Join us for our annual event celebrating the work of all of our visual artists at the Best of Hayley Gallery opening.

Eric Layne - is an artist based in New Albany, Ohio. We are all born artists. I was lucky to have had the kind of encouragement and support that allowed me to stay connected with that part of myself into adulthood, even if it was a pretty loose connection at times. During my high school years I was interested mostly in drawing and I spent a lot of my time in the art classroom. I considered pursuing art as a career but ultimately went to medical school. Through those years, art largely fell by the wayside, but as I settled into a career as a psychiatrist and had two daughters who were beginning to draw and play with watercolors, I began painting along with them and eventually spent more and more of my time visiting museums and galleries, reading and watching videos, and learning the craft of painting. My foundation in drawing and composition helped greatly. I spent about eight years practicing, and through that process, I began to find my style. I paint in oils and tend to use a fairly limited palette of five to seven colors, which has challenged me to develop skill at seeing and mixing colors accurately. I am drawn to paintings that contain high contrasts and so find myself choosing subjects in which I can showcase contrasts in light, colors, and edges. I’ve learned that, even as an adult, I still need support and encouragement to keep making art, so for that, I owe so much to my patrons, my family, and especially to my wife, Ashley.

To View Eric’s Work Click: Here

Jessica Kovan - is a mixed media artist from Beulah, Michigan. Jessica is a mixed media artist and educator. Her art is characterized as thoughtful, storytelling and layered. Drawing inspiration from the world around her, Jessica's work is personal, expressive and focused on making the spirit of the times visual. Infinitely optimistic, she enjoys expressing in her paintings what is occurring in her heart.

To View Jessica’s Work Click: Here

Gina Wolfrum - is a contemporary, mixed-media artist who returned to her artistic roots after leaving the stressful corporate world and relocating to a farm in rural Hicksville, Ohio. She instinctively transitioned back to the fine arts training she had received in her youth when an interior designer pulled her into the world of decorative art and murals. Wolfrum studied in studios around the country to develop her use of color, texture and natural elements in exquisite homes and businesses, both locally and throughout the US for a number of years. Her decorative art has been featured in books, trade journals, television and various websites. In October of 2018, her entry Amethyst Awakening, ranked in the top 25 at ArtPrize10/Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her work using natural elements, crystals, and glass have gained popularity in exhibits and have received monetary awards. Gina lives with her husband and a very large dog in Northwest Ohio on a quiet farm surrounded by flower beds and bird feeders.

To View Gina’s Work Click: Here

Justin Collamore - is fascinated by the interaction of architecture with the natural environment. he uses his training in Architecture and Landscape Architecture to explore this connection in his profession as well as his paintings. He spent his childhood in rural northwest Ohio which gave him a deep respect for picturesque barns and farms found throughout the state, but he is also intrigued by urban and even industrial locations and the edges and transitions between these types of environments. Most of his work is completed ‘en plein air’ which creates the additional challenges and excitement of quickly changing light, weather, and varied physical environments. He travels all over the US and Europe participating in plein air painting competitions. He is a member of the Worthington Art League, Central Ohio Plein Air and President of the Ohio Plein Air Society.

To View Justin’s Work Click: Here

Mary Ann Sedivy - The landscape and the beauty of nature are intriguing and rich sources of inspiration for my paintings. It is a joy to live in Northeast Ohio, specifically in the snowbelt region. The surrounding landscape is rich in natural beauty, with it’s gentle, rolling hills and abundant farmland. Due to the variety of colors, textures, shapes, light and sounds through each season, the natural world always provides incentive for creativity. This awareness is stimulated by a deep connection I feel with the outdoors. Painting is a means of preserving and highlighting what we are rapidly losing in a rapidly changing world. For me, expressing the landscape isn’t confined to one means. Sometimes a plein air painting, other times a studio painting with abstract elements. Always with expressive brushwork and strong elements of color exploration. Exploring surface texture, drawing on the paint surface, interfacing collage media with paint and keeping the brushwork energetic are at play as I create. Consideration of textures, lines, shapes, color experimentation and developing figure ground relationships guide me while I investigate the bridge between the natural world and the painted surface.

To View Mary Ann’s Work Click: Here

Susan Mahan - My mixed media work is inspired by my love of color and pattern. Photos and random bits of found paper enhance my work in unexpected ways; especially when combined with layers of paint. Paint is applied both over and under the paper and in loose washes as well as tight detail. The many layers of my work engage the viewer and encourage closer examination.

To View Work Click: Here

Marti Higgins - The universal and personal languages of color, repetition and shape are my inspiration to create. I hope to communicate with these languages feelings not easily found in the spoken word but in the visual. My artwork describes the seeming disorder yet perfect organization that is the eternal cycle in nature. Contrasts of simple and complicated lines in tree branches, a familiar scene continually changing with the seasons, shapes of large fields or studies of gathered leaves influence my compositions. I am observant of the effects of the passage of time. By finding the comfort in the chaos, my art touches on the human and my own need for visual excitement balanced with stable and grounding rhythms. My techniques include experimenting with the relativity of color or how colors influence each other by proximity. I expose color relationships by working in a layer and reveal method. Initial colors and shapes that are not obvious in a finished piece ground those yet to be applied peeking up in glimmers and slices. I include surprise colors which at first may seem incongruous but have a way of solidifying the composition. I create rhythm with elements which can comfort or invigorate. My artwork consists of impressionistic landscapes and abstractions. I am inspired by the sense of disorder, yet perfect organization found in the organic. The balance is always there.

