OJAI STUDIO ARTISTS TOUR
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Visit the beautiful Ojai Valley and tour the studios of 30 Ojai artists on October 9 and 10, 1999. Your ticket also entitles you to attend a gala reception and benefit art auction at the Ojai Art Center on Saturday evening from 7 to 9 pm. Proceeds from the sale of tickets fund art scholarships, community outreach programs, art center improvements and other worthwhile efforts in the arts.
TOUR 99 ARTISTS (listed here in alphabetical order):
Christine Brennan, a painter and printmaker, earned a BFA degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. The artist creates dreamlike, enigmatic paintings and prints. She has had many exhibitions of her work, including a 1999 one-woman show at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Oxnard. Currently represented by galleries in Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Denver and Ventura County, her works are available in Ojai at the Humanarts Gallery.
Gayel Childress, is a painter who works in diverse media and has studied with several master artists. Childress paints with a touch of whimsey and the subjects of her colorful, experimental works include the figure, landscape and still life. She has exhibited widely and her work is represented in collections throughout the United States and in Europe. She is a member of Gold Coast Watercolor Society and owner of the Gayel Childress Gallery.
Bert Collins, is a noted Ojai Valley artist, painter and teacher who has won more than 200 awards during her 30 year career. Her realistic scenes contain naturalistic color and fine detail. She is a member of the Santa Barbara Art Association and the Ventura County Pastel Artists Association. Galleries in cities such as Palm Springs, Newport Beach and Beverly Hills have represented her. In 1997 she was honored by the City of Ojai for lifetime achievement in the arts.
Bernadette DiPietro, who studied at the University of Pittsburgh and the Ivy School of Art, has exhibited her work worldwide since 1979 and taught art for 30 years. She creates batiks that combine ancient technique with modern imagery to make a beautiful new synthesis based upon her studies of the folk art of Mexico, Central America and the Pacific Northwest. Her work is shown at the Carlton Gallery in Ojai.
John Farnham, master of design from the University of Wisconsin, creates monumental outdoor sculptures of steel. His aim is to unify the harshness and coldness of industry with the human or lyrical aspect of life. Farnham has completed a number of public commissions, especially for churches, and received an award of merit from the Wisconsin Chapter, American Institute of Architects. The Running Ridge Gallery in New Mexico represents him.
Ruth Farnham, a graduate of the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design, works in oil and pastels to create paintings that are expressions of scenes, myths and legends recalled from memory that is fed by extensive travel to Mediterranean Europe and the American Southwest. The Running Ridge Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico Fe, represents her.
Maudette Ball Finck, MFA, California State University, Long Beach, is a painter and printmaker. The artist's monoprints, with their gentle color, synthesize painting and printmaking in an exploration of nature. Ball has taught at CSULB and the University of California, Irvine, and has exhibited her work in southern California. She is a member of the International Art Critics Association.
Theodore T. Gall, a sculptor who works in welded steel, cast stainless steel and bronze, creates figurative works in both intimate and monumental scale inspired by diverse sources. Gall studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Academy of Art and has worked as an animator, graphic and package designer. The artist's work is exhibited nationally and included major collections. He is represented by galleries in New Mexico and California.
Barbara Greene paints lyrical landscapes and figures in watercolor and mixed media. A native New Yorker, Greene studied at the Art Students League and the Pratt Institute. She is a member of the Gold Coast Watercolor Society and other regional art associations, and her work has been exhibited often in Ventura County.
Greene shows and teaches at the Back Arbor Gallery in Ojai.
Otto Heino, an internationally known potter, creates works that include wood-fired pieces, large pots with imaginative glazes, delicate porcelain pieces and wall tiles. His works have been shown in more than 200 major international and national exhibitions and in 1991, he was made an honorary member of the International Ceramic Academy. He also received a Gold Medal from the Sixth Biennial Internationale de Ceramique at Vallauris, France.
Richard Keit and Mary Kennedy: RTK Studios make architectural ceramic art and tile. They are dedicated to keeping alive to the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 1900s and are also specialists in the restoration of historic tile works. Their tile fountains, murals and complete architectural treatments have been incorporated into many public buildings and private residences, including extensive projects on Catalina Island and works in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Leila Kleiman studied in Arizona and California. She carves in stone, models in clay, and paints in various media. Kleiman's sculptural forms as well as her recent Ojai landscapes express her fascination with line and color. A member of the Golden State Sculpture Association and the Buenaventura Art Assocation, she has exhibited her work in southern California. She is represented by the Back Arbor Gallery, Ojai.
Ronda Linette LaRue is a sculptor and ceremonial mask maker with formal training as a social research scientist. Her works, which include life masks of Beatrice Wood at 104 years of age and Lt. Col. Frank Noyes at 101, celebrate the body. Along with a new series of sculpture, the artist will present an interactive exhibit about the new millenium where visitors will enter into a shrouded, multi-sensory labyrinth.
Don Lazo, a self taught artist, paints colorful California landscapes and portraits that evoke today. Landscapes range from views of the pink tinged Topa Topa Mountains to the palm fringed coastline of Ventura County, while his portraits are characterized by bold shapes, light and shadow.
