Spring, Love, Life

Born in Central Asia.

Approaching art history with a flair for abstract expressivity and a designer's confidence in choreographing fundamentals of color and shape, Schwartz wields a palette knife along with brushes to animate prismatic color stories in thickly applied oil paint. Her Crystal Auras series are opalescent mixed media paintings created with countless layers of acrylic saturated with mica, interference pigment, and natural minerals that glisten like geodes, and bounce light across their auric topographies. Her largest project, Ricordi d'Italia, merges her explorations of the mellifluous properties of color, light, and surface with direct inspiration drawn from travels to Italy. While these paintings still possess the ethereal presence of Crystal Auras, they demonstrate a more formally definitive, architectural sensibility, being derived from photographic source sketches highlighting geometric details culled from vistas and ruins. At the same time, operations of memory, deconstruction, and fantasy combine to render them in an abstract language, producing moody palimpsests and evocative scenic impressions. With Burst, Schwartz's newest collection, we see small, intimate sections of works from Ricordi d'Italia enlarged into wholly new paintings -- gestural compositions whose exotic rhythms are deeply influenced by her studies of Asian Sumi-e ink painting, which reveal their inner lives as she teases their essences forward from within their faceted depths.

Anne Brawer Schwartz is a dedicated abstractionist whose painterly imagination remains grounded in the world of places and things. While pursuing a degree in Graphic Design from the University of Oregon and further studies at the Gemological Institute of America, Schwartz always maintained a painting practice, which she kept up during her 25-year career as a renowned couture jewelry designer. The legacy of her expertise as a designer is apparent in her abstract paintings and their considerations of detail, drawing, design principles, color, texture, and refracted light. Having some years ago rededicated herself to her painting studio, today her canvases have been shown in numerous group shows and are represented in collections around the world. She frequently works with art consultants and interior designers, placing her works in businesses, hotels, private homes, and design firms. Being based in LA, her paintings have naturally also been featured in numerous television shows and motion pictures.

Nature inspires me, from walking in the Italian forests surrounding Florence, to primordial volcanic landscapes in Japan to hikes in the hills of the Santa Monica mountain range. I’m interested in the natural world that we view and the relationship to the metaphysical space of the inner world.

In my art the idea of journey and process merge – daily drawings that map a mindscape and idea process in automatic drawing that reflects walks in nature and things seen visually in the inner and outer world combining.

My art also encompasses ideas about structure(s), habitat and space shaped harmoniously in a continuous process inspired by musical composition.

Painting is the laboratory where I explore ideas in a formal structure that holds play and whimsy. I’m exploring biomorphic shapes and word compositions which reflect an environment I live in presently that reminds me of my childhood.

Lisa Bahouth studied art at Rhode Island School of Design and received her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture. The award-winning artist and concert pianist exhibited her work in New York City before moving to Los Angeles.

Her art encompasses ideas about architecture, structure(s), habitat and space shaped harmoniously in a continuous process inspired by musical composition.

As she puts it in her own words: "Painting is my primary laboratory where I explore concrete and vague ideas simultaneously, in a formal structure that hopefully holds some play and whimsy. Although my work has the appearance of abstraction, it is not non-objective; conveying references to rooms, interiors and conceptual spaces. Paintings, drawings and installations often refer to each other as I build upon groups of work. "

In her more recent works, she has been exploring the creation of biomorphic shapes and word compositions merging into an all-encompassing metaphysical style.

Bahouth’s work is currently on exhibit internationally in Japan, Russia, Armenia, and the US.

My style, consisting of many various ornaments, dictated by the concrete appearance of the environment, the presence of interesting combinations like faces, houses, flowers, and other things. These fragments you can find in most of my current work.

- Elena Beresnjak

Elena was born on November 03.1962 in Odessa, Ukraine, on the Black Sea, capital of culture, where famous artists, musicians and authors like the violinist David Oistrakh and the artist Wladimir Strelnikow had their start.

In Odessa, Elena Beresnjak attended Stolyarsky State Music School and gained a degree as a concert pianist from the Odessa High School of Performing & Applied Arts.

While studying Elena discovered her passion for painting and took lessons at the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art. The contemporary artist from Saint Petersburg Ilya Glazunov praised them most profusely after which Elena attended the Academies of Art in Saint Petersburg and Moscow to improve her skills.

In 1985 she won First Prize in a chamber music contest in Kiev, in 1992 she moved to Diekholzen (Germany) to rejoin her husband, the artist and violinist Oleg Zubarev.

