Studio A
MARIAN BICKERSTAFF, originally from Telford, PA has been painting in oil since the late 70’s starting with a paint set received as a gift. She studied with several painters locally in Southeast PA and at Montgomery County Community College (PA). She received several awards including two blue ribbons from the Perkiomen Valley Art League. In 1990, one of her pieces – “Skippack Barn in Snow II”, was chosen for the cover of the Souderton Independent’s Christmas Insert.
After retiring from a 37-year banking executive career, she and her husband moved to Ocean Pines, MD in 2007 and her retirement goal was to devote more time to her artwork. She immediately joined the Art League of Ocean City and began taking classes and workshops, experimenting with oils, acrylics, collage, mixed media and pastels. Her focus continues to be painting in oil which generally convey a sense of place, light and luminosity and acrylic work in bold color and surface texture, as she continues experimentation with surface treatments and techniques and a thought process of “I wonder what would happen if…“.
Ms. Bickerstaff has won numerous awards at the Art League of Ocean City and in juried shows at the Worcester County Arts Council. She has also been a featured local Artist in the Spotlight in the Daily Times. In addition to painting, she also enjoys the creativity of photography manipulation and computer-generated design. She served as President of the Board of Directors of the Art League of Ocean City 2013-2018, and is a Co-op Artist at the Worcester County Arts Council. When not painting, she is active in community service at the Art League of OC, the Community Church at Ocean Pines, PEO Chapter AK, MD, Worcester County Arts Council, and the Ocean Pines Garden Club.
BARBARA BUFORD has been creating art for over 50 years. She is a self-educated mixed media artist that developed her skills by attending art classes in collage, going to numerous art retreats and with lots of experimentation.
In 2007 she created an art program for adults with developmental disabilities called the Creative HeArts. In 2015 she was fortunate to have her art work published in an art book called “Intuitive Painting Workshop” by Alena Hennessy. In 2021 Barbara was awarded the annual SHERO Award from the Ocean City Art League for teaching art to diverse populations. In 2022 Barbara completed Creative Aging training sponsored by the Delaware Division of the Arts. Access Creative Aging Initiative. Barbara believes that art heals and everyone should have the opportunity to create.
Barbara currently teaches art at various venues in Sussex County, DE and in Maryland.
MEGAN BURAK-LOWE is a contemporary realist artist working mostly in oil. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland at the age of four. Burak-Lowe graduated in the fall of 2015 from Salisbury University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a concentration in two-dimensional art. She has won multiple awards while exhibiting in juried shows and galleries and has shown all around Maryland as well as New York and Washington DC. She was a featured artist in 2019 at the Art League of Ocean City, a featured artist in 2018 at the Rehoboth Art League, a semi-finalist in the Bethesda Painting Awards for 2017, a semi-finalist in the Michaels Art Challenge for 2016, and the recipient of the University Center Art Award from Salisbury University for 2015. Several of her pieces have been purchased by Salisbury University as part of their permanent collection. Her inspiration is drawn from her emotions and the world as she sees it. She currently lives and paints in West Ocean City, Maryland.
Studio B
GERILYN GASKILL has a passion for capturing the beauty of the Delaware coastline and Delmarva landscapes in watercolor, oil and acrylics. Her interest in art started in kindergarten and was helped along by her great-grandfather artist August Seiler, who also painted coastal imagery.
Gerilyn was born and raised in Wilmington DE, spending many summers in both Rehoboth and Lewes. With the call of the ocean, Gerilyn now resides closer to the beach in Georgetown.
Active in the local arts, she is a member of the Millsboro Art League (Millsboro DE), Milton Art Guild (Milton DE), Rehoboth Art League (Rehoboth DE), Mispillion Art League (Milford DE), and the Art League of Ocean City (Ocean City MD).
Gerilyn’s full-time career in nursing took her from her beloved Delaware briefly residing in both Riverside CA and Baltimore MD. She retired in December 2008, quickly moving back to DE and hasn’t looked back since. Art consumes her every waking moment. Gerilyn also volunteers a great deal of her time educating youth in the arts. For several years, she has organized and taught an art camp to local youths at the Millsboro Art League. She is also a regular instructor at the Art League of Ocean City, Rehoboth Art League, and for community group paint nights.
SUSAN KOSTER & BRANDON MARTIN
Our shared love for photography, the outdoors, and travel, led us to collaboration. With over 20 years of love and dedication to the art form each, we passionately created Silver Sun Coastal Art. Having the opportunity to transfer the beauty of the seas and the skies, and the ethereal feel of the beach, onto various mediums and print, and to create one-of-a-kind art for others to enjoy, is our passion. Whether we are working together oceanside, or in the heart of nature mountainside, we live for the medium and hope that you see it shine through in our award-winning collections of fine art!
