SPARCX

Arc Gallery & Studios 10th Anniversary Celebration & Exhibition featuring the artists of Arc Studios, past & present April 10 - May 8, 2021

SPARCX Ten Year Anniversary Celebration & Exhibition Arc Gallery & Studios inhabits an 8,000 sq. ft. building in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood and features a 1,000 sq. ft. art gallery, a smaller project gallery, a fine art consulting office & spotlight gallery, an art education center, and ten working artist studios.

Arc also houses the office of Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest Asian Pacific American multidisciplinary arts organization in the country; the San Francisco Artist Network, offering programs for professional development for artists; and VEGA Coffee Shop.

Arc supports the making of quality art in all media, provides a nurturing environment for artists to create their work, builds a community of artists to encourage exploration of art, provides resources for the professional development of visual artists, and promotes appreciation of the visual arts in the city of San Francisco.

Arc Gallery showcases emerging and established local artists through curated group exhibitions, as well as artists from around the country through annual national juried exhibitions. Arc has donated the use of it’s gallery each year to a local not-for-profit organization, including the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art, SCRAP creative reuse center, the Recology Artist in Residence Program, the California Society of Printmakers, and the Bay Area Photographers Collective.

The studio artists at Arc open their doors to visitors each year to participate in ArtSpan’s SF Open Studios, the longest-running open studios program of its kind. This provides the public with an opportunity to see the artists in their workspaces and build their art collections.

Artists who have had studios at Arc both past and present have been asked to submit works to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of Arc Gallery & Studios. Arc is proud to celebrate the wide diversity of creative talent in the Bay Area through this exhibition.

Arc Fine Arts Consulting was established as a natural extension of the mission of Arc Gallery and Studios, placing artwork by local artists in office building and commercial spaces.

The partners of Arc, Priscilla Otani, Stephen C. Wagner, and Michael Yochum, appreciate the continuing support of the San Francisco artist community and art collectors.

Catalog design: Michael Yochum Arc Gallery © 2021

Participating Artists Amy Ahlstrom

Mike Kimball

Debra Reabock

Jack Androvich

J.L. King

Rachel Sager

Joshua Coffy

Rachel Leibman

William Salit

Nathalie Fabri

Bonnie Levinson

Debra Cook Shapiro

Matthew Frederick

Saundra McPherson

Tracy Starr

Kathy Fujii-Oka

Sasha Merritt

Denise Tarantino

Brent Hayden

Pamela Mooney

Samanta Tello

Dianne Hoffman

Leslie Morgan

Stephen C. Wagner

Peter Howells

Priscilla Otani

Aynur Girgin Westen

Gina Jacupke

Xavier Phelp

Tanya Wilkinson

Soad Kader

Barbara Pollak-Lewis

Hilary Williams

SPARCX Opening Celebration & Tour via Zoom: Saturday, April 10th, 7-9pm SPARCX Artists Talks via Zoom: Wednesday, April 14th, 7-8pm Wednesday. April 21st, 7-8pm

Arc Gallery Exhibitions 2010 - 2021

Amy Ahlstrom I am a conceptual textile artist creating narratives in quilt form. Over the past 15 years, my work has evolved from creating collaged portraits of urban neighborhoods to double mirror-image portraits of women.

The common thread in my quilts is text; I utilize words to convey meaning and also as graphic elements. Using my background as a graphic designer, I design my quilts digitally, then make patterns and cut the images by hand. They are fused into a single piece of fabric, and quilted using hand-guided machine quilting; I “draw” on the quilt with thread, guiding the quilt under the needle. These three quilts are from my most recent body of work, begun in the fall of 2019, about my experience living with chronic anxiety and episodic depression.

Used To (1-3) depicts an image of myself that is slowly fragmenting. I created these when my depression returned, inspired by the song "Used To" by the band Wire; "Does the pain remain when the head is turned/And the body walks away?/You used to know". With these quilts I hope to convey the feeling of disembodiment that can occur during depressive episodes, and to destigmatize living with (and openly discussing) mental health issues. In the summer of 2020, I created a series of 50 small quilts using depictions of the word “OK” as it relates to mental health for the Sanchez Art Center’s annual 50/50 show. I’m currently creating quilts for a solo show in August 2021. With my work, I hope to challenge the idea of what a quilt can be, and to inspire the viewer to contemplate the deeper meaning I am conveying through silk and cotton.

website: www.amyahlstrom.com email: info@amyahlstrom.com

former studio artist

Used To #1 silk and cotton quilt over canvas 12" x 12" $450

Used To #2

Amy Ahlstrom

silk and cotton quilt over canvas 12" x 12" $450

Used To #3 silk and cotton quilt over canvas 12" x 12" $450

Jack Androvich My work has been influenced by Eugene Atget, Jerry Uelsmann, Diane Arbus, David Lynch and a number of dadaists too numerous to mention.

At university, I was schooled in the Zone System of analog black & white photography by an understudy to Ansel Adams. I also dabbled in experimental films yet found the craft expensive and unwieldy at that time.

photography around 2003 and never looked back.

Inheriting a digital camera I had purchased for my wife that she found too complicated to use, I converted to 100% digital

Other than contrast, cropping and other adjustments typical of a darkroom environment, none of my images are otherwise altered...hence "what I see is what you get."

