Mikel Frank is an experienced artist, educator, and curator who has spent his life immersed in the arts. His 29 years at The Metropolitan Museum of Art gave him an extraordinary foundation, shaping his understanding of both history and contemporary practice. Over the years, he has curated exhibitions in New York and Charlotte, NC, and his work has traveled internationally with the Global Art Project. Frank has also worked alongside some of the most ambitious art projects of the past decades, including Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates Project in Central Park. His curatorial vision was also central to MICA: Then and Now at the…
Author: Amy S
William Schaaf’s artistic journey is one of self-discovery, healing, and connection to the natural world. At 80 years old, he looks back on six decades of painting and sculpting with the horse as his central subject. His art is not simply about representing the equine form but about reaching into a deeper spiritual current that runs through him. Horses, in his work, become vessels of memory, carriers of tradition, and companions in his own search for meaning. Schaaf has long been inspired by the Zuni and Navajo fetish and doll makers, artists who use their craft to honor life and…
Michael Sabin, an artist deeply rooted in upstate New York, has a story as reflective and multifaceted as the glass he has worked with for decades. Born and raised in a small town, his early years in the Finger Lakes—an area often called Mark Twain Country—left a lasting imprint on his imagination. The natural beauty of the rolling hills and lakes was matched by a culture of storytelling and quiet observation, which helped form the foundation of his creative life. Sabin has always sought mediums that can hold light and color in unusual ways, and glass became his lifelong partner.…
Ted Barr’s journey as an artist is as unique as his life story. Born in Nevodar, Romania, near the Black Sea, his earliest memories were shaped by the pull of water and the flow of migration. At just four years old, his family moved to Israel, carrying him from one shore to another. This shift marked the beginning of a life built on exploration—geographic, spiritual, and cosmic. Barr’s curiosity has never been limited to one field or one view of the world. His work draws from the vastness of outer space while remaining deeply rooted in the fragility of human…
Randa Hijazi is a contemporary Syrian-Canadian painter whose journey has carried her from Damascus to Dubai and finally to Laval, Quebec, where she has made her home since 2017. Born in Damascus, she graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus in 2000. She later expanded her studies in Mass Communication and Media Science at the same university, graduating in 2008. This dual background—fine art and journalism—gave her a layered way of seeing the world. She can move between the sharp eye of a photojournalist and the open hand of a painter. Her paintings often carry…
L. Scooter Morris, a sensory illusionist, creates paintings that blur the line between surface and substance. She describes her work as “Sculpted Paintings,” a term that captures her method of weaving color, light, and texture into layered experiences. Her art is not about replicating reality but about revealing the invisible truths hidden within it. By folding mixed media into her canvases—whether through surface variations or textured relief—Morris builds works that both demand attention and invite quiet reflection. At the heart of her practice is a belief that art should start dialogue, especially during moments of societal upheaval. Her paintings become…
Vincent van Gogh’s life was as turbulent as his art was vivid. Beneath the layers of swirling paint and brilliant color was a man who lived in constant tension with society, family, and himself. His story carries moments that could easily be called scandalous—episodes of poverty, obsession, rejection, and mental collapse that shocked those around him and later fed into the myth of the tortured artist. Early Conflicts Van Gogh was born in 1853 in the Netherlands, the son of a Protestant pastor. From the start, he clashed with authority. He failed as an art dealer, a teacher, and even…
Lola Szent-Gyorgyi is an Environmental Abstract Artist whose work draws its strength from the intertwined pulse of the natural and man-made world. She sees rhythm everywhere—whether in a line of branches, a city wall, or the patterns of erosion and decay. For her, this rhythm is not just visual but elemental, rooted in what she calls the Universal Design of nature. Over the past three decades, Lola has immersed herself in creative fields as varied as set design, graphic design, mechanical drafting, fine art, interior décor, fashion, textile design, and photography. This broad foundation is not an aside—it’s central to…
Miguel Barros is an artist whose work asks us to pause and consider the depth of our connection with the world around us. Born in Lisbon in 1962, Barros holds citizenship in Portugal, Canada, and Angola, a rare mix that has shaped his artistic lens with the richness of multiple cultural perspectives. In 2014, he relocated from Angola to Calgary, Alberta, opening a new chapter in his creative life. His education in Architecture and Design at IADE Lisbon, completed in 1984, provided him with a precise foundation in structure and spatial awareness. Yet it is painting that allows him to…
Doug Caplan, born in 1965 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has lived with photography as both a companion and a challenge for most of his life. His first camera was a black-and-white Polaroid, a gift from his parents when he was a teenager. The camera was simple, even clunky, but its instant magic stuck with him. He remembers the disposable flash, the mechanical click, and especially the sharp smell of the chemicals as the image formed. For years, that memory lingered without pulling him fully into the art. Only after his marriage in the early 1990s did he return to photography…