Portal Of Opportunities V

I have always possessed a great affinity to nature, thirst for knowledge, and a deep appreciation of beauty in all of its forms. These innate qualities have found expresssion in many areas. In my paintings, I have seen patterns emerge that express harmony, joy, order, and beauty. My belief in the fundamental unity of all cultures and peoples has led me to create art pieces that relflect the depth of our collective souls, the beauty of our beings, and the ability to expand to fully embrace our lives.

I was born and raised in a small city in the northern region of Iran called Rezahyieh. In 1978 I moved to the United States to attend college and received a business degree from California State University Sacramento. I then traveled extensively for several years encountering various cultures in different countries. I developed a feeling of expansion that included all of humanity. While living in Brazil, I was inspired by the European and Brazilian artists I met, so began creating one of a kind garments and bags that were sold through high end boutiques in Los Angeles. While working with fabric dyes on hemp canvas, I shifted my artistic direction towards painting. Over the years, I have experimented with a wide variety of mediums and cherish the discovery of something new. My work has evolved over time, allowing me to switch forms of expression as I feel inclined. My most recent pieces I call Nouveau Surrealism - ordinary printed photos that have been transformed to reflect unseen realms. Over the past four years, I have shown in the Topanga Artist Studio Tour and have participated in numerous shows in various venues around LA. The most recent show was called Down the Rabbit Hole, representing portals into the mysteries within each of us.

Shula Singer Arbel is a Los Angeles artist working in acrylic and mixed media. Her work is an exuberant fusion of abstract and representational images; a flattening of form mixed with painterly surfaces. Using bold colors and patterns, she is constantly exploring new territory in her work, evoking the imagination and creating multiple meanings for the viewer

Shula was born in Israel and moved to Los Angeles at the age of three. She has been studying and making art throughout her life, winning accolades and awards along the way. She received a MFA degree from UCLA in Film Production and worked in the film industry as an editor, writer and researcher. Shula was the first recipient of the Barbara Streisand screenwriting award. She wrote and directed short films before leaving the business to teach and raise a family. She is a member of Los Angeles Art Association, California Art League and Women Painters West and received the Best of Show Award for the 2010 Gold Medal Exhibition at Valley Institute of Visual Arts (VIVA).

"Creating my work on a very complex but “warm” material as natural fabric (especially silk, which does not allow for mistakes), I want to pass-on this warmth to someone else. When one wears this thin silk shawl over one's shoulders, with its painted birds in the Garden of Eden, you feel more at peace and the emination of an inner beauty. Your beloved is wearing a shirt with your portrait and feels this happiness too. You will admire “our” panels that are created for you, anew each day, looking through your eyes. Maybe our fantasies in the picture are in tune with each other and this will be a source of creative energy transmitted through this art for years to come. This is the ultimate goal of my work and my hope…"

Veronika was born and grew up in Moscow, Russia. Currently residing in LA, California. As she remember she always was painting. Veronika is graduated from art school and The State University of Management (MBA) in Moscow.

Drawing was always her hobby , passion and profession . Years ago she discovered the beauty of painting on fabrics, especially on silk and cotton. Taking Master-Classes in Russia, Spain and Indonesia with world renowned artists, learning from them different skills and techniques had helped to develop and improve her art.

Since moving to United States, she has been working on her painting full time, and she is completely dedicated to this work. Uses many different known techniques and inventing her own styles of painting in the creation of works.

Her items are in private collections in Europe Asia and North America.

Style: Erna Avan is an Armenian artist who moved from Armenia to US in 2010. She is one of the Abstract art representatives who started painting in 2009. Her style is mostly abstractionism and her art expresses departure from reality. Erna mostly works with acrylic and gouache paints. She uses mixed technology. Her style varies from one work to another and is very complex to explain. The dominant part of her work is psychological expressions of abstract portraits. In her work Erna also used some elements from her childhood (Fairy Tale abstract representations). Another part of her work represents the life of another dimension such as her cosmic and space metamorphosis representation. Many of Erna's works have religious foundation because Christianity was a defining part of Armenian history.

Erna Avan was born in 1961 in city Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. Her father was a Geography teacher and her mother was Director of Scientific Library of Baku. Erna started attending teaching practice at conservatoire when she was 5 years old. Her major was piano. In 1982 Erna completed conservatoire with exceptionally highest grades. She is a very talented musician and composer. In 1983 she had her first and the only son Roman. She lost her husband in 1994 and continued raising Roman alone. As a result of enormous creative energy and a stressful period of her life in September 2009 (48 years old) Erna suddenly started showing her talents in fine art. She was very inspired by famous painter Edvard Munchs art work "Scream" and the next morning she created her first art work (The Beginning). Erna has worked individually starting in 2009 and already had a chance to be introduced to Union of Armenian Painters in 2010. In 2010 due to circumstances she has moved to US. She has about 300 art representations. She had her first exhibition in July 2010 at XPress Art Center Royale Gallery located in Glendale, California. She continued to create new art works. In 2012 unfortunately she was diagnosed with cancer, and went through required procedures and now is hoping to continue to work towards expressing herself and her feelings in art.

My journey as an artist began over 30 years ago painting colorful semi-abstract Southwest landscapes in oils and watercolor.

Captured by collage and mixed media, the direction of my work has changed dramatically over the years. And, although I still paint, my "paint brush" is now often through the lens of a camera or iPhone. My photo collages allow me to meld together captured images of light and shadows, architectural elements and the mood inducing landscapes of L.A. and DTLA. Day or night, freeway blurs, building facades, distorted landscapes, graffiti, billboards, glitches, store windows, reflections are translated into seductive, colorful virtual reality-scapes.

Susanne Belcher, a native Californian, and award winning mixed media semi-abstract artist, began incorporating photography into her paintings and collages several years ago. Her experimentation with transparency film, scanning images, layering, overlaying and collaging these elements into her creations extended her visual language. Her images, always compelling, whether minimal or complex, retain a consistent emotional narrative component that is unique, sophisticated and often surreal and mysterious. Her innate ability to distill images through layers of reduction and compilation in mixed media provided a natural transition to digital photography.

She has exhibited in Germany and galleries throughout So. California in both solo and group exhibitions since 1991. The recipient of numerous awards, her work is held in private and corporate collections in the U.S. and Europe. She was a founding partner and represented artist of the former Abbot Kinney Art Gallery (Venice, CA), is currently represented by Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts Gallery (DTLA). She is an active member of Women Painters West, Thousand Oaks Art Association, California Art League and currently sits on the Board of Collage Artists of America and The Fine Arts Club of Pasadena. She is also co-author of an art/nature essay book “Looking for 527” about the journeys of a Yellowstone Wolf killed in 2009 during the first Montana wolf hunt (available on Amazon.com)

Art has called to me as my expression of the things I perceive but cannot say. At first when I climbed the Catalinas in Tucson or the Rockies in Colorado, I sat on precipices, and gazed over the trees and rocks; my painting was a substitute for the camera I could not afford. Soon I found a meditative state in my visage, seeing not only the rocks and trees but other things. This was the birth of my connection with nature. Over 40 years ago, looking and using my eyes to fondle the landscape became my mantra for future paintings. The process of painting while backpacking limited me to watercolors. These were easy to carry, use, and light. So watercolor became my medium of choice out of necessity. I’ve improved my techniques, and find watercolors offer that piece of uncontrollable mystery that makes a painting unique. I inadvertently put the horse before the cart with my training in art. Raised in a family of purpose driven people, career choices had to do with earning money and not expression of artistic ideas.

On the weekends, art was my release, my place of respite. Why do artists create? I can answer with another question: what is creativity? But the essence of all of us, for me it is the string that lingers inside our communications, it sparks the mind from the hum drum of churning. Art can be a little bump that makes you feel the road.

