Artists
Represented
Allan Carey
I am a native Middle Georgia, born in Fort Valley. My family moved to Warner Robins when I was in my teens. My love for art began at a very young age. I am a self-taught painter of oils and acrylics. The subjects I enjoy painting are portraits of people and pets, old home places, seascapes, and landscapes. My inspirations come from the many beautiful scenes in my travels across the country. I take many photographs for future reference to create compositions for my paintings. This allows me to paint at a relaxed pace without worrying about the movement of the subject or the light. I use rich bright colors with smooth gentle brush strokes to create realistic paintings. Some have said that my work has an inspirational feeling. I enjoy teaching children and adults’ art classes. I don’t consider myself a teacher, but I love to share what I know about creating a painting. To those who are first time painters and say they cannot paint a picture, I show them they can. I am a member of the Fine Art Society of Middle Ga and have my artwork on exhibit in the Fine Art Gallery
Leslie Hoops-Wallace
Leslie Hoops-Wallace enjoys painting animals, and airplanes, and the occasional political illustration. Leslie is a Graduate of the Academy of Art University of San Francisco, with a BFA in Illustration. She loves to paint pet portraits, and planes. She is active in the Fine Art Society of Middle Georgia and teaches watercolor there. Her goal is to get the Middle Georgia area to Buy Local Art! She is a wife and mother of two boys who are artists too. That keeps her busy, but in her spare time she tries to paint. Leslie is inspired by nature, and loves to walk through the woods looking at lighting and textures. Leslie works hard getting the word out about art events in her area, and trying to get artists to show their work. She thinks all artists need to work together to get art to the people. The People need to be inspired by art in her opinion. Leslie did two paintings in the Macon Sketchbook, and has illustrations in several books including “Bullmina the Courageous Bulldog” and 'Bullmina to the Rescue' by Lita Eitner-England. Two of her paintings, 'American Chaos and Iraqi 'Freedom', both were given to President George Bush while in office. A print of American Chaos hangs at his fathers Library. Middle Georgia has some very talented artists, and they are reasonably priced. In this area there is no excuse not to own original work! Ms. Hoops-Wallace is open to any commissions.
Verneen Hill
Born and raised in Pleasantville, New Jersey, then ventured off to Southern California. After residing in Southern California for 12 years, she found comfort in settling down in Southern Georgia. Hill is a self-taught artist who has been doing artistic pieces since she was six years old and honed her skills under the tutelage of her late grandmother.
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Hill’s gallery, Officially Inside Out, was in 2018, one of many exhibits featured in the Richard Stockton University’s Noyes Art Museum in Atlantic City, NJ. Her collection there featured a diverse range of visual, fine art and 3D mixed media pieces.
In March 2019, she exhibited in Chicago, IL at the Chicago Arts Retreat Center, located downtown. In April 2019, she exhibited in Pennsauken, NJ at the Black & Minority Business Expo. In May 2019, she exhibited in Atlantic City, NJ in the Art Gallery located inside of the Claridge Hotel. In September 2019, she exhibited in Brigantine, NJ at the Brigantine Community Center. She was also one of the local artists selected to participate in the 2019 Atlantic City, International Boxing Hall of Fame. One of her greatest achievements this far was to go down in history! In late 2020 she was a headliner for RAW, Natural Born Artist in Los Angeles, CA. Closing out 2021, she exhibited for the 1st time with Fashionista during Miami’s Art Week/Art Basel. Opening 2022, she is currently exhibiting in Warner Robin, GA at the Nola Brantley Memorial Library. She is a member of the Fine Art Society of Middle Georgia and is currently exhibiting.
Her passion is for unique art with texture and dimensions, especially her emphasis on 3D, mixed media, abstract and liquid pours. There is also great love and passion for murals indoors and out. https://linktr.ee/OfficiallyInsideOut
Tammy Ratzken
My name is Tammy Ratzken and I am a self-taught artist. I have always loved to create, draw and paint from a very early age. In school I was creative and excelled in art, which encouraged me to consider art as a career. My mother and father were very creative, and I thank them for passing that passion on to me.
When my daughter was a child, in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, I began to teach art in my home to children. I believe all children are creative and they just need a space to express themselves and have gentle guidance. When my son came along in 2011, I enjoyed providing a magical creative space for him to learn and grow and experience art. I want to bring this same element to other kids. Around this time, I also taught art classes for children and adults at the 567 Studio, when they first opened up their gallery in Macon. During this time, I also taught art classes to groups in my home studio.
In 2020, just as the Pandemic was getting started, I hit 50 years old and thought, “If not now when?” So, I opened my own studio in Macon named Mulberry St. Art Center. It was in the historic Robert E. Lee building on Mulberry St. near downtown. I had this location for 3 years. I recently had to shut it down because of health issues and family crisis.
Throughout the years I have enjoyed expressing myself with acrylics and mixed media. I have sold many of my works and have prints of fifteen of my original paintings that are for sale. I have enjoyed showing and selling my work in local galleries and stores.
