Wild Art Featured Artists
Edward Miller – Earth Healer
As a professional artist, Ed Miller has exhibited figurative sculptures since 2009, then received his MFA at The University of Tennessee in 2016. He has public art on display at several locations in Virginia including The University of Virginia, Baker-Butler Elementary School, The Echo’s of Nature Sculpture Park, The Blue Ridge Swim Club, and The Central Virginia Community Health Center. Ed has been involved with teaching sculpture courses at The University of Tennessee, The University of Virginia, and The Workhouse Art Center.
Cathy Vaughn – Arbor Quilt and A Butterfly’s Journey
Cathy Vaughn is a full-time artist and copper wrangler at her studio, Tracery 157, in Richmond, VA. An avid tinkerer, Vaughn taught herself the basics of pipe fitting over two decades ago, and has been pushing the boundaries to reimagine and repurpose industrial-grade copper ever since.
A native of rural South Carolina, she learned the makers’ ethic in her fathers’ workshop. Vaughn has a BFA in graphic design from the University of South Carolina, is active in craft guilds from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, and is passionate about the intersection of science, art, and design.
Leila Ehtesham -- Gonbad
Leila Ehtesham is an artist whose work is influenced by history, architecture, and the ongoing dialogue between humans and nature. Above all, she remains the girl making mud pies in the garden.
John M. Holland, Ph.D. – The Music House
As an artist, I investigate the intimate relationship between man-made structures, the audience, and the natural environment. I am fascinated by the way the two types of space affect each other and the viewer. As an early childhood educator for 20 years, I have studied children’s fascination with things that grow, their inclination to turn anything and everything into instruments, and their desire to test the resistance of the world through their insistence on manipulating it.
See more works by artist John M. Holland.
Jeffrey Hall – Hidden Community, Tree House and Code Playground
Jeffrey Deane Hall’s work frequently deals with issues of communication. Be it the hidden messages within the work or how perspective can change meaning, upon closer inspection, his work, like the artist himself, reveals itself to be much more than it appears. Born in Richmond, VA, Hall’s work demonstrates a variety of interests as diverse as his own background. He received a BA in both Physics and Studio Art at the University of Richmond before continuing on to get his Masters at Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition to his painting and sculptures, he is also a high school art teacher and a father.
Colleen Hall - Turtle Island
Nature, storytelling, and education have been key to Colleen Phelon Hall’s artistic focus for over 22 years. From hospitals to homes, both here and abroad, her murals and large scale art installations have provided joy to many clients, including several celebrities. Colleen sees her role as an artist as a gatherer of images, ideas, and information who then seeks to share that learning by telling a visual story through her artwork.
Susann Whittier – Walking Sticks
After 30 years of artistic practice, the act of looking, analyzing, and interpreting what I see have become part of my DNA — and now I work intuitively. More recently, I’ve been exploring how art and botany work together as an interdisciplinary collaboration. These works explore how the natural world inspires my art making and how the man-made mimics the natural world. Taking inspiration from a variety of textures and experiences, I aim for a new element of their usefulness. I value the journey of a project as much as the final result which is reflected in my artistic language.
Pop-Up Artists
Mirinda Powers Reynolds
Mirinda Reynolds, a VCU graduate with a BFA in Art Education, has taught art full-time in Virginia for 22 years. She stays active in the Fredericksburg art community as a muralist, street artist, painter, wet-felter, mentor, and workshop leader. She has served as the Visiting Artist Coordinator for Fredericksburg Academy for the past decade and brought over 85 artists to classes for talks and demonstrations. Her largest mural, the Downtown Mural Project, welcomes all visitors crossing the Chatham Bridge into the city.
Noah Scalin
Noah Scalin is the first artist-in-residence at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business. He is creator of the Webby Award winning project Skull-A-Day. His fine art has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Mütter Museum and Krause Gallery in NYC. He is the author of six books, including most recently Creative Sprint – which he co-wrote with his sister/business partner Mica Scalin.