Brent Lynch | Canadian fashion painter

A powerful landscape and figurative painter, Brent Lynch pursues the abstract quality of mood, light, color and composition. The mystery and energy of a landscape or the human form are hallmarks of his work. For over 25 years, Brent has enjoyed an influential and award-winning career in the arts. He was best known for his unique illustrations for event posters representing performance arts such as ballet, opera and theater as well as sporting events including the Olympic Games. Brent is a natural visual story teller. It is through his unique perspective that his personal handwriting shines. He is a highly respected painter and instructor that has received many international awards. His work is represented by galleries found in private and corporate collections both nationally and abroad.

Paper fashion dresses | Futuristic style

Paper clothing, in the form of women's dresses and other clothes made from disposable cellulose fabric, was a short-lived fashion novelty item in the 1960s United States.
Individual paper and papier-mâché clothes and accessories (especially masquerade costumes) were used as early as the 19th century. But mass-produced paper fashion was invented by the American Scott Paper Company in 1966 as a marketing stunt. Customers could send in a coupon and $1.25 to receive a dress made of "Dura-Weve", a cellulose material patented in 1958.
These "Paper Caper" dresses, which featured a red bandanna print or a black and white op art pattern, kicked off a fashion craze. 500,000 of them were produced, and other manufacturers soon followed suit.
By 1967, paper dresses were sold in major department stores for about $8 apiece, and entire paper clothing boutiques were set up by companies such as Abraham & Straus and I. Magnin. At the height of demand, Mars Hosiery made 100,000 dresses a week.
Other items made of paper included underwear, men's vests, bridal gowns expensive at $15, children's pinafores "just the thing for ever-sprouting sprouts" and even rain coats and bikinis "good for two to three wearings".

Zoe Bradley

Onyeka Ibe 1971 | Nigerian painter and fashion Illustrator

Nigerian-born painter, Ibe has achieved international recognition for his dramatic approach to painting. Described as one of  the most exciting young painters to emerge from Sub-Saharan Africa since the 1990s, he was awarded “The Best SOLO Artist of the Year 2006” at the International Artexpo New York. Ibe looks for inspiration in “natural and humanistic traditions of contemporary realism and abstraction.” His paintings convey a spectrum of human emotions. Ibe was born not long after the end of the Nigerian civil war and grew up in a developing democracy that was abruptly terminated. Violence became the order of the day. As a youth, Ibe realized that his artist  sensibilities could move him in either of two directions - either to fight back at such dehumanizing situations, or to escape inward by searching for elements that reflect humanity. He chose the latter. Encouraged by his father, a painter himself, Ibe was introduced to drawing as a youth. He achieved success at the age of sixteen when he first exhibited at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Lagos, Nigeria. Ibe was quickly offered a full scholarship to study art at the high school. He went on to train at the University of Benin in Nigeria, earning first class honors in fine arts. After moving to the United States, he continued his education at Georgia State University. Ibe has traveled extensively through the United States, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. His work has been featured in art publications as well as major museums, private collections, and galleries around the world.

Sue Halstenberg | American symbolist visionar painter

Sue Halstenberg's paintings are vibrant portraits of love, beauty and healing energies. Her artwork is in Dr. Doreen Virtue’s oracle cards & is also reproduced as stitchery kits, pillows and tapestries. Sue's art studio is in Ojai CA. Sue Halstenberg began her career working as a fashion illustrator for the Southern California department stores. A few years later she started her own business, accepting commissions for portrait and figure paintings in pastel and acrylic. One of Sue's paintings, “Victoria,” was featured on the cover of American Artist Magazine and the Pastel Society of America, in New York City, juried her into their national association as a “Signature Member”. Well-known author Dr. Doreen Virtue asked Sue to paint five original pieces for the Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards in 2003. A dozen of Sue’s paintings have been included in Dr. Virtue’s Hay House projects. Sue’s original pastel of “Lakshmi” is in the collection of Dr. Virtue and now hangs in the healing room at her home. Sue paints and teaches classes at her art studio in the beautiful Ojai Valley of California. Her original artwork is on display in Ojai at Soul Centered and Janis’ Art Gallery, and in Ventura at Things From Heaven. Sue hold s a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in illustration from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.