Portal Of Opportunities VI

My work reflects life experiences through varying degrees of abstraction.

My inspiration comes from nature and my travels in South America. Using bold colors and patterns I am constantly exploring new territory

I am interested in the creative process and shaping raw materials into expressive statements. I utilize both technology and hands-on manipulation of acrylic paint, mixed media and digital imaging to create my work.

Born and raised in Quito, Ecuador, my memories of life in that country merge with my life here, in Southern California. I am members of the Silver Lake Artist Community (SLAC)

Bodies develop histories; they are tangible vessels that manifest consciousness. Baltagi's work endures a similar process, beginning with a substrate and acquiring multiple layers over time. Hand-made papers bearing images, textures and flaws, receive ideas and actions made visible. Baltagi uses materials that hold collected experiences with mobility. Such as: gas station paperwork, physical therapy worksheets, x-rays, journal entries, basketball courts, mobility aids, her car tires and seats. Sometimes, the processes can yield chaotic results and precede the sought after transformation of materials. Distressed yet precious, the remnants of the artist's labor-intensive process function as documents of mobility and reify the process of transformation.

Zeina Baltagi is an interdisciplinary artist and educator.

Upon graduation from California State University, Northridge with a B.A. in printmaking in 2013, Baltagi co-founded the Valley Print Studio with artist Miles Lewis in Woodland Hills. She currently teaches classes at LA Music and Art School, in East L.A. You can also find her teaching workshops at Camera Obscura Ocean Front Residency in Santa Monica for January and February of 2015.

Baltagi recently exhibited work in Biomythography curated by Jessica Wimbley and Chris Christian at Claremont Graduate University. In September 2015, she will be exhibiting in the second installment of Biomythography?s at California Lutheran University, and co-curating with A. Laura Brody, Opulent Mobility (re-imagining mobility), at California State University, Northridge.

Images that are subliminal appeal to multiple levels of our awareness. The figures in my work speak to your unconscious; rather than representing something literally. Detailed or expressionistic these figures merge with water based mediums, mostly Sumi ink on paper. The work is a way for me to engage directly with my imagination from point zero, inspired by over three decades in the study and teaching of Zen.

Study and practice in meditation and the Japanese sword, and my work with people in hypnosis and NLP (Nero Linguistic Programing) inspires me. Simple moments that wake us up from a different kind of sleep, moments that connect us back into our lives in an empowered way.

I am a multiracial woman whose art is greatly influenced by my Japanese ancestry and Moroccan and European Roots.

Co-founder of Five Changes and Manzanita Village Retreat Center in Southern California. I mentor and certify coaches, healers, artists, people in leadership roles, conscious business owners and entrepreneurs, in Hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programing) Constellation work, and mindfulness, facilitating workshops and retreats throughout the US.

Born in 1955 in Southern California. I am of mixed Japanese, North African and European-American heritage.

A self-taught artist, with artist parents so I was encouraged to paint and draw for as long as I remember, selling my art as early as age 9.

I was hired by Zox Studios, a thriving commercial airbrush studio in the San Fernando Valley while I was still in high school. After graduating in 1972 I continued there until 1976 as head designer, supervising up to twenty other artists. From 1976 to 1984 I became a freelance commercial artist.

I began teaching mindfulness and Zen meditation, and Iaido sword and Aikido around 1984 which greatly influenced my move from illustrative work to the fine arts.

From 1984 I focused solely on Fine Art, working in various mediums: watercolor, oils, pastel, pencil and sumi ink. I have my artists studio and Retreat Center in Warner Springs, CA.

My new series is much evolved from my previous works. In the past, although I had a feeling of the intangible and of freedom when I worked, my quest was to cull the vivid chaos of color and forms by repeatedly sanding and repainting many layers of paper and paint into a more peaceful, organized surface. It was an expression of the infinite complexities that I found surrounding me, and my desire to tame them.

Rather than being spurred (on) by a categorical statement, I was following an unformed artistic thought through to the end, feeling freedom and energy from spontaneity, the love of form, composition and color and the nostalgia that these energies stimulated. Color, form and composition, and the harmony their combination can elicit, vibrate as a grouping of musical notes might do and touch the nostalgic thinking that first brought such experience into my sights – my musical and artistic family. They were the major creative influence in my life and provided the personal trials of the complex and puzzling world I grew up in.

In my latest series I have taken this need to embrace and contain my memories

a step further. I have develop/nurtured/ my reactions to color and form to

another level. I try to capture what I feel is the essence of my creative experience.

I render my love of form, color and composition down to it’s minimum and

present them in a purer, simpler context – the grid. No less emotionally complex

but perhaps calmer, subtler if a little more intricate and peppered with

a touch of subterfuge…

Helen Berger was born in London, England to Russian émigré parents. It was a family of musicians/painters/singers and she grew up surrounded by these artists, making her sensibilities pretty much pre determined. She has been an artist all her life. After years of family influence and guidance, independent study in Paris, London and Los Angeles, assisting established artists and attending numerous workshops, she considers herself self-taught.

