Artist Susan Ossman Joins Concept with Emotion

Posted on by Diversions LA

With conceptualization as strong as her brilliant colors and swirling shapes, painter Susan Ossman says that literally “everything and anything” inspires her.  “Inspiration may seem like a one-off event or emotion—but the artistic process deepens through many micro-sparks. The process involves focusing ideas and energies, intelligent design and choice of media, scale or collaborators, these have to produced micro-sparks and involve self critique and dis-inspiration or even desperation to make the work,” she relates.

Ossman describes her work as having developed into several decades of distinct bodies., noting that despite the changes to her art, “certain features prevail across subjects and styles- an attentiveness to the centrality of movement, and thus to rhythm, including in how color contributes to the ‘beat’ of a painting or installation.”

She recalls vividly reading the words of art historian Pierre Francastel, who claimed that “‘all images are in movement’ many years ago.” This artist views this statement as “a key to understanding what I am trying to develop artistically and intellectually.”

Asked what if anything has changed for her in her art career over the years, Ossman finds this a question to ponder. “It is difficult to answer this question since I have been painting as far back as I can recall: the oldest examples I have of my work are watercolor portraits from 1971, when I was 11 or 12. So many things have changed in me and in the world: I would have to write a book to answer this question. Indeed, I did write a book Shifting Worlds, Shaping Fieldwork, a memoir of Anthropology and Art,” she explains. The book was published by Routledge in 2021.

While her preferred medium is oil, she also works with “acrylic and watercolor or paper, seeds and thread, depending on the project. For installations I combine materials, often working with organza, paper, photographs and dyes,” she says, adding that “Besides visual art, writing is my primary practice.I also work with bodily movement, voice and words in performance.”

According to Ossman, thematically she is focusing on “a series called Gather Wood, Gather Words that explores the human conundrums of our relationship to other living beings, particularly in the context of climate change.”

She has created a transnational network working on this theme which includes projects in India, Brazil, the UAE and USA, as well as in Morocco, where she presented an exhibition and developed a performance with local art troupe Moumkin (possibility) at the Museum of the Tangiers American Legation in 2024.

“The project continues with the production of a play this summer by the New Views theatre called “Planet First” by William R. Duell which was developed through our joint research in Virginia’s Shanendoah Valley,” she adds.

Currently, Ossman has an exhibition at Diversions Fine Arts that includes a spectacular, massive orange-hued diptych among other works. Once that exhibition concludes at the end of July, she will be “developing my Lifeworks project, which uses bio-ethnographic techniques to produce artworks about the life experiences of other people. This relates to the presentation I plan to give at Diversions Fine Arts in the near future along with artist Julianne Allison,” she says.

Ossman is never one to rest on her laurels. “I am planning an exhibition in 2027 in Virginia related to the Gather Wood, Gather Words project; I am writing an e-book called Projects of Art Ethnography with fellow artist/anthropologist Lydia Nakashima Deggarod.”

If that isn’t enough, next year she will be organizing a meeting in Florence, Italy of her collective of serial migrant artist/scholars,  The Moving Matters Traveling Workshop. She has directed the workshop since 2013. “We develop programs on migration involving integrated research, exhibitions and performances. We are working on a partnership with the NYU global network to develop our work in Italy, and beyond, in a wide range of sites around the world.” More informations about this fascinating project can be found here. 

Summing up her work, with its sweeping lines, magical sense of movement, and illuminating, brilliantly rich palette, Osmman says simply, “It is a lyrical joining of concept and emotion.” And a beautiful one to behold.

View Ossman’s work in Midsummer, now at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery in Manhattan Beach. Artist talk and closing reception will be held on July 26th. DFA Gallery is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd.

  • Genie Davis, images by Genie Davis and Susan Ossman

Artist Jennifer Chan: The Inspiration of Life

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Artist Jennifer Chan creates work that shifts like summer shadows, her varied styles and mediums slip between glowing acrylic abstracts and pours to vivid, representative oil paintings of garden hibiscus and other flora, to layered and mysteriously geometric watercolors. Chan’s wide range of work always shows an assured hand, and a sense of wonder that shapes an alive and alchemic world, one that that envelopes viewers with a palette that is sometimes intensely vibrant and other times muted and liquid.

As an artist she says she is inspired by everything from the natural world to emotions and feelings. “Many things inspire me, the wind blowing on flowers or the way the light hits palm trees or dances on leaves. Sunsets and sunrises, the sound and smell of the ocean and the ocean breeze,” she relates. Other inspiration is more ephemeral to the eye. “I am also inspired by the emotions and feelings, either of great happiness or sadness or stress, and witnessind kindness.”

On the largest scales, she notes that “Every time I step into a large natural landscape or national park, [or I’m] diving into the ocean, [I am] given more ideas for more art. However, even what some people would consider the little things- – some salt and pepper shakers on a dining table, for example, could be my muse.”

