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Exhibition Guide

Behind every finished piece of art is a network of influence, support, and inspiration. Collab showcases the relationships that have shaped their work. From direct collaborations to subtle presences, this open call exhibition highlights the many roles others play in the act of creation.

Collab features 53 artworks by 82 artists (with contributions from many more individuals), selected by three jurors: Jarvis DuBois, arts consultant and curator; Anna Kenneally, London-based artist; and Sergio Vazquez (Sergio Stuff), muralist & Illustrator.

Dorothy Hickson ・@extinctflightless

Pliable

Mixed media: leather, glass, wire, metal, wasp's nest・14" x 13" x 4" ・ $300

“Dave Eastlack and I have long shared an affection for odd bits of rusty metal -- found during a walk taken together, or shared via phone pix when we are far apart. Recently we began exploring an abandoned bottle-dump site in a West Virginia riverbank, digging out broken and melted glass from the last century.

This work reflects our ongoing conversation. We challenged each other to use specific pieces we gathered together: the arrowlike metal object in the lower right corner of Pliable echoes an identical object in Eastlack’s assemblage Short attention spans.

While Eastlack uses acrylic paints to create layered and distressed backgrounds for his assemblages, mine incorporate naturally patinated backgrounds of rusty metal and dilapidated vintage leather. Salvaged wire and rusted hardware in both our works produce a tension between the strength of durable objects and the slow-motion burn of oxidation.”

Andrew Martin and Juan Granados ・

Direction (Direccion)

Stoneware, metallic oxide pigment and digital photo image transfer・10" x 10" x 2.5"・$2500

“Art affects everyone differently but serves as a universal language. My artwork reflects a life of need, reflection, acceptance, growth, and change. Through my artwork, I attempt to communicate experiences and memories of my past and present. Presently, in collaboration with the use of computer technology, it helps me to restore out-of-focus, tattered, old family photos to preserve past moments and memories of my family and friends. This piece includes images of my oldest brother Carlos. Since my brother passed at a young age, I've been working on a series of works that reference moments of his life.

Ultimately, with the collaboration and the use of digital images and clay, along with the collaboration of images of family and friends, this has helped me to explore and express my memories, observations and associations of them to create new visions to honor their past and present.”

Susan Hostetler and Jacqui Crocetta ・ @susanshostetler and @jacquicrocetta

Between the Sky and Sea II

Acrylic paint on aluminum clay birds with pigment ・ 8" x 8" x 3.5"・ NFS

Symbiosis is a mutually beneficial relationship which emerges from effective collaboration between two or more entities. Between the Sky and Sea, a collaborative installation by Jacqui Crocetta and Susan Hostetler, explores the delicate balance of give and take in artistic process and the natural world.

“As an artist who works in both 2-D and 3-D, I often combine the two disciplines. I make installations of flocks of clay birds which span expanses of wall space or adapt to unique architectural structures. Responding to a call for entries, I envisioned my flock flying amongst shaped paintings, which could give the open, airy flight some contrasting solidity and depth. I also thought it could create more dynamism. I immediately thought Jacqui Crocetta’s intricate ocean paintings would work perfectly. Her paintings respond to the many ways human activities have an impact on the ocean. While my bird installations illustrate movement and flight patterns in migrations, the underlying motivation is a reflection on the demise of bird populations due to human caused climate changes.” — Susan Hostetler

“When Susan suggested we collaborate, I was immediately intrigued by the idea. What type of shapes was she imagining the shaped paintings would be? What substrate would I paint on? How will we maintain a balance in the work, and make decisions throughout the process? I was looking forward to learning more about the symbiotic relationship between migrating seabirds and the ocean; trying a new approach in my painting; and letting the collaborative process introduce new creative problems to solve and new directions to explore.” — Jacqui Crocetta

Between the Sky and Sea deepened our purpose through the sharing of themes and messages. The artwork became a conversation between like-minded artists who are drawn to exploring the profound connection between the ocean and migrating birds—a symbiotic relationship that underscores the delicate balance of our planet’s ecosystems.

Susan Willis Brodie and Adrienne Rich and “Orion”・@SusanBrodieArt

After Adrienne Rich and ‘Orion’

Ceramic・0.5” x 8” x 8”・$250

“I identified as a reader long before I identified as a visual artist. Poetry, especially, has shaped me and how I move through the world. When I was 21, I spent a year studying the poetry of Adrienne Rich and learning how she developed her independent voice as a woman writer. Rich’s poetry and her personal voyage of defining herself and redefining herself through her creative work has been a touchstone for me throughout my own life. I became a visual artist in my 30s and had to balance the demands of children, family, and work as I learned my craft. It is often hard to make physical and mental space for my art. When I feel squeezed and unable to clearly hear my own voice, I think back to Rich and gain courage from her insistence on staking her place in a world that often seems dominated by louder and more powerful voices. Five years ago, the fall of Roe v. Wade began an era for women I never thought I would have to experience. As I staggered to find my footing as a woman, mother of an adult daughter, and teacher, I once again turned to Rich. I read her biography and essays and learned how she fought hard for the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community. Our current political and social environment requires new approaches, but I am comforted and inspired by Rich’s work. My one-sided collaboration with Rich over the years began to emerge in my creative work as I wanted to celebrate her and have a tangible and physical tribute. The submitted portrait plate of Adrienne Rich (based on a photograph by Eammonn McCabe) shows an older Rich with imagery from her poem, “Orion.” The poem explores the discovery of identity in the presence of social pressures. My choice of a ceramic plate for Rich’s portrait is also inspired by Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf’s sister) who created 50 portrait plates of famous women in 1934 with her collaborator, Duncan Grant. I continue to create portrait plates, paying homage to many other collaborators”

Richard Elaver・@richard.elaver

Ribbon Appetizer Set

Sterling silver・13” x 17” x 2.5”・$1,700

“Eating is a collaborative experience. From the grower, grocer, chef, server, and consumer – it takes many hands to feed one body. For years, I have collaborated with a fellow artist/metalsmith, Wayne Sutton. In 2023, we did a collaborative artist residency at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, where we explored the tools of eating. There, we collaborated with other artists and the environment, making work that responded to the context – this included special implements for eating local snails and oysters, and dishes made from clay impressions of the historical architecture. We have made and exhibited collaboratively, and regularly give feedback on works-in-progress.

The silverware pictured is an individual project, greatly influenced by my collaborations with Wayne. It is also the outcome of many other small collaborations, as the forms have evolved through multiple iterations. The designs started as sketches, and initial 3D computer models were made in collaboration with one of my design students, Tyler Cook. From there, I refined the models and made 3D test prints, which were shared with several people for feedback. This usually starts with my family – my wife and teenage kids are honest and thorough critics. After 2-3 iterations, and input from others, I cast the pieces in silver.

The physical making of this work was an individual process, yet is the product of many cooperative relationships. To create, one needs time, space, resources, and support. In the whirlwind of daily life, with continuously competing demands for all of those things, this work is the result of a community of partners. This includes: my colleague and friend, Frankie Flood, who has helped me refine my casting process; my former student Ben Wilson, who helped me build my studio space; my wife and partner, Andrea Elaver, who provides cover and support in so many ways. It takes many hands to support one creative act.”

