Metalsmith David Church has taught art at all levels from elementary college in Hawaii, Boston, in the Adirondacks, and in Central New York, currently at Jamesville-Dewitt High School. For 30 years he has maintained a jewelry and metalsmithing studio and gallery for the past eight years in Armory Square and currently in the beautiful hills of Pompey, N.Y. He designs and creates jewelry he calls “art to wear,” as well as sculptures that are primarily one-of-a-kind and commission pieces. Church has a bachelor of science degree in art education and a master of arts degree in jewelry design and sculpture.

Image: “Wedding Neckpiece for the Mother of the Bride,”

Ceramicist Megan Conner has worked as an artist and art educator in Central New York for ten years. Born and raised in northeast Pennsylvania, she studied art at the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University where she received a bachelor of fine arts degree in art education with a concentration in ceramics, and earned her master of arts degree in liberal studies from Skidmore College, studying the evolution of pottery traditions within Native American cultures. Conner teaches art at Jamesville-Dewitt High School, and also operates her own ceramics studio, Terra Incognita. Conner is an active member of the Syracuse Ceramics Guild and has worked with local artists in a variety of arts education partnerships in local schools.

Image:  “Drawing Within” by Megan Conner

Ken Nichols, a graphic designer for 30 years, says, “My paintings paint themselves. I have no premeditated idea when I start one. Each stroke and color is predicated upon the one before it. I want people to know a human being painted it – no computer precision or do-overs.” Nichols’ paintings represent universal energy and he wants viewers to feel good positive energy, and something new, from each viewing of a canvas. “The world has enough angst-filled self-portraits of brooding artists,” he notes. Nichols earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in drawing and painting from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Image: “In Remembrance of Better Times,” by Ken Nichols

Fashion Designer Karen Steen, of Cazenovia, N.Y., is the director of Fashion Studies at Cazenovia College, where she has taught since 1987. Her education includes undergraduate degrees in retail management and clothing design/textiles, and a master’s degree in vocational education. Her artwork focuses on the use of fibers in a variety of different contexts including wearable fashions as well as decorative pieces. Most recently, she has focused on fashions created from fabrics she has gathered from international travel to India, Southeast Asia, Africa and Syria.

Image: “Batik & Beaded Jacket” by Karen Steen

Jewelry designer and metalsmith, Randy Thompson, is a native of Central New York. After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from the State University of New York at Oswego, he began a career as a professional metalsmith. He also spent four years as an adjunct instructor at SUNY Oswego. Now his fulltime career is jewelry design and metalsmithing, creating both a line of limited production works and one-of-kind show pieces.

Image: “Link Bracelet” by Randy Thompson