February 5, 2015
“Mission Federal ArtWalk is very proud to bestow these influencers with our second annual Arties, thanking them for the dedication, hard work and partnership each of them has offered the festival,” said Sandi Cottrell, managing director of ArtWalk. “Without the support and creativity of these organizations and individuals, ArtWalk would not be as successful as it is today.”
In addition to those the honorees, this year’s 10 featured artists were also announced. These dynamic and talented artists were selected from the over 350 participating artists at this year’s festival, and embody the immense creativity and passion that ArtWalk has become known for over the past 30 years. The featured artists are as follows:
Christina Leta: Christina Leta is a watercolor portrait artist, inspired by surrealism and the visceral technique of urban art. Her chosen medium allows for her works to develop lives of their own, with a deconstructed look that allows the viewer to fill in the blanks. Letting the paint drip and run, Christina’s compositions make as much of a statement with their use of negative space as the painted areas.
Christine Schwimmer: An abstract figurative artist, Christine Schwimmer paints to express her emotions as she explores them, mixing paint directly on the canvas and using fabrics, charcoal and scratching to create texture. Her figurative paintings are most often faceless, as the artist invites the viewer to complete this part of the painting. The beauty of her work is the journey she undertakes to create them.
Dorothee Naumburg: Dorothee Naumburg is an accomplished jewelry artist who was trained in a formal goldsmith apprenticeship in Germany. Created in 18K gold, 14K gold and platinum, her pieces often show her signature texture and are accented with fine gemstones and pearls. Dorothee edits her design to eliminate unnecessary elements, resulting in a sculpted, contemporary feel to her pieces that allow the design and materials to reveal themselves.
Ellen Dieter: Working in acrylics, mixed media, and oils, Ellen Dieter paints nearly every day. The result is a very diverse and dynamic portfolio. After studying in Paris for a decade, Ellen now splits her time between Hawaii and San Diego. In both her abstract and figurative pieces, viewers enjoy Dieter's spectacular illustrations of balance, composition, light, color, movement, and feeling. Ellen's work explores the highs and lows of the human experience in a clear expression of what it means to be alive.
Hong Rubinstein: Hong Rubinstein, a ceramic artist originally from Jilin, China who now lives in Palm Springs, relies on her sense of adventure and excitement to create unique sculptural, ceramic art on the wheel. Each piece is one-of-a-kind, as she does not use any molds. Using this freestyle technique, she allows fluid movement to shape her highly-collected masterpieces.
Karen O’Brien: Karen O’Brien is a self-taught mixed-media painter, with an urban, primitive style. She began her creative journey as a teddy bear and doll artist. From there, she ventured into collage and painting where she creates a world of soulful, contemporary figures she calls her "Urban Folk”. Her approach to art is: "No mistakes, just dive in and see what happens."
Mark Allen: A mixed-media collage artist, Mark Allen gained recognition for his trademark aesthetic, based on a narrative of modern American culture. He blends urban street art with his background in typography, mixed media collage, and abstract expressionism. His work has gained widespread notoriety, being featured on national television shows and films, and is showcased in numerous galleries throughout the world.
Scott Palmer: Scott Palmer is a mixed-media artist, using copper, acrylics and oils. After an initial pursuit of an impressionistic plein air style, he discovered the use of metals in his work and consequently, his true aesthetic passion. Palmer strives to create fluidity in his designs by sculpting the metal into dimensional shapes and adding patinas and paint that bring out the natural beauty of the copper.
Sue Britt: Originally studying architecture, Sue Britt eventually found her artistic calling in contemporary landscape with one very unique medium – paper tapestry. Her passion for architecture weaves in and out of her art, creating vivid and colorful plaits of places she has been and seen. Inspired by her love of hiking, Sue Britt’s art depicts themes of the Southern California landscape: The fire cycle of destruction and rejuvenation, water’s force on the landscape, and change over time.
Tim Pattison: A well-traveled oil painter, Tim Pattison’s inspiration is drawn from ordinary people he meets on his extraordinary journeys. He is inspired by the remarkable dignity he finds in different cultures, ethnicities and socioeconomic groups. His style features bold lines and colorful, yet muted tones, showcasing a variety of patterns and textures that keeps the viewer’s eye moving, only to refocus on the piece as a whole.
Mission Federal ArtWalk in Little Italy is the city’s first outdoor fine art festival, which will celebrate its 31st anniversary this year, running from Saturday, April 25 to Sunday, April 26, and will feature over 350 fine artists from San Diego, the US and Mexico. Mission Federal ArtWalk will feature collectable and approachable art from all kinds of mediums, such as drawings, jewelry, sculptures, paintings, photography, metal work, wood work and much more. More than a celebration of visual art, the festival offers a full lineup of live music, dance, and interactive art activities for families at KidsWalk. The event fills 17 blocks of Little Italy, and admission is free.
ArtReach, the non profit partner of ArtWalk San Diego, was introduced in 2007 to bring visual arts education to K-6 schools countywide, focusing on schools with no resources for art education. Programs are taught by professional artists and art teachers who believe that all students need art in their classrooms. The program will serve more than 15 schools this year.
For more information on Mission Federal ArtWalk, the featured artists or other details, please visit www.artwalksandiego.org.
