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Sandi Adams lives in Berkeley, CA.  Interest in the visual arts has been a constant in her life.  At nine, she was introduced to watercolor at her Saturday Milwaukee Art Institute class. Watercolor has remained her primary medium, but she has also worked in ceramics, textile arts, photography, and now, acrylic and mixed media collage. Her art training includes coursework at Pomona College, Scripps College, UCSF Extension, CCAC in Oakland, and served as an Art Docent at the Oakland Museum. In addition, Sandi has taken workshops with local artists including Judy Greenberg, Jane Hofsteter, Kathleen Brennan, and Ann Baldwin.  She is affiliated with the California Watercolor Association, Marin Society of Artists, Valley Art Center, and Frank Bette Center for the Arts.  Sandi participates regularly in juried shows at these organizations and has had three solo exhibitions in the East Bay.  Last year she received five awards! Sandi uses her photography as inspiration for much of her representational work, but has been increasingly drawn to abstract layering and collage.  She says, “Involvement in my artwork renews and enriches me.  The doing of it, the process, is critical to my well-being.  An end product is almost secondary to the process! I am working toward achieving glowing, translucent color to convey an emotional impact and enjoyment for my viewer.” 

Kay Athos of Castro Valley has lived in the Bay Area all of her adult life. She was born in Fresno, Ca. of Greek immigrant parents. She became interested in drawing at a very early age and took art classes in high school and in college, She took post-graduate courses at San Jose State; The College of Arts and Crafts; Cal State Hayward; and at Guadalajara, Mexico. In art workshops she studied with well known artists in all media: Watercolor, Jane Burnham; Pastels, Thomas Leighton; Acrylics, Ed Betts; Oils, Catherine Hagen, and Collage, Virginia Cobb. She taught art at the High School level. Currently, her art work can be seen at Marin Society of Artists, Ross, Ca; and Valley Art Gallery, Walnut Creek in addition to Expressions Gallery, Berkeley, Ca.  Kay paints in both realistic and abstract styles. Her preferred medium is acrylic but she also paints in oils. Her awards  include Best of Show, First Place, Purchase Award, and many Merit Awards. Her work is in the collections of Adobe Systems, IBM Corporation, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Syntex Corporation, Xerox Corporation, San Ramon City Offices, and Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. Some solo exhibitions have been at the Lakeview Club, Kaiser Center, Oakland;  Art Concepts Gallery, Walnut Creek; Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto; Jalbert Gallery, Saratoga; Worley Smith Gallery, Nevada City. Her oil, “Lost in Thought” is on the cover of “Women’s Wisdom” by Meg Bowman.

Bob Bralove has been active in the San Francisco psychedelic art scene since the late 1970’s. Working in rock and roll (the Grateful Dead), Pop Music (Stevie Wonder), and Classical Music (Masters in Composition SFSU) Bralove has forged a bridge between the sonic and visual arts. Using technology he has created a performance medium which allows him to play sound and image from his keyboard at the same time. The material presented here is an archive of one such performance.“Harmonic Shadows is a visualization of musical harmony.  Each note coming from a different place on the screne and interacting in it’s unique way with the other notes that are or have been played.  The prints are extractions from the video and are a frozen moment in the music. “

Carol Jones Brown of Castro Valley, grew up in Sacramento, began painting in oils more than 40 years ago. She graduated from the University of Oregon in journalism and later became an arts educator, teaching local adults to paint and draw.  She attended many workshops and classes by regional and national artists, is inspired by the colors of Matisse, whimsy of Chagall, and quirkiness of Jaspar Johns.  Although not a sculptor herself, she admires the madcap colors of Niki de Saint Phalle and the freedom of Magdalena Abakanowitz. Carol now works in acrylics and mixed mediums in an abstract manner, frequently beginning with no objective in mind.  She craves strong, bright colors, saying, “I love to attack my blank canvases with globs of hot color or luscious cool tones, then try on a variety of textured papers or fabrics to see what will happen. My goal is to create a surprise, for myself and for the viewer”.  She has shown in many galleries and her pieces are in private collections around the world.  She is a member of several active Bay Area art organizations and currently president of A.R.T., Inc. in Castro Valley. Her website is www.silktreegallery.com

Jennifer Cabaud lives in the town of Sonoma, CA with her husband Phil and son John, on a horse ranch. Her daughter Morgan and granddaughter Chloe live in Las Vegas. Jennifer studied advertising and commercial art at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and for five years, pursued a career as a graphic artist and illustrator for various business in Sonoma. She has dabbled in many creative processes, from clothing design and construction ( she and a friend launched a children's clothing line called "Bread and Butter") to watercolorist ( in 1996 she won the Vintage Festival Poster Contest) to her present medium choice of oils. All the while she has painted and kept her education and skill level advancing. She has studied with exceptional artists whose styles have appealed to her, like the recently deceased Ray Jacobsen (watercolors/oils) and her current mentor, Brooks Anderson (oil painter).  These people  she chooses to study with may not be famous.....yet, but they have a unique and resonating styles, she says, "that draws me to them and has catapulted my work to new levels".  An Oracle Co. executive once found her work at a local show, bought a small painting and used the skyscape in the companies Christmas card that year. They nicely asked permission to do so and paid again for the use.  Working now in oils she has found her "voice" and is shouting it to as many as she can with works that are from her interior vision of the world that surrounds us. Her works can be viewed on her web site, www.jennifercabaudart.com,  where there is a listing of galleries and events with whom she is showing.

