Barot can trace his decision to become an artist to the ripe old age of two, when his mother put his first crayon painting on the refrigerator. From that point on, he was obsessed with art, and began creating mature works of art as early as five years old. A child prodigy, Barot sold his first professional painting at the age of nine for $2000, and was guest lecturing on art by the time he was eleven.

Barot has just finished his final year at The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, where he excelled in glass etching paintings and portraiture. Hailed as one of the most diverse artists of his generation, Barot is equally as skilled with watercolors as he is with oils, and is just as well-balanced in different subject areas. Barot's collection entitled "The Un-Collection" will adorn the walls of Gilbert Hall, depicting his range of skills and sensibilities - all of them, uniquely Barot, yet undeniably different.

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Art is in Gerard's genes. His father, Maston Gerard Donahue was a sculptor who helped create some of the most notable statues of our time, including the "Windmill of Time" in Washington, D.C. His mother Lillian Paxton Donahue, is a landscape painter who supported the family full-time by the sale of her paintings, after the untimely death of Gerard's father when Gerard was just 13. Gerard learned the early lessons in sculpting from his father, and continues to study sculpture as his life's passion, partially to complete the legacy of his father, and partially to forge this own destiny as an accomplished sculptor. He is currently the Renton Scholar at Deschton University in Vienna Austria, and is completing his artist in residence commitment for the next year.

Gerard has paved a unique path as a sculptor in that he works with untraditional sculpting materials including natural tar, precious gems, and ice. He has created ice sculptures that are displayed behind glass, under permanent refrigeration, in several museums, as well as in private homes. Gerard will give an ice sculpture demonstration at the Fountain of Intrigue on Tuesday's conference schedule.

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Labeled as "The Artist to Watch in 2012" by the London Review, Johnathan has already sold one of the highest priced-commissions paid to an art student, ever on record. The piece, entitled Gratitude Resort, a work in oil and mixed media, was sold for $750,000 and Jonathan donated all the proceeds to Art for Peace, an organization that provides college art scholarships for creative children in developing nations.

Jonathan's interest in the non-profit sector has helped raise money for a variety of other organizations through art-based fundraisers and art sales. He has become known as the "Phil-art-thropist" in non-profit circles – a title that, when asked about, garners a sheepish grin from Jonathan. Jonathan studied non-profit management at London Business School, and is happy to have found his niche in his two favorite worlds – art and philanthropy.

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Lorenzo was born in Mexico, but grew up in Southern California after his mother immigrated to Los Angeles when he was a year old. His mother worked as a seamstress in the Fashion District and brought home scrap materials for Lorenzo to create his early mixed media art. From that point on, Lorenzo became hooked on creating art from scrap metals, fabrics, wood, canvas, and many others. During his junior year at Bischon Art School in Los Angeles, he perfected his own proprietary method of painting on canvas with ceramic glaze, which he will demonstrate on Monday in his session, "Art in Full Bloom."

Lorenzo paints with an extraordinary amount of color, and prefers to create art centered around nature, animals, and science. Now in his senior year at Bischon, Lorenzo has been creating mixed media totem poles made from old telephone poles, and other recycled materials, and is already planning his next new technique that will likely inspire a trend for years to come.

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Hillary is a sophomore art sculpture student at New York University, and has already won all the major international prizes for new painters, including the Divinity Circle, the International Painter's Medal, and the Academy of Paris Award. Hillary's CAC exhibit features paintings that contain only water images including waves, deep sea, and river.

An avid water sports participant, Hillary understands the water in many ways in which others do not, or may not ever have the opportunity. Her goal in creating the CAC exhibit was to share with others the beauty, power, and flow of natural bodies of water throughout the world. In addition to the display, Hilary also hosts a session on Tuesday called Deep Sea Wonders, which combines her love of deep sea diving and snorkeling, with instruction for capturing the beauty of underwater explorations on canvas.

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The Art College in New Dehli sponsored Hassum on scholarship for his entire undergraduate career at the university, seeing great promise in his contemporary paintings of landscapes - that use equal parts muted and vibrant tones, and are almost a contradiction in art. Expected to follow in his grandfather's and father's footsteps and become an engineer, Hassum followed his heart and never looked back. Currently, Hassum is studying for his MFA at San Francisco Art Academy, where he has become known for his impressive color theories and one-of-a-kind color palettes – and has amassed an extensive underground following.

Landscapes and scenes that come to him during sleep have inspired many of Hassum's works. He's so inspired by his dreams, in fact, that he keeps a canvas and charcoal at his bedside and often begins the day sketching out the first outlines of a scene from his bed – before the vividness of his dreams begins to fade. Hassum will be speaking on "The use and absence of color in modern art" during Thursday's agenda.

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Jennifer studied psychology as an undergraduate at UCLA, but quickly discovered her heart was in painting and drawing. Always the idealist, she decided to find a way to do both, and pursued a Master's in Art Therapy. Jennifer now works as a counselor for the developmentally disabled, using art therapy to rehabilitate young adults. She feels it fulfills her purpose on the planet. Apart from career in art therapy, Jennifer paints and draws every evening and weekend, and has amassed a large body of critically acclaimed work in a very short time.

