Andy Levine

“I’ve drawn pictures since I was six years old, and I still feel like I’m just getting started. I’ve been making art for the past ten years, surrounded by the sweet smells and sounds of the woods in Asheville, North Carolina. I’ve illustrated for over thirty years and it’s from that profession that I’ve learned to do what I do today. My art? I want to make it beautiful. I want to make well-crafted art that has more to see every time one looks at it. That’s about it. I would love if my paintings find a spot where people would be happy to see them every day.” – Andy Levine

Andy Levine has been an illustrator, painter, and teacher for more than thirty years. His work has been featured in many of America’s most respected publications, such as Forbes, The N.Y. Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, and Scholastic. His drawings and paintings are in public and private collections all over the world.

He has designed a stamp for the U.S. Postal Service to raise awareness about organ transplants and has been honored on Capitol Hill during the unveiling. He has received numerous awards, including Excellence in Magazine Illustration from the New York Art Director’s Club and a Gold medal for work exhibited at the Los Angeles Art Association. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, discussing his cutting-edge techniques for using the computer as a creative tool. Graphic Arts Magazine did a feature article on his paintings and theories of taking an idea and putting it on paper.

Throughout his career, he has worked in a variety of media and styles, specializing in technical illustration, photorealism, symbolic painting, cartooning, and portraiture. Andy is an expert in the use of acrylics, watercolor, pastel, collage, charcoal, ink, and computer-assisted art. He is extremely proficient in Photoshop and Illustrator, not only for creating art and illustrations but also for graphic design and typography.

Andy Levine has taught art at the School of Visual Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology in N.Y.C. and numerous private schools throughout the country. He has also designed art programs for the YMCA, working with children from kindergarten to high school age. Adults have assisted and apprenticed in his studio for twenty-five years.

His education includes a BFA from the California College of the Arts, Cranbrook Art Institute, Interlochen Arts Academy, and The Center for Art and Crafts at The Detroit Institute of Arts.

Levine World

Peter Thorpe

Peter Thorpe, a native of New Orleans, studied art at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, graduating in 1980. Commercial art was his major.

He moved to New York City that same year, where he worked on editorial and advertising illustration jobs. By his second year in Manhattan, he was doing book cover jobs almost exclusively. Clients included HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Warner Books, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan and Knopf Doubleday. He now lives in Asheville, North Carolina, in the Smokey Mountains where many frogs, newts and other amphibian wonders live too.

www.peterthorpedesign.com

www.rocketpaintings.com

Deb Olshever

Debra is a co-founder of Adoption Associates

Deb has been working in the adoption field since 1994 and brings a wealth of experience to her therapy practice. She began her career as a licensed school psychologist and guidance counselor and taught Parent Effectiveness Training and Parent Empowerment to teachers. In her work for adoption agencies, she conducted hundreds of home studies and post placement visits.

Deb’s experience with pre- and post-adoptive families gives her an understanding of the confusion, anticipation and fear that individuals feel at this challenging time. She provides a sound voice to help people clarify their needs and make well-informed decisions. Deb is also passionate about helping other professionals understand the complexities of adoption, particularly the impact it has on learning and personal development. She enjoys working with groups and individuals in all settings and leading workshops that increase the public’s knowledge of adoption issues. She has found that using art as a vehicle can be a way that children and adults who do not have words for their intense feelings still can help them express complicated or unconscious meanings.

Deb earned a B.A. in Psychology and Education from Stony Brook University, and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from West Chester University. Her background in education includes working with special needs students and teaching child assault and bully prevention programs.

In her leisure time, Deb is usually found outdoors, enjoying her bicycle, her kayak, playing tennis and being with friends at the beach or hiking.  

Diane Lingenfelter

I have always loved to draw and paint. It has always been the figure/gesture that has attracted me most. The gesture and its interaction suggest the dynamic and design of the drawing or painting. The rest is the process to achieve that certain iconic presence. Never an easy task, but a fulfilling one.

I graduated from the Ontario College of Art and have exhibited professionally for over 40 years. My paintings are in commercial and private collections in Canada, United States, Europe, and Mexico.

https://www.dianelingenfelter.com/

Tina Maneca

Tina Maneca lives and works in Jersey City as a curator, arts organizer and showing artist. She received a BFA from Parsons School of Design | The New School forSocial Research and has pursued further certification and continuing education at Rhode Island School of Design and the School of Visual Arts in NYC.

