TO REGISTER call 740.622.0326
or email acornell@pomereneArts.org

RUSSELL MERRITT is an active watercolor artist, cartoonist and Sumi-e Artist. He is an instructor at The Works Museum, The Zanesville Art Center and C-Tech in Newark, Ohio and owns Banshuwa Studio. He is a student of Asian culture and history, and utilizes the sumi-e technique in much of his own art and free-lance work. His work has been in galleries and shows throughout Ohio, including OSU, the Worthington High Road Gallery, Haiku in the Short North, Zanesville, Newark and Caldwell.

Russell has also been a comic book artist and has had work published with 5th panel comics, Cryogenic Press and Eclipse Publishing. He has also had single panel art published in Comic Buyers Guide and TeeVee Magazine. He is a contributing artist to the book, HIYA-How to Draw Oriental Action Characters to be released by Watson-Guptil in 2007 and is currently working with StoryArt Press on the Comic book – ROCKETSHIP EMPIRES 1936. He has held Manga (Japanese Cartooning) workshops and art classes for young people at the Newark Library for the past 3 years and has also taught classes in Zanesville, Coshocton, West Lafayette, and Lancaster. His work can be seen at his website http://www.banshuwaart.bravehost.com

GIN RAIN is a graduate of Rigewood High School and Evergreen College in Washington State. He has studied video and produced a documentary on Autism. Gin is headed back to the west coast in the fall to do his graduate work.