Nancy Calef- Born in Bronx, New York, completed Bronx High School of Science at age 15 and received a scholarship from the College of New Rochelle to study painting and sculpture. In1977, she moved to San Francisco, where she continues making new work and regularly exhibits in solo and group shows. She has lived in Europe and Thailand, traveled throughout the U.S., Mexico, Central America, Southeast Asia, India and Nepal, which has served to develop her painting style and sharpen her understanding of the cultural and spiritual diversity of the world landscape. She has come to realize that art is truly a universal language. For many years she has been creating “Peoplescapes,” oil, sculptured characters and applied objects on canvas, addressing cultural, political and spiritual issues facing society.  By juxtaposing people in recognizable places and situations, each painting weaves together a story about contemporary life, filled with layers of detail, symbolism and humor. “Plane slashing” is the latest progression of her 3D technique building up the canvas; She states:” Lately I’m tearing, cutting and manipulating the plane of an existing painting, while integrating it with one or more finished canvases attached. Painting into the deconstructed imagery as a whole, leaving various portions of the underlying picture(s) in tact, results in a cohesively transformed multi-dimensional piece.  As this work evolves, the experience is liberating, moving from chaos to destruction and on to an intuitive composition somewhere between abstraction and surrealism. Everyday, I take the brush to canvas and, although I am confronted with fear and insecurity, I also tap into a limitless source of imagery.  In those moments, time falls away and it seems that the work creates itself.”

Chris Cheng resides in Saint Helena, CA, but grew up near Milwaukee, WI.  He was interested in art as a child, fascinated by the natural world, particularly in sunsets.  Naturally, the artist took all the art classes he could in high school continuing his education in the arts at Pacific Union College, graduating with a B.S. in Fine Art.  Chris believes in pulling inspiration from many facets of life, so artistic influences of his range from Klimt, Picasso, Pollock and Klee, to Vonnegut, Hemingway, and Bob Dylan. The particular works for “Color Explosion” are exactly that. Using the mediums of ink and oil; Chris paints emotive color studies inspired by the moods set by the use of certain colors - akin to the sentiments of Rothko’s color fields. To sum up a driving force behind the artist’s work and life is an excerpt from a Jack London quote: “The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

Hagit Cohen is an imaging artist who lives and works in Berkeley, CA. She works primarily with digital image manipulation, using diverse source materials such as paintings, sculptural objects and photographs. She communicate her own inner reality through layering of images and meaning, creating poetic visual constructions that express her feeling about the world around her. Hagit holds a BA in Photography and Art History from State Art Teacher Training College in Israel, and an MFA in Imaging Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she also taught fine art photography for several years. Ms. Cohen has exhibited her artwork in Tel Aviv, Rochester NY, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and at the Judah Magnes Museum in Berkeley. Her images have appeared in New Media Magazine, Computer Artist, On Line Design, The Color Mac, I.D. Magazine and others. Hagit’s current body of work titled “When stones speak and trees whisper” can be viewed on her website at: www.hagitcohen.com

Marsha Dalmas, a lifelong resident of the Bay Area, followed her degree in art from the University of California at Berkeley with service in the Peace Corps in Kenya. While teaching for thirty years at the French-American International School in San Francisco, art remained a great love. She is now painting and working in pastel full time. Whether focusing on a broad California landscape or on a simple still life, she is captivated by vibrant color and the patterns of simple shapes. Marsha’s work avoids a naturalistic palate and demonstrates an interest in unusual perspective and  nuances of light and shadow. Her work is always bold and painterly, often challenging the picture plane. The artist says, “I am captivated by ordinary objects and the study of relationships between value, hue and texture. A new landscape with fresh color is always intriguing.” Last fall her work was selected by The Pastel Society of America for its annual exhibition at The National Arts Club in Manhattan. Dalmas has also shown her work at The Pastel Society of the West annual show,  the Haggin Museum, the Greenlining Institute,  East Bay Pro Arts, the Motherlode Show, and at Alameda’s Cross Currents Show. She won awards at several of these events. Dalmas is happy to be showing her work at Expressions Gallery once again.

Danielle Dufayet lives in Monterey and San Jose, California. She was born in New York, but moved to California when she was only seven. First generation French, she hails from a family of French artists. She grew up surrounded by art, both painting and sculpture and thus, was influenced by her mother, Suzanne Sable, and her father, Pierre Dufayet. Danielle began her art career with in interest in animation and has taken numerous private and community cl asses all her life. Danielle works in both oils and acrylics and especially loves working in oils as they are so rich and creamy. Her abstracts demonstrate her love of color and the buttery textures of oil paint. Danielle has exhibited in numerous galleries including “Got Art?” in Los Gatos and The Gregory Kate Gallery in San Jose, California. She won an honorable mention for a painting in the figurative category at the Los Gatos Art Museum in 2007. Her work has been exhibited in the South of France and on the Monterey Peninsula at Ventana Gallery, Big Sur and Homescapes, Carmel.  She had a one woman show in 1999 at the Woman’s Wellspring in Monterey. She is a current member of the Los Gatos Art Association. Artist states: “I believe a true artist is always challenging him/herself. An artist has to be willing to learn new techniques and try new subject matters. One’s “voice” or distinct style is something that comes with practice and patience. Even then, it is always somehow evolving, just like the artist.” Danielle agrees that art should “move” its viewer. “I hope that my abstract paintings uplift the spirit more than anything else.”