There is some hybridization however in my limited editions of hand-washed prints that are digitally produced yet then "treated" in my kitchen sink.

Now residing in Southwest Washington State, I'm enjoying a rich new canvas of urban, natural and indigenous sources for my work. As a Ridgefield Art Association board member I'm enjoying our promoting the formation of a Center for the Arts (physical and online) to complement our City arts commission and nascent arts district.

website: jandrovich.picfair.com/ email: jack.androvich@sbcglobal.net

former studio artist

Cosmic Staines photography 11" x 14" image size; 16" x 20" framed $100

Jack Androvich

Salmon Emergency photography 11" x 14" image size; 16" x 20" framed $100

Joshua Coffy Joshua Coffy is a self-taught artist living and working in San Francisco. He grew up in a variety of locales from Ohio to New Mexico to Florida and finally California.

Moving from one region to another helped to shape his cultural views of the world as well as inspire him to create art in unique and varied ways. Coffy draws inspiration for his mixed media paintings from the natural world, scientific illustrations and his love of animals. Josh’s work includes many layers of textures including paper patterns, maps, newspaper articles, and acrylic paint.

Much of his work deals with animals and how humans relate to the birds and mammals all around us. His work is usually a light-hearted and whimsical approach to our ideals about animals. He has created a sense of symbolism and meaning with many of the images he paints. Illustrating the conversation between man and beast with a wink and stillness for you to make your own decisions about what the image is saying.

website: undersong.com email: josh@undersong.com

current studio artist

Pride acrylic on wood panel 24" x 30" $1400

Wisdom

Joshua Coffy

acrylic on wood panel 12" x 12" $500 (sold)

Hope acrylic on wood panel 12" x 12" $500

Nathalie Fabri Nathalie Fabri is a San Francisco artist that specializes in Urban Landscapes. Using a variety of bright contrasting colors, she makes city streets come alive under her paintbrush. Growing up traveling around the world, she was influenced by books and paintings from Africa, the Middle East and Haiti. Her earliest memories of wanting to be an artist stemmed from observing the colors in these paintings.

Nathalie is fascinated by urban streets and their individual homes. Everyday scenes of a typical San Francisco street become a colorful, warm place where one would want to stroll and explore. She especially likes to paint the homes at dusk, when lights are just turning on.

website: www.fabrikations.com email: art@fabrikations.com

current studio artist

Light in the Darkness acrylic on wood panel 18" x 24" $850

Gracious

Nathalie Fabri

acrylic on canvas 24" x 36" $1250

Climax acrylic on canvas 10" x 10" $350

Matthew Frederick Matthew Frederick presents an unconventional and amusing spin on the genre of still life painting by capturing the whimsical shadows and shapes cast from ordinary objects. Often inspired by common Icons, his style is characterized by the careful balance of structure, color, lighting and mood. His compositions are rendered with a resplendent color palette of generous applications of paint and undulating brush work, lending to a compelling emulation of the patterns and sensations inherent in nature.

“My intention is to make dynamic imitations, a déjà vu for the mind that will encourage viewers to examine their surroundings with a fresh perspective. I present nature and structure with a delightful whimsy that reminds the public to turn their head and look again next time they pass something familiar that has lost its allure.”

Emboldened with lively energy, Frederick’s collection of striking Icons are executed in a truly distinctive style, resulting in visual imprints of the physical world that draw attention to its most striking features.

website: www.mjfrederickart.com email: mfrederick@me.com

former Arc Partner & Founder

Coke oil on canvas 42" x 62" $7200

Kathy Fujii-Oka I​ was born in Berkeley and received my Fine Art degree from UC Berkeley with an emphasis in painting and ceramics. My work is interdisciplinary and immersed in spirituality. My current work explores gender and identity, political themes and the Japanese American internment during WWll. My spiritual paintings were born out of a desire to make life changes and to process and understand the course of my life journey. They help me to release old habits and energies that no longer serve me, to educate myself, to heal and bring in a new and healthy way to exist in this lifetime.

Through my research, I continue to expand on my spiritual process of daily meditation, which assists me to make art that heals.

“My work is my visual voice that empowers me to speak my truth, search for answers and explore new pathways in life. I surrender my spirit and am an open channel for healing by means of Meditation, Reiki and the Chakras. Promoting harmony, peace and balance in my life is what I strive for.”

website: www.kathyfujiioka.com email: kfujiioka@gmail.com

former studio artist

Quiet Storm acrylic, sumi ink, powder pigment on canvas 36" x 60" $4500

Blossoms

Kathy Fujii-Oka

acrylic, sumi ink on canvas 10" x 10" $450

Hope

Synergy

acrylic, sumi ink on canvas 10" x 10" $450

acrylic, sumi ink on canvas 10" x 10" $450

Radiate

Acceptance

acrylic, sumi ink on canvas 10" x 10" $450

acrylic, sumi ink on canvas 10" x 10" $450

Brent Hayden One aspect that has always captured my attention in terms of creating work is energy.

To me, energy is the invisible force guiding us, motivating us, and affecting each path we come across in our everyday lives.

