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July 10, 2025
Creative Contemplation
S4E3 James Lloyd; A Brush with Royalty

Suzanne Lago Arthur, host and creator of The Creative Contemplation Podcast has a delightful conversation with British Portrait Painter, James Lloyd about his exceptional career painting portraits of some of England's most extraordinary individuals including Sir Paul Smith, Dame Maggie Smith and the late Queen herself, Elizabeth the II. 

Website: jameslloyd.org.uk
Instagram: @james_lloyd_artist   and  @james_lloyd_drawings

Representation: Browse & Darby and Galerie Hübner + Hübner

ArtUK.Org

National Portrait Gallery, UK

Bio:

James Lloyd graduated in the 90s with an MA from the Slade School of Fine Art,
following a BA in Fine Art from Coventry and a Diploma from Blackpool College
of Art and Design. He teaches at the Royal Drawing School and has won numerous awards including the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award, Paul Smith Scholarship, Windsor & Newton Young Artists’ Award, Carrol Foundation Young Artist of the Year Award, First Prize in the BP Portrait Award, and the Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture.

Lloyd has undertaken commissions for many private and public clients and institutions including Newcastle University, the Bank of England, Queen’s College, Lords Cricket Ground, the House of Lords, the Royal Collection and the National Portrait Gallery.

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne Lago Arthur
Theme Music by Up North Music 

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May 22, 2025
Creative Contemplation
S4E2 Matt Klos; Perceptual Painter of Lived Environments

Suzanne Lago Arthur, host and creator of The Creative Contemplation Podcast has a conversation with Baltimore M.D. based, perceptual painter, Matt Klos about his work and inspiration, his development as an artist and the various roles that he occupies as a creative professional.

Website: mattklos.com
Instagram: @mattklosspainting

Yorkshire Dales, UK Workshop co-taught with Erin Raedeke

Jemulpo Club Museum, Incheon, South Korea

Bio:

Matt Klos received his MFA in painting from University of MD, College Park and his BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD). He is a recipient of three Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council (2016, 2012 and 2008). His work has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions including the Prince Street Gallery in Chelsea, NY in 2011. He was awarded first place in the Bethesda Painting Awards in 2007 and received an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant in 2001. Klos currently teaches drawing and painting full-time at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, MD and has served as a guest lecturer/critic at various institutions including the New York Academy of Art, Boston University, College of William & Mary, Towson University, University of Missouri, and Mount Gretna School of Art. He is a member of the collective Perceptual Painters and Zeuxis.

He resides in Baltimore Maryland where he co-directs Exeter Gallery which has featured almost twenty solo and group exhibitions since its founding in 2017. He has served on panels and as a juror for exhibitions, residency programs, and awards. His curatorial projects include "A Lineage of American Perceptual Painters" at St. John's College's Mitchell Gallery (2015).

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne Lago Arthur
Theme Music by Up North Music 

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April 21, 2025
Creative Contemplation
S4E1 Alex Cree; Painting with Imagination from Lived Experience

Suzanne Lago Arthur, host and creator of The Creative Contemplation Podcast converses with British painter, Alex Cree about his training in observationally based, representational painting and how he broke away from a more traditionally realist approach in order to find his own true artistic voice.

Website: alexcree.co.uk
Instagram: @alexjcree

Classes

Galleries:

Tregony Contemporary, Cornwall England U.K.

Fraser Gallery, St. Andrews Scotland U.K.

Grandy Art, London England U.K. 

Alex's Favorite Sketching Pencil 

Bio:

Alex Cree has shown extensively throughout the United Kingdom, Spain and Ireland, including: London's Trinity House Paintings, Mall Galleries, Dulwich Picture Gallery, British Museum, RA summer show and the Solomon Gallery in Dublin. Alex is now based in Dorset where he has his studio. In 2002 he was awarded the Sidney Cooper prize for drawing, in 2010 the Denis Mahon scholarship from the Royal Drawing School and in 2012 he received the Phyllis Roberts award from the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne Lago
Theme Music by Up North Music 

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December 31st, 2024
Creative Contemplation
S3E10 Bryan Whitney; Photographing the Transcendent and the Unseen

Suzanne Lago Arthur, host and creator of The Creative Contemplation Podcast has a fascinating conversation with NYC based photographer and artist, Bryan Whitney who specializes in alternative methods of imaging such as X-Rays, 3-D Imagery and Virtual Reality and uses them to explore subjects in our world that are both seen and unseen.

Website: bryanwhitney.com
x-rayphotography.com
Instagram: @temporarypedestal

Partial List of Artists Mentioned:
Minor White
Bill Viola
Ana Mendieta
Emmet Gowin


Bio:

Bryan Whitney is a photographer and artist living and working in New York City whose work often involves experimental imaging techniques, such as x-rays, 3D imagery, virtual reality, and other alternative processes. Whitney holds an MFA in Photography from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and a BA in the Psychology of Art from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has taught photography at Rutgers University and currently teaches at the International Center of Photography in New York City. A recipient of the Fulbright Grant: Lectures on American Photography, he has exhibited across the United States and internationally as well as traveled the globe for special projects, including archeological photo expeditions with the Qatar Museum Authority and the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation, Republic of Georgia. Art exhibitions include various prestigious venues such as the Center for Holography on Governor's Island, Currents New Media Festival in Santa Fe, the Fringe Art Fair in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Islamic Museum of Art in Berlin, Germany. His work has appeared in several media outlets such as Martha Stewart, Harpers Bazaar, Fortune, the New York Times, and in books, posters and advertising campaigns worldwide.

