Artist Name List

Tom Dowling, American, has an M.F.A. from UC Irvine with postgraduate studies in art history and film. He has taught in England, Ireland, Italy and the U.S., has exhibited his shaped canvasses and photographic collages nationally and in Europe. He dialogues internally with Picasso, Braque and Mondrian about lines, shapes and multiple views of images. He says, "To be allowed to teach art as well as make art is twice blessed.” The painting of him here is by Bradford Salamon.

Jorg Dubin, American, 1955, of Laguna Beach, is a widely shown and collected oil painter. Art reviewer, Roberta Carasso, Ph.D., wrote: "...we feel we have entered a personal space without permission, as people unmask themselves before us and reveal their private rather than their public self...With enormous painterly skill, sure brushstrokes, compositional and color tensions, Dubin cuts through to the core, presenting humans as profoundly tender beings or dark subjects."

Greg Escalante, American, 1950's, is a lowbrow art expert - art that is derived from pop culture including underground comics, surf culture, hot rods and tiki structures, among other influences. He is associated with and often contributes to Robert Williams' "Juxtapoz" magazine, the lowbrow art movement's Bible. The former art student and very straight-looking businessman, recently curated the "Art Shack" exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum, a groundbreaking show that features 39 art structures.

Shepard Fairey, American, 1970, is a street/graffiti artist who emerged from the skateboarding scene. His first famous image/promotional campaign is "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign. His “Obama Hope” poster became widely known in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, especially after he was arrested for appropriating this image from a photo on the Internet. His work is in The Smithsonian, the LA County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, NY, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Karen Feuer Schwager, American, is a multi-faceted artist, who currently expresses her emotions, experiences and dreams through what she calls a neo-expressionistic style. Working on canvas, Plexiglas or Polaroid film, her work has a sensual and highly tactile quality that has evolved over a lifetime of making art. A fine arts grad of Temple University, she has lived and exhibited in New York, France and Switzerland. She lives in Laguna Beach and exhibits widely in that area.

Jacques Garnier, American, grew up in West Los Angeles with European parents, values and traditions. He is an honor’s graduate from UC Santa Barbara and has a Master’s in French Literature. As an artist, lecturer and photographer, his formal and poetic images of abandoned spaces, concentrate on redistribution in the American landscape, on vestiges of populations gone and quickly-forgotten. His photographs are in museums, academic institutions and galleries in the U.S. and Europe. He lives in Orange County, CA.

Larry Gill, American, from Porterville, CA, now in Laguna Beach, uses stainless steel, granite, fiberglass, brass, concrete and wood to craft sculptures, coffee tables and dining tables. In 1981, he started building “Lightfalls; waterfalls which use internal illumination as optical conduits. Recently, he created two granite and steel sculptural waves, six and seven feet tall, respectively, for Laguna Beach. He is on the Board of the Sawdust Festival.

William Griffith, American, 1866-1940, was born in Lawrence, Kansas, studied art at Washington University, St. Louis, then traveled to Paris with friends, Benjamin Brown and Edward Wurple, to study at the Academie Julian. He returned to the States, teaching at various universities in Kansas, and finally joined the faculty of the University of Kansas in 1899. He visited San Diego in 1918, ultimately settling in Laguna Beach, becoming a charter member of the Laguna Beach Art Association.

Anna Hills, American, 1882-1930, was born in Ohio, spent her childhood in Michigan, and studied at the Chicago Art Institute and at Cooper Union, NYC. She later traveled to Europe, studying at the Julian Academy in Paris, traveling and painting in France, Holland and England. She moved to Laguna Beach in 1912, soon becoming a leader in the burgeoning art movement there. She helped develop the Laguna Beach Art Association and to the opening of its first gallery in 1929.

Marcus Antonius Jansen, American, 1968, was born in New York City, and later transformed his life from a soldier in the first Gulf War to an internationally celebrated painter. He works with violent brushstrokes, often changing textures spontaneously. He is noted in Art Marquis and in Who's Who in American Art. His works, commissioned by Ford Motor Company and Warner Brothers, Hollywood are also in permanent museum collections around the world. He lives in Florida.

Rob Johnson, American, Southern California resident, is a photographer, musician, printmaker and educator. He is Photography Department Chair at Cypress College and former darkroom assistant to Ansel Adams. He teaches digital photography and imaging and its relationship to the larger field of photography. His images are largely landscape based and explore how reality is perceived and sometimes unintentionally altered through photography. He has exhibited at galleries and universities throughout the country.

Kathy Jones, American, was born in San Francisco and educated at Stanford University when Richard Diebenkorn was artist in residence. "My work is greatly influenced by my experience as a Californian, and by the affinity I feel for the Bay Area Figurative painters. My paintings are about silence, solitude, space and shadows – about the moments between actions. Exhibited at Laguna Beach Festival of Arts, McClean Gallery, Malibu, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental, among others.

