Sculpture in the Garden

“Red Trees with Green Leaves”

Susana Arias, a native of Panama city Panama, lives in Santa Cruz California where she’s a sculptor and painter.

Some of her awards include an NEA grant for her series “Earthworks“, and a CalTrans Environs Enhancement Award for a bas relief sculpture “finding our Past” on an underpass off Hwy 1 in Santa Cruz. She was Santa Cruz County artist of the year in 2013.

Her work is in collections of Museums and gardens in the United States and Latin America.

Susana’s “Trees” series are elegant, simple forms; a play of color and division of space created with stacked colorful ceramics.

“Eve Before Adam”

Jeff Arnett has an art degree from UC Santa Cruz.  He works in stone, bronze and wood, creating both abstract and figurative sculptures. His work is in private collections throughout the United States and in Europe.

“Butterfly”

Mary Bayer grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. and studied at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Art in 1971 and 1972.  Mary always intended to have a career as an artist, but living on her own she found it necessary to accept other business opportunities.  Fortunately, while working in downtown Washington, D.C. Mary was able to continue studying at the Corcoran School of Art.

After working many years in government as well as the business community of Washington, D.C., Mary moved to the San Francisco area in 1986 where she met her future husband and then began to raise a family. It was at this time that she was able to pursue her art full time and started working with driftwood and then exploring ceramic sculpture with her husband (and fellow sculptor) in their home studio in El Cerrito, California.

In the years that followed, Mary also began sculptural welding, studying at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, California.  After gaining experience in this medium, she began blending ceramic with metal work and now enjoys creating many new combined sculptures exhibited in her home studios and gardens.

“Happy Fred the Redhead”

Joe sees wasteful practices wherever he goes. It hurts him to know how much our country wastes, while other countries are so poor. And just as troubling is the growing challenge to stay healthy in a world with so much waste. He prefers to consume less and repurpose more and that inspires his artwork.

“Pyramid”
“Evil Eye”
“Sphere”

Tam grew up surrounded by artists, both painter and sculptor, and aspired to become one.  Mosaics speak to her the most as they were made up of small pieces of broken ceramics tiles, each with its own unique color and shape, giving them a second chance of life.  The individual pieces created a perfectly balanced and beautiful piece of art.  It brings the colors of the painting to the sculptures.  Tam is excited to continue her journey as a mosaic artist, and to create the work that inspires people to look at the world in a new way.

“Honda gone Spider”
“Jurassic Dragonfly”
“Baby T Rex Mantis”
“T Rex the Mantis”

Jake Edwards is a local artist and an art teacher at Liberty High School in Brentwood California.  Edwards has been inspiring students there for the last 18 years.  He originally grew up in Oroville, California, near the wild life refuge. This environment had a huge influence on Edwards’ artwork. Edwards has been drawing since he could hold a pencil. He now specializes in painting, ceramics, and multimedia sculpture. Most of Edwards’ work is related to nature.

Dustin Gimbel has worked as landscape designer for 15+ years and started as horticulturist 20+ years ago. Today he enjoys the challenge of meeting the needs of a diverse range of clients and projects. He finds inspiration from travel abroad as well as exploring nature closer to home.  Always searching for the latest and greatest varieties of plants and materials, the designer is ever engaged in learning.

“Piece of me”

Rachel is a self-taught mosaicist who began her career when a close friend gifted her a pair of glass nippers and a bag of grout. She tried a small project and quickly fell in love with creating mosaics. When she starts a new mosaic project, she doesn’t plan ahead of time – there is no pre-sketching or choosing of colors before she begins. She uses her intuition in creating pieces with flow and bright colors, and only knows what the finished product will look like once it is complete. She revels in each and every project and finds great joy from the response of those who view her work.

“Lady”
“Religion”

Dwight Hammack spent most of his life as the owner of Best Marble Co. fabricating kitchens and bathrooms out of marble and granite, but he was always an artist at heart. After he retired several years ago he devoted all of his time to making sculptures. He recently transitioned from marble to metal and his most recent pieces are fabricated in steel, aluminum and even rebar. Always the optimist, he often paints or powder coasts his sculptures in bright colors. Dwight is excited to be a part of this summer’s sculpture show at the Ruth Bancroft Garden.

“StrataSphere on a Pole”

As a master craftsman, Roger has a unique set of skills. He thinks like an engineer with an appreciation of the arts. Using nature as his inspiration, he blends these two fields of study, engineering and art, to meticulously design and craft hand made limited production kinetic wind sculptures. Roger is mostly self-taught and works in many materials. He says working in metal and wood are very similar and allow him an endless palette of design options. He has a restless mind and a never-ending need to create. If you ask him what he does, he’ll say, “I make stuff”. Published, award-winning, grant-worthy, highly acclaimed, and recognized, stuff.