To View Marti’s Work Click: Here

Nazli Brush - Is an artist based in Columbus, Ohio, whose creative journey began in Istanbul, Turkey. Immersed in Istanbul's rich artistic heritage, Nazli developed a passion for using colors to tell stories. Her paintings reflect her travels, capturing the essence of the places she explores with her husband. They divide their time between the United States and various parts of the world, alternating between three months in the U.S. and three months in different cultures. Nazli's creative process is intuitive, often starting with a single color or memory that grows into a full composition. Each of her paintings tells a story, and her unique artistic style brings these stories to life. “When people look at my art,” says Nazli, “I want them not only to see but to feel the places that inspired my work.” Travel is a vital part of Nazli's life and work. Recent destinations that inspired her work include Argentina, Chile, Iceland, the Czech Republic, France and her hometown of Istanbul, Turkey. Traveling and exploring new places rejuvenates Nazli’s spirit and fuels her creativity, allowing her to grow and evolve as an artist.

To View Nazli’s Work Click: Here

Robin Roberts - To me, painting is relaxing and my way of getting time with God and His creation. I want to soak it in, to understand it as well as I can, and then capture the special beauty in life as light and shadow splashes across the scene. I enjoy painting so many different subjects- everything from architecture to wildlife to cityscapes to rural scenes. Nature never fails to reward and challenge me as an artist with its constantly changing colors, light, and atmosphere. When painting, I depend on my design skills as a graphic designer, spirited brushstrokes and tonal unity. I also enjoy working in my studio in Ashland, Ohio when I can not get outside. Robin graduated from Ashland University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Visual Communication after spending one year of intensive study at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. After years of work at agencies and as the head of graphics at Rubbermaid in Wooster, Ohio, Robin opened Red Red Design, a graphic design studio in Ashland, Ohio in 2001.

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Elizabeth Beattie - is a self-taught artist, living and working in Worthington, OH. Her creative journey began in middle school with art classes and a new found passion for photography, especially Ansel Adams. Landscapes are her favorite, bringing her great joy and often taking her breath away. Growing up with an art professor father and crafter mother who taught her to sew and cross stitch, she had no shortage of support and inspiration. While she initially wanted to focus her career in the arts, it didn’t happen until a much later age. When her twin daughters were little, she began to teach herself new creative pursuits, eventually learning how to spin yarn, crochet, knit, weave and make jewelry in her early 30’s. Throughout the years she continued to explore and learn more mediums and crafts like floral design, stained glass, metal smithing and painting. It wasn’t until Covid hit in 2020 that she applied more of her time to painting, discovered alcohol ink and submitted her first piece of art to a gallery for a show in 2021. In 2022 she was in two group exhibitions and had her first solo exhibition. She received her first grant in 2022 and is planning on exploring her landscapes more with new materials and processes. At age 46, Elizabeth finally feels like she has found what she is meant to do.  

To View Elizabeth’s Work Click: Here

Marcus Blackwell - Born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Rochester, New York, Marcus currently resides in Columbus, Ohio. An artist all his life, it has only been within recent years when he made a life-changing decision to transition from 25 years in the financial service industry to finally pursue his art career in earnest. With a foundation in studies in Illustration at the Columbus College of Art and Design and Multimedia Production at Columbus State Community College, he is a mixed-media visual artist who focuses on Illustration and Fine Art. His interests, rooted in storytelling traditions, are mainly concerned with the creation of expressionistic abstracted and figurative images which explore and depict themes and ideas related to Afrofuturism, dreams, mythology/folklore, symbolism, and social commentary. He is a self-described comic book nerd, a skilled but disgruntled ex-musician, a fledgling would-be poet, and proud father of two adult sons.

To View Marcus’ Work Click: Here

Mary Burkhardt - As an interior designer, Mary Burkhardt is surrounded by beautiful colors, shapes, patterns, and textures. These elements of design—along with a passion for travel, gardening, and fashion, naturally inform her art. Mary’s new work is a collection of whimsical themes including female figures in flowing dresses that move and swing, to a collection of captured bouquets featuring flowers and foliage straight from the garden. The use of classic patterns including stripes, dots, and flowers weave and repeat, creating a fluid connection in a cohesive body of work.  

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Todd Buschur - I received my undergraduate degree from Bluffton University and my Masters degree from the McGregor School of Antioch University. In addition, I have studied painting at the International School of Art in Umbria, Italy. I currently paint, teach high school art and live near Urbana, Ohio.

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Suzanne Robinson - I draw most of my inspiration from what I observe in and around my home which is nestled in the woods of Pataskala, Ohio. It's a privilege to be able to express on canvas the peace and harmony conveyed in nature’s beautiful backdrop. My landscapes offer the onlooker an appreciation of the majesty of vistas that change from one season to the next. Crystal blue seascapes take me back to wonderful beach vacations shared with my family. One doesn’t have to go to the country or seaside to appreciate nature’s calming beauty since Robinson’s work aptly expresses the peace and harmony that can only be conveyed in nature’s back drop.

To View Suzanne’s Work Click: Here