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Miriam Abramowitsch was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the daughter of a concert pianist. Following in her father's footsteps, she devoted her life to music and has experienced a long and fulfilling career as a singer and teacher of voice. She has also had a lifelong love for color, style and texture (as a child she wanted to be a clothing designer).  Three years ago, having never before attempted any visual art medium, she became interested in felting and took a number of classes at Deep Color in Kensington.  Since then she never looked back and has been creating and selling her colorful felted scarves throughout the Bay Area and beyond.  The artist states:  Felt is created by the alchemy of wool fiber with warm water and pure olive oil soap to produce a versatile material that ranges from spider-fine and soft to thick and strong, depending on its intended purpose. I design my scarves in a number of different ways.  I mostly use a blend of wool and tencel fiber, which produces a soft, crinkled, shimmery effect.  Right now I especially enjoy creating playful latticework scarves in a riot of different color combinations, and felting a variety of shapes and colors onto lengths of silk chiffon or hand dyed habotai silk. 

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.”

Georgia Bassen, who "never met a process she didn't love" grew up in New York, Seattle and northern California, but always in "bohemia"-- her father was a novelist and family friends were painters, actors, writers and the odd professor.. From as early as she can remember she was painting and drawing and taking art classes. In high scool she worked intensively with Windsor Utley and at 17 went off to Smith College to major in art. There a scheduling glitch led her into a philosophy class, eventually into the Ph.D. program at Berkeley, and to teaching human rights, logic and critical thinking at Cal State Hayward. While teaching part time, she went through the CSUH studio art program and from there to an MFA at San Francisco State (1991). She worked in ceramics, (Leslie Ceramics prize, 1986) painting (Mel Ramos, Ray Saunders), bronze casting, sculpture (Stephen deStaebler), set design, and digital art. For the past 5 years she has been happily making jewelry, working with Hadar Jacobson in Metal Clay.Favorite artists: Franz Marc, Paul Klee, Hadar Jacobson. Icons: trees, fish and tall buildings.

Melanie E. Beasley was born and raised in Oakland, CA and received her BA in Business Management from St. Mary's College of California. Having an innate love for creative arts, she began writing poetry at an early age as a way of expressing her thoughts and emotions. She began "making pictures" more than 15 years ago, and would sign and frame her pieces to give to family and friends as gifts, often superimposing her poetry onto the photos before framing. Having no formal training, Melanie's works have been influenced by the beauty that she sees in her everyday life - trees, plants, birds, flowers, scenery, structures, animals and people. As the artist states, "All too often, we fail to see just how incredible nature really is...I've captured many 'wow' moments, and wanted to share a glimpse of some of the things God has allowed me to see." Specializing in digital photography on matte paper, Melanie's trademark style is the use of macro settings, through which her pictures come alive, taking up as much of the frame as possible while creating depth and maintaining natural colors. The sound of the water cascading off of the rocks was the inspiration behind "Flowing Stream", and more of Melanie's work can be seen on her website, Clay for the Potter (www.clayforthepotter.com/index_files/page0048.htm).

Carol Jones Brown has been painting and doing art for over 40 years.  She has a BS degree in journalism and a teaching certificate for adult school in fine art, crafts and communications.  She has taught art classes at the Adobe Art Center in Castro Valley, then 30 plus years with the Hayward Adult School.  She works primarily in acrylics and mixed media. She has shown in a number of galleries, and her paintings are in many collections around the world.  She is a member of several active Bay Area art organizations that display her work.  Carol says, “After painting for many years, I don’t try for a particular image, such as a seascape or a floral.  Now I strive to create something that is rich in color, fun and exciting—a surprise for me and those who view my art.  Recently, I have been attacking my empty canvases with globs of brilliantly hued acrylic paint, dancing my brushes around the canvas for a challenging start.”  Her works are magical, stirring and exciting and Expressions Gallery is proud to present her work as part of Gone Fishin'.

Aaron Carter lives in the East Bay. He works in various mediums: ceramic, drawing, sculpture, design and painting. He went to Castlemont High where his drawing teacher put one of his works in an exhibit at the Oakland Museum. This spurred his interest in learning more about different forms of art and he took classes at Laney College (drawing, design, silk screen, advertising art and art history); at  San Francisco State (advanced drawing, metal arts, film, advanced ceramics, and Raku and at Merit College (advanced ceramics}.  He is continuing his studies and is very close to a degree in art. He was hired as part of the college staff doing the firing for one class and helping students as a mentor.  A teacher gave him a Raku kiln and he also bought a small kiln and started doing his work from home and selling his ceramics on Telegraph Ave and in Street Fairs and art galleries. As a Member of the Richmond art center since 2003, he had a one of his pieces displayed with the featured artist that year.  In 2006 he became one of the featured artists and won the Jan Hart-Schuyers Artistic Achievement award.  Currently, he is a member of Pro Arts and is now also showing his work at Expressions Gallery.

