Each artwork featured in The Rainbow Show is available for purchase. The first 10 collages purchased will come with a free frame courtesy of Florence Weisz.

About Philadelphia CollageWorks:

Philadelphia CollageWorks was established by a group of artists in the Philadelphia area in 2019 to promote collage as a unique art form. PCW supports the creation, study and appreciation of collage, assemblage and related mixed-media art. Membership provides resources for personal creative growth through monthly meetings, critiques, sharing of ideas and participation in art exhibits, conferences, workshops and retreats.

Philadelphia CollageWorks includes artists Alan Lankin, Annie Stone, Arlene Solomon, Bernadette Colburn, Candace Stoudt, Catherine Gontarek, Colleen Hammond, Danielle Gatto, Deena Flanagan, Elsa Wachs, Felise Luchansky, Florence Weisz, Gregory Laut, Heather Sandler, Jay Roth, Kara Mshinda, Linnie Greenberg, Robb Spath, Rueben Das, Sandra Benhaim, Sandra Koberlein, Sharon Ostrow, Sue Apter, Virginia Conover, Wendi Furman, and Wendy Raskas Greenberg.

Learn more about the making of the Philadelphia CollageWorks title sign here.

Alan Lankin was born and raised in NJ and became interested in drawing as a teenager. After moving to Philadelphia, he took drawing and painting classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Pennsylvania and Fleisher Art Memorial. He has exhibited his paintings in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Arizona. He lives and works near Philadelphia, PA.

From childhood, Annie Stone has had her hand in being creative through art or crafts. She earned a BA in textile design, graduating Summa Cum Laude, in 1995 at the age of 45. She began creating collages in the year 2000 quite by chance when she came across saved calendars. The idea of making collages with the images occurred to her then and she hasn’t looked back since. Collage is the art form that best expresses her awe of the natural world, people, places and things.

Arlene Solomon began he second career as an artist about 15 years ago, having worked previously as Director of Employment Services for people with disabilities for 17 years. She started with the basics, including the Art of Collage, which became her passion. She has shown her work at numerous local and national venues and picked up a few prizes/awards along the way. She is a member of InLiquid, da vinci Art Alliance, where she has show her work extensively, Artist Equity, and Philadelphia CollageWorks. This fall, Solomon hopes to have a solo show at the University of PA Hospital showcasing 12 photo collages of the new building called The Pavilion.

Bernadette Colburn is a visual artist that grew up in Baltimore, MD and currently resides in Hanover, PA. She just received her Masters of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Before the quarantine Bernadette was making large steel sculptures that referenced the landscape and the memories we gather from time spent in nature. She is now working exclusively in paper creating collages and monotypes. A daily walk at a nearby State Park continues to inspire her work.

Candace Stoudt is a mixed media artist residing in Chester Springs. She incorporates into her work objects and materials discarded by nature and man giving them new life along with “life snaps” of everyday surroundings that she captures with her camera. These things together with color and texture are used to create her art.

Catherine Gontarek leans towards the primacy of composition and seeing everything as design, while exploring different elements of design within a given medium: collage for adaptation through materials; painting for translation through reduction; and photography as the engine for integration.

Colleen Hammond graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and received her BFA from the University of Pennsylvania. She is an art educator and has taught in the Division of Continuing Studies at the University of the Arts, The Mural Arts Program and Gloucester City Community Education Program. She was the Resident Artist at Cheltenham Center for the Arts for 2 years and has continued to volunteer there. In September of 2020, Colleen developed and hosts a monthly Critique Day, providing an opportunity for artists of all levels to present their work for constructive feedback from a cross section of invited guests artists and art professionals. She also co-founded A Square Deal (2006 - 2013) curating art exhibitions in non-traditional venues with the goal to make art affordable and accessible, and to demonstrate art as an integral part of everyone’s daily life. Colleen’s work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions throughout the tri-state area. She currently resides in a 1918 South Philadelphia modest row home with two cats, and her supportive and loving husband. They are proud empty-nesters of their son Noah, who continues on an inherent creative spirit.

Danielle Gatto is a multidisciplinary artist working in digital and live mediums. With a background in directing for stage, Gatto’s body of work includes interactive installations, 2 and 3D collage, original video projects and documentation of live performances. Based in Philadelphia PA, Gatto's works have been shown at a variety of venues including The Ringling Museum of Art (FL), the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (PA), Da Vinci Art Alliance (PA), Asian Arts Initiative (PA), Culture Project (NYC), and the Scandinavian Collage Museum (Norway) as part of their permanent collection.

Deena Flanagan attended Philadelphia College of Art (now UArts), where she earned a BFA in Graphic Design. In her award-winning, commercial practice of more than 30 years, she often employs collage as a way to communicate a concept. The move to Collage Artist was natural and somehow inevitable. This is her first show and significant body of Fine Art Collage Work.