Sherry Loehr, MA Columbia University, creates contemporary paintings of everyday life, which combine realistic treatment of the subjects with abstract backgrounds. Her work has been included in exhibitions by, among others, the National Watercolor Society and the Carnegie Art Museum. She has won several best of show awards and her work is included in national publications.
Alice Matzkin creates large, colorful acrylic portraits that reveal the majesty and strength of character within each of her subjects. Her paintings are included in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, and she recently completed a commissioned portrait of Chelsea Clinton for presentation to President and Mrs. Clinton.
Richard Matzkin, a figurative sculptor working in clay and bronze, examines the ages and stages of mankind in a compassionate manner. Matzkin studied art Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles before pursuing a career in music and psychology, later returning to art. He has had one-man exhibitions at the Ojai Art Center and in Ventura. His works are in collections throughout the United States.
James McCarthy creates fine furniture inspired by the California Arts and Crafts movement and oriental design. His works range from single pieces of furniture to custom woodworking and cabinetry in historic houses. McCarthy graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara and received additional training at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Furniture Making and Antique Restoration. He has taught at California State University, Northridge and the University of Maine.
Edward Morgan creates pottery in a wide variety of classic forms using unique ancient and contemporary finishing techniques. He has taught at Moorpark College and is a member of the Ventura Potters Guild as well as the American Ceramics Society. Noteworthy exhibitions of his work include those at Claremont College in California and at the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand. He is represented by the SyZyGy Gallery in Florida and by the Ojai Valley Gallery.
Marta Nelson creates contemporary expressions in printmaking, painting and papier-mâché. She is currently working on a series of ethnic dancers characterized by vibrant color and the spirit of the dance. Nelson studied at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles as well as with painters Robert Wood and Rex Brandt among others. She has exhibited widely and her works are in collections in the United States, Mexico and Japan.
Joseph Pelka makes a variety of forms, colors and textures in fired clay, with an emphasis on hand building. The creatures he encounters on nature walks inspire many works. Pelka studied at Orange Coast College and worked as a production potter. He exhibits at the Echo Gallery in Westlake Village and the Carlton Gallery, Ojai. Shows in 1999 included the Beverly Hills Art-A-Fair and the La Quinta Arts Foundation.
Sylvia Raz makes figurative sculpture in carved stone and clay, along with assemblage works from found objects. She strives to capture in her sculpture both the sublime and pathetic aspects of life, from a feminist viewpoint. A native of Uruguay, Raz lived for ten years in Israel. There, she studied art at the Betzalel Institute while teaching psychiatric nursing. After settling in the United States in 1974, she studied art at UCLA and Santa Monica College.
Elaine Rogers, a traditional watercolorist, makes works that are transparent and representational. Her Matilija poppies and other paintings have been published in American Artist Magazine. Rogers, who studied at Ventura College and with master teachers such as Robert Wood, exhibits nationally in exhibitions sponsored by the National Watercolor Society and others. She is a signature member of Watercolor West.
Nancy Rupp is a marine biologist and master calligraphic artist who has studied and taught in the United States and China. Her recent works push the limits of traditional calligraphic form by introducing planes of bold color. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, including a one-woman exhibition at the Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, and in the International Calligraphy Show in Seoul. Rupp is a member of the Sumi-e Society of
America.
Suzannah Sale, BFA University of Arizona, is a painter, printmaker and mixed media artist. Her love of the desert regions of the Southwest is evident in many of her paintings. Also noteworthy are her large paintings of floral subjects such as Ojai's Matilija Poppy. Sale has exhibited her works throughout southern California and is a member of the Gold Coast Watercolor Society and the Ventura County Pastel Artists.
Betty S. Saunders earned a BFA degree from the Santa Barbara Art Institute and did post-graduate work in New York and Mexico. The retired chairperson of the Thacher School Fine Arts Department, she often paints during her travels here and abroad. Her colorful paintings, batiks and sculpture have been exhibited in
Canada, New Zealand, Belgium, England and the United States.
Jeffrey Seaton meticulously crafts museum quality sculptural and functional boxes from exotic and domestic woods. His commitment to perfection is a refreshing contrast in the world of mass production. Seaton's work is exhibited nationally and is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New City. He has also been featured in regional and national publications.
Judith Thompson is a figurative painter who employs strong use of color and line in large scaled acrylic portraits. In her interpretative portraits, she paints what she sees, not what is always shown. The artist earned an MFA degree from Temple University where she also taught and worked for three years in a bronze foundry. She has shown her works at the Gayel Childress Gallery, Ojai.
Leslie Thompson creates elegant porcelain vessels incised with hard-edged geometric designs influenced by Pueblo Indian pottery, Escher drawings and optical kinetic art. Thompson studied art at the University of Chicago and graduated from Caufield Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Her works are widely collected and President Clinton has given selected pieces to visiting heads of state.
Nancy Whitman is a painter whose exuberant, colorful works are influenced by Matisse, Jawlensky and the Fauves. Her works often reflect the beauty of her studio and gallery located in a tree-filled canyon of the Upper Ojai. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, she pursued graduate studies in Paris and at the Art Institute of Chicago. Whitman's works hang in public and private collections throughout the United States.
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