I’ve always been interested in the things we live with every day. Not necessarily the things we save for special occasions, but the ones we reach for without thinking—a favorite mug in the morning, a bowl that somehow always seems to end up on the kitchen counter, a vase that has held flowers, branches, and sometimes nothing at all. These are ordinary objects, but over time they can become anything but ordinary. That is one of the reasons I make functional pottery. I like the idea that a handmade piece doesn’t have to sit on a shelf to be appreciated. It can be used. It can become familiar. Maybe a mug develops a small mark from years of use, or a bowl becomes the one you always reach for because it simply feels right in your hands. I pay a lot of attention to that feeling when I make a piece—the balance, the weight, the rim, the way the shape fits in your hand. I want something to be beautiful, but I also want it to work. Living in Ojai influences my work in quieter ways, too. I’m surrounded by open spaces, old trees, weathered fences, dry grasses, stones and the changing colors of the landscape. I’m drawn to surfaces and forms that feel a little softened by time rather than perfectly new. I like a little evidence of the hand. A glaze that pools or breaks in unexpected places. A shape that feels simple but not quite predictable. Sometimes I bring pieces of the landscape into my work—leaves, grasses, stones, branches or other natural materials gathered around the Ojai Valley. They might become part of the surface, an element of the composition, or simply the inspiration for a form. I think handmade pottery has a special ability to settle into our lives. It doesn’t have to announce itself as art. It can simply become part of breakfast, dinner with friends, flowers from the garden, or a quiet cup of coffee before the day begins. And somewhere along the way, the object becomes connected to those moments. That’s the part I love most.

I hope to see you at my hilltop studio this weekend for the tour. I have so much new work but since I paint what I live I return to my favorite subjects--Nomads, Flowers and Ranch life

Look forward to visitors this weekend during the OSA Open Studios, to see the full shapes that I have been hand building from Paper Clay. This is clay that has had finely shredded paper blended into it, and is fabulous for hand-building work. The paper content is burned out during the bisque firing, resulting in larger loosing weight. But still very strong. As usual I am constantly playing with new recipes and painting up a few surprises. Lots of dishes, beakers and earrings too. Please come by over the weekend to see what I have been up too.

I have spent much of my life watching people look at other people. My sister taught me why. She was severely disabled. She couldn’t control her arms or legs, and when she was born, doctors told my mother she would never walk or talk and probably wouldn’t live very long. But when my sister was three, she showed us something very different. My sister and I were sitting on the living room floor while I colored. I would ask her for a particular crayon, and she would reach as best she could and fling the color I asked for across the floor to me. My mother was watching. She looked at my sister and said, “If you can hear me, blink your eyes.” My sister blinked. My mother cried. My sister understood far more than anyone had realized. I think I became very sensitive to the way people look at one another because of her. I watched people stare at my sister, and I learned that what we see when we look at someone isn’t necessarily who that person is. Years later, I created whimsical jewelry to raise money for charities. I made little groups of women—young and old, tall and short, thin and full, fancy and frumpy, with many different skin tones. When I took them to market, something unexpected happened. People would look at the groups and tell me who they were. “That’s my mother and my sisters.” “Those are my college girlfriends.” “That’s my family.” They weren’t seeing the women I had made. They were seeing their people. And then one day, I realized something that horrified me. I had forgotten someone. For all my effort to include women of different ages, sizes, colors and shapes, I had forgotten my own sister. I immediately made women in wheelchairs. My sister loved them. She sold some to her friends to help raise money for charity. I think about that experience now when I look at the little glass people filling my studio. Each one seems to have a personality. An expression. A story. And when I put them together, something happens. They become a community. Some seem to be friends. Some might be family. Maybe one owns a shop and another is a customer. Maybe two have known each other forever. Maybe one is simply passing through. I don’t really decide who they are. You do. I make the people, but the viewer creates the relationships. And perhaps that is what we do all the time. We look at someone and imagine who they are. Sometimes we’re right. Sometimes we’re not. But if we look a little longer, we might see something we hadn’t noticed before. That’s what I hope happens when you meet my glass people. I’ll be showing them during the Ojai Studio Artists Tour, October 9, 10 and 11. Come meet them. Take a little time with them. See who you recognize. And maybe you’ll find someone who reminds you of a person you love. Or maybe— you’ll recognize yourself.

Friends, I have some news to share. The 'Ocean Garden' giclée limited edition prints are officially sold out online. I'm still processing it. Thank you to every collector, neighbor, and fellow artist who brought a piece of the series home. Your support means the world to me. Here's the sweet and exciting announcement. I saved one set of all three editions released for one lucky lover. 💙 The three giclees will be sold together as ONE FINAL set, 'Le Tunnel', 'Le Passage', and 'La Verrière', will be first come, first served in person on the tour. This series began over a year ago in front of Claude Monet's 'Water Lilies' in France. I felt a calling to create an underwater sanctuary. Arched canvases, gilded edges, kelp forests, and months of diving and painting later, it's coming to life. Seeing the prints land in homes feels like the ocean garden is blooming far beyond my studio walls. Come see the 'Ocean Garden' originals as well as my newest mid series 'Immersion' this weekend. The sixth 'Ocean Garden' painting is in its final stages, come immerse yourself with this life sized collection. There will also be many other limited editions from my kelp inspired and Ojai paintings. My door will be open from 10 to 5, Saturday through Monday. Warmly, Marie 💙 mariemckenzie.com @mariemckenzieart

Next weekend we kick off the 42nd annual Ojai Studio Artists Open Studio Tour, and I'd argue this event has never had more to offer. The outside world can feel pretty lousy right now. Technology is terrifying, the economy is teetering, politics are toxic. But here in this magical five-mile-wide valley, dedicated artists are using their hands and hearts and minds to make and share things. The Tour is a chance to connect with this place and meet curious, generous people. It's about human experience and unmediated expression in the real world. That said, let's be honest: it’s a bit of a hassle. It's inspiring, exciting, and adventurous, but "easy" isn't on the list. A ticket gets you into the private workspaces of 60+ artists, from way up in Upper Ojai down to the canyons near Taft Gardens. You'll find painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, jewelry, fiber arts, assemblage, mixed media, and everything in between, by artists from all kinds of backgrounds and approaches. So my first piece of advice: don't try to see it all. Pace yourself. Do some research, make a plan, and sketch out a route. (Rebecca Odes' spiffy digital map can help - check out www.osatourmap.org!) But don't let that put you off. Make a weekend of it and start Friday evening, Oct 9, at the reception at the Ojai Valley Museum from 5-7 pm. You can meet all 60+ participating artists, see their work, pick up a booklet, and finalize your game plan. Then talk to artists about their favorite spots. Obviously taste is subjective, but there are definitely studios you won't want to miss. Keep your ears open and be ready to change plans based on what you hear. I'm excited to be showing a lot of new work, including several new round paintings and the sound installation Sonic Blooms. Also on the same stop you'll experience the magnificent multimedia creations of Rebecca Odes. Come by!

Well, just to start off with, I am still in Bishop photographing the night sky and the fall colors. Today is Friday, October 2, so the two images I attached to the blog will not be printed in time for the fall tour, but when I’ll print them after the fall tour, they should be stunning. I brought my laptop up here with its smaller screen. So it’s difficult to do post processing on astrophotography images because I don’t have my big monitor here lol. The Milky Way is my first pass at post processing, so it’s not complete but it gives you an idea of the night sky up here. The Milky Way was a river of stars last night and it rivals the dark skies of Utah. I have been photographing fall colors all week here. The conditions are perfect. There are no yellow leaves on the ground. That means all the yellow leaves are still on the trees. The skies have been clear, there’s been hardly any wind, and it’s nice and warm during the day and night. My studio will be open all three days of Ojai studio fall tour. From 10 AM to 5 PM we live in Oak View. Hope to have time to stop by.

There’s a specific kind of energy in the days leading up to an open studio tour. It is the end of a cycle of making. My studio is currently in complete disarray. There is a batch of freshly glazed pots waiting to go into the kiln; my sweet husband is rushing to install large fans ahead of the hot weekend,;floors need sweeping; shelves need organizing, etc. There is also an air of excited anticipation for the upcoming open studio weekend. By the time you arrive, the kiln will be unloaded, the studio will be clean, and the shelves will be stocked with new ware. I look forward to showing you my new work and discussing my process with you.

Finishing a plein air painting is often about knowing what to leave alone. The painting begins outdoors, where the light is changing, the wind is moving, and there is only a limited amount of time to capture what I’m seeing. Those first marks are spontaneous and responsive—an attempt to record not only the landscape, but the feeling of being there. Back in the studio, I take time to look at the painting with fresh eyes. I may adjust a shape, strengthen a value, simplify an area, or bring more attention to the focal point. Sometimes a few brushstrokes are enough. Other times, the painting needs more time to settle before I understand what it is asking for. The challenge is to refine the painting without losing the energy and honesty of those first moments outside. I want to preserve the freshness of the plein air experience—the atmosphere, the light, and the sense of place—while allowing the painting to become its own finished statement.

The brushes are washed, the tabletops are clean, paints put away. Time to switch gears. The "making phase" is over. Time to raise the curtain and show what I've been working on. Recently, birds have taken over the center stage. They appear sometimes together in a mixed species chorus, or perhaps as soloists. Stop by my studio and do a little 'birding', Sat. Oct 10 and Sun Oct. 11.

Come by the Amend Art Compound to see three artists' works: Wyatt Amend, Richard Amend and Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend. Clay, Painting and Glass. Functional items and art, all thoughtfully produced and displayed. I will be showing my continuing series of Whimseys, stained glass 'drawings', my photo decal 5x5s (useful trivet-like glass squares) and the ongoing "Vocabware' drinking glasses with original glass decals. All interspersed with blown glass and wall pieces.

I hope you can join me at my studio to see my largest, most immerive and challenging series to date, the ‘Ocean Garden’ collection. I will also be showing ‘Innermission’, for the first time, consisting of new, in process, medium and large paintings. Ocean Garden Ocean Garden is my largest, most immersive, and most challenging series to date. It's potentially complete, and I'm excited to share it. These are large arched paintings, each edge gilded in brass. I wanted them to feel like windows, or the doorways of a cathedral that happens to be underwater. The idea came from two places I love. One is the beauty of French sacred architecture, with its arch shaped doorways and windows. The other is the kelp forest (Channel Islands, Catalina and Laguna), where I've spent so much time as a freediver. Kelp fronds became columns. Sunlight through the water became stained glass. Abundance is the heart of it. The ocean gives so much, and I wanted these paintings to feel generous in return. 10% of proceeds from my kelp-inspired work supports kelp restoration and research through SeaTrees and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 💙 Innermission For the first time, I'll also be showing Innermission, my newest mini series. It's three medium to large oil paintings, closer in scale to my earlier work, and they're still in process. I've been loving the view from the ocean floor, looking up at the light through the canopy. It's the opposite of where I began. Back when I was working on my Prism series, I was snorkeling at the surface, before I faced my fears and dove in. Now I get to look up. You'll see these paintings while they're still becoming, and I love sharing that stage. Many small paintings and limited editions will be available during the annual Ojai Studio Artists studio tour, the weekend of October 10th through 12th. Can't wait to welcome you. Warmly, Marie mariemckenzie.com

I am excited to be showing artwork again this year at the New York gallery, Artifact Projects. This year's show is titled, "Daring (I'm) Possibilities, and if you are in New York, you can catch this incredibly eclectic and diverse exhibition until October 3rd. The opening was on September 24th (interestingly, that is also my birthday!). My monotype of fashion designer, Jeremy Scott, will be in this year's exhibition. One of the most wonderful aspects of this show is that in addition to the wonderful contemporary artists included in the show, my artwork will also be hanging near some of the most renowned artists who ever lived. Included in this show are: Rembrandt, Matisse, Cocteau, Kokoschka and none other than Picasso! The gallery owns several lithographs and etchings from these artists and will be looking to sell them alongside the contemporary artists in the show. You can read the list of artists participating on their announcement card. Needless to say, my artwork is hanging in good company! If you get to the gallery, let me know!

Looking for Something Different in Art? Abstract - Mixed media - Figurative - Immersive - Colorful - Minimalist? All of the above?... I think I have something for you. From Colorful Marks to Strange Languages, Lavish Still Life to heavily Textured Mixed Media, from Immersive Installation to Monochromatic Statements... The palette spectrum of my work is interdisciplinary. More than "coming to buy something" I enjoy when visitors use their time in my studio exploring techniques (mixed media), having unusual experiences (Immersive 3D), asking questions... Come and Play together... WELCOME TO MY PLAYGROUND! 10942 Encino Dr in Oak View (West Ojai) Sat-Sun-Mon Oct 10-11-12 (10 am to 5 pm)

I am in the Eastern Sierras photographing fall colors this week. Bishop is going off, if anyone is interested. I'm guessing some of the places I've been to are 90-100%. Next weekend October 10-12 is Ojai Studio Tours. My gallery will be open all three days 10am-5pm. I won't have any images from this trip printed yet. But I can print them for you after the tour. I use pro digital cameras, so I can print most any size. I printed two images 2'x3' and helped the client hang them in his home last week. The prints turned out perfect. Also, I have a Milky Way Over Green Valley framed print at the Buenaventura Art Association new location at Ventura Harbor. They are open seven days a week.

Excitement just ahead on October 9th with OSA's reception kick off at the museum, leading to our OSA tour weekend! Tickets and maps are available then as well. We artists are cleaning our studios, hanging art, pricing it and weighing how to best show our latest, our favorites, old and new. In July, the East End and upper Ojai gathered at my house to talk about advertising, signage, how to do our own PR--and get a photo of our group. The tour stretches from Oak View, Miramonte, Meiner's Oaks and downtown to the East End, so maps become key and come with your ticket. It's complex but we are a cheerful group, even when we are working hard on committees and in our studios. Hope to see you there!

Come see me during the Ojai Studio Artists annual Tour Oct. 10-12. I invite you into my Happy Place, a studio perched on a hillside with views of the mountains around our beautiful valley. This is where I teach silversmithing, lost wax casting, and stone setting, and make unique sculptural Art Jewelry, meant to be worn. I'd love to share my stories about each and every one. My entry in the Ojai Valley Museum OSA show this year "Eye Can See Clearly Now" is a modern day Milagro - a good luck charm. It's made of Sterling Silver, Copper, 18K gold and gems that emanate all kinds of energy to boost clarity of vision, enhancing motivation and healing.

Last year I took a knife to a painting. This year, I learned to take the paint away. If you saw Deconstructing Color at the Ojai Valley Museum, you saw a body of work born from a single four-by-nine-foot oil painting. I cut it into strips and shards, then reassembled the pieces into something new. That series taught me that a painting isn't finished just because it's whole. Sometimes it has to come apart before it can speak. My new work carries that lesson somewhere quieter. I call these pieces fields of color. Each one begins, as always, with meditation, a request for help in a process of heartfelt, loving co-creation. Then I build the surface in layers of oil on paper, one veil of color over another, until the paper is saturated and alive. And then I begin to take it away. Scraping paint away is a different kind of listening. Adding is about intention; removing is about trust. I'm no longer deciding what to put in. I'm discovering what was already there. Earlier layers rise to meet me: a blue-green glowing through a violet haze, a warm ochre surfacing beneath a cool field. What remains isn't less than what I started with. It's truer. I think that holds beyond the studio, too. So much of life asks us to add more effort, more noise, more to carry. These paintings remind me that clarity often comes through subtraction, from letting go of what we don't need so that what matters can breathe. Stand in front of one of these fields and you may feel the same thing happen in you. Your eye slows down. The edges soften. Colors that seemed to sit still begin to move. I would love for you to experience them in person. My studio will be open for the Ojai Studio Artists Fall Tour: Opening reception: Friday, October 9, 5-7 PM, Ojai Valley Museum Open studio: Saturday & Sunday, October 10-11, 10 AM-5 PM 566 Avenida de la Vereda, Ojai Come see what's left when the extra falls away. I think you'll find it's everything. teigerart.com | Instagram #dhteiger

Alongside my big paintings, I continue to work on these 8×8 canvases. They're lighter and more playful than the larger work. However, like the bigger pieces, these little experiments reward a closer look: bits of paper tucked under paint, marks that only show up when you lean in. That's the best reason to see them in person. Come visit my studio during the OSA Studio Tour, October 10–11. I am open 10 - 5 on October 10th & 11th and by appointment on Monday, October 12th. Looking forward to seeing you!

One of the most valuable things I've learned about art – and really, about life – since I began painting seriously six years ago is this: it's all in the making. In other words, "inspiration" isn't a straightforward one-to-one transaction. The idea of an artist waiting patiently for a muse to float down from the heavens and then, touched by the grace of inspiration, rushing (usually in quick-cut montage with swelling soundtrack) to assemble a masterpiece - this is bunk. It doesn't work that way. At least it doesn't for me. Take for instance Sonic Blooms, a sound art installation made up of clusters of public address speakers painted with botanical imagery, which I'll be sharing at the Ojai Studio Artists fall tour. The project is a partnership with composer Will Thomas, who late last year invited me to participate in a show sponsored by the Ojai Music Festival. The show, titled "A/V" (Audio Visual) featured artworks that incorporated original sound. That was the "inspiration" - a set of parameters. Whatever I made would be shown somewhere on Will's property, possibly outdoors, and accompanied by some kind of sound made based on our conversations. Thinking it over (really more like daydreaming about Will's garden and trying to picture how we'd wire it for sound), I started thinking about outdoor speakers and how those PA horns that you see bolted to the walls of schools or on boats. Aren't they kind of flower-shaped? Wouldn't it be cool to paint those with petals and stamens and leaves and then make a big bouquet? After playing with various design configurations and walking around the garden for a few weeks, it became clear that this thing shouldn't be one large object shooting sound out from a single source. By breaking it up into multiple "blooms," we could create a surround-sound experience that would flow in and around the space. And since we were working with AV speakers designed for the frequency of the human voice, Will created a piece of music using my daughter Eliza's voice that spoke to the connection between humans and nature. Then over the course of eight months I got online and started ordering speakers of various sizes, working with industrial designer Chris Hacker to sand, prime, and assemble them into flower-like arrangements. By the time we were done, the piece had grown to 59 individual speakers. It all happened in steps, one set of parameters and notions and problems leading to the next, a chain of iteration that is still unfolding and expanding. We're now working on plans to expand it to triple its current size and take it into new public gardens. All of which is to say: art is a process. As much as we who make things would like to imagine them arriving in one fell swoop inside a single package with a pretty bow on top, the truth is art happens over time. Art keeps changing and evolving. Just like life. Just like us. The Sonic Blooms will be out and making their magical sounds in my garden of cacti and olive trees for the full three days of Oct 10-12, 10 am - 5 pm. Tickets for the whole tour are available at www.ojaistudioartists.org. Would love to see you!

I'm not really a blogger. Or newsletter writer. I think about it though. I have been thinking about it lately because there is a lot going on! Okay, here's the rundown: A lot of new work started, and I did actually finish a few (it's been a real furnace in my studio this summer so that's been tricky to paint in). This new series is going to be wild. My work is currently shown through 10 West Gallery in Santa Barbara, starting out strong with a sale of one of my favorite pieces (Regards) And, of course the Annual Ojai Studio Artists fall tour is right around the corner- please get tickets and come up and say hi! See you soon! Em

Just got back from a mini vacation. I unabashedly admit to people watching. Reasonable since after all I am a figurative artist. This staring obsession influences my art work ALOT! I will leave it at People Inspire Me. Two weeks till the tour. I am super excited because this year I have all new work in GLASS! Yes, expect to see figurative sculptural characters made from hot melting glass that emerge from fire. This new work is challenging and dangerous. That's why I love it. I have a ton of preparation for the studio tour so I will leave you for now and see you in 2 weeks. Big Love Always

My work is inspired by horses and by the profound and ever-changing maternal relationship between mother and daughter. In the dynamics of the mare and foal, I see a reflection of our own bond—a relationship rooted in eternal love, guidance and protection, while ultimately allowing one the freedom to find their own way. My current paintings have a monochromatic, earthy palette, creating large-scale expressionistic works that explore the movement of light, emotion, and connection. For my sculptures, I use Ojai Wild Clay gathered from my own backyard, incorporating the earth of this place into the work itself. The paintings and sculptures are therefore deeply grounded in Ojai—not only in their materials and colors, but in the spirit and natural beauty that surrounds us. Light is central to my paintings. I think of light as love: moving between two beings and illuminating the space that connects them. Like the bond between a mare and foal, love can hold us close while still allowing room to wander, grow, and become. This idea became especially poignant on September 19, 2026, when my 21-year-old daughter, Siena Rose Cherry, completed her official Anacapa Island to Mainland Crossing, swimming over 12 miles nonstop from Anacapa Island to Silver Strand Beach in Oxnard. She swam for eight hours straight without a wetsuit and without holding onto anything!! Gazing into the vastness of the ocean, my heart traveled with her across the horizon. I waited for her on shore for several hours, surrounded by the unexpected beauty of the moment—beached sea lions, pods of dolphins passing through the water, the vast Pacific stretching between us. I found myself thinking about another time waiting with anticipation, the moment when I had to surrender, pray and trust during her long and challenging 24 hours of labor. I was waiting to meet her for the first time. And now, 21 years later, I was once again waiting for her to emerge from the water. Waiting on the beach, surrounded by light, God, the ocean, and the beauty of the natural world, I felt the extraordinary circle of motherhood. The child we once hold becomes someone who finds her own expression of freedom, strength, courage, and her own way across the ocean. And then, almost nonchalantly, she walked out of the water. There was something miraculous about watching her emerge from the Pacific after eight hours of swimming. She had crossed through this vast space that was unimaginable for me. In that moment, I understood my paintings in a different way. When I begin a work, I have some intention and allow the painting to take on a life of its own. I observe, guide and allow it to become what it wants to become. There is a balance between holding and releasing, between guiding and allowing freedom. Perhaps motherhood is much the same. We create, we nurture, we protect, we guide—and then we let go. My work is an exploration of that connection: the love that holds us, the freedom that allows us to grow, and the light of God that remains between and within us. I look forward to sharing "That's Love" series of paintings and sculptures during our upcoming OSA Tour, Oct. 10-12, 2026.

Three ripe pomegranates fill this stained glass mosaic, tumbling toward the viewer against a sky of bright turquoise. The fruit is built from hundreds of hand-cut shards in crimson, garnet, rust and burnt orange, set so the lines of glass follow the curve of each skin the way brushstrokes follow form in a painting. The pomegranate in front has split open, and its interior is a dense field of tiny red pieces that catch the light like the seeds themselves. Each fruit still wears its crown, and slender green leaves sweep through the composition, pulling the eye from corner to corner. The background is as alive as the subject. Bands of cobalt and violet glass radiate outward from behind the fruit, giving the turquoise a sense of heat and motion, like late-summer sun. Below, deep brown and black tesserae form a shadowed tabletop that anchors the pomegranates and makes their reds glow even more. The result feels less like a still life than a moment of abundance: glass handled with a painter's eye, where color, light and texture do the work of the brush.

As a child, my mother had a small totem pole next to her bed....and that was the beginning of my love and inspiration for indigenous artwork. I invite you to stop by my Studio during the "Ojai Artists Open Studio Tour" in October. Sat. 10, Sun.11, and Mon.12. 10:00am - 5:00pm

To me summer is reading novels on the dock, the water lapping beneath, sun shimmering across the lake as it moves west to end the day. These days that book, once made of paper, curled at th edges and plump from a spray of unintended water, isn't seen as often. The digital world now brings Kindles and phones and iPads down to the dock, their titles secured in a matter of moments and delivered to one's fingertips to swipe and read. They don't warp with water, but could be rendered dead should they be dropped in the lake. Yet the words are there, taking one into another world, a character's challenges, the arc of a page-turning plot. Does it matter if it's read on the page made from wood pulp or via a satelite? I don't think so. As long as one is reading. As the summer season draws to a close, I dabbled in some more abstract portraits using oils and cold wax to find the sun glimmering off the lake as a young niece pulls up her book on a tablet, and lands in another world, if just until the sun goes down. "Bright Waters" - mixed media - 12" x 12" framed on cradled board.

I have been happily lost in the studio lately, working on a new series that brings together so many of the things I love: layers, texture, Gelli-plate printing, collage, color, and wonderfully weird botanical shapes. The new series is called Flora and Other Stories, and it feels like a joyful next chapter in my work. I currently have 10 new original pieces at 10 West Gallery in Santa Barbara, with a reception on October 1 from 5 to 8 pm. I would love to see you there! And then comes the Ojai Studio Artists Tour. I am busy cleaning up the studio, organizing artwork, and attempting to make the place look as though an artist does not actually work there! It has been an extraordinary creative year for me. After all these years, I am still discovering new ways to make art, and that may be the most exciting part of all. I hope you will come by during the Tour, see the new work, and say hello. There are lots of new stories blooming in the studio!

Wrona Gall 31 paintings fill the Santa Paula Art Museum along with Ted Gall's sculptures through November 6. Other paintings will be shown in the annual Studio Tour October 10-11.

Lately, I have been especially drawn to magpies. They are intelligent, curious, and very social birds. They are not just black and white. No.... some feathers have unexpected blues, greens, or violet art are wonderfully fun to paint. Magpies are associated with luck, happiness, and mischief. In Chinese art, they are an auspicious bird that brings good fortune---- hope so!

As artists, our work is always evolving, yet certain forms become anchors in our creative lives. For me, that anchor has been HOLOS. I created my first HOLOS sculpture in 2013, and over the years it has evolved from sculpture into wearable amulets while continuing to express the same essential idea: our interconnectedness as one human family. The nine spiraling segments emerged from my silent exploration of unity, wholeness, and our interconnectedness as one human family. Over the years, HOLOS has taken many forms—from sculpture to wearable amulets—yet its essential invitation has remained the same: to remember who we truly are and that we are not separate from one another. This October’s Ojai Studio Artists Tour marks a new chapter in that journey. I will be introducing the Legacy HOLOS Collection, representing the remaining pieces created through the original production process. As I bring this chapter to completion, these works will be offered at 25% reduced pricing, with complimentary shipping within the United States. At the same time, I am opening a newly rebuilt online gallery at BrianBerman.art, bringing together HOLOS with a broader body of work created across many years: contemporary stone, cast glass and metal sculpture, fine prints, and my newest embossed wall pieces. For me, these works are more than objects. They are markers along a lifelong journey exploring peace, transformation, relationship, and our shared humanity. Purchases from the Legacy HOLOS Collection will also help support the volunteer peace building work Lisa and I continue through our Awakening Peace non-profit. I invite you to visit the new gallery online, and especially to experience the work in person during the Ojai Studio Artists Tour, October 10–12. There is something about seeing sculpture and amulet pendants in their environment—its scale, surface, shadow, and relationship with the changing Ojai light—that no photograph can completely capture. I look forward to welcoming you into my studio. Brian Berman Artist for Peace BrianBerman.art

I discovered art glass in the early 90's . I loved it! Always wanted to do glass work. Fast forward. This past year I decided to create my own glass art .The subject matter is people. No surprise there if you know me. These colorful and whimsical people are the beginnings of my journey flame- working. A spark combined with oxygen and propane and we have fire. Gotta have that to melt the glass. So far I haven't blown up the studio! That's good news! Today there are about 8 on display at the Ojai Valley Museum. Hope you can go visit for a look see. Come see me on the Oct Tour.

Most of us stop looking much sooner than we think we do. We see a tree and our brain tells us “tree.” We see a mountain and think we know its shape. But drawing asks us to stay with what we’re seeing just a little longer. For the past couple of years, I’ve maintained a regular drawing practice I call Morning Practice. Most of the drawings begin with my own photographs, often taken while traveling or simply moving through the landscape. The materials are simple: line and a limited range of gray values. What interests me is the looking. When I draw, I try to stop thinking first about what something is and instead look at the shapes, values, angles and relationships. Where does one shape end and another begin? Where are the darkest darks and lightest lights? Again and again, I discover that what I thought I saw isn’t quite what is actually there. Over time, I began to realize that this practice wasn’t just changing my drawings. It was changing my paintings. Observation 2: Atigun Pass grew directly out of that experience. I photographed Atigun Pass while traveling through Alaska’s Brooks Range. When I later returned to the landscape through drawing, I began to see beyond mountains, road and sky. I noticed the underlying structure—the shapes, lines, divisions and relationships that held the landscape together. When I returned to Atigun Pass in paint, I wasn’t interested in reproducing the photograph. I wanted to bring what I had discovered through drawing into the painting. The landscape remained the source, but observation became more important than representation. That exploration became Observation 2: Atigun Pass and has continued to influence the direction of my work. It has also led me to develop The Art of Looking, an adult drawing workshop based on the same observational process I use in my studio. Perhaps that’s what Morning Practice has taught me most of all: observation is a skill. The more we practice it, the more we begin to see. Come see where drawing and painting meet in my work during the Ojai Studio Artists Tour, October 10–12. I’ll have paintings and Morning Practice drawings in the studio—and I’d love to share what I’ve been working on.

This summer, I participated in Ojai Studio Artist’s Mentorship program, in partnership with the Ojai Nordhoff High School’s Advanced Visual Arts program! It was such a joy teaching plein air painting and the basics of studio oil color mixing and application to such a gifted student. Thanks to our wonderful donors, this mentorship is likely to grow into an internship program.