Ted Cheeseman and his parents, Doug and Gail Cheeseman, have been specializing in small, ecological tours to natural areas of the globe for 28 years, including Antartica and African Safaris.  During his travels, Ted enjoys taking photos of the wildlife, people, and scenery.  These two photos were taken during the "Snorkeling with the Humpback Whales" trip to the Silver Bank of the coast of the Dominican Republic.  These photos portray the immensity of the animals and possibly the wonder of viewing them underwater at close range.  To see more photos from other wildlife, photography and birding trips, go to: Cheesemans' Ecology Safari  1-800-527-5330 www.cheesemans.com

Jon Cooney currently lives in Berkeley, CA.  He grew up in Northville, MI which is about 20 miles outside of Detroit.  The Detroit area has a very rich and diverse arts community.  His father brought him and his brothers to countless events and places that served as inspiration for creative ideas.  One of the most notable places was The Detroit Institute of Arts.  When Jon later attended The College for the Creative Studies in Detroit, he was studying right across the street from the museum that inspired him while growing up.  During college, he visited the museum often.  After getting his BFA from CCS, Jon went on to apprentice sculptor Myron Melnick in Denver, CO.  One of Jon's favorite inspirations is Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  Recently, some of Jon's paintings were seen in animation sequences that were a part of the award-winning feature film "Half-Life".  Currently, Jon has been focusing on a new creative endeavor he calls "Meditation/Intention Paintings".  The process started when Jon began working with a friend to free up his creative process.  To focus on the "doing", the creating of the art, and not thinking of the end result.  His two paintings in the show are some of his favorite pieces to come out of this new process.  Jon's artwork has appeared in exhibits in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Oakland and Berkeley.  His art has become part of several private collections around the country. You can visit his website at joncooney.wordpress.com.

Elizabeth Dante was raised in the rural south and now is living and working in Richmond, Ca.  Dante has worked and traveled in Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Germany and Italy.  She has attained an affinity for the third world, and acquired the skills of the old world. This ever present influence has provided Dante with a stylistic inspiration for works ranging from classical naturalism to primitive stylistic narration. Much of her work explores the dynamics between round organic forms and hard ridges angles, and the spaces in-between.  By exaggerating this interplay, her work creates a sense of tension which is both lively and sensual.  Dante states, "My world combines ancient and modern rituals, extracting stylize motifs and archetypes, ancient and I pay homage to the many facets of the human sprit, characterized by warmth, humor and sometimes political commentary.  Her works have been showcased in "Art on The Rock At Alcatraz" and "Day of the Dead" exhibition at the Museum of Mexican Art. In 1990, The City of Oakland purchased her sculpture "Woman’s Liberation", as a gift to Nelson Mandela. She also received the Art of Peace Award the same year.

Willard W. Davis, M. Div. lives in Oakland, and grew up in Torrance, CA. His first art projects were miniature mud cities and tempera paintings, which he now prefers as a medium. At UC Santa Barbara he took an art appreciation class which he states “opened me to the amazing spectra of world-wide artistic expression. Here I was inspired to try various drawing and painting media.”  Paul Klee, Kandinsky and Marc Chagall have been formative artists for him. Some of his work is in private collections, and he has been exhibited in several galleries in Mendocino and on piers in Santa Cruz & Laguna Beach. He states:” I love to paint abstract-light-emergent patterns. In fact my painting “Beneath the Waves” is as much about the interfusive waves of light which emerge from underwater life-forms and from water itself, as it is about the lucent nature of the sea. I am a fisherman gone trawling for light metaphors.”

Gordon Gee is a native Californian - born, raised, and has lived most of his life in Oakland.  He has been a photographer both professionally and as an avocation.  He earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Biomedical Photographic Communications from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.  He spent over 20 years in various medical centers as a medical photographer and medical photography department manager, producing images for medical education and publication.  He moved out of professional photography and is now an anesthesia technician at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, CA.  Whatever his career, he has pursued his interest in fine arts photography seeking the quiet beauty found in forms and textures of everyday life.  His two main areas of interest are nature and figure studies.

