Margot Jannes
A Biography

As a young girl, Margot always saw more in nature and around her than her friends did. She always wanted to express her imagination on paper, artifacts or any medium on which she could paint.

At the age of 17 she finally convinced her parents to let her pursue her passion and she enrolled in Interior Design at Sao Paulo’s best “School of Design” in her native Brazil. Four years later she attended the University “PUCC” in Campinas to study Artand two years later, transferred to the prestigious FAAP in Sao Paulo.

At that point Margot wanted her independence, and moved from her native Brazil to a place where art was light years ahead. She started in Nice, in the south of France, where she sharpened her skills as an artist and incorporated many different techniques in search of her own style and fulfillment. Two years later she moved to Paris and took several classes in painting and ceramics and ended up working with a well known designer. In the years to come, Margot would learn far more than mere painting. As Margot grew as a person, forming her own ideas and opinions, she also discovered that painting for her was trying to reach places she still had not seen with her own eyes, but could feel within her and believed was even still out there.

It was only a matter of time until this adventurous spirit took her on a tour of self discovery, touring the Mediterranean coast and the entire east coast of Africa. The lessons of life she learned, the raw beauty she saw, just fueled her need to run alongside nature…..in her paintings.

Margot exposed her paintings for the first time in Brazil in 1990 and was surprised and elated at the favorable response. Based on the amount of interest she received in Brazil, she decided her next step should be to come to the United States and make a name for herself. One year later she came to the US, attracted to the dream of opportunity and success.

Once in America, Margot took on a hectic job, working with interior decorators, creating a reality for other people’s dreams. She worked very hard and somehow became removed from her number one passion, the painting that she so loved. She still painted on her limited spare time, but it was not until last year that she decided to give up the hectic interior design career and return to her favorite means of expression: painting what she has seen throughout all these years.

Margot Jannes now lives in Miami and is sharing her latest artwork with us here at modernata. The partnership of Margot Jannes and modernata is simply two people who found each other in life, who respect and trust each other....and have become friends.

Click here to view Margot Jannes art work
currently available in the modernata gallery.

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Maximin Lida
A Biography

No matter what you do in your life and at work, you should always do the best and most beautiful things you can. Most will say that you do not have to be so meticulous or need to do as much as you do -just the minimum. Well, I think that any task you accomplish should be as aesthetic as possible; beauty cannot hurt, but remember that doing something beautiful and simple is often difficult to achieve. Simplicity is difficult .....

MHD .59 or Maximin Lida, American, Born in Paris, France, attended the University of Art and Philosophy as well as the Technical College of Food and Management. He has obtained a license and two bachelor’s degrees. Artistically gifted, Maximin Lida spends most of his time working as an independent Artist in many fields, and creating Art during the past 30 years.

Maximin’s art shows creativity in various genres, versatility, open-mindedness, and flexibility of style. His art reflects aestheticism and creativity with a message or reflection inspiring understanding.

Highly knowledgeable in art, Maximin Lida is in perpetual “war” with artists who produce large amounts of nonsense solely for the purpose of profiting from today’s art marketplace. Today, Art in many ways has become a business allowing monetary gain without investment or regard for expression, true freedom or artistic creativity. Art can be learned in many ways, however, a true gift and knowledge of art and it’s history should be mandatory requirements for the serious artist.

Click here to view Maximin Lida art work
currently available in the modernata gallery.

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Ofelia Uz Gonzalez
A Biography

Ofelia Uz Gonzalez is a self-taught artist and has been painting professionally for the past 35 years. She creates beautiful American and Latin American influenced works of art that incorporate traditional and unique painting styles and techniques. Being a self-taught artist, her works are not constrained to a single category; yet each painting is easily identifiable as one of her creations. She primarily uses acrylic, oil, and mixed media on fine-art grade canvas for each of her original paintings. She often volunteers by creating and giving paintings and murals to children's hospitals and other charitable organizations.

As Ofelia puts it, "art has always been a huge part of my life". At age 11, in 1961, her family fled Cuba and in 1962 her dear mother sacrificed to surprise her with an unaffordable gift of painting supplies: an easel, paper, small canvases, brushes and paints for her birthday - the origin of her passion and the beginning of a brilliant career as a self-taught artist. By the time she turned 15 years old, a good friend of the family was captivated by one of her first abstract paintings and persuaded her to sell it to him. She was the happiest girl on the face of the earth. Also, that moment was the start of the "word-of-mouth" exposure that helped her gain recognition and appreciation as a true artist. Since then, her paintings have been sold to private collectors and at major art festivals around the country. Her works can be found in collections all over the United States, Latin America, Canada, and throughout Europe.

Each of her paintings come with a Certificate of Authenticity, and as a tribute to her beloved mother, each painting is signed with her mother's maiden name O. Uz and the creation date on the front and signed with her full name, the title, and creation date on the reverse.

Click here to view Ofelia Uz Gonzalez art work
currently available in the modernata gallery.

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Karl 'Jerry' Craig
A Biography

Karl 'Jerry' Craig was born in the beautiful island of Jamaica. After the completion of his education in Jamaica, he traveled to England where he obtained his tertiary education. While there, he attended the Camberwell School of Art; London School of Printing; Goldsmith College of Art; and obtained the National Diploma in Design from the prestigious St. Martin's School of Art.

He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in the U.S.A., where he graduated with the Master of Fine Arts Degree.

He returned to Jamaica where he played an integral part in the development of education in the area of the Visual Arts, both at the Secondary and Tertiary levels.

This prolific artist has mounted numerous one man shows in Jamaica, as well as in England, and the U.S.A. He has exhibited in many group exhibitions in numerous countries of the world. He has successfully participated by invitation, in many prestigious International Art Exhibitions and Biennials

He now resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Click here to view Karl 'Jerry' Craig art work
currently available in the modernata gallery.

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Estella J Fransbergen
A Biography

Fire and glaze dancing on clay to bring about uniquely colored mediums is the ancient art of Raku. Estella Fransbergen practices this ancient technique and designs one-of-a-kind pieces that reflect beauty and natural inspiration. Estella’s passion for this ancient practice and her creative voice shaped her artwork. Estella uses her hands to mold each piece while deriving inspiration from nature and her inner need to replace in nature what is being lost. To her, the art speaks of new life and the cultivation of awareness for body, mind and spirit. The expression in her art work is the shape of the piece that she guides with her hands, and the freedom is the color that the fire and glaze imposes. In essence, she surrenders each piece to the natural elements of earth, wind and fire and a unique piece of art is born.

Estella graduateds in Netherlands and later studied with Anna Tomczak in Florence, Italy

She has exhibited extensively in Florida and won 1st Place three times this year in Shows around the state, including:

Ormond Beach Museum of Art, Group Show May 2007

LeMoyne in the Park, Tallahassee, FL April 2007

Mandarin Arts Festival, Jacksonville, FL 1st Place Sculpture April 2007

Tarpon Sprins Art Festival, Tarpon Springs, FL 1st Place 3D March 2007

Bonita Springs Art Festival, Bonita Springs, FL March 2007

St. Stephens Art Festival, Coconut Grove, FL Febuary 2007

Images Art Festival, New Symerna Beach, FL Honorable Mention Febuary 2007

Eustis Museum of Art Art Festival, Eustis, FL Best of Show 3D January 2007

Click here to view Estella's original sculptures
now available in the modernata photo gallery.

Warmest wishes,

Alexa - Founder modernata

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