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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. 

Lili Artel’s roots were planted in New York City but she states that she came into full growth in the Bay area of northern California 45 years ago when  she declared herself a sculptor/fibre artist. Now 91 years old, she is
still doing art, “ turning staw into gold through my imagination.” She is a process artist which means she starts with an idea with her hands on non-art related materials. Rope and nylon pantyhose are two of her favorites to which she adds natural items, seed pods, feathers, and bones and man-made rusty objects. She uses textile crafts techniques, like knitting, knotting, wrapping, which are usually distorted.

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 de Staebler), 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.

Tai Belize currently lives in the East Bay in California. She has painted periodically throughout her life.  She took studio art classes at New York University, School of Visual Arts, and theater art at Hunter College.  Self taught she learned art by studying the work of various schools of painters, through books, frequent visits to the museums and galleries, and association with other painters in New York City.  She also taught art in various community programs for children. Her first creative passion is the theater, and she has written and produced plays.  She holds a master in theater from Hunter College.  She exhibits regularly with The Art of Living Black, donated to Visual Aid auction in San Francisco, exhibited in various East Bay cafes; and sold several paintings to private collectors. She states: “ I speak with color.  I hear the voice of my ancestors and spirit guides.  I see the world in shades and shapes. All in the light that shines from above. My journey begins with women, Madonna’s, this and that images... to color for the sake of color finding harmony, the love between the tones and differences of hues as they lay side by side or mix and blend.  The peace and love of colors give spiritual growth, because they are true unto themselves, as all things in life should be.

Nathan Bennett, a S.F. bay area native, received his B.A. in Photography from The California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, Ca.  He is the current President of the American Society of Media Photographers, Northern California Chapter. Photography has been a vital part of his life since grade school, working in the darkroom with silver and large format cameras.  Now working in the digital world he strives to create ordered visual narratives that reflect the textures and forms of our industrialized world. He embraces the beauty of chaos and the mundane and enjoys the challenges of working within the technical constraints of captured light, to reveal the plastic ephemeral moments that exist inside their formal confines. In his professional work, since 1989, he has specialized in photography of interiors and architecture of spaces and places. He has a passion for photographing artists, craftspeople, locations and events "On the Fringe" in the Bay Area and beyond .“Photography does not convey truth or reality. Only through mastery of its limitations can I expose the illustration which I desire my audience to discover”.

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 and 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.

Suzanne Cerny is an artist and art instructor who has studied and used various mediums throughout her life. She is best known for pastel and charcoal portraits. Her landscapes are usually plein air, with oil or acrylic medium. Suzanne studied abstract expressionism at the Cooper Union Institute for the Advancement of Science and Art in NYC and has taken work- shops with Ray Strong, Michael Druryand Ovannes Berberian in Santa Barbara. She studied with Kurt Andersen for figure painting and Paul Tebo for advanced drawing in Tucson. She has taught through the San Francisco Adult Community College and is presently teaching basic drawing and painting in private classes in the Bay Area. One of Suzanne's major interests since 1985 has been sketching musicians live in performance and creating paintings from the drawings, or using historic photos for larger works of Jazz musician portraits. Please see her website: www.suzannecerny.com

Jon Cooney currently lives in Berkeley, CA.  Jon grew up in Northville, MI - about 20 miles outside of Detroit.  The Detroit area has a rich and diverse arts community, and his father brought him to countless events and locations that served as inspiration for creative ideas.  One of his favorite places was the Detroit Institute of Arts.  When Jon later attended the College for the Creative Studies in Detroit, he was studying right across from the museum and he visited the museum weekly.  In school Jon found strong inspiration in the works of Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  After getting his BFA from CCS, Jon went on to apprentice with paper sculptor Myron Melnick in Denver.  Jon's artwork has appeared in exhibits in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Oakland, and Berkeley.  Over the years his art has become part of several private collections around the country.  Recently some of Jon's paintings were shown in animation sequences in the award-winning feature film "Half-Life".  On display for the current exhibit are several of Jon's recent paintings.  For each of these Jon has video recorded the act of creating the painting, so that he can share his process of creating. These videos can be seen as part of his "Time-Lapse Painting Videos" also on display at this show.  People have really enjoyed these videos, especially witnessing how each painting evolves during creation.  The music in each of the videos was also created by Jon. To learn more about Jon's creative works, please visit: www.joncooney.wordpress.com

