Lyda Rose Art Gallery

Sandra Rice is a self-taught artist who works primarily in clay and constructed metal. She has shown her work in galleries and festivals for over twenty years, receiving awards for both clay and mixed media sculpture. Ms. Rice draws inspiration from objects found in nature and the human form. Much of her work is minimalist. Recent clay sculptures are hand-built, highly burnished and bisque fired. Surface treatment includes a modified “pit firing,” layers of paint, wet-sanding and calligraphy.

A mother and wife, working as a Painter, Illustrator and Graphic Designer, Robin Richards wanted to be a circus clown and even went to tryouts for clown college; but when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up the answer was always, “An Artist”. As an Illustrator, Robin Richards has illustrated over fifty greeting cards, several calendars and many cookbooks. Richards was born in Nashville, Tennessee and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Columbia, South Carolina and Homewood, Alabama. She studied art at the University of Montevallo and Auburn University. She currently resides on the Eastern Shore of the Mobile Bay.

Judith Taylor Rogers was born in Atlanta, Georgia, grew up in Decatur, Georgia, and has lived most of her adult life in Birmingham, Alabama. She received her BFA degree from Atlanta Art Institute, now known as the Atlanta College of Art. She also studied at Georgia State College for Women; University of Georgia, Atlanta Division; and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Mrs. Rogers's media includes watercolor, pencil, soft pastels, gold illuminating inks, adornments (using found objects), and antique photographs. Her work has won numerous awards and is included in many collections.

Sally T. Ryan, who paints under the name SAINTRYAN® has been painting and teaching in Ann Arbor for more than twenty years. Ryan’s influences are the Flemish painters, the early Renaissance and the work of the Surrealists. For over 20 years she has exhibited in Europe and North America. One critic has called Ryan’s paintings “a wondrous mix of beautiful technique and sensual and often disturbing imagery that only reveal all of their detail with repeated study.” Philosophically SAINTRYAN® aligns herself with the Surrealists. She jokingly refers to her style as Subrealism. “Surrealism is above and beyond the real and mine is below and beneath.” Ryan’s technique is very accurately rendered. She creates a dream-like quality that in part lives on the edges of reality. SAINTRYAN® plays with historical contexts and preconceived notions to create a provocative form of expression. She brings about a questioning and wonder about the world and our place within it.

Paul Ware resides in Homewood, Alabama. He has a B.A. in Religion from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia. He has practiced law in Birmingham, Alabama since 1986. There is a significant spiritual and meditative aspect to his work. He tends to draw his inspiration from classical, religious and decorative imageries, often cross-referenced and linked by his materials and mixed media. There is a great variety of technique, materials, and size in his work, from tiny, heavily worked and detailed icons, to larger, freer figurative canvases. His smaller works of icons, landscapes and miniature interiors are often executed on irregularly shaped, cast-off pieces of sheet metal, tin, aluminum and copper, hammered and primed then intricately painted with ink, gouache and acrylic media. This process gives the works an intimate, jewel-like quality.

Erroll D. (DONKOR) Woodward was born in Bessemer, Alabama in 1955 and was raised in Brighton. He was blessed with the gift of creativity that has allowed him to become a multifaceted artist. Having worked in a number of different mediums Woodward now focuses on driftwood and metal sculpture.