Get to know ARTclectic Artists!
Deedee Bernhardt
Dee Dee Bernhardt is an oil painter who enjoys capturing both moods and feelings on canvas. Solitary figures, empty cityscapes, and quiet moments all find different ways to interject themselves into her body of work. She especially loves playing with the contrast of bright lights and deep shadows. Shiny AirStream campers, vintage cars, and sunny buildings often find themselves as subjects in her paintings. Dee Dee specializes in very small work which she has dubbed "Tiny Paintings". Subject matter in the "Tiny Paintings" include portraits, landscapes, cityscapes, still-life scenes, campers, and figurative works. These paintings, about the size of a credit card, have been purchased by collectors from around the United States.
Sue Blaney
Sue has a passion for capturing movement in her art. Beginning with a sketch inspired by a face or pose, she uses various media to bring the piece to life. The interplay of light and shadow also plays a major role in her work. Her goal is to use these relationships to create a sense of drama. She is a graduate of University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), Fashion Design. After DAAP she worked 30+ years in Cincinnati’s creative industry.
Jessie Boone
Jessie Boone grew up in Cincinnati and has earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ohio University and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Savannah College of Art & Design. Jessie finds herself watching people a lot. She could sit for hours and watch the people around her because “people are most real when they do not realize that they are being watched.” Her paintings document breaches of personal space, which create momentary intimacy between strangers. The common denominator is that each person is in the midst of an introverted action in a public space.
Errol P Bruce
Marquetry is the art and craft of applying pieces of wood veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. Caribbean born artist Errol P. Bruce, creates life through arts with the use of Marquetry, a technique dating back to the 16th century France. Although originally used as a decorative technique in furniture making and craft work, his work has transformed the technique into a mesmerizing art form. He uses tiny individual pieces of exotic wood from all over the world, some the size of a pin head, which are inlaid to form an intricately detailed design. The vibrant colors are a reflection of his Trinidadian upbringing and his work as a costume designer for Trinidad’s well known “Carnival” celebration.
Ken Landon Buck
Ken has achieved signature status in seven watercolor and pastel societies nationwide and has won "Best of Show" awards in the top juried national and international exhibitions. His work has been published in the Encyclopedia of Living Artists in America, BLINK, and the Pastel Journal’s Top 100 artists for 2020. His paintings are in numerous private and public collections including Cincinnati Financial Corporation, Baker Hunt Foundation, the Erlanger Public Library, and the Springfield Museum of Art. He has been teaching pastel and watercolor classes at various places for many years, including the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and was recently featured on WCET’s program “The Art Show”.
Dorothy ("Dot") Burdin
Dorothy Burdin is primarily a painter of florals and landscapes. Turning to nature as a source of her ideas, she feels that the natural world around her provides the best images for her work. Her paintings are interpretative and representational with the use of delicate brush strokes and soft colors, which seem to reflect her personality. She has traveled extensively abroad, and her experiences are apparent throughout her work. She has had several solo-woman art shows in the Cincinnati area and her work is displayed in many private collections. Recently, she completed a nine painting, abstract landscape commission for a private collector.
Classical Stained Glass
Classical Stained Glass, formerly Classical Glass, has been in continuous operation since 1974 as the leading stained-glass installer and restorer in Cincinnati Ohio. They strive to give every customer's project, no matter how large or small, the same exacting attention to detail. In addition to having many art pieces in stock, they can do custom work. They have restored the stained glass for St John’s Church in downtown Cincinnati Ohio and built and installed the stained glass in the Mary Seat of Wisdom Church at Thomas Moore College. They also manufacture Garden Bath windows for the leading home builders in the Cincinnati Area, including the Drees Company, Lucke Homes, David Ott Builders, Pendragon Homes, John Henry Homes, Great Traditions Builders, and Zicka Homes.
Stephen Corrigan
Stephen Corrigan earned a BA in Art from Missouri Western College and has been a mural painter for many years, creating a wide variety of realistic and imaginative wall scenes for homes and businesses. Due to the rigors of painting large-scale murals and his advancing years, Stephen has recently turned to creating abstract art, exhibiting the colorful creativity of his mural masterpieces on a much smaller scale.
William ("Bill") Dinkins
Bill spent over 40 years in advertising, beginning as a graphic artist and concluding as an Art Director. Upon retirement, he focused on his first love, painting, but also enjoys photography. Bill’s artwork is on display in several Ohio galleries, including Coppertop Gallery in Loudonville, Imagery Gallery in Chagrin Falls, and Eisele Gallery in Cincinnati.
