Summer Colors Artist Spotlights: Part IV

Summer Colors, now in its 11th year, was an idea born out of passion for both art and the patients of Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Founded in 2009 by Jenny and Loren Koziol, this silent art auction raises awareness about the hospital, while also exposing the Dallas community to up and coming local artists. Each year, local artists donate original pieces of art to be featured in the auction, with all the proceeds benefiting our hospital. Over the next few weeks, we will be introducing you to all of the artists. This year’s event will be held on Thursday, July 25, at Scottish Rite for Children.

Since realizing her passion in painting in 1994, she has created an impressionist style with loose brush strokes and an emphasis on light and color. There is never black on her palette (unless necessary for a specific commission or modern piece). She uses color to make her own version of black paint. Her subject matter includes everything from children on the beach to home interiors, florals, cities, abstracts and commissioned work. Jenny attributes much of her success to her mentor, the renowned Claudia Hartley, and to gallery owner, Anne Irwin, of Atlanta.

Jenny also uses her creative skills to devote time to another passion: her own home decorating/furnishings business, Uptown Country Home, where she was the proprietor of her own retail store for ten years. During this time, she was a buyer on A&E’s hit series Storage Wars Texas for 36 episodes. After giving birth to her son in 2014, she closed her retail store to focus primarily on her painting. She currently resides in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Loren, and her son, Thompson Cook.

As I navigate life with all my energy from the very beginning & understand that life’s hardships & lessons will play a major part in my artistic journey. I liken my art to a river – you need to lay back & let the river take you where you need to go. Don’t fight the current. Design your own life & style.

CHRISTI MERIL

Christi Meril is a Dallas-based contemporary artist who has been creating abstract mixed media works on canvas, wood, paper and acrylic for over a decade. Her goal is for her art to bring light, optimism, challenge and beauty to each and every space it calls home. Every one of Christi’s original works reflects these elements of inspiration as they become movement, color, texture and at times even text in her work. As a self-taught artist her desire to create has been a life-long journey that has been influenced by the both the tangible and intangible things of life. Places of inspiration ranging from anywhere in the Rocky Mountains, NYC, far West Texas, museums, coffee shops, hiking trails, the stained glass of a chapel and urban murals, as well as relationships with people new and old, near and far have always found themselves woven into her original non-traditional creations.

She has also donated her work and served on the Host Committee in 2017 and 2018 for the Summer Colors Art Auction benefiting Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, and will be a group of talented artists heading the 212 Studio Art Auction Committee and will also be supporting the West Dallas Community School’s emerging art program by participating in the auction in the spring of 2019.

Current and recent shows/exhibits include the “China-US Art Exhibition” at the Artist Showplace Gallery in Dallas, October 2018, “Evening in the Stars” Art Exhibition Downtown Dallas, November 2018, “Art & Color Party” in the Dallas Design District, February 2019, “VIP Show” for Studio 212, Uptown Dallas and the Studio 212 Auction, Gilley’s Dallas, March 2019. Tate Studio, Dallas February-March 2019. Christi is also excited to announce that she will be joined by her husband Scott along with his photography for their show titled “eye2eye: our journey with art” at the beautiful Center for the the Arts in Crested Butte, Colorado running from September 17-30, 2019.

Christi’s studio/gallery is located in the ALG Collective at 1302 Dragon Street in the Dallas Design District. She is at her studio almost daily where she works alongside two incredible Dallas artists, Melissa Ellis and Anna Curnes. Her work is also available in the Dallas area at Unmistakably Molly in University Park, Tate Studio, Dallas, Kerr Collection, Dallas and in ROAM Fine Goods in Crested Butte, Colorado.

LORI CUSICK

In 2002, Lori decided to follow her life’s passion and recommitted herself to painting. At this time, she first engaged in plein air painting. “The challenges presented by painting nature while being part of that nature have taught me a tremendous amount about studying light and manipulating paint.” The one constant through her paintings: her energetic spontaneous brushstroke, applying paint with a confident contemporary approach.

Lori resides in Dallas, a long way from the mountains of New York where she was born and raised. She attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, earning a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art. Over the following years, Lori successfully pursued a career as a commercial artist designing for advertising agencies and running her own design studio. She is currently Design Director for the award-winning Private Clubs magazine. You see the influence of her commercial career in her exciting compositions.. silhouettes of the world.

Inspiration: Nature and the ever-changing light.

Autumn Gilly

Autumn Gilly is a self-taught artist who combines an abstract fluid painting technique with the use of acrylic paints and other chemicals agents to achieve a one-of-a-kind expression. Autumn has been drawing and sketching with the dream of being an artist since the age of 8. With parents as musicians for much of her childhood, an entrepreneurial spirit, and an eye for the avant-garde, Autumn was bound for the Arts. Autumn earned a bachelor’s degree after studying Marketing from Dallas Baptist University.

I derive a lot of inspiration from traveling and exploring the human mind and soul.  When I travel, I absorb the culture around me, and my aesthetic experience provides me with a constant source of inspiration. Each adventure abroad is like the journey of a human soul woven and spun in a never-ending journey around the globe.

Kathleen Zierhut

Texas.