Easely Yours

Barbara Tracy grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and enjoyed drawing, painting, and craft-making at an early age. Her work reflects her enduring fascination with the sensuousness of nature. She strives to engage the viewer in a moment in time that she endeavors to capture through paint. Acrylic and watercolor, as well as oil, are her mediums of choice, and though she considers herself primarily a landscape painter, she has also used wildlife and florals to communicate her message of fleeting time and the impermanence of nature. She obtained her undergraduate and masters degree in Art Education from Kutztown University. She exhibits and wins awards in regional and international juried exhibitions. 

Bruce has been a resident artist at The Banana Factory in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania since 2000. He holds a degree in Video and Radio Production and has studied Photography as well. He has produced several award-winning shows, incorporating still images in his productions. As his passion for recording places, people, and events has grown, he has continued to sharpen and expand upon his skills and techniques. Bruce has taught Video Media Arts, Photography, Darkroom, and Digital Photography, as well as Photoshop classes at The Banana Factory. He is also a substitute instructor at the Bethlehem Area Vo Tech and a museum teacher at Historic Bethlehem. Bruce has won several awards for his photography, including a First Place and Best in Show in the South Side Photo Competition, and he has shown images in the State Museum in Harrisburg.

Holton earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1987 from the Cleveland Institute of Fine Arts in Drawing and Printmaking and his Master of Fine Arts degree from Kent State University in 1990. Since 1991, he has taught printmaking and African American art history at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and he is the founding director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute. His work is part of public and private collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; The Discovery Museum of Art and Science, Connecticut; the West Virginia Governor’s Mansion; the Foundation of Culture Rodolfo Morales, Oaxaca, Mexico; Yale University Art Gallery; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Pennsylvania; and the Library of Congress.

Dan DeChellis has been a professional musician since he was in high school. He has degrees in Classical Piano, and he taught Improvisation for 15 years at Moravian College. He has released over 25 albums over the past 30 years. During the pandemic, he discovered painting as an outlet for his creative needs. He always had a deep love of painting and ambient music. With his newfound time and no gigs, he set off to make his own ambient music and simultaneously, create visual art. This past year, he was honored with an art opening at The Nurture Nature Center, where his paintings and music were combined. He has performed many times at Musikfest and around the local pubs and clubs.

Color is the first thing you notice about my figure, still life, and landscape paintings. I paint and draw the details of life, the places I live and the people I have and do live with. The rooms, rugs, patterns, and furniture are interpreted over and over again.  Visually democratic, I paint landscapes like interiors and interiors like landscapes. The backyard I plant and tend is just as compelling a subject as the drama of Nova Scotia vastness. Pets and people populate my work and are equally expressive, awkward and present as subjects as well as  elements of a composition. 

Elli Albrecht is a visual artist born in Poland, currently residing and working in Easton, PA. Her adventure with creativity began in animation, where she worked professionally as a background artist and color designer. Her fascination with changing seasons led her to discover the world of macro photography. The portrayal of nature in fragmented form has emerged as a central motif in Albrecht’s artistic endeavors and has become part of her dynamic expression. Throughout her creative evolution, natural elements had a powerful influence on her style. Drawing inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of Wabisabi, Albrecht aims to capture the beauty in the landscape through multiple hues and structures of surfaces. 

Janet Edelman is a Bethlehem-based artisan specializing in unique stained glass and legacy jewelry creations. Her stained glass creations have been commissioned for homes and businesses. Janet is also sought after for the exquisite Bethlehem and Moravian Star lights that adorn many city landmarks, businesses, and residencies. She has gained acclaim for her precision craftmanship. 

Kailey Atkinson is an artist and educator from Easton, PA. Her primary mediums are mixed media collage and illustration. She collects imagery from sources dating back to the late 1800s, but most often from the early-to mid-1900s. Through found imagery and experimentation with a range of materials, she creates narratives that explore topics like body image, memory, mental and physical illness, identity, feminism, gender roles, politics, and personality, exposing what is below the surface in her art.

Kelly Childs Forte is a contemporary artist whose vibrant and emotive works captivate audiences around the country. Born and raised in Doylestown, PA, Forte’s artistic journey is a testament to the fusion of spiritual energy and creative expression. Drawing inspiration from the complexities of the natural world, and through a unique blend of abstract forms, bold colors, and intricate textures, with each piece she invites viewers to embark on a journey of self-reflection and introspection. With each creation, she invites us to explore the beauty of the human spirit and the boundless possibilities of artistic expression.

Multidisciplinary artist Khalil Allaik is known for futuristic, hybrid forms that combine aspects of the organic, the anthropomorphic and the abstract. His process-driven work draws inspiration from his individual experience of cosmic forces such as the relationship of the earth to the universe, and the past to the future. In his native Lebanon, Allaik worked as an art dealer for eight years. He is a graduate of Lebanese University, Beirut.  Classically trained, he earned a fine arts degree in painting and drawing, as well as a degree in interior design. His work has been shown internationally. Allaik has lived and worked in the Lehigh Valley for the past twenty-two years.