Susanne Tabet and Anthony Chukwudinma Nsofor・ @susanne_tabet.art, @anthonynsfor

Fever Dream

Acrylic on Canvas・48" x 50"・ $8000

Fever Dream is the result of a powerful artistic exchange between two artists from different corners of the world- Anthony Chukwudinma Nsofor, a Nigerian artist who studied in the Uli School art tradition at the University of Nigeria, and myself, Susanne Tabet, a self-taught German artist shaped by Western European culture. Though we come from very different cultural and personal backgrounds, both our practices are deeply rooted in expressionism—centered on emotion, bold gestures, and raw honesty. It was this shared visual language that brought us together and made this collaboration not only possible but incredibly energizing.

We passed the canvas back and forth, each responding to the other’s marks, layers, and visual instincts. This process evolved into a conversation—sometimes intuitive, sometimes challenging—as we allowed the work to develop organically. We were intentional about preserving each other’s distinct styles while also exploring how they could merge into a cohesive whole.

Anthony brings a strong narrative sensibility grounded in Nigerian culture and contemporary life. At the same time, my work draws on memory, femininity, and influences from my childhood in Zimbabwe, filtered through a European lens. Blending these voices into one canvas pushed us to trust, to let go, and to make space for the unknown.

The final piece holds both contrast and harmony. It’s a celebration of difference, dialogue, and the creative potential that emerges when boundaries blur and expression takes the lead.

Fever Dream is ultimately a meditation on duality and connection—on the possibility of coexistence across cultural, personal, and aesthetic boundaries.

Note: For her figure, Susanne drew visual inspiration from French artist Anne-Sophie Tschiegg

Michelle Williams・ @michellezakewilliams

Carnival Queen

Glass seed beads, feathers, cotton, metal pin, quartz crystal ・ 10" x 8" x 8" ・ $3000

As a solo fiber artist, I work by myself. However, I am interested in other cultures and through my travels I have studied textiles from around the world. My family and I spent extended periods of time in Jamaica. We witnessed the laid back country transform due to tourists from around the world. It went from a country growing marrijana to one importing various drugs resulting in an increase in crime. My concern over this change inspired one of my most powerful sculptures.

We also traveled to Costa Rica several times and were interested in the animals and the fauna. One of my other sculptures was inspired by witnessing the animals there in their natural habitat.

I have been spending time in Florida on the East Coast. Walking the beach inspired me to use the interesting shells I was drawn to on the beach. That inspired another sculpture.

One of my latest sculptures was inspired by a trip to Argentina. My daughter and her family moved to Argentina and I visited. Their town is the home of Carnival, which takes place in January and February. I was moved by all the beautiful costumes, dances, music and the technological machinery.All of this sensory stimulation resulted in the use of new materials, and using techniques in different ways.

Graysen Viar and Patrick Kirwin・ @graysenviar, @graysenviar.art

A Goose’s Story

Oil・16" x 20" x .75”・ $350 🔴

“This piece was conceived and developed in an open oil studio I take at The Art League with Patrick Kirwin. The other students in my class (all of whom we take the class together repeatedly) helped me choose which option to pursue in order to expand my skill set. Patrick Kirwin, a trompe l'oeil artist, helped me build up my skills in replicating water.”

Joy Nutt ・ @jn_studioart

Muse

Acrylic monoprint, charcoal, oil pastel, graphite, gouache ・ 10.5” x 16” ・ $700 🔴

This mixed media drawing is of one of my co-workers at my school. Although he was the dance instructor, he had a love and inquisitive enthusiasm about visual art and often visited the art studio to participate in lessons. Together we explored drawing, painting, gel printing, and other mixed media techniques throughout the school year. On one such visit I took some photos of him to use a muse for a future art piece. One of those photos was the basis for this work that I am creating to further explore my mixed media portrait portfolio. My co-worker reminded me that artistic expression comes in many forms and I hope this piece honors that part of his personality.

Michael O’Brien and Rachel Wallach ・ @redtablepress, @rachelwallach

Double Flail

Embroidery, felt, cedar, watercolor & resin ・ 16” x 11.5” x .75” ・ $3000

Rachel Wallach and I share a deep love of American traditional tattoos. Our 2019 art show, “Thundershark” combined Rachel's embroidery and my painting and woodworking to reimagine tattoo designs in a fine art context. We filled a DIY warehouse gallery with paintings and hand-stitched embroidery inspired by antique tattoo flash.

Many works in the show were drawn in my line style, then embroidered by Rachel onto stretched felt. Her needlework mimicked a tattoo machine, embedding lines, shading, and fills into textile “skin”. Her bold color choices and precise hand-stitching transformed my designs, and Rachel transformed my life.

Now in 2025 we are newly engaged! Inspired to embellish our early collaborations, I crafted a custom frame for Double Flail from our 2019 show. A contour-cut piece of cedar forms an unbroken chain circling the delicately embroidered textile, telling a story of balance and a harmonious creative partnership, united in a love for traditional tattoos.

Brittany Mona’ and Jonathan Fuentes・ @brittanymonacreates, @melenpersen

Creative Escape

Acrylic, paper, colored pencil, fabric, wood, oil pastel, marker, and tape on canvas ・ 30" x 40"・ $3000

Collaboration is at the heart of this piece. Working alongside Jonathan Fuentes, whose bold use of mixed media and pop culture references pushes boundaries with both humor and heart, challenged me to embrace more play in my process while still grounding my work in the storytelling traditions of the Black diaspora. Our conversations about identity, visibility, and joy, especially as they relate to both Black and queer communities, deepened the layers of meaning in the work. This piece is a visual dialogue, where our approaches intersect: my focus on memory and care meets his belief in “taking the silly seriously,” allowing the piece to hold both reverence and rebellion

Andrew Martin and Juan Granados ・

Restoration Series #6

Ceramic and 3D printed PLA form with acrylic paint, digitally edited photo image transfer of drawing, wood, metal, metallic oxide ・ 7” x 7” x 2” ・ $2000

For Collab, we are showing our latest collaborative works in a series stretching back over the three decades we have known each other. As a ceramist and a painter who were hired as assistant professors of art at Texas Tech University the same year, we soon found that our shared interests and independent ideas meshed well together, and began combining two and three dimensions into wall-mounted ceramic forms, 3-D printed forms, drawings, acrylic paintings, and photo image transfers.

These particular works explore the presence of technology in the environment reflecting the processes of tilling soil and shaping clay, but also reconstructing, replacing, and restoring forms and images from fragments. They often depict subjects related to gathering or transmitting resources and information, such as windmills, satellite dishes and transmission towers.

Juan Granados

Patient (Paciente)

Woodfired cone 10 stoneware and digital photo image transfer ・ 7" x 7" x 1.5" ・ 2500

“Art affects everyone differently but serves as a universal language. My artwork reflects a life of need, reflection, acceptance, growth, and change. Through my artwork, I attempt to communicate experiences and memories of my past and present. Presently, in collaboration with the use of computer technology, it helps me to restore out-of-focus, tattered, old family photos to preserve past moments and memories of my family and friends. In the work I am submitting for the exhibition titled, “Collab,” I am submitting work that includes images of my oldest brother Carlos. Since my brother passed at a young age, I've been working on a series of works that reference moments of his life.

Lia Burchianti and AnaMarie King・@7avk7 and @lia.burchianti

Gyanotype

Cyanotype on canvas stretched over wood・84” x 52.5” x 1.5”・$2,222

The artwork is a collaboration between AnaMarie King and Lia Burchianti. They met while working at the AU Photo Lab, where they immediately became artistic partners: constantly bouncing ideas off one another, planning shoots, and experimenting with other mediums such as printmaking, collage, and mixed media. The lab is more than a workspace—it’s a community built on collaboration, where staff, students, and alumni regularly exchange skills, inspiration, and support.

