MArk Canepa

MARK CANEPA’s ART

Mark grew up in the SF Bay Area and from an early age studied with his many mentors learning about building and design. Painting on canvas has always been his passion although in recent years he creates and paints on metal. Mark studied film at San Francisco State University and continued to Chico State where he earned a bachelor's degree in Fine Art. He then moved south to Los Angeles building and designing over 90 Tournament of Roses Parade floats, promoting music album releases with the Hollywood celebrities and entertainers in the music industry. Also, Mark designed and decorated famed restaurants and nightclubs including Whisky a Go Go, The Roxbury Club and Studio One.

His clients included Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Prince and too many more to list! Mark's artwork is now featured in many galleries, including Lotus Garden in Palm Desert California.

Living in the desert has given him new strength to thrive in the art world. From Palm Springs to Beverly Hills and San Francisco to New York, count on Mark to design and create your vision. Mark enjoys collaborating and creating art for a wide array of clients. He is able to take an idea or inspiration and develop it into a stunning work of art.

Lynn Starnes

Lynn Starnes’s Work

I am the owner of Great Wildlife Photos, LLC which provides photographs, framed and unframed, Aluminum or canvas, calendars and notecards to customers who love to be surrounded by my stunning landscapes and relaxed, natural wildlife. I started this business in 1996.  As an ecologist, I worked for 38 years with wildlife doing research or field studies or managing them.  Ecologists cannot “retire” because they live and breathe to be in the out-of-doors. Great Wildlife Photos’ customers benefit from my drive to learn more about animals.  I love to provide photo tours so that many customers can see antelope, coyotes or wild horses for the first time in the local Reno area.

The advantage of being a biologist first and a photographer second is my knowledge of animal behavior and habitats. I see animals I am studying eating, sleeping, in their mating rituals, and even playing. Most tourists who visit wild lands rarely have the time to let animals acclimate to their presence, so they rarely see animals being wild, natural, relaxed animals.

I consider myself to be an “ambush photographer.” Unlike a studio photographer who takes human portraits, I cannot “pose” my animals for that perfect photograph. I always joke that I don’t make as much money as a studio photographer but my animals never complain that I made them look fat and battle scars on wildlife make them more photogenic!!!  In fact my wild animals are anything but posed! So, I must make my animal photographs through great patience. Photography for me is fundamentally a “waiting game.”  That is, I wait for the animal to exhibit postures that I think are expressive. Timing is of great importance. The expression of the animal, such as the eyes looking directly in to the lens, or the position of the body, will make the difference between a marketable and possibly award-winning image or a “throw away.” When I am watching an animal through my camera, I look for that combination of head, legs (or wings), and eyes, in hopes of recording a scene that I think is “perfect.” Knowing when to take that photo is difficult, as most animals have eyes or ears that are always in motion—ever alert for that sign of danger.  The longer that I am with an animal, the greater the opportunity for me to get an intimate photograph as the animal begins to acclimate to my presence. Sometimes, being motionless and passing up early photographs of the animal is my key to great photographs. Other times, I use wildlife calls and hunting techniques to convince the animal that I am another wildlife species.

Determination, persistence, skill, and of course luck, are all factors in whether the images captured are unique and expressive or not. Hopefully, I can inspire you to love these wild animals that have been my life and to inspire you to help conserve these wild animals and their habitats for future generations.

Prairie Prince

Prairie Prince’s Art

I was born on May 7, 1950 in Charlotte, NC. My full name is Charles Lempriere (Prairie) Prince.

I was raised in Phoenix, Arizona with two older sisters (Leslie and Helen) who gave me a constant source of musical influences, including: swing, jazz, blues and early rock and roll. Both parents were music lovers and my father, Charlie, played drums in his youth. My mother, Louisa, was an artist and encouraged pursuing music and art my entire childhood, which I did and still do.

