Artists

Susan Dobay

Although I derive invitation from various sources - eg., music, nature, the human condition - I try to find the balance between, matter and soul. My goal is to involve viewers in a creative game where both the mind and the heart are stimulated.

Check out more on the artist website scenicdrivegallery.com.

Josh Spieker

I am an oil painter capturing the simple things in life that inspire me most. My passion for art is driven by the fact that I can communicate in a way that's universal to all. I choose to paint scenes that are peaceful and colorful. My art is inspired by light, and is the key element that makes the painting come alive.

Kyla Moya

Kyla Moya is a southern California visual artist specializing in intricate detailed drawings of all kinds as well as various paintings and other creative oddities, and is the founder of the Labyrinth of Kuriosity art boutique.

Bold, colorful, fantastical and intricate kreations are a signature of Kyla's artwork.

Check out more on the artist website labyrinthofkuriosity.com and Facebook LOKdesigns .

School of Rock - Oceanside CA

We believe the best way to learn music is to play music. We take students from the lesson room to the stage, developing both their confidence and musicianship with programs designed for all skill levels.

School of Rock teaches guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, drums and combines weekly private music lessons and group band rehearsals to prepare students to take the stage in front of live audiences in an authentic concert setting.

Check out more on their website oceanside.schoolofrock.com

4095 Oceanside Blvd Suite F
Oceanside, California 92056
(760) 734-1529

Rita Spiegel

I’m the Founder of Kharma’s ARTist Colony, bringing Kharma and Art together. I earned a Bachelor’s in Arts & Sciences from SDSU.

I’m a watercolorist. I’m a jewelry maker, loving crystals & coastal styles. I'm an Artistic Photographer, specializing in Pets and HS Seniors.

Examples of my work show a wide range of my personality ... from a portrait of my dog, to abstract, to butterflies.

I paint where my mood the my life inspires me on that day.

Check out more on the artist website kharmaartistcolony.com.

Nat Bright with Mario P

We are a collaborative musical group who loves to make music and entertain everyone around us. Our musical duo at the moment consists of the multi-talented and well known vocalist, model, actress, and artist Natalie Bright. She has been gracing Southern California with her beautiful voice and talent since 2013, and continues to create music as well as play shows throughout the local music scene. On acoustic guitar is Mario Panousos, who has been playing, recording, entertaining, and loving music since as long as he can remember, while traveling from the east coast to the west. He settled in California in 2013, and has continuously collaborated with amazing artists all over, enjoying every musical moment life has to offer. Together, we are spreading the love of music and good vibes everywhere we can, which we believe, is exactly what our world needs today.

Check out more on Facebook: featuredtalentNatalieBrightAMomentBehind; and YouTube: Sunday Morning coverToo Close cover

Cheryl Ehlers

One of the engines that drives her art is the freedom to express and communicate. Believing art, at its best is creative, expressionist and emotional, Ehlers describes her art as bold and colorful . She believes that art without emotion is not art, and within everyone, your passions should be applied to that which makes you happy. If you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

Cheryl Ehlers is an award winning and published artist, who likes to bring art together with people to share the awareness and value or art into everyone’s lives bringing art awareness to the forefront.” In addition to coordinating the ARTBUZZ1 newsletter for artists, she also co-sponsors art activities, and is the owner and art instructor of a non-profit, The Stardust Arts which serves underserved youth in the community. As the current arts program coordinator for the City of Encinitas, CA, she mounts 50 exhibitions a year for local artists in three galleries, is the curator for the E101 Mainstreet galleries and a “pop-up” named; 10 Hour Gallery, as well as an artist representative for the United Nations, (UNESCO).

Check out more on the artist website cherylehlersart.com.

Paul Kauffman

To paraphrase the Sinatra hit, “He’s been a barker, a teacher, a designer, an artist and almost a priest …. That’s Life….”
….Paul Kauffman’s life at any rate!

Paul was born in Berkeley, CA. and grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Grandson of a carnival owner, he started selling amusement ride tickets at the age of thirteen and travelled with the carnival during summer vacations for the next six years.

He studied six years (high school and two years of College) for the Priesthood in the archdiocese of Los Angeles. He attended Gonzaga University in Spokane Washington his junior year and transferred his senior year to continue his education as an Art Major in 1972 at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, CA. As a way to pay for his room, board and tuition, Paul waited tables at the world famous restaurant, The Warehouse, in Marina Del Rey.

After his studies at Loyola Marymount University, he went on to teach both Art and English to Jr. High School students in the Los Angeles Parochial School System for 8 years He was also the Substitute Art Instructor for Adult Education for the City of Los Angeles School District. He has conducted Painting Workshops in San Diego County and Las Cruces, New Mexico.

