Artists

The mannequin offers a three dimensional surface; like a painting stepping out of its canvas. Its presence is no longer a static flat surface; instead it stands gracefully still as part of the public tempting the senses.

The influence of a specific animal's characteristics on each human subject is intended to awaken your curiosity for species you may be ignorant about.  As such, each subject is undergoing a transformation from human to animal; or is it vice-versa? We may be more alike than we think.

My work is a reflection of human complexities regarding the unknown, the feared, the self-consciousness and human flaw. Are the scales and texture protecting or exposing these flaws? You decide.

Gabriela Alvarez was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1983. At the age of 14, her family moved back to Mexico where she attended high school. After graduation, she began at the Universidad de Leon in Guanajuato, Mexico where she studied Graphic Design for two years. She returned to Chicago at the age of 20 and continued her education through community colleges.

My Event Horizon
We trade wisdom for youth. That’s what I’ve heard.

At my event horizon. (Seems so absurd.)

Unbridled, naïve. Transparency of youth.

A life so authentic. Tiny fibs speak of truth.

Embark on your road where secrets unfold

Future destination- neither bought, nor sold.

Climb up a rope ladder that leads to blue skies

Look down on the clouds. No fears; just “whys”?

Can you recall the day you lost sense of wonder?

Each beat of your heart lifts the spell you were under

The reality created will cease to exist.

Birds can’t fly this high I heard you insist.

Not overnight, but many a year

Little bits of your spirit whittled down by your fear.

Could we be just like children? See the world through new eyes?

Curiosity, inventions. A million first tries.

Dreams without actions tend to stay dreams

Hitch a ride on a jet stream. Sips of air in between.

Waste not one more day! My wisdom proclaims

It’s all relative. No time to explain.

We trade wisdom for youth. That’s the good word.

At my event horizon. Free as a bird.

My mannequin grew out of my unconscious.

Lisbeth, is a little Dutch girl who dreamed she magically flew into a Paris cafe and landed in front of Coco Chanel who was having a glass of wine with Hugo Boss, Dior, Cartier and gentleman called Fendi. They welcomed her and began talking of fashion and beauty. They talked of design, and fabrics of wool and silk.

They offered her a lemonade and she beamed a speechless “yes”.  They were gracious and friendly and asked if she wished to have a position as an apprentice designer. “Why of course!” she screamed, and suddenly woke up with the brightest heavenly look on her face.

Re-purposed materials make lovely & creative art pieces as there is no limit to what forms they can take upon their rebirth --from trash into treasure.  Am fondly known as the Dumpster Diva!

In fact, many in my vast network prefer to call me for pick up or delivery of "junk" items--they wish to merely dump them, but knowing my passion for many atypical "art" materials, their conscience is cleared understanding that I will give their unwanted things a new home & new life as art!

I use my "found" or gifted objects "as is"--no cutting, altering  or revising, so the only tools I require are to fasten the objects to their frame or base--also, generally,  a found object.  Wood & metal are my materials of choice, being that they occur from nature, but knowing how much plastic & synthetic material is dumped into landfills & how its decomposition is very slow, I will sometimes choose a man-made object to contrast  with the Earth's medium, wood & metal.

Figurative sculpture, that of humans forms and shapes, has always been an intriguing style. Most of the time, lets say all of the time, my sculptures are abstract. Lots of sculptures come out of dreams and that is where the cutlery figure was born. Full-size was a real attraction, because then you can go all out. All spoons and knives seems appropriate, kind of like sugar and spice. Plus, as a former professional cook, it has a special symbolism for me. Stainless steel is a pleasure to work with; its gleaming surfaces make for lots of optical effects, especially when it starts moving!

I am the youngest of six that grew up among artists.  I have a lot of talented artists in my family and I was fortunate enough to sit back and watch each one make their move with their own mediums that helped them express themselves as the artists they are.  I took a leap into it and started my own clothing line with text and paint, painting my own poetry on clothing.  I have been writing since I was about eight years old and the two came together for me in college at SDSU.  The art of typography is a beautiful thing to me.  I am inspired by lyrics and words and text in a sense that allows me to express myself artistically in a medium that is so versatile.  I am currently living in San Diego working on my clothing line, Lyric Clothing by Alexandra Domont (www.alexandradomont.com), and working for an amazing company called Ember Arts providing hope around the world (www.emberarts.com).   

My motivation for this project was to create something new from the old. Discarded materials such as computers parts, peripherals and other media litter our landfills. Recycling and repurposing them to create clothing and jewelry for this project provided me many creative possibilities.