During high school, I started a band with my friend Roger Steen called “The Mouth,” later becoming “The Red, White and Blues Band” which in turn led to joining forces with founder Bill Spooners’ Band “The Beans,” eventually evolving into “The Tubes.” We all moved from Phoenix to San Francisco after my acceptance to the San Francisco Art Institute on scholarship. There I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in painting. My interests in stage design began there with my friend and colleague, Michael Cotten, who I continue to share a 40+ year partnership with in number of branches of art.

My earliest drummer influences were Gene Kruppa and Buddy Rich in swing jazz, Stevie Wonder and Clyde Stubblefield in funk and soul, Sandy Nelson and Dick Dale in surf music, and Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, and John Bonham in the British Invasion of Rock. Later John French, Billy Cobham, Lenny White and Jack Dejohnette were inspirational in fusion and more avant-garde styles of drumming. My early trap sets began with a Rogers snare (1961), a four piece Slingerland (1963), a five piece Ludwig (1965), a five piece Rogers (1966) a six piece Flatjack (1967), a six piece Zicko (1971). In 1976 Mr. Hagiwara introduced me to his new Yamaha drums, which I’ve endorsed and played with pride ever since.

Visual Art has always been a huge component of my life. I’ve painted murals, designed stage sets and I have a thriving business creating custom finishes on drums, guitars, motorcycles and vehicles.

Early in my career I teamed up with Michael Cotten (former Tubes member) to create Cotten/Prince, an artistic design partnership. We combined our art expertise and worked with The Tubes choreographer Kenny Ortega (Dirty Dancing, High School Musical) to collaborate as the artistic team responsible for devising the production design and theatrical staging for The Tubes live shows and videos. We also designed the album covers and graphic design for the band.

We also come up with a style and air-brush technique which allowed us to design and paint some of the world’s largest murals.

David KaFfinetti

DAVID KaFfinetti’s ART Coming Soon

Throughout David Kaffinetti’s colorful and storied career on stage and screen he has always seen life as a pallet of colors that he interpreted musically which has led him to a great success in life.

Now he has taken that same inspiration and applied it to his love of “Doodles”. Having finally decided to dedicate himself to this love, he has produced a limited series of his art for sale. He lets the moment take and move him, with no borders or other limitations.

Some or many of you may know David from his role in “This Is Spinal Tap” where he played the effusive character and band keyboardist “Viv Savage”. And of course his famous quote “Have a good time, all the time”.

David has been playing in bands since the 60’s, which include stints with Rare Bird where he played on their big hit “Sympathy”, FRESH, Quicksilver Messenger Service as well as recording live with CHUCK BERRY on the London Sessions, album…Read More

Brandon Harris

Brandon Harris’s Art

Brandon Harris is a Filipino-African American artist with cognitive disabilities born in Berkeley, CA. His medium focuses on acrylic paint and canvas. The body of his work is abstract, using shapes, lines and colors as an expression of fun and enjoyment. Brandon is an apprentice leader at Youth Spirit Artworks, a non-profit organization that works on community based artistic projects. There, he has assisted with tiny house builds for homelessness as well participated in several community murals.

Sara Frucht

Sara Frucht’s Art

Sara Frucht is an artist and maker who works across multiple media, including drawing, painting, algorithmic computer animation, immersive art, and most recently, laser cut art. Sara is from Huntington, New York. She graduated from Yale University with a double major in Mathematics and Philosophy. She has over 20 years of experience as a computer programmer with mostly educational mathematics software. In addition to being a contributing artist, Sara manages the gallery’s day to day functions while supporting the artists and makers whose work is displayed there. She also prepares the content that is displayed on our online marketplace.

Ronnie Thierman

Ronnie Thierman’s Jewelry

Ronnie Thierman is a local artist who specializes in jewelry design and fabrication using flamework, metallurgy, wraps, and crocheting. Some examples include: hand-blowing Venetian glass beads, metal wire wrapping, and crocheting with sterling silver. Ronnie enjoys experimenting with new techniques. She lives in the Alamo hills where she has a designated jewelry making area as well as a laboratory enabling her to produce her unique and interesting creations. Ronnie refined her craft when she studied at the Silvera Jewelry School, Snow Farm, and the Crucible.