While leveraging energy as a universal and relatable concept, I seek to build work in a parallel juxtaposition to our society. By portraying cosmic playgrounds, I aim to create art that captivates viewers and bridges their experiences from this world into an imaginary version. Living in a densely populated city has had a tremendously direct impact on what comes out in the physical form of my work. I strive to be fully present and immersed where I am, so that I can stretch those observations into a scenery of distorted reality beyond my surroundings.

I also incorporate biomorphic qualities and personifications of creatures that resonate with the human mind. My work does not have a singular goal nor overarching theme; rather, converges vibrant imagery into a rhythmic notion, ultimately creating provocative scenery, metaphysical worlds, cityscapes, all alongside many depictions of a metropolis. I assemble these scenes using various mediums including cyanotypes,non-traditional painting, photography, photo transfers, polystyrene sculpting, and found objects.

website: www.brentdavidhayden.com email: brentdavidhayden@gmail.com

current studio artist

Calamitous Maneuvers mixed media 11" x 14" $800

Brent Hayden

Cataclysmic Movements mixed media 16" x 20" $900

Dianne Hoffman I have a tendency to personify inanimate objects and feel genuine compassion for those that are damaged or disregarded. I see potential in broken bits and find beauty in rust and erosion. The older an object, the more haunting and alluring its host.

Collage & assemblage art allow me to indulge these concepts by creating dimensional worlds of allegory where tall tales are told, jokes are cracked, emotions stirred, and poems imparted.

My treasure hunt is rummaging through thrift shops, flea markets, re-use centers, garage sales, junkyards, attics and basements for precious baubles, bits and boxes. Sometimes an inspired idea will come upon first sight of an object. But more often I will mull through my neatly organized piles of arbitrary things repetitively placing random items together until something visually clicks and the piece takes hold.

I like to link organic objects from nature with industrial and figurative remnants by combining complementary muted color schemes to harmonize dissimilar media. The narrative facet of each piece often derives from the variety of music I am listening to, a phrase that strikes me, or a sentiment I’d like to give a visual context to. My intent is to portray a delicate balance between light and dark by depicting the sincerity found in their unified stories.

website: diannehoffman.net email: diannehoffman4art@gmail.com

current studio artist

Golden Ratio assemblage 16.5" x 16" x 5" $585

Dianne Hoffman

Spirit in Place assemblage 16.5" x 16" x 5" $600

Peter Howells As an artist, I explore themes of creation and destruction, the illusion of permanence and the inevitability of change. Just as nature transformed the earth over millennia resulting in the world as we know it, including us, so too does humanity both destroy and recreate our planet with an outcome that is both profound and uncertain.

My works serve as an analogy to the powerful forces of both nature and humanity.

Using found objects, impermanent media and imagery whose original purpose has become obsolete, I have rearranged their parts to create new and unexpected forms.

My work also often contains multiple levels of visual interest, withspieces having abstract and geometrical structures at a distance, colors and tones with, with closer inspection, reveal remnants of information and additional layers of patterns, forms and materials.

website: www.peterhowells.com email: studio@peterhowells.com

former studio artist

Origin map of Britain, mixed media 9" x 13" $400

They Knew What Was at Stake aeronautical maps, mixed media 11" x 11" $550

They Drew a Line in the Sand maps of Saudi Arabia, mixed media 12" x 12" $600

Peter Howells

They are Planning for the Future maps of the Arctic, mixed media 11" x 15" $600

They Have an Advantage aeronautical maps, mixed media 8" x 11" $500

Gina Jacupke California artist Gina Jacupke has been painting and

drawing since she was a child and has worked with oils for 25 years. In addition to studying fashion design at New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology and traditional Balinese painting in Bali, Jacupke studied microbiology and chemistry at the University of Florida and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, as well as in several California galleries. Jacupke’s paintings are inspired by the architecture of the human body as well as cultural designs such as checkerboards, patterns, crescent moons and crosses. A recurring theme in her work is the juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary color, language, graffiti, composition and design.

website: ginajacupke.com email: gjacupke@icloud.com

former studio artist

Me, Myself and the Moon acrylic, raw pigment and graphite on canvas 48" x 36" $5200

Soad A. Kader Inner Worlds are kaleidoscopes of multilayered pieces of moving color, texture, line, and pattern reflecting qualities of inner life as a call to know ourselves and each other more deeply, beyond our outer profiles. With an interplay of analog and digital processes Soad photographs, cuts, collages and then prints the completed portrait onto wood to incorporate its natural grain. Diverse silhouettes hung together highlight the interconnectedness of our shared humanity through repeating colors/textures/ shapes/patterns.

Differences in experience, points of view and opinions aren't what pulls us apart. It's what pulls us together. ~ Tracee Ellis Ross In the years to come, what matters most is that we see ourselves in one another's struggles. ~ Kamala Harris Shining a light on self reflection and awareness and connecting to the beauty and truth within can help us increase our capacity to see those qualities in others. By acknowledging what we find in our inner worlds we have an opportunity to make choices about what to carry forward and what to let go of in the process of our personal and therefore communal evolution and growth.

