A year of Artists Sharing Artists

This past year, I’ve shared eleven artists with you through the Artists Sharing Artists project and I really hoped you enjoyed meeting them. There is so much talent and passion wrapped up in this one photo, and looking at them all together, just makes me so happy to know that all these amazing artists are doing their thing out there in the world.

India Maya, Susun Gallery, JB Boyd, Nika Kovalenko
Kristen O’Neill, Shannon Sullivan
Ruth Li, Sally Walk, Wesley Wright, Susan Whitmore & Cynthia Siegel

Big thanks to Nika Kovalenko, Kristen O’Neill, India Maya, Susun Gallery, Ruth Li, Sally Walk, JB Boyd, Cynthia Siegel, Shannon Sullivan, Wesley Wright & Sue Whitmore for taking the time to help me create these posts. If you missed any of them, click here to see all of the artists posts and videos. If you like their work, you can support the artists directly by buying their work and adding some amazing pieces to your collection.

And let me know… should I do this again next year??

Artists Sharing Artists: Susan Whitmore

My first introduction to Sue’s work was through her website while researching artists to bring on board to an upcoming exhibition. I was immediately intrigued by the variety of textures in her work. Some of her forms are solid, glossy probing shapes and those contrast starkly with the web-like fragile veils of layers that seem to ooze around the structures. Some seem animated as they might start crawling across the table and some seem to be the remains of a creature that once was. I still don’t know how she makes these pieces, but I’m really excited learn more about her work and find out.

Susan is one of five artists in the exhibit that Cynthia Siegel and myself are co-curating as part of the 2022 NCECA conference entitled, This is the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is defined as the current geological age during which human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate and the environment. The artists will be responding to this topic within the themes of Animal, Agriculture, Landscape, Water and/or Atmosphere in a diversity of styles and approaches. Susan will be featuring work based on forest fires as part of this exhibition.

Susan at work in her studio

About Susan Whitmore’s work: My current sculptural work is an exploration of studio based research: physicality and metaphor in concepts of torn, fatigued, erupted, collapsed, or disintegrated objects and images. I merge new technologies such as 3D modeling software with traditional hand skills such as drawing and ceramic construction. My goal is to create abstract pieces that explore the tensions between control and functionality, and the chaos found in natural forms.

Learn more at Sue’s website or follow her on Instagram


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

Artists Sharing Artists: Wesley Wright

I was first introduced to Wesley’s work during a ceramics event in San Francisco where he exhibited large scale ceramic sea turtles that had jet engines and propellers mounted on their shells, and they carried protected intricate worlds on their backs under glass domes. At first glance, they were fun and whimsical creatures of the imagination, but a longer look revealed their deeper message about loss of habitat and mass extinction as well as the craftsmanship involved in sculpting the intricately carved patterns and textures. When I was teaching kids clay classes, I loved using his work as examples for my students, they were always drawn into the eccentric combinations and were so inspired to create their own creatures. Check out Wesley’s video below to see how his life, home and work all tie together to inspire his sculpture.

Wesley is one of five artists in the exhibit that Cynthia Siegel and myself are co-curating as part of the 2022 NCECA conference entitled, This is the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is defined as the current geological age during which human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate and the environment. The artists will be responding to this topic within the themes of Animal, Agriculture, Landscape, Water and/or Atmosphere in a diversity of styles and approaches. Wesley will be featuring work from his Guardians Series as part of this exhibition. Over the next few months, I’ll be featuring the other artists from this exhibit.

About Wesley’s Wright’s work:

I’m fascinated by the creative adaptability of nature as it presents elegant solutions to the problem of survival. I’m inspired by the eccentric, the grotesque, and the beautiful, as I attempt to emulate the wonder of nature. My work is a celebration of these qualities and a critique of the human relationship with the natural world.

Learn more at Wes’ website or follow him on Instagram


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

Artists Sharing Artists: Shannon Sullivan

Let me just start by saying that I love Shannon Sullivan’s work. It’s clearly based on her keen observations of nature from a micro to macro scale. She’s clean and precise in the execution of her organic forms with a clever eye for presentation. Be sure to watch the video below where she explains the process and inspiration behind making her latest body of work, Folded Topographies. I am really looking forward to getting to know her and her work better as we work towards a group exhibition next spring.

