Here are the first artists presented in the Arts Nest Gallery from Sept 15 through October 2023.

Abby Alzamora | Daniel Genova | Rena Hottinger | Gail Tuchman | Tina Rosinski
William Landau | Jodi Sibilia | Dori Iannucci | Joe Bilger | Lindita Lushaj

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Abby Alzamora

My artistic inspiration comes from nature and the human experience. I love being able to learn something new everyday from the world around me. As an artist, being able to share my unique perspectives gives me encouragement to never back down and to always be excited for the unexpected.

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Daniel Genova

The pieces I have chosen for this exhibit are all figurative portraits taken from my imagination. I have chosen acrylic paint, hardware and stretched canvas as my means of expression.The nails have a physical angularity that harkens back to " Cubism" and shapes the direction of the portrait. By using common materials that are usually associated with everyday construction, I think I have found a way to create art that has a "proletariat" edge. No pun intended.

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Rena Hottinger

With many years of experience in healthcare, Rena Hottinger has consistently balanced her career with a passion for the arts. She attended a certificate program in Floral Design @ the NY Botanical Gardens. Nowadays, if she is not creating floral bouquets with real flowers, she is painting or photographing them. As a result, she is being recognized for her strong flower paintings. Rena has worked as a creative designer as well as volunteering for ArtWorks, a foundation in NJ created to bring art expression to chronically ill children. She completed college degrees in Nursing and holds an MBA.

Rena born and raised in Brooklyn and Staten Island, NY now lives in the Poconos. She utilizes multiple media for free-style self-expression including acrylic, watercolor, oil, soft pastel, charcoal, ink, collage, clay, photography, and floral design. Appreciating Buddhist philosophy, she explains that “creating art” is a virtue of wholesomeness, an exploration of truth, and contributes to a meaningful life that benefits all. Rena contends that everything happens in the moment—including creating & appreciating art.

Beginning in 2018, Rena chose to spend time learning from and reproducing paintings by the “Old Masters” including van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, Degas, Chagall, Picasso, O’Keeffe and more. A large number of her exhibited works have been created in this way with current inspiration drawn from exploring the works of Joan Mitchell and many other American Abstract Expressionists. Drawn to the “world of the abstract” Rena freely enjoys creating in this style particularly on larger canvas. She also likes making collages—art in mixed media expressing a unique message. An award-winning artist in acrylic painting, photography and 3-D works, her artwork is usually on exhibit somewhere in northeastern PA and the larger Tri-State area. Rena continues to expand her exposure on the international stage while emphasizing a contemporary abstract style of art.

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Gail Tuchman

Gail Tuchman has had a notable, dual career in the publishing world both as a publisher and as a prolific, award-winning author of children’s fiction and nonfiction. Two of her lifelong passions—writing and making artwork—intrinsically influence one another. What Gail loves about making photographs is seeing, feeling, and capturing a transient “moment” in time—for all time—creating a visual, experiential, emotional memory-keeper to revisit, to share. In her photography, she speaks to the beauty, strength, and fragility of our natural, cultural, and political environments. The bioluminescence of fireflies, the rising moon—whatever inspires or influences her, she photographs. She looks for the essence, the heart of the natural element—light dancing off a surface or contrasting dark shadows unbound by light—exploring a subject, then often capturing one aspect that embraces the spirit of the whole.

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Tina Rosinski

I am basically a self taught artist. I come from a family of artist though. My mom did portraits, my aunts buildings and flowers, so I had assistance my growing life. I have been more guided lately to produce spiritually themes paintings, but still, as in the past a little humor sometimes slips in. I like to leave the viewer with an uplifting impression.

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William Landau

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Jodi Sibilia

Jodi Sibilia was born and raised on a sheep farm in Northern Vermont, where she graduated from Johnson State University in 2009 with a BA in Studio Art. Motivated to help others, she moved to upstate New York in 2010, where she earned her Emergency Medical Training Certificate and started working for an ambulance company. During the next several years, Sibilia would go on to work with the Barrett Art Center, running a photography darkroom as she continued to grow her artistic vision. In addition, Sibilia started offering children's classes in her home studio and, in 2013, moved to Pittsburgh to complete a Master's Degree in Teaching from Chatham University. Returning to New York, Sibilia continued diligently on her art portfolio while continuing her education in wellness and yoga. She opened her yoga studio, Yoga By The Lake, which blends art and wellness in the summer of 2015.

After years of teaching art in public schools, Sibilia left education to pursue a full-time career in wellness and creative design. In 2021 she was selected to curate The Narrowsburg Union Galleries, where she continues supporting local and upcoming artists in curating themed exhibitions. In Lake Huntington, New York, Sibilia owns a yoga studio that supports the local community by focusing on the healing arts and giving her clients a safe space to practice. She joined the Cochecton Volunteer Ambulance Corps in 2021 and works with her team to run fundraising and outreach events on wellness. Her current volunteer projects include spearheading a sensory garden in the Cochecton Volunteer Ambulance Park for community use.

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Dori Iannucci

Born in Rockland County, NY, Dori Kunstmann is a lifelong weekender to this area, just across the border in Pennsylvania. After raising 3 children, running a housecleaning business, and fostering countless rescued pregnant dogs and puppies in Hunterdon County New Jersey, she became a full-time resident of Northeast PA in January 2023. Self taught as an artist other than high school art classes, art, animals and nature have always been Dori’s passions, and these 3 are combined in the ancient art form of batik. Batik involves the dying of natural fabric or other fibrous materials using melted wax as a resist. Dori’s own designs are sketched freehand onto the white or light material, then melted wax is applied to protect the areas that are to remain white or light. The fabric is then dyed in the lightest color of the design, dried, then waxed again to protect the areas where this new color is to remain. Darker colors are added and waxed in this fashion until the design is complete. A hot iron is used to remove the wax from the finished design between layers of newspaper and paper towels, revealing the finished design. Along with the batiks on sheet music and fabric presented here, Dori also upcycles clothing using reverse batik, giving new life to garments found at thrift stores and yard sales. Another outlet for creativity is painting, and continuing with the upcycling theme, she renews old wooden boxes and other natural objects and antiquities with nature-themed paintings.

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Joe Bilger

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Lindita Lushaj

Lindita Lushaj, originally from Albania, moved to Lake Huntington, NY over two decades ago, where she has resided ever since. She is a distinguished alumna of Narrowsburg Central School and holds an Associate Degree in Business Management and Accounting from SUNY Sullivan, a Bachelor of Science in Accounting Degree from SUNY New Paltz, and a Masters of Business Administration from SUNY New Paltz.

For Lindita, living in Lake Huntington has been a source of great joy. She admires the natural beauty of the town all year round, which she finds particularly inspiring during her morning walks around the lake. Lindita often captures the stunning scenery through photographs and videos, which she enjoys sharing with others.