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A native of rural Ohio, Marc-Anthony Macon graduated from UIUC with a degree in dramatic writing, is the author of 17 stage plays, and has been published in Backwash, Pretty Queer, Frontiers Magazine. He spent nearly a decade living in Manhattan, where he befriended and leaned from street artists, wrote for Nickelodeon, and spearheaded the counter-counter zine, Upsetting Sandwich. He currently resides in Urbana, wherein he is studying the traditional Japanese arts of Urasenke Tea Ceremony, Ikenobo Ikebana, and calligraphy from masters Kimiko Gunji and Shozo Sato. His avant-garde, quasi-Dadaist punk style is mostly a critique of art criticism.

Learn more about Marc-Anthony's work at: https://www.instagram.com/marcanthonymacon/.

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Ralph Roether is a graphic designer, illustrator, and painter. "I have been creating art since the 4th grade. Professionally a graphic designer for 24 years, I often infuse my graphic design sensibilities into my artwork and illustrations. When painting with acrylics, I prefer various types of wood instead of canvas. I have created many pieces on hollow core doors bought at local hardware stores. My styles range from semi realistic portraits wit...h typography to cartoon doodle graffitti-esque creations.

I have done a some mural work at local skate parks and participated in various art shows including Dirty Show / Dirty Detroit, a Solo Show at Indigo Art Gallery and Boneyard Arts Festival in Champaign. My artwork has been published in Studio Visit Magazine, Art Voices Magazine and the Artist book 101 Artist curated by Terrence Sanders. Currently, I am absorbed in making more consumer affordable art by making various prints on paper, canvas and shirts. I still create bigger projects on my easel when I can work them into my daily schedule. I doodle, draw, paint and create what turns me on." Learn more at: https://www.artpal.com/ralphroether.

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Megan Hinds is a midwest artist from Champaign, IL. She attended Parkland Community College where she studied fine art. She then transferred to Illinois State University where she received her Bachelor in Fine Art with a focus in printmaking. While at ISU, she was able to create her solo exhibition, “The Fourth Wall”.

Megan is currently in Chicago, IL working at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Visitor Services. She continues her printmaking pra...ctice at Chicago Printmakers Collaborative. She is constantly investigating nature’s collective brilliance and communication. With the knowledge gained from her observations, she creates work that reflects this exploration and discovery. Her work offers a picture of pattern, movement, and texture integrated in such a way to display both continuity and community. Learn more at: https://www.megan-hinds.com/.

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Cindy Sampson is a collector and folk artist whose work spans painting, jewery-making, assemblage, and more! Her family's auction business fueled her love of anything old, damaged or forgotten. Her work frequently aims to put discarded treasures together to tell a story. "I translate the world's beauty, intrigue, and tragedy into art. The best part of the creative process, for me, is cultivating inspiration into innovative designs combining recycled materials, eco dying, painting, and a variety of layering techniques." Learn more at https://www.cindysampson.com/.

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Esther Seungbo Roh is a Korean -American Artist whose paintings are influenced by social complexities of the urban spaces in which we live. By focusing on these types of spaces, Esther works to express feelings that are solemn and bleak, yet splendid. "My work uses the canvas as a whole and expands to a two-dimensional dimension using simple colors and light to show my artistic intentions. My work is based on a unique way of organizing space according to the artist’s invisible sensational order, which comes from inside." Learn more at: http://www.seungboroh.com/.

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Sierra Murphy was born in Urbana and attended Millikin University in Decatur. She studied art therapy with emphases in drawing and printmaking. Artists Egon Schiele, Robert Smithson, and Cindy Sherman are common stylistic influences. She has shown work in local events such as Boneyard Arts Festival and Artists Against Aids, and was selected for 40 North's MTD art program.

The motivation behind her work is relatively simple- if it feels good, do it. But if it hurts, stop! This body of work is about finding beauty and balance, but most importantly learning to be gentle with ourselves while we pursue those concepts.

