I am drawn to how light shifts our perception of what surrounds us, creating a halo of soft diffusion or pockets of ambiguity. I am intrigued by patterns and distortions in landscapes- where images of what is "real" and what is "reflected" are set adrift or submerged in a nebulous space.

I’ve shifted from pure abstraction to more abstracted landscapes since moving further outside of the city. I mainly draw inspiration from the local wetlands preserve in Sonoma County, though the work is mostly invented in my studio by recalling light and sensations.

The light is inextricably connected to the water, the land, and the atmosphere. These elements have inspired me to create momentary, imagined, experienced, and idealized situations in my paintings. The paint itself becomes a part of the landscape experience- the soil, the light, the sentiment- and it guides the forms that allude to the land.

I marvel at the mystery that exists in the stillness of the shadows. My process has become a romantic exploration of drifting, pulling apart, converging, ascending, and descending.

I make colorful mixed media paintings. The subjects vary from urban scenes to landscapes. I try to show a reality that might not be obvious but uses a combination of elements that are surprising.

I want to make an emotional connection with the viewer that will captivate your imagination, draw you into the story, and be memorable.

After many years as a scriptwriter and director, I began channeling my creative energies into my love of sculpture.  In doing so, I drew from my own subconscious and my interest in the worlds of archetypes, myths, and rituals to create both abstract and figurative pieces.  My figurative sculptures are not based on models, photographs, or actual persons.  Instead, like my abstract work, they arise from memory, imagination, my inner world, and a spontaneous interaction with a variety of materials. 

My primary materials are terra cotta and cement, although I frequently employ wood and various metals as well.  The forms created from these materials are typically covered with a rich textual surface that is often aged or distressed to convey an emotion and a connection that transcend time and culture to bring artist and viewer into a shared inner space.

My work has been described as elegant, yet also earthy and powerful.  It is imbued with a mythic, numinous, and archetypal awareness that comes directly from my process of creation.  My psychological and emotional state while I’m working are also strongly reflected in the sculptures.  Some express a calm, almost beatific sensibility.  Others display extreme disturbance and anguish.  Generally, it is only upon completion of an individual sculpture, or often a series of sculptures, that I’m able to tease out the meaning and significance for me personally.

However, regardless of the emotional impact, I seek a connection with the viewer.  Whether figurative or abstract, my ultimate goal is to have the viewer feel a sense of familiarity with the work...a sense of knowing, of understanding.  I believe this feeling of déjà vu arises from both a collective unconscious and a mystical center we all share.

It is my intention to create thought provoking, one of a kind pieces of art. I started painting fabrics in 1972, this evolved into a fashion/wearable art business. My fabrics eventually went into the HOME DECOR market. I'm currently designing re-assembled jewelry, hand painted/dyed scarves/shawls/ wall hangings & mixed media collage.. 

Jonah Burlingame, a San Francisco based artist, creates mixed media paintings composed of stunning organic textures that are balanced by architectural lines.  His distinct style of suspending layers of paint and other materials in varnish rewards viewers with a multi-dimensional world they can melt into and explore.

Burlingame's unique process of applying paint and varnish in very thin layers, using non traditional implements such as window squeegees, 14" drywall blades, and windshield wipers is self-discovered.  Within this process, he has left plenty of opportunity for chance - and refers to it as "controlling the accident".  By allowing for chance within his process, Burlingame constantly challenges himself with new problems, and thus is repeatedly questioning his creative direction. 

Through his recent journey to evolve his work stylistically, Burlingame has adopted new materials and methods of working. Inspiration came from the recurring presence in his life of the film and soundtrack of “A Clockwork Orange”. White molded plastic, aluminum, fiberglass, and deep glossy finishes came to his mind’s eye, which later led to influences which he reduced to basic elements such as color, composition and texture with the addition of materials such as fiberglass cloth and aluminum foil. Themes of transformation, action, and distress have provided new opportunities to impact his process. Rich color fields and organic textures are juxtaposed with graphic lines that seek to show a balance of energy and tranquility, creating a vibe that is both ethereal and precise.  The titles of his works add yet another layer of abstraction, rather than provide clues of any intended meaning.  The subject of Burlingame's work continues to be the work itself, ultimately offering his work for the viewer’s own interpretation.