After using many different mediums over the years - wood, paper, clay, found objects, fabric and the camera. – Helen then settled into working with wood, paper and acrylic.

Her previous process was to layer paint, painted and cut paper onto a wood panel, continuing in multiple sanded layers and finishing with a distinct application of paint to emphasize the negative spaces. This work started out as a chaos of color, she challenged herself to recreate a mood of coherence, clarity and harmony on the panel.

Her latest series, although still on wood panel and using vellum, gesso and acrylic, blends the simplicity of repetitive shape with simple color and textural contrasts to create a play between tension and harmony.

Albert Einstein suggested that the tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives. To prevent these kinds of soul sacrifices, I started to paint.

The whole idea of painting abstract images gives my imagination freedom to roam.

I apply a generous amount of paint with brushes that I purchase at the paint store and work in layers adding depth and texture. Textures actually interest me very much and are a big part of my paintings. Some of my canvases have been around for years, getting more and more paint applied, until the perfect picture emerges. I incorporate geometric shapes and lines which create both balance and tension within a painting. Often I use charcoal and pastels as drawing elements.

Artist Biography

Education:

3 year art program at Mission Renaissance , Irvine, CA.

Coastline Community College, Costa Mesa, CA

Goldenwest College, Huntington Beach, CA

Studied under Roger Armstrong in Laguna Hills, CA

Exhibitions/Shows/Competitions:

Solo Show – From Dreams to Realty – Tully’s Coffee, Irvine, CA / 2007

Solo Show - Five Painting Palettes - Laguna Hills / 2007

Juried Art Show “Points of View”, Laguna Beach, CA / 2008

John Todd Community Center, Lakewood, Fall Show / 2008

Huntington Beach Art Center – Center on the Center / 2008

Orange County Fair / 2008

”Paint San Clemente”, San Clemente, CA / 2008

Art Expressions – Long Beach / 2008

Coastline Community College Student Show / 2009

“Pastel Plus” Laguna Beach / 2009

“All Media Show”, Irvine / 2009

“Provisional Art” – OCCCA Santa Ana / 2009

Solo Show – My Inspiring Muses - La Muse Café, Long Beach / 2009

Sparganzo Gallery, Long Beach / 2010

Pomona Gallery, Pomona / 2010

Huntington Beach Art Center – Center on the Center 2011

“Art for Haiti” – OCCCA, Santa Ana / 2011

Coastline Community College Student Show / 2011

Fallbrook Fall Show / 2011

Brandon Gallery Small Works show / 2011

Fallbrook Art Association Spring Show / 2012

Brandon Gallery Portrait Show / 2012

Art 4 all People,Phoenix Rising Malibu, 2012

Judging:

Murrieta Valley Council Reflections Program Art pieces from Primary schools to Senior grades – Nov 3, 2011 Murrieta Mesa Libary

Gallery Representation:

Copperwood

"My works are playful with a practical touch. They are meant to encourage conversation, audience participation and to inspire action.

My mobility artworks start with used devices and are transformed with reused hardware, mechanics and fabrics into imaginative creations. Driven (an Edwardian electric wheelchair), Le Flaneur (a Victorian-inspired walker) and The Rocking Duck Boat (a re-imagined rocking chair, in collaboration with Alan deForest) re-imagine mobility and disability in poetic ways. The intent is not just to make beautiful objects, but to collaborate with others and find ways to create functional and sustainable beauty.

I see old electric wheelchairs and thrift store walkers as buried treasure waiting to be discovered and re-formed. Re-used fabrics and materials call to me to become new creations. Let me share their voices with you."

A. Laura Brody is a sculptor and creator for the human body and its vehicles. She creates re-used wearable art and mobility art through her company Dreams by Machine.

She developed staple draping, using scissors, staplers, staples and reused fabrics to create living sculptures and clothing on live models and vehicles. This technique is an excellent tool for teaching people how to figure out underlying shapes. She's staple draped her way from LA Derby Doll events to the Summerset Festival in Baraboo, Wisconsin and even as far as Wellington, New Zealand. The staple draping works as a performance, in workshops and as a class. Her live performance draping event, Presque Prêt a Porter, won the CSPA Sustainability award for the first Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Her re-made mobility art (fancy wheelchairs and walkers) was shown in Dr. Grymm's 1000 Steampunk Creations, the Steampunk Form and Function show, at Cannibal Flower and as part of her group show Opulent Mobility.The next goal is to work with assistive technology engineers to develop new and personalized mobility device designs.

Her first love was for costumes, and she's worked as a costume maker and designer for over 25 years. Maybe you've seen her patterning and tailoring work for designer Michael Schmidt on LMFAO at the Superbowl 46 halftime show or Fergie?s LEGO ensemble for the Kids Choice Awards. Or maybe you saw her specialty costume work on Kickin' It where she made walking mattresses and Mothra suits.

