A recent grad from VCU's School of the Arts, Aleyah earned her BFA in Painting & Printmaking and a minor in Art History. She enjoys looking at surrealism, photography, as well exploring Richmond as sources of inspiration. Though painting is her pride and joy, her other creative interests include makeup, knitting, and embroidery.
From finger painting to doodling, it's the freedom of painting for Emily! An artist and designer in Richmond, Painting has been her ultimate love since a very young age. Emily studied painting and art history at VCU, and thinks that painting is like meditating and playing all at the same time. It should always be an enjoyable challenge! In her personal work, she focuses on figurative, playful, and surrealist works.
From small-town life in Appalachia to starting a new chapter in the "big city" of Richmond, Eva recently graduated from the interior design department at VCU. Though most of her design work requires creating images digitally, she eagerly looks for any opportunity to create art with her hands! In the rare moments she isn't busy with schoolwork, you can expect to spot Eva thrifting around for old furniture or working on a home improvement project. Most importantly, she is a proud mother of a beautiful tuxedo cat, Tony!
Gary's first coloring book when he was a kid got him hooked. Geez it was hard staying inside those lines! Then one day he drew his left hand and it looked like his left hand. He took art all through high school. Majored in History at Virginia Tech. No more art classes, but always had a sketch pad or canvas close by. On his own he studied the great masters, Monet, Van Gogh, Bob Ross. He spent the past 8 years instructing at Spirited Art. He worked 31 years at Verizon. He has a wife, Lucy and daughter, Kelly. He is a tennis coach at Collegiate HS and a USTA tennis official. Whether it's a brush stroke or a tennis stroke he has you covered.
A recent graduate from the School of Visual Arts at Virginia Tech, Kat earned her BFA in Creative Technology with a minor in Cinema. As an aspiring local artist, Kat's current body of work utilizes experimental video, but during her studies, she received training in multiple studio practices, including painting. In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her doggo Opi or enjoying a good movie.
Kerry’s love of art started with an appreciation of other people’s work! With a passion for visiting art Museums, she decided to dip her brush in the paint. The joy of losing yourself in something new and bringing a blank canvas to life has brought much joy to her life. Kerry previously worked at Spirited Art for four years and continues to appreciate the ever-changing art scene.
Mahari is a an artist living and working in Richmond, Virginia. She received her B.F.A. in Painting & Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University with a minor in Art History. As a full time artist, Mahari spends most of her time in her studio layering large scale, figurative, oil paintings with glass, fabric, beads and other materials.
McKenzie is an artist by birth, designer by trade, and boss babe at heart. She recently launched her own business offering architectural renderings to builders, realtors, and architects and is enjoying the thrills and fears of entrepreneurship. McKenzie graduated from UNC-Greensboro with a degree in Interior Architecture, enjoys the great outdoors with her husband, and desperately wants to adopt a cat.
Naila was born a creative spirit. As a contract artist/designer, she works first hand with nonprofits and charities that utilize creativity and freedom of expression. She has a B.F.A in Art and a minor in Communication Studies. When she's not painting and drawing she's tattooing, jamming to music, and baking muffins.
Shauna was born and raised in Buffalo, NY and moved to Richmond in 2016. She has a Master's Degree in Accounting, but left that life behind to open Painting with a Twist. Shauna has always been an artist at heart and was ready to make a change and follow her passion for painting and becoming a business owner.