The cyanotype emerged from that dynamic. It was the first medium AnaMarie and Lia explored together, so returning on a monumental scale proved to be a culmination of their joint artistic journey. They created the image by coating a large canvas with cyanotype chemistry and lying on it under the sun for over 20 minutes, letting light trace the outlines of their bodies. The sun became the silent third collaborator—its role essential and uncontrollable, binding the piece to the natural world.

The work also reflects a wider network of creative support. Fellow lab staff and alumni helped coat the fabric, compose the image, and stretch the final piece—adding their own imprint to the process. Their hands are present in this work, just as much as AnaMarie’s and Lia’s.

They are especially grateful to Shaun Schroth, their mentor and the Photo Program's Assistant Director, whose generosity, guidance, and care continue to shape both their individual practices and shared projects. His commitment to fostering an inclusive and collaborative space is a core reason this artwork could take shape.

Ultimately, this piece is not just about AnaMarie and Lia’s collaboration, but about how art is never made in isolation. It reflects the convergence of people, place, light, and process. Creativity inherently is a human and elemental exchange.

Brandon Barón・@brandinbaron

Valmont, or, Portrait of the Artist in the Style of Charles le Brun

Silkscreen and digital overlay on silver paper with acrylic ink and enamel, print 2/3・14" x 18" x 1" framed・$600

Valmont is both a self-portrait and an atmospheric group portrait of a group of professional artists' models who work throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

“The artwork is a tribute to the symbiotic relationship between artist and model; though often times I use the drawings created in live figure drawing sessions to create new artworks, the model can get lost in that process, as I engineer more idealized solutions than the drawing marks created on the page. In Valmont it is my attempt to render the models as individuals who exist solely as models, with their correct attributes, as a means of paying tribute to their contributions to my art practice at large.”

Nora Cannon and Douglas Cannon (1951-2022)

Cambridge

Photography mix media ・14.5” x 17.5” ・$400

“Navigating life after the loss of my husband has been an emotional journey, especially as I faced the daunting task of sorting through the forty-plus years of photography and equipment. Stepping into his studio felt like walking into a time capsule, with piles of negatives, boxes bursting with prints, and shelves lined with well-loved cameras, just as he had left them. The weight of this monumental task was overwhelming, and I constantly grappled with a profound question: how could I honor his creative vision while infusing it with my own artistic spirit?

Amidst this struggle, a beautiful revelation emerged. Each print became a chapter of our life story, reflecting our shared experiences, the struggles, and rewards. Transforming these photographs into deep, meaningful collages turned out to be a powerful act of healing for me. My artwork now weaves together fragments of fabric, snippets of handwritten notes, and a carefully selected selection of his photographs—each piece adding another layer of personal significance to the narrative. Through my collages and paintings, I not only breathe new life into his artistic vision but also celebrate our life together.”

Nora and Douglas’s forty-eight-year marriage exemplifies the personal sacrifices made for their craft, let alone each other, to achieve their artistic goals. The marriage project represents the merging of their visions.

Margaret Dowell and Seth Bowman

Every Farm Needs A Goddess

Oil on canvas・60” x 48”・$22,000

“My artwork, Every Farm Needs a Goddess is part of my Dowell Farm series. The Goddess in the painting is my mentor, Seth Bowman. As my mentor he is the only one with whom I share ideas, works in progress, etc. - most often via Face Time as he resides in Los Angeles and I reside in Southern MD. This piece is my first collaboration with him as a model.”

Patty Kennedy-Zafred ・ @pattykz1

American Portraits: Deep Roots

Textile art; screen printing ・ 56” x 56” x .25” ・ $4000

Inspired by 1930s U.S. Farm Security Administration photographs, courtesy of the Library of Congress, the last decade of my work has focused on various periods of American history, and my collaboration has been with multiple photographers who captured American life between 1935 and 1944. Part of my American Portraits Series, and inspired by these photos, the works are a tribute to the independent family farm, historically, and today. The idea of printing on vintage feed sacks from the same period created a more significant statement, and utilizing this substrate resulted in the perfect marriage of my intention. Acquired from across the United States, the sacks arrived stained, torn, yet each was uniquely different, much like the individuals they represent.

This piece depicts the often forgotten men and women of the 1930s-40s – tenant farmers, migrant workers, pickers and hoers, who struggled to maintain their land, while often working for other farmers, with the hope of a better future. Their faces reflect the determination, pride, and hard work required to survive against natural and cultural obstacles. The agricultural landscape of America has changed dramatically since 1900, when half of the population lived and worked on farms. Every week, faced with economic hardship, long hours, and corporate competition, hundreds of family farmers leave their land for good. The independent family farm is an essential part of our diverse American fabric, representing strength, tenacity, patience, and perseverance. Having been born and raised in the Midwest, this work is my personal tribute to the independent family farm, past and present.

Sufie Berger and Dante Antônio Acosta・ @sufiebergerart

GUARDIAN

Collage on paper- mix media- metal fasteners ・ 69" x 25" x 1”・ $800

“I met Brazilian visual artist Dante Acosta in 2017 in Washington, D.C. In 2021, I participated as a student in an online class with Dante. The meetings, which took place twice a month, changed forever the way I work with my art process. In 2023, we planned a collaboration residency at the Hess de Souza Foundation on the Island of Florianópolis, Brazil. We realized that we share similar ideas about how to utilize nature in our image-creation process.

Since then, we have communicated regularly and have had a significant influence on each other's artwork. In this second collaboration with Dante, I feature one of my paper dolls, which I have used in different ways to represent the feminine aspect of things. In this piece, the paper doll depicts the guardian of nature, referencing interior and exterior visual elements. The body of the paper guardian is delicately collaged by me with my friend Dante’s designed marks from his personal sketch journals. In this collage collaboration we hope to show the sensitivity and fragility of all living things on this planet.

This work is part of a series of images I have been developing since 2023, which will be part of my solo show in September. My latest work reflects aspects of Ecofeminism and political advocacy in art that are instrumental in moving towards a kind, sensitive, and more inclusive society.”

Janathel Shaw・@jmshaw1

Social Pincushion

Graphite, color pencil, oil, acrylic, and gold leaf ・37" x 21" ・ NFS

“Social Pincushion is my artistic response to Covid and the increase of racial attacks against Black Americans from 2020 through 2021. It was an emotionally painful experience having to isolate from family for months due to the fear of a virulent virus. It was challenging to be calm while immersing myself in the news and social media. I sought hopeful information but received a steady stream of the loss of lives due to Covid, and racial attacks of young Black men and women. I was overwhelmed by it. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and Ahmad Arbery were killed and treated with a disregard that spoke volumes of our country’s history. As a Black woman, I felt like a pincushion. Each prick and stab was a wound to the psyche. It was a tough period.

Drawing provided me a way to work through my emotional state and document what was happening intimately through my lens of society. I was drawing several self-portraits documenting my state of mind through expressions. My sketches inspired larger pieces. I decided to create a piece revealing my emotional and mental journey through this period.

