Barbara Leger is a new Side Arts Certified Visual Artist from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Barbara Leger is noted for her intrinsic talent to capture emotion enveloped in nature. She has a long history of classical training, formally and in studio, with a strong concentration in oil painting. Ms. Léger has been trained through a Master Apprenticeship Program.

As a realist, Barbara paints emotion and moments in time with contemporary styling. Through years of honing her craft, she captures the subtleties that give her work the distinction of sharp focus realism synonymous to the effect of a camera.

Barbara is a Master Marine Oil Painter with the International Society of Marine Painters and a member of Oil Painters of America. She is an integral part of the resurgence of the illuminist movement. Her work is showcased at premier galleries along the eastern seaboard and featured in Nantucket at the Vanderbilt Gallery. Ms. Leger has been featured in numerous magazines including Nantucket Only, American Art Collectors, Cape Cod Art, and American Art Review. She has exhibited in Art Basel Miami and Art Hamptons New York in recent years.

See more work, visit barbaraleger.com.

Dr. Richard Heiens is a Side Arts Certified Visual Artist from Greenacres, Florida.

Dr. Richard Heiens is an accomplished international artist whose colorful abstract expressionist works solicit an emotional reaction from the viewer. His paintings are mostly abstract in nature with some figurative art. His abstracts highlight shapes and colors. Using color intensity and simplicity of composition, his works make a big impact without crowding the canvas.

Dr. Heiens’ paintings have a wonderful balance and handling of the acrylics. They catch the eye of the beholder with their colors and shapes which tell a story. His paintings have a balance of warm, cold, and neutral color composition with a mix of different round and edged components. There are clear boundaries filled with soft shifting nuances. He uses layering of the paints to create the richness in the colors with light and darks being well-placed.

Background

In Rome, Italy, Dr. Heiens took lessons from Professor Sergio Graziani, a famous artist and actor, on how to paint in oil and acrylics. When Dr. Heiens returned to the United States, he taught art to seventh graders in Illinois. He obtained a Doctorate Degree in Education Technology in 2006.

Dr. Heiens obtained gallery representation in Texas and London after selling his works on Instagram. He has had private commissions from clients in Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Illinois, Missouri, South Carolina, California, Florida, and Washington.

See more work, visit dochartist.com

Leslie Jeffery is a Side Arts Certified Visual Artist from Largo, Florida.

Leslie Jeffery was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and became aware of art at a young age from her grandmother, an accomplished oil painter. Leslie studied painting, art history, and constructive design at Florida State University and has a BS in Art Education from FSU. Her large acrylic abstracts are widely exhibited and have received numerous awards.

Leslie works from her studios in Largo, Florida, and Highlands, North Carolina, where she spends the summer. Leslie’s paintings are primarily large format acrylic abstract compositions. The early Abstract Expressionists are her greatest influence, especially Franz Klein, Joan Mitchell, and Lee Krasner. Her work is about the process and features texture – light or heavy, marks of all kinds, deep colors, many layers, patterned backgrounds, drips, and various mediums. They convey energy and mood, and are lyrical. She creates interest and curiosity through the simplicity or complexity of the piece. Leslie finds the painting process exhilarating and loves to talk to viewers about their reaction to and perception of her work. She feels successful when she believes her most recent artwork is her best. While a few are difficult to plan and execute and others come easily, she usually thinks, “What fun that was!”

Memberships and Exhibitions

Leslie is a Signature Member of the International Society of Acrylic Painters (ISAP) and The Florida Artists Group (FLAG). She is a Past President of Las Damas de Arte, a Tampa-based group of women who exhibit together and raise money for art scholarships. Leslie was co-founder of The Carolina Gallery of Fine Art in Highlands, North Carolina, and in August, 2019, was the Presenter for the Art League of Highlands-Cashiers at The Bascom in Highlands, North Carolina.

• November 2019 – April 2020: Solo show at Galleria Misto at Mahaffey Theater, Duke Energy Center for the Arts in downtown St Petersburg, Florida
• April 2020: Participated in the FLAG exhibition at Foosaner Museum in Melbourne, Florida
• May 2020: Won First Place at Art Center Sarasota juried exhibition “UNCHARTED” (out of 270 entries)
• Dec 2020: Solo exhibit at Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa, Florida – “Adios 2020”

See more work, visit lesliejeffery.art

Anne Nye is a new Side Arts Certified Visual Artist from Florence, Arizona.

