Marilyn Miller, Valdosta. October 8-10. Marilyn became hooked on the world of basketry in 1991 shortly after she moved south to Georgia. In those early years she first won several ribbons at the North Carolina Basketry Convention and exhibited locally. From membership in two local Atlanta guilds, she joined the newly formed Georgia Basketry Association and was a founding member of the National Basketry Organization. Memberships in these and in the Northeast Basketmakers’ Guild have furthered her taking advantage of many opportunities to study with several prominent basket makers over the years. Her quest has been to learn various basketry techniques and obtain experience working with different media. She especially cherishes her studio time with two Native American weavers, a Jicarilla Apache and a Wasco weaver. While Marilyn has done some teaching, especially with her original Nantucket mold design, her focus is predominantly in designing and weaving. Her favorite medium is ash, and executing twills in mold weaving in several different media. Recently she has branched out to sculptural weaving and has been juried into local, state and national exhibits with her piece Antler Dance. She has won several awards and exhibited at juried shows locally and in the Northeast. Her baskets are in private collections in this country and abroad. Marilyn received Best of Show in the featured Fine Arts category of Basketry at the 2008 Georgia National Fair.

Vincent Keesee, Tifton. October 8-10. Dr. Keesee studied art at Richmond Professional Institute, now Virginia Commonwealth University, where he painted with Maurice Bonds, Milton Hull and others. After graduating, he worked in Atlanta in graphic art and design. There he studied at the High Museum of Art with Joel Reeves. He entered the University of Georgia and obtained a Masters degree in fine art where he studied painting with Lamar Dodd, Howard Thomas and Joseph Swartz. In 1972 he received a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Georgia. Dr. Keesee taught art at Abraham Baldwin College in Tifton until he retired. He has exhibited at many regional shows including one-man shows in Roanoke, Virginia, Huntsville, Alabama and Georgia shows in Gainesville, Valdosta, Albany, Tifton, Douglas and Douglasville. Dr. Keesee’s painting is figurative and usually reflects some aspects of the southern culture and environment. Favorite themes are gospel music, country church services and contemporary rock music scenes. Often they are depictions of several generations done with humor and insight into the southern family mystique. He has also painted canoeing and rafting on Georgia rivers, hunting on southern farms and fox hunting in Virginia. Dr. Keesee paints today in his studio in Tifton and can be reached at 1425 Mary Anne Avenue,
Tifton, GA 31794; email

Len Jagoda, Waverly Hall. October 8-11. The draft prevented Len Jagoda from taking an advantage of a scholarship to the Cleveland Institute of Art. When he finally returned to school on the GI Bill, he decided to major in business instead of art for practical reasons. While in school and early in his business life, works of note were devoted to horses in pen and ink. Two of these received recognition on covers of The Chronicle of the Horse, a national publication. He left the business world in 2007 and has since committed to art on a full time basis. His return to the art world came with a flare and a passion, adding new media. He decided to include sculpture and pastels as media and add dogs to his subject preferences. Unlike many artists, Len is tied more to his dog and horse subjects than a specific medium. Noted for attention to detail and an uncanny ability to capture the spirit of his subjects; “Tribute,” his first available subject marking his return clearly demonstrates his ability to bring this talent to three dimensional works. Len’s realistic works are in pastels, pen and ink, graphite and of course, sculpture. In 2008, his art received three awards including a Best of Show and a Merit Award for “Tribute-Labrador Retriever Portrait in Bronze” and Second Place honors in the state art competition held at the Georgia National Fair for his pastel portrait of leading race horse sire, “Distorted Humor.” His work adorns homes from Florida to Michigan and New York to Saudi Arabia. His equine portraits are at some of the most prestigious stud farms in Kentucky and he has been selected by Three Chimneys Farm to do a portrait of 2008 Kentucky Derby & Preakness winner Big Brown. Len is a member of the Columbus Artists Guild and the Southern Rivers Artists Guild and has been admitted to many juried shows and galleries including the Joseph House Art Gallery and the Southern Rivers Art Exhibit at Callaway Gardens Discovery Center. He has also been accepted to the Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival, one of the nation’s premier and most rigorously juried sporting art exhibitions. Commissions are accepted.

