Artist Bios

Nicole Elisa Perez is a creative and tattoo artist in Columbus, OH. Perez grew up in many different places and has a strong connection to her family and heritage in Puerto Rico. She is often influenced by the colors and love her family has shared with her from the beautiful communities to her time cooking with them. Artistically, Perez specialize in graphic bold designs with an emphasis on nature, space and the abstract. The most important part of her process comes from her synesthesia, which causes her to see imagery or colors due to sensory stimuli. Synesthesia can be different for everyone who has it, some people taste color, numbers or letters appear as a specific color or they can see sound. Perez’s work can be a bit odd or abstract due to this. “It has been challenging but joyful to mix life experiences with my synesthesia to create. I hope it is received with curiosity, wonder, and a hint of inspiration to get a little weird.”

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Gail Taber is a mixed media artist featuring sculpting and beading. Following a long career in banking, she spent many years training in every aspect of art making. This pursuit included traveling extensively to work with master’s of their craft to hone her skills in a variety of mediums.

Sculpting in clay remains an important part of her creative process. She was led to the wonderful world of beading in search of a more beautiful way to embellish her sculptures beyond glazes. Now her work includes found substrates, as well as her own sculptures. The combination of clay, seed beads, rhinestones, crystals, and old jewelry allow a magical transformation into a wonderful fantasy world that goes beyond nature as we know it…is it a human or a beast or a beastly human? It’s just fun! Sometimes it’s just to make a beautiful, sparkly object! No matter what, it is an exercise in patience and humility!

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Patrick Wayner is a fierce and focused artist who transforms wood and reclaimed materials into magical creatures. Concentrating on faux taxidermy, he offers a more sustainable and humane way to enjoy the beauty of the animal kingdom. His work is a complex assemblage of wood, acrylic, aerosol and reclaimed materials (old books and their covers, suitcases, radio diagrams, etc.). Patrick draws inspiration from the spirit animal realm and totems, connecting viewers through multiple ideological and theological iconic imagery. Patrick Wayner resides in Gahanna, Ohio with his wife and two sons. He has exhibited his work at multiple galleries in Columbus and out of state.