Il Festival delle sculture di ghiaccio di Harbin

Il Festival Internazionale Cinese del Ghiaccio e Neve - “Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival” - si svolge fin dal 1984 nella città di Harbin, sita nella provincia orientale del Heilongjiang, confinante con la Siberia.
Dal 1984 il Festival della Neve e del Ghiaccio porta in città i migliori scultori del ghiaccio che su una superficie di 750 mila metri quadrati, con 180 mila metri cubi di ghiaccio e 150 mila di neve creano palazzi, ponti, strade, pagode, che formano un'intera città lucente dalla bellezza surreale.
Ogni anno si realizzano sculture di ghiaccio che tendono a riprodurre una intera città, creando un'atmosfera incantata grazie anche a giochi di luce. Durante il Festival sono previste gare di scultura di ghiaccio e neve che attirano centinaia di artisti da tutto il mondo. Ufficialmente il festival ha inizio il 5 gennaio e si conclude dopo un mese, ma in realtà la manifestazione dura fino a quando le condizioni meteo lo permettono: è infatti l'arrivo della primavera, e del conseguente innalzamento della temperatura, a decretare lo sciogliersi delle sculture.

Jean Abrie, 1962 | Figurative / Wildlife painter

South African painter Jean Abrie was born in the former Eastern Transvaal and in his early years grew up in Zimbabwe.

There he developed a great love for wildlife.

Upon returning to South African he completed his secondary schooling and graduated at the University of Pretoria.

Jean prefers to work in oils and capture the many facets and mystical qualities of African wilderness in a photo realistic style on large canvasses.

Ralph Grady James ~ Wildlife painter

In the Piedmont area of North Carolina Ralph Grady James spends his days in creative pursuits. Nestled at the base of the Appalachian Mountains, the Piedmont not only gives quick access to the culturally rich mountains but is also close to North Carolina's picturesque Outer Banks. Together, these areas provide him with a wealth of inspiration and subject matter for his work.
Ralph attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in high school and later Indiana University to major in music. 

Peter Miller | Vintage Car painter

British painter* Peter Miller (1939-2014) has been inspired by the early motoring scene and the evocation of the Golden Era which it personifies. The key subject matter in this has been the Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Car, particularly the cars of the 1920s and 1930s. Painted with genuine feeling and creative intensity, his sole aim was to create a good painting not just a picture of a motor car. The series was originally planned as a thematic series of twenty works which eventually developed into a total of 108 oil paintings, of which eighty two were recently displayed at Gibson Moore Fine Art gallery in London. Peter Miller has exhibited at many solo exhibitions and mixed and group exhibitions.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Il pittore Spagnolo Bartolomé Esteban Pérez Murillo (1618-1682) è una delle figure più importanti della pittura Barocca spagnola.
Nacque nel 1618, ultimo figlio di una famiglia di quattordici fratelli. Suo padre, Gaspar Esteban, era un barbiere-chirurgo, sua madre si chiamava María Pérez Murillo, Bartolomé prese il suo cognome per firmare le sue opere. Alla morte dei genitori, essendo ancora un bambino, venne cresciuto da sua sorella maggiore, Ana, sposata anche lei con un barbiere-chirurgo di nome Juan Agustín de Lagares, con il quale Bartolomé ebbe una buona relazione. Si formò nella bottega di Juan Castillo dove conobbe la pittura fiamminga, nonostante non si sappia di suoi viaggi all'estero, si pensa che la conoscenza di questo tipo di pittura, da parte di Murillo, derivasse dal fatto che Siviglia era un importante centro commerciale all'epoca, questo favorì i contatti tra i cittadini di questa città con le popolazioni di mercanti del Nord Europa.

Guy Wiggins | Impressionist painter

Guy Carleton Wiggins NA (1883-1962), the noted American Impressionist and one of the foremost artists affiliated with the art colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1883.

He was the son of Carleton Wiggins, a prominent painter associated with the American Barbizon School. He spent the early years of his life in England where he received a grammar school education and traveled throughout Europe. Following in his father's footsteps, Wiggins became interested in painting and drawing during his boyhood.

His creative and technical abilities were acknowledged at the age of eight, when various New York critics publicly praised a group of watercolors he had done in France and Holland.

Christa Kieffer, 1949 | La Belle Époque

German painter* Christa Kieffer was born in Tubingen, Germany. As a child, her earliest memories are of “soaking up the atmosphere of a particular place or region”. An intuitive kindergarten teacher recognized Kieffer’s potential and provided her with a quiet place to draw and paint. The artist studied extensively throughout Europe then moved to the United States to attend the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.

Frédéric Dufoor, 1943

Born in Tournai, Belgian painter Frédéric Dufoor attended the Institute of Saint-Luc in Tournai and also the Academy of Mons. After a brief Bohemian interlude, he was enrolled with the studio of Louis Van Lint, at Saint-Luc in Brussels. In 1967, he went on to teach at the Superior Institute for Graphic Communications for 10 years, then held the post of professor at Saint-Luc in Brussels until December 1998. Initially, briefly influenced by his professors, he developed his art as an aesthetic one, spare, to the limits of abstraction.