Jami Akins
Watercolor
Jami Akins has been exploring the medium of watercolors since 2015. It began as a simple hobby and has turned into a small side business and outlet for her creative expression. She believes in the power of artistic expression to connect and inspire and strives to create a space where others can discover and cultivate their unique artistic voices.
Bert Bogdany
Ceramics
Born in Winter Park, Bert Bogdany is a Central Florida artist and educator. A UCF alumnus with a Master’s in Studio Arts, his professional career began in 1998. A founding member of the Orlando Visual Arts League, Bogdany has earned numerous awards and served as a judge for the Longwood Arts and Crafts Festival. His extensive exhibition record includes his 2019 solo show, “Organic Geometry,” and residency at Sanford’s Gallery on First.
Natalie Brooks
Watercolor
Born and raised in Florida, Natalie Brooks’ imagination has been captivated by the coasts and the lush earth between, filling her with inspiration that pours out as she paints. With over a decade of experience in watercolor, she delights in sharing the joy of watercolor with her
students. Natalie is a member of both the Florida Watercolor Society and Central Florida Watercolor Society, and a graduate fellow of Arts Fellowship Orlando.
Meg Carroll
Printmaking
Meg Carroll is a printmaker from Casselberry, FL, who has been printmaking for 7 years. Her work tends to follow themes of nature with a macabre or occult twist. She belongs to a non-profit organization of printmakers called the Central Florida Printmakers. They put on shows and demos several times a year and the occasional workshop. Our focus is on spreading the love of printmaking to the masses.
Liamel Cohen
Mixed Media
Liamel Cohen, a Dominican Republic native and Florida-based mixed media painter, is a BFA graduate from the University of Central Florida. Their work is rooted in material exploration, storytelling, and environment-building, with a focus on how spaces shape emotion and memory. Recognized with prestigious scholarships and merit awards, Liamel continues to explore the delicacy of memory and perspective, and their power to shape one’s sense of self.
Amanda Cortés
Drawing
Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and now based in central Florida, Amanda Cortés is a narrative draftsman and painter. She received an education in the classics at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire and Rome, Italy. In 2020, she was the recipient of the Academy of Realist Art Boston’s Annual Scholarship. She has received numerous honors and residencies. Exhibiting locally and nationally, she explores the sublime and existential through her work.
Roland Cruse
Painting
Florida-raised, a conversational Spanish speaker, and a U.S. Army veteran, Roland Cruse brings a world of experience to the easel. After years of living in Spain and a career spanning restaurant ownership and web development, he returned to his artistic roots. Having previously worked as a caricature and portrait artist, Cruse is now a multi-disciplinary artist working in abstract works, plein air, portraiture, and sculpture. When he isn’t doing any of the above, he might be playing banjo on his porch.
Danielle DeGuglimo
Drawing Studio Monitor
Danielle DeGuglimo is a Florida native from West Palm Beach. She received a BFA in painting from the University of Central Florida. Recently her focus has been on temporary installations and public art. Her interactive installations have been shown locally and within the state. In 2017 she began monitoring for the former weekly live figure open session known as Sketch Club at A&H.
Monica Diaz
Painting
Born in Valencia, Venezuela, Monica Diaz initially studied architecture, a path that temporarily overshadowed her love for fine arts. She immigrated to the U.S. with her husband in 2003 for political stability, leaving their business and life behind to start anew. A breast cancer diagnosis in 2020 prompted a life re-evaluation, leading her back to her true passion: painting. Today, she creates modern acrylic works on canvas, blending the precise strokes inspired by her architectural background with the intuition and emotion of her rediscovered artistic calling.
Natalia Diaz
Pastels
Natalia Diaz is an artist based in Orlando, Florida, specializing in acrylic paintings and chalk art. A 2015 graduate of the University of Central Florida with a BFA, Natalia has participated in chalk art festivals since the age of 17 and is a proud member of the Chalk Art Nation Association. Her vibrant, detailed works often explore the fleeting nature of chalk as a medium, with a focus on public art and community engagement. With years of experience in art festival settings, Natalia continues to push the boundaries of both traditional and contemporary chalk art.
Hazel Griffiths
Painting
Hazel Griffiths is a multidisciplinary artist working across digital and physical media, with a primary focus on encaustic painting. I use mixed media elements and layers of wax to create textures and organic shapes to form atmospheric landscapes, treading the path between the real and the imagined. My work is rooted in a fascination with environments, both constructed and remembered, which includes a creative detour into developing narrative-driven virtual reality spaces.
Avido Khahaifa
Painting
Avido Khahaifa is an artist, based in Lake Mary, Florida. He works primarily in oil on canvas or panels. He uses impressionistic brush techniques to produce hyperrealist paintings. Most of his work is marked by dramatic lighting, strong value contrasts, unusual perspective and strong geometric compositions. His subjects range from land and seascapes to surreal and science fiction-inspired fantasy. Thematically and technically, he focuses on storytelling and relational contrasts: reducing complexity to the simple and vice versa; creating beautiful images from seemingly ugly subjects; using shadow to depict bright light, etc.
Abbey Kish
Mixed Media
Abbey Kish is an artist and educator originally from Cleveland, Ohio. She earned her BFA in Printmaking at Kent State University in 2016, moving to work in Central Florida following graduation. Abbey utilizes a variety of techniques in her practice including cyanotype, printmaking, and mixed media collage. She is passionate about sharing the joy of creative expression with her community. Abbey works as an art educator with OCPS in addition to her personal artistic pursuits.
