Thomas Cleveland was born and raised in Oklahoma. He attended East Texas State University and launched his career in Houston, designing the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority's transit token, among other high-profile projects. Cleveland's commitment to excellence won him honors from the New York International Art Directors Club, American Advertising Federation, PRINT Regional and other organizations in his field. He currently shares his artistic talent with students and clients alike at his art studio and school located in Cypress, Texas.
Barbara Fox is a self-employed artist, illustrator and designer. Her work adorns surfaces ranging from wall murals to coffee mugs, and her paintings have been exhibited nationally in juried competitions and galleries. Her passion is water color, and she primarily paints portraits, still life and florals. Fox also teaches her watercolor technique in classes and workshops around the country. She graduated from the University of California at Davis and completed graduate courses at San Francisco's Academy of Art College. Fox and her family live in upstate New York.
Susan Gamble is a graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts and has more than 20 years of experience as a graphic designer and illustrator. She has worked in graphic design, illustration (both traditional and digital), Web design and animation. Her design work includes posters, product labels, brochures, illustrations for national magazines, logos and advertising art. Her illustrations and animations are featured in books and pilot training courseware and on Web sites. Gamble's work is displayed all across the U.S. Much of her work was done for foundations that exist to preserve America's history and its natural beauty. Special projects have included portraits of President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Admiral William J. Crowe Jr., which was done for a book about the U.S. Navy Memorial. Gamble recently had the honor of rendering the design for the new Air Force Combat Action Medal for the U.S. Air Force.
Joel Iskowitz has created artwork for three decades that has graced the covers of books, periodicals, journals, public spaces, coins and postage stamps worldwide. He is also an active U.S. Air Force artist and has a number of oils in its permanent collection. Iskowitz has twice been invited to document Space Shuttle missions and his artwork is on permanent display at the Kennedy Space Center Museum. Profiles of his numismatic and philatelic art have been featured in many international journals, including CoinAGE, Watercolor and American Artist, and his murals have been featured in Exhibit Builder magazine. He has been awarded both bronze and silver medals for his corporate illustrations and grand-scale public art in Portfolios.com international competitions. Iskowitz has also received the National Oceanic Society's and Philatelic Society's citations for his contributions to space philately.
Richard Masters is an associate professor of art at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1985 in studio art and his Master of Arts in 1988 and Master of Fine Arts in 1990 in design from the University of Iowa. His pencil drawings have been featured in more than 40 national and international juried fine arts exhibitions throughout the country since 2001. During this period, his work has been critically recognized with best of show or top honors awards eight times. Masters wrote an article for the Journal of Design and Technology, a periodical published by Design Net, of Seoul, South Korea, and was the recipient of two faculty research grants from his university. He has also created illustrations for the publication and advertising industries for the past 20 years. Born in Sioux City, Iowa, Masters lives with his family in Appleton, Wis.
Donna Weaver studied sculpting, painting and print-making at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, graduating with a fine arts degree in 1966. A native of northern Kentucky, she worked for several of the area's toy companies, including Kenner Toys and Hasbro, sculpting action figures and other toys. From 2000 until her retirement in 2006, she served as a sculptor-engraver at the United States Mint at Philadelphia. While at the United States Mint, Weaver designed the 2007 Montana, Wyoming and Idaho state quarters and several others. She has revived the art of miniature bas-relief wax portraiture, which was popular in the U.S. between 1750 and 1840. Named one of Early American Life magazine's best artists, Weaver's wax portraits have been judged to be of museum quality. She divides her time between sculpting wax portraits, gallery exhibits and commissioned work and participating in living history events and juried shows in Virginia, Indiana and other states.
Paul Cainto Balan, a native of Paete, Philippines, a town famous for its sculptors, painters, musicians and poets, is a descendant of Pablo Bague, one of Paete's master sculptors. Balan was an active participant in the Philippine art scene during his studies in fine arts at the University of Santo Thomas in Manila, and many of his religious works, ranging from murals to stained glass, are on display at various churches in the Philippines. In May 2001, Balan immigrated to the U. S., where he continues to produce a wide range of works. He is the recipient of numerous accolades and was the subject of profiles in local publications and on news programs. He exhibits his paintings and sculptures regularly, most notably his Lupang Hinirang Series–the first-ever visual interpretation of the Philippine national anthem. Balan became an American citizen in 2005 and lives with his wife, Marra, and his daughter, Micailla Loren, in Lake County, Ill.
