Meet the Artists

Lisa August

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Lisa August, a prominent Chatsworth artist and teacher, has won over 125 prize ribbons, special awards and gold medals in juried art shows including Best of Show and People’s Choice. Lisa’s original oil paintings are of considerable scope including portraits, pets, wildlife, still life, landscapes and seascapes. Lisa enjoys teaching her techniques in oils to members of the community.

Norma Birnberg

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Attended Brandeis Art Institute-fine art major with emphasis on oil and pastel painting. Studied with Chet Collom, a noted Chatsworth, CA artist for many years. Exhibited at Pasadena Presbyterian Juried Art shows for many years. One-woman exhibition at Hillel Gallery at U.S.C. One-woman show at the J.C.C. in West Hills. Specializes in painting portraits, people in action, seascapes, landscapes and Judaica themes.

Judith Bloch

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Valley artist Judith Bloch finds inspiration in the Eastern tradition of Mandala painting and is a more traditional portrait and landscape painter using oil, acrylic, and watercolor media. She has travelled to many countries which has influenced the subject matter she paints. She is most fond of doing commissioned portraits, and personalized Mandalas.

Ellen Brown

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Originally from Washington, DC, Ellen studied at the Corcoran Musuem of Art in high school. This began her interest to study masters of the Renaissance, and the 19th Century. Her commissioned portraits reflect studies with the Schuler School of Art in Baltimore, Mario Rueda and Mark Westermoe in LA, and gifted teachers of LAAFA.

Donna Geist Buch

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“I have always had an appreciation of all arts and I began working with paint and pastels in the traditional manner. In an advanced painting class at Otis Institute back in the early 1990s, I discovered the wonder of mixed media painting. This fueled my drive for more self-expression. I will always move in a direction of self-creativity.”

Ray Chavez

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Ray was born and raised in the Southern California. As an artist, his spirit for adventure and love of nature are what motivate him. He is heavily influenced by the early California impressionists. Ray is an oil painter who is fascinated with color and chooses pallet knives as his tools.

Ione Citrin

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Ione’s art has shown nationally since 1998 when, after years of world travel and successful careers in the performing arts, she decided to focus her richly diverse talents on visual arts. Ione’s artistic expression, creativity, and passion for communication are now expressed through her painting, sculpture, mixed media, and assemblage.

EchoSong

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(aka: Judy Doyle Marshall) Judy has painted since the age of four. From her New England roots to her present home in the Mojave Desert, she draws inspiration from everything around her and everyone in her life. Oils & Pastels are her primary mediums. Past president of VAG, she now hosts and leads an Artists Workshop in the High Desert community of Silver Lakes.

Lore Eckelberry

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Lore Eckelberry is a contemporary artist located in Los Angeles, California.  Her work is featured in several private collections. Her love of travel and her curiosity about other cultures led her to visit Japan, China, France, Holland, and Italy (where she lived for some time). Lore’s emphasis on color creates a completely modern and innovative way of strength in art expression.

Marian Fortunati

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Marian Fortunati is a contemporary oil painter whose canvases reflect her world. Marian’s successful career in education fostered a love of people – young and old. Classes, workshops and great mentors have helped her to develop her impressionistic style. Her paintings have been juried into and have won awards in shows around SouthernCalifornia.

David Friedman

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“My paintings are visual meditations on perception and awareness. My pictures are symbolic portals that reveal dynamic meta-realities. The theme is Here & Now. Subjects are light, shape, color, space, play and your imagination. I enjoy visual games and toys, especially kaleidoscopes and Xbox.”

H.L. “Erin” Harnett

Erin paints in the style of her ancestor, William M. Harnett (1848–1892), known for his detailed still life and trompe l’oeil.” She has mastered her techniques in five countries (Bermuda, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico and Tahiti) in addition to her work in the U.S. Erin has produced and sold over 1,000 artworks, as well as over 180,000 prints to date. She has exhibited with many fine galleries.

Richard Herd

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Award-winning actor, painter, poet, and playwright Richard Herd studied at The Art Students League in NYC with Terry di’Alessio, and The West 10th Street Studio. He endeavors to stay in the moment and maintain a sense of spontaneity. Richard tells us “Sometimes I crash, sometimes I soar!” His work is in private and corporate collections throughout America and Europe.

Debra Hintz

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Debra Hintz creates contemporary landscapes that are like self-portraits. They are emotional, introverted places that are not seen in the natural world but instead represent her own internal space. Influenced by the Impressionists, she paints in oils using palette knives and builds up many layers of paint to create her unique style.

Felicite Imam

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“Inspired by the great diversity of visual imagery in the Los Angeles area, I enjoy sharing with the viewer the beauty of line, form and color that I see in my environment. Many of these works reflect my daily surroundings, as well as references to my English homeland.”

