Oh! Oh! Oreo

Sam Lasseter’s art has always played with nostalgic subject matter to connect with viewers and bring forward memories of childhood and play. Lasseter’s current body of work is no exception, he brings classic American toys and candies to the gallery wall, realistically enlarged to show every detail; it is a blend of pop art and hyperrealism. Lasseter’s history of making art to make people smile goes back to his work as a puppet builder for the theater, theme park, and movie industries in Atlanta, Portland, and New York. In 2015 he exhibited in a solo gallery exhibition called Joy—an accumulation of his time at The Savannah College of Art and Design—where all of the art was meant to make the viewer smile and share a laugh. Lasseter contends with the challenge that galleries are predisposed to be serious environments, nonetheless, he understands the power of nostalgia and humor and tries to make art to connect with the inner child within all of us.

Give a cardboard box to a kid and they will play with it and inhabit a world that few adults can see, and if another kid joins the play they enter that world with ease. Unfortunately, as we grow into adulthood, we lose that ability to play—frankly, it is taught out of us. We conform kids to our sense of etiquette and put them in a school system that cannot teach creativity. Traditional galleries also have a tendency to fit into an adult’s perspective, with unwritten rules and etiquette that kids struggle to fit into. And yet creativity and play are inherent in us, it is still there, just buried under societal norms. I try to bring the “cardboard box” into the gallery and break that convention; to bring a sense of play and humor to the white wall setting. To do that I rely on nostalgia and humor; to give the viewer permission to reminisce on the child they once were and just play.

Old Adobe Monterey

Barbara West is an orthodontist and an artist. Her style is contemporary realism. Her mediums include oil, pastel, and monotypes. She paints a variety of subjects including landscapes, still lifes, animals, and boats.

Barbara studied art at the University of Pittsburgh, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Boston Museum School, and the De Cordova Museum School. She has participated in numerous workshops.

Barbara has been accepted into many shows and won many awards. Most recently she place third in a Women Painters West show.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved art. I started drawing horses at age 5! Although my main career has been as an orthodontist, I have always created art as well. I’ve attempted to improve my skills by taking many courses and attending many workshops as well as studying on my own. And by painting. I learn something new with every painting I do.

Nothing is so exciting as standing in front of a blank canvas with a vision in my mind of how to interpret the scene in front of me. Ah but then the work begins!

Old Man And A Wizard

Anastasiia Kulikalova is a photographer and a cinematographer from Kyiv, Ukraine who likes the light as much as she likes the darkness. Her forte is creating and capturing worlds filled with magic, unicorns, and the absence of taxes.

She began her artistic journey in Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Theatre, Cinema and Television University where she learned to work with composition and lighting. After that, she pursued her career in film and TV as a camera person. And in 2018 as a Fulbright scholar, she came to the US. Since then she has been working as a photographer and a cinematographer on short films, commercials, educational projects, virtual reality films, and a post-COVID combination of movie & theater.

After graduating from Ohio University with an MFA degree in filmmaking, Anastasiia has been working in Ohio, New York, and Chicago. She believes that person officially becomes old when they stop being curious about the world around them. So her goal is to never stop traveling, learning new things about people and places, and never stop creating magic in photographs and films. Because she is confident that with the right powerful inspirational stories this world can be a kinder place.

I was utilizing the magical functions of acrylic paint underwater for this series. It gives a simultaneous feeling of the lightness of the smoke and the power and intensity of the water. Acrylic paint flows freely and somewhat predictably, which is exactly how I envision magic in the hands of a rookie wizard. The intensity of the colors tells us that we are looking at the magic world, but toys from our childhood here link this composition to the world that used to be real to us.

I enjoyed making the “smoke” colors in this photo a bit ambiguous which I also hint at in the name of it. We would expect a human (something familiar looking) to be “good” and the dragon to be “bad”. But we see that the old man’s smoke is dark, which would usually tell us that black magic is being used. While the dragon is attacking with a colorful fire. With that, I would like to remind the audience to question the quick judgments of people and events. Does this old man protect his castle with the power of knowledge? Or does he attack the powerful witch that turned into a dragon to protect herself? Only with patience, curiosity, and kindness can we find out the full story.