Another passion of Ronnie’s is travel. She has travelled extensively. Ronnie collects stones and objects from around the world and enjoys incorporating them into her jewelry. Some of the places Ronnie has travelled to and collected from include Turkey, China, Venezuela, Columbia, Vietnam, Russia, Spain, Portugal, and Hungary. Ronnie’s passion for travel and jewelry-making are evident in her artistic, creative, and unique pieces.

Denise Pandey

Denise Pandey’s Art

Denise is a multi-talented, local artist who lives in Napa. She has been painting as long as she can remember. At the age of 13, her grandmother gifted her painting lessons from famed Napa artist, Silvia Tyler. Denise has continued to perfect those learned skills. She continues to experiment with her own style and flair. In high school, she was an Independent Study art student. Along with her other studies, she was known for her art, graphics, and designs for sportswear and events. Currently, Denise has her own line of tea towels with a Napa graphic company. Her designs are also portrayed on t-shirts, pillows, canvas bags, and other items. Denise has painted murals locally. When she is not painting, Denise is also a locally-known and sought after cookie artist and cake decorator.

Denise has undergone many health crises in the past which has not lessoned her love of art and ability to create unique and special pieces. Denise is a survivor of a quintuple bypass and a massive coronary. Her love of life and amazing ability to view the world around her and depict what she senses with her own unique style are readily evident in her work.

Connor Fogal

Connor Fogal’s Art

HI!! My name is Connor, Although born with cerebral palsy it hasn’t stopped me from doing what I love to do. I love to paint, I have taken on the craft of painting…primarily landscapes and the occasional portrait of the legend Bob Marley. I’ve been painting for 17 years now. I do commissions from dog portraits, murals and people portraits.

Logan MASON

LOGAN MASON’S ART

My name is Logan P. Mason and I have been drawing since I was eight years old. I started drawing on sticky notes waiting in doctors’ offices. Then, I started drawing characters on paper and I have been drawing and creating ever since. I began exploring digital art in 2019. I enjoy creating all types of characters and abstract art both in digital and hand drawn form. I also enjoy travel and wildlife photography.

Wesley HaACk

WESLEY HAACK’s ART

Art

This is art for a world that makes you sick. When you are brought close to Death and immersed in pain, when you collapse from Injustice and your eyes are held too far open, that is when this art will speak to you. It will erase rigid binaries by building soft forms from hard lines, deconstruct power by conveying beauty through brutality and refuse fear by refusing to hide. This art rejects colonial definitions and structures of gender, love, power and fear. It embraces bodies in all their shame and celebrates the presence of Death in nature and all things. This is art that does not ignore reality; it seeks to change it.

Me

I am a transgender artist, activist and real life human being! I have lived all around California since being born in the small desert town of Bishop, and now I live in a community of artists in the queer mecca of Oakland. I am primarily a self-taught artist with a B.S. in Biology from Fresno State, where I also received some technical training in taxidermy and printmaking. In addition to these mediums, I am currently a tattoo apprentice at Industrial Tattoo and Piercing in Berkeley!

Me+Art

My queerness has a strong influence on my art and I often draw inspiration from the resilience and beauty of my community. I also find inspiration in the secrets I unearth when I take things apart and put them back together. Most often, these little muses hide in the visceral process of taxidermy, but I also find them when figure drawing and writing. In all things I do, I find the most inspiration when I stand still and watch the world get bigger around me as I learn to pay attention.

