Portrait artists

I am currently looking to get an entire chest piece worth of portraits done(mom, dad, brother and I) and I am determined to get them done by either Nikko or Mike DeVries. Now i've been trying to get a hold of both and it seems pretty much impossible. I can't really afford to fly out there now but both will be in the New England area within the next year and I really want to setup time with them. I am wondering what would be the best way to go about this because myspace/email is really working that well. Would it be bothersome to them to call their shops or do you guys think that would actually be the best way to get ahold of them? Also, if anyone can point me in the direction of similiar artists in the east coast/new england region that would be great.

Call them. They are just humans :)