The struggle has always been inner, and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the "real" world unless it first happens in the images in our heads. ~ Gloria E. Anzaldúa When you take care of yourself, you're a better person for others. When you feel good about yourself, you treat others better. ~ Solange Knowles

website: www.studiosoad.com/ email: soadkader@gmail.com

former studio artist

A Seat at the Table mixed media on wood 40" x 10" $1795

Dream a Little Before You Think mixed media on wood 40" x 10" $1795

Soad A. Kader

A Seat at the Table (details 1-4) mixed media on wood 40" x 10" $1795

Dream a Little Before You Think (details 1-4) mixed media on wood 40" x 10" $1795

Mike Kimball “You’re that car guy!”

Yes, it’s true. I am a car guy. And a truck guy, and a train and plane guy, too. Not in that gearhead way - I couldn’t tell you the cubic displacement of this motor or that, or have an opinion on the relative benefits of Posi-traction or Dyna-flow, but I am a car guy.

My artwork celebrates a nostalgic freedom and romanticism of an imagined time in America. A time where the open road offered up endless possibili ties of adventure through transportation. I celebrate that time and place where you could “See the USA in a Chevrolet,” even if it was largely dreamed up by advertising executives. For me, the vehicles I depict are a direct representation of those ideas. That rings especially true for me here out in the vast expanses of the American southwest, where the lonely two lane blacktop and rail lines have now given way to interstate highways and internet connections.

I hope that my paintings and prints capture a little bit of that excitement and elicit pleasant memories in the hearts and minds of those who view them.

Kimball currently teaches printmaking in Santa Fe, NM, and his work has been exhibited and collected internationally. He is often found at printing festivals across the country where his oversized block prints are printed in the street with a steamroller. When living in the Bay Area, Kimball studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, receiving a BFA in painting.

website: www.artsnm.com email: mkimballsf@aim.com

former studio artist

East of Oro Grande acrylic on panel 10" x 8" $600

Mike Kimball

Double Duty Dodge acrylic on panel 6" x 4" $125

J. L. King Urban living has deepened my curiosity of the idiosyncrasies in nature and it’s resilient creatures; this curiosity is often depicted in my work. I choose to spotlight ordinary objects in extraordinary perspectives; drawing attention to details that may otherwise be ignored. My portrayals of anonymous figures reside in scenes that reveal layers, windows, and portals into other domains. These small glimpses inspire my own wonderment and conjure up pleasurable sentiments I vividly remember as a child. Connecting these images is a primary focus of my art, like riddles to be solved of which the solutions are unique to each individual; ultimately revealing a personal narrative, and always with a bit of levity.

website: www.jlkingart.com email: king@jlkingart.com

current studio artist

Stealthy Resplendence oil on canvas 30" x 40" $5000

Rachel Leibman As a collage and mixed media artist, I create detailed and meticulously constructed artwork from photographs, books, fabric and found objects.

I collect things that intrigue me and often keep them for several years before deciding how to best incorporate them into my art - watch parts, buttons, glass pipettes, pill bottles, metal goblets and more. I would like for viewers to be able to stand at a distance from my artwork and see a beautiful and fascinating composition, which will in turn draw them in for a closer look to reveal the surprise of the composite parts. I use the source materials to convey my cultural heritage and deep sense of history. My artwork is wholly contemporary and global, while at the same time honoring the ethnic and traditional, paying homage to those who came before.

website: www.rachelleibman.com email: rachel@rachelleibman.com

current studio artist

Birds on Wires - Silky Sky vintage watch parts embroidered onto silk 27" x 21" $1350

Rachel Leibman

Shades of Time vintage watch parts embroidered onto silk, naturally dyed 23" x 15" $1750

Bonnie Levinson I am a multidisciplinary artist working in mixed media, photography, painting, and performance.

My mixed media and painting work develop intuitively, reacting first to the medium; to color, form, texture, mark making. As it evolves, I respond to the surprises and questions that the work poses. Sometimes I react to the colors, light, smells and textures of a particular place, other times to the imaginary and the spirit of the unknowable. I seek to bring forward that which is indecipherable and hidden beneath.

My photographs have a painterly quality, often playing with a perception of reality.

Photography may serve as a sketch tool and artifact in the collage process. My goal is to create work that engages the viewer to feel something, to look at the world from a different point of view and find meaning in their own terms.

As a playwright, performer, and collaborator my attention is in the intersection of these diverse forms and their influence upon each other.

website: bonnielevinson.com email: bonnielevinson@gmail.com

current studio artist

Fiery Rose archival dye infused pigment on aluminum 16" x 15" $975

Bonnie Levinson

Musical Musing acrylic and collage on canvas 24" x 36" $2200

Hidden Heart alcohol ink and acrylic on panel 18" x 24" $1200

Lost Horizon acrylic on canvas with string and collage 24" x 36" $2200

Saundra McPherson My process considers the physicality and immediacy of materials, working intuitively and allowing for unanticipated outcomes. Taking shape over time, the work is built, in a balance between intention and surprise, order and chaos.

Trace was inspired by daily urban walks, where I found marks left by the human hand: skateboard, spills, bicycle or car tire. Marks were everywhere, unintentionally made and left by human interaction with the urban environment: curbs, buildings, walls, bus stops, freeway barriers, tollbooths. I began to reconsider the hand in my work: why it is not present, and why and how it might appear.

hand of the artist returning to the work.