My project, “California Oaks as Art”, is an artistic expression of the beauty of the oaks, and a historical, environmental catalog of their stories. Yes, there goes that goal driven orientation. Yet on a deeper level the oak tree of California, although one of the most common trees, it is also one that is very unique to its climate. It is everywhere, and even in some places considered a weed. It pops up and takes root and before you know it, those leathery leaves are all over your yard. Common but not so common. This project has taught me so very much about the California natives. We study Indians and early people of California, but not much is known about its early oaks and current oaks. Like my backcountry experiences in the Desserts of Arizona, and the mountains of California, there is a richness of nature that cannot be described in words. One quote I like about nature and the new generations, is that how can you expect someone to care about nature, if they have never experienced it? To describe sleeping under the stars, hearing the wind through the pines, smelling the morning dew of a meadow, tasting the clear clean water from a spring, and sitting under an oak, are all sensual and transient. Understanding the role oaks have played in history, in ecology, and their uniqueness is one of the goals of my art project. On one level, I want the audience to walk away and say, I never knew this about the oaks, I think I’ll take another look at the oak in my yard, I want to visit this oak, or on another level; although I am one of many like the oak, I have a unique story, nature is a common denominator, under the surface there is more, the roots of each being are what make them unique.

My project has stimulated conversation both in writing and in conversation. I have had an article in the California Poppy, a publication of all the California Garden Clubs. The President has contacted me and asked for a follow up article on the oaks and their stories. I have presented a short slide show to the Los Angeles District Arboretum in Arcadia. This exhibit has been shown in Thousand Oaks Community Gallery and received a lot of positive responses. I have even been commissioned to paint a significant oak tree at Caltech. The grand Engelmann Oak is fading and I was commissioned by Caltech to paint it as a memory of how it once grew. This painting is now on display at California Institute of Technology.

My paintings themselves represent my journey through painting and expression. I have found some of the oak trees are quite plain and have decided to use an unusual technique such as Chinese Brush Painting to make the tree more interesting. As in the case of the 13,000 year old Palmer Oak, it is a low growing scrub oak, which is far more interesting when I painted it using Chinese Xuan Paper, Chinese Brushes, and Chinese Paint. This painting has won many awards which leads me to believe that the medium helps to spark the interest in the subject. I use watercolors which are my first love for most of the works, sketches, and preliminary paintings. I have created oils from the watercolor studies which are in this exhibition.

My style of painting is what I call environmental impressionism. There is an overt goal to encourage appreciation and knowledge of California’s Oak Trees, and there is a subliminal goal to see the limbs of the oak as we see the limbs of our own bodies. And how can you not love your own limbs.

Jennifer Bentson

3181 Linda Vista Road, Glendale, CA 91206

Cell (818) 243-5405

Email: jb@jenniferbentson.com

Web: www.jenniferbentson.com

Mediums:

Watercolor, Oil, Sketch - Charcoal, Pencil, and Pastel, Print, Chinese Brush Painting.

Commissions

California Technical Institute, Engelmann Oak, 2011

State of California, Air Resources Board, 2004

Publications

Six Visions, Wapshott Press

Storylandia, Wapshott Press, Cover 2013

Erotique, Wapshott Press Cover 2013

Chevy Chase Garden Cub, Member’s Directory, 2012

California State Garden Clubs, California Poppy, 2012

Current Correspondent for Art Quench Magazine, www.artquenchmagazine.com

Exhibits:

Chevy Chase Country Club – Solo Show 2009

Highland Taffy Art Assn., Summer Art Shows 2009, 2010, 2011

Brand Library, Glendale, CA , 2010

Modern Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, March, 2010

Descanso Gardens Art Gallery, La Canada, CA 1995, 1996

Montrose Art Walk – 2010, 2011

Bluebird House Art Gallery, Juried 2010

California State Air Resources Board, 2000-2010

The Advocate Gallery, 12-6- 2010 to 1-20-2011, Hollywood, CA

Segil Fine Art Gallery, Juried 2011, 2012

North Hollywood Performing Arts Center, Juried 2011

Gallery 800, Juried 2011, Juried 2012 winner of watercolor award. Juried 2013

Bonham and Butterfields 2011, APLA Juried 2012. 2013, 2014, 2015

California Institute of Technology, Permanent Collection 2011- present

Thomas Payne Foundation, Juried 2012

GAA – Silverlake Citibank Gallery - Group Show 2012

White’s Gallery 2012 – ( Two Shows) Fall Salon and October Show

Huntington Gardens and Library – Juried Show, 2012

La Canada Library – 2013 April Show

Anzoh Gallery – GAA – June 2013 Show

Burbank Creative Arts Gallery – July 2013 – Winner 2nd place, Watercolor

Glendale Youth Alliance, Juried Show, Nov. 2013

Valley Visions, Juried Show, June 2014, Winner “First Place Watercolor”

Thousand Oaks Gallery, “California Oaks as Art” 27 pieces with interpretative information.

Theodore Payne Foundation, Juried Art Show, 2014

GAA, Juried Show, October 2014, Winner “Honorable Mention” Sculpture

Lark Gallery, Brea Show, 2014-5

Aquarium of the Pacific, 2014, One of 20 artists juried into show.

Aquarium of the Pacific, 2015, One of 23 artists juried into show

Glendale Youth Authority, Juried Show, 2015

Far Niente, Curator, Oct. 2014 to March 2015, over 40 pieces of art hung on a rotating schedule, combining the artwork of two organizations.

Glendale Area Loves Art, Curator, Spring Show, 2015

White’s Gallery, GAA Spring Show, Juried, Winner “Honorable Mention” Figurative 2015

Blick Art Store Gallery, Pasadena, May, 2015

Exhibitions Produced

2013, Love of Art, Gallery 800, 50 participants, 95 pieces of art, SFVAC

2013 Masters of SFVAC Exhibition, CSUN Gallery, May, 2012, 22 artists, 34 pieces of art

2013 Small is Beautiful, White’s Gallery, 31 artists, 76 pieces of art

2014 Theodore Payne Foundation, Paint Out and Subsequent Gallery Show, 22 artists

2014 Thousand Oaks Gallery, open call, 43 artists, 87 pieces

2014 Thousand Oaks Gallery, 6 Visions Show, 6 artists, 95 pieces of art, published catalog created featuring the artists.

2014-5 Far Niente Restaurant, Glendale, CA, negotiated management of the walls of art for the restaurant. New show every two months, since October, 2014

2015 GALA, Glendale Area Loves Art, As GAA President, I curated and organized this show in a short period of time.

2015 GAA, White's Gallery, Spring Salon, Winner Honorable Mention, Figurative

2015, Children's Network Art Auction, Juried

2015 Bonham's, Art Project Auction, Juried

Presentations on “California Oaks as Art” Project

Chevy Chase Garden Club – 2012

Los Angeles County Arboretum – 2013

Delegate to China representing SFVAC – September 2014

Education:

BA Education, University of Arizona

MS Post Graduate Coursework in Educational Psychology

Professional Art Courses

Chinese Brush Painting, Xiamen University, Gulangyu Island, China

Figure and Portrait Painting – Animation Guild, Burbank, CA

Ceramics – La Canada Adult School – 2 sessions

Watercolor Painting – Glendale Adult School (7 sessions) and Monrovia Adult School (1 session)

Oil Painting – Glendale Adult School (3 sessions)

Figure Drawing – Glendale Adult School (3 sessions)

Perspective, Animation Guild, Burbank, CA

Leadership Roles

President, Glendale Art Association, 2015 - current

President, San Fernando Valley Art Club (2013-4)

Discarded ranch equipment and metal parts are the source of my inspiration for creating sculptures which explore perceptions of the female form and psyche. Serendipitous discoveries are made each time I delve into the metal scrap pile at the ranch where I work. From visit-to-visit there is no guarantee what will be available, the element of chance is part of the process and challenge of forming the narratives of unrelated components.

Furthermore, the chance effects caused by small explosions, fires, and molten splatters, inherent in welding and melting metal that is rusty, greasy, dirty, and often with remnants of paint, are all part of the creative process which defines the sculptures.

A piece of a pole with a bolt that appears to be randomly welded onto it was the inspiration for "Screwed." The body consists of broken blades which follow the curves of a woman's figure. Similarly,"She Has Balls" is comprised of a pole and blades; the narrative is derived from the discovery of the metal balls which I welded onto the blade base.

Rebar is always available in the scrap pile which influenced my preplanning of a tall sculpture. However, when I arrived at the ranch I could only find small pieces and had to rethink the concept which resulted in “Standing In A Forest.” A woman is cut out of a long piece of steel and the resulting curves allow her to stand out instead of simply standing tall.

