mixed media – Circle Foundation for the Arts

Jenny Bennett

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“I paint to make something from nothing: to communicate my vision to others; to put people where I have been. Like Anais Nin, I believe that art (writing, painting, music) provides us with the ‘antitoxins’ we need to live. I paint because I want to record, communicate, recreate, create an idea, experience, object, landscape or and feeling. I believe art, whether it be painting, music, drama etc. can lift us out of everyday routine. Participation is the key; the doing or the viewing or the listening. I strive to make beautiful and/or challenging work. I enjoy putting things together; colors, shapes, lines; to make order from chaos. This involves decision-making and when a work is going well there is a balance between freedom and control as the decision-making becomes less conscious and more intuitive.”

Jenny Bennett was born McLellan in 1950 in Hastings, New Zealand, and had a rural childhood. After attending Iona College she later graduated with an M.A. (Hons) in Anthropology, from Otago and Auckland Universities and moved to the city of Whangarei where she still lives. Bennett began painting in 1976 after the birth of her first child and has explored a wide range of media and techniques; printmaking, clay sculpture, puppetry/ performance, flax weaving, pastel work, and collage. Bennett’s first exhibition was in 1976 and she has continued to show nationally and internationally. She and has won various art awards and commissions; and served on arts boards, judging panels and in mentoring programs.

William Francis Brennan

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William Francis Brennan was born in 1949 in Massachusetts, USA and began painting with oil and watercolor at the early age of 10 while growing up on the family’s farm. From 1970 to 1980 he lived in Toronto, Canada and made a living as a handyman, as a surveyor and as a painting artist. His studio at a big old warehouse at the High Park District also functioned as a showroom for his exhibitions. Brennan sold works in Canada, Europe, Japan and the USA between 1975 - 86 until moving to San Francisco, California in 1980. He lived in the SF Bay Area for 28 years, exhibiting often at cafés / restaurants, mostly at the Potrero Hill and at the Castro district in San Francisco. In the 90s he had an art-studio for several years on Bryant Street, at the Mexican influenced Mission district, with public studio walks and exhibitions. Additionally he worked as a self-employed handyman/painter and restored old furniture.

During 2001-8, Brennan extended his creative work by building unique garden furniture out of driftwood he collected at the beaches of the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco. He designed and built stage sets for the theatre-pedagogical project 'Behind Closed Doors' and he painted several murals for customers in San Francisco. Since 2008, Brennan has been a permanent resident in Germany where he works as an artist. In 2017 he moved his studio ‘LadenAtelier Brennan' from Berlin to the state of Brandenburg.

S.O. Sivertsen

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Stig-Ove Sivertsen lives and works in Mosjöen, Northern Norway, and has over the years participated in many exhibitions in Norway and abroad. A self-taught artist, he works mainly with watercolor as well as acrylic and photography. A member of NFUK (Norwegian Association of Independent Artists), he maintains a personal gallery, Galleri SOS and has exhibited at Atelier Valva, Vefsn Museum and The Swedish Loft in Norway as well as The 66th Northern Norwegian Art Exhibition 2012 and Mid-Nordic Art Festival. Sivertsen’s works reflect a freedom and passion with which he seems to approach his medium. Skillfully executed these watercolors reveal the artist’s unique visual perspective and a strong ability to control the brush but also disclose a surrendering to the medium, letting the brush, the color and the water guide the creation of each unique field of the composition.

Armineh Hovanesian

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Born in Paris and raised in Tehran and Boston, with a little over 2 years pause while in Lisbon, Armineh is a mobile photographer now based in Los Angeles who has been capturing moments since 2009. She has had no professional training, however, her vision has been the driving force behind her creations. Although Armineh would describe herself as a hobby photographer, her resume tells otherwise. Her photographic work has received notable awards and mentions by prevalent institutions and organizations and she most recently exhibited at Anzoh Gallery, MK2 Cinema, Paris, France, and Fathom Gallery.

Guido Corazziari

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Guido Corazziari was born in 1952 in Bari, Italy. The 70's were spent in Florence, where he worked as a scenic photographer for ART/TAPES, an international art-video production center, where he interacted with the world's most innovative artists of the time. In 1980 he graduated with a degree in Architecture and then in 1981 became a tenured professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bari. In 1983 he won an EEC scholarship to the "Domus Academy" in Milano, where he earned a Master's degree in Design. Then in 1984 he won first prize for Italy in the Lino & Moda contest and was invited to exhibit his works in Montecarlo. In 1987, thanks to another scholarship, Corazziari traveled to Paris, to attend the "Université de Marly Le Roi" where he obtained a diploma in Serigraphy. Now he’s working as an architect and multimedia artist and is exhibiting his works in many galleries and museums, in Italy and abroad.

Alison Barrows-Young

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“As I was late to speak, my artistic practice started before I can even remember. I was raised within a formal fine art education alongside my academic studies. My education has included several apprenticeships with professional artists. I have completed the highest level of artistic study and have spent many years teaching painting and drawing as well as all aspects of art theory and design. Through the years my work has gone through progressive phases using a variety of media. I have received a number of awards and honors including a grant from the New Jersey Endowment of the Arts in 1986. My showing record is broad and international in scope. Today I live in Northern Idaho where I devote myself, exclusively to the life of a practicing artist.”

Zbryk

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Raised near Denver, Colorado, American artist Scott Zbryk served in the US Navy submarines from 1971-73 and built a career in Architecture for 26 years. Returning to college at age 50, he earned a BFA from Metro State College of Denver in 2008 and MA (Hons) degree in Fine Arts from Regis University, Denver, Colorado (2014.) Zbryk currently resides in Evergreen, Colorado, creating artwork in his studio/gallery. Zbryk's work is influenced by a range of artists; from the skewed perspectives of M.C. Escher, the sculptural frolic of Red Grooms, the surreal atmospheres of Salvador Dali, and the whimsical environments of Dr. Seuss.

