Kathy Ruttenberg’s work moves between fantasy and raw emotional truth, blending human and animal forms into powerful allegorical narratives. Rooted in ecofeminism and mythology, her sculptures and ceramic works invite viewers into symbolic worlds where instinct, vulnerability, and transformation take shape.

Anese Eun Cho creates immersive worlds where memory and imagination converge, inviting viewers to reconnect with a sense of home and possibility. Through her "Lighthouse" and "Second Floor" series, she transforms personal narrative into powerful, shared experiences of safety, empowerment, and inner light.

In this evocative feature, Tiara Knutson merges the macabre with elements of nature, creating sculptural works that honor both death and renewal. Drawing from personal experience and a deep fascination with the afterlife, her pieces invite viewers to reconsider the beauty within life’s inevitable cycles.

Megan Hyde is a Boston-based interdisciplinary artist whose work traverses performance, sculpture, video, and installation. Drawing on dreams, memories, and somatic responses, her practice examines transformation, grief, and desire, creating spaces where binaries dissolve and viewers can experience the connections between micro and macro realities. Her immersive projects invite reflection on ways of being outside the frameworks of Western capitalism.

Cecil Ybanez bridges worlds—geographically, culturally, and creatively. Working with polymer air-dry clay, found objects, and everyday materials, his mixed media pieces explore translucence, lightness, and layered perspectives. Each work invites viewers to reflect on memory, perception, and the complexity of contemporary life, offering moments of pause, insight, and subtle illumination.

Kirsti Smith transforms personal emotion into tactile ceramic works that invite both touch and reflection. Inspired by family, spirituality, and the cycles of life, her pieces blur the line between fine art and functional objects, creating an intimate experience for the viewer.

Leisa Rich is a Canadian experimental artist whose work pushes the boundaries of fiber art, sculpture, and interactive design. Using techniques like embroidery, weaving, tufting, 3D printing, and laser engraving, she transforms everyday and recycled materials into wall-hung artworks, wearable sculptures, and sensory environments. Rich’s practice invites audiences to engage through touch while exploring memory, childhood, and the tension between stability and change. Her work has been collected by major institutions including Delta Airlines, Hilton Hotels, and the Dallas Museum of Art.

Working under the name HandmadeHome, contemporary artist Svetlana creates surreal fantasy sculptures that feel as though they’ve emerged from hidden magical realms. Combining polymer clay with naturally grown crystals, her mixed media works explore the threshold between energy and matter, nature and imagination, resulting in otherworldly beings rich with texture, symbolism, and quiet wonder.

Sam Wilde, a British multidisciplinary artist, creates award-winning works that blur the line between fine art and surface design. Using illustration, oil painting, animation, sculpture, and large-scale installations, he builds immersive worlds influenced by his synesthesia and love for evolutionary biology. His work has been exhibited globally, from London to China and Japan, redefining how we experience color, pattern, and creativity.

Tori McLean’s interdisciplinary practice transforms childhood curiosity into playful, thought-provoking explorations of female identity. Through interactive prints, sculptures, and installations, she invites viewers to engage with kinetic figures and participatory works that question societal expectations and celebrate imaginative inquiry.

Margot Dermody’s abstract paintings and sculptures investigate the connections between human emotion and the natural world. Through layered opacity, translucency, and material transformation, her work explores memory, light, and the tension between minimal and overworked forms.

Sandra Keja Planken’s practice bridges art, ecology, and emotion. Working with textiles, glass, and spatial design, her sculptural installations explore impermanence, sensory experience, and our relationship with nature. Featured in AQ Volume VII, her work extends beyond the gallery, transforming discarded materials into living artworks that invite coral growth, reflection, and renewal.

In AQ Volume 7, Airco Caravan presents a striking body of work that blends humor, activism, and historical reckoning. Using spray cans and cast resin objects as symbols of resistance, her work challenges systems of power while imagining what it might mean to literally erase injustice. From guerrilla interventions to deeply researched historical narratives, Caravan’s practice invites viewers to reconsider the past and envision a more conscious future.

Michael Hambouz, a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist, musician, and curator, creates work deeply informed by chromaesthesia and personal history. Drawing from music, memory, and his Palestinian-American heritage, Hambouz experiments across mediums—painting, printmaking, sculpture, and animation—to explore themes of loss, transformation, and resilience. His vibrant abstractions, often influenced by sound and architectural forms, invite viewers into layered reflections on identity and generational experience.

Portland-based interdisciplinary artist Kim Smith Claudel transforms natural, discarded, and technological materials into contemplative works that intersect painting, sculpture, and performance. Featured in the “Lightness of Being” exhibition, her pieces invite viewers to slow down, connect with the present, and experience the subtle beauty of ephemeral moments.

Mexican-born, New York-based artist Arturo Brena is celebrated for his dual sculptures, intricate works that transform under light to reveal hidden shadows and unexpected forms. Featured in the “Lightness of Being” virtual exhibition, Brena invites viewers to explore the delicate balance between presence and absence, light and dark, in a captivating visual experience.

Francis Beaty, a Philadelphia-based interdisciplinary artist, presents her evocative installations and sculptural work in Create! Magazine’s Lightness of Being virtual exhibition. Using aluminum screening, felt roofing paper, and natural elements, Beaty creates pieces that explore movement, lightness, and the beauty of imperfection. Her work invites viewers to reflect on individual vulnerability, collective strength, and the quiet moments of contemplation that can transform everyday experiences into profound insight.

Heidi Mortensen’s work, featured in Create! Magazine’s Lightness of Being exhibition, explores the fragile boundary between constraint and liberation through intricate mixed media sculptures. Using cast resin, glass, and organic elements, her pieces evoke the transformative process of letting go, inviting viewers to reflect on their own moments of transcendence and freedom.

Debbie Lawson’s art reveals quiet magic through surreal sculptures that intertwine animals with historic textiles. Drawing from her Scottish heritage and fascination with domestic objects, her work invites viewers into theatrical narratives that challenge perception and celebrate material history. Explore her journey and recent projects featured in AQ Volume VI.

Isabel Paget’s multidisciplinary work examines the fragile boundaries between permanence and impermanence, inviting viewers to engage with the elasticity of reality. Her interactive sculptures, including the acclaimed Sands of Time, merge philosophy and science to explore how time and identity warp under pressure. Discover how Paget’s art opens new pathways for reflection on contemporary life’s unseen forces.