Artist Spotlight

Artist Spotlight: Devesh Chandra

Artist Spotlight: Devesh Chandra

DEVESH CHANDRA has been learning the Tabla since the age of 3. He learned Indian Classical Music by accompanying his mother, renowned Sitar exponent Veena Chandra and he continues to perform with her.  Their mother and son duo has received national and international...

Artist Spotlight: Helen Condon

Artist Spotlight: Helen Condon

Helen Condon learned the art of rag rug braiding over fifty years ago from her grandmother, Sarah Campbell Taylor, who taught her how to make braided rugs using discarded, wool clothing. Using the skills in braiding and matching colors learned at thirteen years old,...

Artist Spotlight: Zorkie Nelson

Artist Spotlight: Zorkie Nelson

ZORKIE NELSON is a master percussionist, traditional flute player and vocalist specializing in the Ga cultural tradition. Born into a family of musicians in the West African city of Accra, Ghana, Zorkie has studied music since the age of seven. His accomplishments...

Artist Spotlight: Noah Khoury

Artist Spotlight: Noah Khoury

Noah Khoury is  a second generation blacksmith, as his father was a blacksmith and a welder.  In his teenage years, he worked alongside his father,  teaching middle-school aged youth at a summer workshop program in Altamont, NY called the Helderberg Workshops.  After...

Artist Spotlight: Zhong-Hua Lu

Artist Spotlight: Zhong-Hua Lu

Zhong-hua Lu, who was born in 1958, learned Chinese brush painting from his father and five uncles in Shandong Province, China, beginning at age five.  Currently, he teaches traditional Chinese Arts, including Tai Chi and Chinese brush painting, at Mass MOCA, Williams...

Artist Spotlight: Tashi Sharzur

Artist Spotlight: Tashi Sharzur

Tashi Sharzur AKA Techung Techung began his study of Tibetan performing arts at the age of nine at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in India. After moving to the US, he co-founded the San Francisco-based Chaksampa Tibetan Dance & Opera Company in 1989,...

Artist Spotlight:  Veena Chandra

Artist Spotlight: Veena Chandra

Veena Chandra is an internationally renowned sitarist, composer, teacher, and choreographer.  She is the founder and director of the Dance and Music School of India in Latham, NY, which celebrates over thirty years.  She has been a faculty member at Skidmore College...

Artist Spotlight: Nada Odeh

Artist Spotlight: Nada Odeh

​Nada Odeh is a Syrian artist, activist, humanitarian, and a modern-day poet. She was born and raised in Damascus and lived in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates before coming to the U.S. in 2013 due to the conflict and revolution in her country. Nada received ...

Artist Spotlight: Bonnie Gale

Artist Spotlight: Bonnie Gale

Bonnie Gale Bonnie Gale, a Traditional Willow Basketmaker for 38 years, is a traditional willow basketmaker, she is linked with the folk tradition of the immigrant German willow basketmaking community in Liverpool, New York, where she researches, interprets historical...

Artist Spotlight: Efthimios (Altin) Stoja

Artist Spotlight: Efthimios (Altin) Stoja

Efthimios (Altin) Stoja is an Albanian and Greek artist and iconographer. Ancient frescoes decorating the church walls in his father’s village in Albania first inspired his love of art. Altin trained in the Byzantine/ Macedonian style iconography under master artist...