I chose to depict myself as a hybrid object. The composition gradually coalesced as part of the story. While assessing my work, I reached out to another artist and friend, Daniel for a critique. He was very helpful in recommending that I draw the source of my fears and tensions. This helped me to narrow my focus and unify the whole piece. I took photos of my changes and shared them by phone. It was not only helpful as an artist but as a friend. I was able to reach out to someone during this bleak time. “

Mark Fox-Morgan and Jimi Suzuki

Still Life #2

Cast paper・14” x 36” x 16”・$900

“The medium is cast paper. Continuing my still life series, I studied with a Japanese artist named James Hiroshi Suzuki for over a decade; he passed away and his impact still resonates with me. Jimi had a family home that is behind the big Buddha in Kamakura, Japan. The Buddha in the sculpture is in the style of the Kamakura Buddha, and reflects my connection to my mentor and friend Jimi Suzuki. Two birds are present, one that struggles and the other that watches from the rim of the vessel, (a vessel, or cup, represents a heart which is indicative in The Tarot or playing cards). The two birds symbolize the mentor student relationship, yet also reflect life and death. This piece reflects the precarious nature of life.

Charlene Nield ・@charlenenieldart

Mnemosyne

Clay ・9" x 8" x 4.75" ・$1200

What began as a brief detour from painting—setting aside my brush and palette knife for what I thought would be a short exploration into clay—soon became a profound and unexpected transformation. I was drawn in by the tactile intimacy and immediacy of the cold clay: its pliability, its silence. What started as curiosity quickly turned into an obsession, fueled by the urge to shape imagined beings and introduce them to the third dimension.

Guiding my early steps was Dominicus So who taught me the fundamentals of handbuilding and the basic principles of structural integrity essential to sculpture. Later, under the mentorship of Kathlyn Avila-Reyes I learned to breathe life into clay—to not just represent life, but to embody it. And finally, in a workshop with Michelle Gregor I discovered the expressive possibilities of mark-making, underglazes and overglazes, stains, and chalks. Together, these teachings opened a portal into the figurative world where gesture, volume, form, color, and presence converge. What was once a side trip has become my most vital artistic journey.

Andrew Martin and Juan Granados ・

Tower & Platter

Stoneware clay, metallic oxide pigment, digital photo image transfer on a three-dimensional ceramic wall-mounted form ・ 12” x 13” x 2.5 ・ $3500

Pat Goslee with Gregory Staley, Sidney Lumet, Michael O'Sullivan・@patgosleeart

Untitled (Toward the Maintenance of Art)

Digital print・36" x 48"・$2000

"Collaboration allows me to serve others by building work based on attention to understanding interdependence and the power of art to heal by releasing emotions that elevate individual and collective dignity.”

Angie Meche Kilcullen ・ @angie_kilcullen_art

Because My Grandmothers Told Me So

Mixed media ・ 18.5” x 12” x 9.5 ・ $2200

Collaboration is at the heart of everything I create—not in the sense of working with others, but in the deeper way that every act of making is informed by the lives, hands, and wisdom of those who came before me. My work is a reflection of the women who shaped me, taught me, and stood beside me—especially my grandmothers, my mother, and my sister. The title Because My Grandmothers Told Me So is both a tribute and a truth. I am who I am, and I create what I create, because of them.

Growing up, I was one of only four grandchildren, and we were blessed to spend an unusually large amount of time with our grandparents. One of my grandmothers was a skilled seamstress, and I became her small assistant in the sewing room: handing her pins, threading needles, gathering scraps, watching how fully finished pieces formed from fragments. I didn’t realize it then, but she was teaching me to see the possibility in the pieces. My other grandmother, quieter and more modest in her expression, lived by a principle of reuse before it had a name. She recycled everything—not for trend or credit, but out of a reverence for resources and a belief in second chances. From her, I learned that nothing is ever truly used up if you know how to look at it differently.

These two approaches—making from skill and making from what remains—form the foundation of my process. I work with textiles, found materials, and reclaimed objects to create pieces that feel both familiar and newly imagined. My practice is deeply collaborative, even when I’m working alone, because each selected piece and subsequent placement carries the influence of the women who showed me how to create with care, purpose and intent.

In my art, I honor these inherited values and the ways they’ve evolved into a creative practice centered on collaboration—not necessarily with people, but with materials, memory, and metaphor.

Constantine Kerasilis・ @constantinekerasilas

Crestfallen

Latex, grout, and oil on canvas ・59.75” x 84.5” ・ $3500

Collaboration significantly contributed to my breakthrough within the visual arts. An independent study with Professor Mariam Stephan from UNCG was the key to my breakthrough. To truly understand myself, I had to step outside of how I think, and Stephan was vital in fulfilling that role. With her as my guide, I was able to translate my psychology into works of art that have been lauded throughout the UNCG Visual and Performing Arts department. Not only has this collaboration allowed me to understand myself, but it allowed me to critically think about the materials I use and the artists I compare myself to, such as Philip Guston or Leon Golub.

With Stephan as my guide, I was able to create a large body of work I titled Αμερικανικός Πονη. Which features blue-painted horses on large primed, but unstretched, canvas that are modeled after the Peneia pony. The Peneia pony is a nearly extinct breed of workhorse originating from Greece. I metaphorically utilize this breed of horse to connect myself to my culture/family history in Greece, whilst giving insight into the social state of the American nation as of 2025, and analyzing my reaction to it all. Without the use of collaboration, I would not have kept in touch with the world outside my own as I have in this series. This collaboration would challenge me constantly, and in response, the artwork produced would be more emotionally evocative. I’d love to continue this cycle of collaboration between myself and the world around me by showcasing these paintings outside of my state. It would be my greatest honor.

Sharon Robinson and Dana Hallman・ @therobinsonstudio

Outside the Box

Free-standing wood assemblage/sculpture ・48” x 39” x 16” ・$1500, individual boxes $175 each

“Outside the Box is a collaboration between artists Sharon Robinson and Dana Hallman. In response to the call, we have created a multi-dimensional sculpture that invites viewers to consider any number of personal and social scenarios relating to the feeling of being either boxed in or boxed out of a place, situation, relationship, mindset or other circumstance; or alternatively, moving between those states. Some of the box elements reference the work of famous artists who broke with traditional forms; others are simply expressions of creative enthusiasm meant to please the viewer. Either way, each possesses a distinctive use of materials created in collaborative working sessions and interpreted through individual perspectives.

We immediately agreed to use the jazz riff as a metaphor for our work together. Like the jazz riff, we laid down a phrase that we repeated throughout our work. The phrase, for us, was the box substrate we used to create our assemblage sculpture. We also agreed that our piece should provide a metaphorical message -- that beauty and our freedom can be discovered within constructs we may find binding. We only need to allow ourselves to create new perspectives outside of those constructs.

Once we agreed on our collaborative idea, we worked separately to give room for individual expression while also meeting several times to share ideas, create materials and try out alternative approaches. That cross-sharing/riff is expressed throughout the work via shapes, color, materials and patterns. We each created 8 boxes, trusting that they would come together in a final assemblage that would give voice to us individually and collectively. Working collaboratively has been a full circle experience, enabling us to give birth to an idea and then nurture it into fruition. In recognition of that full-circle experience, we chose to display our square boxes in the round, so that viewers may circulate around the structure.”

Dana Brotman and Steve Alderton・@danabrotman

Man with Black and White Hat’

Acrylic on canvas・27” x 21” x 1”・$500 🔴

“Intermingling. As a young painter, I was lucky to have a mentor, the DC artist Steve Alderton. More than a mentor, I began to think of him as my “art mother.” In 2019 he asked that we do a show together; side by side in the two exhibit spaces.. Nervous and excited, I agreed. And we worked steadily in our studios to prepare, all the while talking about our works in progress. The intermingling had begun.

