Dots Downtown in State College in addition to two private murals in a Center City luxury home.
Del Signore is an illustrator, painter, and animator who is passionate about using art to tap into the chaos of the world and create harmony and unity. She utilizes vibrant colors, unconventional proportions, and intricate details to create otherworldly characters and environments that push back against society’s standards for normalcy. Influenced by the impermanence of existence, Del Signore creates her surrealist imagery to capture the preciousness of human relationships and moments of spontaneity.
Isabella Del Signore obtained her BFA from The Pennsylvania State University in 2022 which also enabled her to study abroad at Studio Arts College International in Florence, Italy in 2020. Additionally, Del Signore recently completed a residency at Mauser Ecohouse in Costa Rica where she painted 3 large-scale murals. Despite her young age, Del Signore has made big moves in the art world and has already been exhibited at Stanek Gallery, Main Line Art Center, Bellefonte Art Museum, 3 Dots Downtown, and Sitar Arts Center. She has also been commissioned to produce public murals in Haverford High School, Housing Transitions and 3 Dots Downtown in State College in addition to two private murals in a Center City luxury home.
Del Signore is an illustrator, painter, and animator who is passionate about using art to tap into the chaos of the world and create harmony and unity. She utilizes vibrant colors, unconventional proportions, and intricate details to create otherworldly characters and environments that push back against society’s standards for normalcy. Influenced by the impermanence of existence, Del Signore creates her surrealist imagery to capture the preciousness of human relationships and moments of spontaneity.
Deborah Fine
Deborah Fine was born and raised in the Philadelphia area and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. In 1969, she returned to Philadelphia from school in Pittsburg to earn her BFA at the University of the Arts. In the years that followed, Fine continued her education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Mainline Art Center. Deborah Fine owned a small business for many years and worked in the arts supporting fellow artists. This entrepreneurial experience served her well in the transition from operating and managing a small business to establishing a studio practice that feeds her passion for painting.
Deborah Fine is guided by her intuition and the relationship between material and canvas. In a state of constant exploration, Fine layers a variety of materials including acrylic paint, texture mediums, oil pastels, and more. She deploys the ideologies of Abstract Expressionism since an integral part of Fine’s process is movement. She embraces spontaneous drips and lines, allowing the canvas to decide where the next layer of paint will rest. Every decision considers the overall composition before Fine embarks on a new intuitive action to alter the piece.
Deborah Fine’s work is in many public and private collections. She has been exhibited throughout the Northeast at museums, art centers, and prominent galleries including the Woodmere Art Museum, the Main Line Art Center, and most recently, Stanek Gallery.
Deborah Fine is guided by her intuition and the relationship between material and canvas. In a state of constant exploration, Fine layers a variety of materials including acrylic paint, texture mediums, oil pastels, and more. She deploys the ideologies of Abstract Expressionism since an integral part of Fine’s process is movement. She embraces spontaneous drips and lines, allowing the canvas to decide where the next layer of paint will rest. Every decision considers the overall composition before Fine embarks on a new intuitive action to alter the piece.
Deborah Fine’s work is in many public and private collections. She has been exhibited throughout the Northeast at museums, art centers, and prominent galleries including the Woodmere Art Museum, the Main Line Art Center, and most recently, Stanek Gallery.
Barbara Fisher
Barbara Fisher was born in New York City, educated in Colorado and California, and lived for many years on the West coast before settling in Asheville, North Carolina in 1998. Her work has been exhibited in solo shows throughout the country, including the de Saisset Museum (CA), Bank of America World Headquarters (CA), The National Institutes of Health (MD) and The Washington Cancer Center (DC) as well as in many galleries. Her paintings have hung in group shows at the Asheville Art Museum (NC), the Alexandria Museum of Art (LA), the Sun City Museum of Art (AZ) and the Chicago Cultural Center (IL).
Fisher is also a recipient of a prestigious grant from the renowned Pollock-Krasner Foundation, which seeks to award funding to artists who have demonstrated excellence throughout their careers, and whose practices are constantly evolving. She is also a recipient of the Mortimer Fleishhacker Foundation Grant and the Asheville Arts Council Project Grant. Her work is featured in numerous corporate collections, and has appeared in major Hollywood films and is exhibited extensively in the U.S.