Shannon is one of five artists in the exhibit that Cynthia Siegel and myself are co-curating as part of the 2022 NCECA conference entitled, This is the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is defined as the current geological age during which human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate and the environment. The artists will be responding to this topic within the themes of Animal, Agriculture, Landscape, Water and/or Atmosphere in a diversity of styles and approaches. Shannon will be featuring work from her disc series as part of this exhibition. Over the next few months, I’ll be featuring the other artists from this exhibit.

Shannon’s studio assistant hard at work.
Topographical Horizons, 2021

About Shannon Sullivan’s work:

Sullivan creates sculptures, wall pieces and installations using a core visual vocabulary rooted in the prevailing ways of nature. Her work maintains a seductive, mysterious quality as she explores the nuances present in the living world.

Wet clay transforms the paper mold from exclusively sharp and crisp to something in between—manipulated, and distorted. I seek the inimitable forms that result from this experimental process of what I’ve termed “paper casting”. Jutting and topographic, the glazed composite forms are reminiscent of plate tectonics at work. I’m compelled by the rugged and folded coastal mountain range of my home here on the North Coast of California.

Learn more at Shannon’s website or follow her on Instagram


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

Artists Sharing Artists: Cynthia Siegel

I have been a fan of Cynthia’s work for a long time, the textures on her pieces are incredible and they draw you in to the movement of her figures and forms. I have probably known her work longer than I’ve known her, as we have shown our work at the same local venues over the years, both being clay artists working in the same town but hardly crossing paths in person. When we went to the same residency in Taiwan, one year apart from each other, she was able to share all of her experiences there with me before I left for my residency- which was fantastic! And we became friends through the process of putting together exhibition ideas for the NCECA conference. We spent lots and lots of time pitching ideas to each other, editing content and not only did it forge a friendship, but it also resulted in a big upcoming show.

In March of 2022 we will be co-curating an exhibition entitled This is the Anthropocene at the 2022 NCECA conference. The Anthropocene is defined as the current geological age during which human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate and the environment. 5 artists will be responding to this topic within the themes of Animal, Agriculture, Landscape, Water and/or Atmosphere in a diversity of styles and approaches. Cynthia will be featuring work from her beautiful Bristlecone Pine Series as part of this exhibition. Over the next few months, I’ll be featuring the three other artists that Cynthia and I curated into this exhibit.

If you want to see her work in person, be sure to visit Cynthia’s studio October 9th, 10th, 16th, or 17th for the Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour, she’s artist #160 in the catalog. And check out the video below to see how Cynthia builds her large scale figures.

Cynthia working in her studio

About Cynthia Siegel’s Work:

I create figurative work, primarily ceramic sculpture, which celebrates human connection to the natural world. By re-establishing human respect for all flora and fauna, I believe that the earth may again find its balance. I revere the beauty that comes from the passage of time, and the struggle to survive and adapt. My imagery and process of meditative mark-making are fueled by a love of storytelling, anthropology, anatomical structure, and natural history.

One of my current work series is inspired in part by the ancient bristlecone pine trees of the western United States, (particularly the groves close to my former home in Bishop, a remote town in the high desert of the Owens Valley in eastern California), As a parallel to the human struggle for survival, I’m drawn to the tenacity of the bristlecone pine trees that have endured for thousands of years, both because of and despite their fragile environment. The textured surfaces of my sculpture reflect the intersection of time, weather, growth, and decay. As memory and experience abstract themselves over time in our minds, so I encourage my figurative sculptures to transform themselves, in the form of markings carved upon their surfaces. My intent is to connect with others, to bring awareness to nature’s current state of peril and to empower viewers to reconsider and to recalibrate their own relationship to our earth.

Learn more at Cynthia’s website or follow her on Instagram and Facebook


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

Artists Sharing Artists: JB Boyd

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know JB. We grew up together, skiing in the winters in Vermont and scheming adventures in the summers in New Jersey. We go years without seeing each other in person and when we are reunited it’s like no time has passed. I know I can count on him to say yes to any adventure and he is always the first person to make snow angels with me, even if there’s no snow. He’s a lifelong, long lost friend and a crazy talented landscape painter too.

