Vítor González, Asturias, Spain – Ars Celtica
'Celtic Seagulls' by Vítor González
Vítor González has a Bachelor in History from Oviedo University, and is a practicing artist of rare insight and creative ability. From his official bio:
"...Who am I? Well, it's a hard question to answer. My name's Vítor González, and I was born in Asturias (a Northern Spanish region with strong Celtic roots) 34 years ago. I'm trying to become a Celtic artist, trying to improve my skills, and trying to be a better person each day. It isn't an easy job!
I have exhibited my artwork in Spain and Great Britain; also, you can find my illustrations on several books and magazines published throughout Spain, Great Britain, Germany and France. I think that my stuff isn't quite bad, but I'm not too objective – I prefer to show you my artwork and wait for your opinion about it...."
Vítor is an artist I met on deviantArt.com, and who has become a great inspiration to me over the past year. To the right is his Celtic Seagulls motif, which I hope someday soon to translate into glass (now that I've received his blessing). He manages to keep his designs simple, yet the overall effect is distressingly professional. Not only that, but I can't get over his use of color. Most Celtic artists seem to either stick with black ink, or go for the garish neon palettes of Photoshop, but Vítor's work is always vibrant, crisp, and intuitive.
Imbas Creations – Ingrid Houwers, Co. Down, N. Ireland
'Lugh' by Ingrid Houwers
Ingrid Houwers, better known nowadays as 'Graywolf', was born in the Netherlands and currently lives in the beautiful County Down, in Northern Ireland. From a young age she showed a great passion for nature, animals and plants alike and creating things. With anything she could get her hands on she'd try to make something. Collecting and 'studying' anything she could find she always had something to bring along for show and tell and not always to the teacher's liking.
Ingrid is a mostly self-taught artist. In high school many of her old papers are riddled with doodles that had little or nothing to do with the subject she was meant to be following at that time. Drawing and painting has always been a passion and with the encouragement of one of the art teachers in particular, Hans Westhoff, who passed away on the 22nd of April 2004, she decided to apply for art academy and was taken in.
Nowadays Ingrid draws, paints, crafts and designs countless of things for a living. She has made her hobby and her love for creating into her job. Next to that she is a corset maker and wearer, allowing customers to design their own dream corset for her to make into the real thing.
She's also a taxidermist, acknowledged by the state, and has done many commissions for museums, schools and other teaching facilities and people that are genuinely interested in nature. She refuses to work on anything that has been killed for the main purpose of having it mounted on their wall and prefers to work on animals that have died a natural cause. In the taxidermy field she's mostly known for the ways she's able to put back the expression and character that belong to a certain animal.
She created countless traditional styled Celtic and Pictish jewelry, t-shirts and tattoo designs, designed business logos, has illustrated children's books, card decks, featured in many limited edition portfolios and sold many prints, cards and posters of her work. Her specialties are traditional Celtic and Pictish works, but also her own 'free-style' she developed throughout her personal studies of those arts, fantasy, anthromorphic and spiritual and inspirational based art. One thing is for sure... she'll keep on creating and with her creations she'll continue to amaze and inspire those around her with her talent.
Judith Schaechter, Philadelphia, PA – Gallery
'The Floor' by Judith Schaechter
Judith is by far the most talented and creative stained glass artist alive today, and likely constructed from the pieces of a dozen fallen masters from the past century. No other artist I've even encountered in this medium can so thoroughly, so immediately, and so casually send me tumbling into her visual narratives. And sometimes, they're even funnier stories than they are terrifying.
Judith Schaechter has lived and worked in Philadelphia since graduating in 1983 with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design Glass Program.
She has exhibited widely, including in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, The Hague and Vaxjo Sweden.
She is the recipient of many grants, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Crafts , The Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, The Joan Mitchell Award, two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts awards, The Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a Leeway Foundation grant.
Her work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Hermitage in Russia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Corning Museum of Glass, The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution and numerous other public and private collections.