While Elena has had many exhibitions of her art in Germany and Russia, her life still is very affected by art and music. So in 2004 she had the great idea not just to paint canvas but also to paint musical instruments. Elena's ten painted violins, violas and cellos, with their distinctive names and evocative musical associations, have already becoming prized collectors' items.

Of course, Elena always insists on time for playing the piano in Oleg and Egmont Heinzmann's salon 10-member Wir Salonloewen, organized "as a contrast to the otherwise usually more serious work in the cultural orchestra".

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

Los Angeles-based artist Sandra Cooper is renowned for her distinctive abstract expressionist style. Her paintings and drawings are unique in their ability to stimulate viewers visually and emotionally with both passion and contradiction. Her striking images encourage viewers to use their own mind’s eye to interpret the movement of paint across canvas. Cooper wants to evoke an emotional response to her art, rather than merely object recognition. “If I wanted to recreate exactly what I saw, I would use my camera. My style celebrates the randomness of abstract expressionism.” “Why paint the entire scene when it’s the negative space that fills my imagination with the creative possibilities of ‘What if’” Cooper says.

Cooper’s “Heart Felt Series,” painted under her “nom de art”

R. Vega, is reflective of the powerful abstract nudes for which she is known.

Cooper’s style and technique are reflected in the media she uses. Whether it is watercolors, mono prints, mono types, charcoal line drawings, acrylics or collage, her work is recognized as a consistent signature of talent.

Cooper?

Exhibitions/Tours/Representations

1) Februrary 20th from 3:00-4:00PM (PST) BlogTalkRadio. The ORACLE Speaks, hosted by Denise L. Cook, with special guest Artist Sandra Cooper. UK Songwriter Artie Q\'s single \"Not a Lot of Love\", which was inspired by Cooper\'s \"Out of Control\", will be played.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/denise-lyles-cook

Call In: (805) 285-9772

2) In 2011 Daily Art Calendar, All For Love, www.ArtWanted.com/SandraCooper

3) The Whole 9 Gallery - Culver City, California - The Peace Project

http://www.thewhole9.com/thepeaceproject-merchandise.php

4) In 2010 Artist Sandra Cooper was featured on BlueHighways TV in conjunction with Lark Gallery Online. The show was viewed in over 220 countries.

http://country-cooperative.com/index.php/artists/category/mixed_media .

5) In 2010 Sandra Cooper artwork Out of Control was chosen by internationally renowned UK songwriter and singer Artie Q for LarkGallery Online E-exhibition Colors of Life - Music

6) In 2010 The Whole 9, juried competition, The Peace Project, Culver City, CA

In 2010 The Pop/Lock Gallery, Global Art Exhibition , Los Angeles, CA

Animoto

http://animoto.co/play/kcodPxjQSc56io2yu6LQOA

2009 Woman\'s Club of Hollywood, guest artist, 12th Annual Rose Variety Arts Show, Hollywood, CA

2009 Woman?s Club of Hollywood, featured cover artist for Denise Cook, The ORACLE, Speaks just because, Hollywood, CA

2009 The Hive Gallery, Art & Action, Los Angeles, CA

2009 LarkGalleryOnline.com, featured artist, Sandra Cooper, Santa Monica, CA

2009 Fantasy 2000, Sherman Oaks, CA

2009 Clouds, ?Heart Felt Series? painted under R. Vega, Santa Monica, CA

2008 Malibu Art Assn, Memories and Appreciation, Juried Exhibition, Malibu, CA

2008 Malibu Art Assn, Colors, Colors, Colors, Emeritus College, Juried Exhibition, Santa Monica CA

2008 Beverly Hills Country Club, Rose Breast Cancer Foundation, Visions of Hope, Beverly Hills, CA

2008 No Ho Gallery, Visions, North Hollywood, CA

2008 Haziaz Gallery, Art48, Sun Valley, CA

2008 Finegood Art Council of the Valley Alliance Jewish Federation, Studio Tour, Los Angeles,CA

2008 Malibu Art Association Juried Exhibition, The Challenge of Colors, Pacific

Palisades, CA

2008 APA Art Association Members Only Exhibition, The Washington Convention Center, Washington DC

2008 Art Treasures of Los Angeles, the Hidden Gems Art Collection, curator: Pasqual Bettio,Westmoreland Art Lofts, Los Angeles, CA

2008 Clouds, ?Heart Felt Series? painted under R. Vega, Santa Monica, CA

Born in 1973 in Moscow

In 1991 - finished the Moscow secondary art school.

In 1997 - graduated from the Surikov Art Institute.

Exhibitions:

1995 - exhibition of art school graduates at the Academy of Fine Arts, Moscow.

