Lael Marie Saez

@royael

Lael Marie Williams (Saez) Bio (2020 update) My name is Lael Marie Saez, artist name Royael and I am a Hartford native. I started my dance career first under the teachings of my mother Ann Marie Williams and her educational arts program "K La Rue". From there as a child I studied ballet at Albinos for 3 years. I received more early training through the artist collective from middle school through high school, partaking in modern/jazz, ballet, hip-hop, tap and African dance under the direction of the honorary ACO Lee Thompson of New York and Kresha Hudgens of Hartford CT/ New York. While with the Artist Collective I performed at the Hartford Stage in the play "Oedipus" and performed a solo piece with a few other classmates at the Bushnell for the late Maya Angelou, who later that night personally told me ��ｿｿ�to never stop dancing". During high school I attended the classical magnet program and Hartford Public High school (where I did my academics) as well as the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts where I was trained in modern dance (Graham technique base), ballet, repertoire, improvisational, dance history, tap and numerous other dance and art classes. I graduated from all three schools in 2004 and started full time teaching at FootLights Performing Arts Center of Hartford, CT. In 2005 for the winter/spring semester I proceeded to Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. where I continued my dance training under Donna Hash (Alvin Ailey��ｿｿ�s former principal dancer) and 4 other credible instructors. In the fall of 2005 I returned home and decided to continue teaching dance under the direction of FootLights and took classes in mortuary science at Briarwood college. In 2009 I joined the cultural dance troupe of the West Indies dance company with Stephen Hankey as head choreographer and stayed with them for 4 years. In 2010 I became a company member of the Judy Dworin project for 3 months working on the project "In this house��ｿｿ�; and was also recognized as dance instructor of the year at FootLights. In 2010 FootLights dissolved and transitioned in a new direction and entity called FootLights Performing Arts & Education Program under the late Debra Mauldin, which became a program offered at the Downtown YMCA where I have been currently active for the past 10 years and as of 2018 have become the sole owner of FootLights Performing Arts and Education Program after 19 years of service between FootLights Performing Arts Center and FootLights Performing Arts & Education Program LLC. In 2012 I had the privilege along with 5 other great dancers to create and be the first members of "Island Reflections Dance Theater Company" under the direction of Stephen Hankey, I am currently active with the company. In 2013 I was asked to be featured on the OPP workforce ��ｿｿ�Wall of Success��ｿｿ�. In addition to being the head Dance instructor I completed my time at the Downtown YMCA starting from assistant program coordinator to Program Director for the Downtown YMCA FootLights Program. I currently still own the FootLights Program and was recognized for 10 years of service in June 2015 ( 5 years with the YMCA) and 2020 was 10 years of service with the Downtown YMCA. As of March 2020 I became one of the teaching artists for the Bushnell Theater of Performing Arts. Outside of my dance career I am number 7 in the top 10 international Body Paint models with my Visual artist Joy Monroe for ��ｿｿ�Living Art America��ｿｿ� Body paint competition 2017, as well as #14 for International ��ｿｿ�Beyond The Canvas��ｿｿ� top 20 international body paint competition of 2018. In 2020 I was appointed as an Artist of Color Unite advisory board member for the Hartford Foundation For Public Giving and became one of the first fellows of the Artist of Color Accelerate lead by Shelley Best of the 224 Ecospace. In the the Fall of 2021, through an unanimous vote, I became Hartford CT��ｿｿ�s first artist representative as ��ｿｿ�Flow Artist��ｿｿ� through the Commission of Cultural Affairs, an honor that I hold deeply. As of 2022 I have been in collaboration with The Gambia West Africa��ｿｿ�s Arts and Culture sector as a Cultural Ambassador between Hartford, CT and The Gambia. I always stay active and committed to the community that has raised me, I am for us and by us, " I am Hartford, CT". Lael Marie Saez First City representative Flow Artist, CEO, Master Performing Teaching Artist,AA Royael Toujours Mignon LLC FootLights Performing Arts & Education Program LLC Batelles of The Diaspora LLC Hartford,CT 06114 860-913-4928 (work cell) https://www.facebook.com/FootLightsPerformingArtsED LaelMarieSaez.com Royaeltm IG

Joshua Hummel

@joshummel

Joshua Hummel loves being creative and loves to inspire people with beauty and subtlety. He owns an award-winning composition studio, holds an M.A. in Theatre and a MMus. in Composition, and has studied with professors from the Hartt School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, and Julliard. Composition awards include ten choral awards, the Frederick Fennell Prize, the NBA Merrill Jones, and the Leonard Bernstein Award. Josh is an Associate Professor of Music at Capital Community College in Hartford, owns New Leaf Arts, is owned by his nine-year old son, Sebi, governed by his lovely wife of 19 years, Trista, and is utterly smitten with five-year-old daughter, Anya Evangeline. When not doing music, you might find Josh bombing local mountain biking trails, bikepacking, playing disc golf or strategy games with his son, or maybe hiking, cooking, reading, or working on his novel.

Sarah Paolucci

@sarahtheartist

I’m a fine artist specializing in oil paintings of pet portraits as well as still lifes that focus on light.

