2025 Artist Workshops

Christopher Leeper has the extraordinary talent of being able to work in multiple mediums, each with great command. He has received acclaim, winning awards in all—his watercolor, acrylic and oil painting work. Whatever medium it takes, his goal is to share the moment of excitement and inspiration he has experienced with others. Leeper participates in national plein air events and maintains a full teaching schedule. He adds to his list of achievements the illustration of four children's books for the Smithsonian and the African Wildlife Foundation.

 Christopher Leeper is a full-time artist from Canfield, OH. He is the author of Realism in Watermedia, North Light. He has illustrated four children's books for the Smithsonian and the African Wildlife Foundation.  His work has been featured in several books and publications, including The Artist's Magazine, American Artist, Plein Air Magazine and Ohio Magazine. He is a member of the adjunct faculty in the Department of Art at Youngstown State University. He served as president of the Ohio Watercolor Society (2008-2012). Christopher graduated from Youngstown State University in 1988 with a BFA degree in graphic design.

"The wonder and blessing of it is,
that after 40 years or so,
I am still excited, inspired and curious.
That is a gift."

- Chris Leeper

For more about Chris Leeper, please visit: www.christopherleeper.com

Gavin Glakas grew up in Bethesda, MD, and started drawing about the time he started walking. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis and the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

After graduation, Glakas spent a year and a half working on Capitol Hill as a Senate staffer. He had planned to go to law school, but after an eight-month illness culminating in the removal of a tumor from his lung at the age of 24, he decided to pursue his lifelong ambition of a career as an artist.

Glakas began showing his work in galleries almost immediately and spent five years studying with Danni Dawson and Robert Liberace.

His paintings hang in the permanent collections of the United States Capitol, the Virginia State Capitol, the CIA, universities, museums and numerous other collections both public and private.

Glakas is represented by Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA and Charleston, SC, and Palm Avenue Fine Art in Sarasota, FL.

He has won numerous honors for his artwork, including awards from the Portrait Society of America, the Art Renewal Center, the Plein Air Salon and the Butler Institute of American Art. His paintings have been featured on NBC News and in The Washington Post, as well as Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, Plein Air, International Artist, The American Scholar, Art Business News, The Strand and Elan magazines, and exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the country.

Glakas teaches painting and drawing at Georgetown University Medical School and the Yellow Barn Studio. He lives in McLean, VA, with his wife, Jasmine, and two barnstorming sons, Nico and Rory.

For more about Gavin Glakas, please visit: www.gavinglakas.com

Carol Strock Wasson a signature member of American Women Artists, Pastel Society of America and a Master Pastelist member of Chicago Pastel Painters. In 2019 she achieved Master Circle Status with International Pastel Societies.

She is focused on painting with spontaneity and freshness with primarily pastel medium and occasionally oil. Her dedication is evident in awards and entry into prestigious shows across the country. 

Carol’s work encompasses the genre of the rural area she lives in, focusing on color, shape, and design in the plein air tradition as well as in the studio. Though she is known mainly for her work in the pastel medium, she also works in oil, monotype prints and watercolor. 

Carol teaches and works out of Strock Wasson Studio at 317 N Columbia, Union City, Indiana.

For more about Carol Strock-Wasson, please visit: www.carolstrockwasson.com