Born and raised on a farm near Wichita, Kansas, where she developed a fondness for animals, Bessie [Callender] married a newspaper reporter, Harold Callender, and moved to New York City in the early 1920s.

Mary Cassatt was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The family soon settled in Philadelphia but traveled extensively through Europe during Mary's childhood. Her father was a prominent investment banker and her brother, Alexander, became president of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Painter and conceptual artist. Castagliola came to the United States from Cuba in 1961. She has B.A. (sociology), B.F.A., and M.F.A.degrees from the University of South Florida in Tampa and has taught art as an assistant professor at the university.

"I enjoy the beauty of materials, not only the beauty of forms. I love to see the grain of the wood assert itself in its own right and become integrated in the representation.