Christopher left behind a selection of his Serra Bowls, all unfinished. He gifted me with one last and precious collaboration opportunity. He made these bowls somewhere around 2019 and 2020, they have been sitting on the studio shelves collecting dust all these years, and all these years I’ve been staring at them, knowing that they either would stay there for eternity, end up in the trash, or have the chance to become good or bad finish pieces. All bowls came down to the table and got a good wash, I had to look at them for quite some time to find a connection and a direction. I am not Christopher, so the idea of glazing/firing them the way he would have was scratched from the get go. I had to figure out how to use my process on his pieces, my very delicate process on his very masculine pieces. This is not for the faint of heart, connecting to a piece that you didn’t make takes time. Finding the rhythm of such pieces takes time. Some pieces are easier than others. Besides the creative challenge, I had a logistic hurdle. I knew the pieces were made with cone 10 clay (IYKYK) and I only fire to cone 6 at home, so I had to find someone willing to devote their time and kiln space to fire these too many, and too big pieces. Thank goodness for clay friends. As cathartic as this process was, it was a reminder that Christopher’s absence is permanent, and just like him, these pieces will never happen again. A nice selection of these pieces will be available at the upcoming Ojai Studio Artists Tour on October 10 & 11

Busy and productive time in my work and studio. Currently a 25 watercolor show at Farmer and the Cook. The reception will be on Sunday, September 27 from 5 until 7. Also an active member of the Ventura County Creative Artists, and a two day event coming this weekend, September 19 and 20 from 11 until 4. The photo is from a recent workshop in conjunction with the Buenaventura Art Association. I conducted a presentation on the magic of watercoloring into a BLIND CONTINUOUS LINE DRAWING. Current artwork in the OSA show at the Museum in just such a drawing of the onion domed buildings in St. Petersburg, Russia. Coming soon the studio tour for OSA in October. October 10,11, and 12th. Many new works will be on display. Hope you choose to make decision to attend. Rex

As you may already know we are moving to Mexico soon. Therefore this is my last open studio tour with the Ojai Studio Artists. I hope you have a chance to stop by and visit one last time and take advantage of the 50-70% OFF clearance. All art, easels, art books, and more will be for sale. And please stop by the Ojai Valley Museum to view As We See It, OSA’s group show at the Ojai Valley Museum. One of my latest paintings is on view, along with 60+ OSA artists' works. Recently I have been painting in a larger scale as I prepare to work on murals in Mexico. The untitled painting above is my new large painting, also a 4'x4' oil on canvas. Looking forward to this last tour. I hope you stop by. Mariana

Sometimes making a piece of art can lead you to an amazing adventure. Such is the case of doing a portrait of Albert, the resident camel at Rancho Grande in Ojai. If you do not know about this magicl ranch you must check it out on Facebook or online. I stayed at the ranch and fell in love with every single animal there. However the star of the ranch is Albert the camel. He is absolutely a sweetheart and thinks he is a human. He swings by every morning, sticking his head in the door for apples and carrots. He sits with the goats and llamas, and hikes with the horses. He would come into the cabin entirely excet for his hump! I told Linda and Richard (owners,see below) that I wanted to do his portrait, and they agreed. Well it came out better than I ever thought and when Albert saw it he gave me a huge camel ( sloppy) kiss on my cheek and chewed my ear. What more could I ask for? It was a unique experience and I am so grateful for this opportunity. See below: Rancho Grande is a family-owned, family-operated guest ranch in the mountains above Ojai. Richard and Linda Murad host the ranch with their children, Alex, Shelly and Jack. Richard is the former CEO of Murad Skincare and the owner of Beach City Baseball Academy, an El Segundo baseball school known for its competitive travel teams. Richard, Linda and Alex live full-time at Rancho Grande and welcome guests into the place they call home. Rancho Grande is also an animal sanctuary—a lifelong home for an extraordinary family of alpacas, goats, sheep, chickens, horses, parrots, pigs, dogs, cats, guinea pigs and Albert the camel. Many arrived after their former owners could no longer care for them. Here they live peacefully alongside the deer, birds and other wildlife of Los Padres National Forest. Our family funds their food, shelter and veterinary care and does not solicit donations.

Turns out photos and paint like to fight for a starring role. I thought working photography into canvas would feel like collaging paper scraps — turns out photographs have a mind of their own. They hold a stronger presence and don't blend in easily. The real challenge is getting materials that don't naturally agree to find a shared language. This piece started with a photo I took in the high desert of Colorado. Cropped, printed on clear paper, and transferred onto a canvas already layered with underpainting and mark-making. Part of my latest series exploring where photography and painting meet. Come see it and more in person at the Ojai Studio Artists Tour, Oct 10–12. I am open 10–5 on the 10th & 11th, and by appointment on the 12th. Appointments: ojaineville@yahoo.com

This past July a I adventured up to the High Sierras by myself for a painting/ nature immersion intensive . I wanted to Plein Aire Paint at the Big Pines Lakes , This location was made famous by Edgar Payne the premier California Impressionist painter who would take simular painting excursions on Horseback in the 1930s and 40s. I hired Mert of Glacial Pack Trains to haul my painting and camping gear up the rugged trail to a spectacular camping spot he found for me overlooking Lake #4 at 11,000 feet . The glaciers and rocky mountain peaks made for spectacular views in every direction . As soon as I set up camp I began Painting on small 6x8 and 8x10 panels. The beauty of the space overwhelmed me and I was inspired to paint until it was dark . Although sleeping under the stars was amazing I wanted to awake early to paint the first light of the day . The location was so serene , I did'nt have electronics to distract me from my connection to nature . I was ingulfed by its beauty . I packed my painting gear for a time and hiked the area looking for different compositions but I did'nt have to go far . I painted 8 panels that day . and painted again the next day until Mert picked me up with his mules . It was a experience that made me feel alive . and gave me plenty of materials to return to my studio to enlarge the small panels into larger pieces .

Here are two images of the Milky Way I photographed on Monday night at the beach. Both are single images. One image has the Moon and Venus descending. Both are bright enough that I could see their reflection on the ocean. It was so beautiful to watch them descend behind the ocean. Since my main goal was to shoot a timelapse of the Milky Way, I am using a long exposure and have the aperture opened the maximum amount. If I were to photograph just the moon and Venus, I would never photograph it like that. I'd use a different lens and camera settings. So in this image, the moon and Venus are too bright and overexposed. It's extremely difficult to photograph a single image with such a wide dynamic range. The point I want to make is how light, yes even the moon, affects how we can and can't see the Milky Way. Compare both images and you can see how much more visible the Milky Way is AFTER the moon sets. All in all, I call it a successful night of photography. All alone on the quiet beach with the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. Marveling at the construction skills of the people who created the teepees out of driftwood. The sky was clear-ish and I had the moon, Venus and the stars to keep me company. So peaceful. So grateful to be living here.

When I am making a new painting, it’s a mindful process. I’m thinking about composition and color, and what to do with the background. Then I just slide into it and enjoy; like being in automatic and cruising through my new painting. All bliss!

I have been painting on metal panels with a solution that makes them rust instantly. When I paint flowers at their peak--it creates an interesting juxtaposition of the perfect bloom and the rust which is the deteriorating panel speaking to the ultimate deterioration of the bloom. When I'm painting cowboys-the rust becomes the dust.

When I made the transition from the Stone Age of my art career to the Bronze Age, I felt like I had to find a niche that was unique. Classic Rock music has been a constant companion during my convoluted journey through life. Pablo Picasso said something to the effect that, you will do your best work if you spend your creative energies doing something you love. As I carve these figures in wax, I have their music playing in the background, and I couldn't be in a better place. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoy creating them.

This Saturday, August 22nd at 2 PM, I’ll be giving an Artist Talk at the Santa Paula Art Museum in conjunction with my exhibition, A Woman’s Painted Journey. I’ll be sharing a little about the evolution of my work and the many layers—both traditional and digital—that come together in my mixed-media process. I’ll also give a short demonstration of one of my favorite tools: the Gelli plate. Gelli printing has become an important part of my creative process, allowing me to create the mysterious textures, unexpected patterns, and richly layered surfaces that appear throughout my work. I love the element of surprise—no two prints are ever quite alike, and those beautiful imperfections often become the starting point for something entirely new. If you’ve ever wondered “How did she make that?”, come join me! I’ll pull back the curtain a little and share how experimentation, technology, photography, painted papers, and plenty of happy accidents find their way into my finished pieces. Saturday August 22nd at 2 PM Santa Paula Art Museum 117 N. 10th Street, Santa Paula I’d love to see you there!

In "The Summer Day", poet Mary Oliver sets out the question "Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?" That question inspired my portrait of a young woman, abloom with bountiful flowers, face still tender and precious, as she grows into womanhood. It speaks of summer, fresh air and innocence - a time, like the season - that is fleeting and beautiful. This piece "Blossoming" (12" x 36") is showing at the Ojai Valley Museum beginning this week. The museum is open 10a-4p Thursdays through Sundays. Join us for the opening reception for the show this Friday, August 21st from 5-7pm.

I am thrilled the night sky was so dark and there was very little light pollution in the northeast sky above Lake Cachuma. I was photographing the meteor showers and the Milky Way last week. This week, I am working on stacking images for a star trails image. I shot 377 images on just one camera. I haven't had time to look at the images from the other camera yet. However, this image has only 99 stacked images. When I stack any more than that, the stars obliterate the sky with light. I have not had this happen before! I hope the land north and northeast of Cachuma stays free of development and light pollution. Dark skies are a gift in Southern California. The federal government owns this land now. You can see the stars seem to rotate around Polaris, the North Star, as the Earth rotates. I used a wide angle lens, so the star trails look a bit oblong in the left upper corner, but it really should be circular. Work in progress..... In the other image, I've circled a Perseids meteor and the Andromeda Galaxy for you to see. Once the images are stacked, you will not be able to see these.

After several years away, I've returned to Ojai. Arizona left its mark on me. Living close to the deserts, I was captivated by their endless arrays of color, their bold, sculptural forms, and the vastness of their landscape. I found myself simplifying shapes, pushing hues further than life, chasing the essence of that luminous terrain rather than a literal record of it. But Ojai is home, and coming back feels exactly like that. I am thrilled to be part of the Ojai Studio Artists once again. This valley's light, community, and creative energy has always been the engine behind my work. This year's tour, I'm bringing pieces shaped by my desert years alongside new work in portraiture, figures, and landscape — old threads and new ones, woven back together. See you in my Upper Ojai studio in October!

