2024 Wet Paint Festival Artists
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Angela Stratton
Angela Stratton was inspired to become an artist in her early years of employment at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. While wandering the great halls of the Metropolitan, Stratton notes, “I was immensely intrigued by the great masters and the style of Realism. Therefore, I sought my education in the masters' tradition of academic Realism. The masters have a strong impact on my work, but I adhere to expressing and developing my own style. My strong points have always been the portrait and figure. Since retiring, I have been able to focus more on still life and plein air landscape painting, as well. Whether working in my studio, in sketch groups, or outdoors, I love being able to dedicate each and every day to the ‘art of creating.’”
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Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis is an artist who is works with maritime scenes and seascapes in pastel and oil. He is a Signature member of the American Society of Marine Artists and artist member of the Salmagundi Club, and Lyme Art Association. Davis' work has been exhibited nationally been featured on the covers of both Pastel Journal and International Artist. His paintings have been awarded the gold and silver medals for pastel at The Salmagundi Club’s Annual Members show. Davis is represented by numerous galleries on Long Island, New York and in Connecticut.
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Christie Jones
Christie Jones is a Long Island artist who intertwines coastal beauty with environmental activism in her watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media paintings. Committed to sustainability, she crafts non-toxic paints from natural pigments. Inspired by personal experiences with environmental degradation, her exhibited work advocates for marine conservation.
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Christine D'Addario
Christine D'Addarios' love of art and the shore are combined in her seascape oil paintings. Her work seeks to form a connection with the viewer by conveying a range of emotions experienced at the beach. Through color and light, she seeks to give the viewer a moment for inner reflection.
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Craig Marta
Craig Marta began his artistic practice in high school, shooting and editing 16mm film shorts and experimenting with stop-motion animation techniques. He studied Fine Art at the New York State University College at Buffalo, and found his most valued training at the Art Students League of New York with instructor Jack Henderson. His work is represented in private collections, and the collection of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
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Danielle Parisi
Danielle Parisi is a resident of Three Village area, and completed her BFA at The Fashion Institute of Technology in 2000. Danielle had a successful career creating designs, illustrations, and sculptures for the toy and children's entertainment industries. An evolving artist, Danielle became inspired by the beauty of her surroundings and began to embrace her love of local history. This passion soon became an interest in art conservation and restoration. To date, she has cleaned and restored pieces by artists such as John Chamberlain, Ugo Rondinone and the beloved historical landmark Hercules in Stony Brook Village.
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Debbie B. Foglia
Debbie B. Foglia's work employs a tactile painterly style to invoke the love of her subjects. She grew up camping at the beach, playing on farms, making hay forts in old barns, fishing, exploring meadows, gardening and birdwatching. These experiences and memories are all a source of inspiration for her work, informed by her disposition to find beauty in the little things.
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Denise Franzino
Denise Franzino graduated with honors from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration. She was a freelance illustrator for several years with the New York Times, Double Day Books, Harlequin Books, Avon Books and several other prominent publishing companies before finding her calling as a portrait artist. Franzino has won numerous awards throughout her career including the prestigious Thora M. Jensen award for Best Portrait in a national competition held at the Hudson Valley Art Show.
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Jim Minet
Jim Minet resides in Long Island, where he works in acrylic, oil, and watercolor. His work has been exhibited at the Manes Center in Roslyn NY, Firefly Gallery in Northport, NY, Mills Pond Gallery in St. James LI, Reboli Art Center in Stonybrook LI, and the Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY. It has been featured in Paintworks Magazine, and Newsday.
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Judy Pagano
Judy Pagano is a representational artist and retired art teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education and a Master's degree in Liberal Art Studies. She has also studied extensively with several professional artists to develop her knowledge of color theory and painting. "My favorite way to paint is starting plein air and then completing my work in the studio. I have spent most of my life on eastern Long Island, which has provided me with a never-ending source of inspirational subject matter. I paint what I see filtered through my knowledge of the complexities of the art process, hoping to create a place the viewer would like to be."
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Lana Ballot
Lana Ballot is a professional artist and pastel painting instructor, living on Long Island, NY. Her work engages with seascapes, making expressive use of color and painterly mark making. Ballot is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, a member of the IAPS Master Circle and a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists. Ballot's coastal work has been featured in articles and on the cover of in the Plein Air Magazine, the Pastel Journal and Pratique des Arts.
