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Babz Lupoli is driven to create big bold energetic pieces that draw the viewer inside and make them feel and seek something new or hidden within themselves. She paints intuitively and is continuously amazed at the shapes and concepts that show up as if by magic.  Recycling and gluing various papers and tidbits of life onto her pieces is especially gratifying.

“I believe that all of the arts enrich our lives, lift our psyches, help us improve our outlooks and heal our bodies and souls. We all need to surround ourselves with art that we can create and enjoy and share. All beauty is immensely powerful and inspiring."

I love being in nature, and I love to sing. With our natural resources disappearing at an alarming rate, photography allows me to capture those special moments of awe and wonder that I see in the stunning Florida sunsets, green hammocks and forests, beautiful coastal wildlife, grandeur of the ocean, and peacefulness of a calm river. I feel truly blessed to live in a beautiful place with such a rich and diverse ecosystem – I only hope it will stay that way for future generations.  I have been a long supporter of ecology and environmental protection, and volunteer when and where possible to assist in protecting our planet. A healthy planet is healthy for us. I volunteer with Volusia County Environmental Management Adopt-A-Beach program to keep our beach clean, and the Washback program to protect sea turtles.  I am a member of the Florida Women’s Art Association, Art League of Daytona Beach, Casements Camera Club, and the Ormond Memorial Art Museum.   My work has been exhibited at Ormond Memorial Art Museum, Arts on Granada, Ormond Beach Environmental Discovery Center, The Casements, The Hub on Canal(NSB), and the Art League of Daytona Beach, where my “What Storm?” received a Judge’s Choice award.  Since May of 2020, during the pandemic I have been singing with several virtual choirs worldwide, our church (virtually), and with the Daytona Beach Choral Society. I moved to Ormond-By-The-Sea in 2014 with my husband and two cats.

Born in northeastern Czech Republic, Dušana  emigrated to the USA in 1968, settling in Bucks County, Pa. During this time, Dusana participated in many local and regional art shows and working on her craft in her spare time. In 1989, upon relocating to St. Petersburg, FL, Dusana was contracted by Madeira Beach Art Gallery as the Artist in Residence. It was in this role she developed her passion for watercolors and natural Florida flora and fauna, and her work was enthusiastically acquired by many visitors from around the globe. In the early 2000s residing in Jupiter, FL, Dusana put together her first studio, allowing her to expand her artistic ventures to include teaching children and adults. Offerings included classes on watercolors and acrylics, as well as pottery and clay, and glass work. Dusana continued to exhibit at local art festivals and fine art shows, often garnering awards and recognition for her work. Today, Dusana is based in Flagler Beach and uses her creative energy and talent to assemble and create truly unique pieces of Fused Glass. Taking many of the lessons learned regarding texture and form, depth and light, Dusana’s glass is truly something to behold. Dusana enjoys the challenges and rewards of being an artist, learning new mediums, creating unique pieces, and sharing the tools and technique required. Above all she is a person dedicated to the Arts and the Art world.

Born in Colombia, South America and ever since I was a child, I was fascinated with color. One of my uncles had the business of building and designing floats for parades and stages for events. I saw him many times directing his workers to do his creations. One day He let me help painting and designing. Then, I become interesting in creating and expressing the ideas with color. During my school years I had private classes in drawing and painting. Few works I did. After those school years I never paint again until I retired from working. Art Workshops have been the way of learning the art of papier- mache and painting.  I had studied with great teachers in USA, South America, Mexico and Europe to learn the use of different techniques and materials. Today it is the way I express myself with my art. I like to share my knowledge with others, teaching them art in a form of abstraction, using some touch of realism. Constantly, I try new ways to express the ideas with color and marks.  Many layers I paint, using gels mediums, gesso and other materials, which creates visual textures without a previous conceived idea. I trust the process of my way of painting adding layers of paints. I enjoy the making and experimenting. I hope you do too enjoy my artwork. At age 13, I won My first National Art Contest. Art then, took a backseat to my professional career and motherhood. I have won many awards; eight of them for Best in Show. My artwork is in private collections in the USA, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Greece, Panama, Puerto Rico, India, Scotland and Spain. I am not a realistic painter, but I keep some realism in creating the compositions. I understand Art as the expression of my inner feelings, not a copy of existing objects. In my opinion Art is a way of transforming objects into feelings and colors expresses the moods and emotions. I teach my techniques to others to awaken their creativity. I price my original artwork reasonably to provide the opportunity to acquire the work and fulfill my desire to be in many homes and businesses worldwide