1995, 1996, 1997 - youth exhibitions at Kuznetsky Most, Moscow.

1995 - exhibition \"Ark of Arts\", Moscow.

1996 - exhibition, \"Na Medynke\" gallery, Moscow.

1997 - exhibition, Helsinki, Finland.

1998 - exhibition, Helsinki, Finland.

2000 - exhibition \"New Horizons\", Central House of Artist, Moscow.

2001 - exhibition \"Art-Salon\", Manege, \"Yelena\" gallery, Moscow.

2001 - exhibition \"Discovery\", Central House of Artist, Moscow.

2001 - exhibition, \"Yelena\" gallery, Central House of Artist, Moscow.

2001 - exhibition, International Slavonic Fund of Written Language and Culture, Moscow.

2002 - exhibition, the Central House of Artists, Moscow.

2002 - exhibition, the National Foundation of Culture, Moscow.

“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.

Employing two separate metaphors, my recent work concerns the relationship of our fragile Earth to our own cycles of life and mortality:

The 'Fragments' Series was created following the devastating death of my husband. The images reflect my return to life using my yoga experiences as an inspiration.

The 'Wetlands' Series is an exploration of water in its various forms. I often use multiple perspectives to create an image within a reinvented space permeated by the erasure of a human presence. These landscapes are residues of experiences rather than actual locations.

In my series 'Liquid Assets', the divisions within the canvases flow together with a sequence of cause and effect. They include observations of urban sprawl consuming the last vestiges of what once were rushing mountain streams. Graffiti echoes the primal desire to leave evidence of our brief existence on earth. I challenge myself to express my concerns by depicting the beauty of the Earth with gestures of its degradation.

In my most recent series 'Google It', I use several media to depict a fanciful journey through the miracle of instant access to understanding that Google provides us. Google has changed my life.

I was born into a creative family, which included artists, architects and engineers. Following their lead, oils became my first medium. I was exposed to the works of the Masters at a young age taking my first formal art classes when I was eight years old. I studied art at Kansas University and have continued my education throughout my life.

In addition to oils, I have also worked with pastels, acrylics, watercolors and several area of printmaking. For my sculptures, I have used wood, stone, metal and ceramics. The emotional layers of glazes by Turner and Monet have influenced many of my landscapes. The multi-media commentaries of Robert Rauschenberg on modern culture, along with the meditative graffiti-like markings of his friend Cy Twombly inform my recent pieces.

My studio is located in Los Angeles.

Хотела бы принять участие в творчесом конкурсе.

Родилась в Москве в 1975 году, окончила полиграфический колледж имени русского первопечатника Ивана Федорова и Заочный народный университет искусств, член Международного художественного фонда с 2001 года, выставлялась в Ливане (Бейрут), Испании (Льорет де мар), Москве. Награждена медалью и серебряным орденом Всемирного альянса \"Миротворец\".

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.

Ariyana is an interdisciplinary visionary artist who paints, writes, and creates sculptures & assemblages. During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Ariyana was an artist in residence in San Diego City Schools for seven years. She pioneered what she calls Eco-Peace Walls. Painting murals for about five years, these art and word murals had images and messages about global harmony, ecological sustainability, and universal friendship. This art series and her work with students was very well received and written about in the LA Times, San Diego Union, Whole Life Times, KPBS On Air Magazine, Better World Magazine and other publications. Her art has also been featured on the front cover of three publications. One of her murals in Santa Monica was commissioned by the California trendsetter Fred Segal. Nissan Motors commissioned a series of 12 drawings for a 1995 calendar which was distributed to Nissan customers in Asia. She has also worked with the United Nations Environmental Art Program (UNEP).

In October 1994, 20 years of art was lost in a fire that burned her home and studio to the ground. After this tragedy she became an artist in recluse. She returned to painting, writing, designing, yoga, and meditation. These activities helped heal the trauma of tragic impermanence and broken dreams.

Her current art work is a series of acrylic and mixed media paintings, stone sculptures, and mixed media assemblages. Mystical landscapes and Stone Spirits are the themes that she creates through a unique combination of paint, crystals, feathers, black coral, and other found objects gathered over a period of many years. Ariyana is also working on a series of mixed media works where the components came from her own fire side debris and from the Station Fire.

Ariyana sees beauty in everything. This ability fuels her love for mixed media, the art form that she has focused on. She has worked directly on the Earth creating Earth Art, and now she works on a variety of different textures, painted styrofoam, canvas, wood, and handmade papers.

For her, mixed media is like gathering the beauty and wisdom from different cultures, nations and traditions, bringing them together in one place where they meet and intersect in a harmonious way, creating something new, like the fusion of East and West or the combination of the ancient with the modern.