Tomaca

@tomaca

Tomaca - Solo Artist or with a Band provides musical entertainment for all venues. She appeals to a wide audience because she sings songs from multiple genres and artists: Jazz, Motown, R&B, Rock, Blues, Show Tunes, Classical and Opera. More at http://Tomaca.net

Gary Jacobs

@garyjacobs

Artist Statement (Pictures of) Ideas Not Yet Formed My art relates to the Post-Modern movement in that it plays out the conventions of Abstract Expressionism, but in a self-conscious, methodical way. It is manneristic, pushing pure abstraction as far as it can go without being representational. It is intended to signal the end or death of Modern art, and as such be sad, longing, abject, listless. It is backward-looking in that it preserves the pure, raw creative impulse, but forward-looking in that it uses proven techniques that make the work feel deep, reverent and aspirational. It is an invocation of subject-matter yet to come, and admonishment to a new humanism and intellectual rigor. In short, it is an attempt to liberate artists and art, to free them from the current need to be all things at once—the joker and the joke, the rebel and the rebellion, the motivator and the motivated—which has resulted in a recent, false pantheon of art heroes, empty irony, and diminishment of thought. I am an artist caught between the last gasps of the past, and a future yet to come. Bio Artist, teacher, speaker. Light-filled, glowing, abstractions in oils. BFA 1988, Hartford Art School (Univ. of Hartford, CT). MFA 1991, Brooklyn College, New York. 1991—1994 taught at The Corcoran Museum School, Washington, DC. 1996—1999 taught at Hartford Art School. 2009—present taught at Tunxis Community College, Farmington, CT. 15 years as Product Development Artist at The Danbury Mint, Norwalk, CT. Numerous, prominent shows. Musical. Literary. Just stands and paints. I am a member of Artists in Real Time, Inc. and an annual participant of the city-wide Open Studio Hartford.

Jillian Foley Cusano

@jfc

Jillian Foley Cusano, a versatile artist and entrepreneur, trained with Northeast Ballet Company and holds a BFA in Ballet Pedagogy from the Hartt School, where she minored in Psychology and Arts Management, and showcased her talent at the Julidans Festival in Amsterdam, NL. She has performed with Amy Marshall Dance Company, and performed and choreographed for Des Moines Metro Opera and Portland Opera, all while directing productions and instructing students as a professor at the Hartt School. As the Chief Operating Officer of Parkville Sounds, she's contributed to projects for Jazz at Lincoln Center, Amazon Prime, Lizzo’s dancers, American Ninja Warrior, The Hartford Symphony, Allen Stone, and more. Jillian is the Founder and President of the Hartford Dance Collective, promoting female leadership and exposing new audiences to dance. Her impact extends to curating hundreds of performances and multi-faceted arts festivals, hosting open adult classes with thousands of participants, and collaborating with renowned artists, including David Dorfman Dance, Pilobolus, the Radio City Rockettes, The Limon Company, Merce Cunningham Trust, and more; solidifying her role as a trailblazer in contemporary dance.

Sophia Singer

@sophiasingerphotography

Sophia Singer is a photographer from Western Massachusetts. She currently attends the University of Hartford, where she will graduate with her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Photography in spring 2023. Her work has been featured in on-campus shows, including the 2023 Alexander A. Goldfarb Juried Student Exhibition. She was also awarded the Artistic Merit Scholarship by the Hartford Art School. Sophia uses both digital and film in her practice. Exploring how using one medium over the other may change the context of a project, she focuses on photographing people, but not portraits. She explores how the human body and nature fit together. Her current work examines the human-Earth relationship, investigating the dynamics of both the harmony and conflict between the two.

John Tyner

@johntyner

John is a member of Artists in Real Time, Inc. and an annual participant in the Group Show of Open Studio Hartford. John Tyner has been a Hartford resident since 1977. He has a BA. from Trinity College, Hartford, CT, 1971, and a M.Ed. from Lesley University (College) in Special Education and Early Childhood Education. He has worked with special needs children in educational settings for almost 50 years. He has three adult children. Since the late 60’s, Tyner has written poetry and created art in a variety of mediums: prints (silk screen, linoleum cut), photography (film and digital), digital media, collage, and beginning in 2013, painting with acrylics. His paintings have been exhibited in the ArtSpace Hartford Gallery in Untitled: AbEx 2014, 2015, and in conjunction with Open Studio Hartford events since 2014, and in the National Arts Program Exhibit, Capitol Community College Galleries, 2020.

mijumi

@mijumi

::: MIchael JUstino MIchaud ::: I am a member of Artists in Real Time, Inc. and an annual participant of the city-wide Open Studio Hartford. I like working with house paints, spray paints, Sharpie markers, oil markers and oil sticks. These mediums are featured throughout my work. I make whatever I feel at the time. You will see influences of Picasso, Jean Michel Basquiat and Jackson Pollock in the pieces I make. These are my art heroes and I love paying tribute to them. Art is something that I have been doing for as long as I can remember. My materials may have progressed over time from construction paper and crayons to canvases and paint, but the need to create has always been there. I would describe my style as evolving. I add a little and take away a little until I get the canvas to come out the way I want... the way I feel. The works I create are the physical forms of the feelings I have at a specific moment in time. When you purchase a piece of my art you own a part of my soul.

Bill Hernandez, Caricatures

@partycartoons

With over 31 years of professional experience and his ability to entertain an audience, Bill has established himself as one of the best and fastest caricature artists and entertainers in the United States. Bill is not just a caricaturist, but also a full time professional cartoonist, illustrator, motion graphics animator and owner of Graphics Interactive, LLC. Bill's caricatures are FUN and flattering - capturing a person's personality and likeness in a flash. His speedy pen and entertaining ways will assure any event to be “one to remember!”. Bill is best known for his great sense of humor and his wonderful interaction with people while he draws. This sets him apart from other caricature artists. Always professional in both appearance and attitude, Bill Hernandez delivers as both a caricaturist and an entertainer. People gather around as their peers get drawn in a humorous fashion and take part in the laughs and fun. Bill Hernandez has worked at one of the major theme parks in Florida and has drawn thousands of people from all over the world. Bill has performed at many parties and events for major corporations and private individuals. His Caricatures are always a big hit!