Using brush and palette knife, Judith creates highly textured and dramatic abstract art, as well as abstract seascapes, melding sea and sky.

Mostly self taught, Judith was influenced by her artist-father, and by years of foreign travels to Europe, Japan, Turkey and Egypt.

Judith's home-studio is in Santa Monica Canyon, surrounded by an abundance of nature.

*LA County Museum of Art, Sales & Rental Gallery

* James Gray Gallery, Bergamot Station

Schomburg Gallery, Bergamot Station

*Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine Univ, Malibu

*Topanga Canyon Gallery, Topanga

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.

My work has always been influenced by my first exposure to art, the Italian and German Renaissance Masters and then later the Pre Raphaelites and the Impressionists. Even when it was not fashionable to paint in the classical realist style I continued to do so. Recently I have discovered a group of painters called Abstract Realists of which I am now a student. My new work is concerned with beginning a painting with abstract form and then finishing the painting with all of the values and subtle innuendoes of treatment of edges, color relationships and more. This approach ostensibly makes painting all about the process and not about the subject being painted. Ironically the results of this process potentially shows the subject in the most beautiful light and form imaginable.”

Portraits have always been my first love and they will be my last. I also enjoy landscape and still life and love to incorporate one of both into the portrait I am painting. One of my favorite paintings, "The Boating Party" by Renoir includes all three genres, portrait, landscape and still life in the most delightful way. The most wonderful light of the outdoors when it plays across the features of someone’s face and garment provides a truly fascinating complexity of color, form, structure and depth of field. There is also something to be said for the portrait existing within the simple environment of a single color story. The face tells it all, the expression draws us in and suddenly we feel we know that person. Through portraiture I seek connection with the viewer.

Kathryn Donatelli is a portrait artist, still life painter, mural painter and book illustrator. Born in 1947 in central New Jersey Kathryn relocated to Los Angeles in 1986. She has received more than 300 portrait commissions, designed, painted and installed over a dozen Private, Corporate and Public murals and has illustrated 3 children's books. Her work has been exhibited in over 10 juried shows from New York City to Los Angeles including a national juried show. Kathryn is an associate artist member of The California Art Club and an exhibiting member of the California Art League. She is proficient in many mediums including oil, pastel, watercolor, colored pencil, charcoal, acrylic and egg tempera.

Private Collections:

Glynn and JoAn Turman,

JoMarie Payton,

David and Elaine Marmel,

Dick O’Neill,

Gold Coast Capital Investment.

Education:

Graduate, DuCret School of Fine and Industrial Art.

Illustration and Watercolor, Los Angeles City College.

Workshops include: The 7 Color Contrasts of Johannes Itten, Beverly Cassell;

Nicolaides The Science of Drawing, Beverly Cassell;

Master Portrait Painting, David Leffel;

Still Life Painting, Stacy Kamin, ongoing.

Unshin's current preferred mediums are the pen and pencil, and current genre portraiture. Her work is a ballad of fantasy and drama with a tragic disposition. Unshin's art is extremely intricate, and she hopes that with every passing glance, the viewer can discern a new detail unknown to them before.

Unshin is a Los-Angeles-based artist, born and raised in Mongolia, where she attained a BA in Fashion Design and Decorative Art from the College of Arts and Culture. Unshin also owned a fashion house from 1995-98, where she released a series of consecutive avant-garde lines, on top of teaching fashion design and modeling. Although perpetually involved in artistic endeavors, Unshin is a newcomer to the American art scene, having held her first exhibition less than a year prior.

“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.

I am a primarily a sculptor working in varied media. A painter, a curator, an educator, and builder of large architectural/environmental landscape works formed out of rock, metal, often megalithic in size. My work continues to evolve through the exploration of new media. The use of clay to captivate me, serving as an extension of my imago mundi.

2019 “All U Can Eat”, Bunny Gunner Gallery, Claremont, CA

2019 Vertical Wine Bistro, Pasadena, CA

2019 “Evolve Women Wisdom”, LarkGalleryOnline, Long and Great Hall, West Hollywood, C

2018 Bunker Open Doors" LarkGalleryOnLine,West Hollywwod,CA

2018 “Fahrenheit 2018 Biennial” AMOCA, Pomona, CA

2017 “Forces of Nature II”, LA County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, Arcadia, CA

2017 “:Hollyweird Tube Formed in Fire”, Ventura College, Ventura, CA

2017 “Evolving”, Bunny Gunner Gallery, Claremont, CA

2017 “All U Can Eat”, Bunny Gunner Gallery, Claremont, CA

2015 “The Nature of Sculpture” LA Arboretum, Arcadia, CA

2015 “Off the Wall”, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

2014 “Sculpture in the Garden”, Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts, Alta Loma, CA

2013 “2013 Ceramic Biennial”,AMOCA, Pomona, CA.

