Sky to Steel

About the Artists

Katina Pastis Radwanski works comfortably as both painter and sculptor. Her distinctive acrylic paintings and metal sculpture invite interpretation according to each viewers own life experience. Employing a meditative sketching technique —she scribbles in her sketchbook until an image appears which she feels has both significant meaning and visual strength. Most often the sketches are abstract in nature though occasionally more representational images appear on the page.  The paintings and sculptures resulting from these sketches are often interpretations of contemporary political climates. Some are observations of human interactions, and others of her own personal life experience.

“My compositions tend to be open ended statements which can be interpreted according to the observer’s frame of reference. Though the work is generated from my own life experience it grows as a result of the interpretation of others resulting in a unique form of communication.”

Radwanski is a native of Ohio but spent half of her life in the Atlanta, GA area. She received an undergrad degree at Kent State University. a graduate degree at The University of Georgia and went on to become a high school art teacher.

“I felt compelled to create art early on. My mother was a hobby artist enjoying popular art and craft activities from paint by number to decoupage to painting along with TV instructors. She was also an avid seamstress. There were always a variety of materials around our home for making art and I was welcome to use these in my own way. 

Becoming an art teacher seemed natural. I taught several different high school courses including drawing and painting, sculpture, jewelry, commercial art, ceramics, crafts and printmaking and loved each discipline. Like my mother, I also made many of my own clothes and my children’s clothes. Today, as a full time artist, my focus is painting and sculpture but I am aware of the influence of the other disciplines in my work.

Shannon Casey
“I enjoy creating figurative paintings that tell a story and much of my inspiration comes from the stars, probably fueled by the novels of Ray Bradbury early in life. In my artwork, I want to point people to the mystery of the heavens and ultimately to their creator.  I work primarily in oils and enhance my paintings with collage and silver and gold leaf.  My current series reflects some of the individual stories of the night sky as drawn from mythology, my imagination, and the Bible, particularly Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”  

 After years in advertising, Shannon Casey now tells her stories in oil and charcoal. She studied Journalism and Studio Art at Kent State University and portrait painting under Joseph Cintron at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Her work has been included in many local exhibitions and juried shows in Northeast Ohio including Hudson’s Art on the Green, Yankee Peddler Festival, Akron Art Prize and shows at Summit ArtSpace and the Box Gallery. She teaches privately and has also done classes at Peninsula Art Academy and Don Drumm Studios & Gallery in Akron. 

Casey is a member of Hudson Society of Artists and Akron Society of Artists. In addition to teaching, she does commissions for private and corporate clients.

Michelle Touve-Holland has an unstrained approach to floral design.  As the owner and floral designer of The Red Twig, she uses multiple techniques to tailor-make each event fit the needs of the specific client.  She has been surprising her clients with her unusual, lively approach to design for nearly 25 years.  Her work is described as having ‘movement’ and a ‘life of its own’.  

Michelle hosts curated exhibitions in her Yellow Door Gallery and features an eclectic mix of local and regional talent in the The Red Twig Studio Gallery.