LINDEN JULIEN-LEHR

LINDEN JULIEN-LEHR’s ART

Linden JL, 1996, is a California Bay Area based visual artist originally from Olympia, WA. They graduated from UC Berkeley in 2018 with B.A.s in Practice of Art and Psychology. Their project does the work of making tense the surface of identity in the process of self-portraiture. Self-reflection is examined through the separation and reconfiguration of constituent material elements which point to the conditions of their own making and unmaking. They pursue destabilization of the structural integrity of identity, revealing the ways in which self-representation is a dynamic and unfixed entity in constant transformative dialogue between the internal ‘self’ and external ‘other’. Within the attempt to redefine the relationship between internal and external is an embedded questioning of the validity of this binary, by orienting the body and an intermediary space which folds inner and outer into being.

Adriana RAQUEL

ADRIANA RAQUEL’s ART

Adriana Raquel was born, lives, and works in Oakland, California.

In 2018 she received her bachelor of arts in Rhetoric and Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Her primary focus is to make bad art with intent to disconnect from traditional notions of aesthetics. But in her current work she challenges the human figure as the prepotent of communication. In a world dominated and overstimulated by the visual, she intends to question its authority by attempting to invoke emotion in a society that shies away from vulnerability and leans into curated representations of themselves on social media as a primary form of communication. Emotive brush strokes and color theory propel her views forward as her work takes on the challenge of making the audience FEEL. 

Despite identifying with being an artist she is and always will be a student of art and experience.

Adriana Raquel

Instagram: @adrianaraquelart

Rory Terell

RORY TERELL’s ART

Rory Terrell (b. 1979) is an artist, living and working in Oakland, California.  Rory has studied fine art at Queensland College of Art in Brisbane Australia and Boise State University, where he graduated in 2012 with a BFA in painting and drawing.  He has been awarded two Art Department scholarships in 2010 and 2012 whilst attending BSU and has been displaying his work at exhibitions in Idaho, Washington, Ohio, Nevada and California.  Rory is a core member of the Firehouse Art Collective, Gallery Director for the Lottie Rose Gallery, house manager of the Lottie Rose House, as well as the co-founder and executive director of Local Artists Berkeley. Rory has been working as a metal fabricator for the past 5 years with other artists.  They have built and installed over 30 projects for the City of Berkeley, as well as other artistic endeavors around the Bay Area and Burning Man.  Rory is best known for creating a new form of oil painting, by incorporating used motor oil and dirt as a form of medium.  He makes landscape “sand paintings” with different types of earth inside of an acrylic glass container, and then fills them up with used motor oil, creating a 2D slice of pollution.  His work is Environmental Art Activism; it brings attention to the hundreds of oil spills that have been happening to our world for the past 100+ years. 

James O’Brien Makowski

JAMES O’Brien MAKOWSKI’s ART

james o’brien makowski writes poetry in public on morning runs
chicken stock simmering on the back burner
the weekend goes from thursday to tuesday
some areas of focus include improving food systems, equity, sovereignty
creating solutions that fit the situation
spaces for uninhibited discourse
walking in a house
and opening the fridge
and seeing what there is to work with.
he plays a mean gin rummy
an even nastier canasta
and straight up drinks the water from making pasta
wherever he is
is tea time
one of 18 cousins
a peer of any person
writing poetry knowing there is always a connection
a figurative fisherman
standing on fire hydrant
admiring the current of cars
and catching quite a few smiles

Rodrigo Ponce de León

Rodrigo Ponce de León’s ART

I work in wide variety of mediums from painting, drawing, illustrations, movement, drag, garment construction, writing, among many others.

​My work often reflects themes of the psyche, human freedom, posthumanism, identity, linguistics, & gender.

Rodrigo Ponce de León, I'm a queer non binary POC immigrant artist who moved to the Bay Area on 2019 from Peru.

I work in wide variety of mediums from painting, drawing, illustrations, movement, drag, garment construction, writing, among many others.

​My work often reflects themes of the psyche, human freedom, posthumanism, identity, linguistics, & gender.

