This exhibition features artists from our recent Shoebox Arts 6 month intensive workshop. We are proud to bring together this eclectic group of artists who have come together, grown in friendship and have expanded their ideas of what it means to be an artist in the world today.

Featured artists: Aazam Irilian, Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja, Adrienne Cole, Arella Tomlinson, Beth Abaravich, Candice Greathouse, Corisa Moreno, Eva-Marie Amiya, Julie O’Sullivan, Lori Markman, Susan Spector, Suzanne DesMarais, Sya Warfield, Talia Walsmith, Tony Isaia, Wendy Duong

Aazam Irilian

“Crystalline Journey” is a new body of work consisting of up to twenty digital assemblage pieces that represent my experimentation with growing and photographing the crystallization process. 

I’ve always been intrigued with the question “What happens if…?” Striving to answer this question has led me to turning my studio into a laboratory, experimenting with variety of mediums and material. It was because of this wanting to know that I started using minerals and mineral solutions as part of my creative process.  

My studio is now filled with containers of solutions, growing crystals from crystalline seeds. To further the experiment, found objects, natural and manmade, are also immersed into these solutions, bearing interesting results. Both the crystallization process as well as crystalized objects are photographed at different stages. Images are then assembled and layered in various compositions, developed further and printed. @aazamirilianstudio, aazamirilian.com

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Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja

I am Yoruba; I am omo ibile of Yoruba land! In Yoruba land we celebrate Iyemaja, the deity of giver of life.  Iyemaja is the metaphysical mother of all Orisha (deities) within the Yoruba spiritual temple. The embryonic deity charged by Oldumare (God) to assist Obatala with the formation of humans on earth.  

As a child of Iyemaja, this spiritual devotion series is celebrating the inner Yeye within me and the uplifting of higher devotion spirits to Iyemoja our embryonic spiritual deity. Each piece is this series transport me to that spiritual landscape as parts of my digital collage.  Each piece consists on multiple layers of my portraits, nature, and my dimensional paintings.  My goal is to imbue the viewer with the spiritual feelings of gratitude to the world! @adeolastudio_art

About the Artist: A multidisciplinary artist working in several media, Adeola has a way of bringing colors together to create a visual sensation. When you look at my paintings, you feel the joy and happiness the colors convey, Adeola said. Her first public exhibition was at National Orange Show where she won honorable mention for her work “Wings of Love”.   She has since won many awards for her paintings and jewelry designs.  Adeola was the featured artist at the 1997 Inland Empire Alzheimer’s Association Art Auction and the Annual African- American Artist Festival.  Her image “Serenity” and “Praising the Lord” were used as the poster image respectively.  She has exhibited at local and National juried shows and also served as juror for local art competitions.  Adeola is proud of her involvement with the African American Summerfest from 1992-1998 special youth exhibition called, “Tomorrow’s Masters” which honors youths from kindergarten through 12^th grades. She was a member of the task force committee in formulating the County Cultural Plan for the County of San Bernardino.  Her work is in both public and private collection, such as Toni Morrison, Riverside Art Museum, Chaffey Community Museum of Art, National Orange Show, Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House and many more.

Adeola works in different mediums. Her first love is the oil and acrylic medium. For several years, she developed a love for the printmaking process. Adeola now works with both mediums to create some of her work. In addition to painting, she enjoys working with enamels and metalsmithing to create wearable art.  Some of Adeola’s paintings have been shown on the set of Fox’s television drama “Time of your Life,” NBC’s drama, “The Others,” ABC’s “Greys Anatomy”, “Blackish”, most recently, HBO’s “Insecure” and CBS’s “Bob ❤ Abishola”, “The Neighborhood” and many more.

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Adrienne Cole

Adrienne Cole creates drama with her paintings, combining color, revealing
layers, small details and broad gestures, taking risks with unpredictable choices
regardless of the mediums she uses. She searches for a visual poetry,
uncovering the secrets and the mystery in every shadow, the texture and nuance
in every form. Calling her work emotional, whimsical, and unexpected, the artist
is always seeking to entice, amuse and surprise.Cole wants her viewers to see
the world as she does, from a new perspective, one as unique as any drawn
from dreams, while remains firmly rooted in realistic landscapes, feelings and
subjects.