Rinna B. Flohr lives in Oakland, California. She grew up on the East Coast in New Jersey and New York. She graduated from Syracuse University with a B. A. in theatre arts and a Masters of Social Work. She also completed a Certificate in Psychodrama at the Moreno Institute of Psychodrama in New York. She received her license as a clinical social worker and for 37 years she worked as a licensed psychotherapist in private practice and as Deputy Director of Mental Health for Alameda County, Director of the Center for Special Problems, San Francisco Community Mental Health and Assistant Director for San Francisco County Behavioral Health Services. In 1991 her house burned down in the Oakland fire, which led her to study Interior Architecture and Design in order to rebuild her home. She completed the program at UC Berkeley in 2001. With an interior design degree she started Design Ideas (www.designideas.us)  and she began doing remodels and designing new interiors that later led her to staging and floral design. She studied floral design with Ron Morgan. Her floral designs were part of the Bouquets to Art Show at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco in the past and she was a member of the San Francisco Museum flower committee. She also makes jewelry from recycled materials left over from interior design projects and later from other found objects such as found rubber from inner tubes of tires or cement from building sites. She was President of San Francisco Women Artists in San Francisco, one of the oldest women’s art galleries. Currently she is founder and Director of Expressions Gallery in Berkeley, Ca. (www.expressionsgallery.org )

Chandra Garsson lives in Oakland, California. She grew up in Los Angeles, California. She has two degrees in fine art, including a Master of Fine Arts from San Jose State University, with her B.F.A. from U. C. Santa Cruz. After making perhaps two thousand or so paintings, sculptures, etchings, and mixed media works, shown nationally and internationally, Chandra has returned to an earlier and more ornamental mode, that of jewelry making. Her work has been most recently shown at Deep Roots Tea House Gallery, in Oakland. Before that, in the last show in the old space of Pro Arts Gallery (the first solo exhibition of the gallery at the time), over two hundred of Chandra Garsson’s works were shown in the exhibit, Insomnia (Awakening).  For now, after many years of work observing problems concerned with our human condition, she finds joy in the simplicity of beauteously decorating the people of our world. Artist states: “a Google search of my name and a click on my websites will confirm the radical nature of the change I have made in my work when I began making jewelry.” Her jewelry has been exhibited at Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, The Gem Gallery and Bill’s Trading Post, Berkeley, and Itsy Bitsy, Rockridge.

Priyanka Gupta comes from Kolkata, India, also called the 'City of Joy' for its people and the passion with which they lead their lives. This passion has undoubtedly found its way into her own conception and expression of the colors of life through her art. A recent graduate of San Francisco Art Institute, Priyanka currently lives and paints out of her studio in Mountain View, California. Although she did not have any formal training in Art at the undergraduate level, she had been an avid painter on her: own for quite some time. She received guidance from Wasim Kapoor and Partha Bhattacharjee where she had the opportunity to observe these gifted artists put together their thoughts on canvas in as natural a fashion as can be. The most important principle imbibed into her right then was that freedom of style and expression is the sincerest form of training in art. That art which emerges from the innermost depths of our human faculties of emotion is vastly satisfying for the artist. She has enjoyed quite a bit of success as an artist – her solo exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata, 2004 was widely appreciated by leading art critics like Samir Dasgupta. Her shows at Togonon gallery, Market street gallery, Triton museum and participation at various art camps and India art summit, 2008 have been significant. She has also been part of a few charitable exhibition auctions by Concern India Foundation and international exhibitions like Visual Aid, the Lab and Works/San Jose, which have been very encouraging. She has won many awards for her paintings and received reviews in the San Francisco Chronicle, Santa Clara weekly and Mountain View Voice. Her works here are Acrylics on canvas and are a result of deep soul searching. Through deep meditation, chanting and reading hindu texts she came across simple truths which have been expressed on canvas. The spiral is a symbol of the infinite Self, the mysterious connection with the Divinity, a visualization of the chakras. As seen in Indian mythology it also symbolizes the goddess, the womb, fertility, and the feminine serpent force. Through her works, Priyanka attempts to bridge the cultural gaps between the eastern and western worlds that she inhabits and express the subtle strength of women and explore feminism and spirituality in the context of Indian society.

Rohilah Guy was born in Canada and moved to the Bay Area in 1964.  Rohilah works in pastel, watercolor, acrylic and sumi-e.  She has recently begun Learn, Inc. photography.  Rohilah has always been interested in art, studying it as a child and in university.  Encouraged by many people along the way, the artist continues to explore all facets of art.  She has been a weaver and a textile and clothing designer.  The paintings in this show combine watercolors and acrylics and aim to lift up the viewer and to bring the spiritual dimension into focus. 

Susan Hall was born in Florida but has resided in the East Bay since age 5 and currently lives in Albany. She earned a BA and MSW at UC Berkeley. After 21 years as a juvenile probation officer, she retired in 1994 to pursue her life-long interest in art.  Her journey into painting began with watercolors in sunny Puerto Vallarta Mexico where she hangs out for a month every winter.  More recently she has turned to oil and acrylic painting and has taken art classes at Laney college.  She is a frequent world traveler. What inspires her most is color, design and value contrasts.  She is attracted by abstract organic patterns found in nature such as the graceful rounded shapes of fruit, trees or other plant forms.  And she is drawn to rich color combinations. She is also part of a local plein-air group that paints from nature. Her work has been shown in many restaurants, several galleries in the Bay Area and is on display year-round in a gallery in Puerto Vallarta.

