Carrie Ann Baade AS ’03/M who was named an individual artist fellow for 2005 by Delaware Division of the Arts, writes, “By toying with the accepted visual norms of painting, these portraits cast doubt to the viewer about their unconventional nature. While searching for a way to capture the imagination and intrigue the eye, I happened upon the artists’ first gallery, the refrigerator door. Upon the door were candid family portraits and magnets made from cut-up discount art books. By moving these fragmented magnets over the photograph, a child’s innocent eyes were covered with a huge pair belonging to a primitive, Northern Renaissance painting. This transformation inspired every subject in my paintings to receive a new set of eyes. The eyes serve as a mask, thus providing the opportunity to role-play, hide or act out. By painting the haplessly layered scraps with awkwardly cut edges, the curiosity of the viewer is stimulated to find out the hidden truth and imagine what possibilities might lie beneath.” Baade’s work has been exhibited throughout the mid-Atlantic region and was on exhibit in May in the mezzanine gallery of the Carvel State Building in Wilmington, Del. An adjunct art instructor at Cecil County Community College in North East, Md., she can be reached at (302) 897-8126.

Connie Imboden AS ’88/M says her images are seen through the camera, not manipulated in the darkroom or by computer. “I am often amazed at the shapes and forms that have appeared in my work. My intention has always been to explore the body, not alter it. I want to find the camera angle from which the forms can be the most that they can be—whatever that is. If it is a grace to the limbs, then I want the angle from which that grace becomes the absolute most it can be at that moment. And so, it leads me on, to explore angles, space, reflections and light. I strive to make forms make sense visually and trust that the metaphor, the poetry, will follow.” Imboden’s photographs can be found in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Women and the Arts and the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. She teaches photography at the Maryland Institute and at the Maine Photographic Workshops. See more of her work at [www.connieimboden.com].

 Rubio

Greg Rubio AS ’98/M says art is “a way of bringing together some of my main interests: painting, crafting of objects, composing music and learning Spanish.” Rubio, who spent a year in Queretaro, Mexico, as a Fulbright scholar, has taught art at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, and completed a solo art show in April at the Palacio de Benacazon, Toledo, Spain. Contact him via e-mail at [Greg_Rubio@hotmail.com] or visit his web site at [www.gregrubio.com].

Garrabrandt

Bruce S. Garrabrandt AS ’78 left advertising in 1992 to become a full-time, self-taught artist. He specializes in creating what he describes as “random acts of artistic nonsense.” Each detailed picture requires 100-300 hours to complete. “There’s a fine line between patience and masochism,” he says. Garrabrandt’s drawings have been published in books such as Exploring Colored Pencil, Creative Colored Pencil and The Best of Colored Pencil III. One of his works is part of the permanent collection of the University of Delaware. He and his wife, Jan, are innkeepers of The Artist’s Inn & Gallery, a Pennsylvania Dutch Country bed and breakfast where his artwork is always on display [www.artbybruce.com].  

Carrie Ida Edinger AS ’97 is the recipient of a 2003 emerging artist fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts. Edinger creates abstract screen prints on cloth and acetate with hand stitching, as well as installation pieces. She says the context of her work revolves around shapes and colors that are personal expressions of emotions and reactions to involvements and observations of people and situations around her. Her work has been shown recently in Grants Pass, Ore., the University of Wisconsin-Parkside  and in the Biennial Exhibit of Women in Textile Art, Coral Gables, Fla. She teaches print making to preschool children at the Pathways Center for Families in Boothwyn, Pa., and, with Jeff Chase, AS ’91, at the Pegasus Artworks, an after-school arts program of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware. See more of her work at [www.carrieida.com].

Redmond

Jon Redmond AS ’03/M says “My work has to satisfy my love of paint as a medium, the feel of it being laid onto the canvas and the need to evoke certain space, time or type of light. Most of my paintings are created on the spot, sparked by the glimpse of simple everyday places or things—a spot of sunlight on a brick wall or shapes created by the shadows of buildings or trees, perhaps seen through a car or train window… If I were to sum up my painting in one word, it would be ‘contrast.’ Like the way a unique piece of architecture breaks up the monotony of Main Street, or the emotion that is evoked by light raking through a dark forest, I try to make people see simple scenes they might pass every day but never notice so that they might discover the beauty hidden just below the surface.” To see more of his work, visit [www.JonRedmond.com] or contact Somerville Manning Gallery at (302) 652-0271.

Matthew Gehring AS ’01/M is a practicing artist and assistant professor of sculpture at Syracuse University. His work, which has been exhibited in several solo and group shows, was recently reviewed in Artweek and Art Review magazine. Long interested in the relationships that exist between language, materials and objects, Gehring says his newest body of work is motivated by issues of longing and desire, the emotional effects of absence, intended to be provocative, yet ambiguous, humorous, yet poignant. Some of his works embody a tongue-in-cheek gesture to promote happiness.

Other works involve expanding foam (it pushes things apart and at the same time binds them together), simple interactive audio playback devices that play curiously suggestive statements and hidden electronic vibrators which cause objects to vibrate, hum and move.” Reach him at [mgehring@syr.edu].