Natalya Mamontova, Tretyakov Gallery expert:

Masha Grigoryan is a painter who has found her unique place and standing in art. Her creative gift evolved from her life experiences into colour and rhythmic images and has eventually come into canvas shapes in all its diversity, clarity and joyfulness.

The most distinctive features of her paintings are colour and rhythm. Masha loves to oppose hot and cold colours, prefers contrasted combinations and active picturesque saturation. Her colours are live and pulsating and the canvas itself is breathing.

Masha\'s sincere, joyful and warm paintings will not leave anyone indifferent. They are free of false classicism, imitation or copyism. It has nothing to do with mass culture. It is a unique gift.

I have graduated from Moscow Polygraphic Institute.

Since 1991 I have been working as the chief editor in the publishing house GELEOS. In 2005 the publishing house was awarded with the golden diploma as the best publishing house of the year.

In 2009 I have become a member of the International Union of Journalists.

I write screenplays for feature dramatic films, as well as documentary and promotional films. For many of them I have received honorary certificates, most of them have been praised by critics.

I am engaged in design: I develop design for books, as well as for over 100 magazines, newspapers, posters and billboards. I also work out the printer\'s dummies and layouts of different titles.

I have been painting extensively since 1990. I took part in 15 exhibitions (individual as well as group exhibitions) in Moscow, London, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt am Main and on Malta.

Born in Russia.

Graduated from Repin Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg.

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."

I have lived in the Pacific Northwest all of my life. I am deeply connected with Nature, she is my mother, my father is adventure, my brother the mountains, my sister the sea. I have been involved with sculpting and carving wood ever since I could hold a carving tool. Wood has been my main medium. I began doing driftwood sculptures in June of 2003.

Recently my muse has been captivated by the \\

I was born 1952 in Yerevan Armenia. Since early 1970 started to collect paintings of Armenian well known artists such as M.Saryan, Minas, V. Vardanyan and more. In late 1990s was interested in russian art until present time. For now in personal collection counted more than 7000 artworks of different artists.

The truest means of expressing the real is to accept the process of discovery. To experience the process, rather than perfecting a formula, will come closer to making a drawing or painting believable.

The horse race has been a reoccurring theme in my work. It represents strength, energy, and motion as well as the bond between man and horse. Ancient symbolic meaning is another aspect that is present. The communication between horse and jockey reveals that aspect in a very long two minute space of time.

1976-A.A. Degree, Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

1977- Juried- Centrum Master Painting Workshop, Instructor, Nathan Olivera, Port Townsend, WA.

1979 Painting, University of Oregon

1978- Fellowship, Centrum Master Painting Workshop, Instructor, Elaine DeKooning, Port Townsend, WA.

1979- Juried, Centrum Critique, Jack Tworkov, Port Townsend, WA.

1978- Drawing Workshop, Tom Blodgett, Eugene, Or.

1975-1978 Through the courtesy of the professors and the Department Chairman, I monitored studio classes daily. If there were no classes I would be in the art library.

1975-1985 Participated in open drawing and painting sessions four days a week.

1985-1996 Hiatus. Life, kids, divorce. Life in progress.

Exhibitions: Juried

1985- Pacific. N.W. Figure Drawing Competition 1984, Alfred Leslie, Visual Arts Center, Anchorage, AK.

1985- Fifth Annual Juried Art Show, The Art Gallery, Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Ore. Selected participant.

1984- Figure Study Show, Alvin Gallery, Hong Kong.

1984- Three Person Show, University of Oregon Art Museum, Eugene, Oregon.

1983- Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Ore.

Most recent:

2004- Marghitta Feldman Gallery, One Man Show, Early Drawings, Portland, OR.

2008,'09, '10-Annual Visual Arts Showcase, Beaverton, Ore.

2010- Oasis Gallery, Juried Exhibition, 1st place award.

2010- Real People 2010, Juried exhibition, Woodstock, IL.

2011- Nude Nite, Tampa, FL.

2011- Nude Nite, Orlando, FL.

2014- Emerald Spring Exhibition 2014, Emerald Art Center, Springfield, OR., May 2014.

2014- Au Natural International Juried Exhibition, Clatsop Community College Art Center Gallery, Astoria, OR., January - March, 2014, juror, Charles Froelick, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR.

2013- Los Angeles Art Association’s 2013 Open Show, Gallery 825, Hollywood, CA. Dec.-Jan, 2014, Curator, Jenny Gheith, Assistant Curator, San Fransico Museum of Modern Art.

2013- California Open Exhibition, August, TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA, August, 2013, Honorable Mention Award.

