Ann Stretton's elegant, witty, sometimes disturbing but always wonderfully-crafted art work is found all over the 'Net. Usually, anything that is that ubiquitous gets dull pretty fast. But Ann's style is so varied, so finely executed, so full of her obvious talent that we find it a RELIEF to come upon it as we surf through all-too-often dreary and ugly cyberspace. We consider her work in the very top echelon of Web-based graphic artists.

Ann (aka Ann-S-Thesia) may find her work everywhere, but the artist herself hails from Wisconsin. There, with her partner Stan Starbuck, they comprise S.S. Studios (go there to read about their work, house, pets, and life experiences). Both fine artists, you can see a wide range of their work at their site. (Ann's the one who does the Web graphics, though).

This site offers an enormous number of free Web graphics for non-commercial Websites. And, Ann's work is "insanely inexpensive" for commercial sites, offering both pre-made and custom graphics. Her "environments" are the among best we've seen: dozens and dozens of fabulous matching "sets." Check out a few, and enjoy what she calls Great Works of Illiterature ("Digital Dada") while the images download. She offers CD-ROM's with her environments, which can be purchased on the site.

Also available are beautifully designed dingbat fonts which are used to create the artwork you see in this month's issue, including the background (both the subtle texture behind these words and left-sided gold bar) and the matching images. Go to the Dingbat Cave to see the fonts, read the tutorials and FAQ, download samples, and maybe even purchase a few. (Pass your mouse over each of the font names on this page and watch the magic!)

Ann's got a lot of opinions, humor (the front page of her site warns: "This site is best viewed with Netscape brand Web Browsers. Inferior brands may cause drowsiness, blurred vision, and slurred speech."), some edgy attitude (but that's what helps make her work interesting, right?), generosity of spirit, and a lot of rabid fans, including us. Read a tribute from one of them here. You can contact the "Dingbatician" herself at ann@ann-s-thesia.com.