Fisher is also a recipient of a prestigious grant from the renowned Pollock-Krasner Foundation, which seeks to award funding to artists who have demonstrated excellence throughout their careers, and whose practices are constantly evolving. She is also a recipient of the Mortimer Fleishhacker Foundation Grant and the Asheville Arts Council Project Grant. Her work is featured in numerous corporate collections, and has appeared in major Hollywood films and is exhibited extensively in the U.S.
Carson Fox
Carson Fox’s work relies heavily on the imprint that individual experience has on the artist, and centers on the production of sculpture, installation, and printmaking.
Carson Fox received her masters of fine arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, her BFA from University of Pennsylvania, and a four-year studio certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of The Museum of Arts and Design, The Royal Museum of Belgium, the Noyes Museum of Art, the Newark Public Library, the Jersey City Museum, the Morris Museum of Art, the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, the New Jersey State Museum, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, The New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, Colorado, the Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, O. K. Harris Gallery, New York, the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Wales, the Brunswiker Pavilion Kiel, Kiel, Germany, and the Association Mouvment Art Contemporain, Chamalieres, France. In 2009, Fox completed a permanent public art project commissioned by the NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the Seaford LIRR Station in Seaford, NY. Fox has received grants from the University of Rhode Island, the New Jersey Council on the Arts, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and the Mid Atlantic Art Foundation, a Willem Emil Cresson Award, and a New Jersey Print and Paper Fellowship at the Brodsky Center for Innovative Print and Paper. In 2015, Carson Fox finished a major public art installation at the University of Arkansas for their newly complete math and science center, Champions Hall.
Carson Fox is represented by Linda Warren Projects in Chicago, IL and Stanek Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. Fox lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Carson Fox received her masters of fine arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, her BFA from University of Pennsylvania, and a four-year studio certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of The Museum of Arts and Design, The Royal Museum of Belgium, the Noyes Museum of Art, the Newark Public Library, the Jersey City Museum, the Morris Museum of Art, the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, the New Jersey State Museum, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, The New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, Colorado, the Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, O. K. Harris Gallery, New York, the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Wales, the Brunswiker Pavilion Kiel, Kiel, Germany, and the Association Mouvment Art Contemporain, Chamalieres, France. In 2009, Fox completed a permanent public art project commissioned by the NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the Seaford LIRR Station in Seaford, NY. Fox has received grants from the University of Rhode Island, the New Jersey Council on the Arts, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and the Mid Atlantic Art Foundation, a Willem Emil Cresson Award, and a New Jersey Print and Paper Fellowship at the Brodsky Center for Innovative Print and Paper. In 2015, Carson Fox finished a major public art installation at the University of Arkansas for their newly complete math and science center, Champions Hall.
Carson Fox is represented by Linda Warren Projects in Chicago, IL and Stanek Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. Fox lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Stanka Kordic
Stanka Kordic is a first generation American born of Croatian parents. She followed her talented brothers, Vladimir and Branko into the world of Art. Stanka graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1985, with a major in illustration and a minor in painting. From there, she traveled Europe, taking in as much art as humanly possible. She returned to work as an illustrator for several years. Her projects included editorial art, package design, and book illustration.
In pursuit of artistic freedom, she left the commercial world in 1988 to establish a professional art studio, concentrating her efforts on painting the landscape and figure. This led to portrait commissions, international awards, and inclusion in several corporate collections throughout the Midwest, including Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and Key Corp. Since 2009, her focus has been to develop her personal figurative work. Stanka's awards include, the Gold Medal of Honor in Painting from Allied Artists of America, and 2 Certificates of Excellence from the Portrait Society of America International Competition. Her work has been exhibited in venues nationally, among them, the National Arts Club, and the Salmagundi Club in New York City, as well as the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. Her private collectors span the US and Europe.
Stanka also serves as Artist in Residence at Beaumont School, sharing her knowledge of painting with students who have chosen a focus in visual art.
