FLAX Blog

Date of event: August 11, 2012, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm “I often start with a figurative painting or a portrait. Then I adapt to the particular situation by subverting the picture plane in a variety of ways. Usually I either contract or expand the depicted space using one or more floating, intruding, or incongruous objects or subjects. My aim is to develop the classic genre of figurative work or portraiture into something more psychologically expressive and amusing. I chiefly work in pastel, oil past …

Date of event: August 4, 2012, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Dawood is a contemporary artist known for his superlative draftsmanship. His contour drawings share realism and aspects of abstraction, while capturing stunning likenesses with consummate honesty. He shares his passion for art through teaching drawing, painting and other visual art to youths and adults. Dawood has taught up and down the coast of California including at UC Berkeley, Los Angeles Academy of Fine Arts and East Oakland School …

Date of event: June 30, 2012, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Megan Leppla is an art maker and educator currently based in San Francisco. Her interest in art began with photography and has since grown to encompass two-dimensional art more broadly. Fascinated by the camera’s ability to record, it has inspired Megan to create art that illustrates imagined memories. Megan spent six months as an artist in residence in rural South Carolina, and is working on a body of work that documents her transition …

Date of event: July 14, 2012, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Paralyzed from the neck down, Carlos Vargas is a painter. He secures the brush using a customized rod with a mouthpiece at one end and a brush at the other. “Painting is a good distraction,” says Carlos. “I forget all my problems. When I’m feeling bad, and I know it’s not my day, I start to paint. When I finish, the stress goes down, and my mind is clear.” In November 2000, a gang fight in the Mission District in San Francisco end …

Date of event: March 31, 2012, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Heidi studied with Joseph Blaustein in Los Angeles and then moved to West Marin where she has lived and worked as a painter for the last sixteen years. She considers herself a storyteller and likes to bring that quality to her paintings. She has participated in several solo art shows in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, along with group shows including an exhibition “What is Art For?” at the Oakland Museum. Heidi has painted nume …