A native of New Orleans, much of Jennifer's work has centered around abstract images that depict flooding and rebuilding, having grown up as a teenager in the post-flood years. Despite the sadness of devastation and lives lost, Jennifer's work also depicts the hope and togetherness of a community that has persevered. Jennifer's exhibit, Floods of Hope, will be discussed during Tuesday's Water in Art themed sessions.

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LaVonne's giant-sized paintings all around Chicago tell the story of love, nature, and conservation - themes that are central to her heart. LaVonne's love affair with mural and graffiti paintings began when she was just a child and rode the train into Harlem with her parents to visit her grandfather. Along the route, she would focus on the graffiti art, sometimes being amazed at its beauty and sometimes exclaiming that it was a terrible waste of a building canvas.

She knew that once she was old enough she would begin to create art along train and bus routes in inner cities to provide everyone with a chance to glimpse the rare beauty of phenomenal graffiti murals.

Even after moving with her family from New York to Chicago in her early teens, her dream stayed alive, and she was the first person ever to be paid to paint a mural on the Reynold's Sky Tower – at the early age of 16. LaVonne will share her love and skill of graffiti art on Monday's schedule, as she starts the painting of a 20-foot high wall in the Rousseau Room of Hotel Contempo in front of a standing-room only audience in Art in Unexpected Places.

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Riley started out as musician and street performance artist, and now blends painting and photography with audio, video, and computer multimedia to create what he calls "Music and Multimedia Artworks." Riley's innovations in using multimedia to express art have created a youth culture movement in his town of Portland, in which he remains at the forefront. In his role as the founder of the MMA art form, Riley has become an inspiration to many up and coming artists. However, the part Riley insists is most important to him, is that he's helped many troubled youth take control of their lives, and create their own unique, positive futures. Seeing kids he's mentored graduate from high school and enroll in college, gives art the purpose that Riley so craves.

A first-year student at the Roux Academy of Art, Media, and Design, Riley is already changing the face of modern art at the university. Riley's exquisite abstract pieces have no intention of ever being understood, but instead beg the viewer to dream, create, pretend, and envision with their mind's eye. Riley will be speaking on the "Art of Abstract" during Thursday's schedule.

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Constance received the Fullerton-Brighton-Norwell Award for Modern Art for her mixed-media image of a tree of life, with jewel-adorned branches depicting the arms of humanity, and precious gemstone-decorated leaves representing the spouting buds of togetherness. The daughter of a New York jeweler, Constance has been salvaging the discarded remnants of her father's jewelry-making since she was five years old, and won the New York State Fair grand prize at the age of 8 years old for a gem-adorned painting of the Manhattan Bridge.

Constance has been commissioned to "paint" the altar of a historic church in Wicklow, Ireland with gemstones that belonged to several prominent Irish families. She will depart for Ireland shortly after the CAC and plans to complete the work over a course of 4 to 6 months. Join Constance on Thursday for her session on " The Art of Salvaging" where she'll give insight into collecting and finding salvageable "junk" and turning it into beautiful art.

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A senior at the China International Art University, Xhou has become well-known for his miniature sculptures and paintings on rice granules, that are displayed by rear projection of microscope images on canvas. The son of a rice farmer, Xhou toiled hard on the family farm when school wasn't in session. He knew that he did not want to be a farmer like his father, but always respected his father's discipline and dedication to the trade. Painting on rice granules started as a way to pay homage to his father.

As a freshman in college, Xhou became fascinated with microbiology and soon developed special tools and a technique for using microscopes and telescopic lenses to "enlarge" the painting surfaces of very small items including gravel, beads, and rice. Xhou recently expanded his techniques to create tiny sculptures, the size of a thumbnails, made of resin, clay, and other cohesive materials. Xhou will discuss the art and science behind his incredibly detailed works of art in Wednesday's seminar entitled "Beyond the Naked Eye."

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Art is Richard's third career. He is a Vietnam veteran who proudly served his country for 15 years after the war. As an adult, Richard returned to college to pursue a degree in Architecture, and was a practicing and award-winning architect for another 30 years. His architectural designs awakened within him a deep longing for painting and drawing, and he began slowly by painting incredibly unique renditions of his successful architectural structures. Seeing peoples' response to his paintings, brought an excitement that Richard had never known, and upon retiring, Richard enrolled in the Roux Academy of Art, Media, and Design to learn all he could about painting.

In three short years, Richard jump-started his career as one of the most talented street portrait artists in New York City, unearthing a hidden talent that he never knew was within him. Now, as a seasoned portrait artist at the age of 72, and the oldest graduate of Roux Academy, Richard loves to share his success story and remind people that it's never too late to follow your heart. Richard will be a featured lecturer on Wednesday, when he discusses his "38 Faces" collection.

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