Dan L. Hess

Born in Long Island, New York, Dan L Hess is an honors graduate from School of Visual Arts in New York City where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1988. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art from Stony Brook University in 2012. From 2011 to 2013 he taught Idea and Form, Foundations of Drawing, and Photography for Non-Majors at Stony Brook while also working as the Arts Studio Manager at Suffolk County Community College.

From 1990 to 2001 Hess worked in the heart of the New York art world at several well know cultural institutions and galleries including The American Museum of Natural History and The Andre Emmerich Gallery. From 1995 to 2000 he worked as the Lighting and Visual Coordinator at Christie's Auction House in NYC playing a key role in the design and display of numerous major sales including The Dresses of Diana, Princess of Wales, The Ganz Family Collection and Property from the Estate of Marilyn Monroe. .

After relocation to the Orlando area in 2013, Hess worked closely with Snap! Gallery where he both set up their gallery exhibitions and had several exhibitions of his own work. He began working closely with the Art and History Museums of Maitland back in the winter of 2014 where he is now the Chief Curator. Apart from curating, Hess continues to work on his own art in his home studio and is the father of three.

Trent Tomengo

Trent Tomengo is a professional artists and a Professor of Humanities at Seminole State College of Florida.

Trent Tomengo's intelligent, provocative, and finely crafted paintings are well known in Central Florida, where he has been featured in selected solo and group exhibitions. His most recent work is a compelling series of paintings entitled Portraits of Life, Living, and Love, in which he explores the transformative nature of love and its healing impact. Portraiture has been a constant interest of Tomengo throughout his career and this series explores psychological and emotional interactions of color, moving beyond the basic physiognomy of his subjects..

Tomengo has served as juror and co-chair for Walt Disney World's Festival of the Masters and has earned numerous awards including the Seventh Annual American Invitational Art Exhibition at the Actors Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky. He has been the featured judge at various art festivals in the Central Florida area including the Deland Fall Festival of the Arts, the Apopka Art Festival, and the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, and in 2006, Tomengo was selected from an international pool of applicants to participate in the esteemed Atlantic Center for the Arts Residency Program, sharing scholarship with American master painter, Robert Colescott. Represented by the International Portfolio Gallery in College Park, Tomengo's paintings are earning their place in prestigious American collections, including the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland.