In Issue 53 of Create! Magazine, Brooklyn-based artist Caroline Otis Heffron shares her transhistorical approach to painting, where women from art history meet contemporary street imagery. Through magical vignettes and saturated colors, her work examines dualities of belonging and isolation, vulnerability and strength, offering a theatrical yet intimate exploration of memory, myth, and feminine identity.

Xi Zhang’s paintings blend Eastern philosophy with Western expressionist traditions, creating emotionally charged compositions that examine memory, empathy, and the immigrant experience. From expansive dreamlike landscapes to intimate portraits, his work invites viewers into spaces of psychological tension and reflection.

Christina Lucia Giuffrida’s paintings invite viewers into a surreal, Queer-centered adventure, where vivid color, graphic figures, and layered environments challenge perception and celebrate irreverent women. Her work combines fantasy, humor, and material experimentation to explore identity, movement, and the unpredictable beauty of life.

Genevieve Cohn’s paintings invite viewers into richly imagined communities of women, where historical inspiration, literary fiction, and fairy tales intersect. Her work celebrates collaboration, self-endowed agency, and connection with the natural world, offering a space for reflection, ritual, and the beauty of shared experience.

Kurt Stimmeder (b. 1972, Bad Leonfelden, Austria) creates oil paintings and lithographs that balance technical precision with emotional depth. Now based in Linz, his practice explores memory, immediacy, and the unspoken language of the human body. Exhibited internationally from New York to Tokyo, his work reflects on the human condition with layered narratives that are both profound and quietly suggestive.

In the Lightness of Being exhibition, Mary Porterfield presents intimate, life-sized drawings reflecting her mother’s care for her father during his battle with Parkinsonism. Layered and translucent, her work captures both the weight of loss and the quiet resilience of love, inviting viewers to witness transformation and reflection through her deeply personal lens.

Emily Wingate’s work invites viewers into a world of calm and reflection, capturing the subtle beauty of nature and the interconnectedness of life. Featured in the Lightness of Being virtual exhibition, her paintings convey a sense of serenity and hope, offering a moment of quiet introspection.

Mary Davidson’s work captures serene landscapes and intimate scenes with a delicate mastery of light and color. Featured in the “Lightness of Being” virtual exhibition, her paintings invite viewers to pause, reflect, and experience the quiet beauty in everyday moments.

Renowned for his evocative paintings and dynamic presence in over 100 exhibitions, Jason John invites viewers to explore the subtleties of human emotion and perception. His work in the “Lightness of Being” virtual exhibition continues this journey, balancing technical mastery with emotional depth, offering a contemplative and immersive experience.

Michael Edwards, known as Lingua, is a pen-and-ink artist celebrated for his large-scale, intricately detailed portraits. Featured in Create! Magazine’s Lightness of Being virtual exhibition, his work transforms fine lines and abstract strokes into expressive faces and human figures. Using cold-pressed paper, vibrant gel pens, and glitter accents, Lingua creates compositions that invite viewers to explore every nuance, discovering depth, color, and emotion in every piece.

Aidamaris Román’s work, showcased in Create! Magazine’s Lightness of Being exhibition, melds realism and surrealism through luminous oil portraits. Her evocative paintings, rich with neon glows and layered transparencies, explore themes of identity, memory, and the delicate space between reality and imagination.

Featured in Create! Magazine’s Lightness of Being exhibition, Canadian artist Vikki Drummond transforms nostalgia, whimsy, and philosophical inquiry into playful yet thought-provoking portraiture. Her work blends 1970s-inspired shapes, signature distortion, and layered narratives to explore the boundaries between seen and unseen, real and imagined, inviting viewers into a world where beauty and absurdity coexist.

Featured in Create! Magazine’s Lightness of Being exhibition, multidisciplinary artist Nataliia Center creates intimate, mysterious works in photography, video, and oil painting. Her pieces explore the unspoken—charged gestures, tactile details, and the space between bodies—inviting viewers to step in and complete the story through their own sensations.

Karen Chang, an expressive artist based in the Pacific Northwest, transforms personal resilience into vibrant, surreal compositions that balance chaos and calm. Combining palette knife techniques, luminous color, and emotive brushwork, her paintings invite viewers to uncover hidden magic and connect with the extraordinary within.

Morrison Lans’ art reveals intimate emotional journeys through layered colored pencil, encaustic, and underpainting techniques. Highlighting themes of motherhood, transformation, and identity, her work invites viewers into a space where anatomy meets soul. Currently featured in the “Lightness of Being” virtual exhibition, Lans’ unique blend of figurative realism and abstraction offers a poetic meditation on the emotional body.

Shawna Miller’s layered, emotionally resonant paintings focus on the quiet, intimate connections between mother and child. Featured in the Lightness of Being virtual exhibition, her work invites viewers to reflect on the psychological nuance and beauty of maternal experience. Through bold underpaintings and cropped compositions, Miller offers a poignant glimpse into the colorful mess beneath even the most composed surfaces.

In The Beautiful Weight of Being, featured in Create! Magazine’s Lightness of Being virtual exhibition, Lara Alcantara Lansberg explores radical stillness through cinematic, fabric-shrouded figures set against vast landscapes. Known for her richly symbolic and emotionally resonant photography, Alcantara Lansberg’s work invites viewers to pause, reflect, and find power in presence.

Saskia Thurner’s recent work shines a spotlight on bodies often overlooked, portraying older and fuller-bodied figures in swimwear with tenderness and dignity. Her paintings invite viewers to reconsider conventional beauty and embrace the quiet strength found in everyday moments. In AQ Volume VI, discover an artist whose journey through adversity fuels a deeply honest and intimate creative expression.

Meet Maddie Dunn, a California-based artist whose expressive oil paintings merge historical portraiture with contemporary reflections on identity and self-perception. In AQ Volume VI, Maddie discusses how her practice evolved through personal transformation and how her work invites viewers to question societal expectations and internal narratives.

Tabitha Whitley, a Brooklyn native featured artist in AQ Volume 6, uses vibrant color and expressive light to explore identity, heritage, and the emotional energy of seasonal change. Her recent work captures the hopeful spirit of spring in New York, portraying everyday moments bathed in renewal and connection.