City College of San Francisco offers a wide variety of classes at two sites in the city. For Open Studios we are highlighting our Fort Mason Center facility. We offer affordable Credit, Continuing Education and Older Adult classes during the day, evenings, Saturdays and online - all taught by practicing Bay Area artists. Classes include sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, painting, watercolor, drawing and art history. Please come by during Open Studios to see our facilities, meet our students and instructors and get information about joining us!

Korean-born artist David Choong Lee's intricate mixed-media paintings and collages merge photorealistic elements with graphic design and patterns to develop his own unique style. He draws from a classical figural style which he juxtaposes with vibrant graffiti elements. The San Francisco-based artist has been shown in galleries throughout California, as well as New York, Portland, Canada, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

Ink Drawing/Painting: Drawing with an eye-dropper and sumi-e ink, l aim to reproduce, not so much the reality, rather it’s sentiment or felt nature, which in Japanese can be called Kokoro mochi — the moving spirit. The uncontrollability of the eyedropper impels me to work swiftly and from an inner connection. This means I discover later which pieces may have captured the animating spirit. It also means I throw away a lot.

  I also find myself going back to the initial drawing to tease out with a brush and wash what narrative may be found in the impression of some pieces. The wash tends to flood the scene with an atmosphere and begins to tie together disparate parts of a drawing. The development of this process is leads me to follow what narrative may be found in layering drawings with wash in a larger context. Exploration of what may be found in a drawing, what might happen there, what story is being told that I cannot know yet, this is what interests me and keeps me in the process. 

Inspired by wandering, my work is a form of storytelling.  I salvage fragments of poetry from the detritus of our landscapes and explore the frayed tapestry of modern life.  I draw upon personal experiences, and tell stories through layers of manipulated media, sculptural space and mischievous word play.  I welcome commissions and view them as a good opportunity to meet curious people who share an odd sense of humor. 

For 25 years now, I have worked as a singular,  studio fine artist, my interests ranging from painting, to drawing, printmaking, encaustic, collage and photography.
ALL media explored are absolutely interdependent within my creative process.

Early in my career, my figurative work was often labeled "3rd Generation Bay Area Figurative;"
since 1999, this is no longer the case.  My exploration of the figure has become highly idiosyncratic 
and conceptually experimental.

Private drawing sessions with female models is a vital practice to the gestalt of my work.
This collaborative ritual, begun in 1994, is a source for inner grounding, focusing and allowing
eureka moments to bubble to the surface.

At present, I describe my work as eclectic and highly autobiographical. I define myself
as a versatile visual artist, continuously pushing boundaries, evolving via success and
challenges, to give meaning to my creative existence.

I am a contemporary artist from the United Kingdom who specialises in complex, surreal oil paintings.

I paint to express my love for my children, family and friends, to express my excitement for life and its abundance.  I paint to express my happiness and my sorrows. 

I paint intuitively, but every painting has a story; a story that overflows with emotions. One day I paint flowers blooming and dancing for my mother, for a sick friend who has cancer, or sometimes just to say hello to a stranger! Another day, I paint the ocean, its extreme beauty and complexity, its abundance and its harmony.  And when I paint the figure, I ponder on who we are; I ponder on our complex emotions.

In the process of painting intuitively, I venture into a world of extraordinary discoveries, and one of these discoveries is whatever my feelings of the moment are, happiness or sorrow, I paint vibrant and colorful paintings full of life and excitement!  How can this be?  I choose to surrender to the process, and secretly dare to believe that perhaps I am meant to send all this creative energy to the world, to heal and to inspire.  Silently, this energy will ripple just like the flapping of a butterfly’ wings from far away.

Johane Amirault, 

Contemporary Artist

My current abstract works are predominantly influenced by my interest in forms, textures and design elements found in architecture, nature, and clothes.

Now days, I mostly work in Acrylic and Mixed Media on canvas and paper.  I thrive on the challenge of creating most of my paintings with just 2 to 3 colors; while my color palate is limited, my color range is not-I have used pretty much every color in the palate. It is true that most of my works are very colorful and vibrant, but I have also painted black and whites. In my current works, I use embossing techniques and materials like hand-made paper, sand and pieces of some of my old works to create interesting design elements and textures. 

My creative process typically begins when I become inspired by a certain interesting design, shape, form or pattern. I then cover the canvas rather intuitively, inserting elements of the subject matter. I mostly work from memories but sometime view personally photographed images for reference and inspiration. This gives me a start but what the end result is going to be is a whole different, exciting and sometimes frustrating story.

If you'd like to see or want to know more about my works, please don’t hesitate to contact me.