Gessobord
Featured artist: Stephen O'Donnell
Known since childhood as the “artistic one,” Stephen O’Donnell has followed a winding path back to painting after years exploring music, theater, and performance. Entirely self-taught, his work is rooted in a fascination with history and classical portraiture, yet transformed through themes of self-portraiture, gender, and identity. The result is art that bridges past and present, offering viewers both beauty and space for personal interpretation.
Featured artist: Julia Hagen
After a brief detour into pre-med, Julia Hagen found her way back to art, and back to Chicago. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she spent years exploring different subjects before discovering her true muse: the city’s beloved hot dog stands. Her series Every Last Stand captures these everyday icons with warmth and hometown pride on Ampersand Gessobord.
Featured artist: Elsa Muñoz
When Ampersand President/CEO Elaine Salazar visited The United States and Mexico: A Powerful Past, A Shared Future, a U.S. State Department Art in Embassies exhibition in Mexico, she was struck by a powerful painting titled Primordial Conversations. Upon closer look, she realized it had been painted on Ampersand Gessobord. That moment of recognition led to a full-circle connection: the artist behind the piece was Elsa Muñoz, a former studio mate of Louise LeBourgeois, who had first introduced her to Ampersand panels years earlier.
Featured artist: Tushar Sabale
Tushar Sabale is an Indian-born, London-based, award-winning artist whose work bridges Impressionism and Realism with Luminist influences. Born in India, his artistic journey began in childhood, nurtured by rural landscapes and early mentorship.
Featured artist: Christina Kent
Once a PhD economist, Christina Kent is now a full-time figurative oil painter, inspired by the understanding that art captures the richness of human experience in ways that numbers cannot.
Featured artist: Michael John Ashcroft
After facing a life-altering health scare, British artist Michael John Ashcroft found himself drawn back to painting with a renewed purpose. Known for his atmospheric cityscapes and serene landscapes, Ashcroft has since become a member of several of England's most prestigious oil painting societies.
Featured artist: Casey Zoltan and Known Gallery
Street art veteran Casey Zoltan, founder of Known Gallery in Los Angeles, invited us to collaborate on an immersive art exhibit that pays tribute to the iconic AMPERSAND symbol.
Featured artist: Natalie Featherston
Artist Natalie Featherston works exclusively in the centuries-old realm of trompe l’oeil, creating dazzling paintings that combine the virtuosity of a Dutch master with a thoroughly modern mind. The Chicago Sun-Times has described her work as “Artful beyond just illusion and trickery, they are truly masterful still lifes made with both craft and wit.”
Featured artist: Chris Breier
Through his art, Chris Breier invites viewers to explore the intricate relationships between colors and their emotional impact.
Featured artist: Jivan Lee
Much of Jivan Lee’s work arises from an intensive process of repeatedly painting at the same locations over months, seasons, and years. Each day on location contributes to larger arcs of work that borrow from his previous career in science and almost empirically investigate time, change, and human perception.
Featured artist: Dennon Walantus
Gessobord plein air painter Dennon Walantus found himself constantly running out of subjects to paint, which led him to the surrounding Adirondack Mountains landscape with a cigar box easel and oil paint.
Featured artist: Chris Firger
By prioritizing color, contrast, and composition over representation, landscape painter Chris Firger is able to create a unique and immersive experience for viewers. Instead of simply reproducing a scene, he uses his artistic skills to capture a particular moment or feeling that he wants to convey.
Featured artist: Camille Przewodek
Nationally renowned colorist and painting instructor, Camille Przewodek, is noted for her ability to see and use color relationships to effectively express the “light key” or “envelope of light” that nature presents to us outdoors at different times of the day or under different types of weather conditions.
Featured artist: Gareth Jones
Gareth Jones, a UK native now residing in New Hampshire, rekindled his love of art after receiving a Christmas gift several years ago.
Featured artists: Ampersand Artist Partners
As the year wraps up, we wanted to highlight a few of the artists that graciously partnered with us over the year and shared their love of Ampersand with the world. We sent each of the December artists an Ampersand panel and one of our new 5x7 or Walnut Floaterframes. The task was to paint their artwork of choice and then frame it in the Floaterframe.
Featured artist: Michael Emerson Wall
Michael Emerson Wall paints with a variety of mediums to create Celestial Environments which are deep and thought provoking and border between abstraction and realism.