Rani Garner, Buena Vista. October 11-12. Rani Garner is a contemporary landscape painter. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Garner speculates that growing up in a desert environment made her appreciate the trees which now fill her canvasses. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University and has been painting professionally since 1989. The focus of her artwork is on capturing the essence of light. The paintings, which often feature a dazzling glow of sunlight glimpsed through trees, are prized by collectors and have been awarded honors in many juried art shows, including Best of Show at the Georgia National Fair in 2007. Rani Garner’s paintings are currently represented by galleries throughout the Southeast, including Lagerquist Gallery in Atlanta, Red Bird Gallery in Seaside, Florida, and Fountainside Gallery in Wilmington, North Carolina. She lives with her husband, a fine furniture maker, in a house in the woods outside of Buena Vista, Georgia.

Michael Moore, Milner. October 11. Michael Moore was “hooked on art” at a young age after being introduced to comic books by older brother Jonathan. Michael says that he started drawing around age 13 and had friends in art classes who encouraged him to take the art classes with them. But even though he loved art, he says he “didn’t really want to learn how to draw a bowl of fruit.” Instead, he asked his friends to share what they learned in class about shading and other tips. A self-taught wood carver, Michael was introduced to carving during a carpentry class at Griffin Tech. A fellow classmate had brought a carving that “was one of the most amazing pieces of art work” Michael had ever seen; he “thought it was plastic.” Michael says that a couple of years later, his wife bought some carving tools on clearance at a craft store. He says he hasn’t put them down since and felt that “if I could draw it, then I could carve it,” so he set about teaching himself to carve. His first carving was a three-foot wizard made of oak that won first place and “Award of Excellence” in the novice group at the 2007 Georgia National Fair. Another piece won third place and “Best Example of Hand Tool Carving.” Michael says that he “also met a very nice man Ernie Mills” who was the chairman of the competition and a very knowledgeable carver. He said that Ernie talked to him and made him “feel great about carving my own way.” Michael has never used a pattern or power tools, except to cut the wood into a block. Michael also placed third in the Novice group at a show in Greenville, S.C. in 2007. Michael won first place in miscellaneous relief and third in caricature in the Intermediate Division in the 2008 Georgia National Fair competition. He has sold pieces to collectors from Georgia, California, Ohio and Alabama. Michael wold like to show younger people the art of carving wood; “show them how to take a piece of bark or wood and make it into a beautiful piece of art; to make something that is dead live on forever.”

Kathy Murphy, Perry and Brenda Butler, Macon. October 13. Kathy Murphy and Brenda Butler are fellow ceramics artists who belong to a middle Georgia group that creates works in a studio called Macon Mud. Kathy holds a B.S. from the University of Louisville in Interior Architecture and is currently on “hiatus from (her) pursuit of an MFA in Ceramics.” After 10 years in the field of architecture, Kathy moved to Middle Georgia in 2000 looking for a simpler life. She discovered that clay would satisfy her strong need to create and would feed her love of form, function and design. Wood firing has become her firing of choice because it “imparts a toastiness that cannot be achieved by any other firing technique.” Kathy says she is fascinated by life’s rituals, especially sacred rituals and the vessels which support them, such as liturgical vessels and funerary urns. She also enjoys making totems, another stylized form of ritual art that stands as a permanent record of an individual’s achievement. Kathy says she uses both universally recognized symbols from ancient times and symbols of her own design to “honor someone either living or deceased, to mark a celebration, or to tell a story or history through a library of symbols.”
Brenda received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Mercer University in 1971. She started “dabbling in clay” in 1996, studying ceramics under Macon clay artist Meg Hogan Campbell. Since that time she has studied with David Bernard, Kathy Murphy and numerous clay art teachers at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. Brenda does some functional pottery, but says “my love is for the hand-built, non-functional form.” Brenda states that “what appeals to me most about working with clay is how it has taught me to free myself up from attachment and concern about outcomes. You learn that you can pour your heart and soul into your creation, but then you must let it go. So many elements are out of your control and in the end you can only pray the gods will reward you. And if they don’t, then you pick up a little earth and begin again. My only regret is that it took me half of this lifetime to realize my passion for playing in the mud.”