Denise Hart began painting the large flat rocks in front of her beached house at the lapping edge of British Columbia's rainforest when she was a young girl. The desire to make, create, and connect has never left her. Although the majority of her schooling has been focused on gaining a scientific understanding of the natural world and on a political understanding of how we manage and interact in it, and includes degrees in resource management and environmental planning, she has taken many classes in watercolors, drawing, painting, landscape architecture and design. Denise began to paint full-time in 2004, first in acrylics and more recently in oils. Denise particularly enjoys exploring color as a means to express her understanding and love of the remote places she loves to frequent. In 2006, Denise received an Honorable Mention for her painting “North of Saddlebag” in the Yosemite Renaissance XXI juried exhibition. She has also shown work in juried shows in various venues in Northern California (Olive Hyde Art Gallery in Fremont, Coastal Arts League Museum in Halfmoon Bay, the Alameda Arts Center, and the Sacramento Fine Arts Center), in Southern California (Wylie and May Louise Jones Gallery at Bakersfield College) and in other states, including the Laredo Center for the Arts in Texas and the Wichita Center for the Arts in Kansas. This will be Denise's fifth time exhibiting in Expressions Gallery. Previous shows included Abundance and Joy (2005/06),  Amazing Blooms (2006), Around the Globe (2006),  and Lines, Patterns and Textures (2008). The pieces in this exhibition show her exuberant use of color to capture the energy inherent in plant forms.

Judy Katon Heim lives in San Francisco, California. She has been influenced by the Balinese belief that every child is born an artist. For Judy drawing and painting have been her passion. She began drawing weekly as a young child with her father as her teacher. Judy has studied art in New York City and continued in Hawaii. She has been taking art classes at San Francisco City College since 1996. At that time her medium was watercolor. Strong color has always been her trademark. As Judy’s interest in Aboriginal Art evolved she began to paint using acrylics. This medium allows for multiple layers to be applied to the canvas with creative colors, textures and designs. Judy’s artwork has been exhibited in a solo show in the Chancellor of San Francisco City College reception area. She has also exhibited at the City College Art Gallery. Judy’s vibrant paintings are interpretive in style. There is also a playful element in her work. She would like her artwork to be enjoyed by everyone who appreciates art as a creative, fun process. judykatonheim@gmail.com.

Bruce Heppler was born in Berkeley 1955 (Kaiser).  He graduated Berkeley High in 1973 and  worked at Lawrence Berkeley Lab from 1975 to 1983 as a mechanical technician.  He moved to Covelo, Mendocino Country and opened a welding and repair shop.  Bruce has been working with metal all his life. He did an art sculpture for a benefit for a local music teacher whose mobile home burned (made a phoenix from trailer frame), got positive comments and started making other things.  He takes inspiration from many sources, notably Louis Armstrong, the Three Stooges, and the Marx Brothers.  When he’s not working on farm equipment, he’s making art.

Melanie Hofmann graduated with a BFA in Textiles from the California College of the Arts in 1996. Her home and studio are located in Berkeley.  She first explored the joy of creating art in pre-school and she has not stopped since.  As a teenager Melanie fell in love with fiber art, specifically with weaving and dyeing fabrics. Melanie has received awards from the Taegu International Textile Design competition and from Manhattan Arts International.  Limited edition prints of her digital art are in the corporate collection of Lifescan, Inc. in Milpitas. Melanie works with both textile and digital media.  For this show, she is featuring her textiles and Italian Charm bracelets. Her work has been inspired by a number of artists including, Jean Miro, Rene Magritte and Magdalena Abakanowicz. She was also influenced by the artwork of her maternal grandmother, Zura Young, an abstract painter. Melanie seeks to convey through her work the interactive process with her media and a visual representation of her inner world.  In addition to Italian Charm bracelets featuring her work, she can make custom bracelets with photos and artwork that you provide.

Stan Huncilman was born in Indiana but he is a product of the San Francisco Bay Area art world.  He attended San Francisco State University where e was introduced to Funk Art and Happenings in the ‘70s.  He received his M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1984.  S.F.A.I. is the home of the Bay Area’s leading art instructors. He has been a sculptor for more than 25 years.  Stan works in a variety of materials.  As a matter of practice he uses the material that is most expedient to creating the sculpture he wants rather than “pushing a particular material.”  His sculptures often begin from a simple sketch.  He prefers to work in a in a direct manner tan her than making molds of models before the final sculpture. The artist states: “I combine a child-like playfulness with primitivism. This creates a wonderland of intriguing forms and convoluted messages.  When I enter my studio there is a mental sign post reading “Linear Thinking Stops Here.” Through my sculpture I create a world of nutritiously puzzling paradigms whose roots may be in religion, folk art, nineteenth century industrialisms or Greek mythology.  In this world, a whimsical sense of humor walks arm in arm with an obstinate determination to create.  The sculptures in this exhibition are part of his “All My Psyches” series, a whimsical yet intriguing observation of the complexities of consciousness.  His solo exhibits include Holy Names College in Oakland, California and the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

Darrell Hunger lives in Oakland California where he was born and grew up. He attended San Jose University and studied Art and Industrial Design and received a BA. Later he continued his studies at the UC Berkeley where he received a MFA. Darrell works in many medias, but is presently showing his acrylic paintings at Expressions Gallery.  The Artist refers to the pieces as reconstructed paintings or abstracts of abstracts. They work on many levels. At one level they explore the dissection and reconstruction of the parts to create new compositions. Puzzles are created and unassembled then reassembled. The process explores attachment, change and the illusion of completion. The contentment of finishing is only over come by the possibly of creating something better out of the fragments. Change is constant, newness is the outcome. The "mother" painting is created to have its own expression, a combination of controlled serendipitous application of paint and very controlled geometric shapes. This is a symbol of human existence, controlling yet at the mercy and part of the natural scheme. Lurking within each painting is the ever present void area either a "black hole" or "pure white cloud." These zones represent the unknown we all face.