Now I am enjoying creating works that I like to call “random art” by creating a random background of paint or mixed media and letting the painting speak to me. I may have an idea of where I am going, but by viewing the background I pull out what I see already on the canvas and paint it out. It is very rewarding but can sometimes be a slow process. I am working to build up a body of work that shows my faith and creativity through my art.
I have recently moved to The Fine Art Society of Middle GA Gallery to work and teach classes for
children and adults. I look forward to this opportunity. I am a veteran homeschooler and I look forward to being an asset to the homeschool community to bring essential art classes to aid in education. I also look forward to bringing extracurricular art classes to the public-school children. I have plans to start classes for the visual impaired and to provide art that builds family time together. I am on a journey and hope some of you will come along with me on this adventure.
Terri Bennett
My name is Terri Bennett. I started drawing at age 4 when my family moved to the Naval base in the Philippines. There was no television, but there was a large roll of packing paper that my parents rolled out across the floor so my brother and I could draw in the evenings. There was a lot of praise and my mother showed drawings to everyone who came through the door. That would get anyone started drawing, right? I lived in Phoenix for four years during elementary school and was very much influenced by Western art. My aunt, a talented artist, would draw horses for me out of Marguerite Henry's books. In New Orleans, I was the first girl allowed to take mechanical drawing in junior high, a big deal at the time, and it was there I was introduced to perspective. Drawing, drawing, drawing......then I attended the University of South Alabama and got the fire in my bones to paint and draw the figure. I had some great professors who believed in me, and I pulled every bit of knowledge I could out of them because I was paying my own way.
I got a Teacher Corps internship and my M. Ed. in Art Education, K-12 in 1978. I've been teaching everything I learned there, along with lessons I've learned along the way, at my art room in Reynolds. I've painted in oil, acrylic, and watercolor. I became proficient in watercolor, when, in college, I decided I wasn't going to let it beat me. I have always felt that I needed to be well-rounded, and still am developing the skills in which I am least proficient in. I am proudest of my students and the satisfaction they exhibit when a painting is complete. I'm proud that Taylor County, the community I live in, which promotes the arts hand, has been a great source of encouragement and support to me. I'm a member of The Fine Arts Society of Middle Georgia and enjoy the privilege of getting to know some of the kindest and finest artists in the Middle Georgia area. I am excited to see people hunting down hidden paintings in Macon. That's ingenious..and to see Flint Energies Mural Program fund beautiful art on buildings in the counties around Middle Georgia. These things excite me and make me proud to be one of you, the artists of Middle Georgia
Phyllis Thiessen
Phyllis Thiessen was fortunately born in 1963 when much needed changes were taking place in the United States. People were fighting for human rights, freedoms, and powerful uprisings that made positive changes for the world in which she lived in. She lived in the projects in the deep south. When she entered highschool, Phyllis took an art collage class that ignited her interest in the art world. From that moment forward, anything discouraging that would come her way, she tore them apart in her head, and it became her comforting safe place. Moving forward at the age of 27 she married Stan, a strong cowboy from Texas who was afraid of nothing. Phyllis birthed two children, and God blessed them with five more and was honored to raised more than she could count from all walks of life.
Her husband, Stan, loved road trips. At any given moment, they would pack their bags and head off to wonderful places. They are outdoorsman and loved to explore nature. During these trips, Phyllis would see beautiful scenery and say out loud, "I'm going to paint that one day." They traveled throughout the US by van and spend restless nights out in the boonies at rest areas along the way. They kids were amazed to wake up in the next morning and see they were in a new and unfamiliar environment, such as the deserts in New Mexico. Her destinations places consisted of history, art, and nature. Recently, she lived in the mountains of Utah for three years and moved back to the small rural town of Roberta Georgia. Her children are now in adulthood, and she has been freed to paint all the things she has seen along her journey. Her art medium consists of acrylic, oils, bits of watercolor, and always returning back to her first love, collaging. She has a natural act when it comes to colors, pushing them across the canvas in way people would never think of. Her art can be seen in gallery's in the state of Georgia. She is very innovative and loves industrial art. Anything outside the box fits her personality. She finds and sees beauty in the smallest of things. She takes them and blows them on a canvas making them bigger than life. Art is now one of her new happy places.
Shawn Ripley
Shawn got his first camera when he was fifteen. He began seriously pursuing photography in 2005. His experience includes wildlife and nature, portrait, rodeo photography as well as model portfolio development. His passion for art carries beyond just using a camera; he enjoys watercolor painting, color pencil and graphite drawing as well.
Shawn Ripley is a diverse photographer who is able to create beautiful and unique shots in a variety of styles. He strives to capture the emotion of the subject, the moment and the surroundings. Whether working on model portfolio development or portraits, Shawn is known for his professionalism and respect for his clients. Creativity, ingenuity and passion for photography are qualities that define him and his work.
Philosophy of Art: Capturing the quiet moments of introspective solitude; expressing the subtle range of intimacy and vulnerability of women. I am looking to paint strong emotion, soft, sensual, demure and intimate moments. The ability to capture the emotion in a painting is something that I strive for.