ARTISTS
Sayde Laine Anderson (Saxapahaw, NC)
Sayde Laine Anderson is a natural dye fiber artist working at the intersection of plant-based color, textiles, and environmentalism, based in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. She forages and cultivates dye plants at a community farm, using whole plants rather than extracts to understand the seasonal availability, growth cycles, and color potential of species native to North Carolina. This process connects her directly to the cycle of seasonal ecologies and shapes color palettes specific to each time of year. She is a member of Piedmont Fibershed and is committed to their practice of building regional, regenerative fiber systems that support ecosystem and community health, and now teaches natural color as a sustainable alternative to the synthetic textile industry.
Artist Statement:
Working at the intersection of plant-based color, textiles, and environmentalism, I create spaces to explore who we are as nurturers of the land and our communities.
William West (Durham, NC)
A Durham, North Carolina native and graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, William built an award-winning advertising career in New York, Atlanta, and San Antonio before selling his agency and pursuing his passion for watercolor painting. Inspired by light, atmosphere, and storytelling, he creates work that invites viewers to connect with each scene, often with a touch of humor. His paintings are held in more than 50 private collections and have been selected for numerous juried exhibitions, earning awards and Signature status from both the Georgia Watercolor Society and Watercolor Society of North Carolina. His work has also appeared in exhibitions by the Southern Watercolor Society and National Watercolor Society, and he is a member of the American Watercolor Society and National Watercolor Society.
Artist Statement:
I like to create paintings with strong lights and darks that have atmosphere and connection to tell a story.
Tracy Holt (Zionsville, IN)
Tracy Holt is a Zionsville-based contemporary artist whose work explores the quiet interplay of shape, color, texture, and familiar forms. Moving between abstraction and representational studies, she works in painting, mixed media, and colored pencil on raw canvas. Her background in interior design, along with her studies in art history at Indiana University, informs her sensitivity to space, balance, and material. Through a meditative process, she considers how light and subtle details can transform everyday subjects.
Artist Statement:
My work moves between abstraction and familiar forms, using color, texture, and subtle details to invite moments of curiosity, calm, and closer observation.
Leslie Lockhart (Huntsville, AL)
Leslie is an oil painter based in Huntsville, Alabama. Her work centers on simple subjects- fruits, florals, animals- objects that bring a sense of home or a sweet memory. With a background in commercial interior design, Leslie hopes those past skills of combining color, scale and texture will help create paintings that feel less like decoration and more like a keepsake. Meaningful moments worth holding on to.
Artist Statement
I paint the ordinary – fruits, florals, a cow in a field, or a beloved pet – and love finding the special in the everyday.
Kathleen Macfie
I am primarily a self-taught artist. I grew up in a family of artists and from childhood regularly had opportunities for lessons and for making art. In high school and college I took the odd art course, but my training and professional development come from years of solo practice. Art and art making have always been a part of my life. Over the past several years, I have honed a practice of consistent painting and painting as a daily practice has been my greatest teacher. I split my time between Hillsborough, NC and Swans Island, Maine. I maintain studios in both locations. I am a member of the Orange County Artists Guild, North Carolina and I belong to The Swans Island Open Studio art group. I have hung shows regularly in my NC studio since 2021. I had a solo show through the Swans Island Education Society in 2025 and I have contributed to the Swans Island Open Studio group show for the past three years.
Artist Statement:
I've always had a deep attachment to place and I use paint to express the profound wonder I feel in looking at the world. I paint with an openness to the unexpected–whether that is the introduction of an unanticipated color or perspective or an unusual pattern or line. I strive to create work that evokes movement and emotion and invites viewers to sense rather than simply to see.
Jim Yale (Chicago, IL)
Jim received his BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His work is in private collections in North America, South America, Europe, and the United Kingdom. He paints at his studio in Chicago.
Artist Statement:
My visual work is a meditation on the random combinations of color, message, language, and form in everyday life. In my figurative work, I look for body language to speak volumes about internal feelings.
Gwen Wong (Augusta, GA)
Gwen Wong is an Atlanta-based contemporary oil painter known for her distinctive series of hummingbird paintings. A fourth-generation Chinese American with a BFA from the University of Georgia, she merges intricate, realistic detail with imaginative, gilded settings. Her work is represented by several galleries.
Artist Statement:
By layering meticulously detailed oil-painted hummingbirds over gilded, organic patterns applied with traditional Chinese calligraphy brushes, my work explores the interplay between structured geometry and nature’s delicate, fleeting moments.
Lyudmila Tomova Clark (Cary, NC)
Lyudmila Tomova Clark (Lucy) is an internationally acclaimed impressionist painter working in oil and watercolor. She is known for her strong use of color, expressive brushwork, and ability to capture light and atmosphere in landscapes, figures, and urban scenes. Based in Cary, North Carolina, she paints extensively on location across the United States and abroad.
In the past two years, her work has earned more than 55 awards in national and international exhibitions, including 23 First-Place honors, multiple Best in Show awards, and major juried prizes.
Recent highlights include Grand Prize at the 2026 Plein Air Easton, Lighthouse Plein Air Festival, and Gloucester Plein Air Invitational; First Place at the 2026 Door County Plein Air Festival; Grand Prize at the 2025 Bluff Strokes Plein Air; and the President’s Award from Oil Painters of America. Her painting Stormbound received 2nd Place in the Plein Air category at the International ARC Salon, along with the PleinAir Magazine Award, and was exhibited at Sotheby’s in New York City.
Originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, Lyudmila moved to the United States in 1990 and built her career in New York City as a painter and illustrator. She holds a BFA in Illustration with highest honors from the Fashion Institute of Technology and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia.
She is a Signature Member of the National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society (NOAPS), Laguna Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA), and several watercolor societies. Her work has been featured in Modern Impressionist Magazine, PleinAir Magazine, Southwest Art, International Artist, The Art of Watercolour, and the Splash series. In 2026, she served on the faculty of the Plein Air Convention Expo. She teaches workshops across the U.S. and internationally, sharing her approach to expressive, design-driven painting.
Artist Statement:
I paint the world as I experience it—through light, color, atmosphere, and movement. Whether working en plein air or in the studio, I strive to capture the energy and emotion of a moment with expressive brushwork and a strong sense of place.
