The Friends of Sharon Art Studio (FOSAS) is devoted to sustaining and enhancing the Sharon Art Studio’s (SAS) goal to promote artistic development, craftsmanship, and creative expression. FOSAS is proud to be a partner of the SF Recreation & Parks Department (SFRPD) to bring Sharon Art Studio’s outstanding art programs to you. FOSAS believes that art education is an essential component of a healthy community and strives to ensure that quality, noncompetitive art programs are affordable and accessible to all.  Sharon Art Studio offers classes for youth and adults at two facilities: the beautiful historic Sharon Building in the Eastern end of Golden Gate Park, and now at Mission Arts Center. To register for classes and workshops, visit www.sfreconline.org.

I am interested in all aspects of social information and interaction, specifically the ways in which it is created, shared and transformed. For example, the way a group of women affect one another's style of dress and the way young people develop slang and own language. I am exploring the processes by which members of these groups are realized as individuals by their interactions as family members, as friends and as co-workers.

Through my process in the studio, I am looking to replicate this social richness. Relationships between the pieces change with time. I work on many pieces simultaneously; I put some away, rework others, rearrange groups and pull pieces out again. This is happening continuously throughout the development of a body of work. I see this process as participating in the social structure of the work. Similar to the way in which groups of people may interact socially—getting together, breaking up and reforming in different groups—creating complex interactions.

What I hope to achieve is to describe the complexity of social dynamics through figurative abstractions in a way that shows the differences and connections that make up our social structures.

I experiment with characters and screens to explore and create alternative experiences in video sculpture. My characters are pigments, fluids, and electronics on the micro scale and despite the unorthodox cast, my films follow narrative structure and are shot using established film lighting and editing techniques. The result is a collection of images and sounds which appear very similar to natural phenomena but have no scale, and therefore transcend the boundaries of their literal setting.

I'm currently laboring over heaps of textiles and artifacts, some from my personal collection, some rescued from the urban environment —all on the verge of reinvention.

My work, like my mind, floats between the abstract and the surreal. The struggle is often to make sense of the initial chaos created by abstraction, and thrust elements into the surreal. Within this dynamic, each art piece essentially designs itself. Shapes form, light dances, and a story begins to unfold.

I want my work to create an emotional and spiritual link between my audience and myself—a union that "arouses" the viewer, resulting in feelings of happiness and joy.

I believe the concept of art embraces any human activity in which an individual, by means of external signs or cues, intra-personally communicates previous emotional experiences. For example, after a person has experienced color, movement, shape, and texture while snorkeling, diving, or even seeing a children's film like "The Little Mermaid" they can relate that experience to my art.  Hopefully, by reliving experiences of freedom, bliss, and elation, the viewer can be mindful of release and pure joy, and I've accomplished what I was meant to do. I've established a relationship between my art, my audience, and myself.

Currently, the majority of my work is in private collections around the United States. Private showings can be arranged by contacting me by phone or via my website.

--Perry David Tennyson--

It is only a matter of time.  San Francisco will be hit by “the next big one” and a major earthquake will return our city to dust.

I was living in New England where natural disasters melt in the morning when I heard about Hurricane Katrina. I could not understand.  New Orleans is in a precarious position. It is likely that it will be hit again. Why rebuild?
Then I moved to San Francisco, equally precariously perched on the San Andreas fault. I fell in love with the city.  And now I get it. When the next earthquake comes I’ll be here rebuilding. When the next big earthquake takes our buildings down I will be here to rebuild.  Here’s the plan:

Anyone can go onto underscoreg.com/quake and submit a location-based memory.  What places in San Francisco are important to you? Where do you walk your dog? Where did you get proposed to? Where do you get the best avocados? Put these memories on the map. I’m pulling together a group of artists working in all mediums who will make original commissions from these memories.  I am compiling these works in neighborhood based shows, online, and in a book.  This book will be our guide. The morning after the next big earthquake we will get up, dust off this book and look to it as our guide for rebuilding the city.  We will rebuild San Francisco from art.

In accordance with this project my work is almost entirely inspired by San Francisco and the stories I hear here.  I work primarily in paint. I have found it an effective language for translating stories into art.  I do not restrict myself to a style or school as different memories and places hold different demands. By allowing anyone to submit a location-based memory I have opened up the commission process to a new audience allowing those who can not purchase art a deeply personal art experience.   I am always looking for other artists who want to adopt the mission of artistically capturing San Francisco. If you want to get involved as an artist or submit a location-based memory check out underscoreg.com/quake

We will rebuild San Francisco from art.

Ronald Chase is a self-taught artist that has lived and worked in San Francisco since 1964. He is the Director of the SF Art & Film Program for teenagers, now celebrating its 20^th year. He is recepient of 2 SECA Awards in film.  His work in photography, artist books, early sculptures and his abstract work all inform the ideas in the current series of grid paintings and work on paper from 2010-12. Paintings take the longest period of development, sometimes 10-15 years. He will be showing new work in Open Studios. Further info can be had on Wikipedia.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Bibliotecque Nationale, Paris
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York
International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester
Princeton Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey
Norrtalje Konshalle, Norrtalje, Sweden
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia
Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, California