Barbara de Groot started her artistic interests when she was in grade school. By the time she was a teenager and had devoured the book Lust For Life, a biography about Vincent Van Gogh given to her by her nanny the dye was cast.  She was drawing whenever the opportunity arose.  In her early High school years she drew and painted from live models at the Brooklyn Museum Art School with Isaac Soyer, one of three brothers who worked with figurative imagery. She also was fortunate to study in high school with very talented and comprehensive artist/instructors. Much later in Berkeley, CA she joined a group of artists and drew weekly from live models for about 12 years.  Barbara de Groot is a local Berkeley Artist and teacher of art who works in various types of media such as monotypes; Chine Colle with other media; Wood Block prints; Linoleum Block prints; Mixed Media Collage, as shown here; Drypoint; Transfer Methods; painting and drawing. She was an Art Major in Hunter College in New York. Where she learned basic printmaking under noted printmaker, Gabor Peterdi and later attended Academic Goetz in Paris, France where she learned many of her specialized printmaking skills. She also takes photos to capture inspirations for future paintings and prints and has developed her photographic skills as well and enters some of her photographs in Around the Globe.  Her work is in many private collections and has appeared in many exhibits in various galleries here and abroad and is archived in the Women’s Museum in Washington, DC and in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Richard Erickson is now living in San Jose, CA. Originally from Stockton, CA, where as a child he watched his Grandpa Gus put ships in bottles and paint ocean scenes with clipper ships. His formal training is from San Jose State University, where he received a BA of Fine Arts and Secondary Teaching Credential. After one year of teaching, he went back to office furniture, learning to use color coordination and space planning.  To this day, he creates from recycled furniture or designs new custom pieces or entire offices. Recent art projects: Scale Wooden ships from recycled furniture parts, Underwater Mural @ California train station Palo Alto, CA. with Oscar Art group, art shows with Los Altos Art Club, past Vaast show at Triton Museum Santa Clara, CA. The pieces for this show were drawn from memories of fishing and scuba diving. Artist states: “ paintings should take you on an adventure to somewhere of how you want to be not just is”.

Debbie Fimrite is a deaf, Japanese-inspired artist with over 30 years of experience studying, creating, exhibiting and occasionally teaching art. She enjoys painting, drawing, sculpture, computer graphics, photography, origami, creating art dolls and altering Barbies. Always interested in art as a means of inspiration, self expression and healing; she was fortunate to grow up in the presence of many supportive artists including her mother who is a painter and sculptor. Over the years she has exhibited in a number of Bay Area Galleries including the Fort Mason Art Center, the Nanny Goat Hill Gallery, Gallery Sanchez, The Tea Spot Cafe,  the Japan Center, Red Ink Studios, the Market Street Gallery,  Art 94124 Gallery, Age Song Gallery and participated in San Francisco and East Bay Open Studios.

Marin Fischer was born in New York City, lives in Berkeley, CA. and has been an artist as long as she can remember. She attended Brooklyn College in New York, Wayne State University in Detroit, and received her Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees from Arizona State University. Ms. Fischer is a nationally known painter and muralist. Her drawings and paintings have been shown at U.C. Berkeley, the Phoenix Art Museum, and galleries throughout the United States. Her murals can be seen on the Claremont Avenue underpass in Oakland, California, the O’Farrell Theatre in San Francisco, the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, and various locations in Phoenix, Arizona. She has also been a teacher of art, murals, and theatre; a scenic artist--painting sets for the Lyric Opera Theatre at Arizona State University; and designed, built, and painted sets for a local theatre production of the rock musical “Hair.” The artist states: “My watercolor paintings and colored pencil drawings of water/landscapes deal with the effects of light and shadow on smooth and textured planes, lines, and surfaces. These images are figurative reflections of the physical and emotional impact of light and color reflected onto the eye, and of the impact of civilization on our wild and beautiful earth; inspired by my impressions during the years I spent dazzled by the light of the American Southwest.” “Art is the creation of forms symbolic of human feeling.”—Suzanne Langer, Feeling and Form, 1952.

Jon Fisher lives in Berkeley, and grew up in the United Kingdom. His interest in photography began at an early age with a Kodak Box Brownie.  Although he studied all forms of media it was many years after art school that he began earnestly using his photographic skills to express his artistic sensibilities.  Influences are broad in spectrum; everything from the industrial landscape he grew up in, to American cinema and magazines of the 1970’s, to Bruce Springsteen, to Rene Margritte and the European surrealist movement, to Edward Hopper, to The Nocturnes.  Jon recently exhibited a selection from his night photography portfolio in a solo show at the Nomad Café in Oakland and is currently exhibiting pieces in two shows sponsored by the Berkeley’s Civic Arts Program. His photograph Boat Bows (which appears in this exhibition) was selected as Oakland Visitors & Convention Bureau image of the year for 2007. His photojournalist work has appeared on BBC Online. What moves Jon as a photographic artist is juxtaposition and working with subject matter often seen but rarely studied.

