The artists and writers selected as ArtAscent Gold from ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal issues.

Alex Steiner

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Azure Blues

I love BLUE.
Always have.
“BLUE.”
Blue; reminds me of home.

Azure blue reflections painted my childhood’s oceans.
Oceans that glimmer with dad’s hue.
Just like my eyes.
“Blue,” the name everyone had taken me for and my eyes…

Beginning with a short, emotional poem, Alex Steiner paints the story of Blue, the ode to her father who bequeathed her an ocean of memories and an endless lake of life lessons. “I love BLUE,” says the writer as she sophisticatedly draws the reader into her lexemic play of tiering metaphors and evocations, all drenched in a particular shade of azure. Gold Artist of the ArtAscent “Blue” call for entry. To see the full body of work and profile, grab a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal “Blue” issue.

Skott Chandler

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Skott Chandler

Playing a role of “an omniscient voyeur,” Skott Chandler explores the relationships of humans with their homes, revealing how everyday routines correlate with personal environment. Skott Chandler is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent “Home” Call For Artists! Read about this artist in the Home edition of ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal.

www.skottchandler.com

Katherine Muir

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Home

Home is the word I hear most often during my work day. The people who say it do not mean their room in the nursing home, although the staff tells them that this is their new home. No, home to them is the place they left, often when their world changed in an instant due to a broken hip. To learn the meaning of “home,” ask the white-haired woman sitting in a wheelchair who no longer has one….

As a psychologist practicing primarily in nursing homes, Katherine Muir is exposed to an atmosphere packed with nostalgia and longing, time after time. Hearing the word “home” repeatedly pronounced by the care facility residents, it became clear to her how their idea of home has shifted into a constant yearning for the life they once had. Touched and inspired, Katherine Muir composed an emotional essay as an “empathic tribute” to her elderly patients. Katherine Muir is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent “Home” Call For Writers. Read this artists’ written creation in the Home edition of ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal.

Michael Rand

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ArtAscent "Dark" call for entry winner

Peculiar organic sculptures invented by Michael Rand instantly awaken the emotions of unease and curiosity. The initial impression incites the association to the terrifying designs of H.R. Giger, the mastermind behind the phantasmagoric image of Ridley Scott’s “Alien.” Rand’s figures are strange and puzzling, reminiscent of the familiar, but unlike Giger’s openly villainous creatures, they are unthreatening and calmly present. Michael Rand is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent “Dark” Call For Artists! Read about this artist in the Dark edition of ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal.

www.studiorand.com

Jason Gibbs

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Shining Beacon

He remembered her. Her mind was a shining beacon in the darkness. They’d met, banally, at a bar, and begun talking. Soon they were sharing intimacies as if they’d known each other for years. He’d told her so much, and she had reciprocated. He thought that – finally – his long night was over. “Look, we’ve had a great time, but it’s over.” The words still hurt him. He knew why she’d said them; he’d tried to explain what he saw. “The world is dark. Everyone carries…

As a representative of a style labeled “flash fiction,” Jason Gibbs writes short stories that are often preoccupied with the idea of darkness in the world. A mystery entitled “Shining Beacon,” explores the concept of evil as the author has “often wondered if those who do evil things see the world in a different way from the rest of us” in order to comprehend “whether darkness was the source of bad intentions.” Jason Gibbs is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent “Dark” Call For Writers! To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal “Dark” issue.

www.jasonmgibbs.co.uk 

Aleta Lederwasch

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aletalederwasch_femalenudesitting

There is a moment, when the eye first falls on one of Aleta Lederwasch’s drawings of female nudes, when the mind flutters back briefly to the nudes of Egon Schiele, prompted by the similar exaggerated elongation of the figures, the slight angularity to the bodies’ curves, and their familiar linearity. But where Schiele’s frequently androgynous women exude a coldly in-your-face sexuality occasionally bordering on vulgar, Lederwasch’s women are almost inviting in comparison. If Schiele’s female nudes celebrated the id (an idea his fellow Austrian Sigmund Freud would have most certainly embraced), Lederwasch’s nudes have an air of romantic delicacy, even coziness, if you will, about them. Aleta Lederwasch is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent “Figures” Call For Artists! Read about her and her works in the Figures edition of ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal.

www.aletalederwasch.com.au

Ney Milá

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ArtAscent "Mother Earth" call Gold Artist

Deforestation isn’t a necessarily new narrative in the annals of art history – 19th century naturalist painters often depicted themes of industrialization and civilization as the ruin of nature, and other iterations of this theme most certainly existed even before them. Nevertheless, it is a subject as resonant today as it was in the early Industrial Age, and it is a narrative photographer Ney Milá pursues quietly, to powerful effect, in his straightforwardly entitled series Deforestation. Ney Milá is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent “Mother Earth” call for artists. To see the full body of work, grab a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal “Mother Earth” issue.

www.neym1215.wix.com/neymil

Hannah Moore

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hannahmoore_contained(bucket)

Hannah Moore’s series Containment has the visual impact of stumbling upon a crime scene – a disembodied arm scrabbling to free itself from a boot, a face bulging from the rusted gash of a bucket, a body lamenting its entrapment amid the detritus crammed into a cooler – and yet it somehow manages simultaneously to offer optimism, a sense that, were they to continue to push, pull, and contort themselves, these unfortunate folks might actually have a chance. Hannah Moore is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent “Emergence” call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal “Emergence” issue.

www.hannahmoorearts.carbonmade.com