Second Quarter Master & Guest Artists

Mary is best known for her mixed media collages with organic deckled edges that incorporate painted tissue papers, sheet music and hand written scriptures. Her work is influence by her love of nature and nearly 40 years of being a church choir singer and cantor, which has imprinted the words of the Psalms on her heart and mind. The words of scripture and sacred music are so deeply rooted in her being that they naturally express themselves in her art. Working with themes of peace and joy expressed through scenes in nature, Martin begins each work of art by choosing a scripture that matches the theme of the collage. She incorporates the scripture into the artwork by writing it on the base layer of paper, and by mixing scripture blessed water into her paints. She layers sheet music with lyrics about peace or joy under painted tissue papers, creating tranquil landscapes, seascapes and floral images. Her intent is to create a space with the art where viewers can experience a moment of peace and joy within themselves.

Tom is an animal and nature artist. His enjoyment of God's creation has given him a passion for wildlife and preserving the environment. Tom has a degree in Studio Art and Design from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He also studied at the Kansas City Art Institute. He served as a Graphic Aritst for the United States Air Force Reserve. He is a retired, award-winning artist for Hallmark Cards, Inc. Tom has exhibited his acrylic paintings in many national shows. His work had been represented with the Society of Animal Artists, National Oil and Acrylic Painter's Society, Artists for Conservation, American Academy of Equine Art, Paint America Society, Birds in Art, and Arts for the Parks. Tom was a featured artist on Missouri Outdoors, a PBS program sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation. He was featured in Horses in Art Magazine and American Artist magazine's special issue, Acrylic Highlights. Tom was featured in Art of the West Magazine's Celebrating the Horse section. He has created Star Wars art for George Lucas, and art for major book publishers.

It all started with a dream. We were shocked how quickly that dream became reality!

It has always been a dream of ours to open an art studio. In fact, we didn’t even know we each had that dream separately until a few years ago.

We were talking over dinner one night, and we both realized that we each wanted to start an art studio in a small town with a loft just above it. Once we both realized we had a shared dream, we went to work slowly making this a reality.

For more than 20 years, Fort Scott had been one of those towns that we would visit for groceries for the family farm. It was a beautiful town inside and out. Just recently, we started watching the entire town undergo a transformation. Buildings were being bought up, and restoration projects were happening throughout town.

One weekend, we were in Fort Scott and walked past a building for sale that we had seen online. It was beautiful and the perfect size for a studio.

There was a number on the For Sale sign, so we called. Phil answered the phone (which he never does on a Saturday) and showed up 15 minutes later to show us around the building. A local expert in building restoration was even in the area, and he answered all of our questions that come with an old building like this.

We like to say that Phil changed the trajectory of our life in 15 minutes because the rest is history. We signed the papers within a few weeks and started moving in.

Meet Our Team