Butler Brown, Hawkinsville. October 13-14. Butler Brown was born in Georgia and has spent most of his life here. Known for his rural landscapes with rustic barns and houses, he has achieved international recognition for his work. His accomplishments have resulted in articles in Who’s Who in America, Art News, Newsweek, People Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, American Artist and many other publications. His work has hung in the White House and is in the collections of President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter and Vice President and Mrs. Walter F. Mondale, along with many other notable people around the world. Butler’s work can also be found in private and corporate collections in Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, China and throughout the United States. The Butler Brown Gallery is located in the International Square, Warner Robins.

John Gay, McDonough. October 14. John Gay, who grew up in Cordele, GA, is a wood worker and box maker from McDonough, GA. He has a BS in History from Georgia Southwestern College and a master’s degree in Industrial Arts from the University of Georgia. He served in the U.S. Navy, taught high school and middle school industrial arts and technology education for almost 30 years, and worked in commercial construction and renovation for four years before devoting full time to wood working and attending art and craft shows throughout the southeast. John has renovated several houses, including a “basket case” house in Grant Park in Atlanta and enjoys handyman projects around the house and yard. After introducing hundreds of kids to the fundamentals of wood and metalworking, as well as the other industrial arts, John now spends time trying to improve his own craftsmanship. Visit his web site at www.tgwoodworking.com to see examples of his work.

JoAnn Camp, Greenville. October 14-15. JoAnn is a quilter and fiber artist who loves color and finds expression in fabric and thread. She began sewing in the early 1970s when her daughter was a toddler; however, it wasn’t until 1999 that her quilting journey began. Quilts had always been a fascination, but one of those things she would do “someday.” With her children grown and married, early retirement and a move from metro Atlanta to rural Meriwether County, finally, it was time. That beginning quilt class was a life-changing moment– she was hooked. The early quilts were strictly traditional patchwork and applique, but an online art quilt class opened a whole new world of possibilities. A stickler for precision and detail in her traditional work has carried over to her art quilts, where every tiny piece of fabric or color of thread is carefully considered before it goes into her work. She handles all aspects of her pieces, including thread work and quilting on her Bernina home sewing machine, not willing to turn anything over to someone else’s vision. There have been numerous honors along the way, including ribbons and Awards of Excellence at the Georgia National Fair, in both the quilt and fine arts shows. One of her first art quilts was chosen for inclusion in an international exhibit sponsored by Ricky Tims’ Art Quilt Studio, which toured the country, concluding with a three-month stay at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY. JoAnn and her husband, Lamar, reside near Greenville, GA with their dog, Sasha. She manages to spend time in her quilt studio just about every day and has lost none of that original enthusiasm for the art of quilting.

Jane Baars, Douglas. October 15-16. Jane grew up in a small town in west Tennessee. She married and moved with her husband to St. Louis, MO. Jane attended Maryville University where she majored in art (MFA) with minors in education and math. Jane and Glenn moved back home to Tennessee where her education continued, along with teaching, owning a ladies’ apparel store and working with the state. Jane has been teaching in the Coffee County School district since the family move to Georgia in 1996. She began teaching high school art in 1999, the year after achieving the honor of being only the second art teacher in the state of Georgia to receive certification by the National Board in Adolescent/Young Adult Art. Jane received her masters in art education from Valdosta State University in 2002 and Educational Specialist in Leadership in 2004, also at VSU. Since 2005 Jane has renewed her interest in basket making, not only in the form of coiling (which she has taught to her classes for years) but adding pine straw and other found materials to her material choices. In 2007 Jane placed 2nd in 3-D at the Albany/Flint River Aquariums show, and has won several honors in shows sponsored by the Georgia Art Education Association (GAEA). Jane was the featured artist for the Wiregrass Art Guild in Douglas in 2008 and had several ribbons at the 2008 Georgia National Fair, including a first and second with her baskets. Attending workshops and learning from other artists always become part of Jane’s time off from teaching. She has also conducted basket workshops at both the GAEA and Tennessee Art Educators’ conferences. As a teacher, Jane has had students who have also won ribbons for their baskets in local and regional shows.

