Heidi Jung's love of plants and insects began at an early age and serves as both her inspiration and subject matter. Classically trained as a photographer, Jung continues to see the world through a lens; aesthetically bringing a mix of detail and movement to the foreground for the viewer.

Like many contemporary artists, Jung's connection to nature is both highly personal and unconventional; incorporating ink, charcoal and photographic elements, her works imply nature’s inherent mystery and ambivalent ferocity.

Jung's artwork resides in many collections including the Four Season, the Hyatt, Libeskind designed Museum Lofts, and has works in the collection of Prince Bandar of Saudia Arabia and Kelsey and Camille Grammar to name a few.

Serendipity first entered the picture—literally—via old family photo albums inherited through a second cousin. “Those picture became the grist of a lot of my early painting,” she says. Brown is fascinated with “what home photographers catch,” images that are often casual, “non-reverential,” people captured mid-sentence instead of elegantly posed. More photos have come to Brown through gifts, antique sales, even “dumpster diving” friends; when traveling, she snaps shots of her own. Sometimes the photographic images are adopted in their entirety, but more often Brown edits them, completely controlling her painted compositions by adding and eliminating elements. The results are situations, faces and places in which we all find some resonance.

Beginning with either colored gesso or acrylic under-painting, the finished images that we see are worked in oil over these preparatory surfaces, which often glow through from beneath the glazed-on oil. These layers of textural color are a fitting parallel for the layers of potential interpretation open to the viewer.

Born in Cleveland in 1946, as a child Brown spent hours poring over her favorite book,Famous Paintings for Young People(edited by family friend Roberta Yerkes) and took classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Further art training came during high school and at Lawrence University (1964-66) before taking a degree in sociology from Case Western Reserve University (1968). Eventually, after years of working in human services, feeling “exhausted and frustrated” with that field, Brown left to make major changes. She spent two years as a professional gardener and the “color and shape and beauty” she found there gradually brought her back, at age forty, to her “first love, painting.”

Born in Colorado, Emmett Culligan discovered his passion for sculpting early in life before studying art in NYC at the Art Students League and later received his BFA from the University of Colorado at Denver. Studying the principals and aesthetics of metal fabrication in art school, Emmett then began to explore stone carving in an effort to combine the two mediums. His art ranges in scale from large monumental public art to small wall hung works and can be found in collections and municipalities both nationally and internationally. Emmett works from his studio in Denver where the state’s numerous raw materials are close at hand. Likewise, Colorado’s large open spaces and natural beauty lend inspiration to the work in which the spirit of the region can be found.

"Within my work, an emphasis is placed on the natural inherent qualities of material interacting formally to access human emotion and spirituality. To this end, transcending the “physical” nature of sculpture and imbuing the material with a greater overall presence or energy is paramount. This alchemeic transfer of energy is perhaps the most interesting aspect of my artistic endeavor. When present, this energy can be felt yet always remains intangible and mysterious. The viewer is invited to discover this dichotomy within the sculptures’ formal unity and come to realize a deeper resonance." - Emmett Culligan

A Colorado native, Feder paints abstractions of nature and architecture. The tension between her materials and her spiritual influences charge the work while resisting the typical sentimentality of such studies. Seeing her daughter's devotion to painting as a child, Feder’s mother arranged for her to begin private lessons which led to her studies with Colorado artists Ed Marecak and Mark Zamantakis at a time in her life where their influences not only were deeply rooted but have manifested into her own style.

A master colorist, Feder recalls, “I remember a day in Denver as a child, walking across a park in the early morning when the colors were at their saturated peak. I realized at that moment, with a force that shuddered through my body, that no one would ever see the world exactly as I saw it.” To this day as she applies paint and scrapes it away from her substrate, Feder remains true to that epiphanic day as a child.

Her work has evolved from decades of technical experience as a set designer, muralist, and studio artist. Feder’s commissions include murals and paintings for dozens of private and public collectors both nationally and internationally.

Born in California in 1966, Rebecca Burckhardt’s surroundings and education shaped her interest in figurative oil painting. Drawing on her degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Counseling Psychology, her continued studies through both private instructors and The Art Student’s League of Denver, as well as her athletic involvement in Triathons annually, Burckhardt melds the psychological, prowess of design, body knowledge, and expressive artistry into her work.

The inspiration for much of her work, like that of the Master American painter Mary Cassatt, is the very specific bond which exists between parents and children. Poetically she expresses their interaction as linked and timeless. Her paintings also express her lyrical hand and rhythm; living shadows, dancing light, and implied movement. She reflects not only her inherent ability but also those of her instructors, master painter Ron Hicks, Michelle Torrez, and Kim English. Burckhardt’s paintings reside in private collections both locally and nationally.

Danyl's love of nature and foreign cultures are the source of his contemporary pastel and charcoal drawings and acrylic paintings. Explore the site to view work, read the stories behind the art or visit Danyl in his own studio and gallery in northwest Denver.

Danyl Cook’s drawings and paintings are influenced by his love of nature, the dramatic lines from the golden age of comics and abstract painters who created during the post war era.

As a professional writer and photographer, Cook first exhibited his photography in New York. But love of drawing took center stage upon his arrival in Denver in 1994, signaling a new cycle of artistic calling. Cook has exhibited widely in both juried shows and galleries, and is included in many private collections across the U.S. and abroad.

Photography has been my creative and social outlet since my childhood days in North Carolina. Over the last 20 years, I have been fortunate to work with many master photographers around the United States, who were and are instrumental to my development as a photographer and artist. My initial work involved capturing sporting and entertainment events. Everything from auto racing to headline concerts. It was fast, creative and fun, but always left me searching for other ways to express myself with my camera. In 1996, I survived an auto accident that forever altered how I see the world and greatly influenced the direction of my photography. In the beginning stages of my personal rehab, my limited physical abilities required me to find subjects that could be photographed with ease. I became drawn to exploring botanical subjects...flowers, shells, foliage...with a focus on producing larger than life macro prints. This new focus eventually led me to become a photographer for the Denver Botanic Gardens for over 4 years. That position allowed me access to hundreds of unusual botanical specimens including over 3000 orchid plants. The images I produced during that time recieved much attention and opened the door for my work to be exhibited in many fine art galleries around the United States. Truly, out of an unexpected tragedy, my creative self bloomed. Recently, I have spent several years in the Midwest and in California, continuing to use my macro view of the world to capture larger subjects...buildings, horses, cranes, trains and more. I have also been working in what I describe as "altered capture" and creating more abstract images, not only with my newest work but also giving new life to some of my old favorites.

Every once in a while an artist comes along whose talent, visual interpretation and spirit make you smile. Joyce Shelton's creativity, composition, sense of color and light never cease to amaze her audience. Joyce has been influenced from her work in screen-printing where she placed simple shapes into organized compositions. Today she carries those same principles into other media such as pastel and paint on paper and canvas. As an artist she simplifies her contemporary subject matter into charged compositions, reminiscent of Chagall and Monet. For more information visit Joyce's website at http://www.sheltonfineart.com.

Linda Korstad is an artist working in many media and currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Her work has become sought after for its whimsical nature and contemporary flair.

After breeding and showing Afghan Hounds for many years, Linda decided to focus her knowledge and love for animals into her art. Each of her pieces embodies the unique personality found in the very animals she worked with so closely for years.

Linda takes great pride in creating her sculptural works. Each is unique, using various techniques from hand-building to casting each body to finishing the pieces with various post-fired finishes.