Elsa Wachs began her career as an abstract acrylic painter in the 1960’s after receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Temple University. She studied painting for several years with Samuel Feinstein of New York and Provincetown, a protegee of Hans Hoffman. In the late 1970s the Feminist Movement propelled Elsa to reinvent herself. Equipt with her talent for design and color, her expertise with textiles (fabrics and fibers) and her passion for her Jewish heritage, she started her own business, Elsa Wachs Studios, of creating Judaic textiles for the international Jewish market: synagogues, institutions and individuals. Elsa pioneered the modern Judaic textile movement by being the first artist to exhibit her Judaic textiles in conferences and art expos throughout the United States. Her contemporary art style had a critical influence on traditional design which helped change the landscape of American Judaic ritual textiles. This artists award-winning artwork is being used and shown in institutions and private collections internationally and has been taken into space on NASA’s Space Shuttle Mission Discovery. Her innovative artworks continue to be echoed by professional and folk artists worldwide. Much of her work is featured in numerous books, magazines and newspaper articles. Elsa has been a Judaic consultant/designer to the giftware industry such as Lenox China and Gorham Silver. In recent years Elsa has combined her creativity to include universal interests. Elsa’s artistic horizons continually grow, producing a broad range of expressions reflecting her passion for life -her experiences, the world around her and timely issues. All of this pours out of her in words and color onto her canvases and into her computer. Her early entrance into the digital world gave her another avenue to express her artwork adding to her expansive palette of mixed-media.

Felise Luchansky is a visual artist who works in photography, collage and installation. She was part of the first cohort of artists in residence at the Cherry Street Pier in Philadelphia, PA. She received the Delaware Division of the Arts Fellowship for Works on Paper, and has had solo exhibits at the Delaware Center the Contemporary Arts and the Mezzanine Gallery. Her award winning work had been shown in numerous juried exhibits throughout the region and is held in various private collections. Felise participated in the Sketchbook Project (Brooklyn NY). The artist co-curated The White Cube Cube, a small-scale exhibition, which traveled to Great Britain. She was on the DE Fun a Day Committee that brought over 200 participants and 900 visitors to Fun A Day art event and co-curated Arterial Motives at Street Road Artists Space in Pennsylvania. The artist studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and holds a BA in Studio Art and Art History from Rutgers.

Florence Weisz is a collage artist who explores different visual ideas and seeks distinctive materials and innovative ways to express herself. She is a recipient of a NJ State Council Fine Arts Fellowship Award. Since moving to Pennsylvania in 2018, Florence has enjoyed a warm welcome in the vibrant art community of Philadelphia. She exhibits her artworks with DaVinci Art Alliance, ARTsisters, InLiquid, Tri-State Artists Equity, CFEVA, and the Mainline Art Center. Florence Weisz is a founding member of Philadelphia CollageWorks.

Gregory Laut was born and raised in Philadelphia. He attended Central High School and Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, graduating from both schools with artist awards. Majoring in Printmaking, he is a member of Second State Press. Currently Gregory combines drawing, painting, printing, and collage in unique works of art which center themes of nostalgia, ephemerality, entropy and environmental consciousness.

Heather Sandler is a Philadelphia-based mixed media artist with recent works focusing primarily on small scale paper collages. She is particularly drawn to collage for its whimsical, spontaneous, and playful nature. “There is always an element of surprise is my collages as I work intuitively, often inspired by a single image, shape, or color. My work often contains layers, texture and remnants from deconstructed art pieces. The creative process unleashes my inner child, the free spirit that transcends the predictable and mundane.”

Kara Mshinda is an abstract artist with roots in photography and collage art who contributes to current visual dialogues that shape diverse and changing meanings of otherness and art. Mshinda uses accessible methods like freehand drawing, collage, and lo-fi photography to develop visual narratives. Her interest in using such methods arises from her anthropological curiosity about the “life cycle” of disposable materials and print media. Born and raised in Ohio, Mshinda graduated from The University of Akron with a degree in Interdisciplinary Anthropology. She later relocated to Philadelphia to pursue her Master of Arts in the Anthropology of Visual Communication program at Temple University. Her graduate work focused on the visual language socialization of a community of graffiti writers in Philadelphia. In addition to creating artwork, Mshinda is a professor at Temple University where she teaches on the themes of race, identity, and artistic practice.

Linnie Greenberg always wanted to be a writer and had her first story published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine many moons ago. “Then life: marriage, children, and a variety of careers took up a good chunk of time. At age 60 -- with my children grown and gone, days filled working and sitting at a computer, I yearned for creativity in my life once again and chanced upon a collage workshop at Main Line Art Center -- a shady stroll from my home. That class and Andrea Snyder, the instructor inspired me to look at, learn about and make collage nearly every day since. My one and only reason for this obsession is that it makes me quite the happy camper. I like to laugh so often my art is fun, whimsical and sometimes satirical. I like to think of it as Fun Art instead of Fine Art.”

