GUY SPARGER
Guy was raised in an artistic family in Raleigh, NC and began receiving art instruction at an early age. Renowned in grade school for his fanciful renderings of tugboats, Guy's early cartoons soon developed a somewhat caustic sarcasm; drawings of people living in trashcans, planes dropping nuclear bombs, a cartoon political rally including Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon and a Hindu Swami are examples of Guy's early attraction to socio-political themes. At age 13, Guy began carving wooden figures and animals for his mother, folk artist Mary Sparger, who in turn painted and sold them at crafts festivals and in shops along with other handmade items produced in the family workshop. In high school, Guy was accepted into the magnet program for visual arts. After that, Guy's pants filled with ants and his heels became itchy ...Guy ventured far and wide for several post high school 'gap' years, eventually finding his way to Baltimore, MD, where he studied painting at The Maryland Institute College of Art. It was during these college years, fueled by political punk music and anti-Reagan rhetoric, Guy began exploring the boundaries between art and media. Issues such as corporatism, consumerism, class structure, vegetarianism and environmentalism emerged as lasting, recurring themes. After college, Guy got right back to ramblin'... bouncing around nearby states, living off part time jobs and sporadic art projects before settling down long enough to open his first independent workshop, CoffeeKanne Studio in Charlottesville, VA. This was arts and crafts revisited for Guy, who spent the next several years producing a nonstop series of painted woodcarvings, handmade furnishings and commissioned oil paintings. Restlessness and nostalgia conspired against him by the mid 90's and Guy found himself wandering back to Baltimore. Working as a sign painter by day, his spare time was spent doing freelance art projects and tinkering with computer graphics. Unexpectantly, these activities led to a job making video games for the PC, Playstation, Nintendo and Xbox. In fact, over the next eight years Guy helped create graphics and animation for seven published game titles: Microprose Software's Virtual Karts, Sid Meir's Civilization II, Sid Meir's CivNet, Klingon Honor Guard, and X-COM Interceptor; Take Two Interactive's Jet Fighter 4 and Swingin' Ape Studio's Metal Arms: Glitch In The System. In doing so, Guy travelled from Baltimore to Chapel Hill, NC then on to Chicago for three years, finally arriving in sunny, San Clemente, CA. Eight years is a long time to be chained to a desk, even if you do get to play a lot of video games. Realizing this, Guy one day wandered off into the desert and stayed there. In 2005 Guy co-founded the Hungry Knife Artist Collective.

PATTY SPARGER
Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, I spent much of my childhood exploring the forest. Plants, especially flowers became a favorite subject of study at an early age, which led to a passion for color and expression with pastel drawing. At age 18, I moved to Baltimore, MD where I began my illustrious career as a cocktail waitress in a new wave cocktail lounge. After winning $600 in the Lotto I enrolled in my first class at the Maryland Institute College of Art and began studying metals and making jewelry. I started selling my work at Baltimore's Inner Harbor shortly thereafter. Mostly beaded pieces at first, but soon graduating to hand forged metal work and found objects combined with colorful mixed media elements. My deepening interest in advanced techniques and different mediums led me to the mountains of western NC, where I attended Penland School of Crafts. Robert Ebendorf was Artist in residence at that time and participating in his studio classes was a wonderful opportunity. A couple of years in NC pines, then I began pining for big city lights. Chicago seemed like a good fix. The magnificent downtown architecture and eclectic Wicker Park art scene had contrasting yet equally impactful influence on my work. The relationships of forms, minimalism versus ornamentation and the integration of vintage with modern all became prevalent themes. Following a pattern of stark contrasts, my westward journey continued; this time to San Clemente, CA After three years of concrete megalopolis, travelling across the desert southwest and arriving on the southern California coast was a metamorphic experience. I immediately set to exploring the unique bioregions of my new home; the coast, mountains and deserts of the southwest. This ultimately led to the desire to make my home closer to nature, away from the sprawl ...Arizona City, AZ and a return to arts and crafts living!