In Bloom, Cole’s latest work, focuses on flowers in the wild, on a table or in a
dream, at the peak of blooming. Close-ups of roses, peonies, poppies and
more glow with vivid colors, pattern and outline. @adriennefcole.art

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Arella Tomlinson

Solace in the Terrain is a collection of figurative sculptural paintings of people nestled among mountainous terrain on 3D topographical raised relief maps. Maps fascinate me because of their intricate details that evoke memories and invite us on a journey. In my work they function as a subtext, telling the person’s story in a fresh way. Most of the stories communicate peace, contemplation, or spiritual restoration that in some way relate to the land and mountains. Restoration is important to me as I had some difficult experiences in childhood and know that we all experience peaks and valleys. Rest and peace are a constant obsession, as I tend to drive myself to achieve my goals, and also because I have two young children. I get great comfort from the mountains and nature around me. Home is a concept and value that my work also centers on. The work poses questions about the relationship between the person and the type of terrain or specific place, and the status of the person’s sense of belonging at that place. Celebrating our diversity is also important to me when selecting subjects. Ultimately, I want my work to spread peace. @arella_tomlinson, https://www.arellatomlinsonart.com

About the Artist:

From her Monrovia, California art studio at the foot of the mountains, Arella Tomlinson works in oils, acrylics, collage and mediums to create sculptural paintings. Arella grew up in Sierra Madre and Pasadena, California, at the base of the San Gabriel mountains. Her second home was at the base of another range 800 miles away, the Rockies in Loveland and Boulder, Colorado. Her father, who moved to Colorado when she was young and who frequently flew her and her sister across the mountains to visit, engineered systems that refined imagery of the Earth for maps. Her mother was a sculptor and graphic designer who encouraged her daughter with art classes, unconventional art materials, and interesting discussions about dream psychology. Arella found comfort from family trials by discovering her passion and talent in art, as well as in runs looking up to the stability of the mountains, or down on them from airplanes. She earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Then, realizing her passions for self-reflection and giving, Arella earned her Masters Degree in Art Therapy from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and enjoyed working as an Art Therapist for a few years. She exhibits her work in local and online group and juried shows and her work can be seen at Bird Dog Arts Gallery and at Milan Art Online Gallery. Encouraging others in their own creative and spiritual practices through workshops and other meetups, and giving back to the local community, are other interests of Arella’s. She lives with her husband and two young children.

About her inspiration Arella says “I am inspired by the refreshment and comfort I find looking up at the mountains, by organic forms, textures, and movement in nature, by my faith, and my interest in the psyche. I want the figures and portraits in my work to evoke a mood of rest, of prayer/meditation/contemplation, and also of abandon.”

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Beth Abaravich

My work is often constructed like a garment. The materials and construction of
fashion serve as surrogates for traditional art techniques and materials. My hope is to
elevate these materials as having their own important history and context, similar to
paint and stone. My work has an obsessive quality, with many pieces making one
piece. Detail and minutiae of some work is set against the large-scale object. It has a
softness or pliability. My work takes time. Handwork, whether embroidery or
printmaking, is layered with multiple processes. Feminism and escapism are subtle in
some works and perversely obvious in others.

About the Artist: Originally from Kansas City, I have lived in Los Angeles for the past 30 years. I have
a bachelor’s in fashion design from Otis College of Art and Design and an MFA in
Art from Art Center College of Design. I have worked in many capacities: at a knit
store, as a fashion designer, and as faculty in textiles and design.

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Candice Greathouse

My creative practice entertains an obsession with obsession in relationship to infatuation,
love, and desire. I am influenced by contemporary consumerist culture and the
materialism, the urge to “have it all”. Projects incorporate performance, photographs +
video, television, party materials, junk food, celebrity, and love songs. Recent works
explore the lived realities and dynamics of intimate relationships through the irony of
language at its most literal.@candicegreathouse, www.candicegreathouse.com

About the artist: Candice Greathouse (b. 1984 Columbus, GA) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Los
Angeles, CA. She received an MFA in Photography and an MA in Art History from the
Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State University. Her artworks and
collaborations have been exhibited nationally. She is an Assistant Professor of Art at
California State University Northridge.

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Corisa Moreno

These paintings allude to the tension, exhaustion and fight of living through a pandemic and how we are moving forward as a society. In the abstract work, I individually place threads across color fields. This is not weaving and not stitching but rather scarring and binding color to create a new visual language reflecting our delicate lives. The Cat’s Cradle paintings are an extension of this theme. I am exploring nostalgia and how we need one another to create a better future. @CorisaMorenoArt, www.corisamoreno.com

About the Artist: Corisa Moreno is an interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Her practice explores ‘beauty’ contrasted with issues of environmental degradation, social inequality and the injustice of the patriarchy. Corisa’s vivid color schemes are an influence of growing up in Hawaii and her use of texture comes from her background as a seamstress and working with fabrics.