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 )

Sue Mary Fox splits her year between her winter workroom in Berkeley, CA, and her summer workroom in the village of Robbinston, Maine.  Born and raised in a rural hamlet on the wild Maine coast, Fox spent her early summers organizing bits and pieces of nature’s “art parts” into patterns on 2- and 3- dimensional surfaces.  Much of her outdoor time was spent along beaches assembling installations of flotsam & jetsam that would become rearranged by time, tide, and weather.  Participating in the long term process of building & observing the progress of disintegrating beach installations has been a life long interest. Although she trained in ceramics at university, Fox spent 32 years in the field of design & construction using the sewing machine– at various times employed making Art to Wear clothing; costumes for theater, dance, opera, & circus; and more recently in creating site specific installations for commercial interiors.  A full time studio artist since 2001, Fox maintains a fully equipped sewing studio on each coast where she primarily produces boldly colorful quilts with an abstract contemporary edge. Her large format quilts have been exhibited across the United States and in Europe. Scarf making offers the joyful opportunity to play with color and texture.

Nancy Freeman has lived in Benicia since 1997 and grew up in Redwood City. Art has always been her primary focus, starting by drawing cartoon characters while watching the Walt Disney Show, and drawing pictures for grade school classmates. She attended California College of the Arts and graduated from San Francisco State University, trying nearly all mediums and concentrating on illustration. After seeing Wayne Thiebaud's fabric depictions of desserts, she decided to buy a sewing machine and start making appliqués. Many textbooks, card companies, and ad agencies have commissioned Nancy's sewn illustrations. Her first solo exhibit was in Palo Alto in 1974, followed by shows in several Carmel galleries, Stanford University, Hewlett Packard, Nut Tree, Textiles by Design in Berkeley, and others. The Fish quilt is one of several pieces inspired by noted Berkeley quilt maker, Roberta Horton. Currently Nancy is painting in acrylics and creating colorful eye-catching mosaic garden art.

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. The mixed media sculptures presented in this exhibition are made from wire, bone, doll parts, mannequins, beeswax, fishnet, metal, wood, paper, paint, jewels, cheesecloth, nails, an antique toy bank, hands praying from a religious reliquary, gold leaf, a Barbie doll torso, an ancient red toy windmill, and various other materials. The “Three Wise Men” are actually a depiction of three little sisters: Devine Justice, Devine Maternity, and Devine Contemplation. They play divinely with notions of role reversal with the most powerful of our world, men, but with a sly twist, for they are wise.  "Worship” keeps spirituality in the troublesome box of all that we hold dear in most of our human cultures, namely money, alluding to the old saw, “all that glitters is not gold.” Finally, Barbie on a cross reminds us, along with the three little wise men, that we the woman, we the man, we the baby, we the people. No one is better than anyone, and we all must be the best that we can be, our own most Devine selves. 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), a mid-career retrospective of the artist’s work.

Gordon Gee is a native Californian - born, raised, and has lived most of his life in Oakland.  He has been a hotographer both professionally and as an avocation.  He earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Biomedical Photographic Communications from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.  He spent over 20 years in various medical centers as a medical photographer and medical photography department manager, producing images for medical education and publication.  He moved out of professional photography and is now an anesthesia technician at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, CA.  Whatever his career, he has pursued his interest in fine arts photography seeking the quiet beauty found in forms and textures of everyday life.  His two main areas of interest are nature and figure studies.

JM Grace was raised in Chicago, lived in New York and now chooses the Bay Area as home.  After a B.S. and a M.A.in art, Grace now teaches art to adults.  Art, fine craft and gardening are all a professional part of her family and personal history. Growing up in beautiful natural surroundings and vacationing at the ocean, created a life long love of the beauty in nature.  As a self described ‘nature mystic’ Grace expresses her love and awe through; photography, mixed media, paint, ceramics and glass works. “I consider beauty to be a necessity.  Creating pieces of art that mirror the beauty and the higher energies that live around us and in our hearts is my spiritual path.” Her idea is that being with a piece of art that mirrors the best around and in us helps us to be our best.

Molly Molyi Greenberg lives in Oakland, CA. Born 1913, 96 years ago in Poland, she grew up in New York City, moved to California to raise a family, and studied at Everywoman’s Village where she started making sculpture, serigraphs, and oil painting after working in the Museum Service Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her Coastline College painting teacher named her “Molly Matisse” for her vivid impressionist color sense. The clear
light and liveliness of living by sea reminded her of Manet, Monet, and Matisse.  At the age of 90, Molly moved to Northern California and learned  to work in a new medium, acrylic with Janet Lipkin.  Molly is experimenting with expressionism and abstraction.  She has exhibited at Newport Beach City Hall in a juried solo show, with the Costa Mesa Art League,  at Coastline College where she earned an honorable mention, at Fashion Island Art Festival, and Red Oak Realty. “I hope that my paintings inspire viewers to discover new things in the work and in the world around them.”

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. 

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 shapes of plant forms or bodies of water.  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 in a gallery in Puerto Vallarta.

