Artist Interviews

Studio visit with artist Christina Sanchez Le Modern Trinket A few days ago I had the pleasure of meeting Christina Sanchez, the inexhaustible founder and artistic drive behind the OC's handmade vintage upcylcled jewelry design company  Le Modern Trinket. We (me and Trouble that is) were invited over to Christina's studio late Tuesday evening, under the guise of getting an up-close and personal look at where the magic all happens and we wanted a preview to the sale this weekend, Sunday Nov 28th in Santa Ana at the...

26 November, 2010 /

I arrived at the opening reception just in time to hear the last part of the award ceremony presented by Karen Moss, the Deputy Director of Exhibition and Programs in Orange County Museum of Art. There were a lot of people with their family and friends, taking pictures and meeting artists to get more insight into their artwork. I’ve never been to Irvine Fine Arts Center before, but I surprised myself because this gallery was voted as the Best Art Gallery in Orange County...

21 November, 2010 /

Creating Space for Imagination - Artist Katy Betz by Jennifer Cheng Katy Betz is a gallery artist, illustrator, children's book writer, and muralist, with an artistic statement, "I am an artist devoted to creating space for imagination." Recently featured in 944 Magazine, in the Orange County October 2010 - The Art Issue, Katy was selected as one of six rising artistic stars in Orange County. Katy is currently finishing her MFA at California State University, Fullerton, and teaches part time as a college professor. She uses her brush to...

10 November, 2010 /

Elizabeth Turk Studio - OC  While on the hunt for inspiring sculpture at the Armory Show in NYC, I stumbled across an elegantly carved piece of marble, so delicate that it resembled ribbon.   It belonged to artist Elizabeth Turk.  Instantly that name rang a bell, as she had done an artist residency in our very own Grand Central Art Center, Downtown Santa Ana. AND that happens to be where I called home while in grad school. Go GCAC. The piece was astonishing.  That was when I set out to find her...

18 May, 2010 /

 Last week I zipped over to Orange Coast College (OCC) to see what local artist and professor Laurie Hassold was preparing for the upcoming show at the Laguna Art Museum entitled Art Shak.  The exhibition will run from June 13th to October 3rd, 2010 - opening night festivities will be Saturday June 12th, see the website for tickets.the 'bone cave' in progress above:  Laurie Hassold and student, OCC sculpture Lab Laurie teaches Beginning and Advanced Sculpture at OCC.  Her students were preparing for a group show...

29 April, 2010 /

This is the first of a series of studio visits with OC artists, and occasionally non-OC artists. . .  but we won't hold it against them.In my constant quest to sniff-out art in the OC, I came across Mr. Dick Marconi.  Yup, that's right. . . the same guy from the Marconi Automotive Museum, which by the way has some amazing drool-worthy cars and if you have not gotten up to Tustin to check them out. . . put it on your calendar! (www.marconimuseum.org)   When I...

16 April, 2010 /

It's been a little while since we did an Artist Interview. So to kick off the first interview of 2009 I asked David Michael Lee, who will be appearing in the exhibition Invasion at @Space Contemporary this Saturday night, if he would answer a few questions for our readers. Here ya go:Tell us about your work?The work is about observations, still or active, it does not matter. The observation deck from which I paint varies, high in the sky, real high in the sky or from a...

08 January, 2009 /

Tell us about your work?   I have been painting feverishly since before finishing Grad school at CSUF in 1997. Majoring in printmaking (later painting…), I tend to do paintings in series. My longest running body of work would be my “Slumscapes:” paintings of third-world slums. These culminated from travels to countries like India, Bangladesh, Peru, Indonesia, the Philipinnes, Kenya, Brazil, etc. I’ve also created series of deserts (with debris), post-apocalyptic ruins (usually of Disneyland), fallen freeways, cartoon collage/abstractions. I’m presently working on a post-traumatic vision of Las Vegas and have started adding figures into my slumscapes.   What Artists...

07 July, 2008 /

It's been a while since the last Artist Interview so we are long over due and I'm happy to be bringing back the series with the best painter (IMHO) based in Orange County, Sherie' Franssen. Without further ado:Tell us about your work:Visually the work is always based on the human figure, in some sense. Painting the flesh is a visceral experience for me and not something I will ever willingly give up.  Bacon famously said, "We're born, we copulate, we die...

14 June, 2008 /

In this weeks episode of Artist Interviews I'm happy to introduce our friendly neighborhood instigators Finishing School. Enjoy: Tell us about your work? We are an artist collective based here in southern California. Our work investigates the many intersections between art and the critical, covert, and common everyday things. Our projects span many topics, styles, points of view, and audience groups. All of our projects attempt to demystify aspects of cultural production and engage viewers into various participatory models. We started in 2001. At the heart...

15 February, 2008 /

Next up on the artist interview series is Stephen Anderson. Stephen has been active in the local scene for several years now and is very involved in the programming and support of OCCCA. Time for Stephen: Tell us about your work? Some major series started with the 'Burned Fingers Series of 1,000'. Which took 5 years to complete, 1,000 small individual works that became a mosaic diary of my life and outlook upon the world. Each piece has a part of my hand or fingers, which...

04 February, 2008 /

In our next artist interview I'm happy to introduce Mindy Cherri. Mindy is an alumni of The Office and since showing her she has become a really good friend. Her show at The Office also happens to be one of the best selling shows we did. I was also at her last show at J. Flynn where all her stuff sold out. Obviously her work creates a connection with the viewer. Here's Mindy: Tell us about your work. My work comes from a trip to a...

23 January, 2008 /

I'm happy to introduce a new regular feature to the OC Art Blog, artist interviews. I'm also happy to introduce my friend from France, Amandine Nabarra Piomelli as our first subject. Amandine is now based in Irvine and consistently shows in our area and is now starting to show in LA and beyond. Enjoy: 1. Tell us about your work. When I moved from Paris, France to California I found myself immersed in the west coast art world and it transformed my dreams. As a young...

17 January, 2008 /