Corisa owned Green Light Restoration, a retail store that sold artisan made home goods from repurposed materials, where she designed & built lighting from discarded automotive parts. She’s also hosted the How We Create podcast, empowering artists across disciplines through interviews about the obstacles, fears, and triumphs of living a creative life.

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Eva-Marie Amiya

My current work is a series of photographs touching on the subject of women, our bodies, and the aging process. How we may perceive ourselves mentally and emotionally, our internal dialog as we age, and how the changes may affect our physical bodies. Through this exploration, I have delicately and sometimes not so delicately tried to push the viewer to challenge the why. Why must women feel the pressure to stay young? Why must we change and augment our bodies and faces to be valued among some of our circle of friends, spouses, and the general public? Even if this is all in our minds. 

Dried peonies and dandelions struck me as beautiful and timeless. I choose to layer the dandelion over a close-up shot of an aging eye as the Dandelion is in the last cycle of being a flower that has turned into a beautiful fluffy mass of seeds. The seeds are the next generation of the plant’s life cycle. As we age we are moving into the next cycle of our lives.

I am always striving to approach my current and past themes with passion and intrigue, blended with some historical or religious context, as this is a part of me. I am constantly trying to push my own personal boundaries, as well as push societal boundaries through my artwork. On occasion, I do also give myself license to make beautiful and peaceful imagery as we are all influenced by our surroundings and the hopes to achieve calmness. @evamariestudio

About the Artist: For as long as Eva-Marie can remember she has always been an artist. As a small child in the suburbs of Philadelphia, she would dig shallow holes all around the sideyard to arrange flowers to be delicately arranged under small pieces of glass. Serving aslittle windows of nature and otherworldly to her, they pulled her away from reality even for just a fleeting moment. Photography entered shortly after with a small point-and-shoot plastic 35mm camera. With it she stalking her cat around her family’s backyard taking photos of her cat from the low-angle grass level. In High School, Eva-Marie had an extraordinary art teacher named Jo Yost who exposed her to various mediums and styles during field trips to SoHo NYC. Her excitement and enthusiasm reflecting on these introductions to a variety of SoHo artists were palpable.

College brought Eva-Marie to Southern California where she studied Fashion Merchandising and Design at Brooks College. She then briefly daddled in the fashion world as an assistant to a designer and a buyer for a shoe department. After a bit of deliberation, she decided to return to college to study International Finance with a specialty in Art and Antiquities. This is when she began to explore metalsmithing/silversmithing, life sculpture & life drawing, and fine art photography. For her, fine art photography was a game changer. It became a visual language that enabled Eva-Marie to fully express her deepest thoughts hidden in the recesses of her mind and her dreams. Photography has allowed her an outlet to express fragments of her personal self symbolically while drawing on her past studies in art history and theology.

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Julie O’Sullivan

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated by the limits of the mind. Striving to extend my horizon and escaping the boxes, my art explores the colorful, the ephemeral, the unreal. Juxtaposing stark colors and intense contrasts, my paintings blend order and chaos. I enjoy discovering intricate patterns, expressions of joy and the connections between people, places and things. I search for combinations of textures, motifs and forms, coalescing the undefined into something fresh. I find that travel motivates me to express a variety of emotions on canvas. My creativity soars when I can experience vibrant sights and brilliant ideas. Shapes, colors and form allow me to clarify inner thoughts on canvas, producing a unique style. 

Fluffy Connections is a branch of my Connectivity series, which explores the need for human connection and the relationships developed virtually during the pandemic. It is a joyful series meant to bring a smile to the viewer’s face. I like to have fun in my work and wanted to translate the pleasure of human connection during difficult times. I urge people to touch my work and experience it closely and at different angles. The use of glitter and rhinestones catch the light at different angles creating a new experience with every move the viewer makes. @OSULLIVANARTS, OSULLIVAN-ARTS.COM

About the Artist: Julie was born and raised in the heartland of Nebraska, and her training, education and experience is diverse, ranging from New York, Vermont, Rhode Island to Orange County. She currently is creating an abstract series titled Fluffy Connections inspired by the connections people made virtually during the pandemic. Previous series include Virus inspired by a chemical process occurring from oxidation of aluminum and Celestial Orbs, an homage to the aerospace environment in the Mojave Valley.