Bill Burgard is an illustrator and graphic designer living with his family in Ann Arbor, Mich. He is a lecturer at the University Of Michigan School Of Art and Design and a freelance artist. He created murals for a permanent exhibit at the University of Michigan Health Center and Medical School. He has designed a wide variety of illustrations for book covers, posters, magazines and package designs for national corporations. Burgard's work has been selected for publication in the annuals of the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration.
Chris Costello is a professional graphic designer, illustrator and typographer with more than 30 years of experience. He has created magazine and book illustrations for clients such as Random House, Simon and Schuster, Oxford University Press and Harper Collins. His work for Coldwell Banker received numerous awards for design excellence and was published in several Graphic Design USA Awards Annuals. Costello has designed Web sites for best-selling novelists and created original font designs now owned or distributed by Monotype and the International Typeface Corporation. He works primarily in pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic and pencil and has produced a line of art prints and limited edition greeting cards. Costello graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with a degree in graphic design and visual communication and lives with his family in Massachusetts.
Gibbons earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and a Master of Fine Arts from the New York Academy of Art. He is a self-employed artist specializing in murals and illustrations. His murals are on display in public and private spaces throughout the U.S., and his illustrations have been published in an array of magazines and newspapers including the Boston Globe, Washington Post and Business Week. He is currently pursuing projects in botanical and natural science illustration.
Thomas Hipschen was born in Bellevue, Iowa, and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1968 to participate in a 10-year engraving apprenticeship at the United States Mint's sister agency, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. He studied at George Washington University, American University and the Corcoran School of Art. As a banknote picture engraver, Hipschen engraved more than 130 postage and revenue stamps, as well as the portraits of Benjamin Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln that appear on paper currency. In addition to stamps and currency, Hipschen has engraved many portraits of U.S. government officials, including Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, a number of Treasury secretaries and chief justices. His commissioned engravings have appeared on banknotes, print portfolios, souvenir cards and book plates for organizations and individuals throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. His works have garnered awards in stationery manufacture and printmaking. In July 2000, he was honored with a retrospective show of both his official and private artwork at the Chattahoochee Art Museum in La Grange, Ga. Hipschen shares a studio with his wife, Pattee, and teaches printmaking in Arlington, Va.
Frank Morris is an award-winning artist, designer and illustrator. He worked in New York City for 20 years as a book and advertising illustrator, graphic designer and portrait artist. His paintings are included in private collections and hang in corporate board rooms across the country, and they have been reproduced in magazines such as Newsweek and New York, for which he painted portraits of Presidents Reagan and Carter and first ladies Nancy Reagan and Rosalynn Carter. His designs include work for best-selling authors such as Anne Rice, John Updike and John LeCarre. He attended The University of Memphis Art Center College of Design, the Art Students League and The New York Academy of Art. Morris' work has been honored in top publications such as The Artist, Print and Communication Arts.
Ron Sanders is an honors graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design. His commercial clients include the Boy Scouts of America, National Guard, Doubleday Book Club and numerous regional newspapers. He has also produced historical illustrations for textbooks published by McDougal Littell, Steck-Vaughn and others. Sanders' work has been exhibited in galleries nationwide, and it is on display in the permanent collections of the Indiana State Museum, the Alvin C. York State Historic Area and the Air Force Weather Agency. His symbol-laden portrait of Abraham Lincoln, painted on location at the Lincoln Museum in Ft. Wayne, Ind., was featured in The Lincoln Enigma.
David Westwood has worked at advertising agencies and studios as a graphic designer and illustrator and currently works as a creative director in southern California. His design skills span print, broadcast and Web, and his diverse client list includes Disney, EMI, Gucci, IBM, Mattel, Universal Studios and the U.S. Olympic Team. His popular Westwood woodcut font and logo designs are recognized throughout the world. He also has a passion for sculpting, which makes his association with the United States Mint especially gratifying.
Gary Whitley is a self-employed artist residing in Kelso, Wash. Since 1990, his specialty has been historical and natural history art for museums, aquariums and zoos nationwide. For the last 12 years, he has been under contract as an artist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He is also under contract with the National Park Service's Southeast Region for artistic illustration of historic and cultural events. Whitley's prior experience includes the creation of illustrations and editorial graphics while working for newspapers in Oregon and Washington state. Some recent projects include illustrations for the children's book The Pumpkin Goblin Makes Friends by Aaron Taylor, life-sized illustrations for the John Steinbeck Museum in Salinas, Calif., illustrations for the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and graphic illustrations for the Muhammad Ali Museum in Louisville, Ky.