Adam Heffler is an east coast expat currently rooted in Oakland. He’s been a doodler since way back when, he started looking at his art as a "serious venture" shortly after leaving the academic womb. He is a self-taught artist that specializes in a very precise, detail-oriented pen and ink style that he has cultivated over the past few years. He feels that his art is somewhere between linguistic and totemic, and absolutely loves it when people tell him what they see in his art. Sometimes they see things that he saw too, sometimes, it's something completely unexpected. You can see the rest of his artwork at www.fredadamart.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 art of tile 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, she can make custom bracelets or tiles 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 he 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 direct manner rather 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.

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."

Ann Jasperson lives and works in Stamford, CT  but grew up north of Chicago the youngest of a large family. Always  drawing, the fire that is art was started when a family friend gave her a Paint by Numbers set-then it was off to the races. Nurtured by her sister Joan and many wonderful teachers she attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and graduated in 1981 with a BFA in Drawing/illustration. Moving to New York soon after graduation, she “fell” into the toy business, then became a toy inventor which is her “day job”. But always in the background was a love of stones. Designing and creating jewelry has become a word of mouth business that has grown over the last five years. One of a kind pieces inspired by the natural beauty of stones and pearls done just Once makes for wearable art. Other interests include her internet cartoon Cranky Bears, her garden, dogs and husband G.C. Stone.

A John Kammer, of Alameda, was born in Atlantic City, spent his early years in Philadelphia, PA, where he won a full scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was awarded the coveted Cresson Traveling Scholarship, to study master paintings in France, Holland and Italy. His love of old world architecture inspired his street scenes of Philadelphia.  Long before the phrase, "plein air" came into vogue, John routinely set up his easel "on site". In the community art movement of the '60's, John and fellow artists founded the Painted Bride Gallery in Philadelphia. In 1974, he and his wife, Blanche, opened the Kammer Gallery in their home, to promote local artists. John blends realism and impressionism in his work in varied media: oil, watercolor, pastel and pencil. He aims to capture the glowing transparency of the California coastal light. John's expertise in drawing, composition and perspective is a result of his rigorous training.  Some of his many awards include the 1989 Berkeley Art Award and 1st Place in the 1993 Miniature Show from the East Bay Watercolor Ass'n, and the 2006 Award of Excellence from the Alameda Art Ass'n. His work is represented in the collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, La Salle University, Philadelphia, Temple University, Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Caesar's World, Las Vegas and many private collections. Membership in professional organizations include: the Alameda Art Ass'n, the California Watercolor Ass'n and the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Joanna Katz is a long time resident of Berkeley.  She was born in Princeton, New Jersey, the daughter of a college professor and a poetess.  She spent her in teens in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  She has a B.A. in fine arts from the State University of Iowa, Iowa City where she became convinced of the importance of learning the techniques of realistic representation as a foundation on which to build.  She has used that foundation for interpreting many different subjects in many media.  She says, "My paintings and collages are of things I love to look at and subjects that disturb me.  Recently my pleasure has been painting watercolor landscapes.  On the darker  side are my representations of litter and greenery in water based media."  Her work has been shown at many local venues including Levi Plaza, SOMAR both in San Francisco; ProArts Gallery, Oakland; Giorgi Gallery, Berkeley; Richmond Art Center.  Also, she has shown at many venues outside the Bay Area.  An acrylic portrait by Joanna  was purchased by Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, Michigan, another, including a panel of test she wrote were purchased by Chaparral House here in Berkeley.  For the past ten years, Joanna's sister and brother-in-law have been living in south eastern France near the small town of Lodeve.  Joanna enjoys visiting them.  The paintings in this show were done on her 2005 visit to France.

Gerry Keenan was six years old when her father gave her a microscope.  She was transfixed by the beauty of the crystalline life forms in a single drop of pond water and believed that there surely could be nothing else quite as beautiful.  Years later, the artist, who has a degree in biology and in studio arts, uses natural light and 35 mm black and white film to, as she says, "capture the imperfect, impermanent and incomplete wonder" of her surroundings. Using acid free pens designed for use on photo paper, she builds up layers of color in order to impart a tactile quality to her work. Gerry has work in collections throughout the continental US and in the Virgin Islands. Solo show venues include: Studio 7038, the Rockridge Café/Gallery, Soga & Associates Architects/SF and the Lucky JuJu Transview Gallery. Gerry is pleased to have won First Place Photography in the only competition she has entered, which was a juried show of fine art connected with the 2005 San Ramon Arts Walk. She states: "My camera gives me a way to record the fleeting moments, life forms, and images that represent the tenuous, magical bonds that exist between all of us and the world we inhabit. I delight in, and am intrigued by, how slowly, and most often quietly, Mother Nature, acting in concert with wind, water and sunshine, decomposes, and then recomposes man made objects into elements of transient beauty." 

Jenny Sueyoun Kim lives in San Mateo, 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.