Happy to exhibit "Grid Poem, Where" in the Ojai Studio Artists Exhibition at the Ojai Valley Museum (opening August 21, 2026). Glass! What a medium. Glass refracts, reflects, absorbs, transmits, and distorts, increasing an awareness of color and light. Light fluctuates all day and interacts with the stained glass accordingly. It is a kinetic material. I am very interested in the various optical qualities of glass and choose glasses to take advantage of perceptual discoveries. I use mostly extraordinary hand blown sheet glass but also treat the surfaces with kiln-fired paint and photo decals, and etching. Imagery includes details of nature, patterning, and found visual elements. All together, the piece expresses a type of Haiku poetry generating an imaginative link between the parts.

When I began thinking about my piece for How We See It, I found myself looking at something I see almost every day: a eucalyptus tree. There is something wonderful about living in the Ojai Valley. We are surrounded by an abundance of natural beauty, but because we see it so often, it can become part of the background. We drive past the same trees, walk beneath the same branches, and notice the landscape without always really seeing it. A single eucalyptus branch from a local tree became both my subject and my tool. I placed the leaves directly onto the clay and traced their forms, then carefully carved each line by hand. The process made me pay attention to details I might normally overlook—the length and curve of the leaves, the branching veins, the irregularities that make each one unique. I then applied slip to create texture and depth before applying four different layers of glaze. Each layer contributes something different, creating depth, movement, and subtle variations across the vessel. I titled the piece Beauty in the Familiar because I think we sometimes need to pause and really see the things we have become accustomed to. Beauty doesn't always announce itself. This piece is my invitation to slow down and look more closely, because sometimes How We See It begins simply with taking the time to notice.

This is my entry in the OSA Exhibit "As We See It". As I began drawing eyes on paper - I knew it was becoming a Milagro, a lucky charm in Latin American culture that offers prayers for better health, in this case for the eyes. The gems I used here are known for attributes to reduce eye strain, repel negative energy, enhance focus, clarity of purpose, and promote creativity: Coral, Turquoise, Tiger Eye, Amethyst, Lapis, Opal, Emerald, and Quartz Crystal. And so the name came to me: "EYE Can See Clearly Now". It took me over a month to make this necklace out of Sterling Silver, Copper and 18K Gold embellishments. Sawing, filing, planning placement of stones, lots of soldering and setting the gems... it is an intense process of building as you go, piece by piece, to create the whole. The handmade chain adds plenty of eyes to support the request for healing, in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. I had a great time making it!

Always great fun! The reception is August 21 at the Ojai Valley Museum from 5 to 7pm, and the show is up until October 12. I'll be there, pouring drinks and enjoying the food when I'm not at the bar. The exhibit "As We See It" is an amazing one and worth spending time looking at each and the comments next to each art piece.

As an artist, I've had many valleys to explore and mountains to climb. Much is documented in my memoir(Available on Amazon, or at my studio during the tour. I write about the challenges I've faced and the evolutionary gifts that have been my journey of becoming. Having a supportive arts community has nurtured my spirit and helped me rise up like the phoenix. Back in 2022 when we lost our home on Palomar Road, Lisa and I didn't know when our next home would reveal itself. We were invited by a great peace builder to volunteer in Poland in support of Ukrainian mothers and their children. To live in service, and our community service led us onward to work in the town where Auschwitz memorial museum lives. We offered support for those impacted by the Holocaust. After a very fulfilling time of service the Ukrainian mothers moved onward, our services were complete and we returned to Ojai. One of the challenges was losing my main suppliers for my HOLOS Amulets. This fall, I will be releasing my remaining stock offering discounts including metal printed pendants and sculptures. What I have been working on in preparation for this year's Studio Tour, a new portal series, like the one in the Museum Exhibition, new sizes HOLOS Amulets with new an 18K adjustable gold plated chain in a beautiful soft pouch to enhance the beauty of these as gifts. I also created 3" carved crystal amulets in quartz crystal and obsidian, nestled in a purple velvet pouch. I will also have a new series of sacred geometry designed wall hangings on embossed paper. With much cultivation and nurturing my creative spirit, Is evolving past the endings and into new beginnings of creativity. I look forward to the October Studio Tour, and I also open my studio by appointment so please reach out to me. My best wishes, Brian - Artist for Peace

Every summer since moving to Ojai six years ago, I make a busy picture. That was my grandmother Betty's name for the drawings I did as a kid, lying on the floor with a box of markers and a big sheet of scrap paper — I'd draw imaginary maps with railroads and roads, mountains and trees, houses and buildings. When I became a parent myself, I'd make busy pictures with my kids, filling big sheets of butcher paper with imaginary landscapes, funny characters, and whatever doodles came to us. I picked up the busy picture habit again in (late) middle age, as a way of connecting to that kid-on-the-floor approach to making pictures, and also mapping my feelings about this magical place I now call home. There are now seven "Awha'y" pictures (from the Chumash word for "moon" or "nest"), and the latest makes its public debut this week at the Ojai Valley Museum as part of OSA's "As We See It" group show. This latest one is a coming together, a mixing up of ideas and symbols and approaches I've been obsessing on lately. Unlike the other "Awha'y"s, this one is ROUND, which gives me a chance to bend perspective and honor the shape of the planet, eggs, eyes, and so much else. Looking at all the "Awha'y"s, I'm struck by the things that keep showing up — that orange orb, the Monopoly-piece houses, the silhouette with brainwaves, and of course the obligatory Ojai post office tower. I feel like they're actors in the repertory company of my imaginary picture theater — I'll use them any chance I get! We just love working together! See you at the Museum! There's a ton of great work — the whole community of OSA artists is in full flower these days. Reception this Friday, Aug. 21, 5–7 pm.

Why this Title "WHY"??? I wanted the Viewer engaged with the image and to ask themselves why the artist painted this image. I wanted to capture the Viewer visually and emotionally and to ask why?. GChildress

Living and working at the base of Ojai's Topatopa bluffs, it is impossible not to be inspired by their majestic faces. This sculptural porcelain vase is my personal interpretation of this iconic Ojai landscape. Now on display at the Ojai Valley Museum, as part of our "As We See It" group exhibit.

It's a busy life, but I feel rejuvenated when I've slowed down and taken time to see and just Be with nature. It calms my mind and allows me to focus on where that little black squirrel is going, the slowly meandering snail, the little wren in the tree right next to me, or the unexpected gift of seeing forget-me-nots, high on a trail near the sea.

I got a commisson to do to a portrait of Audrey Hepburn Bubblegum Portrait. The artist who started this "fad" is Michael Moebius — a German pop artist born in 1968 in Pirna, East Germany. He's known for his hyperrealistic "Bubblegum" portrait series of celebrities and icons (Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, David Bowie, Queen Elizabeth II, the Beatles, and more) caught mid-blow on a bubblegum bubble. He became internationally known for his photorealistic Bubblegum portraits of icons of popular culture. He was discovered by Hugh Hefner in 2000 and worked as an official Playboy illustrator before shifting into pop art, creating his first two Bubblegum portraits — of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn — in 2012. It is always very challening to translate a photo, especially a portrait, into a stained glass mosaic. However, I loved how this turned out using fake pearls for the necklace and earrings. It took me 4 months just to get the details right. If you look at the bubble, you can see how I just used once piece of glass that captured the whole bubble. Thats one reason I love using stained glass and incorporating the veins, textures, and flow of the glass.

Dear Art Enthusiasts! Besides being honored to show with my fellow artists at the Ojai Museum for the Annual OSA show, I would like to invite you to our new exhibition featuring "Three Ojai Artists" at the Ojai Art Center, which opened Saturday, August 8, and will continue through September 2, 2026. My work will fill the two large galleries, while Gayel Childress and Peter Fox will exhibit their work in the display cases. Together, we will create a varied and exciting artistic experience. I will be displaying almost everything I have in my studio, old and new! All my different series will be represented, including abstract and 3D paintings, mixed media, still lifes, canvas deconstructions, “asemic” writings, and more…

What I love most about paper is the irony of using something so fragile and fleeting to preserve our ideas, memories, and emotions Collage is a bit like alchemy: working simultaneously with the physical elements of paper, shape, and texture, and with the emotional ones, until something coherent yet unexpected emerges. In this four-hour workshop, I'll share what I love most about working with paper. How color, form, and texture can hold personal meaning, using paint, chalk pastels, stencils, and mark-making tools alongside it. All materials are provided, though you're encouraged to bring your own paper ephemera too — old letters, report cards, wallpaper, newspaper clippings all work beautifully. This workshop is offered as a private session, limited to 4 people. Gather 3 friends and let's find a time that works for you! Please contact me at ojaineville@yahoo.com to learn more...

Guccio Gucci was the famed founder of the luxury fashion house we all know as Gucci. When he worked as a young man at the Savoy Hotel in London, he noticed the beautiful high-end luggage the guests of the hotel used. This all sparked his inspiration, and when he moved back to Italy, he brought with him a vision for his company that went on to sell fine leather goods. Later, his three sons went on to expand the company into what we now know today and which now includes high-end fashion as well. Here, I have created a monotype portrait of Guccio Gucci in his middle years. You can see this piece in person at the Ojai Valley Museum show which opens on Thursday, August 20th and the opening reception will be Friday, August 21st from 5-7pm. I hope you can attend. The exhibition will be up in the Museum until October 12th, coinciding with the Ojai Studio Artists Tour. I have decided to take this year off from the Tour due to a serious health issue I have been dealing with. But I hope to see you next year on the Second Saturday OSA Tour in June!

My entry to this year’s exhibition at the Ojai Valley Museum is a bit unconventional in that it is an art book that cannot be opened to see its pages. I’ve thought a lot about this idea of displaying something that cannot be completely seen. I like the curiosity, trust and surprise that may come from the viewer, especially if she takes the extra step to see the pages which are displayed here. The book’s front and back cover is from a vintage Japanese ledger. Its pages are made from mat board. The binding is waxed linen. The “stand” is made from a vintage wooden office tray with USN stamped on it. The rusty thingamajig that holds the book and the “hat” are from my collection of rusty thingamajigs. The book can be displayed closed or open, allowing for a change of what is seen.

I love our crazy fourth of July Parade in Ojai--the excitement builds from the beginning of June when the chairs start to go out--this may be a bit excessive, but it's tradition. I went very early this year to help with Dennis Shives' Inchworm determined to support goofiness in our parade. Since they did not need help I had a couple of hours to kill so I sat with my sketch book and watched people celebrate the big birthday. I did not see republicans or democrats--only happy flag waving celebrants.