Maeghan Landa
Drawing
Maeghan Landa (b.1998, FL) is an American contemporary figurative painter based in Orlando, Florida. In 2022, she received a BFA from the University of Central Florida with a specialization in painting. Maeghan has shown both locally in Florida and nationally. Her work focuses on domestic spaces and the dynamics between people. Her pieces play with perspective, proportion, and color, intending to capture the intimacy of these unseen moments. Currently, Maeghan aims to pursue expanding her understanding of the arts.
Ynon Mabat
Digital Painting
Ynon Mabat was born in Cordoba, Argentina. In the early 80’s he studied accounting at Akron University, Akron, Ohio, and worked exclusively in that field until 1997, at which time he became a full-time artist. Over the years Ynon has traveled extensively through the Americas and Europe. He currently resides in Longwood, Florida with his family. My artworks are in collections at various institutional and private collections.
Silvana Martins
Bookbinding
Silvana Martins is a Brazilian-American artist who has been creating for more than 30 years. She specializes in paper marbling and bookbinding, though she has practiced over 20 disciplines, including watercolor, ceramics, wood turning, printmaking, enameling, and more. She is most passionate about helping others learn, new, exciting and beautiful ways to make art!
Leslie MacMillian
Silk & Batik Painting
Leslie MacMillian is a self-taught artist from Florida who has explored silk painting since the late 1990s, specializing in French Serti and wax batik techniques. Her work blends vibrant textures, whimsical narratives, and surrealist touches, often drawing on literature, the human form, and multicultural themes. Inspired by Seminole County’s natural beauty and Florida’s eclectic culture, she creates illustrative silk paintings that surprise viewers with their richness and detail. While she experiments with many mediums, silk remains her focus. Leslie also holds a degree in Theater Technology from the University of Central Florida, specializing in scenic painting, design, and prop fabrication.
Jim Patterson
Ceramics
Jim Patterson, a Maitland resident and A&H supporter for over a decade, transitioned from pharmaceuticals to pottery, teaching Introduction to Pottery and Open Studio at the A&H since 2019, known for patient, creative instruction. After retiring in 2012, he leveraged his FSU Master’s & Rollins certifications to consult for nonprofits, teach college ceramics, and exhibit his award-winning art, focusing now on custom commissions, bringing rich experience and a fun learning environment to his classes.
Tony Passero
Mural Painting
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Tony Passero grew up on the city’s North Side with his Irish mother, Sharon, Italian father, Vito, and his younger sister, Laurie. He splits his creative time between his Chicago and Orlando-based studios, treasuring his downtime with his wife Shannon and their two children, Sophia and Nico. Tony Passero is a contemporary mixed media artist and muralist who not only paints on traditional canvas but also uses a wide variety of found, random objects (such as abandoned furniture, discarded doors, scrapped street signs, etc.) and unique surfaces (metal, wood, fabric, etc.) as the base for his works.
Ryan Price
Bookmaking, Drawing, & Printmaking
Ryan Otero Price is a Central Florida-based artist. Ryan received his MFA from UCF in 2022. Ryan’s surreal still life compositions and enigmatic figural combinations–the minaret-women, cyclopean luthiers, skeletal creatures in cap ‘n’ bells, motley jinns, and the tokusatsu sword fighter–recreate the workings of dreams, suggesting the Freudian technique of free association. These juxtaposed objects and figures transmute mythologies into signs that transcend the intervention of the conscious mind.
PJ Svejda
Painting
PJ earned her BA in illustration and MA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She developed her artistic career as an artist and instructor for 12 years in Atlanta, Georgia, before relocating to Orlando, Florida, where she has been successful in the local art community. PJ is recognized for her passionate narratives illustrating ideas of coexistence between man, beast, and planet. She pushes the envelope, juxtaposing controversial imagery with a classical and traditional style to advocate for animal, environmental, and human rights, telling stories of pain and hope to raise self-awareness.
Peggy Wertheim
Paper & Textiles
Peggy Wertheim is a surface design artist specializing in traditional marbling, batik, and silk painting. Holding a Master of Arts in Teaching, her 40-year career blends a love for nature with comparative philosophies. Her intricate fabrics and papers are featured in “Art to Wear” collections, framed artworks, and cards. Through hundreds of juried exhibitions and dedicated workshops, Wertheim continues to share her creative expertise and passion for fiber arts with students and collectors alike. teaching workshops and private classes, sharing her expertise and creativity with aspiring artists.
Nancy Goodwine Wozniak
Drawing
Nancy Goodwine Wozniak has been practicing her artistic skills since 2014. Her love of animals dates well before then, having been raised on a farm. She has a special artistic connection with domestic animals, particularly horses, cows, dogs, and cats. She is skilled in graphite, charcoal, pastel, oils, and acrylics and has received recognition in most of these mediums.
Klaudio Xhindoli
Mixed Media
Klaudio Xhindoli was trained in 3D computer work but has always yearned for the traditional in sculpting for its tangibility. Leaving the digital world for a more hands-on, functional approach to art through the medium of Paper Mache. He is drawn to the idea that art does not have to just hang on the wall and sit still for as long as you let it. Instead, he likes to infuse his love of scenic painting and theme park attractions with the idea of personalized functional art. Allowing the whimsy of his imagination to meld with the everyday actions of his life. The medium that lets him achieve that as a sculptor is Paper Mache. It is his current medium of choice due to its versatility and surprising durability for a typically low cost and ease of entry into sculpting.