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Past Exhibitions
1 • 2 • 3
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Copyright © 2009 Erin Hamilton
Reception: Friday, April 3, 2009, 5 to 8 pm
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Domestic Relocation
A playful arrangement of the absurd relationships between humans and our environment.
by Erin Hamilton
Reception: Friday, April 3, 2009, 5 to 8 pm
Exhibition: April 3 to April 29, 2009
Artist Statement
I look for influences and gather ideas from my immediate environment and the designs within it; music, film, architecture, environmental issues, politics, plant structures, animals, photography, graphic design, literature, silly, serious, and strange people, fashion, textiles, and patterns found within nature. Conceptually this specific group of artwork is a playful commentary about the shared environmental habits, chosen and imposed between humans and animals. We share traits and characteristics with various species and we make profound decisions that affect the overall health of the planet and then expect the rest of the creatures to deal with our customs, our noise, pollution, structures, eating habits, waste, and dwelling locations. There is humor and sadness in the human experience and I intend to comment and play with the notion of both.
Artist Bio
Making art is my way of sharing and communicating ideas with people, translating either in an abstracted, textured, colorful and symbolic way, or in a very literal way depending on the concept and project. I’m likely to be found working on illustration projects, both personal work and commissions involving birds, animals, people or plants and am currently studying for my MFA in illustration at the Academy of Art with the goal of diversifying the projects I do and my own capabilities as a draftsperson. Realism and abstraction are equally essential to my experience and sense of place and I really enjoy when I can merge the two in an art piece as I think the literal and the interpretive satisfy different parts of the mind and help to explain and balance each other. Sometimes it’s very clear what we’re seeing and/or doing, but there’s always a hint of mystery or ambiguity surrounding any given experience and art is no different.
Some of my goals as an artist are to provide a sensory experience that enriches a moment, or a pause to say “hmmmm”, a beautiful color scheme derived from nature but re-interpreted, a smile, a warm feel good, and a relationship that those feel good moments are sometimes connected with something more serious or ugly just beneath the surface. I want to provoke and or twist the concept of beauty, and spark a connection or a thought process with someone through an image.
Artist Questionnaire
1. Briefly describe your process for making a representative piece from this show.
Primarily I use acrylic paint and pencil to illustrate my concepts. I use photo references for more detailed imagery and play with color and design until I'm satisfied.
2. What time of day do you work?
When I'm not sleeping, I'm working.
3. Where do you work?
I work wherever I can.
4. What materials/medium do you work with?
Acrylic paint, pencil, pen and ink.
5. Where do you get your inspiration?
See above.
6. Briefly describe an interesting anecdote about your process or a piece in this show:
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Copyright © 2009 Ryan Blackman
indie/folk rock by Jenn Harper
jenn harper myspace page
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Night Scenes
Evenings in an urban environment.
by Ryan Blackman
Reception: Friday, March 6, 2009, 5 to 8 pm
Exhibition: March 6 to April 1, 2009
Artist Statement
These paintings represent a body of work spanning a two year period which focuses on a somewhat romantic yet ambiguous perspective of urban nightlife. It's an exploration of movement and how artificial light affects the atmosphere of any given night scene. Inspiration is drawn from both photographic reference and life experiences.
Artist Bio
For the last eight years, Ryan has been painting realist subjects in oil, and has been making art for most of his life. He also works for a fine art-handling company and lives with his wife in Oakland, California.
Artist Questionnaire
1. Briefly describe your process for making a representative piece from this show.
Each idea I have to do a piece tends to bring out a different response with regard to technique and execution of the painting. But in general: (1) get the idea, (2) gather reference material, (3) do studies in graphite/oil, and (4) build up the painting layer by layer working from simple to complex, shifting color, value, and composition until the feeling of the piece matches my original intention (if at all possible).
2. What time of day do you work?
I'm a morning person
3. Where do you work?
My studio in Alameda, but looking for one in Oakland.
4. What materials/medium do you work with?
Mostly oil on canvas, occasionally on wood panel. I do drawings and preliminary studies as well.
5. Where do you get your inspiration?
Life experiences as they relate to visual memories, moments in time. And sometimes music.