My artwork has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums.

Jana Charl was born in Los Angeles and currently resides there. Not married to a single medium, she paints with acrylics and also sculpts metal and polymer clay. Her artwork reflects a fascination with capturing the human form and psyche with minimal, distinguishing curves.

After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Art at the University of Redlands, California, she was in her first group exhibition at Ars Futura Galerie in Zürich. Since 1993, her artwork has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums. As a dual US-Swiss citizen, she has also lived in Zürich and enjoys traveling between the two countries.

Highly influenced by artists like Hopper, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Diebenkorn, I paints multicultural urban Los Angeles with all its contradictions and poetry.

I am trying to blend my classical European artistic background with contemporary conceptual approach. In the LA urban environment I am looking for and finding manifestations of eternal human values, such as love, faith, longing, and the strife for a better life. I try to see real people and their life through the facades of the buildings depicted with much love and connection.

Born in Moscow , Russia /f. USSR/

Moscow's Art School at Kropotkin St.

MA graphic design from Stroganovskaya School of Art and Design, Moscow.

Graphic Design Workshop Artist Union USSR

Group Show at Bienalle/ Chekhoslovakia, Praga

1989- Came to USA, Los Angeles

1990-2009 Decorative painted furniture and murals

2008-1st Solo show TALK TO ME LA1 Modern Art Gallery

2010-2nd Solo show TALK TO ME LA 2 at Modern Art gallery

2012 Group show at Santa Monica Art Studios

2013 Group show "Seen and Unseen"Downtown LA

Phantom Gallery

curator and artist

2013 Group show "Oneness"Phantom Gallery

2015 Group show at Civitella d'Agliano

2015 Group show at Nuremberg ,Germany

2016 Solo show at Lark Gallery Hawthorne

and curator for CALIFORNIA show

I am a professional scientist, but my genetic makeup always pushed me to the artistic world. I preferred company of artists to the company of peers, which even manifested in my choice of spouses. So, being immersed in the artistic world all my life, I finally realized I needed to let my personal artistic juices out. And allow visceral part of me to kick in and get out.

As a scientist, I thought it will be a good idea to find a balance between cognitive and visceral sides. Hence, I decided to use opto-electronic approach to create images never existed before. But building blocks for creating these novel images are everyday very familiar objects. The closest definition for the final images will be ‘digital still-video’. The reason for that is that either the object involved in the creation of image is moving, or the imaging device, or both.

When creating an image, I seek, by transformation, to reveal in objects of everyday life what they can be, or manifest, given they are brought in motion, which is not particularly pertinent to their nature. So, it’s the opposite of what I try to do as a scientist, where molecular motion at nanoscopic level is translated into steady-state observations with opto-electronic devices.

I hope the approach to creating my images results in new and unexpected visual creations enriching viewers with new emotions and thoughts.

My life is a cascade of transitions, transformations, and quite unobvious and unpredictable revelations regarding what I was, am, and/or potentially can be. There are several examples of that throughout my lifespan. The pertinent one is that I started my adult life as a Ph.D. in Biophysics and may retire as an ‘artist’. The start happened in Russia, and retirement will, hopefully, happen in the US.

The photography for me is the way of self expression and my investment in the process of saving mosaic of the past for future.

Born in in the former Soviet Union, Alex Cheremisov started his photo career at high school in Odessa. He continued his love affair with photography at military service as an air-photographer. After that he got involved as still photographer in movie industry, news media and advertisement. At the same time Alex devoted himself more and more to fine art photography and received numerous prizes, awards and reviews by prestigious art critics.

the language of life.

The type of Art that I do is beyond the spoken words.

When it emerges spontaneously because of the process, I accept it with gratitude.

Jenik

No question but the painting of Jenik Cook - and hardly less the work she realizes in other media (most notably ceramics) -is abstract-expressionist. But it is not necessarily Abstract Expressionist. That is, however much it may evince the DNA of mid-century American "action painting," or even European counterparts such as tachism, l'art informel, or CoBrA, Cook's art only incidentally revives the method, much less the look, of these bumptious, scrappy art movements. Rather, to power her vision, she goes back to the roots of gestural modernism, finding dancing line, elastic contour, and fervid color in surrealism, in fauvism, in expressionism itself. The painting of Pollock and Kline, and of Fautrier and Jorn, gives Cook permission to work unfettered like this, and gives us the context to comprehend fully - even to empathize kinesthetically with - what she does. But she is not emulating, much less imitating, Afro or James Brooks in her graceful, muscular paintings on paper or rehashing Sam Francis or André Lanskoy with the rhythmic clots and scatterings of pigment that collect on her canvases (well, on a wide variety of more-or-less canvas-like support material). Look instead to Miro, Masson, Marc, or Münter, Pechstein or Picasso, Marcks or Matisse, for Cook's sources.

Indeed, look into Cook's own cultural heritage. The line that whips and loops throughout Cook's oeuvre, whether hurling forms across canvas expanses or tracing them on the sides of pots, whether describing slashing trails of pure pigment or the sinuous contours of human bodies, is no more a painted line than it is a written one. It is made less with the whole body - although one can sense a change of stance, a hip motion, in so many of these dancing whiplashes - than with the whole arm. These gestures issue from the wrist and the shoulder. They are in fact as much inscribed as painted. Their energy is not just telegraphic; it is calligraphic. If the vivacity of the image bespeaks Cook's Armenian blood, the rhapsodic curvaceousness of her line betrays her Iranian childhood. As comfortable speaking and writing Farsi as she is Armenian, Cook marries her disparate cultural sources -which of course now include the western European and American influences of her adult life - into an aesthetically cohesive mix with a surprisingly broad formal reach.

Perhaps the breadth of that reach, given the variety of sources, isn't actually so surprising. But it is always a bit startling to witness - that is, to be allowed to witness - an artist master such a conceptual and expressive range. Most artists have this range in them, but so many suppress it. For her part, however, Cook refuses to suppress her stylistic multivalency. Not only does she not limit her vision, but she uses that vision very consciously to drive her artmaking in as many ways as it needs to go. She may edit, but she does not self-censure. Her style, ultimately as coherent and personal as a signature, emerges from and among her plethora of approaches, approaches which themselves spring from her persistence, her prolific output, her knowledge of art, and her irrepressible verve. Jenik Cook's art springs forth -in several directions at once.

Peter Frank Los Angeles January 2010

BIBI DAVIDSON - ARTIST STATEMENT WWW.BIBIDAVIDSON.COM

One is born to a certain talent and passion, which either is in his/her genes, past life or the influence of their environment. At a very early age I observed my surroundings around me and put them on paper,

At a certain point I started to paint my stories, like a diary,

In my stories I often appear as a girl, as a bunny, as a cat or even a flower, this is how I connect with my planet.

Bibi Davidson’s Bio

www.bibidavidson.com

bibiearth@aol.com

Bibi was born in Israel where she discovered her ability to draw and paint at a very early age, through the years she attended private teachings, and went to an art institute.

When her second daughter was born, bibi moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a film editor for 10 years.

At a certain time bibi decided that painting was her calling, she quit everything and started to paint her stories. Since then, she kept painting her subject, the girl who represented herself and tell the story of her life and her dreams.

For me, making art is a spiritual act.

About the Artist

For Jacob Ebriani, making art is a spiritual act, an intimate conversation between a man

and his God. Jacobʼs paintings are meditations that explore elemental themes underlying

the material world. Sur-naturalism, his signature technique, transcends surrealism with

dreamlike insights into fundamental workings of nature and the human spirit.

Jacob grew up in Tehran surrounded by the sounds of Sufi poetry and mūsīqī-e sonnatī

— Persian classical music. Selected as an artistʼs assistant when he was just ten years

old, Jacob began to transpose that aural tradition into a visual context. While his

instrument is a brush, his canvases have the narrative quality of songs, or poems. But it

was Sufi mysticism, the intoxicating dance with the divine that guided poets like Rumi

and Hafez, that fundamentally shaped his work. “The mystical side of the mind is very

close to music,” says Jacob, “to a beautiful painting.”

