About the Members
MICHELE BEDIGIAN Take unusual color combinations and interesting graphic textures, add a little knowledge and feeling for culture, throw in an elegant sense of design and you get the whole picture of Michele Bedigian’s work. “In my paintings, my illustrations, my photography, in everything I do, it is my hope to entertain, inform and delight people with the beauty that I see around me.” In the past Michele has lent her painterly approach to a multitude of textile and garment design companies. Her decorative bent and love of history has also led her to art direct and refurbish full-sized American carousels still in operation today. Her award winning watercolors have been exhibited at WomanMade Gallery in Chicago, the Cinderella Stamp Essays in Montclair, the Estherwood Estates, Gallery 1482, the SmithBarney NY insurance galleries and Parsons School of Design in NYC. Her eye for advertising has been demanded by top agencies in NYC, most recently commissioned to work with DiNoto Inc. in the quest of designing and branding a visual look for FarCoast/Coca-Cola successfully launched in September of 2006. Michele is the founder of an independent arts program for children ages 7 to 12 and is the author/illustrator of “Blessed Hand of Little Moon”, a Native American Thanksgiving story for young readers. When she is not travelling on site with brush in hand, Michele can be found arm in arm with the team over at Studio 1482 illustrating and problem solving with the best of them.
GREG BETZA Greg Betza is an artist who believes that illustration is illumination. He does not limit his clients with a predetermined style, but with communication and aesthetics as his focus. He works in many mediums and styles in order to produce a solution as unique as the problem it is solving. This philosophy has led him to create work for a diverse group of clients, among them are E&J Gallo Winery, Carmichael Lynch, and Hemispheres Magazine. Greg is a graduate of Parsons School of Design, and has also had the honor of studying with the late David J. Passalacqua. Greg has received numerous awards from institutions such as American Illustration, American Graphic Design, and the Rx Club. His work has been exhibited at the National Arts Club and the Aronson Gallery, NYC.
DESPINA GEORGIADIS Despina Georgiadis was born in New York to Greek immigrant parents, and the influence of her culture’s rich tradition of art and storytelling is evident in everything she does, leading her to create one-of-a-kind illustration and problem solving for advertising, editorial, institutional and publishing. She is a magnificent storyboard illustrator loaded with unexpected storytelling and visual imagination. There is just something magical about her work. Despina is the author/illustrator of several educational fairy tales for children, including Talk of the Earth and Genetic Engineering Fables. Her love for children also led her to work with Project Reach Youth. “Helping the children sometimes feels like helping myself. They teach me. There is so much that can be learned from talking with them.” Although she was born American, Despina speaks Greek and still has ties to her parents’ homeland and has designed a series of labels for her grandfather’s olive oil. Despina’s work has been exhibited at Gallery 1482 and the Aronson Gallery, NYC.
MARGARET HURST Margaret Hurst creates reportage and illustration that are not what you’d expect, yet are exactly what you want: intelligent, cultural, uniquely personal. A professor at Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design and the University of Alaska, this Virgin Island native works in all areas, with all mediums, and always in great design. Margaret is a member of Studio 1482. She is the author/illustrator of the award winning “Grannie and the Jumbie,” published by Laura Geringer Books (Harper Collins imprint). Other culturally influenced books include Zoge, Mert Tangare, the Anansi Stories, Frog Sex, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Stories of Sinbad. Margaret’s fabric illustrations from her book, “Grannie and the Jumbie”, were featured in the aricle, “The Power of Collaboration,” Teaching Artist Journal, 2005, with the illustration work of Eric Carle, Ringgold and Myers. Some of her corporate clients include MedicusNY, AT&T, DuPont, MasterCard, General Glass, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, UNISYS, Anthology/Preface Inc., St.Martin’s Press and Neurex Inc.(Elan Pharmaceuticals), for whom she created the ad campaign for SNX-111, a biotechnically derived non-addictive pain killer(Prialt). Her silk scarf designs for Roche Pharmaceuticals were exhibited at the 2004 AIDS Conference in Bangkok. Ms. Hurst has shown her work at various galleries including the Schafler Gallery, Puck Gallery, Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Society of Illustrators, the Rx Club, AT&T Corporate Headquarters, Messiah College, Neurex Headquarters, Gallery 1482 and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This Fall Margaret will be exhibiting a new fabric piece entitled, “Elephant Run,” at the 2007 International Quilt Festival in the annual IQA Judged Show, Quilts: A World of Beauty, in Houston, Texas. Margaret’s art is also in the private collections of numerous individual art enthusiasts.