Todd Kenyon, American, educated at Rhode Island School of Design, moved to Laguna Beach in 1998. He began painting the local mood and colors unique to Laguna, exhibiting at the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts, Surf and Turf - Palos Verdes Art Center, CA, Coastal Visions - The Ocean Institute, Dana Point, CA, purelagunabeach, CA, Studio 333 - Sausalito CA, JoJo, Los Angeles, Elana Zass Gallery, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach Art Center, CA and many more.

Joseph Kleitsch, Hungarian, 1882-1931, studied art in various European locations, including Alsace-Lorraine, Budapest, Munich and Paris. He initially painted figurative art works, then traveled to Mexico in his 20’s, painting portraits of the country’s President, his wife and other prominent people. He traveled between Mexico City and Chicago for a while, winning an award at the Art Institute of Chicago. For his last 10 years, he lived in Laguna Beach, while traveling throughout the state and to Europe.

Aldo Luongo, Argentinian, is of Italian heritage. After graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts, Argentina, he moved to the US to pursue art and soccer. Working in a bold impressionist painting style, he has received numerous awards, including official Olympic Artist, official World Cup Artist , official U.S. Women's World Cup Artist and the 1999 Sports Artist of the Year. His work has been at The Smithsonian, The Museum of Science and Industry, LA and many others.

Greg Martin, American, grew up in New England surrounded by artists. His mother was and still is a still-life painter, creating large canvasses of flowers and fruit. As a teenager, he started working in his Mom’s gallery, and painted his own landscapes that often echoed the other works for sale there. In 2004, he began creating abstract works, working with a variety of mixed media. These spontaneous works are increasingly attracting a local following. He lives in San Clemente, CA.

Claudia Meyer, Swiss,1961,trained as a graphic designer at the Hochschule fur Gestaltung und Kunst, Luzern, then worked as a graphic designer in Stuttgart with Anton Stankowski, the grand master of German design. Later, in NYC, she studied at the School of Visual Arts and at Fashion Institute of Technology. Living in Europe, she devotes herself to painting, the creation of art objects and to commissions. She exhibits in Europe, Japan and the US.

Doug McCulloh, American, was an honors graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara and holds an M.F.A. in photography and digital media. He has exhibited in the U.S., Europe, China, and Mexico. Heyday Books, Berkeley, published his fourth book, Dream Street. He has curated 13 exhibitions of photography, including three for the California Museum of Photography, and has received funding from the California Council for the Humanities. He lives in Riverside, CA.

Scott Moore, American, 1949, graduate of Cal State University Long Beach; illustrator, United States Marine Corps. Winner of numerous awards including Walter S. Greathouse Medal, American W/C Society, Arjomari Paper Award, American W/C Society, National W/C Society First Award (twice), and Watercolor USA. Exhibited throughout the country and in the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts. Is in numerous collections including: Hallmark Art Collection, Kansas City, Missouri; Quaker Oats Company, Chicago, Illinois; and Laguna Art Museum.

Nancy Moure, American, is a freelance curator specializing in historic California art. She was Assistant Curator of American Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for 15 years, and has published more than 50 books and articles including Painting and Sculpture in Los Angeles, 1900-1945, Drawings and Illustrations by Southern California Artists Before 1950, and Loners, Mavericks and Dreamers: Art in Los Angeles Before 1900, and California Art: 450 Years of Painting and Other Media.

Dr. Karl Paulnack, American, a pianist and frequent performer of new music, has partnered vocal and instrumental soloists, chamber groups, orchestras, conductors and opera companies in nearly 1,000 concerts throughout North America, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Macedonia, Norway, Romania, and Russia. He is director of the Boston Conservatory’s Music Division, music director and conductor of the Contemporary Opera Lab of Winnipeg, and chef de chant of the Orchestra de Picardie in Amiens, France.

Edgar Payne, American, 1882-1947, born in Missouri, left home at age 14 to become a painter, traveling through the country and into Mexico. He studied briefly at the Chicago Art Institute, but left to continue his travels, working as a sign, house and scenic painter, portrait and mural painter. With the latter, he earned commissions in disparate part of this country. He and wife, Elsie Palmer, settled in Laguna Beach in 1919, a departure point from which they continued their world travels.

Bradford Salamon, American. The Orange County, CA based oil painter has evolved from a portrait artist working in an expressionist, style to his current classical approach, depicting people and interiors. He paints passionately and academically, demonstrating his admiration for and inspiration by masters as John Singer Sargent and Henri Matisse with a nod to Edward Hopper. His underlying theme is classical beauty in technique and subject matter.

Mira Lisa Schiratis, American, creates brightly colored, abstract expressionist paintings using oils, acrylics, palette knife and brushes. After studying art with Francois Gilot, Picasso’s former lover and apprentice, Mira’s works became mystical and iconographic, filled with symbolism and figures, reminiscent of jewels. She says, "Primitive people created art to connect to the spiritual world. They were in rhythm with nature." She grew up in Southern California, lives in Laguna Beach, and often runs alongside the ocean and breaking waves.