Julie studied at RISD, UNK, Chelsea Ceramic Guild, NEIT, FIT and holds a degree in architecture. She works in stained glass, ceramics, acrylic paints and assemblage, in many ways inspired by found objects in the High Desert area. Julie’s main studio is in Canoga Park, CA, but she also likes to work while traveling. Recent stays in Europe have inspired her color palette and shapes. Staying true to expressing emotion and depth, she strives to maintain integrity while evoking and inspiring positive vibes. Julie’s art seeks to ‘walk in beauty’ and inspire joy and playful imagination.

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Lori Markman

In late 2020, I decided to start a new series of works inspired by the quiet beauty, tranquility and harmony of traditional Japanese landscape art. This was a direct reaction to the intense negative emotions I had experienced since 2015 due to the political and global situation.

My process starts with finding a landscape picture that attracts me. It could be a Japanese landscape print, a photograph of a real Japanese landscape, an ordinary landscape photograph that I or a friend took, or even a photograph in an insurance company calendar.  I then use that image as a springboard to create an entirely different image with my instincts and imagination guiding me. I may use broad compositional lines or specific elements that were in the source photograph, such as water, trees and a bridge, but whatever I “borrow” from the original photograph is completely transformed into an entirely different image. Often, I add elements that were not in the source picture. Sometimes, the original photograph simply provides me with some elusive inspiration that allows me to create my own unique magical landscape.

My purpose is to create art that honors the traditions of balance, harmony, beauty, tranquility, shape and pattern of traditional Japanese landscape art. At first glance, these artworks may look like traditional Japanese landscapes, but on a closer look, they are imaginary, illogical landscapes that exist in their own magical world.  A gallerist used the word, “beguiling” to describe them, and I believe that word fits perfectly. I want the viewer to feel they have entered a magical world where everything is beautiful, soothing, peaceful and harmonious.  A world of delight where anything could happen.

Each artwork is different from the rest. I have no established path, I simply start. I play with space and flatness. I use many different materials, including text, decorative papers, Japanese print reproductions, Van Gogh drawing reproductions, photographs, decorative and colored papers, and old drawings, even hardware store paint color samples. Sometimes I add pencil, acrylic or pastel. I let the work guide me. I can spend hours arranging and rearranging collage pieces without success, and then often, the very next day, as if by magic, I will pick up a totally different piece and realize that it is the perfect piece.  Sensitivity and flow are the backbone of my creative process in making these pieces. @lori.markman.art, https://www.markmanart.com

About the artist:

I am a Los Angeles based artist. I started a serious art practice at age 15 and have never stopped
creating art. I received a BA in Fine Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles, along
with a special award for achievement in art. I paint in oils, and I also work in pencil and mixed
media collages on paper.

From the beginning, my work has been autobiographical: each work a vehicle for expressing an
emotion, thought, attitude or philosophy about the people, events or time periods in my life. My
large, intense, powerful, and expressionistic figurative oil paintings have explored themes such
as the aging, mortality and death of my parents; a car accident in which I was seriously injured;
the death of a close friend and a political series directed against the previous administration. Yet,
on the other hand, I have done a colorful, frivolous, light series which pokes fun at the absurd
world of fashion

In 2003, I began creating abstract graphite pencil drawings on paper. This series still continues,
but has expanded to include colored pencil, mixed media and collage. Still autobiographical, still
personal, still expressive and often humorous, these drawings generally incorporate letters,
numbers, words, text, and often figurative elements as well.

My current work “Magical Landscapes” are mixed media collages on paper inspired by the
beauty, balance and harmony of traditional Japanese landscape art.

I have shown my work since 1997 in solo and small or group shows nationwide. My solo shows
include Space Gallery in New Orleans, Upstairs Gallery in Ventura, and Gallery Figuroa in Los
Angeles. My small group shows include the Thatcher Art Gallery at the University of San
Francisco, RGB Gallery in Los Angeles and Orlando Gallery in Los Angeles. My recent juried
group shows include “I’ll Be There” at the Annmarie Sculpture Gardens & Arts Center in
Association with The Smithsonian in Solomons, Md., “Not! An Art Fair” at Shockboxx Gallery,
Hermosa Beach, CA, and “Drama: Story-Telling in Art”, Orange County Center for
Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA, and “Reflection”, a juried group show by Launch LA in
partnership with the Korean Cultural Center. I am a member of the Los Angeles Art Association.
My work has been purchased by private collectors throughout the United States.