Roger lives and has his studio in Scotts Valley, CA. He is in business with his wife, Tina.

www.HeitzmanStudios.com
www.facebook.com/KineticWindSculptures
www.etsy.com/KineticWindSculpture

“Spring”

New England, born and raised. Though Robert has lived in California for all of his adult life, he grew up on a farm at the edge of woods in Massachusetts. You cannot take the New Englander out of Robert; it will always be a part of him. For 30 years he has been making portraits of real people, as a photographer, for advertising and editorial clients worldwide. Along the way, he pictured large sculptural pieces in his mind –– pieces he never had the space to create. Fast forward a few decades of city life, and he is back living on a farm, this time in the Oakland hills. His 7000 square foot outdoor studio serves him well for photography clients, but when Robert started to carve under the shade of a 60-year-old cedar, he was back home again, back in the woods of New England, back playing with trees. This play has led him to work off the page, off the screen –– designing, shaping, and creating work in three dimensions, using both urban tree-fall and steel. While Robert has always worked with composition and form, sculpting a story in space creates work that takes on a presence that is strikingly different from flat art.

“Thirst”

Karina Kudymova was born in Moscow, Russia in 1967. After receiving her MFA degree from the Stroganov School of Art and Industry she successfully worked in both traditional and experimental media. Mrs. Kudymova participated in ceramics and painting exhibitions, worked as a book illustrator, and created a web site for children tinytram.com. She lives and works in San Jose, California. Her art can be seen at her blog kudymova.com

“Pan”

As a ceramic sculptor, Lisa creates whimsical and happy pieces with a touch of mischief. Her goal is to connect with everyone who comes across her work, and to make people smile. She finds inspiration in the joy and humor of everyday life, and she strives to capture this spirit in my art. Through her pieces, she hopes to spread positivity and playfulness, and to remind people to embrace their inner child. Each sculpture is carefully crafted. She enjoys exploring different textures, colors, and forms. Lisa’s work is meant to be approachable and relatable, and she hopes it brings a sense of lightheartedness to anyone who encounters it.

“Saplings”

Diana Markessinis is a California-based sculptor known for creating hybrid forms informed by the intersection of nature and architecture. Primarily utilizing metal, ceramic and glass, Markessinis calls on a variety of materials to explore the human impact on the natural world and vice versa. In 2007 she received her Masters of Fine Arts in sculpture from California State University, Fullerton, and her undergraduate degree in sculpture from West Virginia University (2003). You can find her large sculptures throughout California in public and private spaces. Follow Diana on Instagram at @markessinis and view more of her work at www.markessinis.com

“Alpha Dog”
“Ruffy”
“Howling Woman with Wolf”

Jeanette’s sculptures are based on images of women and animals that resonate with her visually, emotionally or spiritually. These images may be seen in life, in other artist’s work or in books and magazines. She frequents museums and galleries and peruses a variety of art and wildlife books and magazines for inspiration, never knowing when she might spot a potential pattern or image that she needs to incorporate into a sculpture. Sculpting has opened a door for Jeanette to explore and feel a connected. It has become a lifelong learning process.

“Crusader”
“Southern Broadbill”
“Crane”
“Street Rod”

David has been building things his whole life. Always encouraged to repair rather than replace, he became mechanically inclined at a very young age. He was drawn to steel by it’s strength and versatility and spent his youth exploring the possibilities. With years of industrial training in a variety of fabrication techniques he found himself in a comfort zone without much flavor. The conventional uses of steel are littered with boundaries. Sculpture provided freedom.

With sculpture, David can follow his impulses, breaking the rules and pushing the boundaries. He has found his best accomplishments in the creation of artwork and always enjoy the honest interpretations that it brings.

“Innocence”

Xuan has a unique ability to capture the depth and complexity of her subjects, real and imagined, through different artistic styles and techniques. She utilizes a variety of materials in her mosaics to create works of art that are unlike any other. Her portfolio includes mosaic wall hangings and sculptures, all crafted in both 2D and 3D.

Xuan has earned her numerous awards and recognition, including selection for the Mosaic Arts International exhibitions in San Diego and Houston. Her work has also been featured in four mosaic books, seven American Art Collectors books, three magazines, and two Coffee Table Books.

Each piece of Xuan’s mosaics has a hand-made swan logo, representing her signature as “Swan” which is the English pronunciation of her name.

“Some Enthused Sprout”

Mark Oldand has been a full time artist for nearly 30 years. Miriam Morris is a ceramist with a similar history of creativity. She’s based in Nevada City, CA. They have collaborated and Miriam has created some amazing stoneware elements for Mark to work with and respond to over time. Their combined work is an exploration in combined media and aesthetic.