Leslie Durham
Leslie Durham has been a glass artist specializing in Tiffany lamp recreations since 1979. She was always drawn to the beauty of oil paintings and in 2000 she decided to give it a try. She traveled to India and recreated scenes of simple everyday life there. She quickly realized how much oil painting, while challenging, gave her joy. She studied under Chuck Marshall who has influenced her painting journey. In the artist's own words, “I continue to enjoy the challenge of recreating the beauty I encounter, whether it be a vase with daffodils or a woman wearing a silk sari milking a cow.”
Cathy Fiorelli
Cathy has been an artist her entire life, transitioning from representational to abstract style over time. In college, she studied printmaking and painting. Her minor in English literature helped to inspire many of her artworks and their intriguing titles. Defining a painting by way of a title is as important to her as its content.
In addition to ARTclectic Gallery, she displays her work at Purple Paisley Gallery in Covington, Kentucky, Strauss Gallery in Hamilton, Ohio, and Trumbull Gallery in Warren, Ohio. She also posts new work on her Facebook page under Catherine Louise Fiorelli.
Kevin Grimmer
Kevin is a self-taught artist who paints a broad spectrum of subjects and focuses heavily on figurative and sports themes. His distinctive style is characterized by a strong focus on juxtaposing different subject matters, colors, mediums, and styles, resulting in unique and fun pieces. He doesn't hesitate to combine oil, acrylic, water-soluble graphite, and charcoal on the canvas. This deliberate contrast becomes a source of strength, adding energy that sparks the imagination. His work often features a striking interplay between detailed black-and-white elements and bolder, looser colors.
Tracey Ellis Haynes
Tracey is a nationally recognized narrative figure and portrait artist. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Mount Saint Joseph and was a federal trial illustrator and graphic designer for 27 years. She has received many portrait commissions, private and corporate, including Cincinnati Children’s Hospital “Portrait of a Soul”. She has been selected to exhibit and won awards in many exhibitions in Cincinnati and throughout the country. Through her subtle use of symbolism, color harmonies, and the figure, her work tells a story about her subject’s inner worlds and private experiences, intertwining universally human themes of subconscious desires and personal experiences
Michael W Hensley
For forty years, Michael put his artistic passion on hold as he worked his way through a career in advertising. As a founding partner in an agency called HSR, he was given the opportunity to collaborate with some amazingly creative people globally, working in Europe and Asia and supporting some of the largest and most beloved brands in the world. Taking that world of experience. Michael picked up the paint brush again in 2018 and started painting with the energy and passion of an emerging artist. Michael has become a very active member of the Cincinnati art community participating in many local artist groups and art shows.
Nancy Jones
Growing up in New England, Nancy had many opportunities to be at the shore. She loved the sights and sounds of the waves crashing in, with shells and pebbles rolling under the water. She loved the feeling of the sand under and around her feet as it was drawn back by the receding water, as well as the taste and smell of the salty water as she was tossed around while riding the waves. When she paints, she relives those precious times and desires that those who view her work sense a visceral connection to their own water experiences.
Jim Kaelin
Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Jim relocated to Cincinnati to complete a degree in Graphic Design at the University of Cincinnati. He has worked in the advertising and marketing arena for over 30 years and, over that time, periodically explored painting as a hobby, admiring the work of artists such as Steve Lyman, Robert Bateman, Carl Brenders, and many others. Awed by nature since a child, Jim is motivated to understand and appreciate the natural world better through illustration and painting. In recent years, he has had more time to spend in nature and practice his art. He looks forward to sharing these moments by way of painting.
Chris Krupinski
Chris's exquisite artwork has earned her signature status in numerous watercolor societies and “Best of Show” awards and top prizes in the highly competitive juried shows, both nationally and internationally. Flexibility enters the picture as Krupinski composes her paintings. “I love the flexibility of being able to create my own designs,” she says of the still life paintings that have earned her 250 awards in shows throughout the world. A graphic designer by trade for many years, she delights in placing everything just so and then capturing her creation with a passion that has her working in her studio seven days a week. Chris’s artwork has been selected for exhibitions around the world, including in China, Turkey, Taiwan, Greece, Holland, Italy, and Russia.
Christine Kuhr
Christine Kuhr is an American Scene Oil Painter creating plein air and studio work. She has a professional artist diploma from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, majoring in painting and illustration. Christine is a Signature member of the Cincinnati Art Club and the Women’s Art Club of Cincinnati, and a member or the Brush and Palette Painters. She has exhibited extensively with these organizations and others in group and juried exhibits and has received awards of excellence. Her work is in private and corporate collections.
John Leon
Since starting his career as a sculptor in 1980, John Leon has created over 500 bronze sculptures, dozens of stone and wood carvings, and many cast stone and ceramic pieces that can be found in private, public, and corporate collections on five continents. He has exhibited widely in museums and galleries internationally. He was one of eighteen sculptors chosen for The First Central American International Stone Carving Symposium in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. He is an exhibiting member of the National Sculpture Society and the Cincinnati Art Club. He has taught stone carving at the Cincinnati Art Academy and currently teaches carving and clay work from his studio. He has been a featured sculptor in American Artist and Sculptural Pursuit magazines.