My process of working could best be described as a tactile dialog. The direction the work takes is guided by my willingness to see the unexpected and possible directions the material is able to move along toward a final form. I am drawn to organic forms for inspiration. Themes of creation myths and man’s relationship to earth recur in my sculptures as does the coexistence of ancient and modern imagery. Texture, color and shape guide the creation of my jewelry. Incorporating metals and found objects into the polymer clay jewelry designs is now something new I’m exploring.  I love assembling segments in interesting combinations and experiment with many different configurations until the composition resonates with me as I hope it will with you.

After discovering the versatile medium of polymer clay a world of possibilities opened for me. I currently create jewelry and relief sculpture with it and am beginning to incorporate metals and found objects into my jewelry designs.

I’ve taught high school, college and adult students sculpture and ceramics for many years and love teaching almost as much as creating my own art.
Originally from Pennsylvania, I moved to Kenya, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and several locations in the U.S. prior to landing in sunny San Diego two years ago. I’ve participated in numerous group shows regionally in the Northwest, the East Coast, and now in San Diego. I currently work out of studio 34-B in the Spanish Village Arts Center, in Balboa Park, San Diego.

Deborah Francis' work can be found online at: http://www.deborahfrancis.com/.

She is inspired by such works as the Venus De Milo, Jackson Pollack and Geiger.

She is controlled chaos. Like some character from a video game.

She pops out at you like a living cartoon, my...."Gamer Girl".

What starts as a model for the human form, is transformed into a creature of a human deer cross breed. Recognizable still as a mannequin, it challenges the viewer to comprehend what exactly the form is. Neither a deer, nor a live human, Faux Foe is an anomaly that embraces the mutation nature.

The Wodaabe people are desert nomads who live in northern Africa. They herd their goats and longhorn cattle, walking along beside them. They are a culture of 'artists' who regard beauty and grace as the essential qualities of life. They gather one week each year when the Wodaabe men adorn themselves and dance and sing hoping to attract marriageable women. 

Merchant attended California College of Arts and Crafts with the intention of becoming a painter. While there, she learned that in order to execute my ideas she needed to work three dimensionally. Alexander Calder was an important early influence. Merchant was deeply moved by what she observed as the humor, primitive innocence, sophistication and relentless curiosity inherent in his work. She was inspired to commence a journey of her own when the opportunity presented itself, guided by her immense curiosity.

In 1971, Merchant embarked on a seven-year sojourn that took her first to Africa and Yemen then overland through Persia, Afghanistan, India and Nepal. She became extremely excited and curious about tribal jewelry; how it moved, how it danced on the body. It was at this time that she made the decision to learn these jewelry techniques. Merchant started by immersing herself in the local culture and dress. She demonstrated respect for their way of life, and it made all the difference. I was allowed to hunker down with the tinkers, artisans and Babas she met along the way; observing and learning their use of simple tools and cold joinery. During those years in the 1970's her jewelry studio consisted of a small leather pouch containing four hand tools and a five inch hammer given to her by an old Afghan who befriended her during this life-changing experience. 

Her work remains very personal. She still utilize simple tools and techniques. Merchant shares, “I want my jewelry to have proper movement, to be strong, wearable, and interesting. I like to understand the genesis of the objects I am working with, so that I can authentically honor them in my work. I have, for 20 years, taught these ancient jewelry techniques while adding my own imaginative interpretations gleaned from the creative force in my life. I continue to share the evolution of my personal journey”.

 

Lynne Merchant's work can be found at: http://www.lynnemerchant.com.

 

I decided to take on this project as a challenge.  I thought and thought about what I wanted my mannequin to look like, and the emotion I wanted it to impart, and I decided to paint the mannequin as a limitless sky.  The significance of the unending sky for me, indicates several things - one, the challenge presented to me as a new, unexplored area of my own creativity; second, the mannequin itself represents the limitless opportunity for us as humans to explore everything we possibly can - the universe is ours!  Third, the immense vastness of the sky and space gives us humans - us teensy tiny specs of carbon - the realization that our time here is finite and virtually meaningless in the grand scheme of the universe, and that we need to seize every single moment and make it our own, because there is nothing else we can do.  "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is meant to impart the universe's everlasting beauty and fascination for us; she becomes a tiny sliver of our curious and immense universe that we can touch and feel.

She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from the University of Oregon, but not before gaining an Associate Arts degree in Fashion Merchandising from the Fashion and Art Institute of Dallas, TX and pursued a career in the computer field. Still, all the while, wanting to incorporate her creativity into her work life, she had dreams about being a full-time artist, but, like so many, didn’t know how to “swing it financially”.

