John Ruppert, Sculptor - Professor and former Chair of the Department of Art at the University of Maryland, College Park, was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, in 1951. He received his BA in Art and Art Education from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1974, and his Master of Fine Arts from the School for American Craftsman, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, in 1977. From 1962-64 he lived in Amman, Jordan. Became active in archaeology and traveled throughout the area (Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Cyprus), visited sites, and participated in several digs.
Steven Hoffman Shapiro has been working as an artist since 1980. His work explores various aspects of abstraction, the figure, narrative expression, and architectural themes. He works primarily in oils and acrylics but also explores a variety of three-dimensional media, including clay and wood constructions. Like many artists, his drawings and monoprints serve as explorations for larger works. Shapiro's paintings, drawings, and three-dimensional works have been exhibited in Alabama, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington D.C., and Venice, Italy.
Viki Keating has a glass studio called Stained Glass Creations, which produces commissioned glasswork for architectural installations as well as original work for galleries. She has been working with glass for over 35 years and works in fused and cast glass. Using and experimenting with different techniques. She has attended many professional workshops for various glass techniques with well-known glass artists and has been exhibiting in juried exhibitions for many years.
Carien Quiroga is an award-winning multimedia visual artist and educator using her artmaking and teaching practices to engage with creative communities, both locally and internationally. Social Justice, mindfulness, and collaboration is at the core of her artistic work and teaching practices. Ms. Quiroga is on the Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Residence, the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, and Artivate Teaching Artists Rosters.
Shanthi Chandrasekar is a multimedia and multidisciplinary artist from Maryland who has an academic background in physics and psychology, and has been trained in the traditional Indian art forms of Kolam and Tanjore-style painting. While many of her works are influenced by her Indian heritage, her true inspiration comes from the mystery and majesty of the world around her; her muse lives where the scientific overlaps with the spiritual.