A career shift in 1981 launched Kauffman from the art world to floral design, when he purchased Silver Bells Florist, (This was later renamed Kauffman Designs). For the last 33 years, Paul has been a well sought-after Event Designer for several major functions all over Southern California area. He has designed for many of San Diego’s Celebrity / non- profit Gala Fundraisers.

Now coming full circle, he is once again rekindling his passion for painting. All of his life experiences are finding new expression in the colors and energetic brush strokes seen on his canvasses. It is his ardent desire to give back, in the form of lasting images, the joy and fulfillment that began for him the first time he touched brush to palette and pigment to canvas.

Natalie Mal

While our minds exist in a physical world, they exist in an abstract space. Human cognition enables us to communicate what’s going on inside of our brains to the outside world. Each one of us experiences different subjective experiences, which we may never completely understand since physically we can never be another person. We can only try to understand. But first, we must turn our abstract mindsets into physical manifestations, so we can communicate. I find that communicating is the most important aspect of being human, for communication can lead to understanding. By creating abstract paintings, I investigate what it means to be human in the modern day in regards to how our internal and external worlds meet. I examine how environments affect our psyche.

Check out more at the artist website nataliemal.com.

Greg Lucker

As a concert photographer, Greg has covered everything from the local garage band, to U2 at the Rose Bowl, and everything in between. Shooting concerts is not all the glamour you might think it is. It's long hours, shooting in cramped pits, with lighting that always keeps you guessing. It is very fast paced shooting, and with only two or three songs to get your work done, you need to be on your game.

Greg has covered numerous shows throughout southern California and Las Vegas for the Chicago based "Dead Hub", and is currently shooting concerts as an Independent Photographer for Temecula based, Golden Crown Productions. He has had gallery shows in Temecula, and Escondido, and in 2012 he received Grammy Museum credit.

Kimberly Gregg

I am the Artistic Director of Practice As Research And Dance Experiments (PARADE), an experimental dance project with present work in improvisation, site-specific performance, and contemporary partnering. I hold a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from California Institute of the Arts, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from California State University Long Beach. I have served on the faculty of Mira Costa College, Rio Hondo College, Santa Ana College, and California State University Pomona.

DANCE MOVEMENT RESEARCH
My creative practice is rooted in theory and propelled by experimentation. It is as much an intellectual investigation as it is a somatic inquiry. ‘Practice as research and dance experiments’ is a philosophy that guides my work. In 2006, I began using the acronym of this philosophy, PARADE, to give a name to the body of work it represents. I am committed to engaging the community in an active dialogue that explores performance theory as an embodied art practice.

My creative research investigates the relationship between choreography and improvisation. I examine improvisation as a method for maintaining excitement within the constructs of the choreographic structure, by providing opportunities for spontaneous choices by the dancers. Conversely, in rehearsal improvisation is often used as a tool to cultivate choreography. Spanning the range of dynamics between them, this interplay embraces the artistic impulse and negotiates between directorial and collective ideals.

My research examines the collaborative process in dance making. As each performer brings unique skills to the creative process, explorations are defined by the participants involved. Using structured improvisations, dancer creativity is sparked to find creative responses to kinetic problems, and their solutions influence the look of the dance. Through this cycle of exploration and direction, movement phrases are culled, eventually defining the vocabulary for the choreography, and the dance structure begins.

Performance cognition is an area of specific focus in my research as an integral facet of solo, partner, and ensemble work in performance. I am interested in the application of somatic education to develop a greater embodiment in performance practice, to promote cognitive awareness and authentic responsiveness. Using sensory directive and task driven improvisations for experiential learning, dancers cultivate heightened sensitivity, energy projection, and spatial awareness. Through this investigation, I apply somatic concepts to develop the performers’ ability to recognize their presence wholly, cognitively, physically, spatially, and aesthetically, to find and project their somatic embodiment.

I am particularly interested in the nature of 'liveness' in performance. This has led me to investigations of the relationship between performer and audience, performative intent and everyday actions, and the expectations assigned to 'place'. By engaging in opportunities that highlight the flexible nature of these constructs, through site specific improvisation, I raise audience awareness of the integral role it plays in performance, and engage in the fluid relationship between art and life.

Technology furthers these explorations in exciting ways to create new experiences. I have used small wireless electronics onstage in performance; worn a live microphone with amplifier to blend voice and feedback as a tense soundscape in Bob; held LED candles for a shifting dreamlike environment in Some Will Bring Flowers. I have used hardwired equipment to project images onto a perforated scrim downstage that created a virtual 3D environment in Landscape. I use digital video editing to create dance films. I am eager to undertake long distance collaborations that are facilitated with present technology, live video feeds, and new media.