In 1989, she began taking weekly oil painting classes, and I fell head-over-heels in love with color. Shortly after, Jana took several years “off” to get married and raise children, but in 2001, her passion could no longer be denied. She began painting again, and attended workshops by well-known California artists, Robert Burridge and Ken Auster. Her passion was re-ignited!

In September of 2007, she got the opportunity of a lifetime to be a full-time artist, because she was laid off from a corporate job which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“So, here I am! I have been so lucky in this life. My artwork has been sold worldwide and I’m living my dream. Thank you for being part of it!” she says.

Jana's  work can be found at: http://www.janalauritsen.com/

I create amorphic and intuitive shapes; visually stimulated by flowers, eye organs and urbanite structure. I tend to look into customs to transform colloquial
practices into metaphors of enlarge objects. In sculpture I find the life of
painting evolving into a body that leaves the two dimensional stage, leading
the viewer to experience a communication that is foreign to the canvas. I am
interested in the intimacy of objects and their communication with ordinary
human activities and practices, and the transformation of this into
object-art.
Although my work does not make a direct reference to architectural
space the wall remains the device for its proper display. A cell wall
helps to maintain the cell in shape and it also serves as a liaison to
other cells. In ancient times a wall was a military construction and a
defense device in times of warfare. The wall for my work is the
association between my sculptures and the audience; without the
existence of the wall, my work is meaningless, and it loses its
communication and structural powers. I think that the previous
existence of the wall facilitates the language of my work,. The wall
provides other aspects of abstraction and raises questions of
appropriation; it also extents its materialization to the ends of the
architectural construction and interacts with the optical vision of
the eye.

 

Bio:

Rosas was born and rise in Tijuana Mexico, as a child she crossed the US/Mexican border back and forth in total concordance, changing languages in seconds and adjusting to the modus vivendi of either nation. This constant cultural exchange conducted her to create amorphic and intuitive shapes; visually stimulated by the Tijuana/San Diego natural environment and urbanite structure. She tends to look into customs to transform colloquial practices into metaphors of enlarge objects. In sculpture she finds the life of painting evolving into a body that leaves the two dimensional stage, leading the viewer to experience a communication that is foreign to the canvas. She is interested in the intimacy of objects and their communication with ordinary human activities and practices, and the transformation of this into object-art. 

Currently, she is a grad student at San Diego State University, constantly exhibiting at the San Diego-Tijuana region.

The Amazonian Warrior is the forest's guardian.

He symbolizes our connection with mother-nature

And our disconnection with her at the same time.

He is connected to her only through a thin line.

The Amazonian Warrior represents the earth,

The flora and Fauna.

He is the forest's spirit

And human-being's soul.

He is the deforestation of the Amazonian Rain-forest

And

At the same time

He is here to remind us that we need the forest to breathe.

He is the breath of hope for a future with balance

Balance between all mankind

And between the human species with all the other species:

Coexistence

The wise people of the forest say that

Each tree cut down is a soul that

Wanders aimlessly,

Soulless.

Each tree that is down

Makes hundreds of living creatures

Move to find another safe dwelling,

Another source of food and water.

The Amazonian Warrior is everything And Nothing.

The Amazonian Warrior is only a mannequin sitting on a piece of cut tree with eternity to observe

Venolia is a Brazilian architect and urban designer. She is principal of V2 Architecture + Planejamento + Media which provides architectural services, landscape design, urban planning, and media services worldwide. V2 has been developing residential, hospitality and commercial projects in Africa, Europe, U.S. and Brazil for nearly 13 years. IN addition to architecture, V2 is known for distributing the Bazil Wood House, a sustainable, pre-fabricated tropical hardwood housing system.

She is the president of Brazil-US Sustainable Technology, Trade and Development Association, known as Braseuverde. Braseuverde's mission: "In order to advance sustainability, Braseuverde will foster and enhance green relationships in all areas, including business, clean technology, science, academia and civil society. Braseuverde will work to increase trade, and promote green governmental policies and industry standards." Venolia is also a self-described recycled artist.

She developed a unique technique that uses plastic bags and junk mail to weave and creates beautiful tapestries. After moving to the United States, Venolia founded a non-profit art program that uses creativity to convert waste materials into raw materials to create works of art. Casa de Arte is conceived as an all-inclusive non-profit business model to provide children with access to art, education and exposure to culture, while teaching mothers to create works of art that can be sold to supplement household income. Casa de Ate is dedicated solely to educating and supporting its members.

Venolia lives in San Diego County with her husband, Vince, and her 9 year old daughter, Ana.