Amy Sol "Wilderness Buffet"
"The Wilderness Buffet"  is a small collection of new works created with acrylic on wood panel, that emphasize Amy Sol's adoration of nature, inner exploration, and musings of latent ties that bind living things with earth and consciousness. Each scene interprets a gentle ceremony of creatures in a realm bathed with energetic patterns; the subtly muted tones seem to suggest the colors themselves are alive, yet sleeping. Sol intends to convey within the slightest meandering details, a gentle entangling of curiosity, playfulness, and introspection.

Though the style of Sol's work is greatly influenced by a combination of manga, folk-art, vintage illustration and modern design, she remains a self taught artist. She has dedicated many years of her life mixing pigments and mediums to achieve a unique color palette of subtly muted tones. The artist works intuitively from the beginning to end of each piece, with the intent that each painting's theme or message can be interpreted subjectively. Within these delicate works, you may often find whimsical landscapes populated with exotic plants, animals and females... Amongst the expressions of each character are notions of peaceful reflection and a sense of companionship. Amy Sol spent her childhood years in Korea, and then moved to Las Vegas, NV where she currently lives and works.

www.amysol.com

 

 

Stella Im Hultberg "Penumbra"
Stella Im Hultberg's "Penumbra" reflects a transitional phase in Hultberg's life and thinking. This new body of work, created on paper with a mixed media of oil and acrylic plus ink along with pencil drawings on tea-stained paper with watercolor washes, went through a transformation due her experience with a tragic family death and personal injury. While Hultberg's pieces have always dealt with various forms of personal identity, this recent chapter in her life has given her works a new twist. "Somewhere, deep down, identity is something I always base my works from, not just self-identity, but identity as life as well. I still believe that most of us spend our lives figuring out what it is that we're living for. Dealing closely with death and injury makes you realize the frailty of identity and life...Just that one moment you can fully exist and the next you can be gone" states Hultberg.

While the pieces she was working on already had a dark feel, the facial expressions of the figures took on a darker and sadder, even tearful tone.  "I initially chose the name "Penumbra" for this show, to impose on myself a transformation and I indeed feel like I have transformed during the preparation of this show" states Hultberg.

Hultberg originally studied Industrial Design at CSU, which enabled her to become a toy designer early on in her career. Work in the design industry serendipitously led to her building on her natural talents as an artist and a career as a self-taught painter soon followed. Having grown up in Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, she has a diverse blend of cultural influences to pull from.

www.stellaimhultberg.com

 

Nicoletta Ceccoli "Babes in Toyland"
Nicoletta Ceccoli's "Babes in Toyland" takes the viewer to a land where classic fairy tales meet 16th Century Flemish paintings, a place where Snow White and Alice in Wonderland-like doll-girls and their toys live amongst a magical forest of lollipops and candy.

Ceccoli's lifetime love and passion for children's picture books came full circle when her first works were published in 1997. Since then, Ciccoli has earned numerous awards including the Andersen prize Baia Delle Favole. and in 2006, a Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators in New York. Ceccoli currently lives and works as a full-time book illustrator in the republic of San Marino, Italy.

www.nicolettaceccoli.com

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