In pursuit of artistic freedom, she left the commercial world in 1988 to establish a professional art studio, concentrating her efforts on painting the landscape and figure. This led to portrait commissions, international awards, and inclusion in several corporate collections throughout the Midwest, including Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and Key Corp. Since 2009, her focus has been to develop her personal figurative work. Stanka's awards include, the Gold Medal of Honor in Painting from Allied Artists of America, and 2 Certificates of Excellence from the Portrait Society of America International Competition. Her work has been exhibited in venues nationally, among them, the National Arts Club, and the Salmagundi Club in New York City, as well as the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. Her private collectors span the US and Europe.
Stanka also serves as Artist in Residence at Beaumont School, sharing her knowledge of painting with students who have chosen a focus in visual art.
Kathy Loev Putnam
Kathy Loev Putnam is a figurative painter who works in oil, acrylic, printmaking and mixed media collage. Putnam has exhibited in group shows in New York, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, Kansas City, St. Louis, Brownsville, TX, and Hastings, NE. She has been featured in several digital and print publications, including Contemporary Art Curator Magazine, Spotlight Contemporary ARTMagazine, Create! Magazine, Friend of the Artist, Studio Visit Magazine, and Circle Foundation for the Arts. Putnam has been an artist in residence at The Vermont Studio Center, and she earned her MFA at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2018.
"I have always been fascinated by portraiture, realism and the figure. I am powerfully affected by beauty and ornamentation in painting, and by the intimacy created between a human subject and a viewer. In my own work, I want to preserve elements of representation, while deconstructing the figure in further exploration of my subject. While I do not work directly from observation, my paintings are typically inspired by an image or memory of one of my daughters. Anchored in a gesture that is both personal and familiar, my subjects depart from the specific and evolve into invented individuals. They become universal portraits of girls during their formative years, marked by a vivid internal consciousness, and at times a sense of social disconnection. Changeable and often ambiguous narratives emerge, inviting the viewer to consider questions about femininity, identity, transition, and awakenings.
My process is a type of call and response between my subject and the materials I choose. Paper, fabric, and found materials create new conditions on the surface, in a manner that can’t be accomplished with paint alone. In recent years, I introduced printmaking to my practice as a source for collage materials. Incorporating different textures, edges and patterns into my paintings often results in contextual shifts, presenting dynamic opportunities for further creative choices. I use the interplay between image and surface to reveal character through gesture, costume, and environment."
"I have always been fascinated by portraiture, realism and the figure. I am powerfully affected by beauty and ornamentation in painting, and by the intimacy created between a human subject and a viewer. In my own work, I want to preserve elements of representation, while deconstructing the figure in further exploration of my subject. While I do not work directly from observation, my paintings are typically inspired by an image or memory of one of my daughters. Anchored in a gesture that is both personal and familiar, my subjects depart from the specific and evolve into invented individuals. They become universal portraits of girls during their formative years, marked by a vivid internal consciousness, and at times a sense of social disconnection. Changeable and often ambiguous narratives emerge, inviting the viewer to consider questions about femininity, identity, transition, and awakenings.
My process is a type of call and response between my subject and the materials I choose. Paper, fabric, and found materials create new conditions on the surface, in a manner that can’t be accomplished with paint alone. In recent years, I introduced printmaking to my practice as a source for collage materials. Incorporating different textures, edges and patterns into my paintings often results in contextual shifts, presenting dynamic opportunities for further creative choices. I use the interplay between image and surface to reveal character through gesture, costume, and environment."
Nicole Michaud
Nicole Michaud, born in Manchester, New Hampshire, called the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest home throughout her life. Michaud’s ability to thrive in varied environments explains her effortless transition between mediums and stylistic approaches throughout her career. Fueled by travel and nature, Michaud was awarded the Women’s Board Travel Scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the institution where she also earned her Certificate of Fine Arts. She used this award to study abroad in Europe in 2011. Upon her return, Michaud settled in Philadelphia.