Learn more about Sierra's work at: https://www.instagram.com/sierramurphyart/

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Sekani Reed is a painter whose work centers the beauty of blackness and experiences of people of the African Diaspora. "In my art I strive to acknowledge and capture the immense beauty and complexity radiating throughout people of the African Diaspora and the culture that accompanies them. I like to portray a feeling of free and raw expression in my subjects. The act of feeling: anger, wistfulness, depression, offense, numbness, and vulne...rability. There’s beauty in these sensitive emotions and a complexity in the Black woman in particular. A complexity I can relate to. There’s no greater level of understanding than that which can be found in brown women and it should be nurtured and developed in order to cultivate our culture. By portraying brown faces in a genuine and truthful light I give power to controlling the image of self." She is the current Artist-in-Residence at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center.

To learn more about Sekani's work, visit: https://www.instagram.com/sekaniart/

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Marie Casteel is a local mixed media artist whose work is best known for its bright colors and organic, spiraling compositions that are made of quilled magazine paper, discarded books, epoxy resin, fabric and other found materials. Ranging from purely abstract to representational, her subjects are typically drawn from the themes and characters found in myths and legends, from which she draws inspiration. A practicing attorney, as well as an arti...st, Marie obtained her Bachelors in Art Education in 2004 and her J.D. in 2011.

A life-long lover of literature, Marie has found inspiration in the representation of mythological subjects and themes, as a source for expressing an essence of humanity – and the small truths about who we are, the heroes that we want to be, and the forces that fuel our deepest yearnings.

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I am a visual artist known as EKAH. I recreate worlds and characters that reside in my head to tell visual stories. The worlds may be surreal, absurd, and nonsensical, and they may be as big as the universe or as small as a petri dish. I work with both wet and dry media as well as digital. The final piece may be an illustration, painting, mural, animation, or interactive media such as a lenticular print or 360 animation. I hope to combi...ne my knowledge of various fields and tools to develop and create works using unique process and visuals.

I was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in New York City. My family immigrated to the U.S. when I was still in Elementary School. I attended High School of Art & Design in NYC, then studied Communication Design at Parsons School of Design and later worked in advertising, broadcast animation, and video games. My work has been featured in Sky Gallery, MTD ART: Moving Pictures Through Your Neighborhood, Urbana Art Expo, Lodgic Champaign, LIGHTBOX mural, and various group exhibitions at 40 Point One Art gallery. I currently live in Champaign-Urbana area in Central Illinois with the most supportive spouse and two cats.

To learn more about EKAH's work, visit: https://steampunkgrub.com/.

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Lynn Hawkinson Smith is an artist, graphic designer, and photographer who lives in the woods with her husband, two dogs, two horses, two cats, and lots of other Wildlife. When she's not in the studio or working part time at the University of Illinois or Lewis and Clark College, she is usually at the river hiking with the dogs or horseback riding. And when she's hiking with the dogs, she's taking breathtaking photos of the outdoors. "My work reflects my love of nature. I'm passionate about sharing that love with others because I believe that the same nature we have to love nature. I do illustrations of birds, horses, plants, and other things in nature and I photographed the beauty of central Illinois."

Learn more about Lynn's work at: https://www.pinterest.com/smithlynnhawkin/

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"I am fascinated with the world from above and captivated by the fields, rivers, and roads that surround the Central Illinois area. From the sky each field is unique, the patterns being created by the machinery farmers use to plant and plow their fields. The details of each field are further shaped by the crops used that year and the years before. These independent actions result in unintentional beauty when viewed from abo...ve.

With all my paintings, I begin with a natural color and an extreme color, allowing the two colors to come together and determine what comes next. The third dictates the fourth and so on. The final color combinations are a result of many layers reacting with one another. The lines you see in my work provide a physical barrier between colors and bring a third dimension to my paintings. In real life, they represent the roads, creeks, and property lines that divide the fields of Central Illinois and the farmland that makes up the Midwest.

I hope that people take away from my work that there is an unrecognized beauty in every detail of the land around us. Our ground-based lives restrict us from seeing this unique perspective. I hope that my work inspires others to explore the world from a new vantage point and find beauty in what they see."

To learn more about Kelly's work, visit: https://www.kellyhieronymus.com/.