Attila Cziglenyi works in oil, acrylic and watercolor. The subject matter of his paintings ranges from landscapes to aviation and still lifes. He was influenced by the brushstrokes and high key colors of the Impressionist painters like Monet, Renoir and Cezanne. For the past two years he enjoys traveling to locations and painting en plein air. He started his formal art education in Texas at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and later continued at Chabot College in Hayward. He studied printmaking at Laney College, Oakland and also participated in many painting workshops and classes given by well-known artists. Artist states: "with my paintings I try to capture the moods created by the changing lights, shadows and atmosphere in a landscape or express the exhilaration one feels at the sights and sounds of whirling propellers, the roaring of a rocket. I am always looking for unusual shapes, lines or colors to best convey this message".  Attila’s paintings have been displayed and won numerous awards in local, national and international juried shows. His watercolors representing industrial landscapes are part of a corporate collection.  He is a member of the Hayward Arts Council, ART Inc, East Bay Plein Air Painters and the California Art Club

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.

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. This piece is from recycled wood from furniture. 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 piece for this show came from what might fly in your window at night. Artist states: “Art should take you on an adventure to somewhere of how you want to be not just how it is”.

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 )

Ryan ‘Robot’ Flowers is a graphic designer who was born and raised in the San Francisco East Bay. His career as a graphic designer is what inspired him to pursue print making and alternative process art. Ryan’s education in art and design is hands on. His first job at the Oakland Tribune taught him the value of letters and how well executed typography is the difference between good and bad art. His brass etching collection was created through a mixture of press plate making and circuit board making techniques. He feels the brass medium is special because how the brass ages. The brass will tarnish and develop a beautiful patina finish over time. “It’s a fun process, but the best part is watching it age. As months and years go by the images turn color and show finger prints, and develop patterns.” Unlike a painting, or sculpture, the brass will evolve. Please feel free to touch the edges of the brass and feel how the image is burned in. It is not encouraged to polish the plates. For more information please visit: www.RyanFlowers.netRyanRobot99.BlogSpot.com

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.

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.

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 expatriate 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 Association. 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 Association and the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Jeffrey Carter Kelling, a native Californian, resides in the East Bay with his family, a constant source of inspiration and support.  He received his degree at The San Francisco Art Institute and Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Art.  His passion for art has been a part of him for over 40 years. Color, light and shadows that is what his work is all about.  Taking the ordinary and making something extraordinary. His paintings are like fireworks of color; his drawings reflect his love and mastery of pencil, pen and ink.  In style, subject and creativity, Jeffrey reaches to treat us to his exciting and new vision of people, places and things. Jeffrey has shown his work extensively throughout California, in galleries, local shows and commissioned private sales.

Jenny Sueyoun Kim lives in San Mateo, CA. A daughter of Korean immigrants, she was born in Los Angeles, and has been living in the San Francisco Bay area since 1995. 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 I found so appealing about 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, each piece individually, in her home studio in San Mateo. She then casts the sculpted models into sterling silver at Scintillant Studio in the SF Mission district. All steps of the sculpting, casting, and finishing process are done by Jenny herself. In 2007, she began working as a silversmith and jewelry designer on a full-time basis. Her website is www.jennykim.org.

Arianna Kordestani currently resides in Fresno, CA, having been raised in several Bay Area cities.  Her interest in art was realized in her teenage years in San Jose.  It was in this time that she began to teach herself techniques of painting with acrylics, through the harmonizing and repetitious act of painting geometric shapes. Eventually several techniques were grasped, and a style was able to emerge.  She has much admiration for the Fauvist movement, and in particular looks towards Raoul Dufy’s work for beauty and inspiration. She has worked in many mediums, including metal, wood, clay, and charcoal, but continuously finds herself gravitating towards paint.

