“Art and music are my passions but it’s all art to me.” Internationally acclaimed artist Debra Hurd studied art at both Southern University in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. For 15 years she was a graphic designer in Florida and Austin, Texas. She is also an accomplished pianist, having studied music since early childhood. Debra’s wild boogie-woogie and honky-tonk style still finds her in the recording studios and at live performances in Austin. She loves jazz, classical, and salsa styles, too.

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” Much of my work to date has dealt with exploring notions of materiality, of permanence and of the perception of objects in space. Using light as a sculptural medium, my work is innately ephemeral. It begins as a set of strict mathematical procedures that are played out within an environment. The space simultaneously shapes the work and becomes manipulated by it. Through negating material properties, my current practice seeks a mode of fragility. It rests on the edge between a sculptural form and an environmental effect of light within a space; a context from which the work is inseparable. Such pieces utilise both ambient and artificial light, channeling it and molding it into sculptural works that completely divorce themselves from static material: sculptures without mass and forms without structures. ” – David Ogle

With this new piece Paul Cocksedge asks the question: would you want to own something, when all you can see is what it does, not what it is? Invisible Bookend is a lightweight, free-standing object suitable for desk, shelf or floor which requires no mechanical fitting. It easily holds more than a metre and a half’s length of books, of all shapes and sizes. “I wanted to discover if other people would enjoy as much as I do seeing books displayed without any other object to distract attention from them. This is a design which is not about appearance, only function. That’s the beauty of it.”

Pam Ingalls‘ education in art began early. She first studied with her father, Richard Ingalls, who created the Art Department at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA. She continued at the Accademia Delle Belle Arte in Florence, Italy in 1977, then returned home to earn her Bachelor of Arts degree from Gonzaga in 1979. She later worked with Frederick Frank in New York and subsequently studied oil painting under Ron Lukas in Seattle. More recently she has studied with Richard Schmid and Burt Silverman. Strong color and sound drawing are primary in her paintings. Her choice of simple subject matter is surprising, sometimes humorous, and always full of emotion. Portraits, still lifes and interior scenes populate her studio. A table with chairs, a diner counter top, rubber boots standing by a kitchen door, even a bowl of cherries – all evoke a sense of humanity and presence, as if someone is either about to enter the frame or has just left it. Pam has exhibited in over 125 national and international juried art shows, where she’s won more than 60 prizes. Her work has exhibited in 28 states, and is in collections in numerous countries.

” How do you visually represent the nightmarish hallucinations you get in your sleep after accidentally eating old sweaty cheese or recalling a dream or a memory from your past only to realize it was actually from something you saw on TV? These are just two fleeting moments we choose to ignore or are just too damn embarrassed to admit. They are absurd anomalies– glitches in the system–that are a testament to our confusing lives. All of my work starts from similar confusing happenings that we may experience in one way or another. In my sculptures I embrace these experiences and translate them into tangible moments that manage to be even more absurd than that from which they came.” – Troy Coulterman

Nature inspired large scale abstract paintings by Seattle artist Quincy Anderson are richly textured canvases of acrylic paint, oil ink and silk tissue collage. The intricate surface embossment and reflective quality of glazing enhance layers of images that appear and disappear as the viewer moves around the paintings. Anderson’s use of complex color harmonies and reflective light evoke the lush marine environment and changing seasons of the northwest. Calligraphic lines, enigmatic symbols and images of flowing water give these elegant works a distinctly Asian sensibility, creating a beautiful balance between organic shapes that echo each other and a geometric rhythm that establishes the architecture of the composition. The sense of space and movement leads the viewer to a place of peaceful contemplation.

Very nice illustrations by Tom Brodie-Browne. See more images on Society6.

Jesùs Leguizamo is a young artist from Bogotà, Colombia, who in his depictions of people erases and blurs that which defines the human being – the face. Through expressive brushstrokes, he creates compelling and memorable paintings which explore human fragility and how this can be expressed in the medium of paint.

Stuart Dunkel is a versatile artist who paints New England landscapes, and whimsical still lifes of mice. His style can be whimiscial at times with a touch of surrealism. Other pieces have a much more classical or formal feel. Here, you see one of his whimical “doughnut” paintings from his mice series. When you look over the additional images, you will also see some impressionistic, tranquil landscapes with a more traditional feel. A talented painter, Mr. Dunkel is also a professional musician. (via Renjeau Gallery)