Diane Jacobson lives in Oakland, CA. She is a transplant from the Little League capital of the world, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. As a veteran teacher in the Oakland schools, she used many art projects and visual cues to instruct her English learners. Although she dabbled in art classes an undergraduate, her interest in glass art was not kindled until the 1990's.  Through classes at Studio One and the Crucible, she has expanded her areas of expertise to include kiln casting and working deep, as well as fusing and slumping glass.  Her pieces are represented in Pro Arts Open Studio as well as several galleries in the Bay Area.  Artist states, "What I like best about fused glass is its element of surprise.  Glass is a chameleon.  Observe the pieces as the light changes.  Glass is a fickle and somewhat undependable medium, as reactions to color and temperature cause a visual dance of light and texture.  Enjoy the dance."

Jenny Sueyoun Kim lives in San Francisco, CA. A daughter of Korean immigrants, Jenny was born and raised in Los Angeles. She comes from a long line of artists, mostly painters, and she herself has been drawing and painting since before she started school. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in Linguistics, her passion for art intensified, and her interest in three-dimensional media flowered from her “love of decorating the human body—from tattoo art to jewelry." In 2004, she began taking Metal Arts classes at the City College of San Francisco, and metal immediately became her favorite medium. She states: “What's so amazing about working in metal is its coldness and hardness, and with it, being able to create a sense of elegance, movement, and life--which really spoke to me like no other medium has.” Her jewelry pieces reflect her love of organic forms: floral and figural. Her work is entirely hand-sculpted from wax, which she creates in her home studio, and then casts into sterling silver at Scintillant studio in the SF Mission district. She does all steps of the sculpting and casting process herself, from start to finish. In 2007, she began working as a silversmith and jewelry designer on a full-time basis. Her website is at www.jennykim.org.

Coral Lambert, currently living in the US, was born and raised in England and studied at Central School of Art in London, Canterbury College of Art, Kent and received her MFA in Sculpture from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1990.  Since then Coral has shown her work extensively in England and America including The Barbican Center, London, Franconia Sculpture Park, MN, Convergence, in Providence, Rhode Island, Grounds for Sculpture and twice in Chicago’s International Navy Pier Walk. Coral Lambert has lectured as a visiting artist at the Royal College of Art, London and RIT, New York among many others. From 1995-1998 she held the position of International Artist/Research Fellow in cast metals at the University of Minnesota. In 2000 she was invited as the semester visiting artist at the University of North Carolina and has returned there several times since. Coral is the Founder of the US/UK Contemporary Cast Iron Sculpture Residency Program that has taken place in England and America annually since 1997. A recent recipient of the Jerome Fellowship and Gottlieb Foundation Award, she also has artwork in several private collections. She and her husband spent a brief time here in Berkeley, Ca after they were evacuated from the Gulf Coast hurricane Katrina where they lost much of their work. Coral is currently Co-Chair of the 5th International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art. Her artwork references asteroids, standing stones and volcanoes; icons of transformation that careen between astronomy above and archaeology below. Central to her work is the exploration of concepts related to growth and form, with a particular interest to those specifically found in natural phenomena that contain some kind of metaphysical presence.

Kay Licina lives in Berkeley, Ca. She was born in Gary, Indiana and grew up on a farm surrounded by the cornfields there. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago at such a tender age that she was banned from the nude figure drawing class. Later she graduated from U.C.Berkeley. Her first ceramic teacher was Kenneth Dierck, who guided her well for the next twenty years.  Michael Jean Mathieu, who had a fine artistic sensibility was her touchstone for beauty. She greatly admires the work of  Remedios Varo (Spain/Mexico), Odilon Redon (France) and Paul Delvaux  (Belgium) for their sense of the mysterious.  In the present show, the work is handbuilt and thrown ceramics. Presently, she teaches ceramics for the city of El Cerito at the Tassajara Studio to a great group of students.

Charles Lucke lives in Hercules, CA. He began borrowing his father’s cameras while growing up in Stratford, CT, and has been a freelance photographer since the 1970s. He added a darkroom to each of five consecutive residences, and though he shoots mostly digital today, he continues to mine an inventory of thousands of slides and negatives for images to exhibit. His first solo exhibit, “Four Ways to Abstraction,” was on view at the XZIBTit Gallery in Hercules for two months in 2007, and in July 2008, the Hercules City Council awarded him First Place in the first annual Hercules Photography Contest. Charlie’s inspirations include Hugo Steccati and Ruth Bernhard, who, though their work is very different, were both creatively involved in photography to end of their long and interesting lives. Regarding his interest in abstract photography, the artist states: “There’s a desire in me to create something that no one else has created (or at least, not precisely the way I have created it.) It’s a way to free the form and change it from a visual reality to an unreality. It’s a way to free the process from the precise reproduction of tone, colors, and forms and let the right brain reign.”

Jennifer Wallace Mack has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute.  She works in various media: painting, photography, mixed media, and jewelry.  Her work is consistent in the quality and detail in each medium she applies.  She has exhibited at a number of solo and group shows, many of which were juried.  Shown at Expressions Gallery is her magnificent jewelry.  Jennifer has served on various Boards of Directors for long standing Artists Organizations such as the San Francisco Women Artists, where she was a past President and continues in the current Board as Vice Treasurer and The San Francisco Gem and Mineral organization where she is currently Treasurer.

John Mallon grew up in the East Bay Area being born in Oakland, his present residence. Arts and crafts have been an interest since early childhood. While in the Navy, pencil portraits were a hobby. From there sculpture and painting became an interest as time went by, resulting in private painting instruction from a bay area teacher. A long list of “How To” art books have helped along the way with sculpture and pencil drawing, as well as a teacher in woodcarving. Awards came from Art shows presented by the Oakland and Alameda Art Associations the past 20 years.  Mallon is still a Member of both and has been President of both Associations. Mallon states: “Monet, Dali and CA painter George Otis are an inspiration to me.  Color and graphite pencil is my favorite and best mediums. In this show he presents artwork that uses beads, or dots of acrylic paint to build up texture.  I also have fun decorating hats and t-shirts using fabric paints and making fun clocks.”