Steve had a file of photos, magazine pages, and art postcards that he collected for inspiration when he needed it. On a visit to his studio one day, I noticed he started a painting inspired by the postcard he had of Beauford Delaney’s Marian Anderson. This Delaney painting was also a favorite of mine, and so, inspired by Steve’s inspiration, I went back to my studio to paint. More intermingling. Steve later looked back at his finished work and what I was working on and said he realized that actually it looked like I had painted/interpreted Delaney’s Marian Anderson and that somehow (intermingling) he had painted me. He started to wonder if our upcoming show would read better as one: maybe not two shows side by side, but one show of our work– intermingling.

And then, just months before our show, Steve died suddenly and unexpectedly standing in line at the bank. Devastated. Everything stopped. I was given a Hefty bag of all of his half-used tubes of paint and that file of unused, now never to be used, inspiration. And I was encouraged to proceed and hang our work for the show as scheduled.

I put away my own paints, my lively tangerines and cherry reds, in exchange for Steve’s cotton candy pinks, icy pastel blues and lime sherbert greens. And I pulled another page from his file of inspiration, a man in a cap, to paint something he had hoped to paint with the paints he would have used to paint it. Looking back, I’ve come to understand this intermingling of his materials and my work helped me to hold onto him, my art mother, while letting go…”

Sara Gevurtz and Thomas Asmuth ・ @saragevurtz_art

Untitled: Water and Sensor Driven Abstractions

Video・11 min, 25 seconds・NFS

“Since 2016, I have been working collaboratively with Thomas Asmuth, Professor at the University of West Florida on a project called Turbidity Paintings. The project Turbidity Paintings, proposes a new visualization methodology to record images and collect data on water quality (turbidity). The core of this is to develop a system of image collection using do-it-yourself technology.

Turbidity Paintings explores and challenges the divide between the arts and the sciences and directly questions the role of the artist when dealing with science and scientific data. Art and science are not so vastly different in their approaches. The role of the artist and the art in this project is to create an experimental model by which to develop new ways to create a dialogue around, in our example, water quality.

We have also collaborated with Dr. Lisa Waidner, who studies a particular type of bacteria that uses both Photosynthesis and anaerobic metabolism. She was able to analyze the images to determine whether there were bacteria in the water.”

Alaniux, Jenni Ruano, and Jennifer Albarracin

Un Alma Potente

Photography・24" x 36" x 1"・$500

“Collaboration is at the heart of my art practice. I believe that art is a communal act, shaped not only by the artist’s hand but by the people, conversations, and energies that surround its making. Musas is a direct reflection of this belief — a project born from a desire to create space for Latinx women to be seen, heard, and celebrated on their own terms.

For this piece, Un Alma Potente, I worked alongside floral artist Jenni Ruano of Flor Del Soul Co., who brought life to the composition with her floral arrangements, adding layers of symbolism and texture to the visual narrative. Jennifer Albarracin Moya, an artist and photographer in her own right, became both the subject and muse of this photograph. As we worked together, I interviewed her about what it means to exist in the tense space between admiration and objectification, inspiration and invisibility — a conversation that deeply informed the final image.

Beyond these direct collaborations, the project was enriched by the presence of a community of Latinx women leaders, artists, and friends who gathered on set. Their support, and perspectives created an environment that made vulnerability possible and authenticity inevitable. Their energy is present in every detail of this piece.

Musas taught me that collaboration isn’t just about shared labor, but about shared meaning. Every person involved shaped the work, making it fuller, more honest, and more alive than anything I could have created alone.”

Carolyn Marshall Wright ・ @carolynpaints

Taking Alma’s Advice

Acrylic on cradled board・ 20” x 16” x 2” ・ $425

“Several years ago, I studied the work of Alma Thomas. Fortunately, her paintings were being exhibited in several venues where I was able to go and study in person, in addition to seeing images online. One of her quotes stuck with me: “Through color, I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.” One gorgeous summer day, depressed by global news, I looked closely at the riot of color on my deck–the pots and pots of flowers that had reached their peak. I decided to do what Alma did, look at the color and paint it, in order to overcome my feelings of doom.

Unlike Alma, I began the painting with an all-over abstract layer, allowing my brush to play, picking up hues that spoke of those I was seeing. Only when that layer completely covered my substrate did I move on. Like Alma, I then organized the vibrant colors of the blossoms line by line, brushstroke by brushstroke, interspersed with the calming green of the foliage. Even now, when the news seems, if anything, worse than it was several years ago, I can look at this painting and let the color speak to me of joy transcendent.”

Kristin Fuller and Robert Hoffman

Pyramid

Mixed media・40" x 40" x 2"・$3000

“Collaboration in art is an act of surrender—an invitation to relinquish control, to trust, and to engage in a dialogue that transcends individual boundaries. In our collaborative series, Call and Response, Robert and I embarked on a journey where our distinct artistic styles converged, driven by a shared experience of grief. This series became a testament to the power of vulnerability and the healing potential inherent in creative exchange.

Pyramid (2019), a pivotal piece in our series, encapsulates the essence of our collaboration. Each artwork was passed between us, allowing for a dynamic interplay of responses—sometimes enhancing, other times dismantling, but always evolving. This process mirrored the cyclical nature of grief: moments of construction followed by deconstruction, all within a space of mutual respect and understanding.

Our differing artistic approaches became a strength rather than a hindrance. The tension between our styles fostered a fertile ground for innovation, where each mark made by one was met with a thoughtful counter by the other. In this exchange, we found not only a means to process our sorrow but also a way to honor it.

Through Call and Response, we discovered that art is not merely a reflection of personal experience but a collective act of witnessing and being witnessed. In the act of creating together, we found a shared language for our grief, transforming it into a narrative of resilience and connection. This collaboration reaffirmed our belief in the profound impact of creative partnerships and the healing that can emerge when artists come together with openness and trust.”

Jasmine Kim and Megan Marlatt ・ @jas_kim_art

Upsidedown

Oil on canvas ・ 27” x 17” x 1.5” ・ $500

In my work, the main figure is modeled after a ceramic piece that was created by my university professor, Megan Marlatt, an eccentric and earthy artist. She inspired me to be more experimental and irreverent in my own art, and using her pieces as my center figure definitely allowed me to do just that

John T Allen and Nikki Brooks・ @permiandesigns and @nikkibrooksart

Parallel Timeline with Alternate Outcome

Digital collage ・16" x 16" x 0.75"・ $500

This piece is part of a project done in collaboration with Nikki Brooks titled Life Code; a series of ten unique but thematically interlinked works of varying size; five mixed media works and five digital collage prints. The mixed media works, created by Nikki Brooks, are composed from digital collages provided by John T Allen, augmented with her own various materials to create the first five pieces. The digital collage prints, created by John T Allen, are composed from digitally manipulated photographs he has taken of Nikki Brooks’s past mixed media works, augmented with elements from his own archive, and printed to create the second five pieces.

Through the convergence of these methodologies, Brooks and Allen invite viewers to reflect on how meaning is constructed, sustained, and ultimately transformed in the face of change. Thus, Life Code seeks to provoke a dialogue on the preservation of what is most vital, offering an artistic lens on how the values and histories we hold dear might endure—or fade—through the fabric of time.