Corinne Louise lives in Berkeley, CA.  She grew up climbing trees in Southern California and started making art as soon as she could hold a crayon.  Self taught, she is an award winning designer, writer, and artist. She is influenced by the limitless creativity found in the natural world, Art brut, indigenous textile art, Faith Ringgold, Hiroshige, Romare Bearden, Mambo, F L Jaques, and Kiki Smith.  She works in combining several media, including pencil, collage, and silk paintings.  She also creates  Spiral Heart  Jewelry: One of a kind handmade personal adornment.  A selection of  Sea Glass meditative necklaces are showcased here.  Corinne Louise has been the recipient of a California Arts Council Grant, an Artist-In –Residence with the Live Oak Project,A Critic’s Choice – S.F. Bay Guardian, and a California Design award. Some of her exhibits include:  Limn Gallery, Showplace Design Center,
Open Secret Gallery, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Falkirk Art Center,
Frank Bette Center for Art, Bucci’s, A Different Day Gallery.

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 the 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.

Elena E. Maroth lives in Kensington, CA. 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, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery and Expressions Gallery. Her published work includes a Univ.of New Mexico New Music Festival brochure cover painting and several CD cover pictures for Music & Arts.

Ericka McConnell lives in Oakland California. She has just returned here after living in New York for the past 15 years. She is a professional commercial Photographer and has photographed for everyone from Travel and Leisure to Pottery Barn. Ericka studied photography at Lorenzo Di Medici in Florence Italy,  SVA in New York, and Ansel Adams Friends of Photography. She worked at the Janet Borden Galley in New York before staring her career

Katherine McKay, currently living in Richmond, grew up in Texas and was always interested in being an artist. After receiving a B.F.A., she came to California to attend California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) and received an M.F.A., working in drawing and papermaking. She gravitated toward the medium of colored pencil because of its layering and textural possibilities. In 1989 she began traveling in her van to remote areas in California, working on site and developing her colored-pencil desert, dune and mountain landscape series. Every year she spends some time in the southern California deserts and some time in the Sierras. She took up watercolor in 1999 and has sometimes combined it with colored pencil. In addition to landscapes, she has used watercolor to portray California plant forms and plant life cycles. Katherine’s artwork can be seen on her website, www.mckayartworks.com.

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’.”

Danute Nitecki was born in Lithuania. Her family fled the second Soviet occupation at the end of the Second World War and spent next six years as Displaced Persons in Austria and Germany. In 1950, they immigrated to Chicago, where she attended the University of Chicago, and received Ph.D. in chemistry in 1961. She worked for 20 years in UCSF Medical School doing research in immunochemistry. In 1982, she left UCSF to work on pharmaceutical research in a biotechnology firm. She has over a hundred scientific publications and forty patents and has contributed chapters to several scientific research books. She started drawing and painting for her own amusement in 1987. Since then, her work has been shown in a number of juried art exhibitions and has won awards and ribbons. One of her botanical paintings of Heracleum lanthanum (22x26) was selected for the bi-annual California Species exhibition in Oakland Museum. She contributed to a book on unusual backgrounds in Color Pencil Explorations (North Light, publisher; J. Gildow, editor, 2002). Her contribution describes a somewhat novel use of colored pencil images painted on watercolor backgrounds on sheets of polyester vellum (drafting film). She has always enjoyed painting botanicals with colored pencils (CP), but covering large background areas with CP is very painful, hence the combination of WC/CP on drafting film. Currently she works mostly with watercolor (CP requires very acute vision, which she is losing).

Marilyn Oliveira was born and raised in Albany,California,where the family has lived since the mid 1920's. Marilyn grew up making "stuff" to play with for her dolls and toys using what she could find around the house. Married since 1970, Marilyn and her husband Rick discovered a love of sailing early in their marriage. Moving aboard a sailboat in 1976 with an 18 month old daughter put crafts on hold for a few years. Eventually acquiring a larger sailboat when, having a second daughter, and three different sailing trips back and forth to Mexico Marilyn discovered a love of native beadwork. Marilyn taught herself to bead in 1998 when (minus the girls) she left with her husband on a sailboat for what turned out to be a 10 year adventure of sailing and exploration. Beading for Marilyn has turned out to be a very portable art form that transitions easily between time on the boat and time spent back on land in Albany. Up until now most of what Marilyn has made has been gifts for family and friends. Marilyn enjoys the challenge of thinking up ideas and bringing those ideas to reality with beads. Music also occupies some of Marilyn and her husbands time when in Mexico or stateside. They are both members of the "Ramblin Turtles" band. Marilyn is the percussionist and washboard player and Rick plays guitar. This is Marilyn’s first gallery show .   