2013 “International Womens Day”, LarkGalleryOnline, West Hollywood City Building, W. Hollywood,CA

2013 “Abstract Contemplations”, LarkGalleryOnline, Sulkin/Secant Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2012 “Forces of Nature”, The Los Angeles County Arboretum, Arcadia, CA

2012 “Sculpture in the Garden”, Sam and Alffreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts, Alta Loma, CA

2012 “New Beginings” , The Loft Galleries and Studios, LarkGalleryOnLine, San Pedro, CA

2011 “Exposed”, AMOCA Permanent Collection, Pomona, CA

2011 “The Art of Clay”, AMOCA, Pomona, CA

2011 “Rossinian Night”, House of Balsamic, Irvine, CA

2011 “Off the Wall”, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA 0

2010 “The Gallery Repertoire”, Gallery Armstrong’s Pomona, CA

2010 ”Moon Light Discovery”, Long Beach Art Walk, LarkGalleryOnLine, Long Beach CA

2010 “Phantom Galleries, Long Beach, CA

2010 FreshArt”, Arena Gallery Santa Monica Studios, Santa Monica, CA

2010 “Reaching Within”, LarkGallery OnLine, Los Angeles, CA

2010 “Los Angeles Art Show”, Armory Center for the Arts, Los Angeles, CA

2009 “Muddy’s Wood Fire Special”, The Myers Gallery-Muddy’s Studio, Santa Ana, CA

2009 “Hidden Treasures”, LarkGalleryOnLine, Los Angeles, CA

2009 “Rhythms- Small Pleasures and Vessel Forms”, Bunny Gunner Gallery, Pomona CA

2009 “Clay and Ink” California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA

2009 “Off the Wall”, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

2009 Phantom Galleries, Pasadena, CA

2008 “Art Without Boarders”, LarkGalleryOnLine, Los Angeles, CA

2008 “Diversity In Clay”, 2008 AMOCA/ACS-DC Show. Pomona, CA

2008 Presidents Show”, 2008 American Ceramics Society, Burbank, CA

2008 “Bunny Gunner’s 1st

2008 “Fred’s Friends”, Armstrong Gallery, Pomona, CA

2008 “Alchemy of Art”, LarkgalleryOnLine, Los Angeles, CA. (Honorable Mention)

2007 Los Angeles County Fair, Pomona, CA

2007 “Open Call LA 2007”, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2007 “Small Treasures”, Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

2007 “Extreme Clay”, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA

2007 Pyoung Taek International Art Festival, Korea

2007 “Off the Wall”, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

2007 “L.A. International Art Festival 2007, ASTO Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA

2006-Present Armstrong’s Ceramic Art Gallery, Pomona, CA

2005 “Recording Memories of Three Generations Through the Arts”, Armory Center for the Arts,

2004 Dynamics of Scale”, Xiems Ceramics Center, Pasadena, CA

2003-2004 California Fine Art Market, Pasadena, CA

2003 “2003° Fahrenheit”, Glendale City College, Glendale, CA

2003 The DA Center for the Arts, Pomona CA

2002 Armory Center for the Arts, Faculty Exhibition, Pasadena, CA

Birthday”, Bunny Gunner Gallery, Pomona, CA

Pasadena, CA

2002 Bedlam Gallery, Los Feliz, CA

2000 Prufrock Gallery, Pasadena, CA

1999 “Patricia Ferber Recent Works”, Prufrock Gallery, Pasadena, CA

1997 L.A. River Festival, Los Angeles, CA

1997 “Patricia Ferber Recent Works”, The Art Bank, Los Angeles, CA

1996-1997 Art You Can Live With, L.A. Artcore, Los Angeles, CA

1996 “Vessels”, The Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

1996 Bella Lewitzky Dance Foundation Silent Auction, Sotheby’s, Beverly Hills, CA

1995 Exploring A Movement: Feminist Visions in Clay”, Wingnall Museum/Gallery, Chaffey College,

1995 “One Vision”, Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1995 Silent Auction, Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1994 “DADA Downtown Lives”, Los Angeles, CA

1994 “Cups”, Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1994 “The World of Cups”, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

1994 “Grants for the Arts, 1993-1994 “Fellowship Recipients, Pasadena, CA

1993 “Clay Currents”, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA

1992 The Cultural Factory, Pasadena, CA

1992 Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1992 “Transformed From Clay 14 Southern California Artists”, The Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA

1992 “An Odyssey In Clay and Drawing”, 801 N. Brand, Glendale, CA

1992 “Clay Works”, Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1991 Nemiroff-Deutsch Fine Arts, Santa Monica, CA

1991 Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1991 “Scripps 47th

1990 Downey Museum of Art, “Metals Now”, Downey, CA

1989 Downey Museum of Art, “Ceramics Now”, Downey, CA

1989 Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1986-1988 FISID, Design Center of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Ceramic Annual”, Scripps College, Claremont, CA

I have always enjoyed the creative process. In addition to being a means of expression and a source of great enjoyment, art is a means of healing ourselves and facilitating the healing in others. I have worked in a variety of media, including printmaking, pen and ink, colored pencils and markers, watercolors, acrylics and oils. My favorite themes include Judaica, landscapes, leaves and doves. I also enjoy exploring the abstract.

