Featured Artists at fogdog gallery

Midwest artist Bruce Jochimsen combines natural finds and old world craftsmanship to create refreshing and innovative pieces of art. Specializing in furniture and wall hangings created from driftwood, he excels at finding their inner beauty. Born and raised in Wisconsin with a background in carpentry, he crafts what time and tide provide, turning each into a unique treasure. He is also an accomplished landscaper, he discovered that as he traveled the west coast he was able to combine the innate beauty of nature, and the skills of his trade.

"What time and tide provide"

Recently relocating from Madrid, New Mexico with her family, Claire decided it was time for her to go back to her first love... that of having an art gallery. You can find her racing about fogdog gallery Tuesdays - Saturdays, from 10:00 - 4:00. If you visit after school hours, you may have the opportunity to meet what she considers to be her best work, her twin daughters. Her favorite quote is "A sproingle a day..."

I am a native Washingtonian, growing up in the quaint town of LaConner. I have been an avid outdoorsman all my life and find that I am inspired by God's creation.

It's all about capturing the light.

I am blessed to live in one of the most beautiful areas in the United States... the Pacific Northwest. I have the privilege of being able to capture the natural beauty of the Pacific Coast from Washington to California and share it with the world. Areas including the rain forests of Olympic National Park, the tulip fields of the Skagit Valley in full bloom as the morning sun dances across the petals and numerous waterfalls; preserving these for others to share in our state's beauty.

I also enjoy experimenting with light in other venues as seen with this collection.

I am the organizer for the Arlington Photography Meetup group. As we know, it tends to rain a bit here in the Pacific Northwest, thankfully I am able to continue my creative mojo in my studio where I capture family memories of high school seniors, children and families for future generations to enjoy.

Karen Rust is a jewelry designer whose graphic design background underlies the appealing color sense and drama of her sparkling jewelry. She works in series, often inspired by natural form from the Pacific Northwest - but she is equally comfortable with inspiration from her children's abstract art work.

Born in Indiana, Karen began her artist career as an illustrator of pets and landscape. She eventually moved to Seattle, working as an Art Director for Where Magazine.

In 2006, after the birth of her first child, her lifelong love of glass developed into a budding business. She can often be seen sketching or collecting treasure with her two children on the beaches of Camano Island, or hand weaving chains at various art shows around the Seattle area.

The world is comprised of those who see it for what it is, and those who see it for what it could be. Henceforth, the popular saying commonly used and abused by society today, "It is, what it is". The problem that is encountered with a saying such as this; it does not allow for growth. The Marble Series has been an exploration of taking a childhood toy and taking it beyond its physical self. Although the main subject is identifiable, it is placed outside of its original intended use and offers an opportunity to explore and envision worlds unknown.

Handling one of Keith's universe beads is like holding a world in the palm of your hand. From delicate hummingbirds and icicles, to whimsical turtle and heart pendants, southwestern glass master Keith Kreitter's work is a delight. Each bead is unique - wrought from a selection of many glass types including dichroic, with silver and sometimes opal inclusions.

A native of Kentucky, I studied design, illustration, painting and printmaking at Pratt Institute and the Art Students' League in New York City. I tend to concentrate on figurative painting, particularly of dancers and musicians.

Now and then I extend my figure work to carved and cast sculpture, and I am starting to experiement with encaustic. I have illustrated or designed 12 published books, the most recent being The Last Little Polar Bear, published in 2007 by Blueline Publishing.

Notable exhibits include:

• The Dance of Life, 2006, solo, oil dance paintings, Main Street Café, Berea, KY
• Capitol Gallery 25th Anniversary Show, 2006, group, Frankfort, KY
• Bluegrass Printmakers' Second Annual Exhibit, 2006, group, Downtown Art Center, Lexington, KY
• The Printmakers's Ball, 2005, group, Artsplace, Lexington, KY
• Kentucky Guild of Artists & Craftsmen at the Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center, 2005, group, Covington, KY
• Grace + Grit, 2004, Contemporary Artifacts Gallery, with Davie Reneau, Berea, KY
• Water Tower Annual 2004, group, Louisville Visual Arts Association, Louisville, KY
• Larkspur Press 30th Anniversary Exhibit, 2003, Smith-Berry Vineyard, Newcastle KY
• Cundiff & Duross: Paintings & Drawings, 2000, Artsplace, Lexington, KY
• Jack of All Arts Group Show, 1999, Jack of All Arts Gallery, Madrid, NM
• Laura Lee Cundiff: 10 Years, 1996, solo, Campbellsville University, Campbellsville, KY
• Kentucky - Ecuador Exchange, 1988, group, Old Capitol Frankfort, KY; Quito, Ecuador
• Graphics '88 Show, 1988, Headley-Whitney Museum, group, Lexington, KY; purchase award
• Water Tower Annual 1988, group, Louisville Visual Arts Association, Louisville, KY
• New York Art Group Show, 1986, group, Anthrax Gallery, New Haven, CT

Over the years of my painting career I've been basically consistent w/the form and content of my work. As a beginning painter I crammed every tree, rock, river, bird whatever, into each painting, thereby really making paintings within painting making the canvas much too confusing to "read". Over the years a simplification process sets in which creates more of a flow in the painting because of the editing out of extraneous subject matter. I think the "style" of a particular artist is always there; refined, expanded, but still the foundational structure of each painting. (Unless we 'experiment' w/doing work in a different way that is intentional).

