Portfolio of Works

Mary Ann Mengel is an award-winning oil painter inspired by the connection between humans and their surroundings. She grew up in Schuylkill County and now resides in nearby Berks County. Her work is primarily figurative--directly, implied, or symbolic. Her color palette is grounded in nature, imaginative, and leans toward abstraction. With layered marks created by brushes, palette knives and other tools, she invites an element of emotional depth and reveals the significance she finds in her subject.

Although you may occasionally find Mary Ann painting the landscape en plein air, she works primarily in her studio from her own reference photos of people and landscapes. Her painting process, in which the familiar is entwined with a sensory overlay, is guided by intuition and imagination. Mengel's work can be seen at Art Plus Gallery in West Reading, the Art & Craft Gallery of Hamburg, and Studio B Art Gallery in Boyertown. 

Prior to painting full-time, Mengel worked in the fields of graphic design, marketing, web design and instructional multimedia design. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Communication Design and a Master's degree in Instructional Technology. Learn more at www.maryannmengel.com

Terree Lorraine O'Neill is a professional portrait photographer specializing in digital
imagery that speaks to the heart. A newcomer to West Penn Township in Schuylkill
County, she has become enamored with the beauty of the area, sparking her to create
photographs that capture essences of the countryside.
With her local landscape work Terree aims to form an emotional connection of viewer to
image, to inspire the awe and wonder she feels each time she lifts the camera to her
eye. In her own words, “seeing beauty everywhere I look in the hills and valleys of the
Blue Mountain region, I make pictures that sense the wonder of life at one particular
moment on the earth."
She works with mirrorless cameras to compose and capture high resolution raw image files and then
processes them in Adobe Lightroom. Much like the darkrooms of old but equipped with
endless possibilities to control varying aspects of exposure, color temperature, clarity
and more. Additionally, she employs the tools of Adobe Photoshop until she is satisfied
that the image is not only representative of truth but also displays her vision and vibrant
photography style.
More information on Terree and viewable nature photos: 
https://www.themomentphoto.com/casual/

Marky Barto is an award-winning professional artist based in Schuylkill County, PA. Being born and have lived and studied in Europe, she was fortunate to get in touch with classical arts, which inspired her style of oil painting and charcoal drawing. In United States she has been studying under and apprenticing for the master figurative oil painter Eric Armusik. 

Besides painting and drawing in the style of the Old Masters, Marky enriched her repertoire with paper filigree (quilling) which history goes back to the 14th century Europe. 

Marky works under her brand “Art by Marky” and her artwork has been purchased and commissioned by collectors in both United States and Europe. 

You can read and see more on her website www.artbymarky.com and Facebook.

Artist Statement

I love the wildly simple forms, the often-overlooked moments of creation. I hear from them messages of hope, grief, purpose and joy. Pausing to listen to the voice of Creation forces me to see the inherent worth and connectedness of Other.  I want the silent moments to speak, to share their inherent worth. Creation is my endless inspiration.

Artist Bio

Chrystal J Smallwood is a pyrography artist, who sometimes wonders how a piece might look with watercolor added to the burn marks of a wooden canvas. Though mostly self-taught, Chrystal experimented with various mediums over four decades and invested in a watercolor class in 2006.  She didn’t find her niche until she picked up a wood burning tool in 2021 when she knew she had found her artistic home in the smells, textures, and opportunities that pyrography on wood allows. 

Her work is based on the idea that beauty is found in the simplest forms, the forms waiting to come together in yet created spaces. Chrystal aims to capture things too often overlooked and give them space to be heard. She is inspired by the world around her - her own gardens, experiences and time spent in nature.

Born and raised in Maine, she is currently a resident of Lavelle, PA. She holds degrees in Sociology, Nonprofit Management, and is an ordained minister. When not crafting pyrography pieces she is the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization, a hospice chaplain, avid gardener, and lover of nature, yoga, kayaking, her family, her jeep and a tiny dog named Piper.

She can be contacted at [email protected].

Audrey’s fine art embraces both representational and abstract art in a variety of mediums.

Her inspiration lies in nature, music, and life itself combining the literal with intuition. Her hope is to create an experience which transfers on some level to the viewer.

