Robert Ariail has been creating award winning editorial cartoons in South Carolina for 40 years. His work is distributed to over 600 newspapers by Andrews McMeel syndicate.

Originally from Charleston, Eileen has always thought of herself as an artist. She never gave it a second thought. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Charleston where she studied under William Halsey and John Michel.

Pam Bowers is a Chicago native, but for the past 20 years she has divided her time between Columbia, South Carolina, the Umbrian hill town she calls her second home, and her world travels.

Lauren Casassa is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She received her BFA in Painting at the University of South Carolina and has been awarded the Scholastic Art & Writing Gold Key Award for excellence in Visual Arts, the Yaghjian Studio arts scholarship at USC, and the 2018 Artfields Solo Award Exhibition at Jones-Carter Gallery.

From the time we clutch our first thick crayon, we as humans claim the unalienable right to create, to express what can’t be voiced with words. Creating art helps Heidi Darr-Hope understand what it is to be human.

An ink and pencils maestro, Roc Bottom has garnered praise from hundreds for his stylistic and innovative approach to his craft. His creative works have been featured in The Underwire Online magazine with his creator-owned comic, Lion’s Den Revolution, the first comic to ever be presented in digital desktop format.

I was raised in the city of Columbia, South Carolina. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a passion for all things odd, strange, old, beautiful, and insignificant (well, depending on whose perspective). I love the visual arts, and always have.

Born and raised in Sumter, South Carolina, Dominique Hodge, known artistically as “Jakeem Da Dream” is an Afrofuturistic artist. Upon graduating from high school he furthered his artistic knowledge by attending the Art Institutes, which exposed him to a larger world of art.

Michael is a self-taught artist from Columbia, South Carolina. His style has been described as neo-expressionist, but he’s less concerned with labeling than with creating from an authentic, mindful space and expressing what he’s feeling and experiencing in the moment.

Christopher Lane uses fantastic imagery to turn life experiences into visual stories that primarily focus on people and their relationships with one another.  Lane is passionate about social justice to protect the environment and inhabitants of our planet, and paints about both as one can’t exist without the other.

Susan Lenz is a fiber and mixed-media artist renowned for her ability to transform found objects into meticulously composed works of art. From a distance, her pieces captivate with striking cohesion and visual balance.

Cait Maloney is a published illustrator, award-winning graphic designer, muralist, and experienced exhibition artist. In 2008, she earned her bachelor's degree with a focus in illustration from Syracuse University. She is currently senior art director at Columbia, SC based integrated communications firm, Flock and Rally.

Perry McLeod is a Fullbright scholar, retired high school teacher, and a photographer and avid traveler. He shoots sports, concerts, events, “and just about anything else I can point a camera at,” he says. “I love photography! Every day is a new adventure and I just want to capture the moments that will make people stop and think.

Jeffrey Miller grew up in small-town Campbellsville, Kentucky, a typical child except for an oversized imagination and an unrelenting curiosity. Miller studied art at Campbellsville University and Murray State University, and he now creates in varied medium and form included oil, acrylic, charcoal and ink sketches, printmaking, and digital art.

Emily is from Irmo, SC, and graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Carolina in May 2022 with her Bachelor's in Studio Art and English. While in school, she was a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, a professional music fraternity for women and worked as a server and bartender at several restaurants in the Vista.

Lindsay Radford Wiggins is a multi-media artist and photographer currently concentrating in watercolor and fine art oil paintings. She was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama and now resides in Columbia, SC where she completed her BA in Studio Art from Columbia College in 2011.

Kirkland Smith began her career as a classical painter, and in 2008, began creating contemporary assemblages, transforming everyday disposable objects into works of art, as an evocative way to drive home the message of the importance of reducing consumer consumption.

Keith Tolen is a lifelong native of South Carolina who grew up in Batesburg. He attended SC State University and received a Bachelors in art education. He then earned a masters in education from Francis Marion University. He taught art at Camden Middle School for 30 years, retiring in 2017.

Marius Valdes is an artist currently based in Columbia, South Carolina. He is a Professor in Studio Art concentrating on Design and Illustration at The University of South Carolina. Valdes received his BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Georgia and his MFA in Visual Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2005.

Perhaps the most important pursuit of an artist is the facilitation of escapism. Perhaps each project is the equivalent of a Narnian door…or that lamppost beyond, coaxing a wanderer into another realm. Thomas Washington, Jr. (thomas the younger) functions on this premise.