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.

Lucine Kaplan transforms nylon pantyhose into evocative 2D fiber art, tracing the history of hosiery through a feminist lens. Her series Ripping the Seams combines historical narratives, contemporary commentary, and poetic context, revealing how women navigated innovation, labor, and visibility in the 20th century.

Taylor Keister creates layered assemblage paintings that explore nostalgia, femininity, and the tension between outward appearances and inner reality. Her work merges saturated color, decorative motifs, and altar-like structures to confront suburban rituals, childhood experiences, and the emotional cost of perfection.

Jada + David Parrish are a Richmond-based artist duo whose mixed media practice merges painting, sculpture, motion, and photography into dreamlike illusions. Known for their 100 Set Project—where they built and photographed 100 sets from repurposed materials in a single year—their work explores perspective, uncertainty, and the human condition.

Cindy Phenix creates dense, collage-like paintings and installations where humans, animals, and natural elements intertwine in vivid, layered compositions. Her work examines ecological crises, societal tensions, and the delicate balance between humanity and the natural world, offering viewers a glimpse into a poetic, interconnected universe

Meet Sophia, the creative force behind Mrs. H, whose paintings and illustrations blend whimsy, storytelling, and quiet rebellion. From her South African farm roots to Dubai’s vibrant inspiration, her work evokes emotion through recurring figures, text, and symbolic motifs. Explore her series There Should Be Room for Us Too and witness art that celebrates freedom, choice, and reflection.

New York City twin duo Guess Who blends individuality and collaboration in narrative-driven illustration and graphic design. Their work examines human relationships, emotional nuance, and heterotopian spaces, inviting reflection on connection, curiosity, and imagined worlds.

Lou Haney’s work transports viewers into imagined domestic interiors where charm meets excess, and memory intertwines with fantasy. Using layered oil, acrylic, and fiber art, her paintings explore nostalgia, femininity, and the tension between reality and escape. Inspired by Pattern & Decoration and Pop Art, Haney transforms familiar spaces into surreal compositions filled with quiet traces of human presence.

Lilian Day Thorpe’s photomontage work blends film photography with digital collage to create serene, textural landscapes that hover between memory and imagination. Her compositions prioritize mood over realism, offering a pause from the everyday and a space to reflect on beauty, quiet, and stillness.

Brittney Denham Whisonant transforms personal and collective experiences of motherhood into visually rich, tactile works. Through quilts, cyanotypes, and natural dyes, her practice explores identity, domestic labor, and maternal material, creating a dialogue between tradition and contemporary artistic expression.

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.

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.

Andreea Alunei’s work transforms grief, humor, and imagination into intimate, layered paintings. Drawing on the birth of her daughter, the loss of her mother, and a deep interest in personal mythology, her surreal imagery—halos, unicorns, and whimsical children—invites viewers to reflect on life, death, and the delicate balance in between.

Sarah Sanford’s work captures the fleeting beauty of light and the hidden patterns of the natural world. Through layered prints, dimensional collage, and installations, she invites viewers to reflect on impermanence, interconnectedness, and the quiet moments of wonder in everyday life. Featured in the Lightness of Being exhibition, her art offers a contemplative space for connection and discovery.

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.

Nerea Azanza, a Spanish visual artist based in Paris, presents her innovative abstract figurative work in Create! Magazine’s Lightness of Being virtual exhibition. Combining mixed media on paper, wood, linen, and eco-friendly textiles, Azanza transforms small portraits into expansive installations that explore motion, spatial patterns, and the interconnectedness of life. Her art reflects a deep engagement with transformation, resilience, and the dynamic flow of the world.

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.

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.

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.