Artscape Spring & Summer 2016 Exhibition Artist Biographies
Ricardo Alberto is an internationally-recognized artist who specializes in abstract art. He uses a wide variety of media to capture the energy, beauty and chaos of both the natural and the man-made world. He is a trained wood worker, and uses his expertise in resins, dyes and structural design to enhance his work. He has an immense respect and passion for the wondrous diversity of global cultures, and this is reflected in all his collections. Ricardo has shown throughout southern California, Peru, Ecuador and Spain.
Carla Conti Bender Originally from Babylon, New York, Carla is a photographer, an avid adventurer and a teacher. She has been passionate about photography since she held her first Instamatic camera at 6 years old. Carla was encouraged to “visually journal” her daily life and a family trip, which sealed her career choice. In 1985 she relocated to Riverside when she landed a job with the Press Enterprise as a staff photographer. Carla currently teaches Beginning Digital Photography, Intermediate Photography and Photojournalism at Riverside City College.
Joan Coffey is painter who was born and raised in the Midwest. After graduating from the University of Illinois with a BS in Mathematics and a minor in Art. She began her career as a mathematician before moving to southern California in 2001, where she returned to art with a new dedication to her art and art within the community. She is a Charter Member of the Plein Air Artists of Riverside and a member of the Riverside Community Arts Association, an Artist Member of the Riverside Art Museum and an Associate Artist of the California Art Club. Joan’s paintings are in collections around the country, have won many awards and have been exhibited internationally.
Chick Curtis is a representational painter who paints simply because he wants to more than anything else. He started his art career mid-life. Without having any prior art training, Chick was starting his art odyssey from scratch. After many years of dedicated research and practice, he takes home awards for his artwork and is sought after as a teacher. Chick has shown throughout the Inland Empire and has won numerous awards in many highly competitive juried shows.
Suzanne Francis is a mixed media artist born and raised in southern California. Suzanne works in oils, watercolor and colored pencils to create wildlife paintings. She also enjoys drawing in the pointillism style with pen and ink. Suzanne’s work has been displayed in private galleries all over the world, including Norco Western Art Show, Claremont Art Walk, Newport Beach Art Walk and Newport Beach Art Show.
Marilyn Froggatt is a landscape painter born and raised in southern California. Her work has recently shown at the Redlands Art Association, San Clemente Art Association, the Riverside County Fair, Desert Art Center in Palm Springs the University of Redlands and last year in the Artscape exhibition. Marilyn has retired after a 30-year career as Vice President of Sales for a major marketing company and now devotes herself full-time to pursue and promote landscape painting in California.
Ana Guerra is an abstract painter and sculptor who was born in Puerto Rico and came to the United States at the age of 12. After studying every subject in the arts, she opened her home studio in Murrieta in 2004. Ana paints mostly abstract work, but she also does water clay sculpting, portraits and works in mixed media. Ana believes that art can bring tranquility and peace to the home environment. She strives to create beautiful and affordable art with the hopes that she can make the beauty of art accessible to all.
Stephenie Bushra Khan is writer, published poet and artist originally from Winchendon, Massachusetts. The New England background Stephenie grew up with, the subcontinent culture she married into and her conversion into Islam that grew into Sufism greatly influenced Stephenie’s art. She has traveled extensively around the world, finding inspiration particularly in the culture of Bangladesh and the whirling dervishes in Turkey.
Patricia Sablak-Korzec is a plein air painter who was born in a small mill town in Massachusetts. She enjoys the challenge of depicting changing light sources and varying climates on the landscape. Not hampered by painting in the rain, extreme temperatures or in the middle of the night she approaches each subject with broad brushstrokes, vibrant colors and a sense of capturing one fleeting moment. Patricia has won numerous awards at the San Diego Fair and Fallbrook Art Association shows.
Michele Maki, aka “Mimi Maki” is an artist painting in an impressionist, colorist style with acrylics. She was raised in the high desert community of Hesperia. Last year Mimi was asked to become a Trustee for the Arts Council Menifee representing the Visual Arts Division and was very instrumental in spearheading the Council’s first juried art show last fall. When not busy in her studio, Mimi stays busy as a public information officer and disaster services responder for the American Red Cross. She is also an artist for the Red Cross, honoring the relief efforts of their volunteers through paintings and pin designs.
William Myerchin has been a photographer in the Inland Empire for thirty-five years. He was drafted into the US Army and was stationed in Viet Nam where he worked as a combat photographer, photojournalist and general staff photographer, documenting various events at the very end of the war. His service as an army photographer nurtured his passion for photography and upon leaving the army decided to make that his life’s work. In 1979, William opened a studio in the Inland Empire and has been shooting photos ever since. Now semi-retired, his involvement in photography has become a fine art discovery of self and the world, with a photo being a fixed expression of that perception.
Larry Reinhart is a fine artist who was born in Sacramento and moved to the Inland Empire late in 1999. Larry has been creating art from the time he was in kindergarten. Today he is working on expanding his artist outreach to his surrounding communities and has shown his work at Yucaipa Vision Quest, Redland's Art in the Alley and D gallery in Lake Arrowhead to name a few. In addition to his art, Larry is also a 13 year citizen volunteer for the San Gorgonio search and rescue team.
Joon Song is a painter who moved to the Riverside area when he was 9. He has been drawing and painting since he was a small child. Joon graduated from Art Center College of Design and recently has been working on a new self-directed series of paintings. Joon has a strong love of color and is inspired by Impressionist painters of the past.
Leah Stemmann is a mixed media artist who was born and raised in Moreno Valley. She began drawing in high school and hopes to continue researching in the field of art and perhaps, one day, teach the importance of creating it. Leah exhibited art at the Riverside Art Museum in 2009 and has more recently received scholarships for sculpture and mixed media at University of California Santa Cruz, where she studied fine art. She is actively making art using a variety of media from metal sculpture to digital art.
Edwin Tuazon is a self-taught artist who was originally from the Phillipines. His work is an expression of himself to the world in which he lives. Ed has participated in many group art exhibitions, as well as a number of one-man shows in both the Philippines and the United States.
Selena Wilson is a classically trained oil painter from Riverside who also dabbles figure drawing, photography, sculptural media and jewelry making. Selena teaches art and digital photography at Nuview Bridge Early College High School in Nuevo. Her passion for teaching art has led her to create pARTy 2 Gogh, a "paint and sip" experience for the Riverside area. Selena has also written and illustrated a digital children of all ages book titled Wormy McNetter: Garden Friends get dressed for Winter a short story showcasing beneficial garden bugs who are cozy for winter.
Elsa P. Yoshida is a photographer who was born and raised in Seguin, Texas. She moved to California in 2000 and has lived in Murrieta for the last seven years. Though her interest for photography began in high school, she later found her passion for it when she enrolled for classes at Riverside City College. In 2007 and 2012, her photographs were accepted into the Exhibition of Photography at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, which is one of the largest competitive shows on the West Coast.
