Instructors
ED KLAUTKY
Drawing Anime, Cartoons & Caricatures :: Mondays 7 - 9 pm
Ewald (Ed) Klautky was an illustrator turned designer before working on “Gargoyles” the animated series for Disney TV. When the series ended, he learned to design layouts, characters, and storyboards while pitching new show ideas to Disney executives in the visual development department. After leaving on his own terms, he was hired to storyboard the animated feature “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” in Hawaii for a year. Klautky continued in animation on TV series and Direct-to DVD features as a freelance designer/storyboard artist for WB, Hanna-Barbera, Film Roman, Sony Adelaide, Universal, Nickelodeon and others while boarding “live-action” television commercials and video game art for advertising companies.
Currently teaching part-time at Santa Monica Community College on the AET (Arts & Entertainment Technology) campus, he draws upon his storyboard experience to teach entry level film and animation students. His most notable animated shows since Hawaii include “Starship Troopers: The Roughneck Chronicles”, “X-Men Evolution”, “Spawn: The Animated Movie”, “Iron Man”, and “Wolverine & the X-Men” among others.
Scott Yeskel
Oil Painting :: Tuesdays 7 - 9 pm
Abstract Acrylics :: Tuesdays 7 - 9 pm
Scott Yeskel "Bends"
Scott Yeskel’s work focuses on abstract and representational cityscapes using alarming color transcended by a mood of quiet disconnection. This juxtaposition leaves the work diverse on many levels. Yeskel’s abstracts, layered in thick strokes of oil, speak of incorporeal places that harken back a mood or feeling from particular environments he has been. The representational work, on the other hand, leaves an impression of a snap shot gone by. The work is balanced, both focused yet off kilter, sharp yet skewed. His bold color choices mix with various muted hues to pull together truly contemporary views of urban sprawl, and modern living.
Yeskel was recently on the cover of American Style magazine hailed as one of the “ten American Talents turning heads” in 2008. His work has been shown in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Laguna Beach, CA and is part of numerous public and private collections including Mars Foods / Uncle Bens, Sony Studios, Fox Studios, Pennsylvania Power and Light and Novov Nordisk.
Yeskel has taught at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the Montecito Fine Art College of Design in Monrovia and the Vita Art Center in Ventura, CA
Ruth Anne Briggs-Greenberg
Intro to Drawing :: Thursdays 7 - 9 pm
Intro to Painting (your choice: oil, acrylic or watercolor) :: Thursdays 7 - 9 pm
Ruth has been a professional artist and art instructor for the past 10 years. Her art teaching career began at the Mission Renaissance Art School, which then led Ruth to designing her own class for adults on drawing, watercolor and oil painting. Ruth has sold paintings to the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA and to the Sunstone Vinyard and Winery in Santa Ynez, CA. She has been commissioned by numerous companies and individuals to create works of art, including the South Bay Paddleboard Association, the head of MGM Music, and by MegaTrax Corporation. In addition, Ruth has painted and donated a logo for South Bay AIDS charity, Amigos Sin Barrios/Friends Without Barriers. In her personal art, Ruth has blossomed into an excellent painter of landscapes, architecture and wildlife in multiple medium.TERRY ZIEGELMAN
Portrait Painting in Oils :: Sundays 11 am - 1 pm
Landscape Painting in Oils :: Sundays 11 am - 1 pm
Plein Air Painting :: One Sunday each month
Terry has been in the art industry for the last 20 years, his accomplishments have ranged from painting large-scale theatrical murals, working as a commercial and editorial illustrator, college art professor, award-winning animated short director, to a lighting technical director on animated feature films. He earned his illustration degree at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, and his graduate degree in Computer Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
While Terry is familiar with a variety of media, his most recent personal work has focused on plein air landscapes, contemporary studio-based landscapes, and more traditional alla prima figurative work in oils. Strictly defined, an alla prima painting would be started and finished in one painting session, but the term is also more loosely applied to any painting done in a direct, expressive style, with minimal preparation.
Famous painters who worked in an alla prima style are as diverse as Paul Cezanne, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Caravaggio, Hieronymus Bosch, and Frans Hals.
IOANA URMA
Abstract, Organic Watercolor Painting :: Last Sunday of each month 4 - 6 pm
Escape the everyday world of things analyzed, understood and made purposeful and enter a place where softness, movement, color and freedom allow you to wander at will through both peaceful and turbulent journeys. Escape the known and enter the unknown. Escape adulthood and enter childhood. Become surprised through unpredictable discoveries and the unfolding of fantastic events.
All of this, without going anywhere: vacation into the inner self.
I paint to get away from defined reality, creating each time a new world where things can happen unexpectedly, sparking mystery and curiosity. Painting a narrative: painting as writing. The watercolor medium, with its independent personality and unpredictable behavior, is the perfect means for this exploration.
No two watercolors can ever be exactly the same because one cannot control the movement of the water and the particles of color completely. In fact, it is the opposite of control. Painting watercolors entails a collaboration of the artist with a living medium. The act delicately clings to a state of mind that can allow for this collaboration to happen fruitfully.
