2012 Guest Demo Artists' Profiles
Meli Calkins |
Born in Glendale, California, USA, Meli Calkins has been painting with soft pastels for the past 30 plus years. Meli’s mother was a commercial artist and taught Meli how to observe what she saw in her world and would interpret it with drawing and paintings on paper and canvas.
While pursuing a bachelors and masters degree in Environmental Engineering, Meli was able to squeeze a few fine art classes in her busy schedule while receiving tutoring from her mother. Of all the types of media that she has had an opportunity to work with, her first love was and always has been painting with soft pastels. Why soft pastels? In her own words she states; “I love the brilliance and intensity of color that pastels are able to display. Being able to lay and mix the colors directly on sanded paper is more appealing to me than mixing colors on a palette.” As an emerging artist selling her work, Meli’s paintings can be found in homes in Canada, Virginia, Ohio, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, along the California Central Coast as well as in Southern California. Her work can be viewed on her website www.melicalkins.com, www.vcartfarm.com. Meli is currently an active member of the Pastel Society of the Gold Coast, San Fernando Valley, and the Simi Valley Artist Association. Contact Information: Meli Calkins, phone 818-366-9835, e-mail [email protected] |
Catherine Holcombe |
Catherine is an award-winning artist/designer who lives in Los Angeles, California. She has a business degree from California State University, Northridge and has received her artistic training in illustration and painting from Moorpark College. Catherine uses watercolor, ink, pencils, collage and digital media to create her illustrations and designs. She creates products and textiles for a variety of companies that sell her art all over the world. Her art prints and textiles may be found online and in select stores. She receives inspiration from nature and the beautiful world around us. In addition, her work is family friendly and often uplifting or inspirational. Catherine takes part in a design collaborative with Argentine designer Carina Povarchik. Together they create whimsical textile designs. Catherine participates in the Simi Valley Artist Association Gallery which shows a collection of her illustrations and prints. Her online stores and gallery can be found at AfterMyArt.Net “It is my belief that everyone should be able to experience art…that it does not have to be expensive…that we should use art to decorate our lives!”
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Carol Steinberg
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Steinberg has exhibited nationally in numerous galleries and museums. She has taught drawing, design, and painting at Los Angeles City College, Cal State University at Northridge, and Otis Evening College.
She earned her MFA at CalArts and BFA and BA from Cornell University and has received scholarships from art programs around the country. Her work has been published, won prizes, been listed as an LA Times “Best Bet” and chosen for Eddie Murphy’s film Daddy Day Care, as well as other film and TV projects. In the fall of 2008, a dozen of her paintings appeared on the award winning TV show House in an episode about a painter with a disturbing vision problem. Critics have said “Steinberg can really paint with confidence and swagger…She paints in volumes and in strong personal tonalities of mood and color. Vibrant blues, greens and purple, raw, unpainted canvas, erotic or banal, the compositions express a balance of strenuous oppositions…Even a brilliant bathroom portrait takes on an atmosphere of carnival brightness.” |
BiJian Fan
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BiJian Fan was born in Beijing, China. When he grew up, He didn’t have toys like children today, so he made his own. He learned paper works from his grandmother who led him into a paper wonderland. He cultivated his childhood fantasy and imagination while playing paper airplanes, boats, and pets. Today, he is still pushing envelop to create cutting-edge paper sculpture, but his media have expanded beyond paper to other interesting and beautiful materials.
BiJian sculpts a 3D object using 2D materials, integrates many unconventional techniques to create light and airy sculptures. The interesting physical and aesthetical properties of materials give his sculptures solidarity with flexibility. Many nature’s creatures and forms inspired him, but his birds radiate a spatial sense of grace. Their elegant plumage shapes a myriad of emotions in glorious visual displays. The motion of feathers and bobbing heads brings his birds to life. The transition of 2D material to 3D kinetic sculpture represents nature’s evolution in space and time. BiJian studied in China, Japan, and USA, earned his B.S. and M.S. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. By day he is a biotech engineer, but by night he creates the figures of his imagination. He has shown his sculptures across the country and earned numerous awards. He also exhibited at Olympic Cultural Festival in his hometown for Beijing Olympics. |