Joe Whalen of Lockport, NY has been painting and showing nearly all his life. He was an art teacher in the Lockport School District for thirty-five years and has been an influence on two generations of up and coming artists. Joe, a member of the Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society and the Buffalo Society of Artists, has won numerous awards and distinctions during his career.

Kathleen Giles of Hartland, NY has been drawing and painting since childhood. After high school, she studied art at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo but she left early to marry and be a stay at home mom. She continued to paint and take classes and soon was showing and winning awards. As her children grew up she moved further back into the art world, working for a time as a gallery director and teaching classes of her own. She now has a studio in her home and teaches watercolor classes at the Dale Association. She also performs demonstrations for art groups and schoolchildren.