Chelsea Painters

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Member Exhibits
Exhibits, workshops and other current events involving our Members appear on the Exhibits page.

Members of the Chelsea Painters are very active in showing their work, teaching other artists, and contributing to their communities.

Many are members of the Ann Arbor Women Artists and exhibit in AAWA juried exhibitions. Several contribute their expertise to art classes and other projects hosted by the Chelsea Center for the Arts, the Jackson Civic Arts Center and other organizations throughout the area.

Barbara Anderson	After retiring from teaching, Barb pursued her latent interest in art with vigor. She now views the world through rose-colored glasses and plays with the hues that they create. Barb has exhibited at various juried exhibitions and was the Palette & Brush Artist of the Year for Detroit in 1999.
Janice Stevens Botsford	Janice's award winning work encompasses a wide variety of subject matter and media. She enjoys using vivid colors, has an intuitive, expressive style and is often attracted to complex, reality-based, organic forms. Inspired by the challenge of communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings through art, she attempts to engage the viewer in a dialogue of discovery in response to her work.
Ilona Brustad	Ilona Brustad received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from Wayne State University in 1980. In addition, she has taken many workshops and college art classes to update her skills. In 2003 Ilona attended a workshop in mosaic making which began an instant love affair with mosaics. Her newest work combines mosaics tesserae, glass, found materials, and acrylic paint. There is often a sense of humor or playfulness in Ilona's pieces. Since the simplicity of children's art has always appealed to her, she tries to approach her own work with a light spirit and open mind. Ilona regularly exhibits her work in juried art shows and has won many awards for her paintings. She is represented at the Chelsea Gallery in Chelsea, MI and the River Street Gallery in Manistee, Michigan.
Bob Carrigan	Bob Carrigan's lifelong interest in the appearance of things began at an early age and continued through the Michigan public schools, leading to a degree from the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design. As a realist painter, Bob's watercolors contain old buildings, landscapes, boats and other subjects with interesting geometric shapes, colors and textures. His paintings have been exhibited in juried competitions in Michigan as well as other exhibitions and one-man shows. Bob is a member of the Ann Arbor Women Artists, Chelsea Painters, and the Michigan Watercolor Society.
Jim Clark	Jim Clark, a watercolorist, typically paints landscapes, buildings, and florals in a realistic style. More recently, his paintings of koi, though still realistic, have begun to explore color and value in a near-abstract way. Jim joined the Chelsea Painters at the turn of the century. He is also a member of the Ann Arbor Potters Guild and Ann Arbor Women Artists.
Jane Farrell	An award-winning artist, Jane’s lifelong interest in art has led her to work in many mediums, including pencil, photography, watercolor, monotypes and oil pastel. Jane has earned two merit awards and one second-place award for her exhibits. She is represented by the Chelsea Gallery in Chelsea, MI.
Nancy Feldkamp	One of the first members of the Chelsea Painters, Nancy paints scenes of rural landscape and her life. She has exhibited her work in juried national shows and was included in Rockport Publishers Best of Watercolor Painting Color in 1999. In addition, Nancy has received signature status in the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society.
Teresa Freed	Teresa is captivated by light and shadow, mood and atmosphere and the spirit of nature. She finds that the brilliant hues available in pastels allow her to depict these elusive characteristics. She has exhibited in numerous juried shows and is a member of the Ann Arbor Women Painters, Chelsea Painters and the Great Lakes Pastel Society. Teresa is represented by the Chelsea Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan, and the River Street Gallery in Manistee, Michigan. Her work is featured in the book of poetry and art, In Drought Time, Scenes From Rural and Small Town Life.
Barbara Gilbert	Barbara's more than 20 years of painting experiences and background in art history have provided the foundation for award winning art. Her water media work expresses feelings and memories about the natural world in layered, simple shapes and vivid color.
Joyce Grace	Joyce works in water media and colored pencil, creating colorful, whimsical works on paper. Her paintings have been shown in numerous national and regional exhibitions and are featured in Northlight Book's Splash Five, American Artist Magazine and Rockport Press' Best of Watercolor: Painting Composition. Joyce holds a Bachelor of Science in Design from the University of Michigan and is a Signature Member of Watercolor West.
Michael Hahn	Michael is a "self taught" painter working primarily with water based media (mostly acrylic). His style is pointillism, and his subjects are "all over the map", ranging from "dreamy Midwest landscapes", Great Lakes seascapes, still lifes, and figures. He drifts along in that nether world between abstract and representational, real and surreal. His paintings invite you in, let you wander around and see the sights, and perhaps find a story in there, somewhere.
Mae Hostetler	Mae’s watercolor paintings of flowers and landscapes reflect her love of nature. She uses subtle glazes of warm and cool color to breathe life into the foliage and scenery of her paintings. Mae’s work has been exhibited in the Ann Arbor (MI) and Lansing (MI) areas.
Sandy Knapp	Sandy is an award-winning experimental water media artist who enjoys working spontaneously, leaving a sense of mystery that gives the viewer room to create their own stories and responses to her work. She is currently exploring an ancient medium of painting with beeswax called encaustics. Sandy is a member of Society of Layerists of Multi-Media and International Society of Experimental Artists. She is currently represented by Chelsea Gallery, Chelsea, MI and Banyan Gallery in Lansing, MI. In addition, a piece of Sandy's is featured in the poetry book, In Drought Time, Scenes From Rural and Small Town Life.
Bill Knudstrup	Bill is an oil painter who uses bright colors, abstract forms and dynamic compositions to elicit a strong reaction to his representational subject matter. Each of his paintings is created to work on emotional, intellectual and instinctual levels, both challenging and rewarding the viewer. Bill has a BFA degree from the University of Michigan where he worked with such notable figures as Gerome Kamrowski and Richard Wilt.
Stephanie Hersey Kolman	For more than 30 years, the transparency of colored light through glass, that can be created using watercolor, has fascinated Stephanie. She has studied, painted, and taught with the yearning to know the process and make it her own. Now she is moving into another passage. She is starting to experiment with mixed media, playing with what she can create. The rules of good design still apply, as they have become part of who she is.
Lois Lovejoy	Lois uses watercolors and other water based media to explore the seasonal texture and color in landscape. Her work has evolved from her background in graphic design and book illustration and her interest in the natural sciences. She has received awards from the Ann Arbor Women Artists, Garden Writers of America and the Delaware Duck Stamp program.
Barbara MacKellar	Barb is an award-winning abstract artist. She explores how we celebrate and preserve our heritage through the use of symbols, color and pattern. Over the year, the patterns of Klimt, the shapes of Matisse and the division of space of Mondrian have influenced her work.
Karen Kierstead Miller	Here is an artist fascinated with water media! Recent paintings incorporate watercolor, acrylic and collage as mediums to explore experimental painting techniques. The figure is often a common theme in her paintings. Playing with unfinished edges, unusual textures, asymmetrical compositions, and an unexpected viewpoint make painting fun and a bit unpredictable. Karen formerly owned and operated the Sandpiper Gallery of Charlevoix, MI and the Conifer Gallery of Okemos, MI. She currently works out of her studio in Okemos and is represented in the Banyan Gallery of Old Town in Lansing.
Dee Overly	Colored Pencil is Dee’s medium of choice. Being a realist, she loves the fine detail she is able to achieve with a pencil’s sharp point. Dee exhibits her work regularly in both juried and non-juried shows and has won awards for her colored pencil paintings. She is one of the featured artists in the art book, Art Models Life Nudes, and her work has appeared in the American Artist Magazine. Dee holds a degree in Architecture Design and is a member of the Ann Arbor Women Artists, Colored Pencil Society of America, and the Detroit Colored Pencil Chapter 104.
Joan Plohr	Joan graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in Costume Design. She has studied with many renowned artists in oil, watercolor and Sumi-e Ink. Her portraits are drawn with quiet care based on penetrating observation of the face and figure. She is an award winner in both Ohio and Michigan, a member of the Ann Arbor Women Artists, and both the Ohio and Michigan Watercolor Societies.
Toni Stevenson	Toni started making art early in her life. Her father encouraged her as a child. He had hopes of her achieving the fame of his cousin, Michigan artist Guy Palazzolo. Although self-taught, she has focused on this goal throughout her life. She spent several years studying figure drawing and painting at Macomb Community College and the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Association in Michigan. Since moving to Chelsea, Michigan, she has become very active in the local art scene, showing at many group shows in Ann Arbor and Jackson.
Sherle Stofflet	Sherle has a lifetime interest in art and is one of the original members of Chelsea Painters. She paints in oils and her subject matter is nature oriented. Sherle is inspired by the beauty of nature and soft, subtle color.
Monette Thorrez	Drawing upon years of experience in the design of fused glass jewelry, Monette has turned creative focus to watermedia painting, collage, and ink monotypes. Using memories, observation, and imagination as guides within her art process, she invites the viewer's response to her abstracted images that some have described as 'visual poetry'. Monette exhibits her award winning paintings in solo and group shows across Michigan and is one of the featured artists in the poetry & art book In Drought Time, Scenes From Rural and Small Town Life.
Madeleine Vallier	Madeleine's lifelong interest in art eventually lead her to water media with all it's free-flowing quality. In her work, she attempts to form a strong interplay of space, color and shape to create abstract pattern throughout a realistic statement. Madeleine’s work has appeared in Rockport Publisher’s books Flowers (1996) and Floral Inspiration (1997).