Sharmila Kapur・ @sharmilakapurart

Contemplating Matisse in Morocco

Acrylic on canvas ・ 24” x 24” x 2” ・ NFS

My painting Contemplating Matisse in Morocco is a meditation on time, place, and artistic conversation. Inspired by Matisse's paintings of Morocco, it began as a transcription and a collaboration of looking deeply into his vision of light and color. Into this landscape I painted a live model, seated within the frame as if she were both part of the original scene and somehow outside it, looking in. I wanted to collaborate with Matisse, not just copy his work, and invite the viewer to join me there. The model becomes a stand-in for all of us: observing, reflecting, inhabiting the world before her and the one beyond the canvas. The act of seeing across time with the help of a master artistic collaborator.

Ghislaine & Lando Fremaux-Valdez・@ghislainefremauxvaldez and @landofremauxvaldez

Clipping

Pastel, gouache on paper・96” x 75”・$2,000

“We practice collaboration in the studio and in our life together as partners. The piece submitted here was our first collaborative endeavor and it shows us communing with one another. In all of our collaborative work, we undertake the ideational and technical work together and we draw side by side. For us, collaboration is the work of holding up mirrors to each other, listening, drawing and redrawing 'the line', speaking with integrity and humility, and sometimes attempting to speak in the other's voice.

We do not come to the collaboration with separate agenda and yoke them together; it is an extemporaneous conversation that begets work that neither of us could or would make on our own. Its effect has been that of a glue that softens and melts the surfaces of the two objects it bonds. Each of us has to yield a bit of ourselves to make the collaborative union, and the result is something with a different genetic code, greater (we hope) than the sum of its parts.”

Michelle Lipson・ @mel.6759

Everything Must Go

Textile ・ 64” x 70” x 3.25 ・ $8000

In Everything Must Go, I engage in a dialogue with time, memory, and the layered histories embedded in discarded materials. This work is a meditation on grief and the impermanence of material culture, built from elements that span more than a century: a worn quilt stitched in 1898 by unknown hands, remnants from a 103-year-old upholsterer, and printed textiles I created 35 years ago.

This piece is a collaboration—not with a single living artist, but with a lineage of makers whose labor and presence persist in the objects they left behind. The quilt's anonymous maker, the upholsterer’s well-worn scraps, and my younger self all contribute to a shared act of making across time. Their traces are not just materials but voices, reminding me that creation is rarely solitary.

My practice honors the quiet, often unseen contributions that shape art: the inherited, the cast-off, the remembered. In assembling these fragments, I aim to hold space for the past, while confronting the inevitable letting go that grief demands.

Andrea Wood ・@abstractedandrea

The Persistence

Acrylic paint, liquid household paint, string gel・12" x 36" x 1"・ $300

“The underground, buy-nothing economy in Arlington, Virginia, reignited my artistic endeavors, first with a wooden easel and then with a continuous supply of leftover house paints, supporting my Jackson Pollock inspired style. I am thankful to be surrounded by a community of individuals who give freely and embody the reduce, reuse, recycle movement.

I was drawn to Pollock's drip and pour style after a local art class introduced me to the freedom of flinging paint. While I am grateful for my wooden easel, it is largely abandoned in my current effort in favor of my table and floor, mimicking Pollock’s usage of a horizontal surface. The paints provided by my neighbors serve as a fluid base that I combine with acrylic paints to create the dominant color tones and drips in my pieces. To increase vibrancy throughout the pieces, I use fluid medium or string gel to enhance the raw hues of the acrylic paints. This hybrid of old and new opens space for experimentation, freedom, and emotional release.

When I start painting, I often lose myself in the moment, uncertain of the goal or direction. The Persistence started with a glimmer of hope, a thread of yellow light that still shines through despite the chaos around us. Vein of Resistance emerged not from stillness, but from pressure. As I worked, what took shape was a fracture - bold, uncontainable, alive. The glowing slash that cuts through the darkness became a visual embodiment of defiance, a refusal to disappear under weight. Both of these pieces were shaped by instinct and improvisation, carrying the pulse of a community that believes in reuse, in art born from chaos, and in beauty forged through constraint.”

Rosemary A Luckett・ @rosaritasea

Seat of Wisdom II

Acrylic, paper, wood ・ 23” x 15” x 6.5”・ $550

“During a year’s-long process of exploring religious imagery of Jesus’ mother Mary, I became dissatisfied with these powerful, but narrow pictorial images that so influenced my growing-up years. They were white, Italian, and virgin yet mother. Byzantine icons, plaster statues, niche boxes and retablos of the southwest, supplemented by study of feminine archetypes, led me to make richly diverse images of Mary as well as pictures of a Feminine Face of God. Icons from previous centuries reflect figures and faces of women in that time, I also purposely include diverse faces that I see nowadays.

On the one hand, my collages call to mind scriptural and mythical stories in which the deity interacts with women portrayed by artists throughout western history. Yet the contemporary figures of women in my works also tell the story of the ancient trinity of maiden-mother-crone, revealing a more complete picture of the nature of women. Going a step further, the images represent God with female visage, elucidating the presence of the Divine in all creation.

By placing these images in three dimensional houses or shrines, I extend a two-dimensional image into three-dimensions. Some are vintage boxes while others I build from wood and metal. The shrines are direct references to my collaborators: medieval altar panels, Hispanic niche boxes, and domestic folk cabinets. They refer to ourselves as well, reminding us that we are all vessels of the Eternal Spirit of the Universe no matter our age or place of origin.”

In Seat of Wisdom II, an elder woman still breastfeeds a child, albeit metaphorically. Sage women past the age of physical childbearing are stewards of society in a different way as they teach from their depth of experience and knowledge of all things.

Nicole Parker and Eliza Clifford ・ @parkernik, @lavender_lizard_press

A Week in the Life

Screenprint, paper, book board, and cloth・ 6.5” x 6.5” ・ $250 (additional editions available)

This artist book is a collaborative project between Eliza Clifford and Nicole Parker. We are two artists and personal friends who work alongside one another at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. Our agreed prompt was to draw an image every day to illustrate our respective weeks. Each of us worked in our own individual styles; Clifford takes a playful and intimate diary-style comic approach, while Parker creates atmospheric and nostalgic "snapshot" still-life images. We decided on a concertina book, with each of our weeks taking place on one side of the accordion. Our book has two "front" covers, one for each of us, and can be read in either direction.

Andrew S. Lang and Tim McFadden ・ @andrewlangsculpture

Symmetry

Dichroic glass ・ 11.5” x 3.5”・ $1350

“As a 76-year-old glass blower, there is little I can accomplish without a team. The principal glass handler is known in glass blowing as a gaffer. The gaffer I have been working with recently is a gentleman with a shop in Baltimore known as Tim McFadden. Fortunately for me he has more than 20 years of experience and a focus on excellence. To begin with I bring Tim a drawing or a maquette so that he can gain insight into what my goal is for the piece. We then discuss various elements of the design and how it will be built.

Usually Tim will require one assistant as well as myself for the actual handling of the hot glass and the various tools such as blow pipes, paddles, blocks, etc. I observe their work very closely from the moment the glass is first "gathered" (picked up on the blow pipe) until it is finished and put into the annealing (cooling oven). In this way I am able to suggest adjustments as the piece is developed.”