Elena E. Maroth lives in Kensington, California. She was born in Havana, Cuba and emigrated to the U.S. in 1960. She attended San Francisco State University, then worked in Marin County as an adult education teacher; since 1985 she has been Art Director of the non-profit classical record label Music & Arts in Kensington, where she lives with her husband. Born close to the sea in Cuba, Elena Maroth has been surrounded throughout her life by nature, music, and visual beauty. The rhythms of the ocean and the culturally vibrant life of Havana  inspired Elena early on to dance and paint. She studied ballet with dancer and choreographer Alberto Alonso at Pro Arte Musical, continuing at the legendary Alicia Alonso Ballet School in Havana; she also studied art at the Escuela San Alejandro, but is largely self-taught. After moving to the U.S., Elena’s art has continued to be inspired by her early environment as well as by her ballet training. She has brought to her visual art work the joy and rhythm of color and movement. She works mainly with acrylics. Most of her canvases are 3x3 or 4x4 feet in size. She has exhibited at SF Zen Center (2), Fourth Street Gallery (Berkeley), Green Gulch Farm (Muir Beach), La Pena Cultural Center (Berkeley), Berkeley City Club, and San Francisco Women Artists Gallery. Her published work includes a University.of New Mexico New Music Festival brochure cover painting and several CD cover pictures for Music & Arts.

Maj-Britt Mobrand lives in Berkeley, CA but was born and grew up in Stockholm, Sweden.  As a little girl, she saw her grandmother’s loom in the attic and was very intrigued by it and knew she wanted to master one of those.  She has taken weaving classes both in Sweden and the U.S., but is for the most part self-taught.  She has been teaching weaving here in Berkeley since 1968.  Some of the juried shows she has participated in are U.C. Berkeley and Live Oak Art Galleries in Berkeley (1969); Artist League of Vallejo Gallery (1975); Olive Hyde Art Gallery in Fremont (1988); and Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland (2006 and 2008).  She has also participated in many Open Studios and has shown her work at various local venues and as a result has weavings in many private collections. Artist states:  “I enjoy using traditional weaves and patterns in a non-traditional manner and am striving to find a harmonious balance between the natural and the artificial or planned.  My inspiration is derived from music, nature, travels, and from my students.  It’s wonderful to see the enthusiasm of my students as they develop their projects on their looms after I’ve given them the ‘know how’.”

Julia L. Montrond lives in Berkeley. She grew up in New York City and was involved in all the arts: painting, acting, dancing & singing. She majored in Theatre arts at Hunter College and studied art at U.C. Berkeley, CCAC Extension, a studio in Florence, Italy & another in Guanajuato, Mexico, as well as numerous workshops in the Bay Area.  Painters she most admires: Turner, Sargeant, and most of the Impressionists.  About what inspires her, she says:  "I'm intrigued by the challenge of trying to capture the effect a scene or other subject has on me--of creating different moods; and of course the joy of working with color."   She works primarily in watercolor & has begun painting with oil.  Awards won in Art Shows include: Napa County Fair 2x.; El Cerrito Art show 3x, and being exhibited in numerous juried shows of: Marin County Art Fair; The Giorgi Gallery, Berkeley;  Shadelands Gallery, Walnut Creek; and the MTC Gallery, Oakland.

Mitsuyo Moore is a Bay Area artist who was born in Tokyo, Japan. Coming to the US to study fine arts, she graduated from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. Moore's painting and monotypes are reflection of rhythm, movement, and her spiritual experiences. Her artistic direction was inspired by the philosophy of Henry Bergson and his writings, "Duree Pure" and "Elan Vital," which deepened her appreciation and understanding of intuition and the inner spirit of human beings. A New York gallery curator described her as "the heiress to the New York School, combining the impulse and energy of Franz Kline or Willem de Kooning with Mark Rothko's fascination in the juxtaposition of bold color and its ability to evoke subtle sentiment." Her works have been widely exhibited in the United States and abroad such as the Fine Arts Institute of San Bernardino County Museum Redlands, CA; "Spirits in the Arts" at California Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA; Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, Chelsea, New York; Bienale International dell 'Arte Contemporanea, Firenze, Italy; International Art Festival in Chania, Crete, Greece. "Line is the most basic element of vision, as it reveals rhythm, movement, and spirituality. Color enhances the vision and stimulates emotions." —Mitsuyo Moore

Norman Moore lives in Alameda, CA. He trained in neon and glass work at Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY. He received an MFA in sculpture from Pratt Institute and lived in New York City from 1983 to 1996, where he made sculpture, mosaics and furniture. He attended undergraduate school at Columbus College of Art and Design and graduated with a BFA in Sculpture. Norman has been creating and showing light sculpture in the Bay area for the past ten years, and has taught classes at the Crucible in neon, plasma and light sculpture since 2004. In collaboration with Nancy Mizuno Elliott, he is currently designing a light sculpture installation for the Castro Valley Library to open in 2009. He has also made commissions for the New York Subway System and private residences. He has collaborated with Carol Kueffer Dance in New York and California, making sets and light costumes for dance, including a performance at the de Young Museum in San Francisco for L'Oreal of Paris in 2006.Norman's work uses the play of light and color on forms in space to bring attention to the energy and vitality that is world all around.

