KASIA SZABO

Kasia first became interested in metalwork in college at UVM; she then landed an internship her senior year at a metal shop in Burlington, Vermont called Metalworks, Inc. There she interned for a year, then she was hired on and is still employed today. Many of her materials come from the recycling bins at the shop. Kasia's love of metal work has brought her down many different avenues of creativity, working with a wide array of materials including steel, stainless steel, and copper. Kasia resides in Franklin County where she lives with her two dogs, Jake and Olivia.

LORRAINE PIKE

Lorraine Pike is a self-taught artist who resides in Franklin County with her husband Steve and their dog Jak and two cats, Bangs and Shadow. Lorraine's unique and distinctive style of tole painting and love of antiques have given a whole new meaning to recycling. She finds many of her wooden items at antique shops, garage sales, and auctions. Each item has a story and it shows in her original primitive creations. Her pieces have found their way into many homes. Most items are one-of-a-kind. She hopes you will enjoy her creations as much as she has enjoyed painting them.

KRISTAN DOOLAN

"I have lived in Vermont for nearly all of my life and find it an incredibly beautiful place to live. As a farmer and mother of young children I cherish the little time I find to paint, but everyday I am appreciating all that surrounds me. I spend a lot of time caring for painting and drawing. I love the potential of watercolor. In my work I try to let the paint maintain its vibrancy and life as I work to portray the beauty of Vermont."

NANCY HAYDEN

"Last April, I was a resident at the Vermont Studio Center for sculpture. My medium-- books! I cut, sewed, drilled, glued, painted, and filled them. At the Burlington Art Hop this past September, I showed six pieces that I had started at the VSC, but finished this past summer. I also attended a few meetings of the Vermont Book Arts Guild and came up with altered art and altered book ideas to last a lifetime. One of the sculptural pieces I am showing at AIR this winter is an altered book piece called 'Body of Knowledge.' Little by little people are turning themselves into machines, incapable of thinking and caring for themselves without the direction of some outside specialist. This piece, built from encyclopedias I found at the dump, is about the need to look inside of ourselves to find the wisdom and understanding inherent in our own bodies and psyche. This piece is interactive, and all the books open to an inner space that is sometimes dark and scary, sometimes joyful, fun, and wise. Another piece called 'Old and New' is made from a 1940's piece of linen (from my Great Aunt's upholstery scraps) with bean pods sewed on. Besides altered art sculpture, I still enjoy painting, especially scenes from our farm. Another piece I am featuring is a painting of corn (close up) called 'No GMO!' Over 85% of the corn produced in the US is genetically modified, most by adding genes from a bacterium that produces bacterial proteins within the corn plant. While genetically modified corn is literally everywhere, consumers had no say in this decision, there is no mandatory labeling of GM products, and the long-term ecological and human health effects are unknown. Pretty scary stuff! The corn on our farm is not genetically modified, therefore, 'No GMO!' is both a statement and a protest."

HARALD AKSDAL

"Because I came to my career as an artist relatively late in life, I usually include in my bio a comment about 'becoming the artist I always was.' I've been thinking lately, though, it might be more accurate to say, 'becoming the reclusive artist that I always was.' I find making art is an intensely personal, almost revelationary, experience. The act of capturing a tree's essence on paper seems to complete the communication began when we first met, and binds us together in an intimate relationship. I know it, and it knows me. And although I welcome visitors to my studio, the presence of others does become a distraction. This 'recluse suspicion' has been building for months, and I finally accepted its confirmation while on a hunting trip with my oldest daughter's husband and my youngest daughter's boyfriend. At a secluded cabin in northern New Hampshire, the young bucks set off each morning to track their trophies. I, too, set off with gun and ammo-- but more in case something stumbled across my path than the reverse. For more importantly, I carried my camera, sketch pad, and pencil, and my real hunt was for trees who wanted their stories told. The stillness of that area was beyond description and the hours spent there filled my soul in a way that chatter never has. One tree in particular called out to me, and I'm eager to continue our conversation-- and what better time than winter in Vermont to practice being a reclusive artist!"