OCTOBER 2026
ARTISTS OF THE MONTH
RUBY ARTIST OF OCTOBER
NORMA RUFFINELLI
**CRYSTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2024**
* Bellissima *
Mixed media
“My work explores resilience, hope and the quiet strength of the human spirit. Through contemporary figurative painting and textured mixed media, I create emotionally engaging works that invite viewers to pause, reflect and find beauty in life's journey. Layers of acrylic, oil and sculptural elements add depth and movement, while flowers, wildlife and symbolic details express healing, renewal and connection with nature. Each painting is created to tell a story that goes beyond appearance, encouraging a personal emotional response. My goal is to create original, museum-quality artwork that leaves a lasting impression and reminds us that even through life's challenges, beauty, grace and hope continue to flourish.” — NORMA RUFFINELLI
SAPPHIRE ARTIST OF OCTOBER
LINDA L. MCCORD
**SAPPHIRE ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2022**
* Line Dance *
Mixed media
“Behind Closed Doors explores what is hidden, partially revealed or left unspoken. Through layers of acrylic, charcoal, pastel, collage and spontaneous mark-making, I build surfaces that suggest fragments of experiences — some visible, others buried beneath what came later. Like a closed door, each painting suggests that something exists beyond what we can immediately see. I don't intend to tell the viewer what that story is. Instead, I leave enough unanswered for each person to imagine what might be happening Behind Closed Doors.”
— LINDA L. MCCORD
EMERALD ARTIST OF OCTOBER
ANNITA APOSTOLIDOU PLATIS
**EMERALD ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2025**
* Awakening *
Mixed media digital collage
“Awakening is part of my latest series Into the Unwritten, born from the exhaustion of inhabiting a world increasingly marked by indifference, conflict, isolation and emotional distance. Against this landscape, the series searches for gentleness, wonder, knowledge, communication and inner renewal. In Awakening, a solitary figure stands before an open doorway, surrounded by shifting mirrors and watched over by a lion formed from clouds. The door is not an escape from reality but a psychological threshold — an invitation to imagine another way of being. For me, transformation begins the moment we allow ourselves to envision a different reality. Awakening proposes that every new world first exists within the imagination and that before change can begin, there is a moment of quiet courage: the willingness to step through an unseen door.” — ANNITA APOSTOLIDOU PLATIS
CRYSTAL ARTIST OF OCTOBER
LONG PHI TRAN
* A Definition Of Art Criticism *
Ink on East Asian paper
"Using traditional ink, I explore individual vulnerability under massive systemic power." — LONG PHI TRAN
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