Rafael Landea is an Argentinean artist who moved to San Francisco in 2002. He graduated in Art and Set Design from the University of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and continued his education with some well-known Argentinean visual artists in the areas of Painting, Creativity, and Literature. From the beginning of his career, he has been interested in theater, music, literature, and murals.  Rafael joined a theater company as a set designer and later started to work in some of the biggest theatrical venues of Buenos Aires. Working as a muralist and set designer has allowed him to travel to different countries in Latin America and Europe, either to present plays in festivals or for mural projects. Rafael painted several murals in different countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Cuba, and the latest in Torino, Italy. Rafael has also held exhibits of his art in Chile, Switzerland, Spain, and the USA.  Since arriving to San Francisco, he has painted his first mural in the city (the façade of a City and County Clinic for Children) and has focused his work on painting and multimedia projects. His work is regularly published in different media, reviews, interviews, essays, CD covers, and books. Photos of his murals in Buenos Aires are commonly found in tour guides and other travel publications. Different collectors from Spain, Baske Country, USA, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay own his art. Lately he has been working on web based projects, websites, animations, and short films, one of them commissioned by the Museum of Art and Memory, which premiered in July 2007 in Argentina. The short film was done in homage to one of the most important political Argentinean comic strip writers, Hector G. Oesterheld, who was killed during the dictatorship ’76–’82. Most recently he has been working on a new series of large size oils called ‘Dress Rehearsal', where he explores the backstage world of opera houses.  Familiar parts of the plots of the selected operas are also depicted. The fictional opera characters and the theater workers ‘live’ the opera in a visual game that reminds us of the age old question, ‘Does life imitate art, or vice versa?’  For this show, he enters ink drawings and acrylic paintings all displaying his delightful sense of humor, which is almost always part of his art.

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, and The San Francisco Gem and Mineral organization.

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.”

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.

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).

Udi Peled is a local artist whose work has been purchased for exhibit at the Berkeley Jazz School. In addition, his work adorns many a catalogue cover for UC Berkeley.  He has shown his art at various select galleries. Udi was born in Israel, and is now living permanently in the United States. Udi’s versatile works are a favorite amongst local art collectors. He is available for commissioned art works as well as the artworks that are displayed at Expressions Gallery as part of the current show. 

Paula L. Powers, MA. now lives in Oakland, but grew up in Fresno after moving from San Francisco where she was born. She states: “I have always loved to create, and my parents provided me with materials to use as a child.”  Paula studied two years at Mills College, then University of Colorado, then graduated with a BA in Art with Honors from University of California, BerkeIey. She received an MA in Museum Studies from S.F. State University, and a MA from J.F.K.U. in Arts & Consciousness, while taking painting at San Francisco Art Institute. She has had several one artist shows. The 1st was in Oakland Center for Visual Art. She has exhibited her art in many galleries, and her art is in international collections. Her favorite artist is Canadian, Emily Carr who sought the spiritual in nature. Paula states: “I love to paint in oils which allow 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. Currently she teaches art workshops which she calls Creative Spirit Painting. “I chose to paint fools and acrobats which are shown in this gallery. These characters are interesting to me for their mystical symbolism. The trapeze artist is powerful to me, because her daring leap symbolizes living in the present moment.

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 Colorado 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.

Diego Marcial Rios lives in the Bay Area and paints in acrylics. He graduated with honors with an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Department of Fine Arts Graduate School and  a B.F.A. from University of California at Berkeley. He received a number of honors scholarships for Academic study. His artwork illustrates many complex social-economic issues faced by contemporary society.  About his work he states: “I create art that is visually stimulating to gain initial viewer acceptance.  Once this is achieved, the viewer is confronted with ancient symbols of life and death.”  The figures and landscapes in the art are inspired by what I have experienced and later dreamed about. Diego’s work has been widely shown throughout the United States and Mexico and he is in a number of Museum Collections: The Auchenbach Foundation Collection at the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, Oregon; Laguna Beach Museum, Laguna Beach, Ca.; Museo National De La Estampa, Mexico City, Mexico, etc.. He has also illustrated a number of books and his work is part of a number of Public Collections: Harriet Taubman Gallery, MD; Mission Cultural Center, SF; The Collector Gallery of the Oakland Museum, Oakland, Ca.; Irish Arts Council, Belfast, Ireland and many more.  He has appeared as a speaker on Art and been interviewed on Television. His artwork has been included in many magazines.