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Fraya Replinger is a local photographer whose work explores landscapes and the great outdoors. "Photography is my passion. You can often find me off the beaten track photographing the world around me. I like to capture what I find beautiful. Some of my work is traditionally beautiful, while some of it is more emotionally evoking. I love to travel and be outdoors which inspires many of my subjects." Fraya is an award winning photographer and have been recognized by the Champaign County Camera Club, PACA, and the Champaign County Fair, and Guru’s Choice. She exhibits her artwork at local markets and shows throughout Illinois, as well as Allerton Park and Retreat Center in Monticello, IL as part of their donor wall. She was born and raised in Urbana, IL and now resides in Champaign.

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Erica Rae Stark, Owner of Stalk Illustration, is an artist who specializes in drawing and relief printmaking. Erica studied Drawing at Olivet Nazarene University and moved to Urbana shortly after. Using woodcut printmaking, Erica creates small intimate depictions of nature, a series of illustrated letters, and posters. In addition to traditional woodcut illustrations, they are also inspired by the styles of Art Nouveau, illuminated letters, and tattoos. "I think I am drawn to these approaches to design because they have mystical ties. My artistic purpose, practice, and inspiration all stem from this something more that I cannot quite describe. It is my desire to somehow illustrate or illuminate it."

Learn more about Erica's work at: https://www.facebook.com/starkillustration/.

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Carolina Rodriguez is a Costa Rican artist who lives in Bloomington, Illinois. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Printmaking from the University of Costa Rica; she has ten individual and seventeen group exhibitions. She has worked in various media, including screen print, collage, metal etching, acrylic paint and digital images. From a very early age, Carolina has been fascinated by art and culture from around the... world and has had the opportunity to travel around North, Central and South America exploring different cities and aesthetics, absorbing several artistic models, from the syncretic Baroque of Chichen Itza to the minimalism of Jeff Koons. Her subject matter includes the people and architecture of San Jose (Costa Rica), Pop Art, Chicago’s cityscapes, pre-Columbian art and the bucolic atmosphere of rural Illinois. Carolina divides her time between the United States and Costa Rica.

To learn more about Carolina's work, visit: https://www.facebook.com/Carolina-Rodríguez-Art-3496505583…/

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Bekki Canine is an oil painter whose paintings combine traditional oil painting techniques with collage. "I am interested in the histories and intrinsic stories of papers, fabrics, and text. I incorporate these elements into my paintings to create surreal narrative images. I studied painting at Illinois Wesleyan University where I earned a BFA. After traveling extensively, I returned to the mid-west where I attended the University of Illinois and earned a MA in Art Education. I taught art at all levels from kindergarten to college before leaving teaching to paint full time. I now reside in Lafayette, Indiana where I have a studio."

Learn more about Bekki's work at: http://bekkicanine.com/.

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Drea Aarons is a mixed media artist from Gainesville, Florida. "My process is an ongoing marriage between compulsive creation and obsessive thought. I have always used art as my voice, and cannot imagine my life without it." Drea graduated with a BFA in Sculpture from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and is currently studying Graphic Design Illustration at Parkland College.

Check out more of her work at: https://www.facebook.com/dreaaaronsart/.

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Hugh Bridgeford is the artist behind Moonshine Jug, the place for handmade decorative, ceramic jugs and flasks. Hugh gets his inspiration from the Cornwall brothers and W. Wallace Kirkpatrick who operated a large stoneware pottery in southern Illinois in the late 1800's. Like the brothers, his Jugs and Flasks celebrate contemporary heroes and outlaws or comment on issues of the day. All of his pieces are made of durable porcelain and depict his own pop art decoration. His work began in early 2004 with a sturdy electric wheel, some porcelain clay, and a portable rake kiln. The success of online sales helped him to purchase his first fully-automated kiln in 2009, and Etsy shop moonshine-jug.com has since become a major facet of his business. Hugh’s work is also found at Homespun in the Historic Irvington Neighborhood of Indianapolis, Vintage Karma in Tuscola, Illinois, and The Illinois State Artisans Gallery at Rend Lake. As part of his community involvement, Hugh also regularly contributes to a local HIV Awareness fundraiser and fundraisers for local food banks and soup kitchens.