Looking to Cy Twombly’s history of work and interviews for insight, gesture found its way into the work.

The marks were revealing, raw, energetic, refined and coarse, representing the

The Trace paintings are a glance at a life, or an urban wall, in any given moment, a snapshot of that narrative captured in time. The marks have a rhythm, a pattern, where they join to form pattern or fly off the canvas. They are smears, scars, streaks dragged, scraped, sometimes arcing across a surface – marks coloring an urban canvas. These gestures are largely allowed to happen, to gather in groups or stand alone, to be sanded back or glazed over. As are the marks left inadvertently in the urban landscape. What’s left is Trace: a narrative of marks, lives, left behind.

website: sumcpherson.com email: sumcpherson@sbcglobal.net

former studio artist

Trace No. 6 oil on canvas 36" x 60" $4200

Sasha Merritt The ephemeral nature of light and shadow have draws my imagination. Using copper and brass wire I am trying to not only sculpt in metal, but to sculpt shadows.

Using traditional, centuries old techniques of crochet and basket weaving, copper and brass wire are bent, twisted and transformed into ethereal floating forms.

These forms meet light to cast shadows that compliment the sculptures, but also create a unique, ever changing images of their own. I love and am eavesdropping on the conversation between light and shadow dancing through the spaces in the lace sculptures.

I am a member of City Arts Gallery in San Francisco and my work has been exhibited in numerous shows and events around the Bay Area, and have been featured at the San Francisco de Young Museum, and in an SF Financial District Holiday Window installation.

website: www.artbysasha.com email: sasha@artbysasha.com

former studio artist

Rain crocheted copper wire 8" x 6" $725

Sasha Merritt

Awakening crocheted copper wire 21" x 87" $865

Renew crocheted copper wire 12" x 50" $525

Pamela Mooney When painting I am always looking for ways to simplify. I start with photographs found online or photographs from my family albums.

Currently I am working on figures in three quarter view - sometimes seated, sometimes standing. I like to paint the figures larger than life, a scale that encourages simplification and exaggeration.

I like to use saturated colors for dark values, different hues of the same color, and colors that don’t belong. In all of this it is usually the unplanned marks that generate new approaches which leads me to paint a new version of the painting which also influences the work and pushes it in a new direction.

website: www.pmlamooney.com email: pmlamooney@att.net

current studio artist

When Tomorrow Comes oil on canvas 48" x 36" $1600

Leslie Morgan My artwork has come from memories of summers spent leaping and diving, doing cannonballs and back flips, participating in breath holding contests and looking up through chlorine filtered sunlight daydreaming. In water, we become weightless, buoyant and free both in mind and body. As a competitive swimmer and Psychologist for most of my life, these are elements I consciously integrate into my work. Using found objects, paint and photographs, I create nostalgic paintings of the past I carry with me into the present.

website: www.lesliemorganart.com email: dockles@comcast.net

former studio artist

Bones and Balls acrylic and resin on wood panel 36" x 48" $2000

Priscilla Otani I am a San Francisco-based artist working in mixed media and installation. My works explore taboos, beliefs and myths in Japanese and Western cultures. In my painted works, paper is combined with canvas and acrylics to create texture.

Collages are created from scraps left over from other projects.

Three-dimensional and installation pieces are made with fiber, paper from funeral stores and objects harvested from recycle centers.

Since 2017 I have explored the themes of resistance and politics. Making art on these subjects helps me process the drama, conflict, outrage and turmoil in our country.

website: www.mrpotani.com email: mrpotani@yahoo.com

current studio artist Arc Partner & Founder

COVID Quilt fiber art 20.5" x 19.5" $2000

Priscilla Otani

Tammy's Crown sculpture 11" x 33.5" x 11" $2000

Xavier Phelp Born to a father, a political refugee, imprisoned for his nationality, shot through the chest, saved by a stranger who subsequently bore me. As an infant, homeless, perplexed by the thud of bombs exploding. At puberty, found that I was closest to foreigners, refugees and subversives. Married someone from a different continent, who had suffered at the hands of bigots.

Taunted as an enemy alien, arrested for possession of recorded music, separated by authorities from my family, crossing borders illicitly, mounted police trampling me underfoot. My relatives persecuted by the secret police simply because of their relationship to me, and dying at the hands of the regime.

Is it any wonder that I discovered release in an engagement with art and pure aesthetics. Is it any wonder that I find myself creating works concerned with politics and social issues.

website: xavierphelp.zenfolio.com email: xavierphelp@gmail.com

former studio artist

OT-11 archival inkjet print on watercolor paper 23" x 17" $325

Xavier Phelp

Picadilly Giris archival inkjet print on watercolor paper 23" x 17" $325

Barbara Pollak-Lewis My early subject matter addresses a mid-20th century sanitized sensibility of repression, conformity and unhappiness.

By choosing to paint in limited, muted colors,I aim to recreate the feeling of faded advertisements. Much of this work is paired with text to emphasize the absurdity of the message.

My more recent "Scream" series is a personal reaction to our current political climate. Frustration, angst, sadness and despair are a subjects I explore extensively in my work.