In short every part of the world inspires Chan, whose work has grown over the years since she first began her practice by taking classes in oil at the Torrance Adult School.

“I love working with oil but it is quite messy. At the time, it was easy to do since you had classes once a week to allow time for the work to dry for a week,” she laughs. “I used to paint in oils, in a very photo-realistic style. Then COVID hit, and I decided to experiment with watercolors and acrylics. ”

Along with her art practice, Chan is also a healthcare professional, work which has affected her art and her approach to it. “The COVID pandemic was very stressful on healthcare workers, so that also changed my perspective of painting.” Painting became her release, and it also became a more intuitive and rapid moving process. “That [period of time] is how I progressed from being a photo-realistic artist into intuitive abstract expressionism. I also was having fun experimenting with pours, mixed media, collage and acrylics.”

Each of those mediums and styles have continued to be a part of Chan’s enchantingly diverse art oeurve. Her use of different materials also helped to carry her through the pandemic. “The pandemic was very stressful and that definitely made an impact on my work. At that point it felt like something in me clicked and I was very inspired to paint many things,” she says.

Today, Chan primarily works in acrylics, watercolor (as in her piece Hyperspace, above,) acrylic inks, and by collaging her own paint skins and other collage papers she creates herself. “I may go back into soft or oil pastel as well at some point and at some point work in oils again. I am right now liking the fluorescent acrylics as they are very bright and fun.”

Because of the fast-drying property of working in acrylic, she can work more quickly and have several paintings in progress in a series.

“I plan to do some more pouring and abstract collages. I was initially hesitant about using flourescent colors due to  possible issues regarding lightfastness. However, I feel that some pieces will be like a beautiful fresh and alive bouquet of flowers. They are to be enjoyed in their prime moment, then they may fade some. Do you prefer live or artificial flowers? I guess that would be the question I would ask [of viewers drawn to those specific types of work.]”

Chan also says that she very much enjoys creating “collages of my paint skins from pouring and ‘up-cycling’ of those products. Before I do an acrylic pour, I put paper on the table. Afterwards, the leftover paint dries and creates a paint skin that I can incorporate into more art pieces.”

Always inventive and resilient, Chan says that thematically right now she is planning on creating “more abstract landscapes, seascapes, ocean and tropical themed paintings and doing more experimentation, maybe adding some surfboards.” She is also excited to create more work using bright flourescents.

Chan was recently honored to have her art as one of those featured on utility boxes throughout Manhattan Beach – a sure way to get her art noticed in public spaces. “I am planning to apply to more public art projects. I also plan to participate in various community exhibitions including the group show for the Redondo Beach Art Group which will be at Destination: Art in July,” she attests, noting that her art studio is located at Destination: Art, and that she is also a member of the South Bay Watercolor Society. Most recently, she led a paint night, something which she found “very rewarding,” and with that in mind, she may “look into doing more teaching.”

  

She stresses that her “work is constantly changing and evolving. The sky is the limit when it comes to creation and new substrates and new materials.”

Catch the inventive, prolific, and profound artist’s work currently on view as one of three solo artists in Picnic Days now at Diversions Fine Arts in Manhattan Beach through June 28th. And be sure to follow her art journey on Instagram @jennifer_chan_art and on Facebook under the monniker Jennifer Chan Art.

On June 13th, Diversions Fine Arts will be conducting curatorial walk throughs between 12-4, in conjunction with a tea service reception at the Manhattan Beach Arts Center, and there will be a closing reception and artists talk at DFA on June 28th from 1 -3 p.m.  Don’t miss the chance to see the wide ranging and lustrous works Chan creates.

Diversions Fine Arts is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.

  • Genie Davis; images: Davis, and as provided by the artist

Kaye Freeman’s Visionary Color

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Artist Kaye Freeman is a magician of color, precision, and dreamlike artistry. Her voluptuous, vibrant works are visually galvanizing events for the eye. She says that she is inspired “by the majesty of life and the adventure each day brings. I am constantly moved by the incredible colors and patterns of the world around me, as well as by science, physics, and the Bhagavad Gita.”

Her love of color creates alchemic beauty as she thematically focuses on exploring “organic forms and the relationships between colors and shapes. I find great fulfillment in creating movement in 2D work and establishing mood through layering.”

The artist also explores the transformative micro and macro interconnections of the environment, the self, and nature. She works in painting, drawing, performance, and film, as she takes viewers on a passionate magical mystery tour that vibrates with color and surges with light and movement.

Always innovative, Freeman remarks that she has been “drawing and painting my entire life. While I have evolved over my 63 years, I am essentially the same artist at my core. I adapt my medium to my vision rather than letting the medium dictate the work; I’m the boss of my process.” She adds that a recent accident that resulted in a broken leg has changed the scale of her work to become smaller, and more concentrated.

Regardless, she wields her visionary passion using “almost anything as a medium—nothing is safe in my studio. I love oil paint, color pencils, and graphite. I also find editing short films incredibly fulfilling; it’s very similar to painting but much less messy.”