Charleen Romine, Comer. October 15-16 Sculpture. Charleen Romine is a full-time veterinary technician in clinical Radiology at the University of Georgia’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. There she helps teach the senior veterinary students how to x-ray dogs & cats, horses & cows, birds & snakes, or what new patient comes through the door. A self-taught artist, Charleen’s artistic background was originally in clay sculpture and woodworking. In 1991, she had the opportunity to learn stained glass and was hooked, giving up clay. In 1998 with a desire to have more of a sculptural or 3-D effect in her flat panels, Charleen took her first class in slumping and fusing. Since then, she has used these techniques to enhance her flat work, and has incorporated found natural objects (i.e. driftwood, shells) in her work as well. Eager to learn more about glass and all its possibilities, Charleen has also learned micro-mosaic techniques in fused glass, lampworking borosilicate glass and beads, and glass blowing. In January 2002, Charleen embarked on a new venue. Feeling the need to return to clay, but not give up glass, she has found a unique way to work them together. Combined with driftwood which suggests a figure (usually an animal) she uses Raku glaze fired clay, and glass- whether fused, slumped or lampworked- to complete the figure. This new direction of combining her love for both clay and glass is not only exciting for the artist, it is also personally rewarding. Future projects depend only on what waits to be discovered in the wood , or what is inspired by the clay and glass.

Ralph and Kathie Lambert, Fort Valley. October 17-18. The Lamberts have been doing stained glass together for over 30 years. They have run two successful studios, the first in Melbourne, Florida, where they had a Delphi Stained Glass Studio for nine years (the studio is still going and in its 21st year) and the second is in Fort Valley, Georgia, where they set up a school for stained glass. The Lamberts currently teach for Fort Valley State University in their Continuing Education Program, as well as for many local and not-so-local residents of the surrounding towns. They have taught over 4,000 students over the 30+ years of involvement with the art and craft of stained glass. Ralph was inspired by the ease at which one could make beautiful works of art as well as by the history and great works of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Lafarge, Frank Lloyd Wright and other artists in the field. Both Ralph and Kathie are inspired by the new students and get a tremendous satisfaction from watching someone overcome their fears and connect with their artistic side within.

Eleanor Dixon Stecker, Barnesville. October 17-18. In her 30-year career, artist Eleanor Dixon Stecker has worked as a commercial illustrator, art director, teacher, computer graphics designer, painter and portraitist. Her current medium of choice is watercolor. She shares a studio with her husband and fellow artist, Alan Stecker. Together with her husband and son Aaron, they are co-owners of ASV Productions, one of the oldest and most respected video production companies in Atlanta. Eleanor served as Creative Director of ASV for 14 years until her retirement from the company in 1999. Prior to her work at ASV, she worked as a courtroom illustrator for NBC News, WAGA Channel 5 News and WXIA, covering the high-profile trials of Wayne Williams, Jan Kem and James Bakker, as well as the Paula Jones hearings and the White Water hearings. Among her other illustration projects were the design and illustration of children’s books for the Presbyterian Church and storyboard presentations for many production companies. Ms. Dixon completed her undergraduate studies at Rhode Island School of Design and Atlanta College of Art where she graduated with a BFA. She attended the University of Illinois Chicago Circle Campus for Graduate Studies in Fine Art. As a fine arts painter in Chicago, Ms. Dixon jointly operated a fine arts studio with six other artists. After leaving ASV she radically altered her style from fantasy/abstraction to an exploration of the “real” world through a series of still lives, landscapes and portraiture. To make this transition, she has worked with the well-known realist painter and teacher, Marlin Adams, at Gordon College. She has continued her exploration of the portrait as a Fine Art by attending workshops with David Laffell and Raymond Everett Kinsler. Her most recent work involves an exploration of watercolor using cowboys, cowgirls and their horses as subject matter. Ms. Decker welcomes commissions; 770-358-6479.