In all my work, I explore the disconnect between the idea of perceived happiness vs. our current reality. In the 21st century we are dealing with gender and racial inequality, environmental calamity and a lack of faith in our future.

website: www.barbarapollakart.com email: bpollakart@gmail.com

current studio artist

Birds (A) oil paint on board 8" x 8" $250

Barbara Pollak-Lewis

Birds (B-E) oil paint on board 8" x 8" $250 each

Birds (F-I) oil paint on board 8" x 8" $250 each

Debra Reabock Debra Reabock is a visual artist and photo philanthropist who makes a difference in the world through connecting creativity with photography. She expresses multiple perspectives through this visual medium. As an observer of the ordinary moments of life, Debra finds beauty and inspiration in the various aspects of our surroundings. She delights in creating moments of inquisitive wonder by revealing what is hidden from initial perception.

Many of Debra’s photos have a kinetic quality – they can be rotated to expose another point of view. This energy in motion engages the viewer, piques curiosity, and inspires conversation. People often inquire if her photos are paintings.

Debra’s unique vision expands the boundaries of perspective.

Debra recently held a solo show and panel discussion at the Commonwealth Club. The show "Natural Abstractions" and panel discussion Artistic Creativity & Consciousness: Art as Positive Energy in these Turbulent Times, was Sold Out! As a photo philanthropist, combining photography with philanthropy, Debra has worked with many organizations including Art4Aids Project, Human Rights Campaign, OutandEqual, Global Housing Foundation, Earn Assets Resource Network, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, ArtsUnbound, Touch of Life Foundation. These accomplished organizations have benefitted financially from their collaboration with her.

website: www.debrareabock.com email: dreabock@gmail.com

current studio artist

MIRA! limited edition photo on aluminum 36" x 24" $750

Arquitectura limited edition photo on aluminum 20" x 16" $250

Reflections limited edition photo on aluminum 20" x 16" $250

Debra Reabock

Fluidity limited edition photo on aluminum 16" x 20" $250

GeoShadows limited edition photo on aluminum 16" x 24" $325

Skyladders limited edition photo on aluminum 16" x 20" $250

Rachel Sager In my new work, I continue to contemplate deconstruction by extracting and repurposing existing imagery to create new meaning. Severed fragments of soft-focus floral backgrounds, sourced from 70's adult magazines, set against field shots from World War 2, altered and positioned to create a new narrative more accurate of naturally occurring internal dissonance. A human figure is not only what is seen on the exterior, but the organs and veins and hair and blood, all at once. Just as a traumatic experience can be explained most accurately as shots and flashes from a dream, or stills from a movie reel, out of sequence and disassembled.

In selecting preexisting imagery based on tonal qualities and hues, which might depict turbulent waters or explosions in the sky, or a telling detail of an image that holds much of the image’s sentiment (hands folded or cutting and sewing), I can reconfigure the images to tell a different story. The pieces possess their own gravity, a sense of history and weight. In rendering them with oil paint, the imagery retains that history, but are unified through the medium.

The subject matter that I explore, and often meditate on, is the passage from life to death, the marred, brutalized female body and the dissonance experienced as artist/mother/wife.

website: https://www.rachelsager.com/ email: rachel_sager@sbcglobal.net

former studio artist

A Red Hot Needle and Burning Thread oil on canvas 35" x 42" $3675

Rachel Sager

Time Cell oil on canvas 38" x 56" $5320

William Salit Years of figurative work led to a return to academia to study the workings of the body: chemistry, physiology, microbiology, and anatomy, including dissections of cadavers.

Those studies have filtered through to my work and thinking.

Recent paintings are explorations into the way life evolves and organizes into ever greater levels of complexity. Some of these images began as figure studies and others are built from a base-layer of photographic imagery from advertising. These images are subsumed in a maelstrom of organic improvisation, in a growth of joints, limbs, tubules, viscera, teeth, animal and plant parts, and microscopic life.

website: www.williamsalit.com email: art@wmsalitdesign.com

former studio artist

Bogatsky Poem #8a conté and acrylic on cradled panel 16" x 16" $500

William Salit

Bogatsky Poem #8c conté and acrylic on cradled panel 16" x 16" $500

Bogatsky Poem #8e conté and acrylic on cradled panel 16" x 16" $500

Bogatsky Poem #8f conté and acrylic on cradled panel 16" x 16" $500

Debra Cook Shapiro Deb Cook Shapiro's paintings explore fleeting emotions and memories. They aim to awaken feelings of joy, love, fear, insecurity, and heartache that define the human condition. In many paintings, her teen and young adult subjects act out their dramas against familiar backdrops such as beaches, parks and backyards. The timeframe of their settings and implied narrative is hard to pin down, like memory itself. The liberty of being outdoors in seemingly fair weather gives the young protagonists a sense of freedom and promise of escaping from quotidian cares. A sense of longing is a strong theme in the paintings, as though the artist is remembering scenes from her own youth that are infused into the present -day creation of work that addresses modern people. Her process begins by reviewing photographs, movie clips, or her own staged photoshoots. She uses these references as a springboard for the memories and feelings she will paint. The work is repeatedly painted, scraped and radically revised as the thoughts and memories take shape and change. Shapiro uses the clarity of her brushstrokes as a vehicle to imply the clarity of the memory depicted. The looser the stroke, the more faded the memory but never the feeling.

