Thursday, December 9, 2010

December Artists - Peter McDonald and Debbi Swanson Patrick

The Coffee Gallery is very pleased to announce our artists for December: watercolorist Peter McDonald and scanographer Debbie Swanson Patrick.

In the main room we have the wonderful abstract watercolors created by Peter McDonald.



Peter was a restless journalist when on a whim he took a painting class and discovered a passion he never knew existed.  "It was," the Australian born artist recalled after the first water color class, "love at first brushstroke."  He was immediately drawn to abstraction and his distinctive work is built on watercolor bases and random color and texture and transformed by intricate line work.

More than two decades later his work has been seen in both national and local shows winning numerous awards including the National Watercolor Society's Frode Dann Award. The late Dr. Alex Vilumsons, the prize winning abstract-impressionist, and Tom Fong, the California master teacher and artist were influential in his development as an artist.  He currently studies with ntoed watercolorist Fealing Lin and abtract artist and teacher Terri Balady.

"For me, life is a wonderful abstraction of elusive beauty, mystery and spiritual transformation I feel compelled to explore as an artist and try and make sense of in, well, the abstract," he explains.  He is a member of the National Watercolor Society and the Pasadena Society of Artists.

Visit his website at PeterMcDonaldStudio.com

In the conference room we have the intriguing scanography works of Debbi Swanson Patrick.



Of her work, Debbi states:

"Since the day my father brought home a Polaroid camera I've been in love with making images, the joy of discovery in capturing a moment that will never be again.  Now, I've embraced the art of scanography with it's incredible quality of light and detail to tell stories, capture mood, create a visual-sometime ethereal and whimsical-festival of life and death.  I'm intrigued with contrasts: life/death, old/new, dark/light, real/imitation, daily reality/eternal spirit to connect into our individual emotional waves, and how we manage to live, to cope, and laugh in spite of it all.  Ultimately my goal is to transform past challenges into the beauty of original "Still lives" that reflect joy and lifes' emotional layers by contrasting polished, raw, manufactured, natural and found objects in startling ways.

One of the best moves I ever made was the one to Altadena 15 years ago.  Thank you to all my Altadena/Pasadena friends and family who've been such great supporters and helped me through this past year! Special thanks to Dawn Stevens of Clickers and Flickers and Ed Martin, my scanography mentor and inspiration.  This show is dedicated to my late husband, Steven, for his never-ending faith.

Please visit Debbi's other work at:

photodeb.viewbook.com
AltadenaAboveItAll.com
AltadenaDailyPhoto.com
KPPC's The Freeway on Facebook
digiphotomag.com

Please join Debbie for an 

Artist's Reception on

December 16th 

from 6 pm to 9 pm

at 

The Coffee Gallery.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

September Artists - Janos K. Lanyi and Dorothy Shepherd


In the main room we have the vibrant photography of Janos K. Lanyi.


Artist Profile

As a pre-teen Janos spent all his time drawing and painting, but made the decision to abandon art and turn toward science, which also fascinated him.  He never touched the sketching pencil again, but neither did he stop looking at the world with an artist's eye.  Now, sixty hears later, he has begun to create photographic images, which reflect all he learned from his visual experiences.
Just as every block of marble contains a great sculpture and one need only to trim away the excess, the world is full of great images and the task of the photographer is only to keep an open eye.  He keeps trying to catch those magical moments when form and content come together.  When they do, then there are no questions, no doubts, and no ambiguity: the image is just right.

There is nothing subtle in his photography.  Color or black and white, it is intended to grab your attention, and to demand a "wow".  Being a scientist in his other life, he strives for technical perfection, but that is only the first stage.  the second is when the image connects with the viewer.  He connects best with people, so his subject always includes people or a hint that people are nearby.  the third stage of the "wow" is the soul-crashing impact that is rarely achieved, but once seen never forgotten.  A photograph like that can be a life's ambition.  You have to aim high.

Visit his website at http;//www.janosklanyi.com  

In the conference room we have the beautiful watercolor paintings of artist Dorothy Shepherd.

Artist Profile

Dorothy has been painting in the Chinese brush style of watercolors since 1996, with Chinese 
 Brush artist Nan Rae.  She particularly likes to pain animals, landscapes and flowers.  For the last two years, she has been studying with master Chinese calligrapher Tom Shantian Chow and is learning to paint some of the Chinese calligraphy characters in cursive style.  Many of the brush strokes used in her watercolors are also used in Chinese calligraphy.  By practicing both forms of brushwork she hopes to improve her painting.

Janos K Lanyi's artwork will be on exhibit through September 29th.

Dorothy Shepherd's artwork will be on exhibit through September 22nd.





Monday, July 5, 2010

We Apologize for the Delay

Due to illness this site has not been updated for the August art exhibit.