Pursuing deeper truths, Jacob strove to paint directly from the soul.“When you come to

realize what is real is beyond the physical, mystical experience becomes so important.

Itʼs part of life — like food. If you donʼt have it every day, something is missing.” He

developed his sur-natural approach in order to disconnect himself from physical, relative

concerns and work in an almost dreamlike state, accessing deeper levels of awareness.

Rather than rendering subjects literally, Jacob acts as a translator, distilling spiritual

themes to their essential forms through the use of mystical image

“EliZe” da Jose – Artist Statement

I understand art as a way of emotionally experiencing reality and a universal language of

communication.

Without conscious e?ort and thought, I try to fill my paintings with expressions strong

enough to let the spectator feel the energy put in the depth of the canvas, transforming the

perception of picture into his own art act.

Most recently, I find myself inspired to focus on developing and exploring the connection

between iconography and abstraction in light of Cosmism philosophy. The inspiration of

this uniquely blended style came about as briefly explained in the following.

I believe that abstract painting was and still is an artist’s attempt at capturing and

expressing Plato's world of ideas which is invisible to the earthly eyes. Then, at the

beginning of the 20th century came the avant-gardism of Filonov and Malevich which was a

rebellion against physicality, materialism and petty-bourgeois consumption.

Iconography takes its roots from the symbiosis of antique vivid imagery and spiritual

practices of Ancient Egypt. From ancient times to the present day, man has never stopped

asking himself questions about who he is and what his true role in this world is.

My newfound unique style of blending iconography and abstract painting is somehow an

endeavour to continue humanity’s perennial e?ort and desire to capture and express the

depth of the invisible world via visible materials, to have a glimpse of the heavenly realm via

earthly instruments, akin to Plato and Malevich’s line of thinking.

In my work, I try to find an image of the elusive other shore - where every soul aspires to go -

and trying to find artful means to communicate what is di?icult to express in words.

ELIZAVETA DAJOSE (Artist Name: Elize)

Elize daJose is a professional artist, sculptor, iconographer and illustrator.

Her artworks primarily consist of a unique blend of abstract art and icon painting, experimenting with various materials, although her favorite media remain acrylic painting and ceramics.

Born in Moscow, Russia, her life as an artist started at a very young age. One day on a snowy street in her hometown, she bought Kazimir Malevich’s book from a peddler which turned her consciousness upside down and defined her entire life path.

From 1996 to 2000, she religiously undertook painting, sculpture, and graphics in various workshops of Moscow artists.

Since 2001, she has been working in the creative workshops of the Babushkinsky Sculpture Combine and in 2002, she became a member of the Moscow Union of Artists, sculpture section.

From 2002 to 2010, she actively participated in group exhibitions at the Central House of Artists, Gallery on Kuznetsky Most, Darwin Museum, and Timiryazev Museum.

In 2010, she participated in the Annual Art Juried Competition in Los Angeles, CA, and became a laureate.

In 2011, she took part in the collective exhibition "Woman Day Art Exhibits" at the Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA, and in 2012 she had a solo exhibition "Three Artists" at Liz Loft Gallery, LA, CA.

In 2016, Elize moved to California and actively participated in collective exhibitions, including the "Summer Exhibit" at Bergamot Station Art Center in Santa Monica (2016), "Brain Art Event" at Lark Gallery/The Chiari Project in West Hollywood (2017), and "The Art of Transformation" at Brick & Mortar Loiter Galleries in Long Beach (2023), among many others.

In 2025, Elize was awarded the Silver Medal at the New York International Art Juried Competition, "The Light from the Other Shore."

In 2026, an essay featuring Elize's creativity and spiritual development was published in the book "Revelations of the Artist - Deep Calls to Deep", curated by ArtServe International.

Elize is an active member of the Los Angeles Art Association and Riverside Community Arts Association. She is currently represented by Lark Gallery in West Hollywood and Literary Engineers, LLC in Benicia, CA.

My work explores the relationship between Harmony and Nature best represented in my ceramic work.

Was born in the city of Sochi, Russia. She studied at Grekov Art School located in Rostov-on-Don, Russia and was named Student of the Year. From 1975-1995, she worked as an artist in one of the biggest art companies in the Soviet Union where she participated in many art exhibitions and had her work win constant recognition in multiple countries such as Russia, Armenia and Ukraine. In 1996, she immigrated to the U.S where she continued her art career, creating beautiful and unique paintings. For the last 3 years, she has dived into the art form of sculpting, creating many different ceramic sculptures that represents her vision of Harmony and Nature.

If you have any queries about my work

please call (323) 979-8968.

Nature’s infinite pallet of color and diversity awaken our hearts and mind.

*** The Law of the Universe:

No matter how dark the night gets, the sun will rise. It always does.

*** Innocent and beautiful colors of sun are ready to dance with you at winter solstice, awaken your heart and mind.

*** Sun’s rays are inviting you to the new year journey! Be ready to fly!

** Galina Kovshilovsky’s paintings derive from her Russian origins. One feels the breath and wildness of a massive country and yet the simple handy work of it dedicated population. Galina’s paintings capture the sprawling epic about the erosion of tradition with visually striking exploration of color in its infinite variety and vitality. Her painting, be they large or small, capture the imagination with visually stunning Swirls and movement of the eye, emotion and the imagination. We are left breathless with the fascinating lovingly layered colors where the rules of organized thought clash and intersect with rituals and beliefs. We are moved. We are coaxed. We are seeing and drawn into a study of inclusiveness always before us.

Her color is gorgeous and she paints energy.

Dr. Marion Somers.

My photographic collages are layers of my reflections and observations, being personal, political or historical.

Like our life experiences, these thoughts accumulate on top of each other, to create my feelings and emotions that get expressed in the artwork.

The layering process coincides with the synthesis of creating visual pieces that invites one to investigate and explore the given information.

Like in previous works of mine, made on glass, the technique and the transparencies in my photographic digital collages are an important part of the art, they emphasis the build-up process and the blending which creates the images.

Vered Galor has been involved with the fine art world as an artist, curator and educator for over thirty years. She received her BA and MA in Fine Art from California State University in Northridge in 1975 and 1978.

Mrs. Galor started her career as glass sculptor. In 1981 she established a business doing curatorial projects and consulting in Contemporary Fine Art.

She lectured, participated in discussions and wrote art programs to encourage the collaboration of Art and Architecture.

Since 1989 Mrs. Galor has been concentrating on photography. She has been creating here own work, teaching photography and showing with galleries in Los Angeles California, Fort Collins and Loveland, Colorado and Las Vegas Nevada.

I studied for over 12 years in the studio of Ilana Bloch. I am a member of three art organizations: Women Painters West, and Los Angeles Art Association and JAI. I have participated in many group shows and received awards on several occasions.

A few years ago, my son created an art website for me. The proceeds of the art I sell on this website, goes to benefit a wonderful local organization: Step Up on Second, where there is help and housing for the mentally ill, It is a very gratifying and pleasurable way for me to use my hands, my time and my inspiration to help others.

I enjoy experimenting with acrylics and collage, exploring layering, pouring and making graphic and soft edges. I like to "mix it up" in one piece, combining the accidental with the planned out, the painterly with the graphic, the atmospheric with the straight edge.

I particularly enjoy adding collage medium. I camouflage the brightly collage pieces within the paintings, so that they can be discovered slowly. They add a vibrant edge and an element of surprise that contrasts with both the graphic or atmospheric background.

I am open to exploring new media, and new techniques each year, but I suspect that color and pattern will remain an important element in my work.

I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but have lived in the USA since 1961. I received my Bachelor's Degree from Pomona College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Yale University. At Pomona College, I majored in French and Art History. My interest in art has been lifelong, although I started painting only in 1998. I was a high school French and Spanish teacher and have been retired since 2006, leaving me plenty of time to indulge my passion for painting. I travel to Italy a couple of times a year where i am always inspired, as many who travel there, by the light, the colors and the art.

Being an artist is pouring one’s soul onto the canvas, carving it into a stone or molding it into clay. It is being able to free the mind to create beauty, to create mysteries and, to create long-lasting emotion and passion for the viewer.

