Home2008 Garden of Knowledge - Silent Auction Artist Info

• GAYEL CHILDRESS Gayel Childress is an Ojai painter. She paints with a touch of whimsy and a love for color, form, and design. Subjects have been figurative, landscapes and still life. Gayel works in are acrylic, watercolor, printmaking, oil and mixed media. She is trying to catch the spirit of her subject as well, with an eye for experimentation.

• BERT COLLINS Bert Collins’ paintings are realistic landscapes, seascapes and still lifes. She paints in acrylic and soft pastels on sand paper, and emphasizes natural color and detail. She has had a very successful thirty year career as an artists and teacher. In over two hundred juried competitions she has won many Best of Show and First Place Awards. In 1997, she received the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from the City of Ojai.

• SHERRY LOEHR  "A recurring feature of my work is the blending of closely observed reality, with textures, patterns, and unexpected fragments of abstract color. I create an imaginary environment for flowers, fruits, and plants. I want to isolate them, to study, perhaps just two pears or a single branch of apples. I enjoy the simplicity, the spareness of a few objects, carefully observed. The most fun I have in painting is doing the backgrounds. They are freely improvised, a result of “playing’ with the paint....lots of layers, surprises, no rules, boundaries , or preconceptions. The invitation is to follow what seems intriguing; a color, a texture, the suggestion of a realist subject. My work rests in this balance between reality and imagination". Sherry is represented by the Jack Meier Gallery, Houston, TX and the Leslie Levy Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ.

• ELISSE POGOFSKY-HARRIS  Paintings about water, clouds, wolves, boats, and an occasional apparition. These are not traditional seascapes, but are investigations of transitions, open to interpretation. Skies are caught in the changing light of dusk. Boats are filled with symbolic meaning, vessels of transport in life’s journey, water representing both birth and death. The mysterious wolf her spiritual guide, or pathfinder. Born in Chicago, Elisse studied art at the University of Michigan. Moved to Italy, 3 years as resident artist at the American Academy in Rome, stayed 8 more years before returning to the states. Has lived in Ojai , more or less permanently since 1979. She taught art at the Oak Grove School in Ojai for a dozen years. Exhibiting widely nationally and internationally, her work is represented in many important public and private collections both here and abroad.

• JULIA PFEIFER As a master beadweaver and designer of distinctive beaded art wear, Julia Pfeifer has perfected a wide variety of techniques. Inspired by her earlier work in textiles design, in which subtle colors and textures were key to her creations, Julia employs unique and innovative use of traditional stitches to achieve the desired complexity for her original, custom beadwork designs. A graduate of New York University’s School of the Arts, Julia has been beading for over 25 years and has employed mixed media such as feathers, precious metals, stones, leathers, and furs in conjunction with beadwork in her many designs. She has produced belts, tapestries, ceremonial fans, bags, jewelry, clothing, and cowboy boots. Her one-of-a-kind pieces appear at Human Arts Ojai, CA, Bellagio Ashville, NC, Otrega's Santa Fe, Desert Son Santa Fe, NM, Curious George Aspen, CO, Objects Scottsdale and Phoenix, AZ, Larue's Minneapolis, MN, Falconhead Brentwood, CA, Crystal Image Laguna Beach, CA, Museum of Arts and Design gift shop NYC, George Bush Sr. Library Museum, Okalahoma National Cowboy Museum, Tres Outlaws & Stallion Boot Company showrooms, and more.

• JEFF SOJKA Jeff Sojka’s color-drenched canvases capture the magical light and texture of each unique landscape, helping the viewer to truly be transported to each location. Viewed up close, Sojka’s bold, deliberate brushstrokes vibrate with energy and movement. Painting mostly plein-aire, Sojka works quickly to capture the setting in its best light. Sojka grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, where he was introduced to both the exhilaration of sailing and the rugged beauty of hiking the Sierra Mountains. As his love for nature became intertwined with his passion for art, he began to pursue landscape painting. Following the tradition of early California impressionists, such as Edgar Payne and William Wendt, Sojka was inspired to paint nature up close, exposed to all the elements. Many of his images are painted on site, while others are a compilation of quick sketches, photographs, and memories. His work can be found in both private and corporate collections.

• BRUCE TOMKINSON  Bruce Tomkinson has been a ceramic artist since 1967 when he received his M.A. in Design from UCLA. Over the years his work has evolved from primarily functional to an emphasis on sculptural form. He worked in stoneware and porcelain with some exploration of the Raku technique. In his sculptural work he began with a classical form either Asian or ancient Mediterranean or harmoniously work into it animal or abstracted forms in fortuitous texture. The contrast of new to old, rough to smooth, and traditional to contemporary Bruce finds very interesting. Bruce is currently Professor of art in Ceramics at Santa Monica College where he has taught since 1969.

• LESLIE THOMPSON  "As I continue to study pattern styles from all over the world, I gravitate toward female crafts such as batik, quilting, weaving, basket making, and Pueblo pottery design. These process-oriented crafts have in common a continuous and extensive investment of time, as well as the need for careful hand skills. As I stretch designs inspired by various crafts over the curved surface of the pots, the patterns are enhanced by a new element—that of distortion. Like many potters, I am aware that, for better or worse, the pots I make may last for hundreds of years, becoming part of the record of our culture, as well as my personal expression. It makes me feel a real responsibility to do my best work—to please myself and any who choose to include my pots in their homes".

• ELAINE UNZICKER Elaine Unzicker learned about casting and developed a way to cast various parts of plants into bronze, silver or brass. She translated these plant parts into jewelry. Elaine became attracted to particular plants for their texture and simplicity. And each plant suggests a pair of earrings, a necklace, or a bracelet. Elaine became interested in medieval chain mail, the mesh that is currently used in her jewelry. The fluid movement of the mesh allows her to create jewelry that caresses and conforms to the body. The jewelry becomes a statement for the wearer and allows them to become what they feel at the moment. It is as if the human body is her stage and the performance takes place when the jewelry is worn. Her purpose is to adorn the body with jewelry that enhances the wearer.

• NANCY WHITMAN Born in Chicago, Nancy Whitman earned a Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin. She followed this with a year of graduate study at the Chicago Art Institute and another extremely formative year in Paris, France. Nancy paints in exuberant style, combining broad brush strokes and unexpected use of color. With her oil, acrylic and watercolor creations, she acknowledges the influence of Matisse, Jawlensky and the Fauves. The vigor and joie de viore bursting from her canvases reflect her love affair with nature. She paints amid the sheer beauty of her studio-gallery home in lush Upper Ojai canyon above Ojai. Enormously versatile and varied in her expressions, Nancy Whitman attempts to work towards the feeling of the magic and freedom of a child. A critic once said of her, "Her work is infused with warmth, joy and a mood of exhilaration." A winner of many awards in juried competition, Nancy's paintings are found in numerous private, public and corporate collections nationwide.