Artist Statements:

Rosalyn M. Gaier

A resident of Solon, Ohio, since 1976, I was raised in Sandusky, Ohio. I earned a BS in Education degree from the University of Cincinnati. Following graduation, I moved around some with my Air Force husband and continued my art endeavors along the way in Florida and Texas. We eventually settled in our present home in Solon. 

A stay-at-home mom while raising our son, I continued artistic activity at various institutions, wherever our family’s moves took us. The final move to the Cleveland area brought me to Cuyahoga Community College-East. There, I studied printmaking for several years with department head Michael Gubkin, who introduced me to the collagraph, etching, and other printmaking mediums. Since the acquisition of my own etching press in 2003, I maintain a private home studio.

I am committed to original prints. I ink and wipe my own plates and print my work on an etching press in my home studio. I feel that hands-on involvement throughout the print process is vital to my artistic integrity, offering elements of honesty and caring for the viewer to pick up on.

My works have appeared in juried shows in Columbus, Bay Village, and Oberlin, Ohio; Augusta, Georgia; Clinton, New Jersey; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Beaverton, Oregon; Pomona, California; and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Maria Kaiser

I received my degree, with a minor in art, from Adelphi College in Garden City, New York. I have studied watercolor with Fred Leach at Baycrafters in Cleveland and with Bob Raack at the Cleveland Institute of Art; drawing with Blake Cook at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland; and printmaking with Michael Gubkin, Andrea Joki, and Keegan Adams, also at Cuyahoga Community College.

Using my camera, I try to capture images that evoke an emotional response, be they magnificent landscapes or the smallest details in the center of a flower. From among these images, I select ones I would like to spend time translating into pieces of art:  a watercolor, an etching, or a woodcut. Doing so extends that initial experience in ways that give me great satisfaction. I have been fortunate to have lived in a few different countries and have travelled as far north as the Canadian Arctic.

I am now becoming aware of what is happening to this beautiful planet and am trying to bring that to the attention of others through my art.

Jan Zorman 

I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating with a BA in Anthropology from Ohio State University, I went to Malawi, Central Africa, with the Peace Corps. Returning to Cleveland, I worked in social services, then began taking painting classes with Paul Missal at Karamu House. I moved to Oregon and received a BFA in Painting from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. After that, I lived in Boston, then Seattle before returning to Cleveland.

I’ve worked primarily as an installation artist, frequently using fiber as a line in space.  Over the past several years, I’ve been working as a printmaker. In 1999, I received an Ohio Arts Council Grant for Experimental Art. In 2000, I was selected to attend an artist’s colony in Maribor, Slovenia. In 2018, I was selected for the Dresden Exchange Residency in Dresden, Germany.

Though I started out as a painter, early on I was intrigued with the idea of creating three-dimensional drawings that viewers could see through and see from a number of perspectives. This interest persists in my two-dimensional work.

I’m still captivated by the beauty of a line and its ability to create perceptions of space. In moving to printmaking, I’ve also rediscovered the elements of color, texture, and image. In my prints, I’m abstracting my own perceptions of the world – of events, places, times, and emotions. Hopefully, the elements combine like the notes in a musical piece or the words in a poem to touch the inner life we all have.