Jackie Nickerson: Faith

Taking on the hidden world of Irish Catholicism, photographer Jackie Nickerson's latest body of work, called "Faith," visits the hallways, libraries, kitchens and dining rooms of Catholic institutions. Shot over two-and-a-half years, her resulting portraits of priests and nuns, architectural details and still-lifes (such as an image of the waste from communion wafers) are touched with intimacy and absurdity. The series offers a rare glimpse …

Jill Greenberg: Ursine

The latest subject to get photographer Jill Greenberg's black-belt photoshop treatment are members of the Ursidae family. Known for her images of crying babies and more recently for her portraits of monkeys, the bear series continues to explore themes of humanity, emotion and duality seen in her previous work. Like with her other subjects, the bears express a range of often contradictory feelings, running the …

Julie Heffernan

New York City-based painter Julie Heffernan's oils look like they were painted by 17th-century Flemish masters in Antwerp. But no, this Peoria, Illinois-born woman is a contemporary artist that can make the rest of us born in the 20th century proud. Her large-scale compositions use the classical style to touch on psychology, gender, motherhood and class. (Click image for detail.) Raised in Northern California, Heffernan's …