01/22/2024
This weekend, six ARTISTS AMONG US convened at Bristol Library to showcase their medium, methods, and work.
Thank you to everyone who came out, even in the snow and bitter, bitter cold! This event was so positive and inspiring, be on the lookout for more like it!
Find artist bios below...
Alaiza Dominguez-Hover
Alaiza has lived in Bristol for a little over a year. She grew up in Victor, then moved to Colorado for a few years while her husband was serving in the military. She returned to New York and settled down on Case Road with her pets and chickens. Alaiza has a passion for butterflies. She has applied that passion to the rehydration, mounting and framing of them. Alaiza is also a full time student and an Honors Intern at Finger Lakes Community College.
Amy Colburn
Amy earned her BFA in Visual Communication Design with a concentration in illustration from the University of Dayton, Ohio. She began her career freelancing as an illustrator for advertising agencies and design studios in the Rochester area. A friend asked her to paint wildflowers on kitchen cabinets (based on a photo she had torn from a magazine) and that project inspired Amy to become a muralist and to create custom-painted furniture art. Over a fifteen year career, Amy has completed over a hundred murals in homes and businesses throughout the Finger Lakes regions, both interior and exterior. During this time, Amy also created a line of illustrated alphabet letter cards which are sold in gift shops. Amy currently creates oil paintings, acts as a mural consultant, and is remodeling her home studio in South Bristol. Her still-life oil paintings often depict items that evoke nostalgia, done in the style of contemporary realism.
Jessie Marianacci Valone
Jesse got started in clay about 12 years ago when she took an elective class at school and wound up spending the majority of her time in the clay studio. She switched her major the next semester and has been working in clay ever since. Her practice allows her to honor her love of working with her hands while creating functional pieces that will be used and loved for years to come. Jessie strives to advance her skills as a potter through the process of research, planning, repetition and experimentation. Jessie attended winter residences at the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, completed summer internships at Coach Street Clay in Canandaigua as well as a year-long apprenticeship at the Rochester Folk Art Guild in Middlesex, NY. She received her BFA from Alfred University with a concentration in ceramics in May of 2016. Jessie works out of her 200 year old house in the Finger Lakes Hills with her partner of 18 years and her two pups Buxton and Timber. When not in her studio Jessie is walking her pups, reading a good book, working on a project in her farmhouse or enjoying one of our beautiful lakes.
Mary Jane Stoltz
Mary Jane has been a resident of Bristol since 1978. She and her husband Joe have two children and four grandchildren. Mary Jane studied piano for 12 years and was an organist and choir director at the United Church of Bristol for more than twenty years. She is self-taught on the Celtic harp and loves to play traditional tunes that reflect her Irish heritage. Mary Jane is a Life Member of the Bristol Volunteer Fire Department, a Trustee of the Bristol Library, and Secretary of Harmony Circle (a local social and philanthropic organization). She is also an election inspector and serves on the Bristol Board of Assessment Review.
Nancy Lane
Nancy grew up in Penfield but has lived in Bristol for 19 years. A lifelong artist and nature lover, Nancy chose Bristol because of its beautiful hills, forests and water, which inspire her landscape paintings. You may have seen her painting the view outdoors on a quiet Bristol road, or “en plein air”. She spent 30 years as an illustrator of award-winning picture books that celebrate the human-animal bond. She began outdoor landscape painting in 2009. She is a popular local painting instructor, and a Signature Member of American Women Artists, the Rochester Art Club, and Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters. Her work has won numerous awards, most recently Outstanding Watercolor in the Bold Brush International Painting Competition, and Finalist in the Portrait Society of America.
Tonya Pettit
A life-long curiosity led Tonya to an immersive exploration weaving baskets from foraged materials including pine needles. Summers can find her demonstrating these skills at the living history events she attends with her homeschooling family. Foraging basket materials gave Tonya the opportunity to explore the woods and along the way she discovered mushrooms mentioned as a dye source. It wasn't long before the baskets were put to good use bringing home samples to test in the dye pot for homeschool biology and chemistry labs. Tonya loves sharing information about the process, and creating ways to communicate the results in an artistic way.
