Artful Healing Galleries

Galleries

Click on each picture for details.

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BARBARA FOLEY

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Mickleton

When Barbara Foley was in second grade, her art teacher asked her to draw and color a picture of something she really liked. Barbara loved horses, and to this day she still remembers the smell of the crayons she used to create her drawing of a big, black horse.

Barbara fell in love with art too and as a child spent hours and hours in the basement of her family’s home in Woodbury painting and painting. Though she wanted to pursue art in college, Barbara heeded her mother’s advice and instead became a nurse.

Six years ago, having finished raising her family, Barbara gave up her nursing career and went back to doing what she really loved, painting. She has since studied at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Perkins Center for the Arts, and Wayne Art Center.

“I see beauty, color, and grace in everything around us, and I just find a need to put it down on linen panels with brushes loaded with juicy, oily colors. It makes me happy, and who doesn’t like to be happy.”

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CHARLIE SNELL

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Moorestown

Charlie Snell began painting on a regular basis in 2007.

His favorite subjects include plein air landscapes, still life, animals and portraiture.

Charlie spends his days working as an electrical engineer and resides in Moorestown.

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DOLORES POACELLI

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Collingswood

Dolores Poacelli is a longtime Collingswood resident with a studio in Philadelphia’s Italian Market, where she has worked for 27 years. She was a recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship for painting.

Using a mix of materials and playing with proportion, Dolores creates excitement through the relationship of color, shape, texture, and proportion.

Dolores’ pieces employ color to create energy and evoke through drawing, collaging and painting layers until they become their own reality.

“Although my work is influenced by the human form and science, it is abstracted essence. Not a novel, but a haiku.”

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DEBBIE PEY

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Bordentown

Deborah Pey is an award winning artist-teacher who is retired from a 30 year career as an art educator in the public schools of Burlington County.

Beyond her degree in art education, Debbie has studied textiles, puppetry, painting, paper-making and collage.

She has performed, made costumes and designed sets with the Bordentown Community Players.

Debbie also worked with the Trenton Mural Arts program to help the organization complete its long time goal of creating a mural in Trenton.

With her eclectic background, Debbie often works in mixed media.

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SHIRLENE ABRAMS

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Maple Shade

Shirlene Abrams loves working with and combining different art forms such as drawing, painting, photography, graphics and zentangles.

Shirlene studies figure drawing at The Perkins Art Center and attended Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and The University of the Arts.

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YUXUAN ZHEN - FLOWERS #2

Artist Hometown: Cherry Hill
Medium: Oil Painting
Location in MD Anderson: Janet Knowles Breast Cancer Center, Lobby Waiting Room

Artist Bio:

The intricacies of the flowers highlighted in Yuxuan Zhen’s oil paintings are meant to symbolize the inner workings of life today.

To Yuxuan, flowers are always an abstract arrangement, a pattern of varying textures that provide a natural sense of movement.

She strives to deliver the distinct characteristic of each flower and capture its intrinsic personality on canvas.

Yuxuan started her career as an artist focusing on traditional Chinese painting. She has an MA in art education from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky, and has lived in Cherry Hill since 2008.

“Orchids symbolize the imminence of springtime and hope. The color pink is associated with breast cancer and its survivors. I hope that someday a cure will be found for breast cancer.”

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REGINA OTTMAN

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Laurel Springs

In addition to her work in oils, watercolor and encaustic, Regina Ottman has participated in a wide variety of community art projects, including the creation of a neighborhood wall mural in Camden at TwistedTatt2s, which was filmed for Spike TV’s reality show, “Tattoo Rescue.”

The private vocal coach and retired opera singer first discovered her ability for creating visual art while serving as a docent at the Pennsylvania Academy for the Fine Arts.

An avid bird and nature-lover, Regina has worked on a series of oil and encaustic paintings based on the biomorphic forms of marine and freshwater algal blooms.

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MYRA RYAN

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Riverton

For more than 30 years, Myra Ryan has been seeking to express emotions and feelings through color and to learn how her paintings conjure up memories and feelings for viewers.

Myra works with watercolor, soft and oil pastels, acrylics, and mixed media, mostly in abstract style. She enjoys encouraging others to use art as a means of personal expression and continues to expand her own knowledge via workshops, classes and by teaching.

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NANCY L. HARTY

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Medford

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JOY HOFFMAN

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Moorestown

Joy Hoffman discovered her artistic self in 1999 after her mother passed away. Not able to let go of her mother’s discarded art supplies, Joy decided to give watercolors a try.

Today, Joy’s art career is flourishing and she has found that art is a wonderful way to express feelings, emotions, skills and ideas.