In short:  In both the main room and the conference room we have the wonderful paintings of Gary Thomas.  Please click on the link below for more information on the artist.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Thomas-Artist/108196752554239


We will have a proper announcements beginning again for our September exhibits.

Thank you for your patience!





Wednesday, June 2, 2010

June Artists - Zofia Kostyrko and Catherine Yu

The Coffee Gallery is pleased to present our June artists, Zofia Kostyrko and Catherine Yu.

In the main room we have Zofia Kostyrko's wonderful portraits of local residence from Altadena and Pasadena. 




Zofia Kostyrko, the Brainy Brush Diva: Fine Artist

Exploring the Yin & Yang Between Portraiture and Commercial Conceptual Design

A native of Warsaw, Poland who  escaped communism as a child.  Zofia Kostyrko has spent a lifetime telling stories.  A classically trained fine artist and designer and a graduate of the Art Center College of Design and the WDI Disney Masters workshops, she uses bold lines and dynamic colors on both digital and cloth canvas as her creative playgrounds.  Under her two separate companies, Zofia Kostyrko-The Brainy Brush Diva and deZign sKape, LLC, the artist offers fine portraiture and commercial conceptual design services respectively.

Lauded as an award-winning conceptual and experienced designer, illustrator and creative director, Kostyrko, as the creative lead behind deZign sKape, LLC, boasts an impressive career spanning over 20 years with a variety of international entertainment-based clients ranging from theme park, exhibit and stage design to network children's programming children's publishing and brand development.

Through Zofia Kostyrko - The Brainy Bush Diva, she is committed to using fine art portraiture as a catalyst to shatter stereotypes and social barriers to celebrate the human spirit and acceptance of others.  Her paintings are held in pultiple private collections and exhbited in both group and individual gallery shows.

Kostyrko has resided in Altadena with her family since the early nineties, where she continues to tell stories through art; drawing inspiration from her loved ones, her community, nature with all of its variations and quirks, music and modern pop culture.

For more details regarding these wonderful portraits please click on the following link:

www.youchangemyworld.com
 
ARTIST RECEPTION:


Sunday, June 13th, 7 pm - 9 pm.


Artist Website: www.brainybrushdiva.com
Artist e-mail contact: zofia@dezignskape.com
Artist Studio Phone #: 626.296.8686


In the conference room we have the lovely oil paintings of artist Catherine Yu.


Catherine Yu, an up and coming Taiwanese American artist, had shown talent in art since she was a little girl.  throughout her childhood and adolescent years, she won numerous art contests and plein air painting competitions in her homeland of Taiwan as well as in the United States.


She's a lady with a diverse background.  She holds two bachelor degrees from UC Irvine - one in Studio Art and the other in Environmental Analysis and Design.  During her time at UC Irvine, she was featured in many group shows as well as having a solo show on campus.  she then attended UCLA for a masters degree in Urban Planning.  Since graduation in 2004, she has been working full-time as an urban planner.


Although art is not her current full-time career, she continues to cultivate her art by taking classes, workshops, and association with other artists.  In recent years, she has studied with California artists Steve Criqui, Kevin Appel, Steve Metzger, and Tom Brown.  She is a permanent member of Gallery So Ho, a co-op gallery located in Pomona.  She also exhibits her paintings twice annually with the Taiwanese American Association of Art.  In May 2008, her paining was published by the City of Los Angeles.  In March 2010, she was invited to exhibit her work in her native country, Taiwan.


Her inspiration comes from American landscape, her travels to different countries, as well as simple daily happenings.  She hopes her art can evoke awareness to the daily blessing that we so often take for granted.


Both artist's work will be on exhibit through June 29th




Sunday, May 2, 2010

May Artist - Assemblage Artist Cynthia Paige Aaron


The Coffee Gallery is pleased to present the artwork of Cynthia Paige Aaron.

Cynthia Paige Aaron has been drawing since childhood, and eventually began constructing mixed media works that delve into a semi-fictional world, inspired by dreams, the macabre, the absurd and the mystical.  Using a combination of objects and ephemera, painting, collage and drawing she manifests a map of her mind and her world.  Synchronicity plays a large part in the construction of the work, and a series of coincidental happenings usually occurs, driving the work forward until completion.

Mostly self-taught, Cynthia has studied at the Fashion Institute, Otis College of Art and Design, Chouinard School of Art and is a member of a SOPA Studios in South Pasadena.  When she is not searching for found objects in the urban landscape, she is exploring the many unique parts of Los Angeles, gathering images and inspiration, and enjoying many genres of music and film.  Cynthia's home and studio is in Los Angeles, California.

Exhibit runs through May 30th.

Reception Information TBA.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

April Artist - Karen Bagnard


The Coffee Gallery is pleased to present the artwork of Karen Bagnard.