Sylvia Pengilly now lives in Atascadero, CA, and grew up in London, England. She is primarily a composer, but has always been fascinated by the correlation between what the ear hears and what the eye sees. Her formal training is in music and she holds the DMA degree in composition from the College/Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. Her involvement in art stems from the plethora of software now available that connects music with visual images. She is also very interested in physics and mathematics and has been strongly influenced by the work of M.C. Escher in art, and J.S. Bach in music. She is currently involved in a medium called Visual Music, in which the music is either derived from, or is closely connected in some way, to the visual images. This results in videos (on DVD), and many of her artworks are still frames from the videos. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally, including at the Visual Music Marathon, part of the Boston Cyberarts Festival, and at the International Computer Music Conference in Hong Kong. She is also represented on the Computer Music Journal DVD entitled Sound and Video Anthology (Vol. 29).

Michael Perez is a California native, born in Los Angeles in 1955 who grew up in Fresno, when it was a nice little town, and went to California College of Arts in Oakland. “About 30 years ago, I was living in a warehouse space, South of Market, in San Francisco with several other artists.  One night, as we were tearing out a wall, we found an old telephone utility closet which had a couple of lengths of 200-pair telephone cable.  We cut it open and all took some to play with.  I never stopped.  I love this material and keep finding different ways of using it.  Although it is made in only a few colors, the combinations make the palette seemingly limitless. An important aspect of this material, to me, is that none of it is new.  It has all been reclaimed, after it's original use.  Recycled 2nd or 3rd generation is what this wire is. The actual construction of the sculptures is tedious and time consuming, but I like the resulting works.  The organic shapes suggest different materials than what they actually are.  And you can touch them too.”

Neshat Rezai was born in Shiraz, Iran and moved to the U.S. at the age of 14 where she completed undergraduate and Dental School.  She currently resides and practices in Berkeley. Neshat is a glass artist specializing in kiln form glass fusing.  She uses glass as her medium with occasionally incorporating metal and gold leaf.  She finds glasswork very similar to dentistry where one needs to have artistic ability and precision.  Her work is largely inspired by Persian patterns and nature. “My work is a celebration of colors–LIFE.  Glass is truly a medium that is limitless.  Since childhood art has always been part of my life.  When I found glass, I found my passion. Glass is so fragile, yet so powerful.” You can see more of Neshat’s work at http://www.neshatglass.com

Stanford Rose spent his childhood in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Utah. He now lives in Oakland, California. His style has evolved from simple landscape photography toward emphasis on perspective and formal properties at the expense of subject matter.  He states, “I want to free the viewer from the habits of perception that attend the recognition of subject.  It’s especially delightful when you see the esthetic values first or independently of the subject matter.These photographs were taken in Indian Valley, Plumas County last October and November.  These stream bed willows turn brilliant colors during the winter that rival any show of summer flowers. The branches begin to turn in fall when they loose their leaves, and ripen their colors through the winter till spring when new leaves appear.  The spectrum goes from pale green to yellow, orange, red and sometimes a deep reddish purple. The peak of aspen color is usually in late October; by mid November their bone white bark stand in beautiful contrast to the willows.

Christa Schanda lives in Castro Valley and was born into a family of artists in Vienna, Austria. Christa received her formal training at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria, and completed her formal training at San Jose State University with a Masters degree in Fine Arts. Christa traveled to Sheffield, England, where she studied intaglio printing and lithography. Two artists who have been inspiring Christa are Georgia O’Keeffe and Vincent Van Gogh. Christa loves primary colors and strong contrasts. Her other passion is dance and she compares the strokes with her paintbrush to dancing across the canvas. Christa prefers acrylics, because they allow to be applied in thick layers or can be applied in thin washes. Several series of paintings have evolved over the years including flowers, marshlands, dance, communication, and her newest series of abstract paintings. Christa Schanda had an opportunity to exhibit her work in 3 different galleries in Vienna, Austria, and also had a retrospective of her work in the U.S. Christa has received many commissions and her art is accepted in numerous juried shows as well as acquired by collectors. This show exhibits her latest abstract work which is spontaneous and has universal appeal. Christa Schanda conceives her paintings as dialog with the viewer and a way of healing the world.

Leo Schindler lives in Clayton, CA in Contra Costa County, in the foothills of Mt. Diablo. He grew up in the Mid-West. When as a teenager, his family moved to the west coast. He earned his living as an electrician, but always had a desire to express himself in a creative process. In his youth he tried to express himself in drawing and painting. He, later, started creating Bonsai plants, which he still does for his own pleasure. He was, also, at this time raising a family and leading Boy Scouts, along with two sons, on backpacking trips in the High Sierra and various wilderness locations. In 1974, Leo was on a solo cross country backpacking hike in the High Sierra. At 11,000 feet he found an older German camera alongside the trail. It had been rained on but still functional. He took it home and cleaned and repaired. It was in learning how to use the camera that he developed a desire to share the beauty of the wilderness with others through photography. He took classes at Los Medanos College and joined camera clubs where his photography was shown and critiqued. He is inspired by the works of Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell and Robert Ketchum.

Arlene Risi Streich, grew up and lives in Oakland, Ca. and cannot remember a time that she has not been interested in art. She received her B.A. ED and A.B. F. A. (Painting) from California College of Arts and Crafts (Now CCA) and has lived and spent much time in Mexico doing painting and photography. She has taught in the Oakland Public Schools, Diablo Valley College (Painting, drawing and fashion illustration) and CCAC (Children’s classes). She is presently exhibiting her glass jewelry, a medium started four years ago, and her painting. Her Jewelry work is influenced by her background in painting incorporating a bold use of color and line. Her painting and jewelry work has been shown in numerous exhibits around the country and in private collections. Artist states: “Our role as artists is to continue to amaze, provoke, stimulate, delight and agitate the senses. The fact that we continue to do so is a testimonial to not being complacent, while trying to process the internal/external creative dialogue.”

