Author: Aria Sorell Vantine

David John Hilditch, born in Wolverhampton in 1951, has built a practice that moves between painting and philosophical inquiry. His work does not settle into fixed meaning. Instead, it opens questions—about identity, perception, and the nature of experience itself. Trained through a path that intertwined visual exploration with deeper intellectual reflection, Hilditch approaches the canvas as something active rather than static. Paint is not simply applied; it behaves, shifts, and unfolds across the surface. His compositions seem to exist outside of conventional time, resisting clear beginnings or endings. What emerges is an environment where perception is constantly in motion. The…

Adamo Macri moves through art without staying in one place for long. Born in Montreal in 1964, he developed his foundation at Dawson College, where he studied commercial art, graphic design, photography, art history, and fine arts. That range continues to shape how he works today. While often recognized for sculpture, his practice extends across photography, video, painting, and drawing, shifting between mediums depending on the demands of the idea. Rather than separating disciplines, Macri treats them as interchangeable tools, each capable of carrying the same underlying concerns. His work circles around identity, transformation, and the uneasy space between what is…

Jo Gabe approaches painting as a way of holding onto experience while allowing it to shift. Working across acrylic, oil, and pastel, their practice moves between observation and interpretation, where memory is never fixed and place is never entirely stable. Influences from artists such as Kandinsky can be felt in the looseness of form and the sensitivity to color, yet Gabe’s work remains grounded in personal reflection rather than abstraction alone. Landscapes, interiors, and figures are not treated as separate subjects but as extensions of lived moments. Travel plays a steady role in shaping this direction. From the density of…

Linda Cancel’s work begins with place, but it does not stay there. Born in 1959 in Moscow, Idaho, she grew up surrounded by the shifting light and open spaces of the Pacific Northwest. Those early impressions continue to shape how she sees and paints. One of her first memories—watching fireworks over the Snake River as a toddler—left a lasting imprint. It was not just the spectacle, but the way light moved across water and dissolved into darkness. That moment echoes through her work today. Her paintings return again and again to atmosphere, to the subtle transitions between shadow and illumination,…

Sebastian Di Mauro’s practice begins with distance. Originally from Australia, he relocated to the United States, entering a space that was both familiar and unfamiliar at once. What had once existed as a mediated vision—formed through films, television, and the idea of the American Dream—shifted into something more layered when experienced firsthand. Living in a new country, alongside a partner with roots in Wilmington, Delaware, Di Mauro found himself navigating between memory and reality, between what was imagined and what was lived. This shift became central to his work. Rather than treating identity as fixed, he approaches it as something…

Bobbie Carlyle, an amazing American sculptor, builds her work from a life that is both full and grounded. As a mother of seven and a grandmother many times over, her creative process is closely tied to lived experience. Rather than separating art from life, she allows the two to move together. She pursued her Fine Arts degree at Brigham Young University while raising her family, a decision that speaks to both persistence and clarity of purpose. That same sense of commitment runs through her sculpture. Carlyle approaches bronze not just as a material, but as a way to hold energy,…

Nancy Staub Laughlin moves between disciplines with ease, working as both a pastel artist and photographer while allowing each practice to inform the other. Based in the United States, she holds a BFA from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, a foundation that continues to shape her approach to composition and material. Over time, her work has been presented across galleries and museums along the East Coast, finding its way into both corporate and private collections. Critics have responded to her work with interest, including Sam Hunter, who described it as refreshingly unique. That response feels grounded in what her…

Miguel Barros is an artist shaped by movement, distance, and layered experience. Born in Lisbon in 1962, he carries with him a cultural mix that spans Portugal, Canada, and Angola. This breadth of perspective continues to inform how he sees and builds his work. In 2014, he relocated from Angola to Calgary, a shift that introduced new visual and emotional terrain, yet his connection to Lisbon remains central. Trained in Architecture and Design at IADE in Lisbon, Barros approaches painting with a structural awareness that never feels rigid. Instead, it becomes a quiet framework for exploration. His work moves between…

Michel Marant, born on August 4, 1945, in Saint-Junien, France, has developed a body of work rooted in the quiet patterns of daily life and the presence of the natural world. Trained at the National School of Decorative Arts in Limoges and affiliated with the Maison des Artistes, his practice has gradually shaped itself into a distinct visual language. Working across pencil, acrylic, oil, and collage, Marant moves between surfaces such as canvas, paper, and cardboard without hierarchy. His approach draws from the flowing sensibility of art nouveau, yet it is not bound by it. Instead, he builds a personal…

There are artists who work from observation, and others who work from sensation. Rebecca Navajas stands with the latter. Her paintings are not concerned with accuracy or careful representation. Instead, they move toward something less fixed and more immediate. Emotion becomes the starting point, and everything else follows. Color is not decorative. It carries weight. Gesture is not controlled. It reacts, shifts, and sometimes resists. In her work, nothing feels static. Each piece seems to hold a pulse, as if it continues to change even after it is finished. Navajas approaches identity and experience as something layered rather than defined.…