Lindsey MilLikan

Lindsey MilLikan’s ART

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Lindsey Millikan is a contemporary realist painter and muralist whose work over the past ten years  has focused on environmental stewardship and community engagement. She has murals everywhere  from main highway throughways in Oakland to a mural atop the Salesforce Transit Center for the  Global Climate Action Conference in San Francisco. In addition to her many murals dedicated to the  environment, the mainstay of Lindsey’s active fine art studio and gallery practice have been sculptural  oceanscapes on live edge slabs. She was invited to exhibit one sculptural painting that was sourced  from a recently felled century old bigleaf maple tree at the famed Bateman Foundation in Victoria,  B.C., Canada.  

She has collaborated with legendary artist Prairie Prince on a number of large-scale set design  projects and that are created on-site and in their shared San Francisco studio. The 16,000 sq ft Self  as Super Hero mural project engages youth in community issues and solutions through the power of  public art. Her work addressed themes such as equity as a human right and diversity as a strength.  These commuter corridors transformed from areas of extreme blight into beacons of light telling the  stories the the community youth. Building180, an innovative art production and management  company, has commissioned her for over a dozen mural, sculpture and installation commissions  throughout the Bay Area. In 2020 she assisted Gay Outlaw in a permanent sculpture installation at  San Francisco International Airport that weighs just shy of 2500 pounds. In her interior mural  projects, she is known for her technical exactitude and detailed project management. In her exterior  mural projects she is known for vibrant color, impactful design and bold painterly brushwork.  

ARTIST STATEMENT 

On display: “This is an assortment of older works from a variety of painting series undertaken  2011-2016. Please feel free to ask any questions regarding the context for these works as they are  from various pursuits from classical plein air studies to more experimental subject matter in a more  contemporary approach.” 

 “Mural work has also inspired me to expand my use of materials in the studio. Over the years I have  have brought acrylic, latex and aerosol into my world of classical training with oil. This expansion of  skill set from materials to tackling of diverse subject matter has set me up for my next series, which  will be my most ambitious yet. I am interested in exploring the cosmos as a voyage to individual  self-discovery. These mixed media paintings insert a solitary figure in an expansive spaces where  water meets sky. A figure we could all see as representation as ourselves and pushes us to take leaps  forward into the unknown during these unprecedented times. Inspired by the concept that we are  all made from stellar ash, these figures are diving headfirst, backflipping or doing a cannonball into  a star scape that merges with water interspersed with clouds. This exploration of intentional forward  thinking could inspire mindful dialogue across a diverse audience whether viewed as smaller prints,  larger gallery works and ideally large-scale murals. Ultimately, my goal is to foster an artist practice  that allows me to create visual touchstones that reckons with the past, reflects the present and  inspires the future.”-Lindsey Millikan, 2021

Larry Dawson

Larry Dawson’s Art

Larry L. Dawson Jr., is a Utah based creative writer, lyricist, poet and an internal rapper, who has started his passion since the age of 14.  His imagination to detail when amplifying his experiences of being exposed to hip-hop.  He has adapted himself to the culture of hip-hop since he was in school, for example, he has always been interested in graffiti, the street language, knowledge and ways to become a street entrepreneur.  The work that you are about to see is him presenting poetry based off of any topic that can come around from what he had experienced from the past, and what his type of skills he developed now.  He served in the United States Army from 1999 to 2016, after discharging medically, he got back into doing poetry.  He has learned how to create limericks, sonnets, acrostics, elegiac, and haikus.   

Harry “The EDGE” Elkins

Harry ElkinS’s Art Coming Soon

Scrap metals Sculptures and functional metal Garden Art. The Edge among other skills is a one time MotorCross Professional, from wheelies to high speed go carts. Edge has a need for speed.

