john charles tindel

tindelmichi
John Tindel and Michi were born in Alabama and raised in the South. They earned degrees in art and design at Alabama universities. After college, both relocated to Atlanta in search of career opportunities. A chance meeting at a local restaurant was the beginning of the collaborative painting endeavor TindelMichi. The collaborative spirit behind TindelMichi is a shared desire to pay tribute to our southern upbringing and way of life. And to celebrate the region’s charm and ability to keep things simple and at a moderate pace. Together Tindel and Michi examine how southerners and the south fit into American contemporary society. The imagery in the paintings are rooted in the history of the old South with iconographic representations of southern lifestyles. Infused with southern charm and regional humor, the paintings tell great stories and emphasize preserving a Southern past. At the same time the paintings are products of the new South, with influences taken from industrialization, commerce, technology, media and design. Using a combination of old and new influences, TindelMichi paint a heritage that is uniquely southern contemporary. In a world where we are connected in every possible way we will always keep the tradition and taste of the old south but maintain an interest in new southern influences and urbanism.

jerome lawrence
Majoring in Studio Art at Georgia State University and after a series of troubling events, I received a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. Schizophrenia belongs to a group of mental disorders characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances. My life did not end; I continued to paint as I had all my life studying privately for several years with Joseph Perrin, a world renowned artist and head emeritus of GSU. And years later, with a diagnosis change to schizoaffective-exhibiting symptoms of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, I find myself giving a solo art exhibit to an audience that included Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn. Mrs. Carter has since purchased a piece of my art to hang in the offices of the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia and my art donations to the Center have brought as much as $6,500.00 for a single painting at auction. I’ve started a business creating and selling art and am proud to reside in a Habitat for Humanity house built for me with an arts studio by Habitat volunteers, mental health advocates, consumers of mental health services and church parishioners. I am proud to say that Rosalynn Carter physically laid the corner stone to my house! I hope that people will feel joy from my expressions. Viewing the work and hearing my story will hopefully inspire others to be diligent in their desire to recover from illness as well as patient with themselves and others because it is not likely to happen overnight. “Expressions of the Journey” and “My Art, My Illness” are pieces that I wrote to explain how my art and illness have evolved together over the years.

michael jones
Michael Jones was born and raised in Dallas TX. where he attended the famed Booker T. Washington Arts Magnet High School. He moved to Atlanta, Ga. in 1994 where he received his bachelors degree in Painting and Sculpture from Atlanta College of Art in1998. He focused his work in non-objective, abstract paintings. His work was influenced by artist such as Ellsworth Kelly, Sol Lewitt, Victor Vasarely, and Frank Stella. Artist who believed the painting is the subject rather than thesubject, the painting. Michael's current series of paintings are titled, " the Pavement Series". "I feel color is one of the most important elements when expressing visual emotions. I try to capture and explore the collective process of my ideas, and the effect of my surroundings, which trigger emotions, both mentally and physical that can only be expressed in an abstract form. I place paint on the surface as if I am directing an epic movie, giving instructions to the cast of colors, which posses the qualities to command the audience's attention and tell the story of the paintings."

hope hayes thomas
liquid grace
Hope is a native of Louisiana with a consuming passion for the arts. She studied and graduated from LSU in the fall of 1998. Hope began painting at a very young age and soon discovered that this was her medium for self-revelation and expression to the world of her world. Painting with a thick brush stroke and bright colours, sometimes incorporating her photographs and rusted junk, Hope’s artwork radiates a playfulness, which touches and refreshes the spirit. She draws inspiration from Rothko, Miro, Rauschenberg, authentic folks and her creator... God (aka: daddy).

“When I paint, I feel like a little girl who has been given a huge box of crayons and told to have fun. It’s a supernatural experience like none other. I’m really just a princess kid hanging out with her Daddy. The colours, shapes, junk, textures, sounds and photos choose me more than I choose them. I love abstract expressionism work because it goes deeper than the obviousness of “pretty” landscapes. -hope

aaron whitehouse
Aaron has always had a desire to communicate that which plain words cannot contain. An internal compass set to the bearings of creativity is his guide and he is in no way afraid to follow it. Poetry was the first stage in his early artistic development, which he still practices to this day. After focusing on writing through his late adolescence and early collegiate years he knew he needed a more comprehensive way to express himself, and thus enrolled in Georgia State’s film school. After exploring all aspects of film production and working in the industry for a few years in California the urge to expand artistically began to stir once again. “Film was not a sufficient vehicle to communicate certain feelings and realities I was experiencing at the time, and after a revelation on a cross country road trip I decided music was the next creative frontier I felt compelled to explore.” After learning how to play a few notes on a couple of different instruments he parlayed his knowledge of video editing digitally into producing music on a computer in his small home studio. After some time there was still an itch that wouldn’t go away, a force pulling forward toward more artistic development- enter Joseph Guay. “As a result of my music and film background and Joseph’s current indie film project we became close friends and artistic kin.” After expressing his desire to learn some of the techniques used in fine art, Joseph enlisted Aaron in a loose apprenticeship program where he says “I got an art school education at zero cost and not once did I have to wait in line at the financial aide office.” It seems that mixed media is the perfect playground for Aaron’s variety of creative urges and incessant need to evolve; a place where his various experiences are being put to good use and he is hitting his stride. “As my artistic evolution continues, I hope to ultimately blend all of these mediums and backgrounds into one form, and eventually create more of an actual “experience” for the viewer rather than just “a piece of art.”