Old Silent Pond

Nancy Bardach is a retired architect and now a full-time fabric artist creating art quilts. Annually juried into about 10 exhibitions throughout the US, she has also been published in numerous catalogs, books, quilt magazines, and web exhibitions. She sells many of her original pieces, and opts to show her art quilts in galleries and art museums whenever possible. Her professional goal is better recognition of the art quilt in the art world.

Her pieced art quilts, often abstract, specialize in emotional impact and glowing colors. She is currently showing a solo exhibition of about 25 quilts at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in CA.

She received her BA from Harvard Extension, a Master’s in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design, and practiced for 25 years as a licensed architect in the Bay Area. Since retiring, she has become a full-time, professional fabric artist. Now a Juried Artist Member of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) professional community (https://www.saqa.com/), and numerous art and textile museums.

Studio Location: 815 Oxford Street
Berkeley, CA 94707

My most exciting and successful designs are those I do quickly, intuitively, chasing a fleeting image — and trying to realize its sensibility and beauty in the final pieced and stitched object. I explore intangible qualities like color, light, and movement; they are all vital to my compositions. Freehand curves cut from my fabrics add to the flow of the work. Color adds mood and emotional tone, lighting contrasts, a sense of movement and depth, and, above all, great beauty to my pieces.

My inspirations are multiple, more than I can list here. They come from years of art observation, architectural design school, and 25 years in professional practice, and constant enjoyment of my visual surroundings.

For me, a fabric artist, architectural design also inspires the massing and perspective choices I make. The regularity of patterning appeals directly to me, whether found in old quilting patterns or in my creation of repeating images and new interpretations.

Olives Cookie Shop

Karen Safer, a native Angelino, is an internationally exhibited, award-winning photographic artist and poet with a musical bent. Her passion for art began when given a camera and crayons at age three and was immersed in California’s visual language. A lifelong traveler, she has explored over 230+ countries & territories, embracing both the exotic and the unexpected. Influenced by her father’s black-and-white photography and her mother’s insatiable curiosity for knowledge and travel, her inspirations range from ancient Assyria to the conceptual works of Cindy Sherman. She began as a painter before discovering photography in college, earning a master’s degree in art (UCLA & CSULB) and building a career in design and architecture.

With 14 solo exhibitions and participation in over 590 shows, she has received more than 480 awards, including the Julia Margaret Cameron Award, PISPA, TIFA, reFocus, and Exposure One. Her work has been featured in 130+ publications, such as LENS, Dodho, ArtTalk, ArtTour, One Eyeland, and Spotlight. She has exhibited in major cities worldwide, including London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Venice, Florence, Barcelona, Budapest, Dubai, São Paulo, Seoul, Tokyo, Zurich, New York, and Los Angeles. Her work is held in numerous collections, and she is a member of many organizations, including LAAA (825 Gallery), LACP, etc. A self-described “romantic old soul” with intellectual cravings, she navigates the digital world while remaining deeply connected to art’s timeless essence. She embraces color but venerates black and white, realistic and abstract.

“I am a ‘romantic old soul’ with intellectual cravings now living in a Digital World.”kjs

I’ve always been an artist. My passion for art and photography began early in my teens. I embrace the natural world and man-made as well. I am influenced by everything from the ancients to Cindy Sherman, and while I embrace color, I revere black and white, realistic and abstract. I am a student of the universe, history, art, architecture, music, literature, and all the arts.