2013- Real People 2013, Old Court House Art Center, August- September, Woodstock, IL.

2013- All Media Juried Show, July-September, Chase Gallery, Spokane, WA.

2013- Real People, August through September, Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL.

2013- Story of the Creative, July through September, See | Exhibition Space, New York City, NY.

2012- Annual Visual Arts Showcase, Beaverton, OR.

2012- Real People, Woodstock, IL.

Originally from Russia Oleg Khoroshev lives and works in Los Angeles as a professional photographer. He has 12 years experience in photography. He has worked with well-known advertising agencies such as: BBDO, McCann Erickson, Publicis United providing photography work for brands such as: Coca-Cola, Nestle Ice Cream, Nescafe, Exxon Mobile, Clearasil, Kotex, Burn, Timotei, and many others. Oleg's photographs have also graced the covers of more than 25 famous magazines and have been used in various editorial photographs.

Leader of the International Bunker Art group, Kiki is constantly mastering his abstract expressionist techniques.

His art works are on display in the state museums in Germany, Armenia, Estonia, Kazakhstan and constitute an important part of the Nancy and Norton Dodge collection of the Zimmerly Art Museum in New Jersey.

if you think of a canvas as more or less stable plane

in ever-changing multi-dimentional world

flat plane of memory holding imprints of

days and lives

canvas as a

filter, screen, net

placed in streams of memory.

memories passing through the plane will leave imprints

of events, people, images, smells, feelings

sometimes recognizable, mostly – not.

projections of passing objects

are difficult to understand.

SAVVA began his artistic experience in Vasily Surikov’s Art school in Moscow.

From there he was directly admitted

to the renowned Stroganov Institute of Art in Moscow. There he acquired

proficiency in such disciplines as Graphic Design, Illustration, and Production

Processes in addition to continuing his Fine Arts studies.

Upon completing his education, Savva worked in Moscow as an Illustrator, Graphic

Designer, and Art Director for various newspapers, magazines, and a publishing

House. At the same time, he continued his work in the field of Fine Arts painting.

His work was chosen for display at several Moscow galleries,

most notably a single-Artist show at the prestigious gallery Krymskaia Shore

Boardwalk.

He was then invited by the Klasky Csupo animation studio to come work in the

United States as a Development Designer on various television and feature film

projects

Since then he worked in such animation studios as Walt Disney Studios, Warner

Brothers Studios, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Fox Animation and Rough Draft

Studios to name a few.

Savva resumed his artistic career in USA with Apexart gallery of New York in year

2007. Since then he has participated in a large number of shows, which practice

he intends to continue.

I make paintings using thick shiny acrylic paint, squeezed out of a bottle. This series arises out of my immersion in the magnetic force fields of the Mojave Desert where I live.

Stevie Love 2011

SOLO

2006 Sequence, Andlab Galley, Los Angeles, CA

2003 Fluid Jam, Robert V. Fullerton Museum, California State University, San Bernardino, 2002 Previous Incarnations, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA

Solo Series of Four, Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, CA

GROUP

2009 Primarily red, yellow and blue, Angels Ink gallery, San Pedro, CA

2008 Gwangwhamoon Int?l Art Festival, Beijing, China.

2007 Pillow Talk, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Los Angeles

2006 Hallways, curated by EJ Hauser, 139 Plymouth, Brooklyn, New York.

Painting?s Edge, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA

2005 All California Juried Exhibit, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA

Curator?s Award, Riverside Art Museum, Peter Frank, curator, Riverside, CA

Hey Doll, a collaboration, the Brewery Project, Los Angeles

2004 Uncharted Terrain, SOKA University, Aliso Viejo, CA

2002 Off the Wall, Coagula Projects, Los Angeles

Curator?s Award, Riverside Art Museum, Jim Reed, juror, Riverside, CA

2001 All About Abstraction, award. Roland Reiss, juror, Angels Gate, San Pedro, CA

2000 The Spurgeon Project, RAID, Santa Ana, CA

1999 LA National Juried Exhibition, Patricia Correia Gallery, Santa Monica,

1998 Robert Miller Fine Art, Los Angeles

Post Gallery, Los Angeles

The DADA Show, Los Angeles

1997 Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA.

EDUCATION

1997 MFA, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California. Merit scholarshi

Live now

Born in China.

Graduated from Muchina Academy of Art and Design.

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.

I want my paintings to speak for themselves. I look for a certain power and simplicity in my work, images that work at a gut level which also invite a wry, humorous look at life. I like to challenge bland emotions and poke fun at sacred cows.