Karen Bagnard is a local Altadena artist.  She is largely self-taught and continues to learn from the artists around her.  She has displayed her work in this and surrounding communities most of her life, as well as San Francisco and Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  Working with pen and ink, watercolor pencils and washes, collage and acrylics, her inspiration, in part, is derived from the joy she finds in her life.

This exhibit is a celebration of the artist's joy and gratitude.  Moving out of her "comfort zone" of drawing, Karen has created some bold, bright canvases with brush and paint.  She hopes her work will spark a kindred spirit in her viewers!  Enjoy!


Tuesday, March 9, 2010

March Artists - Clarence Stubblefield and Paula Delfosse



The Coffee Gallery is pleased to present the artwork of painters Clarence Stubblefield and Paula Delfosse.


In the main room we have the artwork of Clarence Stubblefield.


Clarence began his artistic development at a very early age, and cuntinued his formal training at Los Angeles City College.  He works primarily with acrylics, but he has also used other mediums (wood and photographs) to express his artistic talents.

He is best known for his beautiful original acrylics entitled "Instrumentalists", "Living and Working in the West Indies", "A Series of Old Houses" (in and around Pasadena) and "Children at Work and Play". 


In the conference room we have the artwork of Paula Delfosse.


Born in California, Paula Delfosse moved with her family to Maryland when she was five, and did not return to her home state until the age of twenty-one.  

Raised in a family which valued the practical above all else, her innate love of drawing and painting was discouraged, only to be reawakened after taking the course, Drawing for Non-Art Majors, as a humanities requirement during her studies as a biology major at Towson State University in Maryland.  Subsequently, Delfosse focused on art studies at Pasadena City College for a year to develop a portfolio prior to being accepted to the prestigious Art Center College of Design, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Art in Illustration.  However, after receiving repeated feedback from potential commercial clients that her technique was too "painterly", she opted for a career in fine arts where her artistic method and perceptions are better suited. 

Paula has since worked in diverse arenas, painting backdrops for photography, designing scenery and creating artwork for local theatre, and producing decorative murals for private residences. Studies with Peter Adams, Junn Roca and Tim Solliday refined and developed her plein air and fine art techniques. 

Please join us for an artist's reception on March 27th
from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Wine and cheese will be served.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

February Artists - Jennifer Mullens and Rick Strieck


The Coffee Gallery is pleased to present the artwork of felt maker Jennifer Mullens and illustrator/painter Rick Strieck.

Exhibit runs through February 27th.

In the main room we have the beautiful artwork of felt maker Jennifer Mullens.



Jennifer discovered the art of felt making in a textile class at San Francisco State University where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Art History.

Shifting her emphasis from painting to textiles, opened up a more organic approach to her art.  The wool takes on a life of its own, as it shrinks and binds together, taking over the design, as the fibers are rolled and beaten into a piece of felt.  It's like taking a painting, that she worked on for days and then rolling it up, while it is still wet, and beating it with a broom.

Felt making  is both a physically and artistically challenging medium.  She draws her inspiration from nature and creates many of her pieces outdoors.

In the conference room we have the incredibly imaginative work of illustrator/painter 
Rick Strieck.



Born in California, Rick was drawn to the exciting and scary world of monsters, fairy tales, and nightmares.  He was heavily inspired by classic horror films, comic books, fine art and authors such as Clive Barker, Edward Gorey and Sam Keith.

Although he aspires to provide his unique stile to comic books and children's literature, Rick continues to broaden his experiences and opportunities in the arts.  Other than a limited amount of high school, college art classes and personal workshops, he has not had a large amount of formal training.

Rick continues to absorb ideas and spends his free time locked in his "Dungeon" creating playfully creepy illustrations which have the look and appeal of a child's imaginations, but the dark and twisted style only he could create.

Monday, January 4, 2010

January 2010 - The Photography of Annie Fourguette!



The Coffee Gallery is pleased to be starting off the New Year with an exhibit of the compelling photography of Annie Fourguette!

Annie is an L.A. area photographer whose passion for photography started in high school. Annie has a great love of nature and brings this depth of feeling to her landscape imagery.  She also loves unique urban architectural settings and distinctive views of daily life.  Her work has been shown in many local galleries, and is currently on display at the Heart and Soul Healing Arts Center in Pasadena.  Annie’s work was also recently juried into the Topanga Canyon Gallery Digital Arts Show.  She has also been published in BMW Magazine and Women on Wheels, a national journal with approximately 100,000 readers.  Annie is currently completing a black and white photo essay, Women Who Ride, a series of photographs highlighting the diversity of women who ride motorcycles.

Annie’s images give the viewer a window into the soul of her subjects.



Her work will be on exhibit from January 3rd until January 31st.

Please join us for a reception on Sunday, January 10th 

from 4:00 pm until 7:00 pm