website: www.debcookshapiro.com email: debcookshapiro@gmail.com

former studio artist

Our New Normal oil on canvas 36" x 36" $2400

Tracy Starr Art has been an integral part of my world since I could hold a crayon. Midwest born, I studied Fine Art at Columbia College in Chicago. I am constantly seeking new ways in which to express my ideas and enjoy playing with as many mediums as I can get my hands on. I am particularly fond of painting and drawing although I have been known to play with plaster, resins, electricity, Lichtenberg Figures, clay and metals over the years. I am deeply inspired by surreal artists such as Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Anne Bachelier, and Michael Parkes. I am entranced by the delicate balance of beauty between the light and dark aspects of life and work to weave stories that take my audience on that journey.

After 16 years of living and creating in magical San Francisco, I have moved back to the midwest, landing in Columbus Ohio.

My current series, Ocean Portals, playfully juxtaposes the enchanting creatures of the ocean on brightly colored abstract backgrounds, almost as if the creatures are swimming through outer space. I am entranced by the alien-esque life that dwells beneath the surface. I am currently working on a large solo show at Barcelona Restaurant in Columbus opening September 2021.

website: www.tracyvictoriastarr.com email: tracy@starrfire.net

former studio artist

The Surge oil electrically burned wood, acrylic & resin 15” x 15.5” $250

Tracy Starr

Electree 3 oil electrically burned wood, acrylic & resin 5.5” x 10.5” $150

The Swamp oil electrically burned wood, acrylic & resin 24” x 17.25” $350

Denise Tarantino Tarantino obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in design and photography from Kutztown University. After completing her undergraduate work, she continued her photographic studies at the International Center for Photography, New York City. Born with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a serious bone condition that also led to profound hearing loss, she has been physically restricted since before the age of one. As a disabled artist, Tarantino developed her ‘observer’s lens,’ which is what she defines as her ability to find the hidden nuances and humor in circumstances and places that are often overlooked. It’s with this same trained eye that she illuminates the forgotten treasures held within the offbeat objects, roadside stops, and forgotten places of our rural American landscape.

She incorporates her lifelong preoccupation with salvaging and up-cycling photographic equipment into her imagery. Her ability to retrofit cameras, build DIY lenses, and altered film, leads to unexpected outcomes that push traditional photographic boundaries.

Her work is shown and collected internationally. As an accomplished fine art photographer, she’s received awards from galleries and museums’ throughout North American. She has been named one of the top 100 emerging fine art photographers by Photographer's Forum magazine, an award-winning quarterly publication dedicated to quality reproduction of photography.

website: https://www.datinstant.com email: info@datinstant.com

current studio artist

Space Jellies unique, one-of-kind image captured on rare, out-of -circulation, SX70 color IMPOSSIBLE Film 8" x 9" $325

Eight-Limbed Mollusc unique, one-of-kind image captured on rare, out-of -circulation, SX70 color IMPOSSIBLE Film 8" x 9" $325 Denise Tarantino

Star-Shaped Echinoderms unique, one-of-kind image captured on rare, out-of -circulation, SX70 color IMPOSSIBLE Film 8" x 9" $325

The Rays unique, one-of-kind image captured on rare, out-of -circulation, SX70 color IMPOSSIBLE Film 8" x 9" $325

Samanta Tello Samanta Tello’s work in the SPARCX exhibition is called Fancy Women on Bikes, based on an event that originated in Izmir (Turkey) and was founded by Sema Gur in 2013. Thousands of women — wearing fancy dresses and riding fancily decorated bicycles, took to the streets of cities across Turkey to proclaim the women’s right to cycle free from harassment or bullying. This annual event is seen as a “celebration” and was born to unite women in proudly reclaiming their right to public spaces with the simple yet powerful message: “We should go wherever we want, dress however we like, be visible, yet not be disturbed.”

Samanta Tello was born in Barcelona, Spain, and studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid. Nearly 20 years ago, she settled in San Francisco. With the birth of her now nine and twelve-year-old daughters, her artistic focus and inspiration became geared to bringing attention to women and girls’ issues. Her art media includes pyrography, wood stains, gold and silver leaf, and acrylics on wood panels. Tello was awarded a commission to paint a heart sculpture for the SF General Foundation’s 2019 Hearts in San Francisco project. Two of her pieces were recently selected to be exhibited at the De Young Museum.

website: www.samantatello.com email: samantatello@gmail.com

former studio artist

Fancy Women on Bikes I pyrography, gold/silver leaf, stains, and acrylic on wood panel 20" x 20" $1500 (or $2800 pair)

Samanta Tello

Fancy Women on Bikes II pyrography, gold/silver leaf, stains, and acrylic on wood panel 20" x 20" $1500 (or $2800 pair)

Stephen C. Wagner The modern world is a challenging place.

But we go on about our daily lives, basically pretending that all is well in order to survive with some semblance of normalcy. These pieces explore the ideological power of juxtaposing images to create social and political commentaries, with hidden thoughts and collective beliefs exposed through the use of found elements and appropriated images.