My paintings are created through combining acrylic, fabric dyes and oil on canvas. Using layers of one or all mediums, I create texture and depth within the space. This results in fluidity and translucency on the surface, complemented by organic lines to create movement and form.

I am inspired by nature, where I am pulled into experiencing every curve, movement, texture, and fragrance by being present in any given moment. I paint intuitively, capturing the essence of light and positive energy of my experiences. In the process, I explore unlimited options that present themselves and a variety of elements from nature become prominent in my work. I do not paint the actual objects but my experience of the space and the undercurrent and core of what seems to be visible.

I create from the heart. Through my art I intent to touch the hearts and souls of my viewers, to bring them joy, lift their spirit and transcend the moment to one beyond this world.

Aazam Irilian was born in Iran and has resided in Southern California since 1977. Her extensive experience in a broad range of mediums is led by her passion for painting and sculpture. Aazam received her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Art Education from California State University, Northridge. She has been a working artist and art educator for over 20 years—sharing her passion with students of all ages. Aazam has shown in galleries throughout the Southern California as well as Oregon and her works are in various private collections around the world. She is a member of Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art, Women Painters West, LAAA and Fusionart International.

Narine Isajanyan was born in Armenian and began drawing and painting at the age of five. During her childhood she visited many museums and galleries in Armenian and St. Petersburg, as well as receiving training in music and dance. In college she continued her training in art and received a Bachelors degree in 1987 from the College of Architecture in Yerevan. She moved to Moscow to study at the Moscow Architectural Institute but found Soviet regulations with architecture too restrictive and sought more freedom to express her ideas through her art. She returned to Armenian and studied art with Manvel Bagdasaryan and Samvel Bagdasaryan and later received a Masters degree in Fine Arts from the Yerevan University of Art and Theater. She first started exhibiting her art in 1990 in Armenia and has participated in numerous shows in Moscow, Beruit, Abu Dhabi, Croatia and Belgium. She came to the United States in 1998 when she was invited to participate in an art exhibition and since then has exhibited her paintings at many galleries in the Los Angeles area.

Inspired by the impressionist painter Monet, Narine's work is expressionist, minimalist and conceptual by turns. Whether on canvas, paper, board, wood or actually made of metal, her pieces become abstract landscapes that are as fluid within as they are consistent and organic as a whole.

About her art, Narine says, "When I paint, I feel like I am flying and dancing; I hear music in my mind. Through my art I want to express the freedom I feel in my soul."

With my art I want to educate and narrow the gap between the contemporary artist and the public by allowing the public to participate in the creative process. Making the art work a perfect educational tool that demystifies the abstract. Manipulating the pieces lets people play, refresh, and escape from stress which invites meditation.

The interactive art challenges the observer to balance and rearrange the "sculptures". One has to try it several times to find the perfect balance and harmony.

Julianna ViVienVioletta Balogh born in Hungary, she escaped from the communist country at the age 21. She spent two months in the Italian refugee camp and six months in Paris, before seeking refuge in the United States. In 1988 she received her Bachelor of Arts from University of California (UCLA).

In 1991 she received her Adult Education Teaching Credential. Since then she taught art classes in different adult schools to a variety of ethnic groups and ages in the Los Angeles area.

In 2000 she received her M.F.A from Claremont Graduate University. She exhibited since 1982 and she was the owner of the Sarga Szem Fine Art Studio in Upland,California.

Artist Marina Kazakova (nee Lunkova), was born in Tver, July 14, 1983 in a simple Soviet family (his father worked as an electrician, his mother a seamstress.) Since childhood interest in drawing and in contrast to his older brother, who went by the scientific path, went to Tver Art Lyceum printing, finishing it with honors in 2001. Between 2007 and 2012 she lived and worked in Moscow. Since 2013 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. Great influence on the work of Marina has her husband and collaborator on crafts Mikhail Kazakov. The most famous of their collaborations, "The Evolution of Wedding," "Avtoistoriya", "Under blue sails", "The evolution of man," "Solar System," "Michael Jackson. Life", etc.

Art is Love

Winston Kingstro, grew up in Altadena California, art was his passion and a way to use his imagination and express himself. As a child he would often visit Jirayr Zorthian, a famous Turkish artist and painter, who lived in the Altadena mountain’s. Winston’s parents came to California, from New Orleans and worked as live in help for Jirayr Zorthian during, the early 1940’s. Growing up Winston was often inspired by Zorthian’s art, and would often visit him at his home. Zorthian became a well known artist, while participating in Franklin Roosevelt’s WPA projects for artists, he painted many renown murals across the Eastern and Southern United States. He also painted many wonderful modernist paintings, propaganda paintings for the army, and was very interested architecture, helping children, and horse ranching. Winston derives his inspiration from Zorthian and has created many pieces of late, which can be viewed below. His abstract modern approach to art is very unique and compelling.

My works generally are the result of a continuous refinement of established techniques and experimentation painted on canvas or paper with mixed media materials. Mostly subjects are based on abstracted impressions and memories of different architectural sites I have visited throughout the world. Ancient, and far away places and their unique moods created by light and changing color evoke intense responses and compel me to create my work. In order to capture every mood to my personal satisfaction,

the surfaces have to be superimposed and juxtaposed, creating major and minor accents with some kind of harmony.

I feel that the completion of my paintings is a journey unto itself, of color and feelings. At times I insert snapshots and add

J. Natasha Kostan lives and works in Los Angeles and has been painting in multimedia for the past 30 years. She has studied Fashion and Interior Design in England and Fine Arts and Art History in the United States, and received her BFA from Immaculate Heart College. Her work includes oils, acrylics, mixed media and collage on canvas and on paper.

She studied printmaking extensively under Maurizio Barattucci, a well-known and highly respected artist and instructor. The printmaking process has been an inspiration for developing intriguing primary surfaces and the metamorphosis of Natasha's works on paper. Natasha states: "Ancient, and far away places and their unique moods created by light and changing color evoke intense responses and compel me to create my work. In order to capture every mood to my personal satisfaction, the surfaces have to be superimposed and juxtaposed, creating major and minor accents with some kind of harmony."

Her eclectic style is a manifestation of her multi-hued vision of the world. Her work expresses her experience of living in and traveling through several cultures. "Her palette reflects warmth, balance and strength," said the late Barbara Hagar, California artist, teacher and mentor with whom Natasha studied for many years. Numerous corporations as well as private collectors throughout the United States and England own her paintings. She has exhibited solo and in groups in the United States and Armenia.

My art is imagination of created things which do not exist in everyday life. The purpose of my life - is creation of the fantasies. I was always attracted to science fiction books and movies. I put my images of my fantasy’s creatures in paintings and sculptures.

Faina Kumpan was moved from Odessa, Ukraine as a political refugee. She graduated from the Theatrical Art College in Odessa. In her not very exciting childhood, she was dreaming of other worlds. She was obsessed with science fiction.

Her emigration to New York opens the new opportunities. She worked as a designer and changed a lot of different professions. After moving to LA she returned to her love for art and Science Fiction. She attended numerous classes at UCLA Extension and many private workshops. She exhibited in many important galleries in LA and NY. She creates a fantasy world that is a once surreal and abstract, whimsical and vibrant. Whether creating painting or sculptures, her subjects are mystical creatures from another world, like fantastic figures stepping out of the pages of the futuristic fairy tale. She was participating in many group exhibitions.

She was awarded as a creative artist by City of LA for working together to celebrate Los Angeles as Creative Capital of the world. Her works are in many private collections.

I relate to the canvas by composing landscapes of irrealities. Rooted in emotional ties, and transposed by interchanging the concepts of design, I attempt to create a meaningful composition for the eye. The purpose being that the project becomes a story, and the story is told in an abstract, yet emotional manner. Each story of the irreal is given a sense of realism by my use of abstraction.

I use abstraction to create an image. The character of the project, urban but organic, becomes a playground for representation, suggesting its theme. The placement of each element changes the entirety of the project. From my experience, character, obvious or underlying, embodies the vision, circumstance, or situation within. I express this dialogue of character with images, not words.

I superimpose images that the eye can distill, complete, reinvent, and/or canonize by using the image to explain what is seen as a kind of narrative.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes.” –Marcel Proust

Meaning is found through imagery and/or other conceptual devices adding to the work. The environment of the image is telling. It helps define what is in front of you.