Michaud uses oil paint and pastels to explore how subconscious minds interact with their actual environment. These explorations come to fruition as colorful abstract paintings on canvas, vibrant oil pastels on paper, and most uniquely, nostalgic landscapes rendered using oil on mylar. In this latest series, Michaud draws on inspiration from ever-changing terrain. Her abstract landscapes encourage remembrance and reflection. She creates beautiful images from memory with surreal qualities that serve as cathartic tools for physical and emotional transformation.
Nicole Michaud has received several other awards including the Maurice Freed Memorial Prize from the Woodmere Art Museum, the Artists’ House Gallery Award, and the Catherine Grant Memorial Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She has also exhibited throughout Pennsylvania and New York as well as overseas in London.
Michaud uses oil paint and pastels to explore how subconscious minds interact with their actual environment. These explorations come to fruition as colorful abstract paintings on canvas, vibrant oil pastels on paper, and most uniquely, nostalgic landscapes rendered using oil on mylar. In this latest series, Michaud draws on inspiration from ever-changing terrain. Her abstract landscapes encourage remembrance and reflection. She creates beautiful images from memory with surreal qualities that serve as cathartic tools for physical and emotional transformation.
Nicole Michaud has received several other awards including the Maurice Freed Memorial Prize from the Woodmere Art Museum, the Artists’ House Gallery Award, and the Catherine Grant Memorial Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She has also exhibited throughout Pennsylvania and New York as well as overseas in London.
Mary Nomecos
Born in a small town in southern New Jersey, Mary Nomecos began the study of art at Patricia Witt's Barn Studio. In 1971 she was accepted as a full-time student at the Academy where she developed a personal abstract style. She was awarded the prestigious William Cresson Memorial Scholarship enabling her to experience major European collections and graduated in 1975.
Her professional career has been highlighted by representation at major Philadelphia galleries, and two 3-month artist residencies at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of Taos, New Mexico, in 1983 and again in 1998, which helped to define her interest in exploring juxtapositions of color, shape, space, edge and line. In 1999 she participated in the Department of State Art in Embassies Program Exhibition in Oman. Her work is in the collections of State Museum of Pennsylvania, New Jersey State Museum, Woodmere Art Museum, Federal Reserve Bank, and many corporate collections.
Her professional career has been highlighted by representation at major Philadelphia galleries, and two 3-month artist residencies at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of Taos, New Mexico, in 1983 and again in 1998, which helped to define her interest in exploring juxtapositions of color, shape, space, edge and line. In 1999 she participated in the Department of State Art in Embassies Program Exhibition in Oman. Her work is in the collections of State Museum of Pennsylvania, New Jersey State Museum, Woodmere Art Museum, Federal Reserve Bank, and many corporate collections.
Donna Quinn
Donna Quinn is a Philadelphia painter whose abstract work is inspired by themes central to relationships, space, and the passage of time.
Exploring harmony and imbalance, her surfaces recall abandoned spaces with an impreciseness that often accompanies faded memories. She uses a materials-driven process to create layers of paint and mixed media on paper to evoke the passage of time, a sense of loss, and reverence for the past. The result is a highly textured and muted palette etched with organic lines, intuitive marks, and repetitive shapes.
A graduate of Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, PA, she has exhibited her work extensively in Philadelphia and other U.S. cities such as Alexandria, VA, Washington DC, New York City and Miami. She has received several grants and was a recipient of the Fellowship Award in Painting from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts. Her work is held in numerous private collections.
Exploring harmony and imbalance, her surfaces recall abandoned spaces with an impreciseness that often accompanies faded memories. She uses a materials-driven process to create layers of paint and mixed media on paper to evoke the passage of time, a sense of loss, and reverence for the past. The result is a highly textured and muted palette etched with organic lines, intuitive marks, and repetitive shapes.
A graduate of Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, PA, she has exhibited her work extensively in Philadelphia and other U.S. cities such as Alexandria, VA, Washington DC, New York City and Miami. She has received several grants and was a recipient of the Fellowship Award in Painting from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts. Her work is held in numerous private collections.