Corinne Vivian	Corinne is an artist who loves to experiment with color, design and medium. She started out in oils and has now moved to a variety of mediums: watercolor, monoprints, mixed medium and collage. Lately her interest has been in mixed medium, combining poured watercolors with photo transfers. Her landscape monotypes have received recognition in local shows. She studied art at Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University and has attended many workshops. She is a member of the Ann Arbor Women Artists and has exhibited in many of their juried shows.
Ruth Ann Weber	Ruth Ann is a representational oil and acrylic artist who strives to create a recognizable, yet fresh view of a subject. Like her main influence, John Singer Sargent, “I’m constantly working towards the goal of 'saying more but painting less.' Only the most important strokes should be included!" Subjects include “traditional” still life studies, and loose, dramatic landscapes. As a member of the Oil Painters of America, Ruth Ann has studied with some of the most respected “modern masters” of our time, Robert Johnson and David Leffel.
Donna Zagotta	Donna has exhibited and won awards in many national juried shows, including those of the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, and the Rocky Mountain National. Her work appears in nine books and eleven magazines, including four feature articles: Advice From Experts; Design Solutions: Painting in Series (Watercolor Magazine, Spring, 2006), Adding Body Color to Watercolor (International Artist Magazine, July 2002), Go Wild! (The Artist's Magazine, March 2001), and Painting Sunbathed Interiors (The Artist's Magazine, September 1989). She is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, Watercolor West, and the Midwest Watercolor Society. Donna lectures and teaches workshops locally and nationally.