With each project, my ideas grow. Conceptually, there are many intertwining ways in which these images can be connected. My work is an exploration of such a journey, a journey that is ongoing and reinvents itself through constant change.

My work has an amorphous form and function; encompasses an evocative use of light, shape, and form; and, each composition is different depending on the project and the message. I visually identify with a space and its components through the relationship of the project to its entirety. My projects embrace the mundane, the intellectual experience, and the passions of my life.

Born in South Africa, Teresa Lakier currently lives/ works in Los Angeles. Teresa is best known for her Geometric Abstractions, and her Digital Art. She received a Bachelor of Arts for Art at California State University at Northridge and studied at the California Institute of Art, Westlake.

During her career as an artist, Teresa has exhibited at Bergamot Station in galleries: Secant/Sulkin and Beyond the Lines Gallery. She has also exhibited at Gallery 825, Hale Arts, LACDA, Lark Gallery, MOLAAA, TAG Gallery and Wallspace LA. Teresa has received awards in shows/publications, including Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine, LA Municipal Art Gallery, MD Art Gallery, Mujeres al Pincel y la Lente, Phantom Galleries, West Hollywood Pop-up Gallery, and VIVA Gallery. Teresa has been represented/affiliated with Hale Arts, LAAA.org, and Wallspace LA. Online she is/ has been represented/affiliated with Artist.com, Bslog.com, Fineartamerica.com, and Saatchi.com.

Teresa is currently working on three bodies of work: Geometric Abstractions, Digital Prints and Portraiture.

Through her work, she reinvents herself using images, the correlation of line, shape, form, and perspective. She challenges the viewer enough to affect them, confuses them enough for them to ask the question, and then, again, challenges them enough to respond to what they see in front of them.

In the past, she has collaborated with three artists: Karen Kinney, Liz Duer, and Odenis Vitorelli.

My art name is Lark - the bird that lingers between the earth and the sky. We artists do it at the moment of inspiration and meditation. That's how I create my art. I meditate and start with the spontaneous movements of my instruments; usually it is not a brush. A brush makes me think. My instruments are usually just pieces of cardboard. I also paint on any surface – canvas, board, plexiglass, glass, wood, etc – and I love to experiment and see what happens. My best creations take place in a state of no mind.

Although I begin the way abstract expressionists do and use some sumi-e techniques, eventually most of my creation starts shaping as abstract or impressionistic landscapes as ocean, sky, trees, flowers and mountain views start appearing from the formless. Nature is my source of inspiration, but instead of landscape details I channel nature's moods, the feeling of being one with nature, and swimming in its atmospheric light.

Light is what drives me to continue working. My mission is always to bring more light to people around me with my art, poetry and meditations. I know that viewers feel joy, peace and harmony when they look at my work, enter and settle inside it because it heals their emotional wounds and it makes me happy. Being an artist is an opportunity to express the fountain of my creative energy and at the same time serve people's needs in beauty that will heal the world.

When people perceive the light, the high and playful energy that my paintings emanate, they start feeling they are back in the fairy-tale world of their childhood, when their soul was open to transformations and miracles, and they feel like Alice in her enchanting wonderland.

From the beginning of her art career, Lark’s art caught the attention of art lovers and gained recognition from art jurors including LA Weekly critic Peter Frank, Santa Monica Museum Art Director Lisa Melandri and MOCA curator Alma Ruiz.

Fusing classical and contemporary art traditions, Lark's award-winning artworks carry her signature gestural brushstrokes and vibrant color palettes. They have been featured in the many prestigious exhibitions, art catalogs and sold globally in France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Russia, Armenia, Canada, Sweden and many other countries. In 2021 - 2025 Lark's art was exhibited in the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and the Shiba City Museum of Art In Japan where Lark got two Gold Awards in the group shows.

I paint what touches me most. Something in my life or in the world around me that moves me deeply. It may be joy or it may be sadness and worry.

Just painting what I feel brings me closer in touch with who I am and what I feel, it helps me process what I might not otherwise understand or be able to digest or let go of.

My artwork always had to do with feelings, my feeling about the world, people, and my relationship with them. I always have put it on paper since I can remember.

Like the feelings between mother and child, that are our most complete bond, or portraits of an emotional mood, that seem to come just out of me when I feel a certain way and sit down with a brush and canvas, to capture the emotion.

Regine Legler Bio

Regine Legler was born in Berlin, Germany during the last days of World War II.

Her first exposure to art was a dark, brown door her mother allowed the family to draw on with chalk, which Regine did frequently. Everything was a canvas, including her schoolbooks, which lead Regine to her first commission; being asked by her fellow classmates to help them with their homework assignment to draw Napoleon.

Regine’s formal education in fine art started at age 17 when she enrolled at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt/Main Germany. There she began a two-year study of figure drawing, portraiture, landscape and still life under Walter Hergenhahn, a student of the renowned Max Beckmann. Later, she underwent three years of intensive study in oil painting, acrylic and watercolor at the Freie Academie in Mannheim, Germany.

In her early years, Regine drew and painted scenes of dreams and emotional situations in a style called Fantastic Realism. Then, in 1994, her interest shifted to wildlife and American Indian scenes. Today, Regine’s style has evolved from Fantastic Realism to a more realistic and personalized technique to create a very bold look and tone to convey strong emotions.

Regine holds juried membership at Women Painters West, Southern California Women Caucus of the Arts, Venice Art Forum, and has taught college-level classes at Santa Monica College and the Fashion institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.

My recent paintings are all primarily concerned with memory. Memory comprises both the subject, as I paint almost solely from memory, and the object, the paintings are themselves depictions of personal and cultural memories. Memory is here conceived as a flawed, analogue process whose corruptibility demands creative reconstruction.

Michael Lierly is an oil painter and art instructor. He teaches painting at Golden West College in Huntington Beach CA, and at M.D. Art Studio in West Hollywood, LA. He has formerly taught Drawing, Painting, Design, and Color Theory at Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, the University of Arkansas, Indiana University in Bloomington, and in Florence Italy with the I.U. Study Abroad Program. He received his BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and His MFA in Painting from Indiana University in Bloomington IN.

He has worked as a commission portrait painter, illustrator, and gallery artist in seven states and four countries. He is currently working on two bodies of work for upcoming exhibits while obsessively listening to audio books and podcasts. He lives in Los Angeles, CA with the two great loves of his life his wife, Abby, and Calliope, their sweet puppy.

The past that has never been.

Everyone has it.

It lives by itself. It has its own past.

It rarely corresponds with real facts and events.

Yet this is the past that lives in our dreams, in our nightmares,

in our consciousness, in our memories.

It is not fake, it is not false. It is just different.

Different in a way that the house

where I had definitely lived many years ago

now stands on a street that I have never been to.

Or maybe it is in another town or another country altogether.

Does it matter?

Not really.

This is still my house, my street, my city.

Never flown these planes, either.

Nor have I ever had a desire to do anything of sorts.

It doesn't matter.

Their job is to fly, or just simply to be beautiful.

My job is just to observe.

Born in Moscow, Russia in 1962.

1985 - Graduated from The Moscow Art Theater School, Production Faculty, specializing in production management, set design, costume and lighting design. Also studied illustration and graphic design.

1987- Started an ongoing friendship and collaboration with critically-acclaimed director Igor Kovalyov.

1994 - Began to work in animation at the Pilot Animation Studio, Moscow. Participated in Kovalyov's second film "Andrey Svislotsky"

1994 - Invited to work at Klasky Csupo Animation Studio in Los Angeles, and continued working alongside Kovalyov on various projects.

Art Directed four animated feature movies, including "Rugrats: The Movie".

Developed concept art for successful live action film "Bridge to Terabithia".

Restored rare and antique paintings at Tivetsky's Fine Art Restoration studio for two years.

Collaboration with Kovalyov continued on several projects: "Bird In The Window", "Flying Nansen" and "Milch".

2007 - Worked as Art Director of 2007 box office smash hit "Simpsons: The Movie”.

2014 - Shortly after began working for production company Film Roman, and continues to work as Art Director for the television series “The Simpsons”.