Rachel Romano
Rachel Romano’s connection to art began at age 7 with regular sojourns with her father to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once a month, after a train ride from Connecticut, he would be waiting at arrivals to whisk her off through the streets of New York. These were magical, mysterious, and wondrous years. Rachel’s father was a poet, actor, an original thespian of Greenwich Village. She says he planted the seeds of storytelling.
Expecting to go to art school, Rachel’s very brief encounter was cut short by unforeseen family circumstances. At age 38, Rachel did attempt another go at art school at the Lyme Academy of Fine Art, but having a two year old son made her asses life choices. She wanted to be selfish about her art, and selfish about raising her son. Both couldn’t happen, so motherhood became the focus. That year of art school gave Rachel a foundation on which to form her art, and help lead her to where she is today. Fast forward through years of a diverse career in advertising, architecture, landscape design, and motherhood. Thirty-nine years later her painting career began.
Early 2015, Rachel dove into her painting career, and became a symbolic/storyteller/surrealist figure painter. Her inspiration is rooted in the adversity, strength, and resilience of herself and others; particularly women and children. The stories of humanity, their personal myths, fill her creative well. Feeling/seeing the laughter, love, and sorrow in people keeps Rachel connected to the greater picture. It is in this connection that brings the richness of story out in her work.
Rachel’s finished paintings have similarities to the painters of the Northern Renaissance. She loves working in oils because it has so much forgiveness, wiping out, adding new layers. Lots of vigor goes into the initial layout. Nothing is really worked out before she stars a painting, consequently Rachel’s paintings will go through many iterations before they are complete. Recently Rachel was contemplating her work “(in the shower.. the best place to do so) and the vibrancy of her painting, why so colorful? She came to the realization that it is her subconscious’ way to offset the darker elements that reside in her paintings. Softening the blow by bringing the joy of color.
Rachel works from memory, her imagination, thinking and feeling through the expression for a what she is trying to convey. Rachel finds if she works from a model, she is too informed, giving her too much reality in the figure. It's a completely different process. Some disagree with this approach, thinking she should have her imagery more planned out. But for Rachel, that initial energy of scribbling is what gets her going, thinking by doing. It is almost like there are two sides to Rachel as an artist. A more abstracted side, and then the much more representational side. Sometimes she feels the pressure, not necessarily the desire, to let the wilder side dominate. But she always returns to who she is instinctively.
Having come from long lineage of artists (her great grandfather), a concert violinist (grandmother), a writer and filmmaker (father, brother) has Rachel drawn to all forms of art. “There is so much out there that can inform you in your process. On the other hand, looking at too much art can be detrimental.” She finds she can overly compare to others, and it can shut down her creative process. Rachel has a love/hare relationship with social media. For her, its all about finding the balance in the web world.
You can find Rachel nearly every day in her studio outside of Philadelphia. Other times a year she is gallivanting about Europe taking part in residencies, or meeting with her galleries, and delivering work for exhibits. She is very grateful to have numerous collectors around the globe to help her continue with her painting, and travels.
Expecting to go to art school, Rachel’s very brief encounter was cut short by unforeseen family circumstances. At age 38, Rachel did attempt another go at art school at the Lyme Academy of Fine Art, but having a two year old son made her asses life choices. She wanted to be selfish about her art, and selfish about raising her son. Both couldn’t happen, so motherhood became the focus. That year of art school gave Rachel a foundation on which to form her art, and help lead her to where she is today. Fast forward through years of a diverse career in advertising, architecture, landscape design, and motherhood. Thirty-nine years later her painting career began.
Early 2015, Rachel dove into her painting career, and became a symbolic/storyteller/surrealist figure painter. Her inspiration is rooted in the adversity, strength, and resilience of herself and others; particularly women and children. The stories of humanity, their personal myths, fill her creative well. Feeling/seeing the laughter, love, and sorrow in people keeps Rachel connected to the greater picture. It is in this connection that brings the richness of story out in her work.
Rachel’s finished paintings have similarities to the painters of the Northern Renaissance. She loves working in oils because it has so much forgiveness, wiping out, adding new layers. Lots of vigor goes into the initial layout. Nothing is really worked out before she stars a painting, consequently Rachel’s paintings will go through many iterations before they are complete. Recently Rachel was contemplating her work “(in the shower.. the best place to do so) and the vibrancy of her painting, why so colorful? She came to the realization that it is her subconscious’ way to offset the darker elements that reside in her paintings. Softening the blow by bringing the joy of color.