It is the week of the new moon and I am photographing the Milky Way, star trails and a bonus this week, the Perseids Meteor Shower outside Santa Ynez and Lake Cachuma. In addition to the Perseus in the northeast sky, there are also two other meteor showers going on. In the south, they are the Capricornids and Aquariids. I have one more night to photograph and it promises to be a clear night. I am doing a bit of post processing during the day, but I do not have my big monitor with me, so it is not a fine tuned image I am posting. So no judging please lol ;) Here is an image of a GIANT green fireball next to the Milky Way. I used Google AI to find out where the green meteor came from. I gave AI the time and location. I was expecting it was Capricorns or Aquariids because my cameras were pointing south. BUT NO! It was a meteor than emanated from the Perseids constellation! The Perseids are in the northeast. The Milky Way is in the southern part of the sky. I was shocked when I read this! That meteor traveled all the way from the northern sky to the southern sky! Some of you want to know how I process my images. There are a couple of different exposures going on here. At night time the foreground is always darker than the sky. Both sky and foreground need to be photographed at the proper exposures. This image is a blend of a Blue Hour foreground image so I can capture the detail (and in this case, cows) while there is still a little bit of light before night time. Otherwise the foreground is black. Black foregrounds do not appeal to me in the least. Can you see those uplights under the oak trees on the right? A long exposure makes those lights glaringly bright and ruins the foreground. I shoot the sky as a time lapse at the proper exposure. That is the only way to get the meteors in my shots. So I have over 500 images from this camera. I shoot with two cameras with two different wide angle lenses. I'll have this image printed for you to see during the Fall Tour, October 10-12, 10am-5pm. Or you can contact me if you do not want to wait that long to see it. lindsay.thomson.art@gmail.com, 805.272.5990

I’m honored my painting “Let Us Weep” was chosen to be on the banner for the Ojai Valley Museum. The banner announces OSA’s Group Exhibition “As We See It”, which runs August 20 to October 12. This is one of my most recent paintings and was inspired by a Robin Wall Kimmerer quote from her book Braiding Sweetgrass. I found the poem to be very relevant today. This is one of my largest paintings so far. I wanted to challenge myself and try something big in preparation for my move to Ajijic, Mexico where I plan to work on murals. It will be on display along with artwork from more than 60 OSA artists. The reception will be on Friday, August 21, from 5-7 pm. I hope to see you there.

There’s something about a road trip that resets my creative eye. Ray recently acquired a new truck and drove it back from Northern Idaho. I flew up to Portland to meet him, and together we took the long and beautiful route home to Ojai, stopping in Bend, Mount Shasta, Winters, and Cambria along the way. Each place offered a different landscape, light, and rhythm and plenty of reasons to stop, wander, and look. Lately, I find myself more captivated by flowers than ever. I’m looking beyond their obvious beauty and noticing their structure: the architecture of petals, the repetition of shapes, unexpected color combinations, and that wonderful balance between order and wildness. Sometimes their vibrance feels almost impossible. All of it is finding its way back into the studio. Of course, once I begin to paint, I forget most of what I’ve consciously observed. But perhaps that’s the point. Those impressions settle somewhere beneath the surface and become part of the impulse to create. It feels good to be home in Ojai, with a camera full of images, a head full of color, and plenty of new ideas waiting to become something.

Hope to see you at the OPENING OF THE NEW EXHIBIT AT THE OJAI ART CENTER, OCT. 8TH. RECEPTION IS 2-4 PM I am showing my newest work in the Beatrice Woods Case. Carlos Grasso's art will be in the large Gallery and Peter Fox. will be featuring his artwork in the hallway showcase.

Being creative during times of extreme busyness outside the studio takes grit and determination. While starting out in a fresh new year of art-making, necessary responsibilities kept pulling me away from the studio. I started a very detailed painting containing one beautiful iris and added a zillion tiny flowers. Then I started slipping one insect after another underneath the flowers. Stepping back, I thought "ah ha, beauty among chaos". This is "Iris•Magnolia•Chaos•Love", 13x13 inches, watercolor, ink and acrylic

My Pyramid Studio is the best kept Ojai Art Scene secret. It is an experience not to be missed. I designed and built the studio/gallery building and landscaped the property, starting from an empty canvas. The ground floor is a working ceramic studio, while the upstairs is a gallery with 360 degrees of beautiful views. I will be open to the public only on Sunday, Oct 11th during the Ojai Studio Artist tour weekend, or by appointment at 805-646-7752. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet me and see my ongoing lifelong creative accomplishments.

This painting is on metal which I have rusted to create texture. I often paint flowers at their peak of bloom on a rusted metal surface because I love the juxtaposition of the perfect bloom and the decay that will soon follow--the cycle of life.

As I've been sculpting for 35 years, I've come to a time in my life where I'm ready to begin to release some of my private collection. I've always believed that when I let go of something that I've treasured, I am making room for what's next. These cast glass sculptures were a part of an I AM series I created in Seattle when I was learning how to kiln cast glass back in 2008. They have traveled from Washington state, to Ojai, then to Poland, and back to Ojai. They have many more miles to travel, so I hope they find a home with you, wherever you live. The theme of this series: acknowledging that we are bodies of light. I cast them in a variety of colors and these were my favorite ones. They are cast in lead crystal from New Zealand. Though they are small in size, they have much weight to them. My "I AM" sculptures have been one of my most popular sculpture series. We all have an I AM presence, so most of my art collectors found ones that they loved, as a reminder when viewing the art to return to their I AM presence. I've created them in stone, steel, and glass. If you have time to explore my website: BrianBerman.art and have interest in any of my artworks, please contact me for seeing my artwork by appointment. I thank you for your interest and providing the support we artists need in these challenging times.

On the plane back from my first solo voyage to France, I sketched arched canvases with gilded edges. I had no idea how this could be possible, but it was my dream. I visited Monet's 'Water Lilies' on that trip and felt a deep pull to create a large, immersive body of work on shapes that reflect the gorgeous architecture of Paris. I hope you join me to see both the in-progress and finished large works. With love, Marie

Dear Friends, I'm happy to share a small piece of good news! There’s a story… Earlier this year I submitted two works from my Paperweight series for consideration in Francis Gallery's Summer Exhibition. One sold before a final decision was made, so I re-submitted with Plan Check in its place and it was the piece they chose! And there you have it. You think you are steering the ship. And the universe has the plan in check all along. About Francis Gallery, Los Angeles… On a quiet stretch of famed Melrose Avenue, Francis Gallery LA is a calm oasis of harmony and natural materials. Founder Rosa Park built the space around soft curves and a palette of nuanced neutrals, with a curved partition wall at the entrance — shaped, from above, like a Korean moon jar that lets the art inside gently reveal itself. It's a quiet retreat on a busy street. I'm thrilled to be included in the gallery's summer open call exhibition! Please let me know ahead of time if you can make it and I will add you to the guest list. Warmly, Mary

Ojai Studio Artists Downtown Tour — July 11th You can see my works in progress and my unique technique for cutting stained glass and creating paintings. Mark your calendars for the Ojai Studio Artists (OSA) Downtown Tour, a free, self-guided art walk taking place Saturday, July 11th from 10am to 5pm in the heart of Ojai. This beloved annual event invites the public into the working studios and gallery spaces of fourteen accomplished local artists, offering an intimate look at the creative process behind a remarkably diverse range of media and styles. This year's lineup features myself and Dorte Bistrup, Kristen Clawson, Duane Dammeyer, Wrona Gall, Baghvati Khasla, Rex Kochel, Marie McKenzie, Tom Pazderka, Kim Smith, Linda Taylor, Katie Van Horne, and Fred Whitman. Together, their work spans stained glass mosaics, oil and atmospheric landscape painting, hand-thrown ceramics, richly adorned mixed-media figures, stone and limestone sculpture, layered fiber and textile pieces, and vivid narrative paintings drawing on art historical influences like Klimt. Visitors can expect to see everything from dramatic charcoal cloud studies and sweeping mountain valley landscapes to wood-fired stoneware vessels, elaborately costumed mixed-media figures dripping with beads and found objects, totemic carved stone columns nestled in greenery, and luminous, dreamlike mosaic florals rendered in stained glass. The tour is completely free and self-guided, meaning visitors can move through the participating studios and venues at their own pace, chat directly with the artists about their techniques and inspirations, and get a behind-the-scenes view rarely available outside of gallery openings. Maps showing all studio locations are available in advance to help plan the day's route through downtown Ojai. Whether you're a longtime collector, a curious first-time visitor, or simply looking for a creative way to spend a Saturday, the OSA Downtown Tour offers a rich cross-section of the talent that makes Ojai's art community so vibrant — all without an admission fee.

I’m excited to share that I was recently interviewed by Urban Artist Magazine. The conversation covered my artistic journey, how my Morning Practice drawings have become an important part of my daily life, and the ways those drawings continue to influence my larger paintings. We also talked about working from direct observation, painting en plein air, and how spending time truly looking at a place has become central to my practice. As artists, we don’t often stop to reflect on how our work has evolved. This interview gave me the opportunity to do just that, and I’m grateful to Urban Artist Magazine for the thoughtful conversation. If you’d like to read the interview, you can find it here: Read the interview: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/ea878857bf.html I hope you enjoy the conversation!