2014 - Received Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.

When I touched clay for the first time, I knew that sculpture was the best way for me to tell my story. When I sculpt, I experience feelings

and images that dwell in my subconscious mind. These are revealed to me as I form the clay and fashion the ideas into actual objects. Sculpting is my relationship with life on all levels and its very sacred

to me. It allows me to look inside myself and then out to the world around me. I get great pleasure from following and trusting my intuition and process.

My formative years in Russia provided the context for much of my artistic expression. Drawing upon early cultural and educational experiences, vision and feelings connect and emerge from the clay.

I was born in Kiev Ukraine, where I spent the first thirty years of my life. Thus, Russian culture, in the forms of music, poetry, visual art, and meditation, were an important part of my life there. I was trained as a speech pathologist and worked in that field for eight years.

I moved to the United State to escape religious persecution in the Soviet Union. I arrived without family or friends, knowledge of English, or monetary support. I was a single mother with a 4-year

old son. It took me twenty years to build a new life and to bring my family to this country. As a consequence, I am largely a self-taught artist.

I was not able to articulate my artistic feelings for a very long time.

But, when I felt clay for the first time, I knew I found my medium.

Rules of art are made to be bent to fit the vision of what I want to say. Each of my paintings is a statement and impression of my feelings about the subject. Most of my paintings are landscapes that express my love of the outdoors and nature. I love colors and express my visions in bright cheerful colors.

I am a retired teacher of art from Burbank Unified School District and Beverly Hills Adult School, and am still teaching adults art in the valley. Painting with watermedia has been my focus and I am combining paints with collage. Many of my paintings have won prizes including Best of Show and First Place. I am now involved with the Topanga Canyon Gallery and currently showing my paintings in three different galleries.

I hope to create work that reveals the organic foundations of humanness.

As a woman, I believe there are always parts of ourselves that carry the innocence and curiosity of a little girl. That energy—the wonder, the fearlessness, the vulnerability—still lives within us.

"Mirror Twins" are characters that many people can see themselves in. I choose not to reveal too much about them—I’d rather let viewers discover their own meaning and stories within the work.

Now more than ever, artists and creatives must stand up for the value of art. Even when the world isn’t ready to hear our voices—especially as some are being censored, edited, or erased—we must keep creating. It’s painfully clear that many of our communities are being silenced and pushed to the margins.

As an artist, cartoonist, creator, and teacher, I’m committed to encouraging others to stand boldly and make art that speaks truth. My own journey is always evolving. Maybe it’s okay that I don’t reveal everything. Maybe my role is more about connection—and keeping a few secrets of my own.

—Cristina Natsuko Paulos

Cristina Natsuko Paulos is an award-winning artist, animator, cartoonist, designer, and educator. She currently teaches commercial arts and digital media at a high school in the Clark County School District, and works as a freelance artist and workshop leader. She also likes to remind people: she’s a good human.

A BFA graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, Paulos’s work blends fine art and illustration, often featuring mirrored or twinned characters, expressive portraiture, and imagery inspired by real life. Her style draws heavily from cartoon aesthetics and deeply personal themes, creating a space where vulnerability, identity, and duality intersect.

Her original animation work has appeared on Sesame Street, and her artwork has been exhibited in prestigious galleries including La Luz de Jesus, Giant Robot, and the Cirque du Soleil Contemporary Art Collection. She has also been featured in two published books: Garden of Eye Candy and La Luz de Jesus 25: The Little Gallery That Could. Her films have screened at festivals in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and she has collaborated with puppeteers to create toy theatre performances.

Since relocating from the San Fernando Valley to Las Vegas in 2002, Paulos has received multiple grants from the Nevada Arts Council, including two Jackpot Grants, a 2008 Artist Fellowship, and a 2005 Sesame Street Workshop Scholarship.

Paulos works with a wide range of materials—ink, paint, dye, handmade paper, canvas, wood, and mixed media. Her process is rooted in the philosophies of drawing, aiming to expose the raw, often hidden elements of identity.

“My artwork derives from life, juxtaposed with the cartoon world,” she says. “Using drawing philosophies, I try to reveal the marks we often try to erase—the flaws, the discomfort, the quiet parts of ourselves. Whether through cartoons or figures drawn from life, I explore what it means to be fully seen, completely vulnerable—naked, beyond form.”

I'm a surreal fine art photographer that specializes in combining travel and fashion photos to create photomontages. I once sat on a plane for 27 hours to explore the hot jungles of Africa and capture photos of lions and giraffes for my work.

My goal is to create the most unique photomontages by combining images from around the world.

I've traveled to over 25 countries to collect photos and find inspiration. I've found gratefulness for life and strong craving for art. This craving has also driven me to create my own art. Each experience strengthens my resolve to travel and enjoy artistic inspiration.

I grew up in a rough neighborhood and didn't fit in at school. So as a kid, I spent a lot of time reading books at the local library. I fell in love with stories about adventure and mystery. The characters became my role models.

When I turned 18 my parents told me I was completely on my own. "We want to teach you the meaning of independence" they said. I believed this to be partly true. The bigger reason was they could not afford to send me, my brother and sister to school all at once. I worked as many as 3 different jobs each week to get through college.

My first year was tough. I had achieved 1.7 out of a 4.0 grade scale. That’s a C- average! The school sent me a letter. They planned to cut my financial aid and kick me out.

Following the characters in the novels, I didn't give up. Somehow I raised my grades, paid for school and graduated.

I now believe in themes such as the hero’s journey, the power of dreaming and grace that comes with exploration and taking risks. I try to express these in my art.

We can all achieve whatever we put our minds to. Even a once struggling student like me.

My work is a visual dialogue between the discarded and the resilient. I find beauty in "fragments"—crushed metal, torn envelopes, weathered stamps, and forgotten notes—transforming these remnants of urban life into harmonious compositions.

In the series submitted for "Bridging Through Colors," I use mixed-media assemblage as a metaphor for healing. Just as a crumpled piece of paper or a discarded object can be integrated into a new, balanced whole, our fragmented experiences and diverse backgrounds can find unity through the universal language of art.Each piece serves as a "bridge": between the industrial and the organic, the personal and the collective, the chaotic and the serene. My process involves layering textures and colors to create a space for quiet reflection. By giving a second life to materials that have been cast aside, I invite the viewer to see the possibility of rebirth and transformation in the world around us.

Tatiana Savchenko is a Los Angeles-based mixed-media artist whose practice explores the intersection of urban materiality, personal memory, and emotional resilience. Her work is characterized by a "visual dialogue" between found objects—such as industrial remnants, vintage correspondence, and discarded fragments—and expressive layers of acrylic and watercolor.In 2026, Savchenko’s presence in the Southern California art scene was highlighted by several key exhibitions. She was featured in the "March/Forward" showcase at Shoebox Projects within the Brewery Arts Complex and participated in the StARTup Art Fair at Venice Beach. Her collaborative artist book, LA: Two Voices, One City, created in partnership with Gregory Desgouttes, exemplifies her commitment to exploring unity and connection through shared creative narratives.By transforming everyday debris into layered, atmospheric compositions, Savchenko invites viewers to find tranquility and "healing" within the chaotic textures of modern life. Her work serves as a bridge between the mundane and the spiritual, aligning perfectly with the global call for empathy and connection through the universal language of art.

Jane Serebrenikov’s narrative graphical art works reflect her deeply lyrical and uniquely poetical vision. All her life she is interested in visual art and, grown up on fairy tales, combines magic, vivid imagination and sense of humor in her art works. She also inspired by the arts of Mark Chagall and Reno Magritte.

Jane is started etching 5 years ego and has been taken part of several exhibitions. She sold her arts nationally and internationally. She makes aquatint etchings. This is where the plate is immersed in acid and the lines and tones achieved when the acid “bites” the areas which have not been masked. Than color applied manually and print on printmaking press. Each print is unique.

Jane was born in Moscow, Russia and immigrated to Los Angeles in 1995 with her family. She graduated college as a graphic designer, holds AA degree and contentious working in printmaking studio.

My focus is on fine art photography, with occasional detours into other related branches that I find interesting. I'm drawn to images that capture my imagination, spark an emotion, rouse my curiosity, and stir my intellect.