The roots of my work are in expressionism; my influences are from everywhere: a childhood in West Africa, French political posters of May 1968, Topolski?s sketchbooks, Munakata?s woodcuts. I also admire Chinese brush painting with its object of capturing a single Zen moment in a few simple brush strokes.

My themes are grounded in everyday life, in my experience of life as a woman. As an artist I like to work within the traditions of art and history, at the same time to play with its icons and

I grew up in Africa and England and from the age of six I loved to paint and knew that this was what I wanted to do always.

As a young person, I became involved in the political and social movements of the time. I found that screen printing was a good way to get these ideas across. Later I worked as a commercial screen printer.

I returned to more personal painting and print making with the birth of my children.

I moved to Los Angeles in 1991 and have since taken part in numerous exhibitions.

I have always been attracted by landscape. As a subject it weaves in

and out of my work.

Wolves and Kimonos are emblematic of my work over a long period,representing a search for spirit, with the wolf as guide and the kimono a metaphoric actor on the stage of life. Landscape provides the background.

Born Chicago, Illinois, studied University of Michigan, resident American Academy in Rome, resided 12 years in Italy. Presently residing Ojai, Ca.Work internationally exhibited and in many important public and private collections.

Using found objects to create sculptures brings resources to my disposition that are as varied as the material realm of the world we live in; they provide an interesting mirror of our time and society.

My work is frequently narrative or symbolic and deals with social and spiritual issues.

A recent series – 18” x 18” squared – aims to explore the energy of matter and its relationship to the action/manipulation of the artist.

Annemarie Rawlinson, an award-winning artist, works primarily in mixed media and collage and has shown her work nationally and internationally. In 1994, she founded the L.A. Assemblage Group. This group currently has 17 members and networks and exhibits at least once a year together.

Using discarded objects as art materials, Annemarie aims at raising public consciousness of the need to conserve resources and preserve the natural environment. These objects, once useful, bring their own beauty and vibrations with them, expressing symbolic or narrative content.

I borrow a statement by 1936 Florida-born self-taught painter, printmaker, sculptor and animator Warren Criswell to best express my viewpoint: \\\"Art knows, Art sees beyond. Art points us in new directions and makes us think and question.\"

Patricia Rayman is a practicing teacher of the arts for all ages. Born and educated on the East Coast, she was initially taught by working professionals from New York City. She is a graduate of the New Jersey School of Fine and Industrial Arts, New York Institute of Photography, and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Also, she has successfully completed countless continued education courses and programs in art academics and a host of art applications as well as writing and children’s literature.

Over the years, she has been showered with over * hundreds of recognitions for her artworks in art and photography by various local, regional and non-Ohio organizations;* chosen Big Sister-of-the-Year by the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Lima-Allen County for her involvement in a young girl’s life which allowed this child to bud from a thorny environment, and blossom forward with noted local and national achievements;* selected Tri-County Woman-of-the-Year for Allen, Van Wert and Putnam, Ohio local media for her volunteerism and an undaunted willingness of providing encouragement: Art is ageless, not only to the young, but even among nursing home seniors; * recognized by the Ohio Senate for her humanitarian contributions which goes back to her younger years working with emotionally and physically handicapped children. In addition, she also received * an Outstanding Achievement in Education award as the founder of Art-to-Art: Building Friendships Through Art, (1986-2006)an Ohio-based k-12 national art-based education program which bridges the gap with the subjects of Geography, History, Reading, Writing, and Communications through Human Relations; and has been included in * Who’s Who Education In America.

Today, Pat continues to hone her artistic skills while teaching art education application classes and workshops for various art centers in Western Ohio, including Art History at Wright State University.

Problem solving is the primary motivating factor in my work. I see myself as a facilitator more so than an artist; setting up creative challenges for myself in which the final works emerge from an ad hoc sensibility and a malleable understand of art history. I derive influence from such art movements as: Art Brut, Fluxus, and Object Trouve`; and artists such as: Joseph Cornell, Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg, and Julian Schnabel, to name a few.

b. 1967, Eastern Pennsylvania.

Self-taught and represented since 1989.

In the collections of:

Romolo Celli, New York

Andreas Kube, Berlin

Dr. Stephen Kramer, Los Angeles

D.J. Richardson, Los Angeles

Herb Schultzhk, San Francisco

Mark Getty, London

Aileen Getty, Los Angeles

William A. Emboden, Los Angeles

Would Untitled work as an artist name? Does the umbrella actually protect the rain from the dry man? Where does the deer jump from? These questions, and many more, are precisely answered by art.

Long before I learned to read and write, I sketched islands full of pirates; and flying machines; and unseen worlds. Since then, my travels have blessed my hunger for stories and adventures to interpret in my work.