I got a camera and some crayons as a kid,
journeyed along a path in life – far from what I’d expected,
moved from youth to middle age,
did some work, had some fun, got high, got low,
and just continue doing it – never tiring of the next visual surprise.
– Life is still a mystery, after all. – kjs

My Motos: “A photographer has the whole world, big or small, to capture.” kjs
“And, wherever I am in the world, it is my favorite place!!” kjs

Olympia

Based in Montreal, Canada, Marie-Ange Hoda Ackad is increasingly showing her works in the United States and internationally. Most recently; The Kingston Portrait Prize exhibition ( finalist)The Yellowstone Art Museum, (YAM) in Montana, The Cultural Center of Cape Cod, the San Fernando Valley Art & Culture Center (SFVACC) in California, the Alexandria Museum of Art in Louisiana, The Hopkins Center for the Arts in Minneapolis,(TRAHC) Texarkana Regional Art & Humanities Center in Texas, Site-Brooklyn Gallery in New York City, The Center for Contemporary Art in New Jersey; at the Dab Art Gallery and Shockboxx Gallery in California, at Viridian Artists Inc in New York, at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis and at the Lessedra Gallery in Bulgaria; at ISEA (International Symposium for Experimental Artists), at the Brownsville Museum in Texas and numerous other venues.

As well, in 2016, her works were featured on a billboard in central Los Angeles, California for The Billboard Creatives.
She was a participant in the Help Hope Nepal Mural project for Spectrum Miami 2015 during Art Basel Miami.

In 2018 her work was exhibited at Place des Arts, Montreal during Les Grands Ballets Canadiens’ last performance under the direction of Gradimir Pankov, artistic director emeritus.

Her portrait” Gradimir Pankov” features in the movie” Tribute to Gradimir Pankov” and can be seen on YouTube along with other YouTube videos of her work.

She was interviewed on Breakfast Television in Montreal and recently on South Bay TV in California. She is a recipient of many awards from international exhibitions.

When comparing contemporary media to that of previous decades, there is a tangible change in its aesthetics and content, but similar patterns can be observed. Magazines, newspapers, television and film, virtual platforms, and other media reflect current events, systems, and institutions that are in place. There is a collective mourning and nostalgia for pre-pandemic times as the years to come feel increasingly unpredictable. This series of multi-media works seeks to explore patterns of representation and how examining visual culture can tell us so much about history, our current societies, and the future. Using art as a method of archival collage, Ackad uses pieces of various paper media, combined with oil paints / or pastels to address the images we see from day to day and how they impact our understanding of social issues.

Om The Meditation Mantra

Award-winning artist Tejaswini is a multidisciplinary artist. As her major focus, Tejaswini creates intricate pieces made with Perler beads on canvas. Her interest in this unique medium began in 2008, when she purchased an art kit, for her daughter. As her little girl created small birds and flowers using the beads in the kit, the artist started visualizing different patterns. She created a whole series with these beads and titled it ‘Dream Reflection’.

Tejaswini was very satisfied with her first project and wanted to explore it more. She thinks that there is unlimited potential in this medium and she will explore this medium to its max. She feels that this work has a very meditative effect on her mind and the viewer.

Born into an art-loving family, Tejaswini was exposed to art and its appreciation from early childhood. She chose Fine Arts as her major and has an M.F.A. from CCS University, India. She also has an Arts Management diploma from New York University.

Tejaswini has displayed her artwork globally. Her traditional painting depicting “Krishna” was judged Best in Show by Hudson Artists of NJ at their 60th-anniversary Exhibition in 2013. She received an Outstanding Service award from Sing for Hope, NYC 2019, having painted a piano for the organization, titled “Basant Utsav”, which is painted in the traditional Art style of India called “Kangra style”. She has been inducted into the prestigious Marquis Who’s Who Biographical registry in 2024.

She was a featured artist at The Flag Project RC 2022, by The Rockefeller Center, United Nations Environment Programme, and The Climate Museum, NYC. She was featured in the India Book of Records for the largest artwork created with fusion beads. Several of her art pieces are in private and public collections around the globe.