Terry Telles is a native of Oakland whose art has been influenced by the multicultural atmosphere of the bay area.  He took art classes at Laney college, worked with local artists and developed his own personal images and style. He started painting Mandalas, drums and music related images and has recently expanded to other visual areas.  He has exhibited his work at the Alameda Art Center (Members exhibitions & Sacred Images), Alameda Art Association (Museum show, Art In the Park, Cross Currants), Javarama Coffee House, new Alameda library, Frank Bette Center. for the Arts, and has had solo shows at Market Place (Mandalas) Coffee For Thought, Julies coffee & tea shop in Alameda. He has also participated in Festivals at Montclair Art-Wine & Jazz Festival, Laurel District World Music, Festival and his works are in private collections. He is a member of Frank Bette Center, Alameda Art Association, and is now showing his work here at Expressions Gallery

Virgil Eugene Todd was born in the year 1939 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He states:” I was always interested in making things. I have worked in leather, wood, and clay, and I have found clay the most forgiving.”

Lindsay Waddell is a twenty-one year old artist from the Delta town of Oakley. Possessing a raw talent in sculpting, drawing, costume design and scenery, she is self-taught in these areas. She began sculpting busts of the famous, such as Johnny Depp and Conan O’Brien, at the age of fourteen. From there, she crafted bodies from newsprint, wire, duct tape and foam rubber. The figures were completely poseable. With a flair for Halloween displays, she became well-known locally for elaborate out door scenes depicting celebrities in various settings, most notably her "Pirates of the Caribbean-Dead Man's Chest" scene, containing nine hand crafted characters from the film as well as a sizeable Black Pearl ship being overtaken by a huge "kraken" that the artist constructed from various recycled materials. Her ultimate goal is to serve an apprenticeship under the guidance of the masters in the film industry, and achieve career opportunities "behind the scenes".

Sarah Whitecotton's interest in Art began in her formative years. She went to private schools and immersed herself in fine arts and theater. Her formal training began at the University of Miami, where she was nurtured under the wing of Eugene Masson an influential teacher who encouraged her to pursue a career in painting.  In her sophomore year she spent the summer in Oaxaca, and Mexico City where she became familiar with the Mexican muralists and most significantly Rufino Tamayo.  She continued her training at the University of Oklahoma, where she completed her B.F.A and later moved to California in the late 70's and took additional classes at San Francisco Art Institute and CCAC. In the late 70's and 80's she worked in casein and acrylic. Her paintings are large color fields basically abstract. She was also taking classes in printing in San Francisco and learning various techniques in different workshops around the Bay Area.  In the late 80's she developed Epstein Barr and had to give up working with chemicals. She switched to working with Monotypes and eventually stopped printing altogether to concentrate on her painting and in mid 90's started working with Collage. She states: "In all my art, especially from the 90's on I am expressing my life and communicating how I see and feel about the world around me."  She has received various awards and recognitions at the University Of Oklahoma, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Art Exchange (national juried exhibition), Art in the Redwoods(Gualala), Arts Benicia, U.C.S.F.(extension).

Georgia Whitaker lives in the Hayward hills and grew up in Sacramento, Ca. where she graduated from high school with a scholarship in Art. She graduated from California College of Arts with a Bachelor of Arts degree and worked in the field of graphic arts for five years.  She taught color theory and gave college classes at the adult school in Castro Valley, Marin Society of Artists and Valley Arts Gallery in Walnut Creek show her work.  She received best of show at the Alameda County Fairs. Georgia loves fine arts and is an accomplished artist with many exhibit and honors behind her. She has plunged into the world of fashion and is now designing wearable art. She will custom design orders in different sizes.

Lili Artel’s roots are in New York City but she has flourished creatively in the East Bay area of California where she now lives in Berkeley, Ca. An octogenarian, her original intent was to be a writer, particularly of short stories.  Her fiction has appeared in anthologies, “Thursday’s Child”, “Across The Generations”, “A Baker’s Dozen”, and literary journals in California and Oregon.  Her poetry was published in the 25th Anniversary issue of “Room of One’s Own”, a Canadian feminist literary journal in 2003, making her a poet of international dimensions. A late bloomer, at fifty in the last century, she opened a second creative door to become a sculptor.  She attended art classes at the California State University, East Bay. A retrospective show of almost 40 years of art work took place Dec. 1-17, 2005 at the Sun Gallery in Hayward. Both in her art and in her writing she has marched to the beat of a different drummer.

Gregory Christian Pratt and LaWanda Ultan live in the Berkeley hills. They perform together Country, Blues and Folk music around the Bay Area at various clubs. Greg is also a jazz musician. He began performing with his family as a member of the Pratt Family Singers where he played guitar and performed at many peace rallies and festivals throughout his childhood. The Folk Revival and subsequent Love generation helped shape his style of poetry and song writing, as well as a love for music and words from old turn of the century music, and the Jazz era.  His parents signed him out of high school to tour with folk acts in New York.  In 1976, he toured with Paul Siebel who wrote “Louise”, as well as with Van Rozay from San Jose, from Lena’s Café in Saratoga, N.Y. to the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. He studied at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA in 1981, and got Pick of the Week as Music Director for Sam Shepard’s Power House theater (LA weekly) production of Olan Shepard’s” ‘After Star Drive’.  He toured around South America as Cruise Ship Bassist and has recorded with many bands.  He teaches all stringed instruments to children of all ages, and performs in the Bay Area with LaWanda. LaWanda plays the banjo, guitar and some drums.LaWanda Ultan and Greg Pratt have had a love affair with music since forever. They perform as and are known as Greg and LaWanda. They say:“When our voices are in harmony, so are we.”