Rachel works from memory, her imagination, thinking and feeling through the expression for a what she is trying to convey. Rachel finds if she works from a model, she is too informed, giving her too much reality in the figure. It's a completely different process. Some disagree with this approach, thinking she should have her imagery more planned out. But for Rachel, that initial energy of scribbling is what gets her going, thinking by doing. It is almost like there are two sides to Rachel as an artist. A more abstracted side, and then the much more representational side. Sometimes she feels the pressure, not necessarily the desire, to let the wilder side dominate. But she always returns to who she is instinctively.
Having come from long lineage of artists (her great grandfather), a concert violinist (grandmother), a writer and filmmaker (father, brother) has Rachel drawn to all forms of art. “There is so much out there that can inform you in your process. On the other hand, looking at too much art can be detrimental.” She finds she can overly compare to others, and it can shut down her creative process. Rachel has a love/hare relationship with social media. For her, its all about finding the balance in the web world.
You can find Rachel nearly every day in her studio outside of Philadelphia. Other times a year she is gallivanting about Europe taking part in residencies, or meeting with her galleries, and delivering work for exhibits. She is very grateful to have numerous collectors around the globe to help her continue with her painting, and travels.
Leona Shanks
Leona Shanks studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Philadelphia. In the fall of 1984, she was introduced to renowned American realist painter Nelson Shanks. Though she began her exploration in the fine arts as a sculptor, Leona Shanks began to study painting with Nelson Shanks in 1985, and in 1989 the two married. In 2002, Leona Shanks won the Edmund Stewardson Award for Sculpture at PAFA, and co-founded Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia with her husband, Nelson Shanks.
Currently, Leona Shanks continues to paint, study, and teach at Studio Incamminati. Her commitment to life-long learning and the study of art is evident in her skill as a realist painter. Her background in sculpture continues to inform her painting to this day, and adds dimension to her deep and thoughtful works.
"As an artist, I have much to say. My art is a forum for me to express ideas that are in my consciousness. Images will not leave my mind until I explore them on canvas. My platform for communication is with paintbrush and canvas.
As an artist, I want to paint something that matters and is relevant to contemporary issues. I aspire to make a contribution so that when I leave this earth, maybe I have done something meaningful. A fire rages inside of me to create art that has soul and significance.
The greatest honor or ultimate achievement for me as an artist would be to create art that provokes an emotion or inspires thought in someone else. Life moves so fast. Maybe my work will enable someone to see something they might not have otherwise noticed. I will spend my life in search of truth which is found in the soul of everything living and also in death."
Currently, Leona Shanks continues to paint, study, and teach at Studio Incamminati. Her commitment to life-long learning and the study of art is evident in her skill as a realist painter. Her background in sculpture continues to inform her painting to this day, and adds dimension to her deep and thoughtful works.
"As an artist, I have much to say. My art is a forum for me to express ideas that are in my consciousness. Images will not leave my mind until I explore them on canvas. My platform for communication is with paintbrush and canvas.
As an artist, I want to paint something that matters and is relevant to contemporary issues. I aspire to make a contribution so that when I leave this earth, maybe I have done something meaningful. A fire rages inside of me to create art that has soul and significance.
The greatest honor or ultimate achievement for me as an artist would be to create art that provokes an emotion or inspires thought in someone else. Life moves so fast. Maybe my work will enable someone to see something they might not have otherwise noticed. I will spend my life in search of truth which is found in the soul of everything living and also in death."
Mary Spinelli
Mary Spinelli (b. 1944) has been a professional painter since 1970. During her studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Spinelli discovered that the unique qualities of alkyd oil perfectly suited her artistic aesthetic. As a master of her medium, Spinelli can achieve her desired results in alkyd oil on a variety of substrates while her work continues to evolve.