VERONICA LAWLOR Veronica Lawlor’s romantically inclined reportage drawings have led her around the world, including a major reportage of Italy and portrait of Pope John Paul II. On this side of the Atlantic she has travelled across the United States drawing icons of America for Brooks Brothers 185th anniversary campaign and has completed reportage assignments for numerous clients including 3M Corporation and the Hyatt hotel chain. In 2002 she documented VaxGen’s quest to create an AIDS vaccine for the companies annual report. The only artist to draw, on the spot, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, her work will be featured in the Newseum, the museum of journalism opening in Washington DC in the fall of 2007; the drawings were also exhibited at the New York City Fire Museum in October 2006. Veronica’s drawings and silk paintings on issues of world hunger were exhibited at the United Nations World Food Summit in Rome. Her fashion work includes advertising for Lord & Taylor and a series of hand printed “art-to-wear” garments. Ms. Lawlor’s work has appeared in numerous publications and her picture book, I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories of the Ellis Island Oral History Project (Viking) was honored by the National Council for Social Studies, and exhibited in Washington DC. She has also shown her work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Puck Gallery, Gallery 1482, the Society of Illustrators, and the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration. Veronica Lawlor is currently on the faculty of Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design. Her work for 3M is featured in an article by Lisa Cyr on reportage in the Communication Arts 2007 Illustration Annual.
KATI NAWROCKI A mixture of German design, Japanese sensibility and American directness, Kati Nawrocki was born in Germany and received her education there. A lover of history, mythology and literature, Kati brings these interests to play in all of her work and is an avid researcher. She is a strong graphic illustrator, painter and a reportage artist with a knack for communicating the heart of the situation: her sharp eye and intelligent wit go with her on location. Kati’s political work is cultural, informative and very up-to-date, and her inter-racial upbringing gives her a unique perspective from which to view society. Her digital photography and advertising work as well as her fine arts pieces have a modern appeal. Kati’s clients include Rolex, Raymond Weill, and Verraggio diamonds, as well as The Economist magazine. She is the author/illustrator of several children’s books and has written and animated the short film Do you know the way to my garden?. A true world citizen in her conversation as well as her art, Kati speaks English, German, French and Spanish, and has a vivid interest in American culture. Her work is sought by collectors in Europe and the United States, and her work is part of the Czerny-Capek archive in Augsburg, Germany.
EDDIE PENA A visually exciting reportage artist and digital photographer, Eddie Pena’s advertising, editorial and institutional painting and illustration come across with the same strong design and positive energy as his location drawings. An early lover of comic books, he takes sequential storytelling and storyboarding to sophisticated levels with his knowledge of schools, culture and the great masters of drawing. “Comics like the Hulk were my favorite, and instilled a love of art in me as a young man. But I now find myself looking more to artists like Durer and Brangwyn for inspiration when I go on location to draw and create storyboards for film, television and animation.” Eddie’s clients include 3M, Coors, JibJab Media and Scholastic. He is fluent in Spanish, Dreamweaver and Flash and has exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gallery 1482 and the Aronson Gallery, NYC.
DOMINICK SANTISE An artist who combines the poetic and the prosaic, illustrator Dominick Santise is an experienced production man, a classicly elegant designer and an expressive draughtsman, animator and photographer. His storyboards are varied and exciting in their problem-solving and their choice of medium, both in the studio and on location. His clients include such luminous firms as McCann Erickson and Magnet Pictures, where he worked on the titles for the CBS series, “The Nanny.” Other clients include Pointed Leaf Press, Grunar & Jahr, and Mansueto Ventures. His 2005 reportage of the American Museum of Natural History’s dinosaur exhibit was featured in New Scientist magazine. Dominick is the author/illustrator of several books including Beneath the Tree, The Earth Still Shakes, No One Listens, and is currently illustrating the book, Spring Tea Party, written by his late grandmother. An upstate New Yorker by birth, he now lives on the east side of Manhattan with his wife and daughter.