On first glance, you’d swear he was a photographer not a painter. His attention to detail and patience throughout the process of bringing his paintings to life continually astound me. When you scan his horizon format paintings, some of which are only 3 inches high but nearly 6 feet long, you feel there, immersed in the space, seeing it through his eyes. Diving into his seascapes seems like a perfectly reasonable option, it’s as if you’re looking through a window out to the glistening ocean. JB’s work is represented by Robert Lange Studio if you want to add a new piece to your collection, I know it’s a life goal for me! Check out the video below to see his process and learn more…

JB in his former studio at RLS Gallery

About JB Boyd’s work: Focusing on the Lowcountry as a subject, Boyd’s paintings start with photographs, or more accurately, the journey to reach the photograph site. Boyd uses boats, ladders, trees and whatever else he can find and/or trespass on to create a unique perspectives. Perched twenty feet above the flat expanse of the marsh, or lying belly down in the mud, Boyd photographs in series to create a 360º view. Then, back in his studio, he arranges, crops, and edits these photographs to make a singular image. Using the image as a reference, his oil paintings are built up layer by layer, with each subsequent layer tightening the detail presented.

Learn more at JB’s website or follow him on Instagram, Facebook or You Tube

To purchase his work, contact Robert Lange Studios


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

Artists Sharing Artists: Sally Walk

I had been a fan of Sally’s work long before I got to meet her in Taiwan during our residency at the Yingge Ceramic Museum. It was impressive to see her in action, she was only at the residency for one month and I think she created more work in that month than I had in the three months I’d been there, she’s amazingly productive!

I love how animated her forms are, it feels like they will just get up and start walking or swimming through the studio. Her use of pattern, color and carved textures only adds to the movement in her work. I also had no idea that she threw all her forms on the wheel, I had assumed everything was hand-built, so it was great to be able to watch and learn about her process. Not only is she an impressive sculptor with excellent craftsmanship but she is also the sweetest person, a stellar karaoke singer and she made me laugh until it hurt.

Check out the video below to see more images of her work…

Sally at her studio space at the Yingge Ceramics Museum

About Sally Walk’s Work: My sculptural works are often on the edge, balanced, uneasy and restless, contrasting with a delicate prettiness that presents a sense of determination. They reference the illusions we create, how we present ourselves and what we determine as truth. Our outer shell is a façade, a beautiful illusion, but who we are is unclear. Our very existence is constructed, carefully controlled, meticulously edited. Only the edited version is apparent. What lies within or beyond the beautiful façade is lost, as reality teeters on the edge. This imbalance between what is real and what is not, is unnerving, and my ceramic sculptures explore this concept.

The shape of the forms are inspired by marine animals and microscopic imagery. I became interested in microscopic images after my mum was diagnosed with cancer, and unlikely positive to come from the situation. The virus-like rounded spikes were actually from some research I did into viruses that were being used to cure cancer. Oh how quickly that imagery has become linked to a pandemic.

You can follow Sally on Instagram and Facebook or visit her website to view more of her work.


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

Artists Sharing Artists: Ruth Ju-Shih Li

I met Ruth when she and I were both artists-in-residence in Taiwan and I was so lucky to have her as my studio mate for those three months! Being Taiwanese-Australian, and having had spent time in Taiwan, she knew all the fun places to go and could speak and read the language; without her, I would of missed a lot of cultural opportunities that I’m so grateful I was able to experience. Even simply ordering dinner at a restaurant would of been a different (read: challenging!) experience without her.

In addition to being studio mates for those three months, she happened to also have a solo exhibition during our residency. I was able to help her install her works, learning more about her concepts and process along the way. Her fired porcelain works with imagined flower forms and bird parts are intimidatingly delicate and alluringly gorgeous all at the same time. But I really loved watching her build her ephemeral flower arrangements on antique planter tables over the course of a few days, after which they had water slowly dripping on them for the course of the exhibition, slowly letting them disintegrate. Her work is all about life, time and death taking inspiration from the natural world and the Garden of Eden. I really encourage you to watch the video below about her process of creating these time based pieces, it’s simply beautiful.