Over the years, Joy has ventured into new mediums, experimenting with acrylics, transfers, collage, inks, fabric and printing.

“When I think about my art, be it watercolor, mixed media, collage, fabric art or printmaking, the work “challenge” is what I crave. There is so much to learn, so much to experiment with and no end to the challenge.”

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CAROL SCHELL

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Somerdale

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CAROL KONTOS-COHEN

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Medford

After a long and satisfying career in higher education administration, the call to try new things was strong for Carol Kontos-Cohen. In her new state of rejuvenation, she sought to learn watercolor painting.

Carol has studied locally and abroad, learning from teachers in France and Perkins Art Institute.

In addition to watercolor painting, Carol serves as a mediator for the Burlington County Court and decorates homes using existing and new furnishings.

“The chance to display my work at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper as part of a community art effort to enhance patient spirits was wonderful.”

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ANGELA NOCERA

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Mt. Laurel

Angela Nocera is a mixed media artist working with acrylic and collage. Inspired by her love of nature, she uses natural materials to create her pieces, and her encaustic technique speaks to her love of experimentation.

Norcera has served as an instructor for several years at Perkins Center for the Arts.

“My artwork conveys an expression of spirituality and emotion, through painting.”

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KATHY DALLARA-PENNELL

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Haddon Heights

Being earth-friendly in the creation process is essential to Kathy Dallara-Pennell’s work.

Her collage materials are created by using hand pulled, mono printed, stenciled rice paper that includes other recycled papers. She is strict about using modern, nontoxic mediums.

Kathy’s interest in art began in her childhood, and with encouragement from her family, she earned her BFA in Illustration Cum Laude from Rowan University.

“I find working with mixed media art to be a liberating challenge and full of experimental promise.”

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DONNA SENSOR THOMAS

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Mt. Laurel

One word comes to mind when Donna Sensor Thomas thinks of art: vitality. She believes this is the essence of human beings, which is why she strives to infuse her art with as much vitality as possible.

Donna created her first art pieces as a young child, and by the age of 10, she was a frequent visitor to art museums, favoring modern art paintings.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in philosophy, Donna pursued a computer-based career. She did not think about creating art again until a trip to Italy reignited her interest. Donna went back to school and earned an M.S. in interior design from Drexel University.

When it came time for Donna to seek employment in interior design, she found herself soul searching. She realized what it was she enjoyed most while in school, painting, and decided to pursue it full time working out of her studio in Mt. Laurel.

“Not only do I strive to infuse my artwork with vitality through explosive color and movement, but I also try, through art, to instill myself with vitality – at least on a good day.”

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ELLEN GUSSMAN

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Cherry Hill

Ellen Gussman began making art after her first child was born. She started by enrolling in an oil painting class, which eventually led to an art degree from Temple University and a teaching job at the Haddon Township elementary schools.

After a few years of teaching, Ellen decided to go back to law school and has since worked in law and built her own practice. However, art was never far away.

Today, Ellen is winding down her law career and focusing more on traveling, learning and painting.

“My days spent painting are among the happiest of my life. I leave my cares or worries behind in my total immersion with my art.”

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JANET HALLAHAN

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Haddonfield

Janet Hallahan has an unusual style of layering color and line that results in movement and simplicity in the scenes that she sees.

Janet has attended Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and The University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

She is also an attorney and serves as in-house counsel to a technology company.

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JAN TERRY

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Pemberton

Creating art has been an important part of Jan Terry’s life for as long as she can remember.

Fast drying and portable, watercolor fit into her busy schedule as mom to four young sons.

As her children grew up, she became a make-up artist and painting faces took priority over painting watercolors. Doing calligraphy during those years allowed her to keep her hand in art, but she eventually found her way back to watercolor.

Jan has served as the curator for the Pemberton NAC Gallery and was a founding member of Home Fine Art Gallery in Mt. Holly.

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ANDREA GARBER

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Voorhees

Andrea Garber has been drawing since she was a child. A lifelong lover of the arts and a self-taught artist, Andrea began drawing complex line images with black ink pen in the 90’s.

What began as an enjoyable pastime developed into a passion, and now her intricately drawn black ink drawings are a hallmark of many of her works.

As a student at Perkins Center for the Arts, she has been working on incorporating her distinct line drawings with other media.

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JOHN FLYNN

Part of the Collaborative Art Project
Artist Hometown: Ocean City

John Flynn is a retired high school mathematics teacher. He started creating watercolors on his own and eventually found some courses to help. John met artist Phil Carroll while surf fishing in Ocean City, New Jersey and attended many of Phil’s watercolor classes and later switched to oil painting.

“I have no credentials in the art world, but I’m having a lot of fun.”