I place my work within the socio-political framework of contemporary dance. My research investigates the empirical study of performance, with context, meaning, and representation considered. With place providing the context for understanding, I create dances for human and natural environments, stage and screen, and juxtapose contradictions to stretch expected perception. With the nonverbal communication of dance predating language, I examine the complexity of its inherent meaning, often using humor to frame the eccentric nature of the dance vocabulary. This is complemented by comparative studies of the aesthetic and the everyday, the represented and the real, its implication and consequence.

I am fascinated by the many functions that performance plays in our contemporary society. Performance is an expression of our intangible cultural heritage that transmits information broadly, engaging the community in a dialogue of shared human experience. Performance is a metaphor for empowerment. It is a catalyst for change. It is fleeting and immediate, visceral and intelligent, emotional and cathartic. I value the capacity of performance to serve as a conduit for ideas, a vehicle for cultural exchange, and am eager to continue this dialogue.

Check out more on the artist website kimgregg.com.

Abigail Borders

Abigail is fluent in three languages, grew up in Asia, studied History in the UK, and now calls sunny Southern California her home. When not working with flowers (and daydreaming about what a ranunculusflower fairy looks like) she sings about Winnie the Pooh while baking treats like pineapple tarts and sand dollar cookies for her son, El Kiddo.

She has an on-going love/hate relationship with all things chocolate, although coffee will always remain her first love. She also holds graduate degrees in International Management and Special Education.

In December, Abigail presented her new book: The Burned Bridges Protocol published by Giant Squid Books.

Seven hundred years ago, disaster forced humanity to abandon Earth. Life on the colony ship New Edinburgh is all sixteen-year-old Lilliane, the best programmer in her year at the Institute, has ever known.

A week ago, Lilliane woke up in a life-pod. Its destination? Earth itself. Because it’s time to rebuild. It’s up to Lilliane and the four other survivors of the New Edinburgh to reclaim humanity’s ancestral home.

Today, the life pod arrived at Lady Diana–the lunar holding station that was once the luxury holiday destination for Earth’s super-rich. It’s supposed to be a good place. A safe place.Not anymore.

Today, Lady Di is a battlefield. Because while Lilliane and her friends thought they they were the only humans left, somebody else got to Lady Di first.

And he will stop at nothing to keep Lilliane from ever getting to Earth.

Krista Timberlake

I hail from Western Massachusetts, where I grew up in a family and community of artists and craftspeople & developed my love of nature & the outdoors. After attending UVM for premed & Savannah College of Art & Design, I earned my BFA from UMASS, Amherst. Bicycling for 25+ years has created a love and addiction that have contributed many ideas and themes to my art. As an avid cyclist, yogini, hiker, weightlifter, fitness enthusiast & former premed student, I have a great appreciation for the body as a machine. As a general outdoorswoman & lover of nature, I have always been drawn to depict animals in addition to people, especially in a whimsical manner. Artistically, I have always found beauty in well-crafted machinery, as well as in the human figure & most living things found in nature. In creating mechanical & more naturalistic pieces, I am intrigued by line, texture and color, and am most drawn to using watercolor as it is unpredictable. The most interesting things happen in my work when “mistakes” occur- unplanned reactions that I will never be able to duplicate. I currently live in Vista, work as a graphic designer at The Upper Deck Company & freelance as a graphic & web designer and fine artist.

Check out more at the artist website kristatimberlake.com

Rick Ortiz

I work at Biggs Harley-Davidson in San Marcos CA. I painted this piece simply named Semper Fi. Everyday we serve our Military Men and Women here at Biggs and every weekend they come in from there day of motorcycle riding and we serve them food, My family are very Military proud and it makes me feel good to see and serve these guys and girls, Basically because they get to see and do things us "normal" citizens do not, possibly even wouldn't/couldn't do. 2'x4' Acrylic on Wood panel. So I will be painting more Military related pieces in the Future.

Ruth Jameson

A lasting love affair with the images of Henry Moore, and Rodin are my guiding truth. Both sculptors had their own unique genre, and both were true unto their inner drummer.

Finding Bronze was my doorway to the visions always there in my heart. The strength of bronze gave birth to forms and connected them to the silver strands that drift down through time which become blended into my own visions of time and human awareness. The Sea is the underlying web that holds this world of desires together, and the bronze makes it possible.

Check out more on the artist website ruthjameson.com

Taylor Gallegos

Taylor Gallegos has been exhibited in solo and group shows in art galleries and businesses throughout the western United States and abroad. His work is in public and private collections from Hawai’i to Italy.

Taylor has always loved, created and studied art. He was born in Boulder, Colorado, and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts with a double concentration in both Painting and Drawing from Colorado State University. To expand on his formal education and artistic practice, he went abroad in 2004 to study, paint and draw in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Since then he has lived and worked in the world of art practicing his craft in many different mediums and styles. Taylor now lives and makes art in Fallbrook, California, twenty minutes from the ocean that he visits often for fun, connection to the world and deep inspiration.

Check out more on the artist website taylorgallegos.com