2013 Our World-Underwater Art Exhibition - Artists
Cal Kothrade
Cal is an award winning maritime artist, underwater photographer, and published dive travel author, specializing in wreck mosaic photography, digital renderings, paintings and shipwreck sculptures. Cal is the founder and producer of the Milwaukee Amateur Underwater Film Festival, which debuted at the Ghost Ships convention in 2012, as well as a member of Wisconsin MArine Historical Society, and Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association. Additionally, he is the founder of Milwaukee Dive Apparel, a designer/retailer of unique apparel for Great Lake divers, providing custom designed apparel for clubs, resorts, and dive boats around the world. Learn more about his maritime artwork and photography at www.calsworld.net or www.milwaukeediveapparel.com
Carol Sommers
I started painting watercolors
thirty years ago. Despite having studied and written my master's thesis in
French on Surrealist literature and art I discovered I could
actually paint pictures that looked like the scenes in front of me. Now I paint
watercolors whenever I travel or go camping, often in our national parks.
Learning to scuba dive opened up a beautiful new world and these watercolors
are based on photos I took in the Philippines.
Carolina Shrewbury
I have experience of more than 30
years of only painting anything from caves! It has been a challenging journey.
Caves are in my blood. I start seeing what inspires me in the way caves appear
to me. I feel my whole life is dedicated to the pursuit of protecting and
sharing the understanding of caves, and their importance in the structure and
function of our world. There are many parts to earth’s nature that we have yet
to understand and recognize in its design that will educate us in the reasons
for our existence.
Cecile H. Derel
Cecile H. Derel was born in 1979 in Caen, France. In 1986, she moved to Chicago, Illinois,
where she currently lives and works. In 2012, she received her BFA from the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago. Derel has studied glass blowing (Ox-Bow, Saugatuck, MI), lampworking
and glass fusing (Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago, IL) and stained glass (Chicago Stained Glass
Studio, Chicago, IL). Derel recently exhibited in
SAIC’s Fall 2012 BFA Exhibit
, Sullivan
Galleries.
Jason Preker
I was certified as a PADI Open Water Diver when I was 12. Since then, I have completed Advanced, Rescue and Master Scuba Diver with certifications in Deep, Night, Search and Recovery, Drift, Boat, Wreck, DPV, Photography, Videography and Underwater Naturalist. I have dove in great places like the Bahamas, Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, Little Cayman, Baja (Sea of Cortez), Florida Keys, Florida Springs and Cozumel. Locally I have dove in Lake Michigan, Pearl Lake, France Park (Logansport, Indiana) and Devil’s Lake (Baraboo).
Jill Heinerth
A pioneering underwater explorer and filmmaker, Jill Heinerth has dived deeper into caves than any woman in history. With a collection of magnificent images, from Antarctic iceberg caves to the Floridan Aquifer and subterranean Siberia, Jill shares a glimpse of a breathtaking world few will experience. Her accolades include being inducted to the Women Diver's Hall of Fame and the Explorer’s Club as well as scores of photography and filmmaking awards. Recognized as a leading technical diver, she is one of the world’s experts on rebreather technology. An engaging speaker, Jill’s multimedia presentations stir audiences with life’s lessons learned during expeditions above, below and inside the earth.
Michael Angelo Gagliardi
Michael Angelo Gagliardi sold his first painting in the St. Marks bar in NYC’s Greenwich Village at the age of 17. Had they checked his ID he may have chosen a different career. At the age of 35 he began scuba diving. Now at 50, he holds over 22 certifications, and paints a wet world. He has been expedition artist on the USS Monitor 2002 Gun Turret Expedition; He led the 2009 Cow Springs Restoration Project, is Expedition Artist for the Cozumel Cenote Mapping and Exploration Expeditions 2011, been a volunteer diver for the North Florida Springs Bio-diversity Project as well as various Great Lake Shipwreck surveys. He has received the Abe Davis Award, Wakulla Award, 2007 NACD Conservation Award, 2009 NSSCDS Conservation Award, Diver of the Year –ICSSD 2009and 2012 and various NSS Speloart awards. He has shown across the USA and is collected worldwide.
Pamela Swager-Kouris
Pam works as a Special
Education Teacher where she incorporates art in her teaching to reach students
who have difficulty succeeding in a typical classroom. She says it is always interesting to
discover the artist within each student.
Pam has a BS in Accounting, and a Masters of Arts in Special Education. Pam
is an Adjunct Faculty Member of Oakton Community College. Pam also is a PADI
MSDT Scuba Diving Instructor #187446.
Paul Deardorff
Born
1950, near Chicago. In 1960, I discovered
The Art Institute. This inspired a
lifelong obsession with art.
In
’92 Anne and I certified at the Y.
Grand Cayman was our first dive.
The awesome beauty and quirky denizens absolutely delighted us. Arriving home, I simply had to
paint. I am a dedicated advocate
of both diving and art.
1997
and 1998: Full-time student at The
School of the Art Institute.
Sheryl Brandes
There is a saying, take nothing and
leave only bubbles. Well, I violate that every time I dive; taking away
so many images of the beauty of life underwater and pure awe at the economy of
the sea. Every inch is utilized and there is a sense of balance
everywhere. Keeping that balance is important to us all. I hope my
paintings share my joy and increases an awareness of the need to keep that
balance.
“ART FLOWS LIKE WATER” is an art exhibit featuring artists whose work focuses on Water Conservation both fresh and salt and it’s fauna. The show is being curated by Chicago artist Michael Angelo Gagliardi. The artists come from all parts of the USA but all share a deep love and dedication to our planets Oceans, lakes, rivers and springs. The exhibit is sponsored by and is part of OUR WORLD-UNDERWATER the Midwest largest scuba dive industry expo.