I am a versatile artist. I work with many traditional and non-traditional media. One of these non-traditional media is fusion beads and one of my favorites. In 2008 I bought an art kit for my daughter, with thousands of beads and one 6” X 6” peg board. While she was creating small birds and flowers, I started visualizing some patterns on canvas. When I finished my first artwork with beads I was thrilled with the outcome. I wanted to explore all the possibilities with this medium. So since then, I have been working with it and the result is very satisfying and thrilling. Bright colors and the texture of these beads add beauty to my work. My work is inspired by Rangoli art from India, which we make during the festive season, on the floor, with colored powder or flowers and remove after the festival. Art is my life. It’s meditative, it’s relaxing. It takes me away from all worries to the world of peace, silence, and colors.

On The Road

Brigitte currently lives in Switzerland. She is a self-taught photographer inspired by her grandfather as a child; thus, she chose to bear his name as an artist to honour him. Travelling the globe with an analog camera in her twenties, she gained experience in landscape, travel, and street life photography. Nowadays, she is also experimenting with other approaches, like abstract, and is shooting digitally. Her work has been published in several art magazines. Two of which are special editions about her artwork at Docu Magazine. Her photography was exhibited physically and virtually in the UK, the USA, Italy, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and the West Indies. One of her main exhibitions was at Artexpo New York in April 2025 and at ArtBasel in June.

Her photography has been distinguished with several mentions and a first prize from HMVC Gallery.

Currently, she is working on three long-term projects. The aim is to publish a book.

My favourite photographic approaches are landscape, street life, and abstract photography. Landscape and Abstract as moments of peace of mind, my eyes are amazed by the beauty of nature. Soothing my soul. Street life was moments of exhilaration, being ready at any minute to shoot a scene that caught my eye. A scene of life, of youth, of the ordinary, of joy (of despair sometimes). A scene I am drawn to by my emotions, thus mostly candid. My photographs tell a story; the point is to share it with the viewer.

2025, what a year.A year of learning, of growing, of gratitude.Gratitude to HMVC gallery, which has supported me all along.

Two highlights were the discovery of Cornwall, where I took the first photograph titled ´The Boy’. A silhouette at Golden Hour at the Beach. Time of peace.
And a photograph taken while travelling titled ´On the Road’ represents the moves I was on in 2025.

On The Road Route 66

Karen Safer is a photographic artist, documentarian, published writer, and poet with a musical bent. As a fifth-generation native Angelino, she was given a camera and crayons at 3 and exposed to dominant California motifs: light, palm trees, the ocean, music, and vernacular architecture that helped define and influence her left-handed aesthetic. She was influenced by her dad (educator and calligrapher) who developed black & white photos in their back washroom/turned darkroom and by her mother’s thirst for knowledge and travel.

She was fortunate to begin a life of travel as a pre-teen which shaped her love of the exotic paired with an eye for the formal, accidental, and unusual while subliminally seeking the “beautiful” that jiggles the lens/frame of her eye. From the onset, she documented her surroundings and family and friends’ events. During COVID she photographed from her balcony and was dubbed the “Monet of Playa del Rey.”

She has been in over 12 solo shows and 200+ juried and group exhibitions in London, Rome, Glasgow, Zurich, Budapest, Barcelona, Athens, Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, Belgium, Hawaii, Canada, and from California to New York and from Minnesota to Santa Fe, to Florida, winning 170+ Talent, Merit, Honorable Mention and Special Recognition Awards. She has traveled and photographed in over 230 countries (and territories). She is a member of many art organizations.

Initially, she began painting and printmaking alongside art and architectural history before wholly embracing photography with influences from Mesopotamia to Vermeer/Matisse and Atget to Cindy Sherman. She is a self-described “romantic soul” with intellectual cravings.

She received a bachelor’s and master’s degree with honors in art from UCLA and CSULB. Her career includes work in design and architecture firms and principal of ArtFocus International.

A photographer has the whole world – big or small – to capture. kjs

This is a series taken while traveling the USA – ON THE ROAD!