Debora Gillman has studied art at UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, Otis and Los Angeles City College.

Exhibits include a group show in the Adult Education Division of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; individual and group shows at Park La Brea, including their annual “Art in the Park” events,where she has contributed a variety of award winning banner art and Tower Art designs. Other venues include The American Museum of Science & Energy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the Don O'Melveny Gallery, Los Angeles and The JAN Gallery, Los Angeles. Her work is also part of the permanent collection at Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles.

Debora has taught workshops for children and adults at Park La Brea and the Craft and Folk Art Museum. She has also coordinated and help put on numerous local community events. “Debi Doodles” is her popular coloring book creation for kids for the holidays as well as other themes. Debora has written and illustrated three books for young readers: THE PAINTER'S DREAM; DRAWING FROM THE MASTERS; and AN UN-BEAR-ABE SITUATION: BEARS AND THE ENVIRONMENT. She co-wrote and co-illustrated the third book with her mother, Miriam Gillman, who is also an artist/writer. Debora thanks her mother for "sharing her creative gene with her." All books can be seen at www.Xlibris.com and at www.barnesandnoble.com. More information is available on her website at www.DebiDoodlesART.com.

Barry Gordon's art is characterized by the use of vibrant colors and whimsical forms that grow out of recognizable human, floral or animal shapes. The tone is often humorous and the message frequently one of social satire or political commentary. Speaking of his own work, Gordon says, "I try to achieve a kind of musical counterpoint between color, design, composition, optical abstraction and fantasy." His works contain representations and permutations of musicians and music making; biologic and organic forms; social institutions and social relationships.

His drawings and paintings center around three broad categories: perceptions of self or others; social relations between self and society, between couples and within small groups; epics and concepts. Gordon's imagery provides a broad repertoire for the viewer's mind to draw on from his/her own experiential base to impressionistically develop his/her own conceptual/visceral "holistic perception" of a scene, a feeling an experience. What follows is an instantaneous recognition not necessarily analytically or consciously understood--ending in a reflexive interactive smile derived from the pleasure of the journey.

My first exhibit was at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in an exhibit of children's art (1952). My debut professional exhibit was in 1965 at the Bogner Gallery on Gallery Row (La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills) and then various other shows nationally (New York; Washington, DC; Seattle; and throughout California) with a 30-year retrospective of 92 pieces in 2004 in a university gallery. I have had shows internationally, in what was formerly Yugoslavia (Belgrade), Russia (Moscow, and St Petersburg), Brazil (Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte) and had illustrations published in various newspapers and magazines, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, as well a an album cover for CBS Records and the 1984 Olympics' Georgio Moroder Theme song for Track.

My work is derivative of many influences including Picasso, Miro, Saul Steinberg, Dali, Matta, Tanguey, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Matisse and Klee, among others. If you put these influences in a pot and let them bubble and boil, then throw in California freedom and light and American multiculturalism, that is the direction from which my art is derived.

I have studied with Eula Long (1950 -57), Dorothy Royer, Adelaide Fogg (Los Angeles), David Smith, Tadeusz Lapinsky, Jay Orbeck, Zdzslaw Sikora (Univ of CA & Maryland), Barron Storey, Joe Bowler, Murray Tinkelman and David Passalqua (Syracuse Univ). Of course, I am solely responsible for my own imagery and its uniqueness.

I owned the Gordon Gallery 1985-96.

I find my inspiration in the world around me and in my loved one. I do not usually follow the same style in all of my artworks and while some of my paintings just depict the beauty of the real world around me, the others are more about telling different imaginary stories and revealing unusual characters and situations. My diptychs and triptychs are more like visual stories where the presentations from different perspectives depict common and not so common situations and circumstances. Such an artistic trick allows me not just to tell a certain story, but it also turns a 2D image into something similar to 3D object thus greatly expanding viewers visual experience and further stimulating their imagination.

Olga was born in the Russian city of Zlatoust to the parents of German descent. She developed a passion for drawing and painting over her early childhood years. In Russia she graduated from the College of Industrial Design where she received her BA degree as a commercial designer . Later, the family moved to Germany where she became an art teacher for the art-therapy program designed for the kids with mental disabilities and other special needs.

Since moving to California in 2011 she began her career as a fine artist working in a variety of different styles and genres and have also participated in a number of local exhibitions. Her artworks have been sold to art collectors in US and around the world.

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.