Clayton Spada, American, has more than 30 years of formal training and practical experience with digital techniques related to applications in digital signal processing, still and motion-based imaging, desktop publishing and the visual arts. His works have been published in annuals, periodicals and textbooks, featured in cable and network television spots in the U.S. and abroad, and are held in several institutional collections. He lives in Orange County, California.

Pat Sparkuhl, American, 1948, creates art that is most often political. Using a diverse mixture of media, techniques and methods, he assembles complete objects that he selects because they best convey particular themes, and promote curiosity and philosophical discussion. The issues he addresses in his works include the human condition, effects of war, religion, inhumanity, and the impact of societal changes. No topic is off limits; no topic is too sacred. He lives in Laguna Beach.

Gary Simpson, American, from Laguna Beach, CA, is a strapping white-haired Alexander Calder look-alike, with creative flair and ambition, equal to and often greater than his girth. The self-taught artist’s works combine elements of paintings, wall sculptures, assemblage pieces, frescoes and modern-day fossils. His multi-media abstract pieces range from a few feet to eight feet long. Some have primitive aspects, while others bring to mind frescoes or ruins.

John Szabo, American, from San Clemente, CA, paints exploding galaxies and other organic shapes on square canvases, using inks, paints, resins and finally polymer to create luminous effects, They remind the viewer of stargazing on a dark, clear night or of staring at the heavens just before dawn. The artist explains that he has spent many nights looking at stars and often records his ethereal dreams. These works have a new-age vision of the possibility of greater worlds beyond our own.

Roger Weik, American, 1949, was an abstract artist from a young age. He studied at Southern Illinois University, receiving a B.S. and an M.F.A. He has always created non-figurative pieces, and has for years worked with thickness, texture and organic forms, with oils, acrylics, silicone, oxide powdered pigments and asphaltum. He creates paintings, sculpture and monoprints, has exhibited Internationally and currently has his works in 42 museum permanent collections. He lives in Orange County, CA.

William Wendt, German, 1865-1946, immigrated to the United States in 1880, taking evening classes at the Chicago Art Institute. He traveled often to California, painting the landscape, then traveled back to Europe, spending significant time in England, looking at art and painting his own works. He moved to Los Angeles in 1906, then built a studio in Laguna Beach in 1912, spending increasing time there. He won numerous art awards in Chicago, San Francisco, New York State, among other places.

Barbara White, American, has been an architectural photographer for 25 years and a fine art photographer for 10. She studied photography at Orange Coast College and took many workshops with Vincent Versace, David Muench, and others. She is a world traveler, especially to Asian countries, has taught architectural photography at Orange Coast College, and has won several awards for her fine art photos. She is mother of two, grandmother of three, and lives in Laguna Beach.

Robert Williams created "Juxtapoz" magazine in 1994, paying homage to lowbrow art that is figurative with pop, narrative, surreal and occasionally psychedelic themes, in a variety of media and art styles. It is today one of the most successful art magazines nationwide. Artists he features include Sandow Birk, Shepard Fairey, Mike Kelley, Margaret Kilgallen, Paul McCarthy, Barry McGee, SHAG, Jeffrey Vallance and Von Dutch. "Hail the voyeur, the only honest connoisseur," is one of his favorite statements.

Andy Wing, 1931-2004, six feet five, was born in Connecticut to writer parents who believed in gardening and promoted victory gardens in World War II. He received a B.A. in art from Bard College, NY, and an M.F.A from Cal State Long Beach. He settled in Laguna Beach in the late 50’s where he lived for the rest of his life. He devoted his life to creating shaped canvasses, often in the color field style, to gardening, his friends and relatives, bicycling and spreading radical ideas.

Tanya Wilkinson, American, worked for years in hand papermaking, making paper from any conceivable fiber. Then, she made large collages, experimenting with printmaking, working in assemblage, using paper cast into sculptural forms, incorporating found objects. Many of her pieces with feminist themes have been shown in the Bay Area where she lives. She also makes unique books/sculptural objects, and is currently writing Joy in the Making: Artist’s Dreams and the Recovery of Delight in Art-Making.

Eadweard York, American, has constantly pushed the boundaries of contemporary art with a confrontational, avant-garde, crude pop punk surreal, anti-art style that is unique, easily recognizable, and visionary. He is the founder of what he calls the “Destructionist Art Movement,” and has had numerous exhibitions with loyal underground fans. His paintings, performances and art installations are often outrageous. He lives in and exhibits in Southern California.

Eric Zener, American, from the Bay Area, portrays water scenes and the people who inhabit them, They are mostly hybrids of photographs and paintings, of beach, ocean and pool scenes. Often using his wife as the model, he starts each work with a photograph, many shot underwater, then paints over each, using acrylic or oils and resin to create depth, and finally coats many pieces with varnish to suggest a shimmering effect.