Pat Kerns

An artist from Hannibal, Missouri, Pat Kerns is fascinated by ordinary objects, especially those with age and character. Pat’s fine art focuses on and highlights the beauty of these objects through whatever media and style best tells that story.   Pat is also fascinated by rust and worn finishes and likes to express ordinary objects in often not so ordinary ways.  She is currently working in pastel and fiber dyed batiks.

Pat teaches all levels of art in both public and private settings and is currently a professor at Culver Stockton College.  She has won awards in multiple local and state competitions and has had work in multiple juried exhibitions.

Nicole Petrescu

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Nicole Petrescu lived more then half of her life trying to escape – physically and psychologically – the influence of the oppressive communist regime.  A diligent observer of the socio-political milieu, Nicole develops an early instrumentalist approach to art making. She often seeks refuge from the social malevolence in the solace of natural environment and its primal magnificence. Her affinity for natural processes and eastern philosophy influences her desire in establishing a meaningful artistic practice that focuses on the environment as a place for sharing, using wabi-sabi and relational aesthetics. Her studio and research work has gravitated around the intersection between culture and the ontology of being, and the ways one influences the other.
Nicole graduated with BFA and MFA degrees from Washington University, and works at William Woods University. Her paintings and complex installations are often exhibited in regional and local shows, while paintings and sculptures may be found in private collections in Europe and the United States.