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Laura DiLeone
Laura DiLeone is from Setauket, New York, and studied painting and Illustration at The Art Institute of Boston. She currently teaches Visual Art at the Elementary level. In her works she often references the Impressionists, inspired by the way they create light in their works. “The challenge of capturing natural light is captivating to me. I look for color where it normally isn’t. Color and light become the focus in all my paintings.”
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Loretta Oberheim
Loretta Oberheim is from Hauppauge, New York and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textile Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her work, an evolving exploration of mental health and her disabilities draws inspiration from her training as a carpet designer, the Abstract Expressionist movement, and the street art of New York. Oberheim's art is featured in the Haegeum Gang Theme Museum, the Belskie Museum of Art, Tortuga Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Long Island, and One Art Space Gallery.
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Marlene Weinstein
Marlene Weinstein is a photographer and mixed-media artist based in Setauket, NY. Captivated by the Long Island landscape, Weinstein creates mixed-media pieces by layering original photographs with pastel and acrylic media. She has exhibited widely in art galleries and fairs, with her work held in numerous private collections.
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Nicole Abe Titus
Nicole Abe Titus gravitated towards art at an early age. She works within the Abstract Expressionist tradition, using strong formal qualities to create movement on canvas. In her representational works, Titus often employs botanical and floral forms, and her fascination with theology shows in references to Byzantine devotional art in her early work.
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Oscar Santiago
Oscar Santiago’s work is informed by his training at The Reilly League of Artists where he studied academic realist drawing and painting, and works primarily with oil. His work is collected in numerous private collections, and he enjoys the challenge of painting the many beautiful sights of Long Island.
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Regina Halliday
Regina Halliday is a Long Island visual artist painting images of nature and landscapes. She works with acrylic on canvas and uses bright, bold colors with expressive mark-making. Regina studied under Louise Scutirro and completed Watercolor and Acrylic painting courses at Suffolk Community College and Studio Drawing at Dowling college. Her work is in many private collections in the United States.
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Steve Behler
Steve Behler attempts to capture the ephemerality of natural beauty through his oil works. He often works plein air along the North Shore of Long Island. “There’s nothing like going face-to-face with Nature, the challenges that it brings every time I go out to paint, is exhilarating yet peaceful, all at the same time.”
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Theodora Zavala
Theodora Zavala is a New York artist. She received a BA in Fine Art from Queens College and went on to teach art in the NYC DOE school system. She pursued her love of portraiture by studying pastels with Dan Slapo, and oils with Rob Silverman. Her interest in plein air painting brought her to study with Howard Rose. She is currently showing at the Barnes Gallery in Garden City.
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William Low
William Low was born in New York City, where he attended NYC's specialized High School of Art & Design. Low attended Parson's School in NYC where he received his BFA and he received his MA in Illustration with Syracuse University NY. He is a 4 time silver medalist at the Society of Illustrators NY, as well as the New York Times Best Illustrated Picture Book Award for Old Penn Station, 2009. Parent's Choice Honor Award for Lily, by Abigail Thomas. Authored books include Chinatown, Henry Holt and Company, 1998, Old Penn Station, Henry Holt and Company, 2007., Machines go to Work, Henry Holt and Company, 2009, Machines go to Work in the City, Henry Holt and Company, 2012. and Daytime Nighttime, Henry Holt and Company, 2013.
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Catherine Slovensky
Caroline Slovensky is an illustration graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and currently pursuing an MA in art education at Adelphi University. Slovensky is fascinated by the natural world around her and has been using her wildlife art to send conservation messages to the public.
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Yana Ushakova
Yana Ushakova is an East Setauket-based painter. She leans into biological forms and the vulnerability, destruction, and recovery within. She strives to portray her subjects as self-possessing, discomforting the viewer in their self-assertion. Her materials lend themselves like flesh to the canvas, where subjects are portrayed in various stages of life and health. They are mangled, tangled, dismantled, and reassembled.
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Additional Artists
Nate Schindler, Annette Napolitano, Art Stiefel, Carmela Taliercio Cohn, Claire Huffman, Deborah Bohrer, Eileen Kelly, Gerard Lehner, James Engelbert, Jane McGraw-Teubner, John Tuttle, Joseph Napolitano, Judith Stone, Kathleen Shaff Kelson, Karen Kemp, Leona Campbell, Linda Prentiss, Lynn Staiano, Mark Bernstein, Mike Sinesi, Paul Jay Edelson, Paulina Mulligan, Richard Schindler, Robert Stone, Sheila Breck, Barbara Siegel, Valerie Farrugia