Lily Kak ・

We the Women: Beacon of Hope

Watercolor ・ 19” x 25” ・ $1000

Chronicling our Times through Art: Why Collaboration Matters

Collaboration is not just about people coming together and engaging in a joint activity; rather, it brings together an interconnected network of global and local ideas, concepts, events, and experiences. Art that is inspired and driven by such energy and synergy is better able to reflect the multifaceted complexities of major historical events and experiences. This essay describes a journey through time, connecting watershed moments spanning one hundred years.

In 1920, the women’s suffrage movement culminated in a historic, hard-won right for political equality for women. In 2020, we commemorated the one-hundredth anniversary of this important moment. In 1918, the Spanish Influenza pandemic swept across the earth, killing over 20 million people. People were ordered to wear masks. Businesses, theaters, and schools were closed. There was no cure, there was no vaccine. History repeated itself a century later - in 2019 and 2020, a microscopic monster raised its ugly head, swiftly sweeping across the world and killing a million people in less than a year.

I vowed to chronicle the events through art, striving to transform a dark theme into an uplifting one. My painting, We the Women; Beacon of Hope, reflects these two watershed moments in history; it commemorates the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, as bright and hopeful as the rays of light shining from the torch held high by Lady Liberty. Hovering above is the menacing coronavirus, and at the center is my war machine – the sewing machine - with which I sewed hundreds of face masks that I donated to hospitals, friends, and family. Receding into the background is the outline of New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic at the time I created this painting.

Victoria Cowles・@torycowles

Juxtapositions

Video・9 min, 30 seconds・NFS

The art installation by Tory Cowles, was a juxtaposition of rough farm materials patinated by time and the weather with fine sophisticated often translucent fabrics. The goal was to create an installation that visitors, and particularly dancers, would be inspired to interact with and become part of.

Lorraine Spiegler, then artistic director of CityDance, worked with her students to choreograph a dance to bring the installation alive. The dancers were allowed to 'play' with the elements of the installation and to develop their individual and/or group tableaus. Lorraine helped them to refine them and combine them into an integrated, flowing performance.

The video, created by Shannon Braine, captured the collaborative process from the beginning when the dancers were first introduced to the artwork in Tory's studio, to the final performance at the Black Rock Center for the Arts in Germantown, MD in January, 2022. Shannon conducted the interviews, chose and synced the music, edited and pulled the whole process together.

Rebecca Scothorn・@Fknlovesalad

America’s Daughter

Watercolor on wood panel・24" x 38.25"・ $2000

This piece is both a study and a transformation, created in homage to Egon Schiele’s Standing Nude with a Patterned Robe (1917). I first discovered this painting in March 2024 at the National Gallery of Art. I was inspired by the professional artists at the gallery who sit and study famous paintings, copying their likeness. I was initially drawn to it because of the faceless muse. I wanted to give her a face. The reverse image, displayed upside down, conveys all the emotions I felt in the summer of 2024. Her robe, I transitioned into a torn up American flag in March 2025. The painting as a whole is created as a response to the upheaval of American Democracy that has occurred over the last 5 years.

Collaboration: the wood I painted on was gifted to me by a friend. He drilled holes and ran wire through it so I could hang up whatever I painted when I was done. I created this painting as a key to step into the DC artists community. This is the first piece I made intentionally for an audience - the people of Washington.

This painting would not exist without 1) the original, unknown to me, woman whom Egon painted, 2) free access to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, 3) my dear friend who gave me his extra plywood, 4) my wonderful confidants who provided criticisms and advice along the way, 5) the timing of living in Washington DC, and finally 6) having trust in myself that I could create my own masterpiece that is inspired by, yet I believe whole different than something that is already considered a great work of art.

C.S. Corbin and Diane D’Costa・@cscrbn and @dianemakesthings

Shucked!

Three framed prints of digital illustrations・20” x 32” x 0.5”・$200 🔴

“As queer artists in DC, we have crossed paths often— both in the art world and in queer community. Whether it was vending side by side at markets or running into each other at events, our friendship bloomed over shared space and experience. Our work explores similar themes of gender, sexuality, identity, and belonging, and it was on a Butch Fever (a recurring DC queer party) dance floor that this collaboration was born.

Recognizing the shared oyster motif in our work and with a queer art exhibition on the books, we teamed up for this creative collaboration. Over oysters (naturally) we brainstormed our concept, sketched out plans, and landed on this design. As two water signs, queer people, and both with coastal connections, together we created this piece honoring what brings us together and how we individually shine. Shucked is a celebration of queer creativity, community, and collaboration. It’s a testament to our authenticity and demonstrates the power of what’s possible when living in alignment, nurturing symbiotic relationships, and centering play in the creative process.

With a consciousness lens to both our creative practices, we developed prints of this collaborative design and sold them with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the DC Migrant Mutual Aid fund as a direct way to support our local community and leverage our collective power to create positive change.

This piece is a triptych that features oyster illustrations interpreted by the two artists with the collaborative illustration in the middle.”

Hernan Murno and Lesley Clarke・ @hernan_murno_art, @lesleyclarkeart

Faultline Reverie

Acrylic and collage on canvas ・ 36” x 24” ・ $1700

“Collaborating with Lesley Clarke on this painting was both energizing and unpredictable—in the best way. We each began by contributing layered elements that reflected our individual styles: Lesley with her nuanced, atmospheric darkness and I with vibrant color fields and textural complexity. As the piece evolved, we found a rhythm of call and response, letting the work itself guide us rather than forcing a fixed plan.

This painting emerged from that tension—between structure and dissolution, fire and shadow. Lesley’s darker tonal range pulled me into subtler territory than I usually explore, and I brought in pools of heat and intensity, letting bold oranges and reds burn through the surface. Some passages we worked separately, but much of the composition was built through physical back-and-forth—layering, scratching, softening, and reasserting. I used fluid acrylic techniques and lifted color with textured mediums, while Lesley brought depth with translucent washes and tonal restraint.

There was a moment when a pattern emerged in the upper center—like cracked branches or fractured light—and instead of erasing it, we leaned into its ambiguity. It became a kind of silent protagonist, connecting the top and bottom halves, the cooled darkness and glowing heat.

What I value most in this collaboration is the trust it required: to let the other shape part of the narrative, to take risks without knowing the result. The final painting holds both our sensibilities, not merged into one, but coexisting—like two elemental forces in dialogue.”

Yoshiko Ratliff ・ @sarahrenzistudio

Sunflower Polka

Acrylic ・ 18” x 18” x 1.5”・ $950

As a native of Japan, I have long been fascinated by Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist who has achieved international popularity for her artwork and her unique artistic vision. In mid-2023, I was able to examine her artwork at close hand at her exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, as well as at her own art gallery and museum in Tokyo, Japan.

The polka dot patterns that she incorporates into her pieces are also a favorite pattern of mine. They are very similar to the circular shapes of the organic forms that are influenced by the crystalline glazes I made as a ceramicist that I use in my paintings.

One of my ongoing projects is a Sunflower series of paintings that always include a ladybug, which also has polka dots on its back. For this sunflower painting, I have combined Yayoi Kusama’s signature polka dots and the geometric shapes she uses in her backgrounds with the crystalline glaze-inspired circular organic forms that I use in my paintings to create a collaborative floral presentation.