6. Briefly describe an interesting anecdote about your process or a piece in this show:
Most of the pieces in this show have many layers of paint in order to achieve a certain look, like the Red Curtain; I could never have achieved that candy-like red color by simply applying red paint. You're looking at 7 or 8 layers of transparent color and several different kinds of red overlapping.
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Copyright © 2009 Cleo Vilett
Slow-Gin © 2009 Colin McClure
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Walking Oakland
Things to see between here and there.
by Cleo Vilett
Reception: Friday, February 6, 2009, 5 to 8 pm
with special musical guest SLOW-GIN
djs king kooba & the trout
spinning jazz & downtemp love songs
www.slow-gin.com
Exhibition: February 6 to March 4, 2009
Artist Statement
"This series was inspired from the many big and little “treats” I discovered as I walked around Oakland. Many of the views were happenstance, discoveries I found on a natural, daily path between my studio and the gym and back. The more I noticed, the more I chose to seek, and my path began to widen and radiate outward.
I soon found a momentum carrying the feel of the show in a direction of its own. The medium used in these pieces may weave a common thread through a variety of subjects, but they are all very much here as part of this place. Tying our outer boundary of the bay, and eventually the ocean, to such an urban environment may not have happened consciously, but I doubt it was an accident either. "
Artist Bio
Landscape painting has been peripheral, yet quite a constant, throughout my development as an artist. Plein-air painting, no less, was what pushed me onto an artistic path in the first place. My usual subject matter, the ocean and the crazy, beautiful creatures that live there, inspired my degree in Marine Biology and eventually Scientific Illustration. I have kept my work mostly focused on our natural world. To those familiar with my previous work, this series may seem like a departure. But as everything lies connected, it all seemed the same to me. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my “vacation” on land, paying closer attention to what’s all around me everyday.
Artist Questionnaire
1. Briefly describe your process for making a representative piece from this show.
Each piece starts with a black and white watercolor that I work up from a photograph or from a series of photographs. I then transfer that watercolor into a wood panel, hand paint it with acrylics and then seal it in resin.
2. What time of day do you work?
This is my day job, so I work whenever I can!
3. Where do you work?
I have a studio near jack London Square, behind Swarm Gallery at 560 2nd Street in Oakland.
4. What materials/medium do you work with?
For this series I used watercolors, acrylics, wood panels and resin. I also work in oils on canvas.
5. Where do you get your inspiration?
For this series, my inspirations came from walking to the gym from my studio and back or around Lake Merritt and downtown Oakland. The more I found, the more I wanted to look, and so on. There is a lot of old beauty here that I hadn't looked closely at before.
6. Briefly describe an interesting anecdote about your process or a piece in this show:
Well, I wasn't sure what direction this show would take until after I finished the first piece which was the "Awaken" sign. I did that because this is where the show would be, but it turned out better than I'd hoped and caused me too look for similar subjects around Oakland.
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Copyright © 2008 Cary Hock
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Rust
Photographs emphasizing aged imperfections
by Cary Hock
Reception: Friday, January 9, 2009, 5 to 8 pm
Exhibition: January 7 to February 4, 2009
Artist Statement
Trees, machinery, buildings become rugged, worn, textured with imperfections over time. With the aging process comes increased personality and an aesthetic perfection. This collection of photos highlights the imperfections that bring out the unique beauty of my subjects.
Artist Bio
Husband, father of two wonderful daughters, elementary school teacher, life-long learner. Resident of Granville, Ohio. B.S. and Master of Arts degrees in Education from the Ohio State University. Deeply involved with my family, finding constant joy in parenting and playing an active role in the development of my daughters. Love to learn new things, explore, have fun.
Artist Questionnaire
1. Briefly describe your process for making a representative piece from this show.
I am always looking for different ways of looking at the same subject. Computer manipulation allows me to be creative beyond capturing the image. I "play around" with the subject until I see a unique perspective. Images are developed professionally in a central Ohio lab.
2. What time of day do you work?
I like to take photos during the day using natural, available light. Although morning and evening provide the best natural light, I like daylight when a polarizing filter works well.