My inclination is to let each image speak for itself and elicit in the viewer whatever it might, allowing it to stand alone in a Rorschach-like fashion. One of my joys is seeing or hearing whatever that might be as someone looks at it for the first time.

Some of my photos may feel somewhat disturbing to a viewer, and that tells me I've succeeded in evoking some emotional or psychological connection. Sometimes the response is not disturbing but more curiosity or puzzlement, as someone asks, "What is that?" when the image presented is actually as it came out of the camera and without any major Photoshop manipulation. My preference is to be shooting what I see as I go out into the world, without studio setup or extra lighting. In this sense, it is to be capturing what I sometimes call “found images,” which is more of a combination of street photography and photojournalism, even when it may happen in a studio.

I started taking photos during college. I began working with film, but discovering digital jumpstarted my becoming committed and dedicated. It freed me up to be more adventurous in following my being inspired by what I saw, without having to worry about costs of processing and buying film. Now I shoot digital only.

I began having photos shown in juried exhibitions in 2011. Since then, I have been in several juried exhibitions, and I have a solo exhibit now running.

I simply want to do what any artist wants to do. I want to dissect the world, re-arrange it, study it in an attempt to make sense of it, and then present it to an audience in hopes that they'll see it and understand me.

Recently graduated filmmaker/photographer from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Gained a degree in Cinema and Photography, with a minor in Philosophy. I love to create so I'm constantly at work, photographing, writing, filming, and editing. I have been involved with 10 senior thesis films, and several independent short films. I recently finished my feature-length experimental piece titled, "Some Kind of Nature", which explores human connection through artistic expression. I was also involved in the very first musical senior thesis shot at SIUC, "The Sound of Shadows", which opened in a theater that's a national landmark. The Liberty Theater, in Murphysboro, IL.

I was a founding member and board member for the school film group, MCM, which recently became the largest RSO (registered student organization) at SIUC, even though it was founded in 2010. The film group is dedicated to improving the craft of its members and giving people the resources and assistance they need to create a short narrative film. The last two years, the film group produced 8 short films (per year) and screened the work for 300 people. The group introduced the 48-Hour film festival to Carbondale, which invites local filmmakers in to "write, direct, and edit a film in 48 hours".

I enjoy working on narrative, documentary, and experimental pieces. I occasionally dabble in animation and was the producer, cinematographer, and editor for Savannah Steiner's ambition claymation short, "My Art is Not Dead". The animated short film, originally planned to only be 4 minutes, turned into a 10-minut

MISTERIOUSLY ADDICTIVE UNBELIVEABLY INEVITABLE TO QUITE AFTER STARTING.

I paint about the beauty of change, inspired by my own personal life experiences, and expressed through images of the short-lived butterfly and the progression of its existence. The colors in my paintings symbolize feelings and emotions that cannot be expressed in words while the traces of pure white untouched canvas represent hopes, dreams and desires that are now unknown but will become clearer in the future. The process of painting nourishes my soul by revealing cocooned memories of life. My art is complete once I feel I have recalled certain stories, capturing and preserving them forever in my images. In similar ways, we all recall our feelings, emotions and experiences, reliving and enjoying them again. Holding onto certain aspects of our pasts and sometimes letting go, we dream of tomorrow.

I was born to Armenian parents in 1979, in Beirut Lebanon. At the age of seven I discovered my passion for art and began creative adventures. Surrounded by different cultures, I adopted painting as a universally understood language of expressing my inner thoughts and emotions. While living through the regional and civil wars of Lebanon between the years of 1982 - 2006, I found refuge and beauty in my art as contrasted with the chaos of my circumstances. In 1993, at the age of 14, I won a first prize in painting from the Armenian Cultural Center, which encouraged me to attend academic art courses and to later develop my talents at Emmagoss Art Center. After graduating high school in 1998 with a diploma in Philosophy, I pursued my passion by specializing in Fine Arts at ALBA (Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts), where I received my Master's Degree in 2003. From 1995 to 2007, I participated in collective art exhibitions in Lebanon. In 2008 I moved to the States with my family, where I currently work and exhibit my art.

My paintings come out as attempts to "translate" from ideograms and fantastic hieroglyphs that I see in the patterns of nature, most often in the tree bark.

It is like listening to a song in an unknown language. Everyone will have their own guess of what the words might say, but the main theme of the song will be recognized.I am so thrilled by the moments of gazing into the patterns of nature when intuition gives a glimpse from the world of archetypes. I think that trees are books and libraries that can be read, perhaps as well as any thing around if we attune to it…

My paintings are sort of "snapshots" from the process of reading the Book of Nature by the mind;these "snapshots" are somewhere in between the imagery and the language.The mind projects meanings onto the shapes and lines, but they are being reflected back, startling and puzzling… there is always a sensation of a mirror dialog, of having been "read" yourself by the Book of Nature...

born in Baku, Azerbajan, lived in Moscow since 16 years old, moved to L.A. in 1992;

M.F.A. in Film &Tv( Animation major) from UCLA;

involved in painting, writing and illustrating, cartooning, mixed media, paper theatre, small size dioramas

These images are reflective of my growing body of work around a theme I’ve been exploring for some time now ... my own relationship with male beauty, eroticism and romanticizing a Queer sensibility. I’ve been re-visioning some of the images I’ve collected over the years, establishing them in a new context, from a different perspective. Many of the men in these images have been collected from ‘hard porn’ sites and I’ve re-positioned them, re-imagined them in a different context, merging them with my own photographs as the basis for this re-visioning. So each work is a layering and recombination of two very different images.

The work is rather emotionally driven. Each of these men or couples has touched me on both an emotional and aesthetic level – caught my eye (and my “heart” so to speak) from a perspective other than raw sexuality, and I strive to communicate that vision in each piece. My thought is to perhaps humanize, respect and admire them from another angle than the context in which they were originally captured. Each of these men exists, after all, outside of the context of pornographic performance. My engagement with these images encompasses many hours of re-thinking and re-imagining who these men might be and my own sense of relationship with them.

Ultimately, I consider it an act of romance --

John Waiblinger:

waibling@yahoo.com

johnwaiblinger.see.me

John began his artistic endeavors towards the end of his 5th decade after excitedly discovering that digital tools finally provided him the means to translate the visions populating his imagination into physical form. Possibly he is an accidental artist, but now that he has found his medium, he continues to explore how to best represent and share his inner vision.

As a self identified 'Queer Artist' his work is primarily focused on his own relationship with male beauty, and romanticizing a Queer sensibility.

In 2014:

May 2014, Featured Artist, Sachet Mixte Arts Journal Fifth Edition (http://www.amazon.com/Sachet-Mixte-Edition-Five-Volume/dp/1499533373)

June 2014, Group Exhibition at Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA

July 2014, Featured Artist, Noisy Rain Gay Art Magazine (http://www.noisyrain.com)

November 2014, Group Exhibition at CMI Gallery, Anaheim, CA

December 2014, Group Exhibition at Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA

December 2014, No Going Back Group Show, White Cloth Gallery, Leeds, UK

December 2014, Featured Artist in 1 Model, 100 Artists

In 2015:

January 2015, 215 Movement - Art Takes the Stage, Group Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA

February 2015, Dirty Show 16, International Erotic Art Exhibition, Detroit, MI

March 2015, Electron Salon, Group Show at Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA

April 2015, LACDA 11th Anniversary Represented Artist Exhibit, Los Angeles, CA

May 2015, publication of the book HomoEros, Meditations on Gay Love & Learning (art book

featuring 71 images with text)

(http://www.amazon.com/HomoEros-Meditations-Longing-Sachet-Mixte/dp/1511812087)

May 2015, Exhibited at the Grand Opening, Brad Brafford LGBT Center on 4th, Santa Ana, CA

June 2015, Solar Spectrum, Group Show at M.D. Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

July 2015, Featured Artist, We Are Obscurred #1 (http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/956502)

December 2015, Snap to Grid, Group Exhibition at Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA

December 2015, Featured Artist, Sachet Mixte Themes: Male Nudes (Volume 7)

(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1522898727)

In 2016:

February 2016, Dirty Show 17, International Erotic Art Exhibition, Detroit, MI