Tony Lipps
Tony Lipps attended Kent State University's Fine Arts program from 2001-2005 and then joined the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, where he served for 13 years, as a Deputy in Corrections for 6 years and as a Patrol Officer for 7 years. While serving as a police officer, he pursued his art passion as a hobby and gained a strong following for his works. In 2019, Tony was able to pursue his life as an artist full-time, with the support of his wife, Libby Beiting-Lipps, and his two young sons, Julius and Remy. As a full-time artist, Tony continues to explore new technical approaches across various subject matters. Tony is currently inspired to capture the drama and impact of ballet dancers in motion.
Linda McCoy
As an Ohio resident for 23 years, Linda grew up in Chicago. She has studied with many of the contemporary well-known artists of our time and participates in many local group shows. She is an avid back yard birder and uses her photos to serve as reference for her bird paintings. She is currently serving as the chairperson for the Arts Alliance Painters in Mason, Ohio. In her own words, "I paint for the sheer joy of it. I paint what moves me and interpret the subject in the style that befits it; be it either as a tightly rendered still life piece or a painterly landscape. I am intrigued by the complexity of abstract shapes and I am driven by color. I love the liquid of the medium, the familiar scent of freshly squeezed paint, the challenge of a blank canvas, and the bittersweet moment when a painting is finished."
David Mueller
David is a graduate of The American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois and now makes his home in the greater Cincinnati area, in a peaceful and picturesque location of northern Kentucky. His paintings can be found in numerous private and public collections. Two gubernatorial and one state senatorial portraits currently hang in the Ohio state capital. Significant works hang in Proctor and Gamble’ Cincinnati headquarters, St. Peter in Chains Cathedral of Cincinnati, and the homes of many notable individual collectors nationally and internationally. David’s works have been accepted in national and regional juried exhibitions and won many awards, including the Art Renewal Center, Oil Painters of America, National Oil and Acrylic Painters, International Museum of Contemporary Masters of Fine Art, and Cincinnati Art Club’s national juried Viewpoint show. Most recently, he was recognized as a Master Signature Artist in the Oil Painters of America.
Dana Olsen
Dana's lifetime profession has been teaching primary education but she has always made time to produce art and take art classes. After retirement, she focused on her painting and has enjoyed painting a variety of subject matter, from her own photos, plein air on-site scenes and still life. Most of her work leans toward an impressionistic style. She believes paintings are constructed with “pieces of paint” – using correct value, color shape and composition to create a pleasing image. Every one of her abstract works tells a story from a real life experience.
Melissa Powers
On January 24, 2023, Melissa was sworn in as Hamilton County Prosecutor. In 2016, Melissa was elected to serve on the Hamilton County Juvenile Court. There, she presided over custody, dependency, and delinquency cases; including hundreds of violent felonies committed by juvenile offenders. Melissa was the Juvenile Court Administrative Judge from 2020-2022. As Administrative Judge, Melissa was responsible for managing 300 employees and a $35 million budget. Melissa is a lifelong Cincinnatian, graduating from McAuley High School in 1979, the University of Cincinnati in 1984, and the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1991. She has served on numerous boards, including Cincinnati Works, Operations Legal Help Ohio, Cincinnati Fire Foundation, and the Tri-State Veterans Community Alliance. Melissa is married and is the proud mother of four children and grandmother of four grandchildren. In her spare time, she enjoys painting in oils.
Priya Rama
Priya Rama's art is born from her chronic migraines. When one begins, along with the pain and pressure, colors and shapes appear in her mind's eye. These get transformed into hyperchromatic paintings of resilience. An abstract expressionist, her paintings highlight a spontaneous, intuitive, and personal mark-making, with rich color and palpable texture. Her paintings especially explore dualities-- of pain/beauty, emphatic color/delicate brush lines, rich details/quiet resting spots, spontaneity/deliberate placement, translucency/opacity, and contemplation/assertion.
Carol Holland Rentschler
Carol attended Principia College where she graduated with a Math, Computer Science and Business Administration degree. Her 45-year career working with computers has allowed her to exercise her math / logic as well as design skills. Carol originally learned to knit from her grandmother at 10 years old and picked it up later to relax and unwind. Carol has won many awards for her unique and hand-crafted pieces including: 2013 WACC Annual Juried Exhibit Mary Ran Gallery Appreciation, 2014 Hyde Park Square Art Show Honorable Mention, 2016 WACC Award of Merit, 2017 WACC 1st Honorable Mention, 2017 Hyde Park Square Art Show First Place and 2019 WACC Blick Art Materials Award.