In 2023 she served as the Director of the Jersey City Art & Studio Tour and was a Jersey City ARTS & CULTURE TRUST FUND Fellow.

She is proficient in various mediums such as weaving, ceramics and metal techniques. Her practice focuses on sculpture and conceptual installation pieces.

https://www.instagram.com/TinaManecaArt/

Jerome China

New Jersey sculptor Jerome China was born November 28, 1961, in Richmond, Virginia and is best known for his abstract metal sculptures made from rusted and discarded scrap metal, automobile gears and other industrial detritus. The pieces are a fusion of found metal, impulsive ideation and life context.

He started his career in 2012 and received his early training as the first artist in residence at All Iron Works commercial welding and fabrication shop currently located in Hoboken, NJ. In addition, he studied with blacksmith Paul Januz at Gravity Line Forge. These residence experiences provided a balanced foundation in welding, Blacksmithing and metallurgy. He has lived in New York, Bermuda and Virginia and currently resides in NJ.

https://instagram.com/chinajerome

Amy Neufeld

Amy Neufeld is a photographer, digital artist, graphic designer and art curator living in Jersey City, NJ. Much of her work explores the expressive nature of trees, for which she has had a life-long affinity. In general, she has a deep love of nature and animals. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from Ringling College of Art and works for notebook manufacturer Michael Roger, Inc. 

Amy Neufeld

Steve Szynal

Original one-of-a-kind multi-dimensional collages, hand-cut and assembled with mixed media. 

There could not be a more appropriate artistic technique than the 3-D multilevel, hand cut, mixed media employed by Steve Szynal (pronounced shin-nél) to capture the FUN, glamour and excitement of the many facets of life depicted in his art. Szynal uses as many as 8 layers of prints in his extremely intricate works to create a superior depth effect in this exciting art form. Each work is meticulously hand-cut and assembled by the artist himself with supreme dedication to detail. He likens his collages to “interpretations of life residing somewhere between a rendering and an architectural model.”

Szynal earned a five year professional Architecture Degree from The Pennsylvania State University and has always enjoyed the artistic design process. 

He became a licensed architect and owns a successful lighting design firm; both which he draws upon in his sculptural art and design. 

His exceptional talent and technique have given new meaning to 3-D art, as visually exciting, fun, and collectable. 

Some of the people collecting Stephen Szynal’s artwork include: 

Bruce Springsteen 
Steven Van Zandt 
Peter and Ann Tombros 
Jay Leno 
Beverly Sills 
Regis Philbin 
Jeffrey Lurie 
Michael Jordan 
The Baseball Hall of Fame 
James Franklin 
University of Pennsylvania Medical School 
Ringo Starr 
Jerry Seinfeld 
Jim Cramer 
Frank and Krista Speno 
Sylvester Stallone 
Carmine and Amy DiSibio 
Georgio Armani 
Larry Bird 
Mayor Ed Rendell 
The Pennsylvania State University Alumni Center 

Steve Szynal

Mark Lerer

Mark Lerer simultaneously inhabits the worlds of cartooning, illustration, and fine art. He holds an M.F.A. from the New York Academy of Art and has exhibited his drawings at New York City’s Nexus Gallery, Broome Street Gallery, Lincoln Center’s Cork Gallery, and New Century Artists. He has illustrated Rainforest Frogs and the forthcoming Frogs & Co. for Frogs Are Green, and been delighting his Facebook friends with the adventures of The Little General (based on a concept by Andrew Coe), most recently in a full-color graphic novel.

Susan Newman Lerer, Founder and Director

Susan Newman Lerer, is a brand visibility designer and environmentalist. As the founder of FROGS ARE GREEN she spends her days spreading the awareness that we need to save frogs, amphibians and all wildlife. She has authored 4 books and has two more in production.

A graduate of the School of Visual Arts, Susan spent her early career working as a graphic designer and art director for various NYC publishers, including Macmillan and Penguin. In 1994, she established her own design firm, Susan Newman Design, and builds brands near and far.

Susan teaches art at the Wallace Elementary School in Hoboken, NJ.