Merlich Art Glass

Home of master glass artisan Beglar Merlich and his daughter, Jennifer Merlich.  Whether you’re an artist looking for supplies, a prospective new student hoping to learn stained or fused glass techniques in a fun, creative environment, or someone who appreciates art and has a taste for something a little out of the ordinary, you’ve definitely come to the right place!

Located in beautiful Ventura, California, the Merlichs have over 40 years of combined experience designing glass artwork.  In every piece they create, you can see their exquisite attention to detail and superior quality of design.

Elena Horowitz-Brookes‘ most recent series, ‘End of Bees’, explores an altered reality where earthy terrains, micro organisms, and spacial environments reside and collide. Defying this post-apocalyptic world with a sense of whimsy, she candidly exposes fresh approaches to upending compositions, as she tweaks colors to an acidic charge. Bee-like forms symbolize a mutated environment, but in their abstract nature, the true meaning is open for interpretation and thought provocation. Ms Horowitz-Brookes has attended Otis Art Institute and UC Santa Barbara where she received her BFA degree.

elenahorowitz-brookes.com

Celia Hartman Reich
Bell Arts Factory

I began sculpting in 1997 and was very fortunate to catch the interest of Bill Stone and Mary Margaret Nash of Collector’s Galleries of Fine Art in Hawaii.

This relationship launched my career in the arts.  Over the years I have been represented by numerous galleries including Exposures of the West: Sedona,

Wyland Galleries: Florida, Regis Gallery: Las Vegas, Celebration of Fine Art: San Diego, Genesis Gallery: Hawaii, Moonstones Gallery: Cambria, and Red Brick

Gallery:Ventura to name a few.  While bronze sculpture is my main medium, I also paint in gauche on water color paper, cast jewelry, and dabble in photography.

www.sonofineart.com

West End Gallery is an all-female owned and operated shop dedicated to custom tattooing and piercing at a high creative and safety standard. We welcome walk-ins as well as appointments. Formerly known as the ladies of Dogwood Studio, we have reopened under the new name, WEST END GALLERY. Same wonderful women and same location, just a new name!

HOURS

TUES: 2pm-8pm
WED: 2pm-8pm
THURSDAY: 2pm-8pm
FRIDAY: 2pm-10pm
SATURDAY: 12pm-10pm
SUNDAY-MONDAY: CLOSED

35 S. Ventura Ave.
Ventura, CA 93001

805.641.1729

I create original handwoven wool rugs and wall tapestries that combine my strong sense of color and design with weaving to make bold design statements. My rugs are “art for the floor.” They are artistic and useful, uplifting and functional pieces to cover another boundary of a living environment. There is something very satisfying about the colors and textures of a woven piece because the luster of the materials add dimension and life to the colors. The wool was once a living fiber and carries that life into the piece that I make.

I like exploring how the fiber reflects light and color differently than paint or other mediums. I weave in a loose, painterly fashion creating my pieces as I weave, changing color, shapes and format as needed while I build the weaving. My designs are very graphic and each piece is a one-of-a-kind graphic expression.

To me, a person’s home is like a canvas, it can be filled with merely functional items or with art and handcrafted objects that have both a function and an aesthetic purpose. I like being part of a tradition of making something by hand that expresses beauty while being functional, something that can evoke feelings and emotions as a painting might, though it uses the floor as the frame for the piece.

Another exploration, my tapestries, allow me to create additional dimension in my work by working in 3D. I continue to use color and shapes as abstract representation while exploring more sculptural and dimensional forms. The final design is enhanced using additional natural elements, such as twigs and drift wood, that, like the wool, were once living. Incorporating natural elements and traditional techniques into my work establishes a bridge between an artistic tradition and the expression of my contemporary designs.

Beatrix Rohlsen

Beatrix Rohlsen was born in Austria, raised in Germany and now lives in Santa Barbara, California

As an abstract painter, her works is known for it’s visionary and mystical style through the use of oils, acrylics and the palette knife.

She has shown her works in single artist exhibitions as well participated in many group exhibitions in the USA. Her works has been recognized by collectors and belong to private collections.