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne Lago
Theme Music by Up North Music 
Party Pack, Horn Coil 01, Long, 01.wav by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

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December 17th, 2024
Creative Contemplation
S3E9 Rob Evans; Magic Realist Artist Elevating the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

Suzanne Lago Arthur, host and creator of The Creative Contemplation Podcast interviews famed Magic Realist Artist, Rob Evans about his fantastic work and his amazing career which includes hanging alongside many of his own artistic idols.

Website: robevansart.org
Instagram: @robevansart

Partial List of Artists Mentioned:
Jerome Witkin
Julio Larraz
Chris Van Allsburg
Antonio López García

NFT Sites:
SuperRare.com
Objkt.com


Bio:

Rob Evans is an artist and independent curator who lives and works near Wrightsville, PA. He received a BFA from Syracuse University in 1981 and has been awarded numerous grants including two fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and a prestigious fellowship from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

Evans' work can be found in more than 30 prominent public collections across the nation including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art; Corcoran Museum of Art; Library of Congress; San Francisco Art Museums; Baltimore Museum of Art; and the Portland (OR) Art Museum among others. His paintings have been featured in numerous books, newspapers and magazines and on public radio and television. His work has also been showcased in many blogs and online publications including a recent interview on the Huffington Post.

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne Lago
Music by Up North Music 

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November 14th, 2024
Creative Contemplation
S3E8 Bethann Moran-Handzlik; Painting from Intuition, Memory and Observation

Join Suzanne Lago Arthur, host and creator of The Creative Contemplation podcast for this deep and enlightening conversation with Wisconsin based painter, Bethann Moran-Handzlik on the subjects of intuition, memory and painting from observation. This is an episode that will stay with you and transform the way you think about painting.

Website: bethannmoran.com
Instagram: @pasmeche
Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee MI
Edgewood Orchard Gallery, Door County MI

Suggested Reading:
James Elkin "What Painting Is"
Joyce Carey "Art and Reality, Ways of the Creative Process (World Perspectives)

Bio:

Combining joyous brushwork and careful observation, the seasoned Wisconsin painter Bethann Moran-Handzlik, generates works that are at once accurate and poetic.  Moran-Handzlik takes large format canvases into the landscape to paint from direct observation, while also engaging her imagination and memory.  The paintings are accomplished in all seasons and the artist is equally invigorated painting outside in cold winter landscapes, spring woodlands or sunlit gardens.   Moran-Handzlik earned an MFA from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, a BA from St. Norbert College and has recently left a life teaching at universities to return to painting full time.  Her work has been exhibited nationally, and she has been the recipient of fellowships, grants and awards.  She lives in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin with her husband, the poet Patrick Moran

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne Lago

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August 28, 2024
Creative Contemplation
S3E7 Erin Raedeke; Reimagined Memories Through Painting

In S3E7 of the Creative Contemplation Podcast, host & creator Suzanne Lago Arthur has a thoughtful conversation with Washington DC area painter, Erin Raedeke about her beginnings, her international career and the process and creation of her largely memory-based paintings.

Website: erinraedeke.com
Instagram: @erinraedeke
Upcoming Classes
Tregony Gallery, Cornwall, England


Bio:

Erin Raedeke received her MFA from American University in 2009 and her BFA in Painting from Indiana University Bloomington in 2000. She also studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art.  Raedeke has exhibited her work extensively in both group and solo shows, nationally as well as internationally.  One of her self-portraits was included in the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2006. Along with having solo exhibits in NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, among others, in 2019 Raedeke had a solo show at the Crisp- Ellert Art Museum in St. Augustine, FL. 

Since 2013, Raedeke has been teaching, leading workshops and giving lectures about her work across the country and abroad.  She has been a visiting critic at Mount Gretna School of Art, and a guest artist at numerous universities and colleges.  Raedeke has taught at multiple institutions, including the Washington Studio School, The College of William & Mary, the Dulwich Art Group, and Black Pond Studio.  

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne Lago Arthur
Music by Up North Music 

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July 30, 2024
Creative Contemplation
S3E6 Ferrier, Bishop & Van Dyke
 
Creative Contemplation podcast host & creator Suzanne Lago Arthur has a light-hearted yet insightful conversation with three artists; Jodi Kolker Ferrier, Lindy Bishop and Rachael Van Dyke about their work, their interactions as both colleagues and friends and the artist residencies that they have participated in together. Are you a Creative that wants to broaden your horizons and travel? Then this episode is for you!