Robb Spath is a graduate of the university of the arts and somewhat new to the visual arts scene. He has exhibited his work with the William Way, Off the Wall, and Twenty two gallery to name a few. His work has also be featured in art publications Carpazine, Prolit and Artdiction.

Rueben Das is a Philadelphia based realistic water color and oil painter who loves to challenge himself with diverse media, styles, themes and techniques. His use of vibrant colors tends to elicit positive emotions among viewers. Born and raised in India, Rueben used to express his deepest desires and fantasies through his drawings from a very young age. However, he completely lost touch with art for almost 2 decades due to academic pressure. It was here in Philadelphia where he found back his long lost love for art making. His love and appreciation to nature and wildlife are evident from the significant number of paintings he has made on them and still continue to do so. He also enjoys capturing various moods and poses of pets including his own, for fun. His works have been exhibited in Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). Currently his pieces can be viewed at Perelman School of Medicine, and Penn Medicine at Cherry Hill and Radnor campus.

Sandra Benhaim is a painter working in oil, mixed media, and collages on canvas, wood panels, and paper. She earned a BFA ( on a full-paid four year scholarship) and later an M.Ed, from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. After working representationally for years, she now creates mainly abstract images, often expressing these in unabashed, exuberant color. She has exhibited nationally from Washington state to New York to Florida. Sandra’s paintings are in public collections such as PNC Headquarters Tower in Pittsburgh, PA; Mondrian Investments (Philadelphia office); Bryn Mawr Dermatology offices in Villanova, PA; RCCB LLC Law offices collection, Conshohocken, PA. 

Sandra Koberlein is an artist and an artist educator. She has over thirty years experience working with others in various creative capacities. Her artwork is primarily abstract and composed of intriguing layers, similar to the layers of her life. Sandra exhibits her work in competitive galleries, art centers, hospitals and universities both locally and nationally. Her work has won numerous awards and is held in private collections. She is a certified K-12 art teacher and encaustic instructor. Sandra conducts workshops at art centers and in her Pennsville, NJ studio. She serves on several non-profit boards, supporting visual and performing arts and arts education. Sandra earned her Associates Degree in Visual Communications from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, her BA in Art and BA in Art Education from Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. She added a minor degree in Early Italian Renaissance Art History at the Studio Art Center International in Florence, Italy. Most recently, Sandra earned her MA in Art Education from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. 

Sharon Ostrow has been developing her practice as an artist since she was a very young child. “In addition to making art, I taught art to children at a day camp for 10 years and overnight camp for 6 years.  I earned an BA from Temple University, an MA in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University and have always been interested in the intersection of Art and Justice. While I was a faculty member at Temple University, my interests inspired me to develop an Art and Justice course, which I taught in Philadelphia and in Rome. As an artist, teaching and exploring Rome was the highlight of my career. While I am totally absorbed in mixed media now, I have painted murals, assembled mosaics, made batik art and painted/drawn and made ceramics. Any creative process inspires me through self-reflection, observation, curiosity, and problem solving. My favorite thing about art is “getting in the zone” of imaginative magic. I believe art can be used as a means of healing and self-discovery for people of all ages and circumstances. While many of my artworks are designed individually, I always look forward to participating in collaborations with other creatives that result in a sense of community and accomplishment. In 2018, I was an artist in residence studying Mixed Media with Hollie Heller at Art Retreat Tamarindo in Costa Rica, and have studied at Summit Art Center, Main Line Art Center and Fleisher Art Memorial. I am currently a member of Philadelphia Collage Works, Artists Equity Tri-State, and Mural Arts Guide Program.”

Sue Apter is primarily self taught with some formal training. She minored in art at Temple University and participated in various classes at Main Line Art Center. “My work consists of mixed media and the creation of floorcloths. I am a member of Philadelphia Collage Works and one of my pieces is currently on exhibit at Regional Center for Women in the Arts. The creation of art has been a form of self- expression and joy since childhood and has begun to take a more focal point in my life since my retirement from a fulfilling career in social work.”

Virginia Conover is a mixed media artist. “I have studied at PAFA, Main Line Art Center, Wayne Art Center and have attended workshops around the east coast. I use color, line and shape to express my ideas and emotions.”

Wendi Furman is a Philadelphia based artist working with fabric and thread.

As a mixed-media collage artist, the focus of Wendy Raskas Greenberg’s work is to intermingle the old with the new. “I strive to create and discover different processes in which to incorporate objects and images of older, more worn items with newer ones. Vintage images and worn objects catch my eye instantaneously. I see them as delicate and beautiful. They have been weathered by human hands, the earth’s atmosphere, overuse, and time, but are never too worn to be used again in a different context and take on a new life. I am excited to be part of this collaboration with the Philadelphia CollageWorks for our Rainbow Show at the Davinci Art Alliance. It was both challenging and satisfying to sort through my studio searching for various papers, photographs, magazines, and found objects that would fit my vision of for a collage of a specific color of the Philadelphia Pride Flag. This has been a fruitful endeavor!”