Joseph Schaffer
Joseph is a native to the tri-state area and now resides in Cincinnati. He is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University with a degree in graphic design. There he also studied fine art and painting under the instruction of Howard Storm. He has also extensively studied painting and color theory under the direction of artist Ken Landon Buck. He paints primarily in oil while trying to depict and reflect the underlying emotional value and feeling that is innately present in the natural world.
Mark Schlachter
Teacher, photographer, theatre designer, broadcaster, librarian, writer, and sculptor all describe Mark who is a Cincinnati native. Mark’s work ranges from diminutive desk top pieces of steel and brass to 10-foot forms for outdoor display demanding attention from passers-by. His pieces are held in collections in five countries and a dozen states and can be found on public display in Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and Indiana
Thomas Schroeder
Tom grew up surrounded by marshes, lakes, and farmlands in rural southern Minnesota. He moved to Ohio to study architecture at the University of Cincinnati. His architectural training instilled in him a strong base in classic compositional skills. He also developed an expertise in drawing in perspective through his architectural illustration work. He is self-taught in various media, ultimately concentrating in watercolor over the past 20 years. Tom has attained Signature status from many watercolor societies and won numerous awards of distinction.
Keith Shebesta
Keith is native to the greater Cincinnati area and has dabbled in art since elementary school. As an adult, however, Keith pursued business degrees and occupations and currently is self-employed rehabilitating houses in distress by giving them a new lease on life. He married his high school sweetheart over 49 years ago. He and his wife are the proud parents of three grown sons and their families that include two daughters-in-law and five grandchildren. In recent years, watercolor painting has taken a more central role in his life. Keith paints realistic scenes in vivid colors that convey a story for the viewer. He enjoys capturing moments that others may not have had a chance to see or experience themselves. Keith’s artworks have received multiple awards and recognition in juried art competitions.
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Starr Winmill Shebesta
Starr is a watercolor artist and the gallery owner of Artclectic Art Gallery. She launched Artclectic Art Gallery in 2022 to provide a showcase for the eclectic and outstanding artwork of artists who live in the Cincinnati region. She serves on the Board of the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society as its Treasurer and is a Signature member of the Women’s Art Club of Cincinnati. She won the Martha Ray Watercolor Award at the 2022 Woman’s Art Club of Cincinnati Annual Juried Art Show.
Thomas Stead
To Tom, all art is personal, not only to the artist, but to the other human experiencing it as well. Each person comes to a work with completely unique life experiences and filters. As an artist, Tom is true to his own thoughts and feelings. When that truly occurs, the art starts to "breath" and take on a life and energy of its own. The difference between looking and really seeing becomes paramount. Tom say that his art "talks" to him during that process. It makes subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) suggestions for the benefit of the work. The colors and shapes have to dance for him. That complex energy is what he believes makes a good art work attractive and substantial.
Eleanor Stroia
Eleanor is a Fine Arts major at the University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning and worked as a co-op intern for credit towards her degree at ARTclectic Gallery during her fall 2024 semester. She expresses herself through painting as well as combining techniques such as printmaking, collage, pastels, and paint pens. She utilizes bold lines and vibrant colors to make abstract caricatures. These elements infuse her work with energy and play a role in shaping her distinct and whimsical aesthetic.
Deb Ward
In the mid-1990’s Deb reignited her early love of art by studying watercolor. She now also works with fluid acrylic and paints mostly still life. Deb began teaching watercolor in 2004 and holds weekly classes in her home, seasonal classes for the Cincinnati Recreation Commission and workshops throughout the year. Her work has been recognized in local, state and national shows, national publications and books. She holds signature status in four state art societies. In addition, Deb has chaired ViewPoint, a national multimedia art competition, and is a past president of Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society where she remains an active member.
Trish Weeks
Trish Weeks is an artist who is deeply inspired by the energy of the earth. Her bold landscapes fuse intuitive brush strokes, vibrant colors, and a careful attention to detail in order to expertly capture the movement and magic of the world around us. Her signature works are painted using a pallet knife, which allows her to create captivating textures and a distinct tactile feel. Her use of color theory and careful juxtaposition creates paintings that seem to vibrate, a phenomenon that has been called “a dance with color.” Weeks’ undying delight in her process is very evident in her work. And while her path to painting has been far from straight, she will tell you she is deeply grateful and blessed to do what she loves. She is a strong believer in the idea that the energy we put out in the world is what we receive. Because of this, her work is unapologetically joyful, a celebration of the amazing energy of the land we live on. A joy that is not in denial of darkness, but rather in defiance of it.
Doug Welsh
As a Signature Member of the Cincinnati Art Club and a member of Artists For Conservation and Oil Painters of America (OPA), Doug can be found most days either in his studio or outside, painting en plein air.
