Justin Fair, Editor

Justin is a visual and performing artist. As a visual artist, he concentrates his art in abstract paintings, form drawings, and is currently exploring wood and mixed media sculpture. As an actor/performance artist, he explores modeling, theatre collaboration, and photography from both sides of the lenses. As a whole, he works to expand his local arts community through working in multiple projects by seeking to learn from those in his community through cultivating relationships, getting involved in organizations and events, and promoting social media. Please visit Justin’s blog and portfolio at http://www.justinfair.com …read more

Mia Sparks, Guest Writer

Mia is an artist: visual and performing. She works with metal and wire to create sculpture and jewelry. She paints surreal landscapes and portraits of strangers, photographs animals and irresistible colors, designs costumes for fairytale characters, and uses pencil to illustrate dreams. Her love of dance, song, and modeling/acting have all influenced her art and aesthetics to a high degree. She also constructs poetry. To enjoy Mia’s artwork, please visit her deviantart page at http://clervalsfate.deviantart.com …read more

Shahla Abdi, Guest Writer

Meet Shahla. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland, College Park double majoring in Studio Art (with a specialization in printmaking) and Art History. At UMD she learned to become proficient in such diverse printmaking techniques as woodcut, copper plate etching, and screen printing. For the past year, she has been represented by the Washington Printmakers Gallery, and was the recipient of their 2010 Excellence in Printmaking Award. Currently she has prints for sale at the Brentwood Arts Exchange, as well as on her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DCprintmaker?ref=si_shop. Her work primarily deals with exploring her mixed heritage (Irish-American on her mother’s side and Azeri-Iranian on her father’s side) and expressing that complex synthesis/confrontation of cultural influences visually …read more

Allita Irby, Guest Writer

Allita Irby grew up in Oklahoma where she appreciated the Native American art and dance of the Great Plains Indians. At an early age, she learned floral arranging at home. From her mother, Mary Price Irby, Allita found her Native American heritage through her relatives in Tennessee and Ohio. Allita studied Art History and Drawing at Cameron State University (OK). At Bowie State University (MD), Allita earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with heavy concentration in Anthropology. There she furthered her knowledge of indigenous folkways and arts. Allita went on to get a Masters of Administrative Science from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (MD). During her 20+ year career in telecommunications, Allita participated in the development of the Native American People of Verizon (NAPV) employee resource group. She served as National Secretary and Local Chapter Vice President. During her involvement with the NAPV association, Allita learned about ‘friendship bundles’. In 2003, with her creativity and love of nature, Allita designed dried botanical friendship bundles with dream catchers attached as “thank you gifts”. She has developed her unique style using natural materials, flowers and feathers in each bundle. Friendship bundles may be given at anytime as gifts or used in home decorating and office spaces. Since 2005, Allita’s 2D and 3D visual art work has been juried into multiple shows in the Washington Metropolitan Area …read more

Yolanda Evans, Guest Writer

Yolonda Evans plans Public Programs for Prince George’s African American Museum & Cultural Center. The majority of her career has been in community relations and community outreach. Planning programs for community involvement, enrichment, and partnership is her niche. Yolonda has a Master of Arts in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications from Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She and her husband are the proud parents of two sons …read more

Cheryl D. Edwards, Guest Writer

Cheryl D. Edwards was born in Miami Beach, Florida. She began her studies in art during 1990 in New York City in a class at the Art Student League taught by the late, Ernest Crichlow. Cheryl has exhibited in many shows in the Washington, DC area.

Her interest in art stems from her fascination of the human body as a whole. Her medium is oil, ink and acrylics. After 15 years of painting nudes she has become fascinated with nature and how it relates to humanity. She says, ‘…the transfer of an image to canvas begins from the process of having the ability to capture the spirit of a person or object being observed. …the person’s soul shines through the process of capturing the light and dark areas. Art allows me to travel into all realms of possibility. As I look at my life, I have found that I have always chosen ART…’ Please contact her for viewings and/or visit her website at Cheryl-edwards.artistwebsites.com …read more

Alona Sistrunk, Guest Writer

Alona was born and raised in St. Louis, MO, where she honed her singing chops since the age of five and acting skills since the age of ten. Since then, she has been working to merge her passion for the performing arts with her desire to advocate for social justice. In addition to being a socially-conscious singer and actress, she is an aspiring consultant with the goal of helping artists and progressive advocacy organizations more effectively use art and innovative communications techniques to broaden the reach of their messages. In October 2011, she founded actorvists.org with the mission to provide creative change agents with resources and networking opportunities in the community arts/art and social justice field. Alona currently volunteers as the Art & Social Justice Coordinator at BloomBars …read more

Tom Cardarella, Guest Writer

Although his early still-life and landscape oil paintings were quite realistic, Tom Cardarella began to develop a more abstract style while studying figure drawing. His painting techniques and the tendency toward abstraction came together in his distinctive style of oil and acrylic figure paintings. Done in group sessions with live models, these figurative works have elements of the human form but also contain the playful experiments in shapes and colors that distinguish his work of that period.

More recently he has been working on much larger works, including an 8′ x 12′ foot installation at Artomatic and four large panels that covered an unused storefront space during the Better Block Day in Mount Rainier, Maryland. He has also designed websites, worked with computer graphics, and volunteered his time with a number of arts-related organizations …read more