It was in December of last year that I started the Taft Gardens artist residency. I had been roaming the gardens a few weeks prior, taking photos of various flowers and plants, especially the majestic and spiky aloes, and collecting dead plant matter. Anything that’s fallen to the ground was fair game. I’d bring small bags, put the plant stuff in, write the name of the plant on the bag and draw a picture with my sharpie on it so that I could easily recognize it when I was sifting through the dozens and dozens of photos I was taking. Once back home I burned each pile of the material in a small cast iron cauldron, an action somewhere between burning incense and casting spells. The sage smelled great. Other plants I couldn’t really tell the difference. Most of the time the smell was just that of burned wood. - By the way, if any of this sounds interesting, my studio will be open for the July 11th, Second Saturday OSA studio tour. See the website for more details. Now back to the post - Once burned, I’d collect the ash and grind it down to fine powder with a mortar and pestle. When ground all of the ash turns into a type of dark gray or black color. I then put it back in the bags to be used in the paintings later once I built all the panels. At the core of my work is a transformative process of burning wood panels and applying ash to the surface before painting it with oil paint. I came upon this process almost by accident, but also entirely by necessity, when I no longer knew in which direction my work was taking me. Back in 2016 I was about to graduate with an MFA. A fundamental chapter in my life was about to end. I had moved to California to discover what type of artist I was. The fires that broke out that summer in the mountains around the Camino Cielo pointed out the direction. It also identified my subject and the materials I was going to use from then on and created a link between them that I continue to explore to this day. The Taft residency allowed me time to return to those early days of exploring a new subject using its ashes as base material. For years I’ve been using a generic ash, collected over time from various sources, most often from my fireplace. At Taft I was going back to the beginning, threading the needle on a whole new series, a new direction maybe. As I was painting in those dark winter days, I thought about the connections of this work to the gardens and the grander narrative, my silly intellectual brain hoping to capture a moment of clarity in a world that tends toward the opposite. With the paintings I got close I believe. They’re snapshots, close ups of parts of the plants, but never the entire plant as such. This was how I thought of my experience of the residency and the garden, as a microcosm of what is truly happening on the ground. We may see a plant as something alive, but that is because we’re trained only to see that part of it. We identify with it, because we are also alive. But each plant also has its dead parts coexisting with the parts that are alive, and nowhere is this more apparent than on the aloe. From top to bottom, the entire spectrum of life is present. The garden itself is also both alive and dead, the dead parts on which we walk, the fallen leaves and twigs, are food energy for the parts of the plants that are still growing and for the seeds that have fallen out of the withered pods and flowers. We may call it the circle of life, but I no longer think of it as a circle either, because a circle suggests a direction. Life in this context is more like the holographic universe, existing everywhere all at once, coexisting with its counterpart, which is also everywhere all at once. All I am able to do as an artist is to provide snapshots of that experience and very crudely point others to a new place. Hopefully I’ve succeeded in at least a small part of that endeavor. Photo credit: Mikael Jorgensen

People often ask whether my work is functional pottery or ceramic art, and my answer is usually: both. Art is often expected to tell a story. My work is a little different. I make vessels to live with—pieces that are beautiful, useful, and become part of your story. I want a mug that feels balanced in your hands during a quiet morning. I want a vase that changes character depending on what it holds—branches one week, flowers the next, and sometimes standing empty and beautiful in between. I want bowls that become part of everyday rituals, with surfaces that hold up to daily use and continue to feel special over time. I hope my work becomes more valued not because it is preserved, but because it becomes familiar—woven into the routines and moments of everyday life. Working from my home studio in Ojai, I’m surrounded by open spaces, weathered fences, dry grasses, beautiful trees, and the quiet grace of things that improve with time. That landscape finds its way into my forms. I’m drawn to simple shapes, softened edges, and surfaces that feel aged rather than perfected. My work tends toward a modern farm aesthetic—grounded, useful, and understated. But I also love moments of surprise: glazes that interact differently across each piece and textures that invite a second look. For me, the best ceramic pieces are not the ones kept safely in a cupboard. They are the ones that become part of daily life. Used often. Reached for without thinking. Appreciated more with time. Pieces that function well enough to become part of your story.

After spending a weekend at Rancho Grande in Ojai, I came home wanting to get some ducks. Well, I have no room, so I made some anyway On the left, a fluffy gosling stands with downy, textured plumage in soft greys, taupe, and cream — its tessera cut in small, feathered pieces that beautifully mimic the wispy, not-quite-grown-in look of baby down. A pale watery background of blues and greys suggests a quiet pond, keeping the focus on the bird's tentative, wide-eyed expression. On the right, a mama duck takes center stage in a richer, more saturated palette of ochre, chestnut, and deep charcoal, its head turned to reveal a glossy dark eye and a vivid orange-red bill. The feathers are built with confident, sweeping tessera that follow the natural flow of the plumage, while a small shorebird wades in the lower corner, adding scale and narrative to the scene's soft blue water and shoreline.

Join us for an unforgettable evening high atop Sulphur Mountain, where breathtaking views, exceptional food, and inspiring conversation come together in support of the arts in our community. Dine beneath a canopy of stars in a remote and exquisite garden setting while enjoying handcrafted cocktails, appetizers, a delicious paella cooked over the open fire, fresh seasonal salad, and home made ice cream—all prepared by artists. The evening begins with cocktails and appetizers accompanied by the mellow jazz of Brian McCann, guests will have the opportunity to mingle with artists, collectors, patrons, and arts supporters, engage in lively conversations about creativity and culture, enjoy the paintings, sculpture, jewelry and stained glass created by the artists who prepared your dinner and explore a remarkable private artist studio nestled in this extraordinary setting. After dinner while enjoying home made ice cream, stroll through the garden to the strains of Brian McCann’s quiet jazz. This intimate fundraising event benefits arts programming in Ojai and helps ensure that creativity continues to flourish in our community. Limited Seating Available Reserve your place now for this spectacular evening before tickets sell out.

(Just in case the my font is too small, here is what I typed) Just incredible! Below is my “Milky Way and Oak Tree 2” and it is one of my very earliest Milky Way images. I shot this in 2019 with my Sony A6000 crop sensor camera (not full frame camera like I use now.) I am learning more about astronomy and came across a blog on social media that referenced a nebula that absolutely stunned me because of its resemblance to a flying bat! It is LDN 43: The Cosmic Bat Nebula. This image is on the NASA website and the credit and copyright belongs to: Mark Hanson and Mike Selby. It is located about 1400 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. The image was taken with a telescope of course, and is NOT AI. the nebula is right about where the circle is on my Milky Way image.

Big News! I have a new place to teach classes – in downtown Ojai Gelli Plate Printing: Botanicals - Sunday, July 12th 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Cost: $60 All materials included - no experience needed Gelli plate printing is a fun and accessible form of monoprinting that allows artists to create beautiful layered prints using paint, texture, and found botanical materials. Leaves, flowers, grasses, and other natural forms become the inspiration for unique one-of-a-kind prints. Space is limited to just ten participants. Register on my website: www.pamgrauprints.com

This spring has been full of exciting milestones. My solo exhibition, A Woman's Painted Journey, is currently on view at the Santa Paula Art Museum through September 13. The exhibit features more than 50 works created over the past four years and reflects a period of artistic exploration, growth, and reinvention. I'm also delighted to share that seven of my original paintings sold this month at 10 West Gallery in Santa Barbara—the strongest response I've ever received there. The enthusiasm has encouraged me to continue developing my Strange Flowers Series. In addition, I am opening a small classroom space in downtown Ojai, where I will offer classes in Gelli Plate Printing and digital drawing on the iPad using Procreate. Beginners are welcome, and no prior experience is necessary. If you'd like to be notified when class schedules are announced, please reach out. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

This image is one of my earliest astrophotography image. So six years ago. The title is "I Am Here." said the Milky Way. For centuries mankind has been studying and exploring the universe. For the past year or so, I have been taking astronomy classes online through my astronomy club. Most of the club members are at PhD or Masters level. I am at kindergarten level. I am able to keep up somewhat, but I am at a major disadvantage. I never took advance math classes or physics in either high school or college. Plus I am learning with a 71 year old brain. But hey, I am interested in learning this stuff. I'm grateful we have Google classroom where I can review the video lessons and read the slide presentations over and over again. I have two rules as far as astrophotography goes. Rule 1: Nothing ventured, nothing gained (I tell myself this when I start to wimp out at going out at night to do photography.) Rule 2: Use it or lose it. (Challenge the brain. Don't be the old dog who cannot learn new tricks.) These two rules keep me relevant and motivated in today's world.

The creative process is imaginative and occasionally easy and effortless. Other times agonizing and difficult. This artwork of the MAY be finished. Friends have told me to stop, sign and move on. I’m not sure they are right, and will ponder the artwork and my original intention. To see the finished piece, plan on attending the Ojai Studio Downtown Mini-tour on July 11. Some 12 artists will have their studios open on that day from 10 until 5. Free. Put the date on your calendar and I’ll be happy to show you my finished painting. Although I may have placed it in a drawer to bring out on some future date to see the painting with ‘fresh” eyes, removed from all the preconceptions associated with the subject. That’s where the “suffering artist’ comes from. lol.

Summer. Heat. Tire Swing. No school. Dirty sneakers. Letting go. Feeling the pull of empty days. "Summer Fling" 8x10" in oil.

On the heels of an incredible event last weekend at Taft Gardens and Preserve, I’ll be opening my studio this Saturday with the upper ojai/ east end artists. I’ll have new work, prints and some apples if my dogs haven’t eaten them all by then. Swing by, I’m about ten speed bumps up Sisar Road on the left.

I’m in two of the events! Always fun when a family brings children with them. Many just look but some ask questions, often funny, but sweet to see their curiosity and ask them questions about their favorite. Here’s a photograph from last October’s OSA Tour. Many of the photos from then are in blancheSylvia’s gallery on Flowers, across from the festival, but many new ones are in my studio. Signs are out and maps are online so enjoy a day of art in the mountains and valleys of Ojai. Free and welcoming...