Paula L. Powers, MA. was born in San Francisco, grew up in Fresno and now lives in Oakland, California.  As a child she loved to create with materials provided by her parents. She studied at Mills College for two years, then University of Colorado, then she graduated with a BA in Art with Honors from University of California, BerkeIey. She received a MA in Museum Studies from S.F. State University, and a MA from J.F.K.University in Arts & Consciousness, while taking painting at San Francisco Art Institute. She has had several one artist shows. The 1st was in Oakland city for Center for Visual Art.  Her art has been exhibited in many galleries, and is in international collections. Her favorite artist is Canadian Emily Carr who sought the spiritual in nature. She states: “I love to paint in oils which allows me to paint special light effects. In fact my joy in painting is to show the many different aspects of light and its subtle effects which is metaphoric to me of spirit. I currently teach art workshops which I call Creative Spirit Painting.” Koi Pond which is shown in this show at Expressions gallery was inspired from the great joy she got from these beautiful fish which swam in a pond at her home in Santa Cruz where she lived for a while.

Carolyn Price is currently living in San Pablo,CA having moved here from Belize in Central America seven years ago.  She was born in Texas, but moved to Colorado for college and spent the next 36 years there.  She had several art classes at the University of Colorado but no formal degree in art.  She did study watercolor with well known Colorada artists Sue Quinlan and Kathy Vogely and also at the Foothills Art Center in Golden, CO. She has been interested in art most of her life. As a scuba diving instructor, she found a love of fish and the underwater environment as a source of inspiration for her paintings. Carolyn is represented by the Kennedy Gallery in the Cayman Islands, Gecko Art in San Pedro, Belize and private collections in Europe and the United States. Artist states: I am always learning new ways to express my art - by working with other artists and trying different mediums. I can experiment and search for the essence that moves me most.

Mona Ram is mostly known for her Performing Arts throughout the Bay Area but seems to be catching up with her adoration for the Visual Arts as well. Some might recall her Papier Mache little girl in the Expressions Gallery window of our last show. Exhibited now is a smaller Papier Mache piece she made at the start of that process. "Gently Down the Stream" is how she likes to think of it all; hence the title for the fish. Reusing resources on hand is highly important in all her works. Mona delves into cardmaking, watercolor and can't wait to hit the canvas!! She has been greatly inspired by her Higher Power, local artists and great teachers, gallery owner Rinna Flohr and manager artist Rafael, her daughter and all her friends at Glide Memorial where Mona is seen singing every Sunday.

Deborah Robins is a real live folksinger who lives in Berkeley, CA.  She makes fun and wearable jewelry out of repurposed and found objects like paper clips, safety pins, and sea glass, with the addition of colorful vintage buttons gathered from flea markets around the worlds.  Originally from Chicago, she was exposed to fine art through innumerable trips to the Art Institute of Chicago, where the colors and shapes from several Grant Wood landscapes, captured her imagination.  For two years in a row, Deborah has been selected to participate in the unique Maker Faire as “Folkiedokies: Repurposing with a Purpose”.  Deborah Robins is the Executive Producer of a PBS/WETA television series about the history of American folk music, “THE MUSIC OF AMERICA: History Through Musical Traditions”. www.themusicofamerica.org  Deborah is the sister of Laura Olear.

Selma Rockett lives in Berkeley, California and was born and raised in Lewiston, Maine. As a very young child, Selma learned to use “make believe, fantasy, whimsy and pretend” to enhance her days and this is what influences her art. Many wonderful people she has met in life inspire her work. Hats have always had a role in her life. Selma is primarily self-taught however she did study briefly with Bertha Underwood in Oakland, Ca.  Her mediums include fabric, straw, yarn, wool and “lovely trinkets, feathers, buttons and all things shiny.”  The hats are hand molded, using an art medium to set the design. The hats are not ‘named’ as most are one of a kind—therefore ABSOLUTE WHIMSEY.

Jim Rosenau was raised in a house with 5,000 books. He has been making and selling thematic bookshelves from vintage books since 2002. The idea occurred to him years earlier after reading an essay, "Books As Furniture," by Nicholson Baker. Given his background as the son and grandson of publishers, he assumed the reaction, should he make such a thing, would be furious. The work, once underway, proved him wrong. His book furniture has since earned him a wide following with work sold in almost 50 states and countries. Primarily shown at closely juried shows, he is also represented by dealers from Vermont to Los Angeles. The work has been widely published in print and on the Internet. Previously, he has been a carpenter, comedy writer (with Charlie Varon) , editor, software developer, planning commissioner and designed and built parade floats. His writing has been published in Fine Homebuilding, The New Yorker, ReadyMade, Salon.com and heard on public radio. He lives and works in Berkeley, California