Landscape has always been of paramount interest to me as subject matter and/or points of departure as the'background' for other kinds of imagery. In my flamenco guitarist period all of my paintings included simple forms of dancers in varying gestures of the dance. My basic iconographical images were houses, also birds and other animals; these images would weave around eachother with the life of the plants, trees, mountains, ponds supporting them.

In this, my fifth decade as an adult artist, I have found that the idea of "foliage", particularly the foliage of bushes, leaves, flowers, with their intermingling, overlapping, 'leavesdropping' (pun intended!) among and amidst eachother, is my enchantment and no end of inspiration for finding different ways, dramatic ways, of presenting these ideas to the viewer. One still may find a bird, a butterfly, the occasional rabbit in the setting, but the predominant theme is the life of the 'foliage'.

I listen to classical music 24/7 and when I'm painting the music imbues the painting with a particular "character" (not 'visible' to the viewer). I find this connection to the music of vital importance to how my 'vision' takes my hand around the canvas. Although the essence of the particular piece of music may not be apparent to the viewer, nevertheless, the subtleties of the music are incorporated into the paintings. Since I started playing the cello almost five years ago, my interest in string quartets in particular, has blossomed into such a full-blown appreciation of the genre that not one painting has not felt the 'brush' of that music.

Art, music, nature - 'viva la' similarities!

For over three decades I have photographed subjects in the natural world. The splendor of nature speaks to me with a breathless beauty every time I endeavor into the field. Nature photography is not just seeing an image and recording it through a lens. It is a state of awareness and being. As a young man I spent endless hours pouring over wildlife and nature images found in Sierra Club and National Geographic magazines with bated breath. At that time, I thought only handful of people on the planet could produce images like these. I later came to realize as in all art forms there is a Zen to any creative process. When I step out into our nature every leaf or blade of grass has a story to tell. It's just up to me to take the time to see and hear. As a resident of the Pacific Northwest I am blessed by all the beauty and natural wonders this area affords. Creating, teaching and experiencing keeps my creative fires going.

I believe in classics. I believe in natural gems, real pearls, metals that are rash-free, and in business ethics. I believe in jewelry that makes you feel like a goddess, like a superhero; a little more like the essential YOU.

I believe in elegance, in luxury for everyday. I believe in feeling good. I believe in learning something new every day, that helping someone else helps oneself, and in windchimes. I believe in raw vegetables, in laughing in bed, in sunlight and in swimming and in really good scotch.

I have always been interested in the forms and patterns of the land, and the effects of light and shadow on those forms. The beauty and tranquility of the central and southern Kentucky landscape is especially attractive to me as a painting subject.

A native Kentuckian, long-time artist and former gallery owner, I have studied at the University of Kentucky, The Cincinnati Academy of Art, and at workshops with Neil Di Teresa and Sheldon Tapley.

These Original Oil Paintings are about Home. They are about the play of light through a window, the shadows created as the day changes and the moods of the colors from sunrise to sunset and beyond...

Home is important to me. It is where I am surrounded by the people I love, my garden of growing things, the special things I have chosen for each room and the creation of my own life. Home is where I laugh and love, sit quietly in contemplation, talk with friends and am able to truly be myself.

My Home inspires me to paint all the colors of the spectrum in their many-faceted brillance as the minutes from my days unfold into memories.

Please enjoy these paintings. They are about your home too and that speical place you have created from yourself.

Tia Kramer jewelry is made from recycled sterling silver and handmade paper that is water resistant to withstand daily wear.

Tia Kramer is an installation, sound, and adornment artist who has been integrating handmade paper into her work for the last nine years. Her distinctive paper jewelry emerged as three-dimensional models for a commissioned permanent sculpture installed at Macalester College in 2003.

Tia is influenced by daily interactions with the environment and movement. Her adornments are performative sculptures for one's ears, architecture for the body. She states:

"I look closely at our everyday lives: telephone wires suspended admist tall evergreens, negative space stretching between neighboring skyscrapers. Using cold-form fabrications, I build organic and geometric wire forms that pare down these environments to simple line modules. I then wrap translucent handmade paper around sections of each form creating taught little kites of vibrant color. On the wearer, my adornments come alive. Like leaves on a tree limb, my jewelry punctuates the wearer's movement and expression."