I?ve learned that Nature by far is the unsurpassed teacher. Primitive stories come forth in the reading of a bird?s trail in the sky. For me, watercolor is an exercise in beginner?s mind and infinite heart.

I?ve learned that beaches after a storm bring great driftwood. Assemblage resembles the process of a city: disparate thing

J u a n R o s e n f e l d t

Group Shows

2010-February-A Month of Music- The Loft At Liz?s-Los Angeles, California

Assemblages

2009-December-A Song in my Heart-Santa Monica, California

Assemblages

2009-August-Diverted Destruction-The Loft At Liz?s-Los Angeles, California

Assemblages

2009-May-Nature?s Calling-The Loft At Liz?s-Los Angeles, California

Assemblages

2003-June-Open Studios-Westchester Arts Council-White Plains, New York

Drawings

2002-June-Open Studios-Westchester Arts Council-White Plains, New York

Watercolors

2002-April-Westchester Biennial 02-New Rochelle, New York

Video Art

2001-June Open Studios-Westchester Arts Council-White Plains, New York

Watercolors

1998-July-Municipal Gallery at Barnsdall Art Center-Los Angeles, California

Watercolors

1994-February-FLECHA 94-Madrid, Spain

Watercolors Oils Acrylics

1993-December-Caballo de Troya-Madrid, Spain

Watercolors

1993-September-Espai Hartung- Es Mercadal, Menorca, Spain

Painted Ceramics

1993-July-Arths- Alaior, Menorca, Spain

Painted Ceramics

1993-June-Masha Prieto-Madrid, Spain

Watercolors Oils

1993-February-FLECHA 93-Madrid, Spain

Watercolors Oils Acrylics

1992-December-Caballo de Troya-Madrid, Spain

Watercolors

1992-February-FLECHA 92- Madrid, Spain

Watercolors Oils Acrylics

1989-December-Seccion Aurea-Madrid, Spain

Watercolors

Solo Shows

1994-January-Caballo de Troya- Madrid, Spain

My love is Zen painting an expression of no thought. A burst of energy.

As a child I was good at drawing and painting landscape scenes using vivid colors. I returned to painting in the 90's while I was traveling in India. I studied with Meera, a well known abstract Japanese artist, who used a no-mind, zen approach to painting.

Creative expression is a willingness to be open to what evolves on the canvas.

With no goal or result in mind, the time spent on the painting, the journey, is the result.

Whether or not it is pleasing to the eye, or to someone elses eye is another story.

My joy in painting is the appearance of shapes and colors rapidly forming before me. It takes me into quiet space inside.

Born in Leningrad. Graduated from Academy of Industrial Art Muchina.

I have been painting now for 8 years after retirement from research and teaching in the fields of Structural Optimization and Design Theory at California State University, Northridge. All the while enjoying abstract art as one of the purest forms of creativity.

My approach to painting is just to follow an inner spark which moves me forward - a joyous and satisfying experience, difficult to put into words.

I really enjoy experimenting with the blending of multimedia on canvas to create novel and thought provoking effects. Visual impact is what I strive to achieve.

I have also experimented with the computer manipulation of my painting images.

All my work can be seen at www.spuntart.com

MSME USC 1966; Professor CSUN 1965 - 2007

I have been oil painting since I was 8 years old.

My first paintings were of the Breck Shampoo Girl illustrations on the backs of magazines. I now believe I was engaged in an attempt to connect with the Feminine as a result of not living with my mother from the age of 3. I felt a deep need to express myself and my pain through painting and writing.

Eventually I came to a place of wanting to paint for its own sake and I chose flowers as a vehicle to allow me to explore with color, light, and composition, to play with paint, squeezing and mixing luscious colors onto my palette and canvas. I\'m not interested in the subject as I work, but in an abstract game with rules that allow me to ultimately dance with energy--emotional and spiritual.

Again, I enjoy the paradoxical edge of the surface skin of paint that alludes to a deeper reality that unifies it all. I want to express/allow freedom, joy, spirit.

Steinberg has exhibited nationally in numerous galleries and museums. She has taught drawing, design, and painting at Los Angeles City College, Cal State University at Northridge, and Otis Evening College. She earned her MFA at CalArts and BFA and BA from Cornell University and has received scholarships from art programs around the country.

Her work has been published, won prizes, been listed as an LA Times ?Best Bet? and chosen for Eddie Murphy?s film Daddy Day Care, as well as other film and TV projects. In the fall of 2008, a dozen of her paintings appeared on the award winning TV show House in an episode about a painter with a disturbing vision problem.