Mary Spinelli “searches” for each painting by manipulating her materials; adding, subtracting, scraping, hammering, rubbing, and sanding her compositions until they reach her signature ethereal and atmospheric plane. Based in meditation and curiosity, Spinelli’s practice is timeless and continuously developing. She is an explorer of her own imagination, intuitively finding new ways to transform paint into organic, mysterious environments.
Mary Spinelli has had over two dozen solo exhibitions and has shown in numerous group shows. Her works are featured in several public collections including the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Woodmere Art Museum, Connecticut College, the Lankenau Medical Center in Philadelphia, and the Stedman Art Gallery at Rutgers University, as well as many private collections throughout the country.
Mary Spinelli “searches” for each painting by manipulating her materials; adding, subtracting, scraping, hammering, rubbing, and sanding her compositions until they reach her signature ethereal and atmospheric plane. Based in meditation and curiosity, Spinelli’s practice is timeless and continuously developing. She is an explorer of her own imagination, intuitively finding new ways to transform paint into organic, mysterious environments.
Mary Spinelli has had over two dozen solo exhibitions and has shown in numerous group shows. Her works are featured in several public collections including the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Woodmere Art Museum, Connecticut College, the Lankenau Medical Center in Philadelphia, and the Stedman Art Gallery at Rutgers University, as well as many private collections throughout the country.
Katherine Stanek
Katherine Stanek was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and lived in the Chicago area until her early twenties. Pursuing work and education, Stanek relocated to Philadelphia where she held a full-time corporate management position while attending class part-time at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 2002, Katherine resigned from her management position and began her career in art at the Pennsylvania Academy receiving a 4-year merit scholarship for her studios. Stanek was introduced to the traditional sculptural process during her first year at the Pennsylvania Academy and later received several awards in both sculpture and draftsmanship, including the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy Fellowship Trust Award for her body of work. Upon graduation, Stanek was invited by notable Philadelphia galleries to exhibit her bronze works with integrated concrete bases. Stanek’s exploration of concrete as a sculpture medium has led to her developing proprietary cement formulas that suit her personal aesthetic and studio practice. The result is a sculptural image that reflects the energy of the entire process and the changing characteristics of the material. This marriage of content and craft has gained the attention of collectors and sculpture gardens throughout the United States. Stanek is the recipient of the George and Helen Segal Foundation Grant and her concrete sculptures have been featured in many publications including, the National Sculpture Society’s “Sculpture Review.” Stanek’s unique creations can be found in many private and public collections in the U.S. and abroad. She has exhibited in museums, universities, galleries, and sculpture gardens with her most notable exhibition as the Frederick Meijer Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan alongside Auguste Rodin in “Rodin and the Contemporary Figurative Tradition.” In 2020, Stanek installed her largest commission to date for the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Louise Strawbridge
Louise Strawbridge uses a wide range of materials and textures to explore the possibilities of disturbing qualities in the commonplace. In her work, mystery is not to be solved but valued and explored. She received a M.A. in Literature from The University of Chicago in 1971 and taught English for many years. Making art became her full-time occupation when she moved to London in 1998. She has lived in Philadelphia with her husband, David, since 2003. Her work is in the permanent collection of Zhengzhou Art Museum, China.
Donna Usher
Donna Usher received her BFA in painting and BS in art education from Moore College of Art & Design. She received her MFA with Honors from the University of Delaware. Ms. Usher was an Associate Professor of Art for 25 years at West Chester University; in 2021 Ms. Usher was awarded the Honors College Emerita Designation by the West Chester University Council of Trustees. In addition, in 1999 Professor Usher received the Faculty Merit Award for Creative Endeavors and Collaboration with Students.
Ms. Usher's artworks have been exhibited in over 70 national and international juried and invitational exhibitions. Her artworks are in the Permanent Collections of the National Centre of Fine Arts, Cairo, Egypt; The Museum of Cozumel, Mexico; Reading Public Museum; Verizon Corporate Offices; Franklin Mint, Hercules Chemical Corporation; West Chester University; Moore College of Art & Design; Regional Center for Women in the Arts; Downingtown Public Library; American Restaurant Association Corporate Offices, and numerous private collections.