Anne Nye studied fine art at the University of Idaho, California College of the Arts, and University of Idaho in the 1970’s, completing course work for a BFA. She worked as a graphic designer for many years. In 1997, she became a full-time artist working primarily in kiln-formed glass, developing her signature painterly style and techniques.

Anne’s work has been featured in several national magazines including Art Connoisseur, Glass Art Magazine, and Western Art Collector. Over fifty galleries and shops throughout the United States and Canada have represented Anne’s work. Currently, she is represented by Artful Home. Numerous pieces are held in private collections across the globe.

Anne has been in high demand as an instructor. She has taught in Denver; Atlanta; Omaha; Tennessee; Phoenix; Winnipeg, British Columbia; and Denmark. She conducts select one-on-one mentoring and teaching workshops in her home studio each year.

Anne continues to paint and recently began collaborating with wood artist, Jerry Hauck. She makes her home in Florence, Arizona, with her dog, Ezra, who makes her smile!

See more work, visit annenye.com.

Edna Santiago is a Side Arts Certified Visual Artist from Media, Pennsylvania.

Edna Santiago, a self taught artist, started painting in 2006 after the tragic loss of her only son. Direct, alive, tells a story, and colorful … these are descriptions of her works in oil and acrylic.

Edna expresses life’s elements and stories in color and movement. She is a retired physical therapist and interested in assisting women and children find “their way” to reach their potential through arts. She volunteers at several Philadelphia area art centers such as the Mainline Art Center and Darlington Art Center.

Edna curated and opened an art exhibition, “Nor Wind Nor Waters” at the Da Vinci Art Alliance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in August 2019. This was the first of a series of exhibitions in support of Puerto Rican artists.

Medium: Printmaking, Gourd Art, Painting
Styles: Artesana, Expressive Impressionism, Abstract

See more work, visit ednasantiago.com

John Michael Keating is a Side Arts Certified Visual Artist from Grass Valley, California.

John Michael Keating, an oil, acrylic, watercolor, monotype, and digital print artist, is Professor Emeritus of Art and Humanities at Sierra College in Northern California. He has twice been Visiting Artist at Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland. He has lectured on Art at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California, and at various arts clubs and organizations.

John has lived in Switzerland and Spain and exhibited award-winning oils, watercolors, and prints in the United States and Spain. His works have been purchased by Marriott, Bank of America, San Francisco General Hospital, and the Toyota Motor Corporation. His paintings hang in the Firehouse Restaurant in Sacramento, Napa Valley Museum in Yountville, and Eric Rood Administrative Center in Nevada City, California.

See more work, visit johnmichaelkeating.com

Richard Resnick is a new Side Arts Certified Visual Artist from Brooklyn, New York.

Upon retirement from the Metro Transit Authority, Richard Resnick’s interest turned to photography. They took classes in various venues including Kingbird Community College and International Photography Institute. They show their photos at art shows.

See more work, visit facebook.com/richgray51.

Ayafor Leonel is a Side Arts Certified Visual Artist from Yaounde, Cameroon.

Ayafor Leonel is artistically called Sunng Nnu, a masters student at the University of Yaoundé I studying performing arts and cinematography. Sunng Nnu is an astral painter. His style is called Astral Navigational Painting which is a painting concept that he has been developing for the past thirteen years. He hopes that the style will grow as a tool of innovation and education. He has participated in workshops that have helped him promote his painting ideological experience, imagination, and spirituality.

To realize his dream, Ayafor has organized personal solo exhibitions in Yaoundé and Bamenda under the Astral Navigational theme to promote and made known the ideology and concept. As a painter, he has taken part in the Beijing international arts Biennale in 2015 where he was one of the three artists called upon to represent Cameroon. Locally, he has taken part in the international festival of arts and culture organized by the Cameroon’s Ministry of Arts and Culture.

To see more work, visit: instagram.com/abstralleo