Having a family and a career which consisted of 19 years as an art teacher and 17 years as a guidance counselor, she actually did not paint seriously until her retirement in 2005.

Audrey has received various awards after exhibiting in juried shows including the “Art of the State”(PA State Museum), “International Juried Exhibits” (Art Association of Harrisburg), “Small Works Exhibit”of the New Arts Program (Kutztown, PA), “Excellence in Art Award” in the “83rd Annual Open Juried Exhibition” (Allentown Museum,PA) plus others. In addition, she has exhibited in group exhibits such as “Four Women Four Expressions”at the Yocum Institute (West Lawn, PA).

Audrey's email: [email protected]    

Audrey's websites:

audreyabefineart.com  

walkinartcenter.org/artist    

Mike identifies as an amateur nature photographer, not as a creative but rather an observational artist. He views the camera as an artistic tool which can record an instant in time that shows natural beauty. With no formal artistic training, he attempts to capture moments of artistic value. He has been awarded recognition from organizations including Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and Schuylkill Conservation District.

Amanda D'Agostino is a self-taught artist who began seriously working with oil paint in December 2019.

She will often select limited palettes of unusual color combinations to achieve the emotional impact she wants the viewer to feel. Amanda imbues each landscape, nocturne, and flower painting with her love for natural space, using a variety of strokes, blending, glazing, and palette knife work to compose scenes that capture the essence of the real space reimagined through her own lens.

Her work has juried into several regional and national shows since she started competing in 2021, and her 10" x 10" oil painting "Dogwood Reverie" won Best Beginner in the PleinAir Salon competition in May 2022 and juried into Art of the State Museum of Pennsylvania (September 2023 - Jan. 2024).

Her previous experience with landscape photography informs her understanding of composition and design, and she loves the freedom in painting that allows her to choose which elements to include and which to leave out in order to simplify a scene to capture a feeling. Her expressive paintings are representational and slightly impressionistic.

Amanda's website: amandadagostinoart.com 

Amber provides the creative energy behind Golden Finch Photography.  A domestic violence survivor, her theme behind her photography is "Nature Heals and Nature Reveals".  A resident of Schuylkill County, she began to photograph nature's beauty around her during contemplative walks as part of her journey toward recovery.  

Mary Beth Harvey is our featured artist for the 60th Annual Allied Artists Art Exhibit. The transparent beauty of watercolor has always attracted her. MaryBeth had no formal training in art - her college major was Medical Technology. In high school, she was the one working on the illustrations for the biology class assignment, rather than the context.

Mary Beth took her first watercolor workshop with a Reading, PA, with artist Ginger Miller. The instructor introduced her to negative painting in watercolor. Mary Beth went on to take workshops with nationally recognized artists: Howard Watson, a Pottsville native (deceased), Tony Couch, and Chi Ebert, a negative watercolor painter in the impressionistic style.

Smaller original works, which she has made into cards and notecards, are a focus for Mary Beth now. This, she feels, makes her work more affordable.

Several of her cards have been printed by national organizations such as American Diabetes Association and Courage Cards which sold them to benefit people with disabilities.

Mary Beth has been a proud member of the Allied Artists for more than 30 years. She is currently serving on the board. It has been her joy to have known so many talented artists, to have learned from them, and to call them friends.

With confidence and ease, artist Lori Lute-Beahm uses a freehand technique to create pen and ink drawings, fueled by the music around her. Her drawings feature geometrical designs, whimsical themes, and surreal expressions; each piece is intricately detailed and highlights Lori’s remarkable dexterity. She loves abstract patterns, whimsical character and geometrical designs, but most of all she loves making people smile.

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Bob McCormick (born. 1952 in Ashland, PA) began painting on his 50th birthday, while enrolled in an evening class at the Schuylkill County Vo-Tech. Primarily a landscape painter, he worked in watercolor for the first fifteen years. In recent years, he’s been discovering the power of pigments, using acrylics and oils.

At age 70, Bob continues to use paint to reflect what he’s witnessed throughout his Baby-Boomer lifetime: from childhood memories of his family’s life in Big Mine Run (an anthracite coal ‘Patchtown’), to scenes that surround him out on the farmland where he now resides, to imagined vistas that reflect his understanding of the social and cultural evolution we are currently experiencing. Such art will hang on the walls of Cabin Contemporary this May.