About the Art

Each art piece you see was created with the intent to bring positive energy to the viewer and to the space it is placed in. Each piece has an additional, specific intention such as providing protection, healing, prosperity,creativity, relaxation, and passion to the space in which it is placed. The artist took special care to be in a positive, meditative state while creating these pieces.

About the Artist

Anastasia Lebedeva comes from a family of experimental artists, she has been trained in classical schools of art since a very early age and exposed to a wonderful and eclectic collection of art and artists since birth. Anastasia also goes by the name Simrit Kaur and has been KRI certified to teach Kundalini yoga since 2007 and Prenatal Kundalini Yoga since 2008. The quality of the mental state that meditation brings influences her ethos greatly as she aims to translate that bliss into art that radiates the same. The aesthetic of her paintings is always to uplift both the space it is in as well as the viewer.

I am interested in the concept of the imagination, its representation in culture and the relationship to the idea of the self. I am always seeking to represent something which is felt on a personal and universal level. This is how I try to understand the world.

My reaction to beauty, cruelty, time. My reaction to love, confusion, life. My reaction to music, experiences and things that I have learned, all are some how reinterpreted in to a manifestation of paint.

Education:

Degree in Critical Fine Art - Christchurch University, Kent.

Masters in Critical Fine Art - Christchurch University, Kent.

PGCE in Teaching in Further Education.

Foundation in Yoga Instruction

Foundation in Buddhist Medication

Recent Exhibitions:

Horsebridge Art Center, Whitstable, Kent, England.

BCN Gallery, Barcelona, Spain.

Solo Exhibition - St Augustin’s Hospital, Kent, England.

Solo Exhibition - Respond Academy, East Sussex, England.

Mall Gallery, London, England.

I’m an abstract symbolist who works with color, texture, shape and storytelling imagery to convey my wonder and appreciation for this earthly experience we call life. I want to excite the sensibilities, to engulf, saturate. I have many messages but, mostly, my work invites others to address and confront the power of simple beauty, the incunabula, the unknown, rites of passages, epiphanies, rebirth. Transformation is a constant in life and essential to our evolution. Each step we take is sacred and decides the journey. Every breath requires a new commitment to courage. My paintings examine the personas, the bodies, the heavens, dark and mysterious corners, the stopping places and launching pads of the soul. I’m deeply affected by the style of the original artists, the cave painters. Scientists opine they were women. These days my studio features drawings by DaVinci, photos from the Webb telescope and undersea animals. I live in the crossfire of science, art and personal healing.

I am often thoughtful of unity and through-line, I seek to convey a freedom and visceral truth that is unencumbered by any one message or agenda. This allows me to construct each work with a joyful, exploratory energy.

Montealegre’s art education emerged under the tutelage of abstract painter, Robert Kingston.

She is a recipient of the Puffin Foundation Grant for her performance art piece: Portrait of the First Woman.

Montealegre has continued to win prizes for her paintings and her works are featured in several publications.

Montealegre’s recent BELLINGHAM'S WHATCOM MUSEUM presentation of her painting, Heal Thyself! was featured in the Lightcatcher building where Eva performed a joyful song to introduce the curator's presentation.

2015 Eva is included in the prestigious Latina Art Initiative founded by Linda Vallega. She is vetted as one of the best Latin Artists in the country.

2015 Eva Montealegre is named a BEST ARTIST when ARTAVITA chooses the BEST ARTISTS in an international contest.

HIGGS BOSON, PORTRAIT OF THE FIRST WOMAN, the original painting by Eva Montealegre, a 64" x 96" oil on canvas, is featured in FIRST POST to announce the Nobel Prize Award to Peter Higgs for his creation theory explaining the origin of the Universe.

Eva’s painting, MOON ONE, is featured in the art book, ART TAKES TIMES SQUARE. Her figurative painting of a woman titled, CREATIVE CALL, is featured in the art book, WOMEN'S RIGHTS: An Artist’s Perspective sponsored by UniteWomen.Org. Her work has been honored by the City of Los Angeles in calendars and catalogs. She has participated in a number of Los Angeles community events.

2012 Eva's painting of the sun, IT'S ALRIGHT, receives first prize from WOMEN'S CAUCUS FOR ART. That same year Eva's painting DEEP VEIN #3 is presented at MOLAA'S WOMAN FESTIVAL.

Two of my works are directly created to investigate the Arabic custom of having women wear Burkas and and also placing limitations on outward behaviors.Other paintings poke fun at global trading and religious dogma. Like the Surrealists in the 20's and 30's my art is political and hopefully humorous.

Tom Myrdahl has been in the visual arts business as a Film and Video Director/Cameraman for over 30 years. In the last three years Tom has won 19 AVa awards and one Golden Hermes award for his cinematography for series of Internet market videos. In the last several months Tom has utilized his understanding of composition and light to begin to paint in an Expressionist style. Tom calls his paintings "Cultural Expressionism" in that he looks at the oddities of behavior in different cultures and then adds magic and humor to his concepts .