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Sean-Michael Gettys

Sean-michael is quirky, intuitive, thoughtful and creative, and so is his art. He is a 51 year old Deaf and disabled transgender man (he, him, his) living with complex health issues who is inspired by life and all the complex experiences in it. 

Currently he works mainly in sculpture but also paints in any and all media he (except what allergic to) His work is mainly about resilience and hope. It’s about overcoming obstacles life and others put upon us, feeling emotions, experiencing not ignoring them, and then picking ourselves up and moving forward. hope shines through the cracks, surviving and trying to thrive despite the various challenges faced in life. @smgettysart

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Susan Spector

I drew inspiration from a crowdsourced/social media project where I received more than 100 responses from around the world, answering the question, What is a phrase you have in your head that has stayed with you forever? The collected responses were interpreted to create my Sticks/Stones text-based body of work. @susanspectorart, linktr.ee/susanspectorart

About the artist: Susan Spector is a contemporary painter living and working in Los Angeles, California. Her debut solo show Sticks/Stones was at TAG Gallery in Los Angeles in May 2022. Spector paints with water based and oil paint, oil and soft pastels, spray paint and oil sticks. She has exhibited in California and New York City and has been featured in Studio Visit Magazine volumes 43/44, 45/46, and 47/48 as well as Spotlight Contemporary Art Magazine 18. Susan Spector is a member of Tag Gallery, Los Angeles Art Association, and sits on the Board of San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center, and in September 2022 will become President of  Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art.

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Suzanne DesMarais

lFor the past several years, I began traveling between my home and business in Washington, DC, and our mountain home, a 19 hour drive away in rural Arkansas. During the pandemic, I added increasingly regular trips to my childhood home in Pennsylvania, to assist my mother.

Throughout all the travel, I painted, literally circulating through places of my past, my then present, and my future.

All of the work in this group of work represents time, with my family, or in solitude, immersed in the light, the energy, and the activity of places that are special and familiar to me.

Some of these paintings are quiet and contemplative. Those that are focused on nature are meant to reflect the intensity and wonder of the natural environment. @desmarais_art, DesMaraisArt.com

About the artist: I grew up in a college town in the middle of Pennsylvania, surrounded by mountains and farmland. I escaped and went to art school in Philadelphia for freshman year at Moore College of Art, and returned home to complete my BFA at the Pennsylvania State University, School of Visual Arts.

In my twenties, I earned a graduate degree in Art Therapy from the George Washington University, in Washington, DC. I practiced in the field of Art Therapy for a decade. I specialized in working with survivors of trauma, including Veterans.

My life as an artist has included participation in artist communities in Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, DC. 

Very recently, I relocated to a rural community of less than 800 inhabitants, in the Arkansas River Valley, at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. I have been coming to this place since 2015, and feel an intense creative energy here. The arts community in Arkansas is vibrant and welcoming.

I am very grateful to participate in Shoebox Lab. Throughout my life, I have had strong ties to the west coast, including family, and numerous serendipitous artist connections.

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Sya Warfield

I am a mixed media artist, content creator and photographer based in Los Angeles, California.
My work explores boundless forms of stories from a feminine perspective. This impacts my
personal style by celebrating freedom and expression. I aim to upcycle and experiment as well
as reconstruct and deconstruct materials to honor a mixed media approach to my visual
narratives. Evocative juxtapositions result in a fusion of art, history and storytelling. I’ve taken
inspiration from Robert Rauschenberg’s process and other artists of this time.
A playful enchantment with a protagonist message which connects past and present themes is
an ongoing study in my artistic practice. I create unique portraits suspended deep within the
surface of wood panels embodying a painterly and otherworldly esthetic. @syawarfield, www.syawarfield.com

About the artist: Sya Warfield is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
She creates art that pushes creative boundaries, keeping in mind accessibility and the
importance of connection. Her work embodies beauty through imperfection. Finding a sense of
peace and calm within the hustle of an urban environment is crucial to her creativity.

Most recently, she was included along with 140 other artists to exhibit at The Other Art Fair in
partnership with Saatchi Art in Spring 2022 in Los Angeles. During Winter 2022 located at the
LA Convention Center, she painted at the Visa kiosk for the Super Bowl Experience. Her first
solo exhibition, Pulp Idols was held during Fall 2021 at Canyon Country Community Center in
Santa Clarita, CA.