Two quotes from one of my favorite books (D.T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture) relate: “The painter’s business thus is not just to copy or imitate, but to give to the object something living in its own right.” (p. 36) “In all things, it is important to forget your mind and become ‘one’ with the work at hand.” (p. 114) ~ Ioana
SIRI FRANCE
Intro to Painting (your choice: Oils, Acrylics) :: Sundays 2 - 4 pm
Intro to Drawing :: Sundays 5 - 7 pm
Figure Drawing :: 2 Sundays each Month 5 - 7 pm
Siri France is a painter from Edinburgh Scotland, who has recently moved to Santa Monica. She studied Fine Art at Newcastle Polytechnic, in Northern England. Siri also attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has a postgraduate diploma in Art Therapy from the Queen Margaret University of Edinburgh.
In Edinburgh, Siri was a member of the Patriothall gallery of Edinburgh, an artist-run gallery. Her works have been exhibited in the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States. She has also worked on commissioned portraits, and decorative mural projects, in Edinburgh and in New York.
She has worked as an art therapist with children and adults in the UK. Her teaching has been influenced by ideas from her art therapy training, in which making art is seen as a process of self-discovery and empowerment. As an instructor, she aims to encourage each student to find his or her own way creatively.
Siri works in a variety of materials, primarily colored inks, pastel, oils and charcoal. The aim in her work is to express mood and atmosphere. She loves to work directly from life whenever possible and enjoys the tension and exhilaration of drawing figures in motion.
LISA BAKER-MICCIO
Photo Transfers :: Saturdays 2 - 4 pm
Intro to Acrylic Painting :: Saturdays 2 - 4 pm
Acrylic and wood panel
Melany Meza-Dierks
Intro to Drawing :: Wednesday 7 - 9 pm
Kids Workshops :: Monday thru Friday 4 - 5:30 pm
Melany Meza-Dierks has been recognized for her artistic achievements since she was a small child, landing her name in the local newspaper as the next young artist. Growing up, she developed her skills through drawing and painting, experimenting varieties of media from acrylic to Adobe.
Having won awards at every level of education she challenged herself with the reputable curriculum and methods from Otis College of Art + Design, earning her BFA in Communication Art with an emphasis in Advertising Design. Otis guided her through various levels of production through practices in research and critical analysis. She was able to value and understand every aspect of what it means to be an artist, a creative person. There is more to art besides having crafted a skill in capturing an image with your hand and transferring it to a drawing or a painting. Good art has meaning. It speaks to you.
Samantha Ahdoot
Abstract Acrylics :: Wednesdays 7 - 9 pm
Samantha has been captivated and immersed in the arts from a very early age. Her diverse cultural background and love for the arts has contributed immensely to her unique style and visual language, both as a fine artist and a designer. Encompassing traditional with cutting edge, her approach to color and form reflect her skills and influences throughout her life, expanding and always contributing to her extensive resume of accomplishments. An art director with a B.A. in graphic design, Samantha has worked on a variety of projects with a wide range of clients in fashion, entertainment, music and the corporate world, winning her numerous recognitions. As a painter, she has explored abstractionism with a wide variety of themes and subjects. From the human body to nature and landscapes, she’s continuingly exploring the power of color and expression from a deep emotional inner place by means of acrylic on canvas and wood. A manipulation of textures, lines, and colors, conveying the essence of an inner soul. A realm of inner vision, flowing from mind to brush to canvas, giving one the sense of visual form of emotions, stretched and broken as our imagination may be. The inside realized. Your truth visualized.
NINA MAY
Kid’s Workshops :: Tuesday & Wednesday 4:00 pm -5:30 pm
Special Events
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nina May began her artistic career professionally at 20 after attending Woodbury University and Otis Parsons School of Design. Nina began designing and marketing hand painted clothing for fashionable boutiques like Fred Segal, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Lord & Taylor.
Nina has created many textiles and graphics for Barbie at Mattel Toys. She is currently designing graphics for sportswear apparel, tee shirts, her own line of embellished greeting cards and infant couture. Nina also creates fashion inspiration trend reports and trend boards for the apparel and toy industries. She is an expert in colors and trends, whether it be creating color-ways and mixing color or coming up with on trend fashion graphics.
Nina is an art docent at Overland Avenue School for Advanced Studies and craft workshop instructor for the Craft Art and Folk Museum.
BONNIE SUE SCHWARTZ
Plein Air Painting & by Appointment
Bonnie Sue Schwartz is a native of Los Angeles, California, and has been an art instructor since 1972. Bonnie Sue presently teaches at Santa Monica High School and, during her school holidays, she travels around the world by land and sea. Throughout her travels, she has painted hundreds of landscapes specializing in watercolors.
Bonnie Sue’s biggest pleasure is traveling on cruise ships and meeting people who share her passion for Art, Travel, Dancing, and Laughter. Her watercolor paintings have been on display in Europe, Australia, and in the United States where her Art Exhibitions are titled, “A Broad, Abroad”.
LANCE MICCIO
Currently by Appointment
Refugees by Lance Miccio
Lance Miccio is a Brooklyn born painter. He studied editorial Illustration at Parsons School of Design in NYC before receiving an art scholarship to the College of Charleston NC. There he studied under abstract expressionist Michael Tyzack, who eventually recommended Lance to participate in the “International Student Exchange” program. This led to Lance’s studies abroad at the University of Wales, the School of the Arts in Nantes, France and eventually the prestigious Slade School of Art where he studied under Tess Jaray.
Lance has had many exhibits and one man shows spanning the globe, and his paintings are much sought after by collectors. He presently resides in Venice, CA where he has a production studio.
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