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.

How color affects me is an important issue in my paintings. Certain color combinations can cause an immediate emotional response. This might happen while looking at flowers, photographs in a magazine, or simply selecting colors of paint that capture my attention at that moment.

I create my paintings outdoors, under the California sun, where I have the freedom to work physically, without restraint. There is an organic quality to the process, utilizing fluid color to create movement. I never use brushes. Paint is applied to the canvas by dripping, pouring and splashing, with water sprayed onto the surface. Painting for me is about capturing the physical and emotional energy that I experience while being completely lost in the process.

My paintings are open to interpretation. Each person will find their own meaning in the work.

Born St. Petersburg, Russia

Lives and Works in Los Angeles, CA

Education

Bachelor?s Degree in Economics, Institute of Soviet Trade, St. Petersburg, Russia

Fashion Design, Los Angeles Trade Technical College, California

Self-Taught Artist.

Member of Laguna Art.com. Member of LA FAN group of artists

Member of Aleatoric Modern Artists /MAMA/

Solo Exhibitions

2012-2013

Divided Sky bar, South Lake Tahoe, California

2011

Chrysalis, Gallery GoDo, Glendale, California

Elements Restaurant, Santa Barbara, California

Krystal Salon, Studio City, California

Group Exhibitions

2013

Townley Gallery ,Laguna Beach ,California

2012

Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art, Laguna Beach,California

Gloria Delson Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California

Walk Art Way Gallery GoDo, Glendale, California

January 20th,March 23 rd Gallery Godo, Glendale, California

2011

Florence Biennale Internazionale D?Arte Conetemporanea, Firenze, Italy (catalog)

Happy 2, Gallery Godo, Glendale, California

Spring Brewery Art Walk, Diavolo Theater, Los Angeles, California

Save Japan, Gallery GoDo , Glendale, California

American Art Salon, Finalist, Juried Internet Exhibition, www.artjury.com

Projekt 30, Finalist, Juried Internet Exhibition, www.projekt30.com

Erotica, Gallery GoDo, Glendale, California

2010

Hotter Than July, Gallery GoDo, Glendale, Californ

Artist Statement Painting

Monika Steiner

My work is inspired by Metaphysics and Buddhism. I paint because it allows me to investigate the subtle relationship between perception and material reality. My paintings, influenced by the ever changing nature of life, feature emerging and dissolving spheres floating in empty space as a way of exploring the endless possibilities inherent in appearances.

I contemplate the concept of the interconnectedness of all things until it takes form as an interesting visual abstraction. The work gains richness and complexity as successive layers of paints are added until I feel that a hypnotically meditative and harmonious composition has been achieved.

My ultimate intention is that the space between the painting’s surface and the viewer’s perception of that surface will become a mirror for them to observe the movement of their own thoughts.

Born in Switzerland, Monika Steiner currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area where she received her BFA degree from Sonoma State University. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in galleries, museums, and public exhibitions. She is represented by Micaela Gallery in San Francisco, Erickson Fine Art in Healdsburg, and Marji Gallery in Santa Fe. Monika paints and sculpts full time.

CURRICULUM VITAE OF MONIKA STEINER

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Born 1972, Bern, Switzerland

EDUCATION

2005 BFA Sonoma State University, California, USA

1994 BA University of Bern, Switzerland

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Solo Exhibitions

2009 EQUINOX, Maturango Museum, Ridgecrest, CA

LUCID, Consulate General of Switzerland, San Francisco, CA

Off the wall, Geras- Tousignant Gallery, San Francisco, CA

The Space between Thoughts, Merced Multicultural Arts Center, CA

2008 RETURN, Museum of Boenigen, Switzerland

NOW, City Hall, Santa Rosa, CA

Sculptures, Marji Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Meditacion, 425 Market, Jan Casey, San Francisco, CA

2007 LINES & FORMS, Geras- Tousignant Gallery, San Francisco, CA

UNFOLDING, The Wine Emporium, Sebastopol, CA

2006 CONFLUENCE, Bank of America Building, Plaza Gallery, Curator Jan Casey, San Francisco, CA

PHOTOGRAPHY & SCULPTURE, Geras-Tousignant Gallery, San Francisco, CA

FUSION, 50 California, San Francisco, CA

2005 SYMBIOSIS, Geras-Tousignant Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2004 TRANSFORMATION, Swissnex, Swiss Consulate, San Francisco, CA

Group Exhibitions

2009 Indoor sculpture exhibition, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA

The Grid, Geras- Tousignant Gallery, San Francisco, CA

MCBG Sculpture Gallery, Juried Show, Mendocino, CA

Gallery Route One Juried Show, PT Reyes, CA

Winter Salon, Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, CA

DUAL PROCESS ARTWORKS:

The Synthesis of Collage and Photo Processing

Understanding the photage process gives insight into the unique abstract images I achieve in digital painting. Photage is not the odd juxtaposition of visual language you generally associate with collage. For me it is an expressionistic, painterly, problem-solving process that begins with finding a rich and cohesive palette of fragments from recycled magazine pages. I then help each piece find its niche based on light and shadow, color, and texture dynamics. This focus on cooperation and symbiosis of parts is what paradoxically imparts a sense of calmness, strength of structure, and serenity in an otherwise very busy environment, a metaphor of my vision for a healthy earth.

