Bill McCully

Bill McCully is a lake kid who spent his summers and as much of the rest of the year as possible at his family cottage on Lake Wawasee. A sixth generation Hoosier and graduate of Ball State University, Bill retired after a 40 year career in Information Technology sales to his home at Wawasee. Bill is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation and spends his time volunteering on behalf of the WACF, cruising the shoreline with his morning coffee and spending time with his wife Janet, his two adult children and their families while passing along his love of the lake to his two his grandchildren.

Jerry Sweeten

Dr. Jerry Sweeten returns in this second ArtNature project as its lead essayist, this time examining the ecological wonders of Indiana’s glacial lakes. Dr. Sweeten taught biology at Manchester University (formerly Manchester College), where he is Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies. He owns and operates the Ecosystems Connections Institute in Denver, Indiana. His work centers on the ecological systems and restoration of waterway systems with primary focus on the Eel River Basin restoration. He and his wife, Melinda, live on a 40-acre property along the Eel River, a location they stumbled upon while on a trip to collect river water from one of their research sites.

Kyle Malott

Kyle Malott (Bmethwen) is a language specialist with the Pokagon Band from Niles, MI. Kyle learned Potawatomi from fluent native speakers for four years, before moving back home to teach his fellow Pokagon Band citizens. Kyle has studied the Potawatomi language for 15 years total.

Carol Strock Wasson

Carol Strock Wasson is a signature member of American Women Artists, and a Master Pastelist member of Chicago Pastel Painters. In 2019, she achieved Master Circle status with IAPS (International Association of Pastel Societies) and in 2022 became a Master at Pastel Society of America. 

She is focused on painting with spontaneity and freshness with primarily pastel medium and occasionally oil. Carol’s work encompasses the rural area where she lives, and focuses on color, shape, and design in the plein air tradition as well as in the studio. Though she is known mainly for her work in the pastel medium, she also works in oil, monotype prints and watercolor.

Kristina Knowski

Kristina Knowski is a watercolorist depicting primarily avifauna and is best known for her portfolio of extinct bird species. The natural world is her inspiration, drawing from the existing beauty of the environment.

An avid birder, Kristina spends much of her time sketching and researching species in the field. All works are watercolor on paper. A planned composition is drawn first, followed carefully by several layers of transparent paint. The extant, or existing, bird paintings are usually more illustrational, creating an optimum version of the species similar to that of a field guide. These are made as a formal study of the bird and keeping the background minimal. The extinct species, on the other hand, have a more uninhibited approach. Backgrounds are intentionally loose and ambiguous, contrasting representation with abstraction.

Avon Waters

Influenced by early mornings and late evening dust hovering over Indiana farm fields, Avon Waters began art as a child. In college, he painted the light, mimicked impressionism, post-impressionists or other historical art figures. But it was while living in the San Fransisco Bay area, Avon began sensing his own style, exploring the brighter color palettes influenced by the waving golden grasses and lavender shadows casted by the city's gritty Tenderloin, historic row houses, and North Beach. 

After returning to the Midwest, Avon's principal medium became pastel, experimenting with wet pastel techniques, and heavy surface textures, applying his interest of air rather than the light around an object, preferring to see the air of his rural flatlands in his work today.

Rick Wilson

Rick Wilson is a self-taught Indiana artist whose work is influenced by realism portrayals of the French Barbizon school and Hudson Valley school. He’s been painting since 2003. His 2016 solo traveling exhibition “The Nature of Art–Painted Parks,” was an award-winning Indiana Bicentennial Legacy project of 70 pieces depicting Indiana’s state parks. His work has been in the Hoosier Salon, Indiana Heritage Arts, Richmond Art Museum, Oil Painters of America and American Society of Marne Artists.

John Kelty

John C. Kelty is a nationally recognized artist who resides in Fort Wayne, IN. He holds a degree in commercial art and worked in the printing industry for the next 20 years. In 2005, John picked up his brushes once more and embarked on a fine art career. He is co-owner of Gallery 02 in FortWayne, where he teaches weekly watercolor classes and maintains a studio. John works exclusively in and strives to create an atmosphere through the inclusion of human elements and the use of a personal calligraphy of brush strokes. The result is a visual narrative that captures a moment in time. His subject matter varies but he is most comfortable with the urban setting and all the life and activity that occurs there.