Kim Hogan is an artistic powerhouse educated in the vibrant heart of NYC at the School of Visual Arts. With a trophy case adorned with numerous awards, Kim’s creative prowess extends far beyond the confines of conventional artistry. Her masterpieces grace both private and public collections, leaving an indelible mark on institutions like Lehigh Valley Hospital, Saint Luke’s Hospital, Penn State Hospitals, the Sigal Museum, and Northampton Historical and Genealogical Society. In her own words, Kim’s artistic journey is driven by an ardent wish – that her art elevates participants in the same way a great piece of music lifts a listener. At the very least, she hopes her creations bring a smile to the faces of those who encounter them.

Lauren Kindle is a painter who lives and works in Easton, PA. She was the recipient of the 2017 Artist of the Year Award from the Arts Community of Easton. That same year, she was awarded a partial scholarship for an artist residency with JSS in Civita, which gave her the opportunity to paint for two weeks in Civita Castellana, Italy. She earned her Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Art and Classics at Hampshire College in 2003. In addition to painting, Kindle is involved in her local arts community. For the past seven years, she has managed a weekly figure drawing group at Lafayette College for local artists. She teaches private painting lessons and workshops from her downtown studio in Easton. She also teaches art classes at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, PA and Kettle Creek Pottery in Snydersville, PA.

Through mindfulness and visualization techniques, Albrecht seeks answers to profound existential questions. He expresses his insights through whimsical and satirical drawings, paintings, sculptures, and motion pictures. He is captivated by human diversity and explore our thoughts, emotions, and worldviews. Albrecht works in various graphic styles, from child-like scribbled lines to soft pastels, rigid brush strokes, and collages. He uses color sparingly, preferring bold B&W lines to spontaneously grasp ideas and metaphysical concepts.

Matt Nixon tries to capture the earliest form of self-expression we had as children. His process is raw, frenetic and expressive, incorporating dramatic figural forms and emotive subject matter that draw from the complexities of his own life. Matt hopes his work and imagery has an emotional response for the viewer, interpreting the subject matter in their own way and coming to their own conclusion to what it means to them.

Michelle Neifert was born and raised in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. She attended Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in Printmaking in 1993. She has also continued her education at both the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and Baum School of Art. After college, having thoroughly exhausted her focus on black and white, she moved toward color, widening her expressive repertoire. Michelle fell in love with the color work of Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko and Claude Monet. Over these years, her work kept some of its roots in abstract expressionism while turning more towards color field and even impressionism in an effort to express the human condition through color.

Rigo Peralta was born in San Josè de las Matas, Dominican Republic, where he served as a full-time art instructor at an elementary school. In 1989, he relocated to Brooklyn, NY and worked as the Art Director of the Dominican Culture House (Casa de la Cultura Dominicana). These dichotomous cultures inspired Peralta's work to blend in a visual language with cultural diversity, which connects his Caribbean past with his urban present. In 2004, Peralta moved to Allentown, PA, where he became one of the first Hispanic artists to debut a studio in The Banana Factory. His time spent in Bethlehem inspired Peralta to use the city's history, steel and mechanical objects in his newest art pieces. In 2012, Peralta opened his first solo gallery/studio, and in recent years, he has hosted various free shows and installations for his community from artists around the world, as well as his own new work. In 2019, the Allentown Art Museum purchased a piece from Peralta, making him their first modern artist to debut art as a permanent collection piece.

Sandra J. Zajacek is a stone and installation artist specializing in creating adaptive spaces that blend art with eclectic style. Her "Haptic Bridges" stone sculptures, which invite personal interaction, have been featured in group shows and are part of collections throughout the U.S. Recently, her work was also exhibited in an international competition in Italy. Sandra's interior design projects span across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, where she crafts unique environments that fuse functionality with artistic expression for her clients. For nearly two decades, she has taught in the art department at Northampton Community College, sharing her passion for creativity and craftsmanship. Sandra is excited to contribute a piece from her "Haptic Bridges" series to this fundraiser, where her art hopes to bridge creativity and community connections.

Susan Morelock is an artist and educator whose engagement with photography, video, and writing begins with what the world presents, then uses beauty and theory to coax the mundane toward metaphor. She holds her BFA in photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, her MA in visual and critical studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her MFA from Columbia University. Her work has been widely exhibited in venues across the United States as well internationally, including locations in China, England, Japan, and Italy. Among her awarded grants and residencies are Artist in Residence at Baer Art Center, Iceland; Artist in Residence at ChaNorth, Pine Plains, NY; Teaching Artist in Residence at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY; and Artist in Residence at Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Ithaca, NY.

Born in Bethlehem, PA, Tina Cantelmi earned a BFA from Alfred University, New York State College of Ceramics, in Alfred, NY, and continued her education studying fashion design, textiles and writing at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. As a Fashion Editor for Women's Wear Daily in NYC, she fine-tuned her vision for a career later as a painter, author and entrepreneur. Today, Cantelmi's paintings are in private collections from Boston to Florida, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania. The artist is available for commissions for corporate, private and institutional projects. Cantelmi also restores artwork and was the master colorist and painter for the The Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Stockbridge, Mass. in early 2020.