Atom Hovhanesyan

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Atom Hovhanesyan was a New York-based artist working in oil and ink. Atom lived a life not many would understand. To this day, his family and friends still don't understand the struggles and depression he faced for nearly the past decade, but his art speaks volumes. In his abstract works, Atom's goal was to create a unified atmosphere and sense of luminosity. Bits and pieces of forms from memory were utilized as building blocks for constructing the composition. Atom was trying to create a complex space compelling enough to act as a point of departure while retaining the often accidental mystery and painted energy.

As a faithful and respectful learner, Atom loved traditional media and ground his own colors. He committed a colossal dedication to his art, beyond any imaginable passion or love. Sometimes spending 72 hours nonstop working on a painting or drawing, Atom unintentionally, or maybe subconsciously even, created a unique and unprecedented style and technique in post divisionism and ink drawings never observed before.

Atom's own statement about his art: "The goal here is to utilize the whole surface of the support, challenging the viewer's perception of negative space. Essentially divisionist, the figure/composition is woven into the fabric of the plane and the space warps into the figure. In the painting process, repetitive, almost automatic, application of the cross-hatched lines allow the subconscious the opportunity to direct the composition. There is a tension between the desire to hide vs. the need to reveal, conflicting within the human mind. As far as drawings, I worked with ink with the same approach, because of the fine lines unique to this medium and the texture that arises from multiple built-up layers of cross-hatched lines, allowed me to focus on light and texture and the feel of the drawing ended up being quite different from the paintings."

Newel Hunter

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"I rarely know what I'm going to paint beforehand, choosing to let my subconscious direct the work and guide my hand, allowing chance to play an important role in shaping the final product."

Newel Hunter is an award-winning American artist who has developed a dynamic style of painting crafted around action, drama, and vitality. His stated ambition is to create a body of work where, "ideas, discovery and surprise reign supreme." And in doing so, he skirts the boundaries between realism and abstract, fiction and fact. Every image is a whole body exercise in storytelling.

Hunter is proud to be one of only 44 international artists featured in Aleatoric Art in the 21st Century. At 240 pages, this coffee table-sized book is the definitive volume on the role of chance in contemporary fine art. He has exhibited globally, and his artwork is in the private collections of many international collectors.

Francesca Falli

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Francesca Falli began painting as a child, under the guidance of her maternal grandfather, and made arts her professional sphere. She studied at the Art Institute, the European Institute of Design and the Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1983 she began her career as a freelance graphic designer, carrying out graphic projects for public bodies and private companies, while she devoted herself to painting. In 2010, she began working with digital techniques. She is the creator of numerous editorial-artistic publications: in 2000 she designed and created the "International Peace Prize" assigned to the Holy Father Pope John Paul II. In the 90s, she attended the studio of Fabio Mauri.

Falli's works are exhibited in several contemporary art museums and she has received prizes and awards in Italy and abroad. She is a member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Contemporary Landscape. She exhibited her "Pollage" in the large galleries section of the main Italian contemporary art fairs alongside the works Warhol, Festa, Angeli, and Schifano. She is documented within the Catalog of Modern Art Mondadori and the Atlas of Art de Agostini. Falli exhibited her "PollArte" at Palazzo Albrizzi Capello to coincide with the review of the Guatemala Pavilion, present at the 16th Venice Biennale.

Her attitude to experimentation has pushed her towards the creation of an innovative mode of "artistic work" in which painting and decoration are contaminated with the possibilities of new digital techniques. Continuous research has led her to the production of "Pollage" which are gaining interest from critics and historians and are spreading in the world of collectors. The chaotic, distorted and emphasized landscapes we find in her mirrored artworks are an expression of the mental and visual chaos caused by the earthquake that struck her city in 2009.

Jenny Bennett

“I paint to make something from nothing: to communicate my vision to others; to put people where I have been.”

William Francis Brennan

S.O. Sivertsen

Armineh Hovanesian

"My photographs are not generally planned in advance, and I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on the viewer’s mind, something has been accomplished. I see what eye see."

Guido Corazziari

"With bold colors, strident collage of the sacred and profane, my pictures are made to create pure joy for the eyes. I choose, arrange, add and stratify everything (I grab them from the Net) with the objective of making us think while having fun."

Alison Barrows-Young

"My paintings are expressive and depict my feelings toward whatever I am personally experiencing. I think that is what we do as human beings, look at what is outwardly apparent and expose it to our own subjectivity."

Zbryk

“My work consists of highly stylized pen and ink compositions, imbued with an "Escheresque" nuance, and a Dr. Seuss sense of fantasy. The viewer is immersed in iconic and ambiguous architectural elements, exhibiting travels abroad that combine nature, music and form into dynamic works of art.”

Atom Hovhanesyan

After refining and continuing to develop the post divisionist technique by painting not so much in a narrative sense, Atom painted bits and pieces of thoughts or emotions/memories, at times incidental, at times directed consciously, unified in one mood or an atmosphere.

Newel Hunter

"I'm fascinated with the idea of exposing what can't be seen, what's underneath it all; the history, the story, the abstract and random image. And while some of my work is very precise and structured, I revel in the unfixed nature of things. Imperfections are so much more interesting."

Francesca Falli

"In my art, there is an exercise in thought that blends with visual communication. I love new digital techniques, even if for me the computer is only a mean; the ideas come first in my mind. I combine technology and painting techniques inspired by Pop Art."