I am an artist, a traveler, a writer and a teacher.

I engage in the process of visually exploring and describing my experiences as a woman living in an urban culture in the 21st century.  I am a mother and grandmother and all of my experience instructs my practice.

The human figure and nature are central to my work.   I question what is familiar and find nuances buried in the layers of the everyday.

Text is an important component, and most every piece has a story or text beneath and through the work.  Building layers, sometimes placing familiar imagery in context of a new environment, the voice of my work is evident in the line and space that becomes a new language within the work.

Painting, drawing and taking photographs is a form of discovery for me.  

Bio

Robbin Milne is a California painter and studio artist.

She is associated ArtsBenicia, Oakland ProArts, San Francisco and Berkeley communities.

She has exhibited her work in the Bay Area 
during the past 15 years in solo as well as 
group shows such as the Oakland ProArts 
Annual Open Studios, Arts Benicia Auction, 
Arts Benicia Open Studios.

Robbin has also been seen in other venues 
including the Benicia Library Art Gallery, 
Orinda Art Gallery, Bedford Art Gallery, 
Sebastopol Arts Center and other venues in 
the area.  

Her work is in Bay Area private collections:  In 
Napa and the South Bay areas, including 
Filoso/Obrien of Oakland and the Heydlers of 
Danville, now in Germany.  Collectors abroad 
include Canada, France and Italy and Turkey.  

Ms. Milne received the Ralph DuCasse Award 
for Academic Excellence in Studio Arts, and 
completed her BA in Studio Art at Mills College,
Oakland California.

She was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 
1957.

She continues to offer art instruction and 
appreciation, and has worked in the National 
Institute of Arts and Disabilities with adults.

The son of a seamstress and mechanic, my art-making process continues a family history of labor through the meticulous hand-made acrylic paintings on wooden panel and ink drawings. As a first-generation middle-class American growing up in the 80's & 90's under the influence of MTV, Nickelodeon, plastic toys, candy and bold fashion – my work construct and unravel my landscape, architecture and interior spaces with flat color, line and intricate patterns.

Pushing the cannon of Chicano art beyond graffiti or large-scale murals, these works also investigate identity through the lens of such a richly traditional infrastructure. My work, create a new kind of iconography, symbolically operating on the micro level of the personal, able to be inserted into a larger historical and cultural dialogue.

Like clocking in and out of my very own studio sweatshop, my process extends from super-controlled acrylic painting into laborious experimental ink drawings on paper, continuing an abstract investigation into line, color and pattern- an homage to my mother and reminiscent of a childhood play area in her sewing room piled with fabric swatches. The vulnerable process of creating “swatch-drawings” celebrate accidental moments and mishap when man imitates machine; one of life's lessons which forces us to make lemonade out of lemons. Through both painting and drawing my cultural and personal history is explored, questioned and celebrated.

Jeff Snell's paintings unite traditional landscapes and popular culture as vigorous abstract rhythms. Working with brush and spray, Snell uses expressive gestures that incorporate a variety of forms found in nature and elements of urban flair. The organic qualities of his subjects exist in a fantastic world, where the natural position and order of the landscape is challenged in an unruly microcosm. His paintings radiate an energy and excitement that engage the viewer and offer a glimpse of nature's inner sanctum.

In this current series, I'm investigating environments from the imagination, thinking of these as glimpses of atmospheric forces mingling with eachother. Each canvas is a window into a bit of ordered chaos where nature is continually changing and the viewer is center stage to a swirling cosmos.

In my art work, both the prints and the sculpture, I capture the flow or motion of the object. Nature is my inspiration, although I have been including portraites in my recent work. Most of my work is an abstraction of a landscape or object in a landscape.  I have also been working with making paper and using it to create sculptures and art pieces.