Lee Horner

LEE Horner’s Art Coming Soon

Qiana ThompSon

QIANA THOMPSON’S CANDLES

My name is Qiana Thompson, and I am the CEO/Owner of Majestic Moon Candle Company. Born and raised in Berkeley, California. My business was inspired behind my brother who had cerebral palsy and my passion for candle making. He was full of life, laughter and loved playing with beach balls. He loved to take strolls in his wheelchair with our family and would brighten up any room with his presence and enjoyed the outdoors as well. My brother suffered seizures a lot and there weren’t too many holistic home remedies at the time back in the early 90’s to help ease his mind, body, tensed and tight muscles. My brother attended Berkeley High School and was also a part of the school for cerebral palsy, now known as the “Ability Now Bay Area”. After my brothers passing, I decided to incorporate my candle making business providing love, hope, togetherness, comfort and shedding light on anyone who has lost a family member, friend or loved one due to a disability. We offer high end All Natural, Organic, Plant based environmental, manifestation, essential oil and healing candles. Our candles are handmade, and hand poured with lots of love, free of toxins, parabens, phthalates, vegan, organic wicks and a clean burn. Here at Majestic Moon Candle Co is to empower job opportunities for people with disabilities and raise awareness for people with cerebral palsy, because they are a part of our community and deserve a chance at life, that they too can also be entrepreneurs and small business owner’s despite of their disability! Benefits of our candles includes, relieving stress, lowering anxiety from seizures, relaxing the mind, body and soul, relaxing tensed muscles, improving sleep and much more! Majestic Moon Candle co goal is to strive to create more jobs community for people with disabilities, while having people with disabilities make our candles with a cause. I know the feeling of sacrifice and I can relate to my customers experience being thou my brother had cerebral palsy. At the end of the year 10 percent of sale are donated to the cerebral palsy foundation in New York! Our Goals is to partner, collaborate and create business relationships with other non-profit businesses to empower job opportunities for people with disabilities and hire a local group that works with people with disabilities!

Monique Harris

Monique Harris’s Art

Monique Renee Harris was born as an African American woman with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. She learned how to use imaging software with the use of a head wand. Her artwork has appeared or is forthcoming in Penumbra Literary and Art Journal, Aji Magazine, Pentimento Magazine, Hey, I’m Alive Magazine, The Raw Art Review, and Defunkt Magazine. She also won the Red Planet Magazine Cover Art Contest. For 2022, she will design wall calendars and calendars at-a-glance composed of her published images. She is also a poet and writer whose work has appeared in Wordgathering, Magnets & Ladders, Seeing Beyond the Surface, Dryland, and URevolution. In 2019, she self-published her poetry art book Strength and Tragedy: The Mystery of the Blue Lady. She lives in Emeryville, California.

Day Morrow

Day Morrow’s Art

Day Morrow creates original art in drawings, caricatures, fabrics, textiles, quilting, and crafts – each reflecting his extensive knowledge of and passion for music. Day enjoys meeting new people with similar styles and interests. At an early age, Day was exposed to various genres of music including Rock, Pop, and Soul. He recalls watching music video compilations before the age of five and being influenced by various musical talents such as Culture Club, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Daryl Hall and John Oates, and much more besides the Beatles. For Day, music inspires his creativity and is used as a source for healing and confidence. Day’s work has been displayed at local art galleries such as Art Without Labels in Petaluma and Makers Paradise in Berkeley. Since the pandemic, he attends Ability Now Bay Area virtually and continues to work on his art at home so he could open his business someday. He is the recipient of the 2019 Mitchell Culliton Scholarship.

Kaya Davis

Kaya Davis’s Art - Kreations by Kaya

My name is Kaya Davis. I enjoy drawing and knitting but I do it on a very small scale. I make things such as doll clothes, doll jewelry, and dollhouse paintings. I also make some jewelry out of miniature origami for humans. Anything I do could be used by a doll or a very small person. I carry my craft supplies with me everywhere I go. I make some of my own miniature art supplies from bigger art supplies such as tiny watercolor pallets from Altoids tins and tiny watercolor paper from a bigger pad. I use tiny knitting needles to create tiny pieces for tiny “people.” When I was a child I loved my dolls and I often imagined them as tiny people. Not just as dolls but actual people who could talk and move around. They were alive, just very small, in my mind. My childhood was a very fun time and although I will never get it back I can always relive parts of it by making things for dolls.