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February 20, 2026
Creative Contemplation
S4E9 Marie Riccio; Exploring Symbolism, Composition And Design Through Still Life

Suzanne Lago Arthur, host and creator of The Creative Contemplation Podcast has a conversation with Maryland based painter, Marie Riccio about her development as an artist and the inspiration behind the work for her upcoming solo show "Community" at First Street Gallery (3/4/26-3/28/26)

Website: mariericcio.com

Instagram: @marie_riccio

"Community" Solo Show, First Street Gallery, NYC

TAG/The Artists Gallery, Frederick MD

Guest Bio:

Marie Riccio grew up in New York and received a B.F.A from SUNY Purchase. She also lived in Philadelphia where she earned an MFA in painting from the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Rockville, MD. She is an award-winning artist who has exhibited her work in New York, Philadelphia, Colorado, and throughout the Washington, DC area.

Host Bio:

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family.

Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo design by Elisa Nader, Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation"

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February 5, 2026
Creative Contemplation Presents
EU02.5 In The Orbit of Euan Uglow; Chris Bennett and Laura Smith {Continued}

In this special mini-series host and creator, Suzanne Lago Arthur, seeks to capture the living art history of famed British artist, Euan Uglow by interviewing his students, contemporaries and those who knew him best. In this episode, Suzanne continues her insightful conversation with 2 of Euan's students from the Slade, artists Chris Bennett, ROI and Laura Smith, NEAC.

Chris Bennett Website, Chris Bennett ROI

Laura Smith Website, Laura Smith NEAC, Laura Smith Instagram

Chris Bennett was born in London in 1957 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in the early ‘80s under Euan Uglow, Geoffrey Camp and Philip Sutton. He has exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters at the Mall Galleries, London. In 2004 Chris signed a publishing contract with DeMontfort Fine Art who license selected works as open and limited editions in the UK, Japan and the USA. His paintings are exhibited and sold in prestigious galleries around the UK. A notable commission is a portrait of Sir William Hawthorne, now in the collection of Churchill College, Cambridge, who, with Sir Frank Whittle, designed the first jet engine.

Laura Smith trained at The Slade School of Fine Art where she won the Clare Winsten Memorial Award, graduating from her MFA in 2012. A still-life painter working towards the abstract tradition, she is interested in dissolving our familiarity with everyday objects. Her current work explores the idea that repeated motifs enable a deeper and freer investigation of the objects themselves. The paintings often depict emotive gestures and actions, where objects take the place of the loved, the abandoned and the closely held.

"Euan Uglow: An Arc From The Eye" exhibit at MK Gallery, Milton Keynes

"The Uglow Papers" By Andrew Lambirth

"Euan Uglow, Some Memories Of The Painter" by Susan Campbell

"Euan Uglow The Complete Paintings" by Richard Kendall

HOST BIO

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family. Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo designs by Elisa Nader, Mag7

Send us Fan Mail

January 29, 2026
Creative Contemplation Presents
EU02 In The Orbit of Euan Uglow; Chris Bennett and Laura Smith

In this special mini-series host and creator, Suzanne Lago Arthur, seeks to capture the living art history of famed British artist, Euan Uglow by interviewing his students, contemporaries and those who knew him best. In this second episode, Suzanne has a deep and moving conversation with 2 of Euan's students from the Slade, British artists Chris Bennett, ROI and Laura Smith, NEAC.

Chris Bennett Website, Chris Bennett ROI

Laura Smith Website, Laura Smith NEAC, Laura Smith Instagram

Chris Bennett was born in London in 1957 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in the early ‘80s under Euan Uglow, Geoffrey Camp and Philip Sutton. He has exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters at the Mall Galleries, London. In 2004 Chris signed a publishing contract with DeMontfort Fine Art who license selected works as open and limited editions in the UK, Japan and the USA. His paintings are exhibited and sold in prestigious galleries around the UK. A notable commission is a portrait of Sir William Hawthorne, now in the collection of Churchill College, Cambridge, who, with Sir Frank Whittle, designed the first jet engine.

Laura Smith trained at The Slade School of Fine Art where she won the Clare Winsten Memorial Award, graduating from her MFA in 2012. A still-life painter working towards the abstract tradition, she is interested in dissolving our familiarity with everyday objects. Her current work explores the idea that repeated motifs enable a deeper and freer investigation of the objects themselves. The paintings often depict emotive gestures and actions, where objects take the place of the loved, the abandoned and the closely held.

BOOKS ON EUAN UGLOW

"The Uglow Papers" By Andrew Lambirth

"Euan Uglow, Some Memories Of The Painter" by Susan Campbell

"Euan Uglow The Complete Paintings" by Richard Kendall

HOST BIO

Suzanne Lago Arthur is a contemporary realist painter from Northern Virginia. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-American parents, her artistic explorations were nurtured from an early age by her family. Through her paintings Suzanne explores the themes of beauty, transience and memory. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in such venues as the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, the United States Interests Section, Havana, Cuba and in art galleries across the United States. She holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and an MA in Museum Studies from George Washington University.

Website: www.lagoarthurstudio.com
Instagram: Suzanne Lago Arthur (@lagoarthurstudio)
Logo designs by Elisa Nader, Mag7
Artwork, "Abby in Contemplation" by artist Suz