In the Smile Through It All series I use the iconic round black and yellow smiley face, a basic ideogram that has been a part of worldwide popular culture since the early 1960’s. The smiley faces are printed on colored paper overlaid with documents from our challenging times, including declassified top secret letters, immigration court filings, death certificates and homicide reports. These are then torn into strips and reconfigured to form a full face to “smile through it all.” The jagged edges of the papers in this series represent how the fabric of our society and civilization has been torn apart. The cut-out circular faces are mounted on 78 rpm LP records to complete the pieces.

website: www.stephencwagner.com email: stephen5w@sbcglobal.net

current studio artist Arc Partner & Founder

Secret/ Russia

Weapons/ Russia

Homicide/ Russia

Terrorism/ Russia

Smile Through It All # 02 -05 mixed media collage mounted on LP record 12" x 12" $150 each

Immigration/ Unclassified

Weapons/ Russia

Terroism/ Russia

Homicide/ Russia

Stephen C. Wagner

Smile Through It All # 06 -09 mixed media collage mounted on LP record 12" x 12" $150 each

Weapons/Unclassified

Immigration/Defendant

Immigration/ Unclassified

Weapons/ Russia

Smile Through It All # 10 -13 mixed media collage mounted on LP record 12" x 12" $150 each

Aynur Girgin Westen The year I was born, Atari introduced Pong, kicking off the first generation of video games in America. A Japanese soldier was just discovered in Guam after living in the jungle for 28 years. Canada banned the sale of firecrackers. But in the small Turkish town of Havran, we knew nothing of these world events. All we talked about was that everyone was leaving for work in Germany, and whether it was going to be a good year for olives.

In 1972, Turkey sent its 500,000th worker to Germany. And it was a great year for olives.

My parents did not go to Germany. And so I grew up running between fields, climbing olive trees, and catching free rides by hanging on the backs of horse carts. The beauty of rows of cherries in wooden boxes, lines of an old olive tree trunk, shapely fig leaves between the thin branches—these things caught my attention early. I loved the orderly chaos, repeating patterns and hidden beauty around me.

Now, as a full-time artist, I still look at the world with the curious eyes of the girl from the village. Traveling around the world, living in many different cities made my eyes even wider. I grew steadily more fascinated with both the works of both man and nature.

website: www.aynurgirginwesten.com email: aynur@mac.com

former studio artist

Murmurations 1 fine art photography mounted on acrylic 30" x 30" $2300

Aynur Girgin Westen

Murmurations 6 fine art photography mounted on acrylic 30" x 30" $2300

Tanya Wilkinson When I first started showing my art, in the 1990's, a woman bought an assemblage.

The piece combined a thick piece of paper, almost a plank of pulp I had made from flax and weeds, with a basket shape made of bark. About a year after she purchased it I ran into her at a gallery and she told me that the basket had begun to detach itself from the rest of the piece.

I was embarrassed and, of course, said I would come over and repair it as soon as possible. "Oh no", she said, "I pinned it back in, from behind you know. It's what we women do. Like when you are making a meal that starts to go wrong or a seam starts to split. You pick up whatever is on hand and you fix it."

She showed me something about my art. She showed me that my process is intimately related to domestic life, even though I am not a very domestic person. There are fancier names for such an art process. Bricolage, for example, is a term made popular by the arte povera movement in the 60's, meaning art that is constructed from whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things. In the original French usage it is a term for DIY projects, things that result from tinkering or puttering.

I have found ways, in the last 25 years, to make sure that my bricolages don't come apart.

However, they are still deeply connected to "what we women do", as my early collector put it. It is a creative tinkering that often makes use of whatever comes to hand, a frame of mind that has its roots in personal, domestic life, traditionally women’s worlds.

website: www.tanyawilkinson.com email: tanya@tanyawilkinson.com

former studio artist

Europa and the Bull mixed media 30" x 36" $1200

Tanya Wilkinson

Leda and the Swan mixed media 24" x 36" $1200

Hilary Williams Hilary Williams is an artist living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. She creates fine art screen prints on paper, mixed media paintings and illustrations in which she takes inspiration from her environments, the urban and natural landscapes and a fantastical imagination. Hilary received her BA in Printmaking from California College of the Arts in 2002 where she was presented awards including the Trillium Prize. Her work has been collected across the US, around the world and is currently displayed throughout the greater Bay Area and around the country. She also teaches workshops in screen printing in the Bay Area.

Hilary creates her work from her studio in Sonoma County where she lives and has a happy homestead. In between creating art work you can find her milking goats, petting chickens, planting seeds or canning jams.

website: www.hilaryatthecircus.com email: admin@hilaryatthecircus.com

former studio artist

Together Again in California Oak limited edition screen print on paper framed 32" x 26" $500

Hilary Williams

Evening Light Swinging limited edition screen print on paper framed 11" x 11" $120

Lightly Adjusting to Moments limited edition screen print on paper framed 11" x 11" $120

http://arc-sf.com http://arcfinearts-sf.com 1246 Folsom St. San Francisco, CA

arcgallerysf@gmail.com 415-298-7969