“Merle”
“Red Dot”

Lucy Ruth Wright Rivers was born in Morocco and raised in rural central California. She earned a BS from UC Davis and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has created numerous commissions for public and private outdoor settings. Lucy particularly enjoys making art from discards and detritus, materials that bring a history with them. She collaborates with her materials to best capture the changes of light and atmosphere throughout the day.

“Big Cat”
“Target Cat”
“Dog”
“Morocco Sphinx”
“Multi Colored 4-legged Cat”

Leslie Safarik is an artist and craftswoman. her work is whimsical and fun. She embraces an aesthetic that embodies beauty, joyfulness and superior craftsmanship. her work is hand built and each sculpture is one of a kind.  She thinks art should be beautiful, imaginative and engaging. It is her goal to create work that energizes the space it inhabits. She enjoys making large-scale work for exterior spaces and gardens that put a smile on your face. She has been doing ceramic sculpture for over 40 years. She received her BFA and MFA from California College of Arts and Crafts, in Oakland, California.

“Selene”

The concept of hybrid creatures has fascinated humanity for centuries. Among these, the horned goddess is revered as a fierce protector and defender. Horns are the connection between the physical and the spiritual sphere and she serves as an intermediary between humans and the divine. A symbol of spiritual power and enlightenment, horns also characterize fertility and abundance, representing the earth and its cycles.

As an artist, Rossella is drawn to the concept of hybrid creatures because of their ability to blur the boundaries between different species and challenge our perception of what it means to be human. Through her art, she explores the idea of human-animal hybrids as a representation of the complexity of our identities and our relationship with the natural world.

“Raft of Mosaic Ducks”

Karen Stanton is a former architect, teaching artist and published children’s book author/illustrator living in Oakland, CA and Valencia, Spain. She began making mosaic art with a partner over 20 years ago for an annual art auction that raised funds for art education in public school. She hasn’t stopped mosaicking since.  The tiles she uses in her mosaic art are either handmade in her home studio, upcycled from local tile vendors like Walker-Zanger, or schlepped home from her travels to places like Spain, Kyrgyzstan, Istanbul or her local Goodwill store.

“Bamboo Forest”
“Oak Grove”
“Flower Bud”
“Castle Hill Forest”

Doug Tambling has been a ceramic artist most all his life beginning with “Tam-Art” studios in San Jose and now “Rainbows End Ceramics” in Walnut Creek. Recently retired from BioTech now focussed on building his home studio community with lessons and workshops. Most studio work is done with atmospheric firing such as Pit Fire, Raku and Sagger with high reduction. Doug has a large inventory of high fire stoneware and salt/soda fired functional ware as well. His home studio is open by appointments and several public shows a year. You may contact him at rainbowsendceramics.com for more information and video of some of his projects/gallery.

“Sassy”

“Memory”
“Hummingbird”

Born in St Charles, Missouri in 1956, Clayton Thiel received his BA in sculpture from Maryville University in 1979, then came to California to study with Peter Voulkos and Joan Brown at UC Berkeley.  At San Jose State he studied with David Middlebrook and Stan Welsh receiving an MFA in 1985 .  He has been a full-time professor of Sculpture (clay, stone, and bronze), Art History, and Design Chabot College in Hayward, CA since 1990.  Thiel’s work has been shown widely in exhibits and galleries, and he has received numerous commissions from private collectors.

Clayton Thiel is a sculptor of clay, stone, and bronze, and a storyteller who is restoring magic and narrative to the world of contemporary sculpture. Continuing in the tradition of sculptors, Peter Volkous, Steve Distabler and Manuel Nari, Clayton Thiel is considered a leading artist among celebrated California art educators.  His  principle is media is clay, but he also works in stone and bronze, handling each medium with a process oriented approach. The fanciful merging of humans and birds in a totemic way, works as a vehicle to transport his viewers to see the world in a mythic dimension. He has a masterful sense of elemental design with a restrained pallet that unifies his body of work.  Thiel enters a meditative place when creating – a place between time, space and the worlds.

In describing Thiel’s daily Studio practice, he says:  “I often work on a series of three pieces at a time in rotation. Starting with a common conceptual thread, with various permutations, each member of the series takes on a life of its own – demanding I make some choices about the story wanting to be told.  I don’t plan these things – rather there is an intuitive decision-making process that I have come to surrender to.”

His work is often comparted to Boston expressionist, Leonard Baskin. “What I have admired about surrealist and expressionists artists of the 20th century is that they took the most improbable combinations of dreams, memories and reflections, and make them appear possible.”

Art has been his lifelong pursuit for over 50 years.