Susan has studied photography for over 20 years, had the pleasure of working professionally as a photojournalist for local and national newspapers, magazines, marketing and advertising agencies. She became an award-winning outdoor photographer right out of college, after studying photography for 5 years, 4 in college, and 1 in high school. Macrophotography, tilt shift, abstract, and long exposure are a few techniques she uses.
Brandon is an award-winning, self-taught artist and has studied photography for more than 25 years, getting his start in Poland at the age of 13, and since then, traveling the world, and photographing Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. He heavily pursued the craft of long exposure photography and abstract photography, and impressionistic photography, and now creates unique art pieces from these techniques. He is also a watercolor painter, and a skilled wood-worker.
Studio C
MITZI ASH is a visual artist recognized for her large-scale, organic paintings that suggest the natural world. Using luxurious white silk and color-rich dyes, Mitzi invites us to marvel at the beauty of flowers, leaves, and trees through her use of shape, form, and color, capturing at once their simplicity and complexity. A resident of Ocean Pines, MD, Mitzi is a member of the Worcester County Arts Council, the Art League of Ocean City, the Rehoboth Art League and Silk Painters International. She has been painting on silk since 2001. She was a featured artist at the “Emerging Women” art show in Shepherdstown, West Virginia in 2005. Mitzi received the 2012 VIA (Very Important Artist) Award at the Rehoboth Art League Fine Art Exhibition. In 2013, The Art League of Ocean City judged “Together Again” as Best in Show. In 2015 the Worcester County Arts Council awarded Mitzi 2nd place ribbons for “Tree Rings” and “Blessings,” respectively. Mitzi received 1st place for wearable art from the Rehoboth Art League in 2016. In 2017, Mitzi assembled an international exhibition of silk painting at the Ocean City Center for the Arts.
JEFF AUXER: “I believe everyone desires a unique surrounding that speaks to their true self. Functionality manifests itself in the vibrant colors and shapes I am able to create in my studio. My work incorporates Venetian glass techniques and handmade tools resulting in unique, one of a kind works of art that are not only beautiful but also applicable to everyday life.”
PETER GIBSON grew up in Michigan, and moved with his wife Kathy, to Maryland in 1973 for a job with the National Ocean Service. That winter, he took an Adult Education Class on Stained Glass. He was hooked on glass, and began a long period of taking workshops, learning, trying new things, and making projects for family and friends. In 2008, he retired from the Federal Government, and as a retirement gift to himself, purchased a kiln to start working with fused glass. Since that time, he has spent as much time as possible with new workshops, learning, trying new things, and making projects. In 2017, he began teaching Fused Glass classes at the Art League of Ocean City. He continues to work in both stained glass and fused glass, enjoying every minute.
Studio D
DAVID SIMPSON: Born and raised in Ocean City, David has had a great opportunity to connect to the shore and everything it had to offer. In 1999, he reconnected with the art world at Salisbury University, where he achieved both a philosophy degree and a fine arts degree in painting. The subjects of his oil paintings traditionally are focused on the human figure, landscapes, and seascapes. Most recently, his paintings have focused on the elements of texture, color, and light via seascapes. In the spring of 2012, he graduated with Masters in the Art of Teaching from University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He is showing work locally at community art organizations, winning awards, and teaching. In addition, he recently became a board member for the Worcester County Arts Council and holds the office of Treasurer. As an art instructor, he is happy to contribute professionally to the promising local art community.
ROBERT JOHNSON & SARAH HALCOTT created Amused Studios as their home based art studio in 2005. They mainly use clay as their medium and create a colorful eclectic mix of functional and decorative pottery. Robert has focused on throwing classical shapes sometimes altering them and finishing them with a saggar or horsehair firing to create works of art. He particularly enjoys making bottles with tiny tops that take a steady hand and patience to form. He often adds a layer of mica slip he created which adds a subtle sparkle to the pots. He chooses which pots to finish with horsehair which leaves black squiggly lines on top of the white clay and golden flecks, or saggar which creates a smokey and mottled red over the sparkle. He has been inspired by South-Western Native Americans who use a micaceous clay body, all they make glitters with this golden substance.
JOSEPH SCUKANEC is a local photographer residing in the town of Snow Hill on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He developed a passion for photography during his twenty-year career in the US Navy as a way to record and share his experiences, as he traveled throughout the United States and the world. He most enjoys photographing local events, still life, landscape, nature and close-ups. “Whether it is a macro or landscape photograph, or a composite of photo art, I want to lead the viewer beyond the photograph into a visual journey through an artistic impression of my imagination.”