“What I like most about painting is that a brush stroke can change anything in a magical way  – if I see something I don’t like, I simply paint over it. It is still beneath, and therefore always a part of the painting, though the painting itself may have changed significantly.”

Maribel Hernandez was born in Michoacan, Mexico. At an early age she demonstrated irrepressible creative passion. By age four, her favorite rainy-day activity was to make spiral and doll-shaped variations of hop-scotch designs. By age 8, the young visionary was captivated for hours by watching waves of bird migration patterns in the sky. She received her first colored pencil set from her grandmother as a souvenir from her journey to “El Norte” (the States). This watered in the young artist a love for vibrant color in her creative expressions. However, these expressions did not land on canvas or an official sketchbook until after Maribel arrived in California.  Maribel’s continued use of vibrant color distinguishes her current style. Her work ranges from design (graphic, interior, and fashion accessories), photography, ceramics, and painting. In constant pursuit of color and diverse media, Maribel’s work speaks of her passion for life, with its various rhythms and emotional landscapes.  For the last five years Maribel has been part of the Bell Arts Factory Community artists in Ventura.

Artist Statement

If I could paint the world in brighter colors; I would, that is why I love to paint. Painting frees me to express the world I see and feel with added style and color. My art reflects this intuitive spontaneity in all its elements: color, style, shape, and design.  I also enjoy exploring different mediums, such as painting, ceramics, graphic design, interior design, and jewelry craft and design. Nevertheless, I do not confine myself to these methods in becoming a fulfilled artist. My current means of expression coupled with future explorations will allow a continuous reinvention of this sentient world as I become increasingly, creatively, fearless. I am an artist whose driving passion is to capture emotion and feeling beyond apparent aesthetic beauty.

Website

www.maribeldesigns.com

maribelarte@mac.com

Exhibiting at:  The Ventura County Museum of Art

When I was a little girl one of my favorite things to do was to color outside thelines.  I still take a very loose approach to art.  I enjoy running around outside with my paints but have exchanged my bike for a Prius (most of the time) and a use pochade box rather than crayons.  (Woops, that’s a lie too!)  I love crayons, especially the broken ones.

Web address:  www.mgkingdesigns.com  or mgking@mac.com

Jim Fitzgerald

Featured Solo Artist at the Buenaventura Art Association Gallery.

July 17, 2012- August 11, 2012.

Opening reception on July 21, 2012 from 4pm to 8pm at the Buenaventura Art Association Gallery.

I am a dedicated traditional carbon transfer artist. Carbon Transfer is a printing process from the mid 1860’s yielding what many believe to be the finest and most archival prints produced today. Carbon Transfer printing is how I “see” my vision presented in its final form. My prints are unique to me because I control the entire process from building my cameras and exposing large sheets of film to developing the image and to blending special pigmented gelatin that my final vision will be printed from.

I have found that no other process has given me the quality, beauty and feeling that I can produce with my unique 3D carbon transfer prints.  This is my way of expressing the passion I feel when I am in the field producing my work. My traditional darkroom negatives are contact printed one at a time yielding prints that are a special handmade one of a kind image. Be they 8×10, 11×14, 8×20 or 14×17 negatives each is a unique print unto itself. This is who I am as an artist. My heart and soul is present in the finished print and if it evokes an emotion from the viewer then I have succeeded as an artist.

My carbon work has evolved over time to include teaching this process to others and using it to both inspire myself and nurture my inherent artistic sensibilities – for it is much more than just a process.  My current long term projects are evolving and my vision is changing as I develop my skill and understanding of Carbon Transfer printing. Portrait work in the traditional vein along with still life, figure studies, landscape and my long term documentation of the Black Oaks in Yosemite Valley continue to help me grow as an artist. Carbon transfer printing is a labor of love that requires dedication to the craft of fine art photography at the highest level. I strive to keep this historic process alive by being one of less than 200 artists in the world actively printing Carbon Transfer. I see no other way to express myself.

http://www.carbonartphotography.com