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. 

Artist’s Statement:

As an artist/ craftsman who has been doing it for a while and who has taught, I often ask myself, what do I make? Things of truth and beauty. My recent work often reflects a synthesis of the excellent craft and design training I’ve had, informed by the skepticism I often feel, perhaps because of my earlier scientific training, perhaps because of my post catholic rejection of dogma. So I try to make work that is sensible and if possible, lovely.

Regarding the Entropic Sconce:

In this piece, I am  interested in movement and balance. Further, the idea of a candle burning to nothing in time interests me as a person living on a finite, soon to be exhausted planet. Thoughts of the human fuel burn, the end of life (mine and the earth’s biodiversity) come to mind.

The candle burns, the weight relationships of the piece change and the sconce slowly moves from the six o’clock position to the twelve o’clock, eclipsing the gold leafed disc. The piece has a slow, interesting movement and casts a great shadow. If done gently, you can spin the piece by hand, making the thing swing through a full circle and cause the shadow to move quickly. It reminds me of being in at a Calder Mobile show, where you  blow at the mobiles and make them move. You can quietly watch it or play with it, even though it is on fire. It looks great in a darkened room.

Original Art Made of Hand Drawn Lines

LineScaping is a series of original paintings and drawings created by lines. It features a minimalist abstraction with a distinctive style. All lines are drawn freehand one by one, unlike one may suspect it computer assisted.

Abstract Art

What do you see in abstract art? There's no incorrect answer to what you should see in abstract art. Use imagination. Make up your own story and be convinced with it. Your story is the subjective truth you live with. Ultimately, it's not only about abstract art, but also everything in life is about how you view things.

Erick Vera is a figurative sculptor who lives and works in San Francisco. He spent the last 20 years working in the tech industry in the bay area. His work in tech has shaped and inspired his constant examination of the human form through a variety of media from clay to edible materials.

His current work is an exploration of what lies beneath the surface of our skin and how we are all different types of machines. There are forces that drive us and those forces shape us. When we work, there is an engine within us that drives forward the gears of industry. At rest we allow nature to penetrate and imbue us with living force. We become machines of earth and water. As he recreates the human form he tries to reflect not only muscle and sinew but drive and momentum as well.

Born in Peru, raised in Canada

Lives and works in San Francisco

Founded in November 2007, Doubleparlour is Ernie and Cassandra Velasco. They are a husband and wife artistic collaboration living in San Francisco, CA. Cassandra has a B.A. in Fine Art from Humboldt State University and Ernie is a self taught artist.

Doubleparlour produces work in a variety of mediums; however, their primary focus is on making hand-formed resin sculptures. They strive to produce well-crafted and affordable artwork.  The work includes a broad range of characters in different emotional states; including alien monsters, animal hybrids, mutated humans, and anthropomorphic figures. Their work has been described as "unsettling," "cute yet creepy,"  and "disillusioned children." Their work can be found at galleries, conventions, fairs, and on-line.

We use our senses to help us understand our position in space-time. Vision is our main sensory input for the world we exist in. The human brain has some built-in limits beyond which it cannot properly interpret visual information. I use this limit to express the workings of the subconscious. Also embodied in my work is a sense of scientific realism; the elements and information of a natural system can be reduced and modulated and still exhibit characteristics of that natural system and to me this is proof that information is a true and robust representation of our universe. Clean lines, simple shapes, self-similarity on varying scales, and pure, changing color are my palette; information systems and data-sets are my subject matter.

I use mathematics and engineering to formulate physical space-time distortions: displaying static images through time while squeezing and folding the images’ space into 3-dimensional layers. Using industrially prefabricated LED technology, and custom electronics and firmware, I collapse space and re-map it onto the time axis. By re-displaying information in this manner I give the viewer a glimpse into space-time as seen through my eyes. It’s an automatism whereby I fold my own perception of space-time in an effort to understand what it means to exist.

Close to 25 years ago Carla Bratt attended her first gourd workshop in Berkely, California. Since childhood art had always held an integral role in her life, yet none of her past creative experiences would compare with the love affair she would eventually undertake with gourds. Gourds presented Bratt with an infinite number of shapes and endless numbers of sizes; complex curves, smooth surfaces and  the golden glows of each one challenged her imagination. She realized that working with an organic object had it's own unqiue soul, providing an unlimited number of creative posssibilities and potentials.

Cutting, carving, burning, painting embellishing and weaving-Over the years Bratt has employed countless techniques on her gourds, most self taught and even some self invented, such as  the use of encaustic  wax applications . Using pyroengraving, painting, carving and metal leaf as a center, Bratt couples her creative intellect with processes from collage work, photography and printmaking to guide her artistic journey.

Finding her inspiration in quiet thoughts, random reflections and charming epiphanies, an individual gourd by Bratt might offer the viewer the timelessness of a Navajo rug, a creature of the deep sea or the mysterious iconography of ancient and diverse cultures. Each piece she produces is an attempt to capture a moment in the mind's eye through a splash of color, the smoothness of polished abalone or the flash of a bird's feather. Bratt also finds her inspiration in the trueness of nature's beauty, never forgetting how fragile our earth home is, but also honoring it's strength and resilience.

Along the path of Bratt's creative journey, she discovered the tradtional art of Japanese fish printing or "gyotaku". Working in both traditional and non tradtional ways with her fish prints, she offers delicate, realistic prints and fish print collage work mounted on board and canvas. 

Recently, Bratt purchased an etching press and has set up a second studio, aside from her gourd art studio, to explore the world of printmaking. Her background in gourd design work has successfully transferred over to her print work. Eventually, Bratt's goal is to offer both fine art gourds and art prints, celebrating the exciting space between the heart and soul of human connectedness with nature, as well as with each other.

Now showing in West Coast galleries and retail stores, Bratt's work has also been published in two  Lark Publication books : Beyond The Basics: Gourd Art and Gourd Art: Southwestern Techniques. Her work has  achieved many awards and is found  in collector's homes and businesses, both nationally and internationally.

"It has been such a long and rewarding process, this gourd art trip of mine. Along the way I have discovered myself, acquired life long friends, branched out to new art processes and learned to look at life's never ending connections and reconnections-all the while valuing the journey that continues to delight and surprise me.. Thre is not a moment in my life that holds a whisper of boredom!" Carla Bratt; fine art gourd artist, printmaker and multi media collage creator.