Ms. Usher's artworks have been exhibited in over 70 national and international juried and invitational exhibitions. Her artworks are in the Permanent Collections of the National Centre of Fine Arts, Cairo, Egypt; The Museum of Cozumel, Mexico; Reading Public Museum; Verizon Corporate Offices; Franklin Mint, Hercules Chemical Corporation; West Chester University; Moore College of Art & Design; Regional Center for Women in the Arts; Downingtown Public Library; American Restaurant Association Corporate Offices, and numerous private collections.
Christina Weaver
Christina Weaver grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2012, and a Master’s Degree in Painting from Indiana University Bloomington in 2014.
Christina paints observationally and abstractly within the broad boundaries of contemporary still life. Her work is exhibited nationwide in group and solo exhibitions, and her works are part of private collections in the United States and abroad. She has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for artists who work traditionally, and in 2012 she was featured in the Southwest Art Magazine as one of the “21 under 31: Young Artists to Collect”. Christina was recently an artist-in-residence at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, and in 2016 she taught drawing and design at Mississippi State University. She currently lives and works near Asheville, North Carolina.
Christina paints observationally and abstractly within the broad boundaries of contemporary still life. Her work is exhibited nationwide in group and solo exhibitions, and her works are part of private collections in the United States and abroad. She has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for artists who work traditionally, and in 2012 she was featured in the Southwest Art Magazine as one of the “21 under 31: Young Artists to Collect”. Christina was recently an artist-in-residence at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, and in 2016 she taught drawing and design at Mississippi State University. She currently lives and works near Asheville, North Carolina.
Treacy Ziegler
Treacy Ziegler is an extremely accomplished multimedia artist who studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. She also earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. Her education and dedication allowed her to develop the skillset and philosophical depth that is apparent across the mediums she employs.
Ziegler started her professional journey as a social worker and later found herself teaching art in the context of prisoner therapy. This prompted an infinite number of letters from more than 700 prisoners who recognized Ziegler's proclivity for sympathy. After reading each letter, she reduces them to pulp to cast animal sculptures of paper with equally sympathetic eyes. In addition to sculptures cast in paper, Ziegler casts bronze and concrete sculptures. She also creates landscape paintings, gilded icons, bronze sculptures, poetry, essays, and large-scale monoprints which she produces on the largest printing press on the East Coast. Her work presents the complexity and drama of the human condition utilizing light, balance, color theory, familiar settings, and symbolism.
Treacy Ziegler has exhibited in over 35 solo exhibitions across the American North East as well as Canada including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She is an accomplished writer who has both published and been the subject of numerous written works. She has received grants from many institutions including the Barnes Foundation Fellowship, the Puffin Foundation, and the New York Partnership Painting and Printmaking Fellowships. Ziegler has also been collected privately by the Arnot Art Museum, the Herbert F. Johnson Art Museum at Cornell University, The Noyes Museum of Art, Rider College, and others.
Ziegler started her professional journey as a social worker and later found herself teaching art in the context of prisoner therapy. This prompted an infinite number of letters from more than 700 prisoners who recognized Ziegler's proclivity for sympathy. After reading each letter, she reduces them to pulp to cast animal sculptures of paper with equally sympathetic eyes. In addition to sculptures cast in paper, Ziegler casts bronze and concrete sculptures. She also creates landscape paintings, gilded icons, bronze sculptures, poetry, essays, and large-scale monoprints which she produces on the largest printing press on the East Coast. Her work presents the complexity and drama of the human condition utilizing light, balance, color theory, familiar settings, and symbolism.
Treacy Ziegler has exhibited in over 35 solo exhibitions across the American North East as well as Canada including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She is an accomplished writer who has both published and been the subject of numerous written works. She has received grants from many institutions including the Barnes Foundation Fellowship, the Puffin Foundation, and the New York Partnership Painting and Printmaking Fellowships. Ziegler has also been collected privately by the Arnot Art Museum, the Herbert F. Johnson Art Museum at Cornell University, The Noyes Museum of Art, Rider College, and others.
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