Artists Sharing Artists: Ruth Ju-Shih Li | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

About Ruth Ju-Shih Li’s Work: Autobiographical in nature, Li’s ephemeral installations act as a metaphorical meditation on the fragile paradox of life and death in relation to the self, extending onwards to consider the transitory nature of the human condition. Drawing on her personal narrative, diverse cultural and spiritual heritage, Li’s creations partake in the very living creative thought that underlies nature itself and sounds a note of the metaphysical, linking the individual and the universal on the bridge of the spiritual.

You can follow Ruth on Instagram and Facebook or visit May Space Gallery to view more of her work.


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

Artists Sharing Artists: Susun Gallery

Susun and I go way back…. like waaaayyy back. We met in the early 2000’s when she first employed me to drive a 30 foot long trailer that was a mobile art classroom, into underserved communities of Watsonville and teach art classes out of it. That was an adventure in itself. But I also went on to teach through her art based preschool program and her after school art classes bringing ceramics into her programming. We’ve stayed in touch over the past 20 years as I went on to pursue my own studio art practice and so much of what I know about running an art business comes from her.

Her love of color is evident everywhere in her life, from every wall in her house, to her paintings, to her clothing. She inspires her students with her love of painting always finding clever ways to engage them into being creative. She has literally taught hundreds and hundreds of students in Santa Cruz County since she first opening Susun Gallery ArtSchool in 1987.

She moved to Hawaii a few years back and opened ArtSchool on the Beach, where you can sign up to paint on location with Susun and take home your painting as a souvenir of your time spent on the big island. Or if you’re a local, you can join her in her studio to paint, draw, and sculpt.

Always inspired by her surroundings, Susun explores every grain of sand, fills her paint cup from a waterfall, rubs red dirt and black sand into her paintings, and takes divine notes from nature. She channels the beauty of Hawaii through her paintbrush.

You can follow Susun on Instagram and Facebook or visit SusunGallery.com to sign up for an art class on the beach!


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

Artists Sharing Artists: India Maya

I met Rakel (aka India Maya) in the little town of Todos Santos, where I’ve recently bought some property. We met through a network of local artists at events she was participating in and hosting at her home studio. She was also kind enough to allow me to use her kiln to fire the work I was making during our stay in Baja. As I’ve gotten to know her, I’ve learned a little about her Mayan heritage and how she uses locally sourced clays (mixed with a little commercial clay) to make and fire her pots and beads to produce her work in the traditional Mayan ways. The results are burnished surfaces and smoke markings that make her work beautiful to hold and to look at. Her work is literally connected to the land and spiritually connected to her heritage.

Pienso que cuando la gente quiere llevar un recuerdo de Todos Santos buscan llevar algo auténtico y único, es la razón por la cual me gusta usar barro local, es una forma de llevar un pedacito de Todos Santos a tu hogar. Afecta de manera emocional en las personas, les encanta cuando les digo que el barro es local & ellos mismos se dan cuenta de lo auténtico que es mi arte. Es una forma de expresar lo orgullosa que estoy de mi linaje indígena y también es una forma de dejar nuestra huella. Es importante mantener nuestras raíces y el arte que mejor manera de hacerlo atravez del barro.

I think that when people want to have a souvenir of Todos Santos they seek to bring something authentic and unique, it is the reason why I like to use local clay, it is a way to bring a little piece of Todos Santos to your home. It effects people emotionally, they love it when I tell them that the clay is local & they themselves realize how authentic my art is. It is a way of expressing how proud I am of my indigenous lineage and it is also a way of leaving our mark. It is important to keep our roots to the art and the best way to do it is through the clay.

Learn more about India Maya’s work with this beautiful video designed by creative hub Mi-Zo Exchange who also operate CASA MA in Baja Sur, where they design & produce one of the kind furniture in collaboration with local artists:

Want add her work to your collection? Visit these shops in Todos Santos, BCS:

Galería Saguaro | Hecho a Mano | La Todosanteña

To learn more follow @arteindiamaya on IG


Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…