I grew up in Calgary and studied Painting and Sculpture at the University of Calgary Fine Arts in 1990 to 1991. I took many years off, took a side career as a draftsman, and then followed my true passion by finishing my BFA at Emily Carr University in 2020. I have studied under artists Neil Campbell, Landon Mackenzie and Ben Reeves, amongst others.  I also teach the fundamentals of drawing and painting and have worked for 9 years at various locations including The Art Studios, Vancouver General Hospital, Gallery Gachet, CIF and privately in the Vancouver community. My art has been sold in Canada and in the United States to private collectors. The vast wilderness that surrounds us in British Columbia and the more immediate city life are areas that I explore. Having a musical background of classical and jazz clarinet, I often see structures of music in forests and city and how these become compositions. I am an avid hiker and adventurist, yet, I let my imagination of composition and structure override the immediate literal description of forest or city interpretations. I step back, reflect and try to frame everything. I work primarily in oil, collage and acrylic paints. Sometimes my paintings are loosely tied to photographs I have taken, while at other times, my paintings are combined with musical structure, composition technique, or in relation to mathematical structure such as the Fibonacci sequence.

Born in New Westminster, Quin Martins is an interdisciplinary artist and curator whose practice incorporates painting, photography, installation, and film-making. He moves freely through disciplines to create work that subverts and disrupts accepted social expectations of the artist and issues relating to mental health and marginalization. He holds a BFA in Visual Arts from the Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
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Hoda Mir (she/her) is a Persian illustrator who is now located in Vancouver, BC. She originally started studying graphic design until she found a passion for illustration. So, she gave it a try and finally she received her master’s degree in Illustration. At first, her aesthetic was influenced by Persian narratives, like ancient Persian poets and illustrators. She enjoyed exploring the symbols hidden in narratives by showing them through simple figurative depictions and colours. Illustrating different cultures and people in stories was one of her passions. Later this passion led her to lifestyle illustrations and illustrating the stories in which people, emotions, and their lifestyles can be depicted.
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Nicholas is a resident of North Vancouver, and has expressed a great interest in art through photography. As the member responsible for communications and marketing for Connection Salon Artists Collective, he manages and communicates on different social media platforms in order to reach out to artists and organizations. As someone who enjoys traveling, Nicholas has been fortunate to be a visitor of many great museums and art exhibits in Asia and Europe. Through this, he has been able to build a good understanding of expression through art. His favorite artist is Keith Haring, as he enjoys abstract art the most. Nicholas utilizes his observation of art to improve on his own fundamental art skills, as he enjoys painting and drawing in his free time. He also enjoys finding meaning in art to understand the story of the artist. Nicholas hopes that he will build his artistic relationship with the creative people of Vancouver.

Rudolf Penner is a local artist presently working in printmaking with acrylic paint, acrylic and oil painting, making photographic images and video. He is part of the Downtown Eastside. Studied Graphic Design at David Thompson University Centre, in Nelson, BC, for one year and then switched over to fine art. Sketched in night clubs, outside and attended Life Drawing sessions. Also plays music and writes poetry. Has shown at the Lost + Found Café, Gallery Gachet, The Gathering Place Community Center and The Roundhouse Outsider Artists show.
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John was born in Shanghai and he grew up in Hong Kong, he immigrated to Canada in the late 60's and to please his father, he studied engineering at the University of Waterloo. He struggled to fit into his profession but eventual he realized that he is an artist at heart and restarted his art pursuit that he had begun in his teenage years. He initially painted in the French Impressionist style but moved to his own style and techniques, using 'aesthetics' and 'story telling' as his main driving force. In his art, he tries to show his viewer, what an artist can see and feel about the society that we all live in. This goal has not changed.
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