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“I enjoy painting things people can relate to,” John Weiss says, “perhaps because I can relate to them myself. They’re familiar things, part of an everyday life we can understand and enjoy.” Weiss developed this appreciation during his childhood in Akron, Ohio. His father was a draftsman to whom John credits his disciplined approach to art. He drew throughout his childhood and developed his skill in high school art classes. On a trip to Maine, he saw an exhibit of Andrew Wyeth’s work, which inspired him to pursue art while attending Kent State University. Weiss left college after two years to go into the landscape business, but he returned to full-time painting within four years. “My work is essentially self-taught,” he maintains. “I study the work of artists I admire and learn from their methods and techniques. I studied color theory by referring to a color wheel and mixing paints. Experience is the best teacher.” Weiss persevered with his study and his dedication has paid off. Today his paintings of dogs and of horses have an avid and loyal following. “Word of mouth has resulted in my works being sold all over the world,” he says. “There was even one portrait of a dog that was presented to Queen Elizabeth by Lady Barlow.” Weiss’ work is exhibited regularly and recently he won the “Cover of the Year” award from the National Dog Writers Association.

Born in Southern China, Mian Situ received his formal art training in his native homeland of Guangdong, formerly Canton. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the prestigious Guangzhou Institute of Fine Art. After instructing for six years, he earned a Masters in Fine Art. Immigrating to Canada, then later moving to the United States, Mian’s paintings clearly reflect his upbringing in the rural countryside of his native China. His artistic diversification of subject matter, from the people of the small villages and farming communities going about their daily lives to the exquisite portraitures as well as his most recent works inspired by western historical themes and American landscapes, all reflect the sensitive dedication of this Master Artist.

Mian has been recognized with many national art awards. During the 2002 Masters of the American West exhibition and sale at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles California, Mian Situ received the Masters of the American West Museum Purchase Award, the Thomas Moran Memorial Award for Artistic Merit and the Patron’s Choice Award. In 2003, Mian was honored with the Thomas Moran Memorial Award, Artist’s Choice Award and Patron’s Choice Award. Most recently, in 2005, Mian was presented with the Artist’s Choice Award for his painting, The Word of God. Mian Situ is represented by Trailside Galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona and Jackson, Wyoming. He lives with his wife, Helen and daughter, Lisa in Southern California.

Kenneth Riley is dedicated not only to authenticity, ethnography and history, but also to allegory and spirituality. His work has been called classical, sophisticated, gentle and sensitive. Descended from Irish immigrants on his father’s side and Dutch farmers on his mother’s, he was born in Waverly, a small town by the bend of a river in north- central Missouri. Riley was a self-taught drummer, and gained some success touring with Eddie Lain and His Orchestra. But art turned out to be his true career and he pursued it to the Kansas City Art Institute, where he studied drawing with Thomas Hart Benton for a year, developing his skill in interlocking shapes and rhythmic patterns. He was also influenced by teacher Harvey Dunn, who studied with Howard Pyle. World War II found Coast Guard Specialist Second Class Kenneth Riley on duty as one of the conflict’s most honored combat artists. Following the war, Riley found fame as an illustrator, starting with The Saturday Evening Post and later working with Life and National Geographic. After he was chosen to paint Teton and Yellowstone National Parks as part of the Society of Illustrators’ Artists in the Parks program and was invited to teach at Brigham Young University in Utah, Riley decided to move West to pursue a fine art career. Since then, Riley has shown his work at the Royal Western Watercolor Exhibition, the Tucson Art Museum, the Driscol Collection of American Western Art in Beijing and the Denver Historical Society. His many awards include Silver and Gold Medals, the Stetson Award, the Museum Roundup Award and Best in Show by the Cowboy Artists of America. His paintings can be found in the permanent collections of the White House, the Smithsonian Institution, the Air Force Academy and the West Point Museum. He won the Prix de West, Western art’s highest honor, in 1995.

New England born Ed Parker combines a respect for history and great American traditions, with unique inventiveness that has placed him among the leaders of today’s generation of Americana painters. His illustrations have an original way of capturing the complexity of modern culture with a sometimes compelling, often-whimsical sense of tradition.

Over the past 30 years his paintings and illustrations have graced books, magazines, private and corporate collections from coast to coast. Working in the great American folk art tradition, Parker has carved out a name for himself using a sophisticated sense of design, proportion and color to create charming and often humorous vignettes of American life.

Ed’s paintings have a romantic simplicity and a refined naiveté. The artwork borrows from maritime folklore and history to create inspired moments in time and imagination. They become visual stories that you can interpret and complete, each in their own way.
Ed received a BFA in graphic design from the Massachusetts College of Art and a MFA in painting and Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He served as Art Director of Boston Magazine and several Boston advertising agencies before starting Ed Parker Studio. His teaching experience includes design and illustration positions at Massachusetts College of Art, the Art Institute of Boston, Montserrat College of Art and Salem State College. In addition he has guest lectured and conducted seminars on illustration at the collegiate and secondary level.

Ed Parker’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. including: The Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA; The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport Mystic CT; The Texas Seaport Museum, Galveston TX; Museum of American Illustration, New York, NY; Mt. Vernon Museum, Mt. Vernon, VA; Marine Arts Gallery, Salem MA, and Naples, FL; Cavalier Galleries, Nantucket, MA and Greenwich CT; and the J.Russell Jinishian Gallery in Fairfield, CT. He has also been the recipient of numerous awards including recognition from the Advertising Clubs of Boston and New York, the Art Directors Club of New York and the Society of Illustrators, New York. His maritime paintings have been included in the International Marine Art Exhibitions at the Mystic Seaport Museum. He was elected to the Society of Illustrators in 1986 and was elected to the American Society of Marine Artists as a Signature Member in 2010.

Music is an important part of Ed’s artistic muse, and when not painting he is usually playing folk guitar and singing traditional songs, the lyrics of which often find their way into his paintings, completing a circle of folk-inspired American traditions.

Dean Morrissey has been drawing and creating characters since his childhood in Boston. Inspired by Disney matte paintings and comic book heroes early on, he grew to appreciate the works of the masters, such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Pyle and N.C. Wyeth. Morrissey worked a variety of job until deciding to paint full time in the late 1970s. He worked as a freelance book cover illustrator for over 15 different publishers in New York and won numerous awards. Morrissey is self taught, and considers the demands of cover illustration to have been his “art school”. In 1991, Morrissey began to paint some images from a story that he was creating. His books include Ship of Dreams Harry N Abrams (1994), The Great Kettles: A Tale of Time Harry N Abrams (1997), The Song of Celestine Little, Brown and Co. (1998), The Christmas ShipHarperCollins (2000), A Christmas Carol Greenwich Workshop Press (2000), The Moon Robber HarperCollins (2001), The Winter King HarperCollins (2002), and The Monster TrapHarperCollins (2004). His awards include The Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for The Great Kettles, The Chesley Award for The Light Ship (2002), and he is a current nominee for this year’s Chesley Award for Anna of the Celts (2003). Morrissey lives with his wife Shan and his son on the South Shore of Massachusetts.