Neville Barbour and Delna Dastur・ @nevillebarbour @delnadastur

The Forest is Free

Charcoal, sanguine powder, acrylic, bristol on handmade paper from India with inlaid plant fiber・ 20" x 16" x 1”・ $1,250 🔴

“Delna and I met over a year ago at Touchstone. She invited me to a show of her abstract works in Arlington. I had been interested in abstract, as a style, for some time now. My drawings lean towards realism, but I've always been attracted to opposite styles because they challenge your ego.

When the call came for this exhibition, I wasn’t going to apply because I had never collaborated with anyone before. But then Delna called me and proposed the idea of making something. I remember feeling somewhat pressed for time but also that this opportunity might not come up again anytime soon. I am glad that we made it work.

I named this piece “the forest is free” as a response to Delna’s under drawing which leans heavily on themes of nature. She purchased the paper substrate in India, and it is embedded with plant reeds. When I looked at Delna’s under drawing, all I could think of was how underappreciated these environments are when you’re confined to urban spaces.

A week ago, I overheard a TV interview of a biologist working in South America. At some point during the interview, she used the phrase “the forest is free” and it stuck with me.

Salvador Rubio ・@salvadorubio23

AZUL

Oil on canvas ・60” x 36” x 2” ・ $8000

Collaboration is a crucial part of my art-making process. I’ve always been drawn to painting portraits, so my practice is deeply rooted in, and dependent on, other people. My most recent body of work reflects a collaborative exchange between muse and artist. I choose to paint people around me who move and inspire me, people whose presence lingers.

For this piece, AZUL, I collaborated with my close friend Yareli, someone I had quietly envisioned painting for a long time. I never told her outright, I just knew. When we finally worked together, I knew I wanted to portray her in a way that felt powerful but still gentle, because that’s the kind of energy she brings.

From the beginning, I let go of control. Yareli chose her own clothes and accessories. We had a conversation about how I imagined portraying her, but more importantly, I asked how she wanted to be seen. The photoshoot became a shared space where we both contributed: I offered direction, but she brought her own vision, mood, and voice.

Afterward, we reviewed the images together and selected our favorites, ones that resonated with both of us. That shared decision-making shaped everything else: the colors I chose, the background elements, even the overall mood of the piece.

In this way, AZUL became something neither of us could have created alone. Working with muses like Yareli teaches me to listen more, to trust more, and to let go of rigid ideas. Collaboration in my work isn’t just about using someone’s likeness, it’s about co-creating an image that honors who they are and how they want to exist in the world.

Will Zaret and Cathleen Zaret・@mixedsand

Floating

Mixed media・12” x 12” x .5”・NFS

I am a process-oriented artist. Each medium and technique will leave its mark on the finished piece. I love collaboration, it’s amazing how unpredictable the results can be. To that end, I love to explore combinations of textures and techniques. At some point, this image was film footage of an ocean from the 60s. It was preserved as public domain footage in a digital format.

Then I datamoshed (glitched) it inspired by Takeshi Murata. I used techniques from Signal Culture, which I was introduced to by Nicholas Economos. Nicholas and Andrew Duetsch inspired me to pursue a process-oriented workflow and to use CRT televisions. After the compositing, I continued to process the image with analog hardware and photographed it with a DSLR camera. Then the process became recursive and I kept distorting the image, chasing colors and textures. The process ends with digital collage and I continue to incorporate colors and textures.

My family has been a big influence on my aesthetics as well. My grandmother was a docent at the Hirshhorn and inundated me with art of abstract expressionists like Motherwell. For this collaboration, my mother, a textile artist, finished the piece with embellishments of thread and copper.

Allyssa Yamaguchi and Hide Yamaguchi・@allyssa_yamaguchi_juarez

Searching in Green

Oil on canvas ・40” x 30” x 2”・ $4000

Collaboration has had a quiet yet profound influence on my work, particularly in the creation of Searching in Green. This monochromatic oil painting, rendered in transparent washes of Phthalo Green, features a crouching male figure modeled by my husband, Hide. As both my life partner and greatest supporter, Hide has been a steady, grounding presence in my artistic journey. Inviting him to model for this piece was both an act of trust and a way to immortalize his introspective, contemplative nature through my visual language.

In the painting, his hands reach toward something unseen on the ground while his eyes remain lowered, lost in thought. There is a subtle tension in the gesture, a moment of searching without clarity, of doing without fully knowing. The pose itself was inspired by the marble sculpture Cupid Presenting a Rose to a Butterfly (c. 1802), chosen for its graceful curve and meditative stillness. I often look to classical sources for reference, drawing on their emotional weight and idealized forms to craft my own figures, who exist in ambiguous states between presence and escape.

By collaborating with Hide, I was able to access a level of vulnerability and emotional truth that deepened the painting’s resonance. It also reminded me how the act of artmaking is never fully solitary; it is shaped by the people who believe in us, offer their time, presence, and trust. In this piece, the personal becomes universal: a shared moment becomes a vessel for broader reflection on the quiet, often invisible emotional labor we carry in our everyday lives.

Jessica Maria Hopkins and Melvin Nesbit Jr. ・@jessicamariahopkins

Colors of Resilience

Acrylic, acrylic marker, and archival ink on canvas・ 24" x 24" x 1.5" ・ $3000

“My painting is titled Colors of Resilience, and it depicts something evolving and unraveling, which is equivalent to my painting process. This painting derived from two different mediums; acrylic and ballpoint pen. Collaboration, support, and inspiration were very instrumental regarding my choice of media and feedback from a fellow peer, Melvin Nesbit Jr. Both aspects helped me create a solid foundation for my painting. Melvin and I attended The University of the District of Columbia at the same time and we were classmates. He creates intricate painted-paper collages; his process is very detailed and the elements shape and color play a vital role.

I always paint the skin tone gray and frame parts of the body with vibrant colors. I describe my painting process as organic and is always a different journey with new obstacles. For example, I ask myself: “Have I applied too much or too little paint?” or “Has this piece reached completion? One evening I mentioned to him “I was uncertain and stuck,” with my color input. He mentioned how to create balance and make either my foreground or background subtle. “The contrasts between the drawn (?) elements and painting has a collage affect that is very attractive. The colors appear to be of the same saturation level. And they are all pushing forward making your backgrounds flatten ” by Melvin Nesbit Jr.

Melvin’s constructive criticism created a clear path for me while incorporating colors in the foreground and background. His support enhanced my idea of using dry media to execute the pair of jeans. Also, made me realize the input of other materials created visual depth and helped me expand my traditional practice.”

Sarah Renzi Sanders ・ @sarahrenzistudio

Harmony

Ink, acrylic, collage, and oil on canvas ・ 30” x 30” ・ $2500

This piece is a meditation on collaboration—not just among the elements of nature, but also between the many creative voices that have shaped my journey as an artist. I began the painting in 2018 as an abstract ink and collage piece. I entered it in a local art show and it won first place. I was thrilled but after that, it sat quietly in my studio for years, fading and collecting dust. In 2022, I co-founded Girls Who Paint, a gallery focused on supporting women artists.

Working closely with other artists and curating exhibitions transformed the way I approached my own work. I was constantly inspired by the techniques and perspectives of the artists around me. I returned to this piece gradually, layering acrylic and oil with no set plan to show or sell it. I added the rose, then the butterfly, after taking a trompe l’oeil class taught by an artist I met through the gallery. This piece became a place for me to experiment and try new techniques, shaped by the creative influence of other artists. I finally completed the painting in 2025. The vase was the final step in the painting to unify all the elements added over the years. In this piece, I honor the interconnectedness of all things and the spirit of artistic collaboration.