In the artist’s current exhibition as a solo artist in Gateways, now at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery in Manhattan Beach, she explores floral images that resonate with a sense of petal-driven power, work as brilliantly hued as it is delicately perfect. Beyond her current show, Freeman will have an upcoming group show at Band of Vices in June, followed by a collaborative exhibition at Matter Gallery for HibiscusTV in August.

What Freeman most hopes her viewers do is to experience her work “in person and be reminded of life before social media—the miracle of a plant growing or the way sunlight hits a petal. I want them to sit with the work, remember who they are, and recognize how amazing it is to be human. We are truly capable of so much wonder.”

Indeed, the artists’ work exudes a sense of lustrous wonder, something as softly, enormously welcoming and as vivid as a sunrise or sunset, colors that beg the eye to return again and again and take in the miracle of a joy, life, fecundity, and the words of poets.

Gateways will be on display at Diversions Fine Arts, through May 30th, when an artist talk and closing will take place. The gallery is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach, 90266.

  • Genie Davis; images provided by the artist and by Davis.

Amy Thornberry Takes on a World of Color and Pattern

Posted on by Diversions LA

Currently exhibiting a solo collection in Transformations, now at Diversions Fine Arts, artist Amy Thornberry works with a sense of devotion and delight in her creative work, viewing the manipulations of her materials as a playful way to pray and meditate, while transforming basic elements of paper and pigment and other mediums into beautiful creativity. Saying that she views her works as “portals into places where we may pause, wonder, and reflect,” she also relates that her knowledge of the Buddhist practice of tonglen – sending and taking –  remnds her of the ways in which, through art “we can move from the dark into the light.”

Her work dances with that light, with color, and with pattern and texture that is both exultant and lush. Asked what inspires her the most as an artist, Thornberry replies that “the nature of being, art history, current events, history, nature, and beauty” are all inspirations for her, as are both art materials and found objects. In short, both material and meaning are the core and purpose of her artwork.

Her practice has evolved over the years, resulting in many dynamic changes to the work, which is currently awash in layers, and dreamily vivid. “I used to lash out like say Franz Kline. Very fast and I had no patience to mix colors,” she relates. “Now I tinker and massage a surface endlessly.  I went to the opposite extreme of perhaps too much patience,” she laughs.

“There was a time when I had a complete aversion to making paintings and I only wanted to make installation pieces. I liked hanging and using the entire space which I think came from my background as a theater, set maker, and movie set maker. And  with my background as a competitive swimmer, I had so much physicality. I felt very confined with just a rectangle, and I think this latest body of work the framed shadowbox grew out of a way of processing that.”

Her insightful and meditative work is at least in part a result of the fact that she “thinks a lot in between studio sessions about pieces and my next steps usually come to me early in the morning, upon waking or when I am practicing yoga.”

She says that having “renounced panic” she has also “developed a love of mixed neurtrals and pastel colors,” a palette that her “younger self did not prefer.”

Thornberry works in a variety of mediums. “I use water-based paints as well as oil paints but no solvents, just linseed oil and marble dust. I also love, love, love cutting into work as well, and collaging with other papers and fabrics. I have a huge collection of fabrics and papers. ” She adds that “lately I have been craving drawing as well with colored pencil, conte or ink…I have a love a little bling and metallic shine.”

Thematically, she explains that she’s “a very protective mama bear/big sister and cannot NOT think [and] be influenced by things I find unjust or hurtful to humanity. Making art and getting lost, creating reverie, is a way I think to make sense of things, to process them, and to transform them.”

According to the artist, “I guess its a therapeutic way to use my love of formalism and materiality.” She jokes that she is “very practical,” after all.

That said, she attests that “My aim is for this reverie and creation of a refuge if you will, [one that exists] not only during the making of the work but for as long as it can be looked upon. Staring at art is so much easier than dealing with all the remote controls and trying to decide what to watch on all the streaming services. I am a joking a little,” she says, adding that these are her honest feelings about art, and observation.

In short, Thornberry recognizes the poetry and purpose of art as having a deeper import and more peaceful and involving outcome in viewing it than endlessly watching streaming “content.” Art is far deeper than content: it is creation, and a profound one for her.

With that in mind, she is currently “reorganizing my life in order to move to a bigger studio and work on some larger
canvases,”  a plan and move that she is very excited about pursuing.

She hopes viewers of her work can see that “even [having] one art piece hanging in their home is like a mini-opera or a taking trip. Support your artist friends, buy their work, and sit back and enjoy the show and trip.” In other words, vacation and immerse yourself every day if you wish, simply by owning a beautiful work of art, and taking a lifetime filled with imaginative and fascinating visceral travel through the mind, eye, and soul.

Viewers can certainly start their travels with Thornberry April 11th through May 3rd at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach, or reach out to her directly for a studio visit to explore her dazzlingly delightful and layered work.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and provided by the artist