Christine M. Rossi lives in Berkeley California but originally comes from a rural area in up-state New York. Christine began exploring art at an early age winning several art competitions while in high school. She was influenced by Japanese art and theater while on an exchange program to Japan. Christine later studied costume design at SUNY Binghamton, illustration, oil painting and color theory through the University of California Extension Programs. After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 80's she began working as an architectural model builder and illustrator for a San Francisco Architectural firm. She branched out into creating illustrations, two and three dimensional, as well as models throughout the 80's and early 90's. Other career pursuits took her away from her art practice; however, she returned to creating pieces that reflect her philosophical reactivity to her personal world and the world at large.  The works are secular in nature but draw heavily on religious and mythological imagery. "Creating has become tuned to preserving the every day life of those that preceded me capturing a day in human history, or telling a story through the imagery of the land and human interaction. My work is indicative of my exploration of my experience through spiritual and mythological cycles and interaction with the natural world” The smaller painting in this show is an en plein air study for a larger, gouache work and the larger painting was distilled from en plein air sketches and photographs taken around the Alameda Estuary. Christine exhibits in galleries in the San Francisco Bay Area and has artwork on the Ovation TV website, www.ovationtv.com  under cmaerossi, as well as her own website and blog www.christinerossiart.com and  http://www.mesart.com. You may contact Christine at cmaerossi@gmail.com.

Lily Russo, from the Barrington, IL, began making mosaics as a child using scraps from her mother’s stained glass window projects.  She studied painting at the University of Illinois and graduated with a BA in International Studies with a concentration on human rights in Latin America.  After college she moved to the Bay Area to work as Studio Manager and instructor at the Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland.  She recently moved to the small town of Quincy, CA in the Northern Sierra.  She has also lived abroad in Ecuador and Australia and is inspired by the intricate patterns of indigenous designs.  Her artistic vision has also been influenced by Alex Grey and Gustav Klimt and by the subtle and enchanting forms of the feminine body and spirit.  Besides for making mosaics, Lily works as a tattoo artist and yoga instructor.

Linda Sims lives in Bel Marin Keys.  She is 5th generation Californian, born and raised in Alameda. From 5 to 15, she studied with her great uncle, George Demont Otis, American impressionist. Both George Otis and Chester Arnold, her teacher of 8 years, are represented in major museums, and are inspirational in her life. Linda has had 18 solo shows, was an art therapist, had an interior design business for 15 years, and renovated real estate. Linda is grateful for her travels, for the San Francisco Bay Area, and for always having had passion in her work. Her inner landscapes are seldom what she has seen.  Feelings, thought, color and response rapidly compose on the canvas.  She takes joy in
freedom, color and boldness, and hopes it's contagious.

Rita Sklar’s recent body of works builds on her ongoing exploration of urban and natural landscapes using watercolors and mixed media. Sklar skillfully juggles organic and geometric forms, transparent and opaque paint - all held together by a basic abstract underlying shape. It is this intricate dance, rendered in strong color and value, which produces her exciting paintings. Rita Sklar is an award-winning artist. Sklar’s works are in public and private collections across the country and in Europe. Selected Awards and Honors include: Alameda County Commission for Juvenile Justice Center 2009, Best of Show, SF Women Artists Gallery January, February and March 2009; Selected into the CWA National Show at the Presidio, March 2009  Selected into the CWA Filoli Spring Show 2009; First Place, Orinda Library OAA August 2008. Best of Show, SFWA Gallery, May and August 2008  Selected for Pro Arts Annual 2008; City of Oakland Cultural Arts Grant 2007; Best of Show, S.F.W. Artists Gallery, March, April and July 2007; First Place, Metropolitan Transportation Center, OA Association 2007; Best of Show, Frank Bette Gallery, March and June 2004; Special Award, San Francisco Flyway Festival, 2004; First Place, Oakland Art Association at Kaiser Center 2003; First Place, San Leandro Art Association 2002; Selected by the Muir Heritage Trust for Greeting Cards / Prints 2002 See website for more information:  www.ritasklar.com

Helene Sobol is a San Francisco photographer who was born and grew up in Norway. During her teenage years, her family lived in the outskirts of Paris and she developed an interest in travel photography. She attended the University of Oslo, followed by the University of Hawaii, receiving her B.A. in Art History from UC Berkeley. Inspired by the French photographer Cartier-Bresson’s spontaneous moments and Edward Weston’s keen eye for composition, she also took photography classes and learned darkroom techniques. In 1979, she opened Images of the North, a gallery specializing in Inuit (Eskimo) art in San Francisco and, during the ensuing two decades, devoted herself to the gallery and to her family, raising two children. She retired from her gallery in 2004 to pursue her longtime interest in travel photography and to develop collections for future exhibitions. In 2004, she introduced “The Bark Series”, a collection of close ups of tree bark, at the Botanical Garden Library in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. In the spring of 2006, she presented “Memories and Moods – Norway Revisited” at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle. She recently had a solo exhibition, “From Norway to San Francisco – Moods, Memories and Moments” at the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in San Francisco. Helene has exhibited in several shows at Expressions Gallery since 2006.