Erin is an Oswego native and returns to the city after more than 20 years away, most of which she spent in Timmins, Ontario.
A self-taught artist, Erin paints in oil and draws striking graphite pencil illustrations. Her work at the Riverside Artisans includes oil paintings and prints of local buildings and landscapes, as well as whimsical retro-style drawings of movie stars and famous movie scenes. She has also contributed hand-painted glass and wooden Christmas ornaments to the shop’s tree, which features handmade ornaments from several artists.
According to Erin, “I like to challenge myself, so I’m always working to refine my techniques and work in other media that are new to me.”
Cris is an Oswego native and returns to the city (with her husband Benjamin) after a 33-year career as a teacher and successful artist in the Rochester area.
Originally introduced to art as a child by Riverside Artisans member Bert Leighton, Cris has studied with numerous painting masters and until recently had gallery space in Rochester’s Hungerford Building. She currently works in oil, pastels and charcoal.
According to Cris, “I find art to be my meditation. It quiets my mind and brings focus to beauty. It is a record of my ‘interior life,’ not always the one shown to the world”
Beth enjoys working in and experimenting with a variety of mediums, materials and processes. Her work is best described as intuitive painting, where the expression “becomes a dance and conversation between myself and the painting.” She says, “since I was young, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t creating something — drawing, painting, crafting, gardening and poetry projects.”
Beth pursued an art degree from Syracuse University and found her artistic voice and vision in a class called Materials and Techniques, where she learned to paint in layers, experiment with textures, and allow the painting to reveal itself. A member of several arts organizations and exhibits regularly in group shows as well as some solo exhibitions.
Original Member of Lakeside Artisans
My painting career began in 1994 with decorative wooden signs. In 2001, I went through a rapid evolution and began painting portraits and seascapes. I have since settled into creating the whimsical Cranky Cat Collection.
Website: crankycats.com
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Most of my paintings are of local subjects in and around the upstate New York area, particularly the Fair Haven and Sodus Bay regions. There is magic in watercolor for me as I am not always in control of what goes on. The spontaneity and unpredictability of the medium is exciting.
My artistic talent is a God-given gift. As far back as I can remember, I have been drawing, painting, or doing some kind of art related project. My Mom and Dad were also artistic, as well as my sister and all my children. Painting and drawing was just a way of life. I majored in art in high school and remember drawing the poets for better grades in English. My classmates would pay me 50 cents to sketch their boyfriends. My current work focuses on wildlife and birds. In addition to full size paintings, I make jewelry and paint portraits of family pets.
It wasn’t until my late husband got very sick and we had to do home dialysis that I began to sell my paintings. I sold my artwork to many shops in the Oswego/Fulton area, as well as the Adirondacks. In 1982, I opened my own wild bird gift shop, which I named “The Back Wood Shed.”
Now, I am very honored to be a member of the Lakeside Artisans and having my art in the company of so many fine artists of the Oswego area.
Bert, a retired elementary school teacher who lives in Oswego, has studied art with nationally known watercolor teachers in numerous workshops from Maine to Florida. She has created collographs, woodcuts, linocuts and watercolor monotypes while developing her interest in printmaking. In the past few years she has developed an interest in creating collage paintings as well as using sunlight to process solar paintings.
She has been a member of and exhibited work with art organizations in Oswego and Onondaga Counties, the Adirondacks, the Thousand Islands in New York State, as well as in New Jersey, Florida, South Carolina and Canada. One of Bert’s miniature paintings was included in the World Federation of Miniaturist’s Exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC in 2004.
Her art is all original one-of-a-kind creations that are created individually. Each piece is created, signed and numbered exclusively. There are no reproductions. Her solar paintings, leaf paintings and pounded petals and leaves portray and preserve nature so the essence of the living plant will linger forever.
I am a retired elementary school teacher who resides in Fulton, NY. After my retirement in 2000, I returned to SUNY Oswego to pursue a life-long ambition to study art. I started showing in about 2002 and have been fortunate to be accepted in many local and regional shows as well as national shows. I have been a visiting artist at Onondaga Community College and Syracuse University.
My work is the result of mixing various media. I try to create unique surfaces using tissue paper, packaging paper, mat medium, glue, pastels, watercolors, acrylics, etc. Then I combines the more intuitive and emotive surface with a technically detailed drawing. I create the drawing and the surface and attempt to meld the two elements to create a unified, finished piece. At times, the surface is the source of inspiration; at other times it is the image itself.