Ferrier Website: jodiferrier.com
Bishop Website: lindybishop.com
Van Dyke Website: rachelvandyke.com
Ferrier IG: @jodiferrier
Bishop IG: @lindybishopart
Van Dyke IG: @vandyker

Jodi Kolker Ferrier
A painting for me starts with a call from an external stimuli, something that sparks an emotional response within me. It can be something as simple as light passing through an unexpected space, or unique shapes created by overlapping forms, or perhaps the weight of a dense object resting upon a delicate surface. Each painting starts with a sense of urgency, working quickly, boldly, attacking the surface with energetic and lively brush strokes.

Lindy Bishop
My work is about celebrating the land, what it grows and how it feeds us. I believe my role as an artist in rural America is to cross-pollinate with other cultures, communities, art and artists, youth and technology. With that, I’d like to bring hope and healing. Having worked in Uganda, South Africa and Costa Rica, I see a movement percolating, similar to American Regionalism which grew out of the Great Depression— but more expressive and more global. That's what I want to be a part of. 
 
Rachael Van Dyke
Rachael Van Dyke is a full-time artist creating abstract landscape and figurative work inspired by living off the grid in the Blue Ridge mountains and traveling abroad. Van Dyke is an avid artist-in-residence and has participated in national and international residencies. These residencies create new boundaries for her work and encourage an alteration of technique and expression.

Artist Residency Websites Mentioned: ResArtis.org, Cafe and VCCA

Host Bio:
Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "A

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June 26, 2024
Creative Contemplation
S3E5 Kai Samuels-Davis Continued
 
Creative Contemplation podcast host & creator Suzanne Lago Arthur continues her S3E4 conversation with American painter Kai Samuels-Davis about his journey to becoming an artist, his re-discovery of self and how in the process he discovered his own artistic voice. Kai describes in detail the inspiration behind his current body of work and his solo show "Emergence" at Ryan Graff Contemporary which runs until June 29th, 2024. Check out the S3E4 episode with Kai before listening to this one. Both episodes delve deeply into the topics of spirituality and creativity.

Website: kaisamuelsdavis.com
Instagram (Painting): @kaisamuelsdavis
Ryan Graff Contemporary: "Emergence" Solo Show of Kai Samuel Davis
Kai Samuels-Davis "Emergence" Catalogue

Bio:

Kai Samuels-Davis is a New York born artist living and working in Inverness, CA. He attended classes at the Woodstock School of Art at the age of 16, followed by a stint at the Art Students League of New York the following year. In 2002 he received his Bachelors in Fine Arts degree at State University of New York Purchase before moving to California where he completed the graduate program in film at Art Center College of Design in 2006.

Though not directly pursuing film, cinematic themes often arise in his paintings, giving them the sense of being fragments of a larger framework of thoughts. His work is composed mainly of portraits and figures focusing on introspective moments we keep to ourselves. By primarily using found imagery as reference material, a separation is created between artist and subject, allowing the imagery to distance itself from representing specific individuals. The portraits instead change and evolve into a new persona which is abstracted and intentionally ambiguous. This gives the viewer the opportunity to create their own narrative, meaning or associations and makes each piece uniquely personal.

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne
Creative Contemplation theme music by Up North Music 
"The girl from near Ipanema elevator music" by Timbre

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May 29, 2024
Creative Contemplation
S3E4 Kai Samuels-Davis
 
Creative Contemplation podcast host & creator Suzanne Lago Arthur has an enlightening conversation with American painter Kai Samuels-Davis about his journey to becoming an artist, his re-discovery of self and how in the process he discovered his own artistic voice. Kai describes in detail the inspiration behind his current body of work and his solo show "Emergence" at Ryan Graff Contemporary. This mind-expanding episode delves deeply into the topics of spirituality and creativity.

Website: kaisamuelsdavis.com
Instagram (Painting): @kaisamuelsdavis
Ryan Graff Contemporary: "Emergence" Solo Show of Kai Samuel Davis

Bio:

Kai Samuels-Davis is a New York born artist living and working in Inverness, CA. He attended classes at the Woodstock School of Art at the age of 16, followed by a stint at the Art Students League of New York the following year. In 2002 he received his Bachelors in Fine Arts degree at State University of New York Purchase before moving to California where he completed the graduate program in film at Art Center College of Design in 2006.

Though not directly pursuing film, cinematic themes often arise in his paintings, giving them the sense of being fragments of a larger framework of thoughts. His work is composed mainly of portraits and figures focusing on introspective moments we keep to ourselves. By primarily using found imagery as reference material, a separation is created between artist and subject, allowing the imagery to distance itself from representing specific individuals. The portraits instead change and evolve into a new persona which is abstracted and intentionally ambiguous. This gives the viewer the opportunity to create their own narrative, meaning or associations and makes each piece uniquely personal.

Painting primarily with oils on wood using a combination of brushes and metal and rubber scrapers, paint is applied layer upon layer highlighting its history and texture. Structures and spaces are fragmented or blurred to accentuate the balance between distraction and clarity in daily thought. The images are cerebral and visceral, creating a mood of melancholy and solitude with an appreciation for their necessity and beauty.

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader,  Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suzanne Lago Art