Shawna Hatton – teacher and visual artist   

I photographed Shawna at The Betty, a gallery at Front Street in Dayton, where she’s had an exhibition for the last two months.  .

“I put a group of my larger works in this exhibition” she told me. “They’re from several time periods.”

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Matt Kish – Artistic Illustrator

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I first met Matt Kish when he was being interviewed on The Art Show, a program on Dayton’s public television station.  I was there to take behind-the-scenes photos, but Matt’s story was so interesting that I found myself listening instead of shooting.

Matt had been making art for years, with little commercial success or recognition.  He finally decided he would quit making art, but only after completing one last project.  Moby-Dick had always been important to Matt, and he decided to make it the linchpin of his final art project.  He decided to make one drawing a day for 552 days, with each drawing inspired by one of the 552 pages in Moby-Dick.

Matt posted each drawing online.  They began to attract viewers, then speaking engagements, then an agent, and finally a publisher.  Far from being Matt’s final project, the Moby-Dick drawings seem like they might be a beginning to a successful art career. Continue reading

Amy Kollar Anderson – Painter

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Amy Kollar Anderson was one of the first artists I met as I was starting to submit my photos to art exhibitions.  As Gallery Coordinator at Kettering’s Rosewood Gallery she networked with artists from around the country.  She gave me valuable advice on the quality of my work and on where I should attempt to show it.

I took the above photo more than a year ago when Amy was ARTIST OF THE WEEK on my facebook page “Dayton at Work and Play.”  Shortly after, she left her position at the Rosewood Gallery to become a full time artist.   Continue reading