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.

Rosie Rosenthal lives in Berkeley and grew up in the Bay Area. Her grandfather was a rock hound, her grandmother crocheted and painted china and watercolors; her mother was an artist – she painted and made jewelry. As a child she took classes at Studio One. As a young adult, she did jewelry and batik before pursuing a BFA in Fine Arts at the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1975. She states, “Alexander Calden’s Jewelry and Faberge inspire me.” She has received a number of awards for her printmaking, and is in Arthur Murray’s collection. Her current modality is unique jewelry with handmade beads, semi-precious stones, and pearls, that is whimsical and elegant which she is showing at Expressions Gallery.

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.

Sandhi Schimmel is originally from New York and is now living in Arizona. She spent her youth in art and music lessons and sitting quietly in her bedroom drawing. She often cut school to spend days at the MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, the American Crafts Museum and every gallery in New York City. She completed college in only 3 years, attending 4 different schools and has both a B.A. in Psychology and a BFA in Painting. Graduate studies include work at the New School, UCLA, ASU and many other classes & workshops. Travel is a huge part of her life; She studied mosaics overseas, has been to Europe many times, lived in the Middle East and has visited Africa, Hawaii, Alaska, the Caribbean, Mexico… and much of the United States. Her professional career began painting artistic murals and then went on to designing numerous consumer goods: needlework, leather goods, fashion and accessories. She was the creative force behind On Display Inc., a groundbreaking retail display design & production company and gained national attention and recognition designing stores, fixtures, props and stage sets. Designs for Levi Strauss & Co. appeared on the cover of Visual Merchandising and Store Design Magazine. She painted custom portraits “on the side.” Her current work combining mosaic and painting has built a loyal clientele of private and corporate collectors from the US, Asia and Europe. She states: “ I am a Synesthete – this has affected my entire existence. Drawing, designing, painting - always in color, always in “tune.” I also have perfect pitch, which allowed me to begin piano lessons at four. And, I have eidetic imagery - something like a photographic memory. In my world, words, numbers, and sound are infused with color. My brain is the projector – placing images on blank canvas. This is typical of those with eidetic imagery, and how the early masters "saw" and reproduced their subjects without them being present. My work is an algebraic equation. It is a mathematical progression. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. My "pictures," assembled like a mosaic - are made of thousands of pieces – and words – created from “tiles,” hand-cut from advertising ephemera. Figurative work has always inspired me – specifically, I focus on female faces. My vision is to create beautiful yet thought-provoking images of beauty; employing the disciplines of painting & mosaic to create a connected collection of images in vibrant color. I am a rabid recycler - compelled to up cycle unusual resources to create my work. I up cycle what otherwise might be “trash,” advertising ephemera and images employed to bombard society with their version of beauty – in images and verbiage. Look closely for bits of menus, postcards, business cards, cruise itineraries, gallery openings... stand back to view the sum of the parts - a textural representation of beauty.

Jessica Stafford was raised and currently lives in Sonoma County.  Jessica has been creative and enthralled with art as long as she can remember.  In May 2006, Jessica graduated San Diego State University with her BA in Painting and Printmaking and a minor in Art History. The mediums Jessica uses in her work are oil painting, and mixed media.  She is interested in examining ideas of gender and exploring ideas of femininity in her work.  Jessica has shown in group shows at San Diego State University and San Diego Art Institute.  Jessica has also had various solo shows in restaurants, cafes, banks, and salons throughout Petaluma and San Diego. 

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.”

Vuong Van Nguyen was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1978. He grew up in Wisconsin, Texas, and California. He is currently residing in San Luis Obispo, California. He was interested in arts at an early age and had his first art class at the age of 12. Vuong Van Nguyen self-taught himself. He uses art paper and acrylic as mediums.

Emmryss Wren currently lives in Berkeley and was raised in London, England.  She has received no formal training in art, but has always considered herself creative, making art out of things that were available, at the time.  Her current art uses hubcaps and sticky backed vinyl sheets of color, old jewelry etc:  The artist states that she always starts at the rim and works inward, with no actual conception of the finished outcome. She says the pleasure, for her, is in the end surprise.