J. Walker Fischer is the son of the late Cdr. Edwin Fischer and Sara Fischer, longtime Ormond Beach residents and OMAM activists. He is a 7th generation Floridian, graduate of Seabreeze High School, Furman University and the University of Florida and is an Army officer Vietnam veteran. Retired from careers in public relations and broadcasting, he currently divides his time between residences in Ormond Beach and Laurel Park North Carolina. A victim of "viewfinderitis", Walker's addiction to amateur photography began with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera in the 1950s. Since then he has dabbled with myriad 35mm still and 8mm motion picture cameras, darkroom magic, finally graduating to digital photography. Although he has worked professionally with photography, he prefers to shoot with unsophisticated quick-on-the-draw point and shoot cameras, not smartphones or SLRs. Lately you will find Walker, a former longboard surfer, up to his neck in the ocean shooting "inner waves", the hollow waves along Ormond Beach shore and sandbar breaks with occasional surfers and paddle boarders in the background. The pinnacle of his wave photography: shooting from the water the world-famous Waimea Bay shore break on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.

Jill Bright lives on a farm near her native town of Hahira, Georgia. Her interest in art began with photography, which she still enjoys. Her first entry in Valdosta's Spring into Art" exhibition earned an award of Merit for her photograph of Nutt, her Brittany Spaniel. Jill is a nature and animal lover and many of her works features pets, livestock and wildlife. All of her works feature brilliant colors. "Like most artist, I paint my surroundings. I do it in color." On the difference between painting wildlife and people, Jill says, "I found that I like painting expressions, whether an animal or a person; it begins with the eyes." Her other interests include cooking, skeet shooting, and social and duplicate bridge.

A native of South Georgia, Jim Touchton studied art at Valdosta State University completing his masters at the University of Georgia. His artistic journey led him to New York where he befriended Elaine and Willem de Kooning, influential artist of the Abstract Expressionism Movement. Elaine de Kooning painted the portrait of John F. Kennedy that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Willem de Kooning was a part of a group of artists that came to be known as the “New York School” that included such great artist as Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Han Hofmann and Robert Motherwell. These artists changed the art world. Jim Touchton lived, traveled, worked and studied under Elaine de Kooning, and spent time in the presence of her husband. Elaine’s influence of expressionism is reflected in a statement by Touchton, “Painting is action, response and reflex.” His artworks bring to the viewer the visualization of his intimate and immediate relationship with his surrounding world.

I never went to school for art, and I was always in awe of those who had “the gift” that enabled them to create. For years I felt the creativity inside me, but it would only come out in short, unpredictable bursts. I never made the space for it. That changed around 2014, when I created space to start making art on a regular basis. Through the use of unconventional art materials (think newspaper, rubbing alcohol, food coloring and bleach) my understanding of creativity and art began to shift and expand. I realized that I don’t need an art degree to be an artist. I don’t need a collection of expensive art supplies to validate my creative voice. I have fallen madly in love with the process of making art. Each piece that I create goes through so many different incarnations: it can be awkward and uncomfortable, and then euphoric and exhilarating, or disappointing and unbearable. Learning how to move through these phases gracefully is not unlike my life outside of the canvas. More and more these days, the creative process ends with something I actually enjoy looking at. Sometimes it doesn’t, and I’m learning to becoming comfortable with that as well. My hope is that, in looking at my art, you are moved in the same way I have been during the creation of each of these works. If any of them tug on you, even if for a brief moment, then we’ve connected. You’ve seen me and I’ve moved you. This is why I make art.

Robert Clayton Shirk was born in Tarrytown New York in 1952 and grew up in South Florida. The product of a broken marriage, Robert visited his artist father's Manhattan studio during holidays and summer vacations. As a junior in college he needed a break from his business studies and took an elective course in design. Falling in love again with his first passion, he finished college in 1977 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. During college Robert won "Best in Show" awards in various student art shows and was selected into and received an ‘Honorable Mention’ award in the 1976 "Bicentennial American Painters In Paris" show in Paris, France. During this time, Robert’s paintings were created on both sides of clear plexiglass. He found it's transparent flat surface perfect for depicting his hard edge surrealistic landscapes. For the next 10 years Robert was selling in South Florida galleries, and being commissioned for his paintings. He was also working part time as a graphic designer with various advertising agencies. Putting down his paintbrush in 1987, Robert got married and took a full-time job as Art Director at a Coral Springs agency. Five years later in 1992 he started a successful marketing business that he ran with his wife for 23 years. In 2015, a couple of years after moving to North East Florida, Robert sold his business and was free to go back to his roots and paint. 

A mostly self-taught oil painter, Wally's work is informed by many years of living on the Tomoka River and over 50 years of surfing along the Florida east coast. His technique for studio painting is a slow one, using multiple layers of thin and thick oil paint over a period of months and sometimes longer in order for the painting to evolve beyond his initial concept into something deeper and more meaningful. He likes to think of this process as a collaboration between himself and the painting.