My Spirit and Soul

At 43, Gerard was an influential political activist who was infamous for throwing a pie at Mayor Willie Brown's face in San Francisco. After being incarcerated for his pie act & for defending kitten eye sewing, Gerard began painting water colors. His inspiration has a wide array ranging from love & nature, to accepting nature and our relation to our environment. And once Livernois is moved, he cannot stop letting the creativity flow from within and is artistically infatuated with capturing intense emotions.As a San Franciscan resident, Livernios reconnected with human needs and did not shy away when it came to voicing his opinions on matters such as homeless abuse. Thus, Livernois threw a pie at the mayor. While acquitted with an assault charge for battery, Livernois responded to the judge with, "You're insane, your honor."Livernois' other creative expressions include producing Vegan Cooking shows, tons of different protests, winning food awards to hula hoping while skateboarding simultaneously on the hills of San Francisco. He has also had experience in the Marine Corps and studied literature and philosophy in South Central Los Angeles. As an Animal Rights Activist, Livernois was drafted into the In Defense of Animals organization as the National Fur Campaign Coordinator and Web Designer.As a member of ActUp (in San Francisco), Livernois had fought exploitation with usage of anti-pharmaceutical campaigns. For support of these activities, ActUp managed a medical marijuana outlet. Livernois met a farm owner, who joined forces with him, in order to help increase patient access (for marijuana) by lowering the prices in the Bay Area by 20%. By the summer of '07, Livernois was the President of California's, first collectively and cooperatively, medical marijuana incorporation and lowered prices in LA as well.Livernois' interests include: hula hooping, skating, managing campaigns as a political activist, media production, yoga, Photoshop, great fiction and learning Flash Design. His colorful history is portrayed in his artwork; which has been shown at:

Through many years of artistic expression and a variety of media, Michele Rudenko has found a true passion with ceramics and more specifically the art of American Raku. She describes the work as a journey that begins with a quiet and contemplative moment when she first presses her hands into a clay mass. What follows entails the hand crafting, burnishing, bisque firing, glazing and finally the dramatic Raku firing and post firing reduction phases. It is the latter two steps that yield the qualities unique to Raku. "Working in American Raku ceramics is an inspiring and fulfilling process. The mercurial nature of Raku often results in a creation that is unique, powerful and beautiful. This is a marvelous lesson in non-attachment that guides me and perhaps others into a deeper experience and understanding."

I don't consciously decide what to create; it comes from a place inside of me. I tend to paint very quickly and I usually only have colors in mind when I start. Sometimes when I paint, I feel like I'm throwing confetti that ends up as flowers on canvas. I love when people tell me that my paintings make them happy.

Sculpting is a completely different process for me. Sculptures seem to come to life for me as I create them. They are always emotion-based with a particular experience behind them. I don't know that could sculpt something without this emotional and experiential connection. I love the feel of clay in my hands.

I really am honored every time someone buys a piece of my art.

I have always found an immense satisfaction in the process of creation, whether it be through acrylics, collage, or sketching. Born and raised in Los Angeles, I've always found my work to be culturally inspired and upon my 18th birthday I moved to San Francisco for a more diverse cultural experience. My art is an extension of myself; it is the raw truth and essence of my being. Without the ability to create, all would be lost in my realm.

I was born and raised in Japan, and found San Francisco as the last stop of backpacking days. I learned metal work as I continued to travel through a life in this 46.7 square mile city and meeting people. For me, art making is just another form of being in a present moment. Connecting my mind and my body, and expanding that connection to everything around me, to the point that myself becomes nothing but I am everything. If the product of that experience, a piece of steel artificially modified by me called art , manages to connect at least with other people, then I cannot be happier, for that helps me remain free from a jail of my own ego. I am a little philosophical when I am drunk…

Patti Heimburger

I started seriously painting at the age of 20 and that was the beginning of a long love affair with the craft. Since that time have received a BA in art at UCSB (Santa Barbara) and still continue to grow. I have exhibited in many different galleries, art centers, colleges, universities and some public spaces.

I choose to project optimism, caring and goodness because they are not inconsequential, and can counterbalance life’s negatives. To me landscape and images of people, equate comfort, create a calming effect. Power with grace is my favorite subject matter. My landscapes are created from my imagination, though I love nature as experienced. With the threat of global warming I choose to make them playful or whimsical, as if they are captured, and then placed in a strange museum for all to look at. Many of the people I paint do not have natural skin colors but instead, depict people as a whole or of no one heritage.

The process of making the textured surfaces is very important to me, along with its continual evolution. I use reused or recycled fabrics and yarn for the texture, and then painted over in oil. That surface has no reference to the subject matter, other than adding complexity. I paint the sides to each painting which has a wrapped around affect or just a continuation of the front surface. Because of this the paintings are finished and can be hung with or without a picture frame. Finally, the titles I choose are just a starting point because I try not to tell the whole story, but to allow you some mystery to solve.

Alexander Chubar

Alexander Chubar graduated from Hunter College in 1983 with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts. Later, in 1989, he graduated with a Master's of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute.

In his work he developed a pliable, flexible line capable of interaction with various other lines to form more intricate images. The complexity of the line transforms and reverses positive and negative aspects of the space. One sees images in which the boundaries exceed the spatial planes that contain them. Abstract balancing of forms in different spatial planes, coupled with vibrant color, augments the compositional structure of the artwork. The background is also essential to the total feeling of the work, as it becomes either a means to complete the image or a way to disperse and merge the forms.

Also, in his works, he shifts pictorial planes and intermingle the far with the near. The depicted figures and objects appear to start at the foreground of painting, move into the background, but at some point in the middle they return to the foreground producing an effect of curving space, similar to a giant wave that moves to close in on itself. Such organization of space, where one part interlocks with another and is integrated into a whole is necessary for the construction of internal order in the composition.

Jessica Boudreaux-Lucas

I was born in Lafayette, Louisiana to two wonderful parents and a huge Cajun and Cherokee family. Shuttled between living in Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia, I found my true calling in art around 14 years of age through an art class in school. Since then, I find my inspiration everywhere I look. My favorite medium is pencil portraits and acrylic, but I am currently trying to broaden my horizons. I now live in Montgomery, Alabama with my fabulous husband and three dogs. Although the amount of art exposure here isn't extremely prominent, I hope to continue my education through experience and completing a graphic design degree. Meeting other artist would be incredibly appreciated!

Artists