3. Where do you work?
I like to photograph in the moment of exploring, usually on excursions with my family, sometimes alone on purposeful photo specific jaunts. Although I am constantly scanning my surroundings, most of my images occur through chance encounters.
4. What materials/medium do you work with?
I manipulate photos using Photoshop. I mainly work with lab processed photos. I like the effects of black and white.
5. Where do you get your inspiration?
I take my camera everywhere. I drive my wife crazy because we just can't go somewhere and it not be about photographing, which it usually turns out to be. She calls the camera the son I never had. Taking photos helps to satisfy my addictive nature in a positive way. I take pictures for enjoyment. Its therapeutic, a way to relax. I like that I do not know everything about photography and the intricacies of a camera. It’s a learning process. It keeps my photography honest and simple. I have a thirst to do new things and learn more. I like that I can capture an image that might otherwise be overlooked and make it something that people notice or want to look at… and I smile.
6. Briefly describe an interesting anecdote about your process or a piece in this show:
The Electric Pole caught my attention because I love to collect the old glass insulators. I had passed this pole many times before open day deciding to capture it. Silhouetted against the Sun exaggerated the remnants of vines built up over time. Shortly after I took this photo, the row of poles along the railroad tracks was removed. An eyesore to many, I enjoyed the tilted distressed look of the pole.
The Lichen covered wood shingles aren't too noticeable until you look closely at them. While walking through a local arboretum, I was able to view them atop a spring house with a low roof. (Spring houses are built over small streams and springs. The temperature stays 50 degrees (F) and were used before refrigerators to keep food cool.) The images are not manipulated. The tiny red heads atop the grey-green stems rise only centimeters off the roof creating a layered effect with the warped wooden shingles and worn painted trim boards.
Bevel Gears - These gears are part of a crane system that was just outside the basement of a school I taught at in Newark, built in 1939. The school used to be heated by coal. Iron furnace parts were lowered into the basement using the pulley and gear system.
Smoke Stack is the tall chimney of the same building. In the photo, it is half the original height. Due to structural issues and a threat of wind damage, the to of the stack was raised. The photo was manipulated to emphasize color.
Rural Gateway was taken in the fall of 2005 on a farm owned by my neighbor in Monroe County. I like the way my eyes wind through the photo. Plow and Seed Drill are sitting in the woods along a path, signs that the property was once an active working farm. The 90 acre property is a beautiful hilly expanse of woods and meadows, constantly being planted with new trees by the owner.
While driving through Idaho with my family, the highway turned left revealing the old home, Idaho Homestead, to the right on a hill at the end of a gravel road. It has a character all its own and if it has not been photographed a hundred times, I would not be surprised. The sky worked perfectly with a polarizing filter. When using the solarize filter (on photos with a polarizing filter) on Photoshop, the sky bursts into a burnt orange that I think haunts old subjects. The same effect was used on Autumn Rust. Old McCormick tractors were on display at a pumpkin patch. McCormick#1 & #2 were taken there as well.
The vehicle in Forward Motion is an old Ford pickup. I started playing with this photo of the front grill and got the effect that I have been unable to duplicate with other photos, because they do not capture the combination of color, movement, and the cross that emerged as I manipulated the hue and saturation. There are imperfections, but each time I look at this picture it holds my attention.
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Copyright © 2008 Laura Basha Neuhausel
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Pen, Paint, and Paper Through Time
Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Giclees from 1970 to 2008
by Laura Basha
Reception: Friday, December 5, 2008, 5 to 8 pm
Exhibition: December 3 to December 31, 2008
Artist Statement
"This show is a small sampling of the various pieces and mediums with which I have worked over the last four decades. What ties the pieces together is the ongoing reflective nature that has inspired and expressed them: the resilience of the human spirit, the magnificence of our capacity to transform, re-create and heal ourselves; the poignancy and depth of our emotional life; the quest for knowledge, understanding, and compassion for our humanness; the quest for self-realization and self-actualization; the appreciation of beauty; the blessing of humor.
The animal images in the work are archetypal symbols, acting as timeless communicators that resonate non-verbal messages, stirring us in depths we cannot always articulate. The mixed media of string, flowers, leaves and photos are all elements that compose my palette.
Art is Life, life is art. Please enjpy!"