Critics have said ?Steinberg can really paint with confidence and swagger?She paints in volumes and in strong personal tonalities of mood and color. Vibrant blues, greens and purple, raw, unpainted canvas, erotic or banal, the compositions express a balance of strenuous oppositions?Even a brilliant bathroom portrait takes on an atmosphere of carnival brightness.?

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

http://www.larkgalleryonline.com/Submission/registrationform.php

I live in Moscow.Have PhD on Philosophy of Arts, Thesis devoted to phenomenological analysis of Abstractionism. Latest diploma is on documentary film making. Main occuption at the moment - giving lectures on Hisory of Arts at the university and painting.

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.

Sallie-Anne Swift (a Graphic Designer) moved from Melbourne, Australia to Long

Beach, California in 2008 and started exhibiting in the USA in 2011. With a keen

awareness of her environment, her great love of nature, wildlife and music, she

expresses herself on canvas with an interesting approach using acrylic and

clever use of other mixed mediums giving a fresh approach to her contemporary

abstract art that highlights and reflects our ever changing environment, nature

and wildlife.

For many years she focused on realism and began exhibiting her work in Australia in 1984 and had numerous successes in some of Melbourne’s most renowned Art Exhibitions.

She has exhibited in Art Galleries throughout Melbourne, Victoria and acquired commissions for her paintings both Australia wide and Internationally. In 2001 The Equestrian Federation of Australia

commissioned the artist to do an oil painting of world cup winner, “Kyra Kirkland” for Emirates Airlines who sponsor the prestigious, “Dressage With The Stars” competition held in Melbourne each

year.

Since focusing on her abstracts Sallie-Anne the artist has won several international awards. She was an exhibitor at Miami Red Dot 2011 and this year she received invitations to exhibit in galleries in Florence, Italy, New York and Las Vegas. Her work has been published in Southwest Art Magazine and American Art Collector 2011 and can be seen in “INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY MASTERS V”, 2012.

Artist. Nembe of the Russian Union of Painters

THE ZEN OF THE LAND

unites a visual trilogy of country people, their landscapes and lifestyles in humanist, spiritual, pictorial harmony. Willat brings a centered, thoughtful and organic approach to photography and to the living of a purposeful artists' life. The serenity in her images is both pensive and evocative; mirroring her contemplative intellect and ebullient personality. The artist’s best works percolate with a Mandala-full of life forces that emanate from her subjects, which she shoots in situ. Her most interesting pictures linger in the mind's eye. They move the viewer into spaces where we breathe deeper and slower- harmonizing with those who inhabit the visual world that Willat creates.

“I can get lost in the moment. The shutter seems to click on its own when I'm fortunate enough to capture someone at one with their environment. My favorite shots are not portraits and they’re not landscapes. I like to shoot people going about the living of their lives within their lands. They become defined by how and where they live. That’s what I’m known for.”

Jemmaa El Fna, a cityscape of Marrakesh’s town square, is a pageant of humanity where horse drawn carriages, push carts and shoe shine stands are readying the famous marketplace for day’s end. It perfectly expresses the interchangeability of Willat’s desire to characterize those she shoots by the places they inhabit and to portray these places by the persons who populate them.

Felice Willat is an award-winning travel photographer and publisher, whose images from Burma, Morocco, China, Vietnam and Argentina, capture the beauty of the human landscape across cultures. Willat's photographs have been juried into the Los Angeles Center for Photography, Photo LA, Photo Independent, TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station, the Brand Library, Glendale, CA, and numerous other venues across the United States and in London, UK and Italy.In 2010, Felice won First Prize, for her Travel images in the Southern California Council of Camera Clubs’ annual juried exhibition. In 2009 Felice published The Quiet Between, Song of Burma, a book of photography and poems.

Felice sees her camera as providing a sense of time expansion and stillness. She says, “I could capture a moment, something sacred or commonplace, an unconscious gesture, a tattered clothesline, a red plastic pitcher, or a worn prayer book. I like to leave the familiar, travel to far-away places, and find the gift of really being present.”

Selected Exhibitions

2015

LAPhoto – Fabrik Magazine Gallery

Topanga Canyon Gallery – Juried Group Show – Featured Artist

Juror – Michael Zakian, Director, Weisman Museum

2014

Captured 2 – Second Annual Photo Competition – Santa Barbara Tennis Club

“Climbing Cardinals” – Best of Show

Los Angeles Center of Photography – First Annual Member’s Show

Photo Independent – Raleigh Studios – Inaugural Debut - Zen of the Land

LA Photo – Fabrik Magazine Gallery

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.