July - August

Leah Fletcher, Anthony Mitri, Jennifer Shaban and Dicc Klann

Anthony Mitri

Jennifer Shaban

Anthony Mitri

www.forumgallery.com

April 2014
www.anthonymitri.smugmug.com
I have been working exclusively in charcoal on paper since early 2002. The work produced during this period is rendered in a realistic style with a focus on the effect of
light in conveying a desired mood for a given drawing. In a land or cityscape, through various techniques such as, for example, gradually building up layers of different charcoals of varying temperatures, sometimes blended sometimes not, I find charcoal an effective medium in creating mood via the effect of light.
It is my intent that the overall mood of a piece will be experienced by the viewer in one glance: much in the same way as I myself first experience, on site, the emotional impact of a subject. The viewer may subsequently be drawn in to more closely examine
the drawing, where upon specific details of the composition will emerge, further contributing
to the overall mood of the piece.
I work from photos I have taken myself on location, which is crucial to the work.
The photographs hold a collection of memories associated with the direct experience of
a location, and accurate documentation of the compositional elements of the scene. The
process of rendering a drawing from photos I have taken thus becomes a sort of extended
moment of memory: the finished piece, a personal memoir in charcoal.
Pieces appearing in the July-August 2014 Willoughby Art Center exhibition were
done in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s: just prior to beginning work in charcoal.
Painted in an abstract style, these oils depict landscapes in Normandy, France, where I
was living at the time.
My work in charcoal is represented by Forum Gallery, New York, NY.

Jennifer Shaban

Thanks to parents who loved to travel I had a broad exposure both to cities filled
with artistic culture and pristine wilderness. These two extremes I have always
found to be the most compelling and intensely inspirational. Having grown up in
close proximity to NYC, about 30 miles down the coast in Matawan, NJ my first
inclinations were to explore city life. I moved there to attend Parson’s School of
Design (now Parson’s The New School) where I majored in Fine Arts with a minor
in Art Education. I made my home there and started to do different types of
art related work, antique furniture restoration, textile design, and custom shoe
making. All of the seemingly diverse skills that I had been learning over the past
13 years seemed to culminate in a decision to pursue decorative arts as a career.
In 2003 I moved to San Diego and started my own business doing Decorative
Painting and Faux Finishing which I have been doing for the past 11 years.
I met my husband Anthony, a Cleveland native, while living in San Diego. We
would commiserate about how we missed the seasons. On our first visit to Ohio
we drove east to Amish country and I fell in love. These landscapes had a profound
effect on me. I realized I had been living in cities for too long and had become
absolutely starved for nature, I was craving a simpler way of life.
We decided to move in 2008 and start life here. As we re-established ourselves
we took every opportunity to drive out to these sacred places where the farms
are small and visibly hand (and horse) crafted. I have taken thousands of photos
of these stark and serene settings ever changing with the seasons. This past
year I have begun to explore what exactly it is about these places that I am responding
to and have tried to express this feeling with paint.

Anthony Mitri

Jennifer Shaban

Dicc Klann

Dicc Klann

Artist’s Statement
Colored Pencil Artist

My goal in drawing is to reveal something beautiful.  Colored Pencil allows me to move from extreme detail to simple impressions and to travel anywhere in between.  I am inspired by geometric shapes in nature (i.e. the triangle of a pine tree, the rectangle of a trimmed hedgerow).   Surprising colors in unexpected places open my eyes and mind to new experimentation.  A little whimsy, a bit of graphic design and patterns of repeated shapes are my standard tools for my recent Trees & Clouds series.

Dicc Klann

Leah Fletcher
Linkedin and Email:  leahfletcher23@yahoo.com
440-591-5043 h

For me fine art is like great music; it is based on the fundamentals and always “strikes a chord” with the viewer.  From Rembrandt and Puccini to the more recent Daniel Greene and Frank L. Weber, our hearts are touched forever.

Many people tell me my art has a “soft quality.”   I do try to treat all art subjects gently and perhaps this accounts for the “softness.”  In oil portraiture I am always looking for that special expression which will be definitive of each personality.  Sadness, laughing eyes, a sweet half smile, graceful gestures, and strong hands are all elements that are exquisite to me.  Studying the geometry of faces is interesting and one soon learns that every face has beauty.

Dicc Klann

Leah Fletcher

Dicc Klann

Leah Fletcher

Leah Fletcher

Leah Fletcher

Leah Fletcher