Please introduce yourself.
I am Susan Stoll. I am a photographer.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
Photography allows me to share up close observations of line, color, light and shadow found in nature with others.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
Nature provides endless inspiration. The world around never ceases to amaze me.

What motivates you to create?
Art is at the heart of who I am as an individual. Taking the time to really see the world around me provides motivation to create.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
For photoshoots, I love overcast or cloudy days. Although shooting in bright light or stormy conditions can still yield interesting results.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Creative thinking and the ability to adapt to unexpected challenges are tools that I find useful in various ways.

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Read Susan’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself.
Hello, my name is Christina, and I call myself a jewelry artist.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
Metal design, from jewelry to sculpture, is my favorite art medium. I love the many ways it can be manipulated.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
My biggest influence was my father. He always said it is good to express yourself. I express myself through art. Along the way, the more I was outside, the more nature influenced my designs.

What motivates you to create?
Nature motivates me to create with its unique shapes, sizes, textures, and images.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
My favorite time to create is in the morning. As the day starts, so do my visions of new designs and ideas.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Art makes my life feel calm and complete. It makes those 8-hour, 5-day-a-week office workdays go smoother.

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Read Christina’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself.
Hi, my name is Suzanne Himmler and I’m the creative force behind Riverwoman Design.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
Color and cutting big things into small things and putting them back together, first as a seamstress, then stained glass, quilting, bead stitching and finally and best metalwork with fine gemstones.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
Life is my influence, finding beauty in everyday things, hoping to be able to translate large ideas into small and precious things.

What motivates you to create?
I am driven to create, it’s not a choice or a diversion, but the fabric of my life.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
All day, every day and when I cannot sleep late at night, I spend that time imagining new pieces for the next day.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
I am enriched by the community of artists I am surrounded with, each of them supports and sustains me in friendship and creative exchange.

Please introduce yourself.
Hi! My name is Stacey Lamothe. I share my world with my husband, Jack; our barn kitty, Maggie May; three hens: Natalie, Saffron and Cacciatore; a prolific garden; and great girlfriends! The themes “every day is sacred” and “laughter is the best medicine” are woven into everything I do. It’s very nice to meet you.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I love narrative art; something that tells a story. I work mostly with sterling silver, but also copper and occasionally found objects, river rocks and assorted semi-precious stones. I hand fabricate from sterling sheets, have a remarkable ability to saw like crazy, and love creating in my studio and being “in my zone”.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
I enjoy humor, hiking, cooking, practicing yoga, and hanging out with friends. My life inspires me. Nature, yoga and animals are frequently featured in my pieces. Sometimes a piece will start with a quote that just needs to be made into jewelry. I often add positive or humorous text on the back of pendants or inside ring bands. It can be a secret message resting over one’s heart, or a daily reminder or mantra when needed. I usually have a story that my jewelry is telling. Often the story my jewelry tells the client is different from what I hear when I create it. It is now their personal story. When this happens, I know I am doing my job. I get great satisfaction from that accomplishment.

What motivates you to create?
Hmmm…it could be the monthly gallery theme that intrigues me to think about something new… or trees I saw on a hike, the texture of bark, a flower or pet that leads me to my bench to design and create.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
Afternoon, after all my chores are done, seems to be my favorite time to create these days.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Yes! Something emotional on my mind can resolve itself on my bench through a piece of jewelry. I call that art therapy.

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Read Stacey’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I am Doug Parks.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I love photography. All styles. Nature, landscape, street, macro. You name it. But I spend my time in landscape and fine art styles of photography.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
The easy answer is Ansel Adams and Galen Rowell. However, there are a number of contemporary photographers that I gravitate towards these days. I am influenced by Joshua Snow for grand landscapes, Simon Baxter for woodland photography, and Gavin Hardcastle for just having fun when making images. On the post processing side, I am a fan of Blake Rudis as he brings the vision of a painter into photography.

What motivates you to create?
The natural world is my office, and nature usually treats me well when I am at “work”. Making images that resonate with someone gives me joy and keeps me pressing the shutter button.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
The early and late hours of light are my favorite. Probably sunrise most of all. Most people will experience sunsets, especially when they are on holiday. But sunrise is special. Usually the winds are calm, the light is amazing, and the crowds are small if you are in an iconic location. I do tend to search out the non-iconic scenes in iconic locations when I can. But like recently, being in Volcano National Park at night when there is an eruption, just experiencing those once in a lifetime, and bucket list times, will hopefully live in my images for some time to come.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Yes, art helps me to see beauty in just about anything and anybody. It also keeps me grounded by being in nature, being in the landscape and anticipating making an image. It has also taught me not to have expectations. You just can’t do that in landscape photography. You may plan and research a shot, but nature will decide if you get that image or not. There are no guarantees in photography. But you do need to show up! ___________

Read Doug’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I am Meg Black-Smith, and I make jewelry.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
Working with silver and gold. Doing metal work.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
Andy and Steve who mentored/taught me how to make jewelry, and others from classes I took, such as Michael Good.

What motivates you to create?
I don’t really understand it completely, but it is sort of like being driven to create. I will see something, read something, do something, even dream something and I will get inspired. I feel great when I finish my pieces and get to see the final results. Starting is fun and sometimes difficult, the middle is messy, but the result I love.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
Probably the best time is in the morning. Just get started right away, but often that is not possible so anytime works.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Most definitely. For instance, the views outside my windows are tree views and flowers when in bloom and all of it is so calming and relaxing. I love to educate people about jewelry and gemstones.

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Read Meg’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself.
Hi, I’m Gia, a mixed media abstract artist with a wearable art line.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I love to create using a variety of mediums, mostly acrylic-based, but also using found items from nature and rusty metal.

Please introduce yourself.
Hi, I’m Gia, a mixed media abstract artist with a wearable art line.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
I love to create using a variety of mediums, mostly acrylic-based, but also using found items from nature and rusty metal.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
My mother. She was an artist, and although she didn’t work in abstract, I developed my love of texture from her. Lately some of my music-centric art has been largely influenced by her, and my experiences of music with her as a girl.

What motivates you to create?
Things I feel the need to express; nature and music are my two greatest muses.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
Mid-late afternoon.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
My art is part of my self-expression, as my writing and music are. All these means of self-expression make me feel alive and help me to communicate my experience of being a human to others.

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Read Gia’s previous interview here.

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Please introduce yourself.
My name is Barbara Hoffmann.

Tell us about your favorite art medium.
Watercolor is my favorite medium, but I often use mixed mediums.

Who/what is/are your biggest artistic influences?
I live in the mountains, and I am surrounded by trees.  Nature provides me with patterns and shadows which I often use in my work. The possibilities are endless. 

What motivates you to create?
I just have to paint. I began creating art from an early age and just kept on.

When is your favorite time of day to create?
Morning is the best time before the rest of my life gets started.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?
I get lost in my work and that gives me peace and quiet.

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Read Barbara’s previous interview here.

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