Lahn Jung Jules

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Lahn graduated from Otis Art Institute and has pursued further study in religion. Lahn’s art is inspired by what she sees in the natural world with its expressive qualities and how it evokes varied emotional responses. Creative process is a form of meditation that allows her to approach each piece with intuition and discovery.

Scott Kiche

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Kiche is a contemporary fine artist from Los Angeles. His work ranges from traditional realism to Surrealism. The artist was born in Guatemala in 1974, and, at the age of five, immigrated to the U.S. with his family. He has exhibited works in Mexico City, Virginia, Washington D.C, Maryland, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Cristina Marcu

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“Growing up in Romania, music and art were solid foundations of my cultural upbringing, and my paintings draw from this strong Eastern European influence. The essence of each painting is the connection between the subject matter and me. When I step inside the space I am creating on canvas, I want the viewer to go there with me – to experience the openness of the moment.”

Margie Murray

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Working in oils, watercolor and mixed media, Margie works with a brush and/or palette knife to paint the human figure, floral, mountain and seascapes. She is currently working on a series of still-life paintings. Margie graduated from USC and has been a student at Associates in Art, LAAFA, and the California Institute of Art. She teaches at Carter-Sexton Art Store in North Hollywood.

Terry Romero Paul

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Terry is a Southern Californian native that grew up loving the sunlight and luminous colors that are unique to Los Angeles. She enjoys bringing that bright palette to her plein air landscapes, and her figurative and still life oil paintings. Terry’s work is representational with an impressionistic feel.

Rita Sahakian Das

Rita is a well-known teacher and fifth generation artist. Through her original spiritual healing paintings she has been sharing her unique gift of helping people discover their sacred-self. Having traveled extensively, she incorporates sacred art from many ancient traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Celtic, and Judaic beliefs.

Dorothy Shepherd

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Chinese Brush painting is an expressive art which allows me to express my own feelings about nature, to express the essence or “chi” of the image, and to give that essence form. If the viewer is drawn to my work and lingers, examining the parts and the whole, then I have been successful.

Veronica Stensby

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“Inspired by nature, my goal is to capture the exuberance of color and the rhythms I discover through watercolor and acrylic. Lately I have been exploring abstract ways of interpreting the landscape, sharing the joy and the sense of mystery I find in the world around me.” Veronica is a member of Valley Watercolor Society as well as VAG. She lives in Tarzana with her husband, Matt Cooker.

Beth Summers

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A plein air impressionist, Beth is a member of Oil Painters of America and has a background in art from childhood, along with music, education and psychotherapy. She has taught art for Los Angeles City Schools and California State University, Northridge, and shows throughout California. She paints in oils with a vibrant search for God’s colors in nature dancing on her canvas.

Fritz Suter

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Fritz imagination is endless and gives him much inspiration for his artworks. His work has expanded to more as 700 pieces and is collected in Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Germany and USA. Fritz’s live has influenced his use of strong colors and spontaneous impressions. He love Cubism, Classic Modernism and Whimsical-art. He is an award-winning artist and has participated in many juried exhibitions and group shows.

Barbara Tabachnick

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“After my retirement from teaching perception, statistics and research design in the CSUN Psychology Department, the urge to paint became overwhelming. After many classes and workshops, I’m now working in my studio every chance I get. My artwork – acrylics, watercolors, mixed media and digital imaging at varying levels of abstraction – combines my pleasures in artistic creativity and technology.”

Miriam Thorin

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“My art is more or less realistic according to what moves me about my subject. I love doing portraits from live sittings or photos, as well as painting imaginary people and trees, primarily in mixed media of color pencil and casein, pastel – whatever feels right at the time.” For more information and pictures, email Miriam.

John Paul Thornton

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President of the Valley Artists Guild, John Paul Thornton has created projects for the United Nations Environmental Programme, which were displayed at the Nobel Peace Center in Norway. His socially charged paintings have been exhibited on the National Mall in Washington DC, as well as the White House and the Lincoln Memorial.

Trice Tolle

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In the colorful expressionistic landscape paintings of Trice Tolle, one can see how she has found infinite ways to capture the endless beauty and emotion found in nature. She has traveled extensively throughout her life and draws upon her travels as one of her inspirations. Trice states that when she paints, it is like one of her adventures – she never knows how it will end up!

Jude Wiesenfeld

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Art is a lifetime passion of mine. I have studied at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute de Pedelogie, the Ontario College of Art, and the California Art Institute. Judy Koenig is my mentor in watercolor painting. I am a juried, award-winning member of VAG and VWS.

Anthony Verity

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Anthony is a self-taught sculptor and artist. His paintings are abstract-surrealistic landscapes represented by the “ImageScapes” or still-life, using an Oriental motif combined with the sensuous lines of glass and vase. He uses a mixed media technique with acrylic, oil, ink and pastel.