The effects of light and the sky are intriguing. Light thoroughly transforms an object or a scene. Shadows, at the same time, are evocative and mysterious; they indicate the presence of something not necessarily visible in the image. An allegorical feeling is the result. My work often captures this. Language in all its forms is a great source of entertainment for me. In addition, many things appeal to my sense of humor in unexpected ways. My photographs often contain words as well as incongruous objects.

For almost three decades Sharon Steuer has pioneered the merging of traditional and digital art forms. Sharon's recent work weaves together her oil paintings, drawings, digital paintings, photographs, and personal artifacts to explore and reflect fragmented memory. Awards for her artwork include the national Faber Birren Color Award, a Windsor Newton Painting award, and a Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Her studio is in the 60-artist building Workspace Limited, studio 14a, 2150 Folsom Street (between 17th and 18th).

Sharon is also is an author who teaches how to use digital tools to create artwork in books (The Adobe Illustrator WOW! Books, Creative Thinking in Photoshop), videos (lynda.com/SharonSteuer), and as a regular contributor CreativePro.com.

This year I will be featuring images from a new body of work, still in process. These are mixed media pieces on both canvas and water color paper incorporating multiple mediums including acryllic, ink, spray paint and water color as well as my own photography, found images,objects and text.The work is evocative and intended to provoke the imagination of the viewer. I hope you will join me for the launch of this new work!

My recent paintings are driven by process and improvisation. My initial compositions are informed by photographs of cellular or satellite images chosen for their color and complexity, but I depart from the source imagery as a a painting takes on a life of its own. Building upon material phenomena and accident, I consciously incorporate unpredictable elements into the work. In balancing spontaneous mark making and drips with controlled calligraphic line, I create structure and beauty from chaos and uncertainty.

My palette is connotative, evoking states that range from violent transformation to calm serenity. Building layer upon layer of color produces atmospheric depth that reinforces these sensations by implying history and location.

Partly a meditation on light and form within macroscopic and microscopic worlds, my work is an intuitive reaction to the process of painting itself: an inward search for presence and immediacy. 

What you see in this body of work is a totally new direction for me.  I've been photographing exclusively in digital media for about 5 years now. The instantaneous nature of digital work is appealing and satisfying. That said, having learned photography in a conventional darkroom, I yearned to somehow get my hands "back on the prints” and experience that feeling of surprise and wonder that only comes from watching an image develop in a tray and the experience of how each print might be different based on temperature, developer mix etc. So I recently began experimenting with a new process to provide me a proxy for the darkroom experience: Hand washing of my digital prints. To create a unique image, I soak and wring the paper in warm water until it softens. I then dry and iron the print, which due to the unique paper/ink combination and the conditions under which it was washed produce a one of a kind image that has almost zero probability of duplication. (Note: The images shown here are photos of actual prints, none of which will be identical after washing.  So please know that each and every print will vary in effect.)

Drawing has always been my passion and my focus. Please visit my web site for more images and information.

Cynthia Tom is a visual multi-media artist, passionate about social justice, women’s issues and playing with the accepted norm. Surrealism is the platform for her ideas to ruminate, take form, solutions discovered and color to inspire.

    A seeker and philosopher about issues in her life, her ancestors and the community of women, she is inspired by dialog with friends and family, forming new themes and stories for her work. Collaboration and brainstorming are her playgrounds.

    Her work has been exhibited at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the De Young Museum, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and various other galleries from New York to Washington to San Francisco. She lectures on her work, issues related to women, feminism in the arts and Asian American women in the arts, most recently for the College Art Association’s Annual Conference.

 Cynthia is included in the text book, “Women Artists of the American West”, edited by Susan Ressler, University of Purdue and “Traces of Migration and In-Betweeness: Poetics and Politics in Post-colonial Asian Women Artists”, by Laura Fantone PhD, SF Art Institute ,University of Padua Press, Italy.  Cynthia is currently Board President, Exhibitions Curator and Programs Chair of AAWAA, Asian American Women Artists Association.

    A third-generation Chinese American, Cynthia draws inspiration from divergent

cultures. The resulting contradictions are expressed in a variety of ways. Eastern and Western symbols often share space on the same canvas. Fanciful dresses portray a prophetic wish for people to raise their consciousness and her strong female images evoke a longing for freedom of expression and a life of choice.

    Symbols, cues and clues fill her art, which is described as “Cultural Surrealism”.

Cynthia’s paintings and installations persuade us to look beyond the aesthetic--to challenge stereotypes and traditional roles, questioning paradigms and

encourages our internal dialogue.

Drawing and painting portraits has always been at the core of my artwork. In my portraits I strive to express the passion and personality of my subjects and capture an inner aspect of who they are. My portraits evolve like improvisational dance. I sculpt in color and form, continuously transforming and remolding my image, like working with wet malleable clay. I am influenced and inspired by great Impressionist and Fauvist painters such as Monet and Matisse.

Equally obsessed with the built environment and the human figure, my figurative paintings are based on sketches and photographic studies and heavily influenced by architecture.

Working simultaneously on large canvases and experimenting on small boards, allows me to investigate a topic for months.  

In the end a body of work encompasses many pieces, while exploring a single subject or place.

It is not movement or narrative that interests me. Rather than illustrating a momentary idea I want to emphasize the essence of a time and place one can fit into.

Originally from Germany with a background in architecture and art, Katja Leibenath has been painting in San Francisco since 2006.

Her work is part of several private collections nationwide and has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Atlanta, in addition to San Francisco.