The artist, America Martin, is a traveler between mediums. Her painting and drawings are emphatic expressions of playful references to a number of the major schools of the twentieth century, as well as to enduring indigenous art forms.
America’s favorite landscape is the landscape of the human form. Her work is distinguished by a command of line and color and is firmly grounded in the classics.
America studied painting with Vernon Wilson of Art Center School of Design in Pasadena, California. She was also a scholarship student at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.
A Midwest native, Sherri Belassen has been a painter for as long as she can remember. Her artistic journey began when she flew alongside her father in his small plane. It was there that she became keenly aware of shapes and color, patching and painting the landscape beneath them as they flew high above.
Because the flights were often bumpy, her father advised her that focusing on the horizon would bring her a sense of balance.
She went on to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Indiana University and began showing her work in 1989. Since then, Sherri’s work has appeared in galleries and publications nationwide.
Born in Marina del Rey, California, in 1972. Attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA from 1990-91. Attended Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia in 1994. He currently lives and paints in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Because Jesse has traveled to many places including Europe, South Africa, Asia and South America for the most part of the last decade, he encourages the viewer of his art to decipher his canvases as they might a menu in a foreign language; to let their imagination fill the gaps of understanding while the stomach rumbles in anticipation.
Brianna Lamar was born in Ventura, California on April 24, 1984. She grew up in the nearby Ojai Valley
and discovered her talent and love for art at a very young age. At age 18 she left home to study fashion
design in New York City and Florence, Italy. There she earned her A.A.S. degree from the Fashion Insti-
tute of Technology. She returned home to California, setting aside her love of fashion design, to pursue
her passion for fine art. Her path of development has included a variety of classes and lots of self-study
in the pursuit to unlock her true, authentic voice as an artist, designer and poet.
Brianna’s art reflects her captivation with the intricate beauty and exquisite design of the natural world
as well as her enchantment with spirit and dreams. She is seduced by all elements of visual beauty:
form, color, line, composition, tone, negative space and how they relate to one another. Her art practice
is like a meditation on the unfolding flow of creation as the grace of the divine guides her on a journey
full of magical surprises. She is eternally grateful for this gift to create and hopes the inspiration and
wonder she feels is transmitted to the viewer.
Affectionately known as “Unc”, Albert Valdes left a collection of such remarkable art that had he not chosen the life of a recluse, he most likely would be considered one of the top Mexican American artists of our time.
Albert was born in 1918 in Texas and moved with his family to East Los Angeles when was he was two years old. His father, a classical musician, died in Mexico when Albert was just a teenager. He graduated from Lincoln High School and later attended art school.
After serving in the army during WWII, he returned to his parent’s home in Silver Lake. Albert then began a very successful professional career as a commercial artist. Once he retired, Albert’s dream was to devote the rest of his life creating fine art. It was at this time that he closed himself off from the world and painted daily from morning to evening. Painting was his love, his obsession, his reason for being.
Albert was the quintessential reclusive artist. He continuously ignored the urgings of his family to exhibit his work. He did not even leave home to purchase his art supplies. He would write a list, and his sister-in-law would make the purchases for him.
Albert suffered from prostate problems, but after seeing a physician in approximately 1980 he wanted no longer to continue medical care. In time, the physical pain became unbearable, and in 1998 Albert took his own life. The last piece completed was left on his easel and titled “Adios.”
As his legacy, Albert Valdes has left us a body of fine art genuinely inspired by his heritage, and a lifetime of achievements and personal tribulations.
“He had in his eyes
The look of goodness
It was always in his eyes
He no longer knew about
Sadness, disenchantment
Nor pain
Enclosed behind the old doors
Of his old convent
He was free like the wind
He owned the rainbow
And painted its colors as his own…”
Excerpt from ‘Free Like the Wind’
Written in tribute by
Francisco “Poncho” Rodriguez.