She has worked on public commissions with Del Rey Utility Box Project, Let’s Paint Sherman
Oaks, NoHo Utility Box Program and Glendale, Beyond the Box. Other projects include Let’s
Paint the Town in DTLA and Studio City; and Colors of Freedom Alley in Inglewood. Indoor
public art commissions located in schools at Shonto Preparatory, AZ, Salvation Army Mission
Corp, San Francisco, CA and Lynwood Elementary, Los Angeles, CA with her fiscally sponsored
organization Upward Together.

Warfield’s work has been presented in selected gallery exhibitions include Freeing Ourselves,
Mercado La Paloma, LA, 2019; Black and White, Creative Arts Group, Sierra Madre, 2019;
Nude Art LA located at Art Share in 2018; and All Female Art Show at Merchants of Reality, SanFrancisco, 2015. Cross Country Impressions, a collaborative film created with Hatim Belyamani,
was shown as part of The Earth Day Film Festival 2015 in San Francisco.

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Talia Walsmith

I’m interested in the effects of nature and the creative process on the human psyche, brain, and body. My nervous system is wired a bit differently and I struggle with sensory regulation. I’ve found that spending time in nature and creating art are some of the best ways to regulate my system. This work was inspired by nature in everyday life and allowed me to engage with subjects that enchant me and bring me a sense of peace, such as plants, trees, and the moon. I’m drawn to the soothing quality of simplicity and repetition in nature, life, and art and thus, chose to use simple outlines for structure and containment and the repetition of small details for the contemplative, meditative value they brought to both my creative process and the finished pieces. I used acrylic, pen, and torn paper for a textured, tactile experience. Throughout the pandemic, I worked very slowly on my largest, most recent piece, On a Full Moon–specifically using the tediousness of the process as a way to soothe my anxieties about the various political, environmental, and public health crises of our time. @talias.nature, taliasnature.com

About the artist: Talia Walsmith was born and raised–and is currently based–in Los Angeles, but spent most of her adult life living and working in Oakland, California. She is a self taught mixed media artist who studied depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute and New College of California and women’s studies at University of California, Santa Barbara. Talia is a health educator, coach, and expressive arts facilitator who is most interested in exploring the creative process as a tool for personal and collective regulation, insight, expression, and health.

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Tony Isaia

Welcome to my world of fantasy Maps! You’ll probably have to use “suspension of disbelief“ here…most of the terminology isn’t English, or any other real language, and don’t try to pronounce the place names; they’re purely imaginary, in most cases.  Also, expect street alignments and configurations to be somewhat wacky; you will be seeing streets and freeways that illogically terminate, in a wild and wonderful way!   Just consider yourself in Wonderland, and you are Alice (or Tom Petty in his video, “Don’t come around here no More”)! 

About the artist: My fascination with maps began at age 12, as I began to study the Thomas Guide for Los Angeles County every morning, before school.  Looking back, I think I was inspired to draw my own maps because I wanted to do something that was completely under my control.  Additionally, I noticed a distinct lack of creativity regarding our country’s place names;  I mean, how many “Main Streets” do we really need?  Wouldn’t “Anthropomorphism Drive” be a bit more interesting? I continued to draw through high school and college, and took Cartography courses at University, where we drew maps using ink and Mylar.  It was quite a change from pencil on paper, but very challenging and enjoyable. Toward my last semester, we began using the computer to draft a Choropleth map; this pre-dated GIS technology by a few years. In ’94, I was hired by Thomas Bros. Maps as a Cartographer, and used ink on Mylar for the Phoenix guide, while digitizing and using ArcInfo GIS for the LA / Orange Co. Guide, as the company was transitioning to digital technology. I was hired as a City Planner with  the City of LA in 2000, and used my mapping skills to interpret site plans, floor plans, and Landscape plans.  Semi-retired since March 2022, I now have two new, part-time careers as an author and a photographer, and reside in San Diego and Long Beach.

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Wendy Duong

I am a multidisciplinary Vietnamese-American artist based in Southern
California. Graduating with my Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State
University, Fullerton, I want to use my artwork to relate to others by referencing
everyday experiences. Working with the topic of ordinary life, I delve into
magnifying the mundane and comical absurdities of daily moments, resulting in
dramatized imagery of emotionally heightened memories. My most preferred
media is acrylic on either paper, canvas, or wood. By creating and exhibiting my
work, I hope to connect with others through relatable experiences. @WendyDuong_Art, https://wendyduong.com