I had the good fortune to spend some time in Thailand and Vietnam this past month. Asian sculptural artworks appeared everywhere, from golden metal sculptures, to sculpture studios offering monumental size marble sculptures, in hotels, and especially Buddhist temples. I was blown away by a museum in Da Nang, Vietnam that exhibited monumental stone sculptures carved during the 5th-9th century, and expressing Hindu and Buddhist carvings. What a discovery. The Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture is one of the first museums built in Vietnam by the French. The main building was constructed in 1915. It evokes some motifs of French colonial architecture in the early twentieth century and resembles the image of the Champa temples - towers in Central Viet Nam. I had the opportunity to contemplate more than 400 sculptures on display, including National Treasures and others representing the masterpieces of Champa sculpture in ten centuries (from 5th to 15th). The sculptures were made in a variety of materials, such as sandstone, terracotta, and metal. Grounded in various themes from fertility symbols, deities, mythical animals and architectural decoration from the Hindu and Buddhist, they express the features of cultural and religious values of the Champa people over many generations. The Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture was a must-see destination for me having half of my life creating sculptures. Though I took hundreds of photos, my creative time was designing two engraved copper portals. It was time to bring these two copper discs into a sculptural form. I had purchased the two discs from Alaska Copper and Brass in Seattle in the late 90s. They have traveled from my home studio on Bainbridge Island, to Ojai when Lisa and I moved here in 2011. Eleven years later, we were volunteering in Poland do to the war in Ukraine, they traveled with my tools with hopes that I would have the creative inspiration to design these copper discs into sculptures. Well the inspiration came while in Vietnam, using graphic images I've collected and loving the toroidal geometric designs that are inspired by my Holos design and embossed paper wall artworks. I thought the best way to display these sculptures would be to hang the discs within a circular stand. Though they are not yet ready to be seen, I plan to exhibit one of them in the OSA exhibition in the Ojai Valley Museum, and have the second one for the October OSA Studio Tour. My home studio is open by appointment. You are welcome to view my artworks, or purchase what connects with you. I have finally combined my artworks under the domain BrianBerman.art This website brings my former websites BermanSculpture.com and Holosamulets.com under one website BrianBerman.art I look forward to sharing my art with you.

I love having visitors in my studio. There is nothing quite like meeting friends, old and new, and sharing the techniques behind my clay and glazes. Lately, I have been working diligently on a batch of new pieces. In fact, my kiln is firing right now, and I will be unloading it this Friday! Who knows what surprises are waiting inside? I hope you can stop by, see the results, and catch up.

Lately, my hands have been covered in splotches of ink, glue, and patterned paper. I've been experimenting with a Japanese-inspired palette-- weathered blues, deep charcoal, and soft, faded earth tones that feel aged by the wind. Each piece starts with raw, natural textures, which I layer slowly. The energy of the work often comes from birds. I'm fascinated by their silhouettes against these weathered backgrounds, a sudden burst of movement in a quiet landscape. East End Open Studios - This Saturday, June 13, 10-5pm map at www.ojaistudioartists.com I hope you can come!

I have been paintings cowboys and flowers and birds lately, but I found I missed painting my African friends so I dug out an old sketch and painted Nafisatu as she too a rest from pounding millet for dinner. Her eyes always sparkled with mischief.

A few samples of work to be seen on this three-artist tour: Richard Amend, Wyatt Amend and Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend. Things are always changing in our studios which is an excellent reason to stop by. Richard's painting, Sisar, excellently portrays a hidden creek along Sisar trail in Upper Ojai. He will also be showing his geometric abstraction paintings. It's OK to express two ways of seeing and thinking about the visual world at once. Wyatt continues to bewilder with his phenomenal ceramic skills. Glazes and patterns on his work are truly unique, precise. One-of-a-kind cups will be shown alongside extraordinary large vessel forms, truly canvases for glaze pattern experimentation. Susan continues with her "Whimseys" Series, modest glass works based on unconscious doodles, line drawings in space capturing beautiful hand blown sheet glass. Also, a work from 1981 is in the studio, "X Valentine", a stained glass wall panel. Recently included in the exhibition, "Tough Stuff, Women in American Glass Studio", groundbreaking work of women from 1960s-1980s, at the Corning Museum of Glass (catalogue forthcoming), this work by Stinsmuehlen-Amend is an example of experimentation and rule-breaking going on at that time. And a sidestep into 3D stained glass, "A Woman's House" featuring glass painting, glass decal and hand blown glass. Come see these works and more this Saturday, June 13 at the family art compound during this Second Saturday Tour, June 13, 2026..

Always a joy for our family of makers to show together in our studios. Wyatt Amend is working on his own work @wyattamendceramics and is also the lead fabricator of work for Forrest Middelton at flmceramics.com in Petaluma. So we are always glad for his return to Ojai to work and show here in Ojai. Wyatt will have new functional works as well as spectacular larger vessels using a newly developed glaze technique that features a very painterly surface. Richard Amend continues his paintings based on patterns and structure of tree forms, both abstract and interpretive. Richard features gold leaf in many of his paintings adding another level to the surface; a juxtaposition of surface reflection and painterly depth. Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, continues her "Whimsey" Series, wild renderings of doodles in stained glass. Susan is also showing a work from 1981, from the "X Series", an example of work done in the same time frame as the "Tough Stuff, Women in the American Glass Studio" which just opened at the Corning Museum of Glass. Several early works of Susan's are shown in this exhibition and will be included in a catalogue. So curious to look back 40+ years at the beginning of her career in glass, amazing, really. So come by and see what is happening at the Amend Art Compound on your OSA tour through Ojai's East End /Upper Ojai artists studios on Saturday, June 13!!

Thrilled to be included in this important exhibition, Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio is the first survey exhibition of work by exceptional women artists working in glass in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s—the breakthrough decades of the American Studio Glass Movement. Tough Stuff champions the lives and critical early work of female artists, bringing into view their formal and material breakthroughs, historical impact, and profound conceptual frameworks in glass as an artistic medium. Visitors will discover how work from this period by female artists illuminates the broader social, cultural, and gender politics of the time. Great to see early work of my own and 45 other women, many I knew and haven't seen since the early 80's. A great and respectful honoring of the work and artists who are not truly included in the history. It was a packed two-day opening event; lots of great memories and stories including the struggles of not being allowed entry into the early hot shops run by men. I had a different experience entering the glass art scene, often helped by men in the field. Opportunities lead to teaching at the Pilchuck Glass School, visiting artist stints at university glass programs and becoming the first woman president of the Glass Art Society. This show brought up all kinds of memories from the early days. Fantastic! Link to Corning Museum: https://whatson.cmog.org/exhibitions-galleries/tough-stuff-women-american-glass-studio

My artwork covers a wide variety of subjects. When visiting the optometrist office I was enchanted by the office instruments. From a photograph I rendered a blind continuous line drawing, capturing as much of the detail as possible. The goal is to arrive at an interesting drawing, close to reality, but definitely altered. An approach to drawing used in the classroom to teach students - in this case high school students - to begin to REALLY see. Carefully see reality and than transfer careful seeing to the paper on which they are drawing. Until one gets accomplished at this type of drawing it is quite a wild ride. One does NOT look at the paper, but rather trusting their observation to record something close to the subject they are seeing. They were not required to paint their “drawing”. I, on the other hand, developed an artwork style that has become in signature style. I have a studio full of drawings and paintings that began with careful blind continuous line. Painting one’s drawings is my personal “wild ride”.

During my recent residency, I created a new series based on my experiences and observations at Taft Gardens and Preserve. I focused on my exploration of the area in relation to space and place. If you’d like to see this series, Taft is having an amazing fundraiser/opening June 6, followed by a free viewing on June 8. Tickets can be purchased: https://www.taftgardens.org/events Also! I’m opening my studio June 13 for the upper ojai/east end second Saturday. I would love to see you for this (free) event!

Early recognition as an artist followed my exploration of watercoloring blind continuous line drawings, drawings completed with minimal glances at the paper for basic orientation. These drawings require intense focus and careful observation. One tries to never lift pencil from the paper and draw as continuously as possible. With careful observation it is astonishing at times just how realistic some subjects appear, others not so much, and definitely quite a deviation from reality. My artwork in this category has been compared to Antoni Gaudi the architect of Barcelona. The camera painting began as a blind continuous line drawing, some alterations must take place to clearly define the subject, but on close examination one can see the quirky and lyrical quality of the artwork. My studio is abundant with paintings completed in this manner, and drawings still unpainted waiting for inspiration. I'll be open for the Downtown Second Saturday, July 11 so please come by and visit.

An instructor at Ventura High School for 34 years, the last ten in the art department, I’ve observed students “shine” as their creativity develops. Presently a watercolorist and member of the Ojai Studio Artists since 2004, the joy of art is ever present. Watercolor is a challenging medium, but can be quite magical. Hope you have the time to visit my studio on July 11, 2026.

There was always a very small Totem Pole next to my Mother's bed as I was growing up. It was very special to her, and as children, we were not to touch it. I always wondered why it was so special to her. Later, I found that my mother's grandmother lived on Vancouver Island, Canada. My grandmother died an early death, leaving five children. My mom was the oldest child, 9 years old. The five children were then sent to be raised in an Orphanage. Vancouver Island was one of the many places where totem poles were created by Pacific Northwest Indians. I'm guessing my mother's Totem Pole belonged to my grandmother; my mother, being only 9 years old, when she lost her mother, the Totem Pole, was the only tangible keepsake she had of her own mother. That's why I think it was so special.

This kiln is where the magic happens. I load every pot into it at least twice. The first time, or bisque firing, is after I have thrown, trimmed, and dried the piece. During this firing, water molecules are driven out of the clay, making it completely dehydrated and transforming it into ceramic. Individual clay molecules begin to fuse together, making the piece much stronger, yet still porous enough to absorb glazes. This transformation to "Bisqueware" happens at around °1800. After unloading and glazing the bisqueware, I load it back into the kiln for its second firing, the glaze firing. I gradually increase the kiln temperature every hour. When it gets to about °2200, I start the process of reduction. I restrict the oxygen supply to the kiln to starve the fire and force the atmosphere to pull oxygen from the metal oxides in the glazes and clay body. Reduction alters the glaze's molecular structure, producing dramatic color transformations. The intense heat also causes the clay to mature and the raw glaze materials to melt together. The glaze transforms into a hard surface, binding permanently to the clay and making the piece waterproof and functional. This process takes about 6 hours and reaches an ultimate temperature of about °2300. I have general ideas of what glazes will look like when this process is complete, but I never know for sure. I can't open the kiln for at least 24 hours after firing as it needs to cool slowly. I have fired this kiln hundreds of time, and still wait in anxious anticipation to see what the pots look like. There may be some disasters, or pieces that I consider mediocre. If I'm lucky, I'll pull out something magical.

Una, my special assistant cat, decided to lend a paw to help with my studio clean up. We're getting ready for the East End Second Saturday Open Studio. It's coming up...SATURDAY,JUNE 13. The event is FREE and FUN. Hope you can stop by- 10-5 pm. More info. on the website main page.