Artist Bio
Laura Basha, Ph.D., is a professional coach, educator, writer and artist, specializing in personal transformation and creative self-expression. She is a certified trainer and holds a B.A. in Fine Arts, a M.A. in Counseling Psychology, and a doctorate in Clinical and Organizational Psychology. She studied healing for 15 years and has been a consultant, educator, color artist, and personal coach for thousands of clients since 1978.
A national speaker and accomplished artist, one of her specific passions is empowering women to bring forth their innate feminine wisdom and authenticity in such a way as to dramatically increase the health and positive self-expression of each woman's self and world.
The synthesis of Laura's work finds its expression through her Transformative Arts business: White Bird Rising. She offers individual and organizational Co-active Coaching and Advanced Leadership Development, workshops, and tailored presentations.
Artist Questionnaire
1. Briefly describe your process for making a representative piece from this show.
I begin with an inspired context, an insight, a simple sense, a poem, a memory, a quote. After designing the basic composition, I then allow the painting to unfold itself through me. This takes a quieting of the intellect and a deep listening for the unknown. I use paint, objects, fabric, paper, leaves, flowers, string, photos. All these elements compose my palette.
The painting emerges, often with an unpremeditated symbol, which captures the process involved in the creation. In working through the process which the painting presents, I wrestle with its demons, its confrontations, its perplexities and riddles, and when they are sorted through, the painting is complete. It is the conduit for its own Essence. It stands on its own as a koan for the viewer.
At this point I let the painting go to bring whatever it will offer to another.
2. What time of day do you work?
All times of the day, but usually morning into late afternoon.
3. Where do you work?
White Bird Rising Studio, my home art studio.
4. What materials/medium do you work with?
Mixed media, acrylic based paint.
5. Where do you get your inspiration?
As stated above, I begin with an inspired context, an insight, a simple sense, a poem, a memory, a quote. After designing the basic composition, I then allow the painting to unfold itself through me.
6. Briefly describe an interesting anecdote about your process or a piece in this show:
For "The Hare and the Moon", I was listening, if you will, for an image for my next painting. I was absentmindedly looking at one of the tiles in our bathroom floor, and the image of the face of a hare emerged. I looked away and looked back, and there the image was still. I went downstairs to prepare the next canvas, and I picked up a nature magazine I had in the studio, and on the back cover was the frontal head shot of a beautiful hare! I went upstairs to the kitchen and my husband had just purchased a new wine, the label of which had the picture of a hare running across it. "OK!", I thought to myself. "A hare it is!", and I began the composition you now see in "The Hare and the Moon."
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Copyright © 2008 Marianne Hale
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Nature Speaks
Art from the heart of nature
by Marianne Hale
Reception: Friday, November 7, 2008, 5 to 8 pm
Exhibition: November 6 to December 3, 2008
Artist Statement
As a lover of nature, photography and language, this series represents a synthesis of what Marianne's heart has longed to express for years. Her intention is to create art that inspires us to feel our connection with our emotional inner landscape and that which exists in the outer realm. Nature speaks. When she listens and "reads" a place, Mother Nature & the artist co-create the magic of the scene, culminating in capturing the perfect moment.
Impermanence & beauty exist in every moment, grabbing our attention if we are aware, awake and willing to take it in. Nature teaches her to love now, whatever or whoever is in front of her, and to revel in the beauty of a single, simple moment. As the waves wash away the words, so too, does time wash away into the next moment.
It is this message of serendipity and grace that Marianne aspires to create in her art.
Artist Bio
Artist, photographer, creative facilitator and muse. Marianne just recently remembered that when she was seven years old, instead of creating a lemonade stand to make money, she was painting rocks and selling them to people as they passed by on the busy road on which she lived.
"I am clear that who I am at my fundamental core is an artist. An artist in creating my life, an artist of expression and an artist in loving people and finding the best in them. I am a 'Jane of all trades' and a lover of life no matter what I am doing. I am a stand that artists and healing artists get to live our lives as our career, thriving and offering what we do best for the world."
Marianne's work has been seen all over the Bay Area in print form, greeting cards and gifts for peoples' special events.
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Past Exhibitions
1 • 2 • 3
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