Author: Seraphina Calder

Helena Kotnik, a graduate of Barcelona University and the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna, is an artist who paints from within the human psyche. Her work has been described as “psychological human landscapes,” where color, form, and gesture reveal the invisible forces that shape our lives. Her style, both colorful and seemingly naïve, hides sharp insight beneath its surface. Influenced by artists across different periods in art history, Kotnik uses her canvases as mirrors—reflecting the world’s contradictions, humor, and fragility. Each work becomes a quiet commentary on what it means to live, connect, and remain human in a restless,…

William Schaaf has never treated art as decoration. For him, it’s a process—of making, remembering, and healing. Now 80, he’s still in his studio, still forming horses from bronze, canvas, and clay with the same intent that’s guided him for over sixty years. Horses are his subject, yes, but they’re also a kind of language. They carry memory, power, and spirit. Schaaf’s relationship with the equine form is personal and spiritual, shaped by a long-standing respect for Zuni and Navajo fetish traditions. His work reaches back into those practices not to replicate them, but to honor their deeper purposes: healing,…

Ruth Poniarski, a multifaceted artist, embarked on her creative journey with a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute in 1982. Following a decade-long stint in the construction field, she transitioned to painting in 1988. This shift allowed her to explore a medium that not only challenged her imagination but also provided a fulfilling means of expression. Through her surreal paintings, Poniarski incorporates elements of myths, culture, philosophy, and literature, thus creating a unique and personal style. Her work straddles the boundaries between dream and logic, reality and allegory — where narratives unfold through deeply psychological and symbolic imagery. “Who’s Game”…

Keith McHugh’s art is a deep dive into the essence of existence—a process of peeling back layers to reach something raw and undeniable. His work isn’t about aesthetics for their own sake. It’s about truth, energy, and the rhythm that moves through all things. A self-taught artist who moves fluidly between painting, sculpture, writing, and even constructing mobiles and puppets, McHugh treats each medium as a way to translate experience into tangible form. His creative practice is not about adhering to any school of thought or trend but about following the pulse of awareness as it unfolds. Whether through pigment,…

There’s something almost otherworldly about the art of Natali Antonovich. Her work acts as a portal—quiet, luminous, and deeply personal. She doesn’t just paint what she sees; she paints what she feels, what she questions, and what she hopes to understand. For Antonovich, the creative process is a dialogue with herself, a way to navigate the often unspoken layers of emotion and meaning that define human experience. Her art emerges from contemplation rather than impulse, from stillness rather than noise. Antonovich has always been an observer. Even in early life, she noticed the details that others might overlook—the subtleties of shadow,…

Haeley Kyong’s work speaks to those who are drawn to the quiet power of simplicity. “I love creating artwork that captivates and inspires people’s minds,” she says, and this love is evident in every line and shape she creates. Her art is not about spectacle or complexity—it’s about clarity. She uses minimal forms, distilled to their essence, to bypass our internal filters and reach the emotions that live underneath thought. For Kyong, shapes and colors are not decorative but expressive; their relationships can hold the weight of both physical and nonphysical worlds. She believes the right combination can represent anything—a…

Vicky Tsalamata is an Athens-based artist and Professor Emeritus of Printmaking at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Her work merges printmaking, mixed media, and conceptual thought to explore the social, political, and ethical dimensions of human existence. For decades, Tsalamata has used the language of visual art to question collective complacency and examine the tension between human fragility and resilience. She approaches creation as a space of dialogue—between self and society, between silence and protest. Her compositions often carry sharp undertones of irony and critique, confronting the viewer with the realities of corruption, inequality, and moral decay. Color, light,…

Nicola Mastroserio does not chase trends. He does not cater to the art market’s hunger for commodification. Instead, he pursues something deeper—an exploration of reality that resists easy answers. His work is a meditation on existence, a quiet but persistent questioning of the nature of life, intelligence, and the unseen forces that shape our world. Mastroserio’s art is not decorative. It is not designed to flatter the eye or court popularity. Rather, it operates as a signpost pointing toward the inner journey, toward truths that do not bend to fashion. He is less concerned with what pleases and more concerned…

Miguel Barros is an artist whose work challenges us to think deeply about our relationship with the environment. Born in Lisbon in 1962, Barros carries the cultural imprint of three countries—Portugal, Canada, and Angola. This wide lens of experience has shaped his art, giving him a sense of perspective that stretches beyond borders. In 2014, he left Angola for Calgary, Alberta, a move that opened new ground for creative exploration and growth. Trained in Architecture and Design at IADE Lisbon in 1984, Barros brings structure and imagination into balance. His paintings are not bound by rigid frameworks but infused with…

Born in 1971, Iris van Zanten has always pursued what lies beneath the surface of an image. She graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts in Amsterdam in 1996 and later completed a Master’s degree in Art History at the Vrije Universiteit. Her education gave her two perspectives: the practical knowledge of making and the critical lens of history. Together they shaped an approach that is both technical and reflective. At the heart of her practice is the search for essence—how to use the fewest gestures or materials to convey a story. She often turns to subjects that have lived…