"In a future series I expect to explore many more interesting color combinations and visual effects and perhaps create more loose, dynamic photages with more simplified patterns. However, since unpredictable is part of the definition of photage, I will be as surprised as my patrons to see what comes out next," I wrote in a previous artist's bio. Rereading this today, imagine my pleasant shock of realization that I have done just that, but not in the way I imagined. Digital painting has allowed me to push the photage images in the direction my artistic sense wants to take unfettered by the physical limitations of cut paper. I find that the interests piqued by photage, such as experimenting with light and shadow, depth of field, the balance of space, visual porosity of elements, mood and interaction of color, simultaneous micro/macro perspectives, and the commingling of straight lines and curves, can all be indulged using a stylus and powerful photoprocessing tools.

Traditional art training has been an immeasurable benefit in creating abstract depictions of qualities and sensations found in the collages and digital paintings. But while I can draw and paint, I consider myself more a constructionist and have always been inclined towards building, layering, combining found material, and the frugal and resourceful person's excitement in making something new and different out of something else. This seems to be the Nature's way of creating, and these new media dual-process artworks are my homage to and idealization of its many mysteries.

For a view of both photage and its spawn, digital painting, please visit: www.marlenestruss.com

Life-long artist Marlene Struss is a native of California. She received her bachelor's degrees in fine art and social sciences from the University of California Santa Barbara and found the climate, both physical and spiritual, so conducive to creativity that she never left the area. Since that time she has produced a large body of work in a variety of disciplines, including drawing, etching, painting, surrealistic and political collage and, most recently, digital painting. She is best known for the striking collages she calls "photage" to distinguish the unique technical process and the visual effect achieved.

Ms. Struss's collage and photage has been widely exhibited and acclaimed in group and solo shows throughout the United States. She is the recipient of the coveted Independent Artist Award in Collage/Assemblage from Santa Barbara Arts Fund. She is an award winner in the National Collage Society's 23rd annual Juried Exhibition and a juried member of the National Association of Women Artists. Her work has appeared in several publications, including Kennedy Publishing's juried books Best of California Artists & Artisans and Best of America Mixed Media Artists & Artisans. Recently she has been selected by invitation to participate in Kennedy's Best of Worldwide Genre volume.

She started learning and experimenting with digital photo processing in early 2010 using high-resolution images of her photage as starting points. She soon realized that she had a natural affinity for this state-of-the-art technology and the stylus "paintbrush." It didn't take long for the new media artworks to be selected for several competitive group exhibitions.

She refers to these large abstract organic-looking scapes printed on canvas with archival pigment as digital paintings. They are distinguished by their lively fluidity, sophisticated color, impression of dynamic space, and dramatic use of light and shadow. In addition to her experience with layering paper, the meticulous interlacing of layers involved in her new method harks directly back to the layering technique she was noted for in her early etchings. And like all her previous abstract work, she prefers to allow the image to evolve without preconception by means of a series of aesthetic decisions. The beauty and mystery of the final creation then becomes its own message.

To view examples of both photage as well as digital paintings, please visit www.startran.com/artweb.

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

These painterly collage pieces are a continuation of my Beach Rock painting series. I was initially inspired by rocks on a deserted beach. Submerged in water, they reminded me of strange creatures pulsating with spirits, and inspired me to reimagine them on my canvas.

The idea behind my collages was to bring out the mysteriousness I felt about these rocks and make their strangeness even more vivid.

Each collage piece has several vignettes generated in the process, either intentionally or incidentally. They are like mini dramas within a bigger show and, when viewed as a whole, meant to heighten surreal feeling.

The way I see and express nature might have been influenced by shamanistic spirit that I had witnessed as a youngster in my old country.

Young Yun Summers is a Los Angeles based artist. She was born in Korea and came to USA as a high school student. She inherited a love of art from her family and always knew she would be an artist.

Majoring in design in fine arts, she earned her BFA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked in retail advertising for many years. However, her passion to be a serious fine artist was not pursued while she was working full-time and raising a family.

After her son went off to college to study piano, she finally decided to fully commit herself to art.

Young started out painting her favorite subjects, such as her family, trees, rocks, things in nature. Then, she began to incorporate collages, as a way to enhance her paintings. Soon the painterly collage took over and became her signature medium, garnering great responses and awards. Lately, her collages have become more sculptural and experimental. Finding beauty and harmony in most unexpected way from items soon to be discarded, while reducing waste and recycle are important aspects of her artistic life.