A commercial artist from South Padre, Pat Chapin produces art work, ceramic designs and retail works. Much of her work is inspired by marine life. Pats work can be seen at commercial locations as well as individuals’ residences across the country. She is well regarded for her trademark, the Mermaid. A Seabrook Intermediate School product and award-winning artist and writer, Amy Ennis left the Bay Area after graduating from Clear Lake High School in 1994 to study on both the East and West Coasts. Currently living and working in San Diego as a freelance writer, artist and graphic designer, Ennis’ art has won a number of awards including -- most recently -- first place in the American Institute of Graphic Arts 2001 San Diego Portfolio Review. She was recently commissioned by the city of San Diego to design a bird house as part of the city’s Tweed Street Project and some of her award winning designs can currently be seen on the Starbucks Coffee web site and in HOW magazine. An artist for 30 years, Ippy Greer prides himself in his large public art projects and his work can be seen in the Lubbock Public Library, the San Jacinto Junior College campus in addition to many other corporate and private displays. A transplant from the North to Texas, John McCarty has committed himself to the pursuit of both the visual and performing arts. John enjoys taking imagination and dreams to expand on his nature subjects. This has found him using mediums which run the gamut from layering planes or acrylic to the use of wood, plastic, metal and leather. John’s work can be found in galleries in Houston, Galveston and New York’s SOHO District. Judith McConnel has pursued her creative artistic career via working and teaching youth to appreciate craft and art. This has taken her to levels of many types of mediums to demonstrate the heart to heart between the art and its artist. She currently is working with the Community Artists’ Collective instructing young people and developing their appreciation of art. The Potted Pelican is a display totally of shells to depict the wildflowers of Texas with shells that were collected by the young students. Both an artist and environmentalist, Bejat McCracken’s work can be seen in galleries and restaurants throughout Austin and Houston. Some well known works can be found at Landry’s, GAP, Texas PTA Grand Cafe in Austin. She is currently working on a commissioned piece at Ed White Elementary in Seabrook. She and her husband have founded the TADPOLE organization which studies amphibian distribution and populations for the rain forests of Ecuador. Faith Shallis primarily works with oils but has expanded her creativity to include computer presentations. She studied under Frank Gray in California and was commissioned by Franklin Insurance Agency to do a portrait of Benjamin Franklin in 1999. A young aspiring artist who studies at the community artists’ collective in Houston and enrolled in art at the Gregory Lincoln Magnet school, Violet Navarro has interests from animation, sculpting, to crafts of all kinds. She has won awards for her art through the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo as well as the 1998 Houston Art Car Parade. Paul Urbanek has been creating visual delights since 1953. For 34 years, he built and designed the floats for the Foley’s Thanksgiving Day parade as well as doing designs which he received awards for at the nationally known Offshore Technology Conference. His designs currently can be seen on display at the Galleria as well as other malls. A talented graphic artist that recently made the transition to print work after spending a couple years on the West Coast working in video production and editing, Jeremy Van Pelt has been a key addition to the Bay Area Media Services team. Van Pelt is comfortable working with any medium and recently designed the BAMS pelican as part of the Pelican Path Project. Deborah Walsh is originally from Galveston and has pursued her art career focusing on oils using color and the bravado of the paint to describe her subject. She has enjoyed exhibits commercially throughout Houston and surrounding areas. She has also received numerous awards for her expressive talent. |
