Annie Clavel: Art That Bursts With Texture

Posted on by Diversions LA
Annie Clavel’s work is a swirling expansion of the visual soul, bursting with texture and triumphant with color. According to the artist, her inspiration is as diverse as her work. Currently, she says “I enjoy following the launch of new telescopes designed to explore the cosmos. There are so many unanswered questions about the true nature of the universe. Perhaps for me, this is a way to put our existence on Earth into perspective amidst the news and scenes that surround us. That’s where some of my inspiration comes from.”
But she also finds inspiration closer to earth, “I am constantly influenced by what I see in my daily life: the California light, the movement of a hummingbird outside my window, or the shouts of a homeless person near the Taco Bell [in my neighborhood.]”
And then there is a fascinating right-brain component. “Mathematics, which I have both studied and taught, plays a significant role in my art and helps me envision abstract worlds.” The depths of the cosmos, indeed.
Clavel began painting over forty years ago, she says, creating figurative watercolor work while still living in France, prior to her move to Callifornia. While still abroad, she “set out to explore abstract atmospheres using acrylics.  Upon arriving in the United States some twenty years ago, I faced several challenges: gaining a better understanding of American culture, defining what I wanted to paint, and building a network.”
As an artist, Clavel more than rose to those challenges. She describes herself as influenced by Dael Patton, an instructor at the Palos Verdes Art Center, which led her to be “truly immersed  in abstraction. I joined various art associations and participated in numerous exhibitions. I also felt that, as the years went by, figurative painting was losing the meaning I had originally attached to it, whereas abstract art was taking on profound significance for me.”
With that change, Clavel also changed her mediums. “For many years, I worked with watercolor on paper. Today, however, my preferred mediums are acrylic on canvas and watercolor on YUPO.  When painting with acrylics, I enjoy mixing fluid paints to create new colors, then applying them in free, layered strokes onto a stretched canvas.”
The artists points out that she “began using watercolor much more intensively after discovering YUPO as a new painting surface. YUPO is a non-absorbent paper that allows water to flow and colors to blend unpredictably. For me, the medium’s fluidity and watercolor’s vast color palette are major assets; they allow me to give free rein to my imagination as I explore abstract worlds and the events associated with them.”
Thematically, with her family living throughout the globe, she is exploring both her Vietnamese and French roots. “I would like to channel my inspiration into the feelings I have about the diversity of my background and the diverse environment I am now immersed in. I would like to develop a series dedicated to my ancestors and my scattered family. I think I will use a softer palette, without bright colors.”
In her current exhibition at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, she displays an audacious and awesome mix of color, thick layers of paint, pinwheel-perfect small paper sculptures, and dreamy watercolor Rohrschachs.
She will also be participating in an open studio tour October 3rd and 4th from 1 to 5 pm, at 3101 E 2nd Street, #7C, Long Beach, and in an exhibition titled “Right Here, Right Now” on October 10th from 4-7 at Gallery Hellada at 117 Linden Ave also in Long Beach.
Regardless of where you view her lustrous work, Clavel wants her viewers to know that she lets her “instinct and intuition guide” her work in order to “capture parallel moments of time, advancing each work towards a personal resolution. I never sketch before painting. I put my present feelings directly on the surface, hoping that the viewers will find an echo in themselves.”
Clavel’s solo show in Diversions Fine Arts’ Golden Days exhibition runs through October 4th with an artist talk and closing 1-3 on that date. DFA is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.
– Genie Davis, photos provided by the artist and Davis

The Magical World of Glenn Waggner’s Figurative Art

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Every picture tells a story, and for artist Glenn Waggner, it’s a magical one, merging the real world with a sense of wit and wonder. Working in oil,  Waggner creates resonant, meaningful figurative works that soar with imagination and devote themselves to indelible detail.

Waggner is both an architecht and an artist, and as such, it is perhaps unsurprising that he says he is “inspired by cities and mostly urban environments. A few times I have been in certain places where I had the feeling that everything was perfect. That’s what I want to paint.”

When he first began his journey as an artist he says he “started out painting twisting buildings at impossible angles. The work evolved into a more realistic portrayal while becoming more abstracted and looser. He adds that “Over time, the lighting and tones have become a little more surreal, like the lighting that occurs during an eclipse or seen in dreams.”

Make no mistake, Waggner’s worlds have that special hint of the magical that transforms even the most recognizable scene of getting morning coffee at a stand or hailing a taxi.  He works in oils exclusively and finds that he plans to keep that medium as his first choice for creation.

“I switched to acrylics for a short time, and while I found the colors were the same, acrylics dried way too fast for me. I like to blend the paint in layers to give it a richness,” he points out.

Thematically, he says he is moving toward a change, however. “I am heading towards a more abstracted, expressionistic style. Not abstract expressionism, but more of a disruption of images.”

While he is currently exhibiting a solo exhibition at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, he will also be exhibiting at the Brewery Artwalk in November, where he has shown for ten years; and returning to DFA for an exhibition in a December group show.

He is also looking forward to building a new body of work for future shows, and regardless of the changes he is planning in his work thematically, he will always tell wonderful stories. Asked what comes first, the story-making or the visual art, he says “The visuals almost always come first. The narrative develops naturally during creation. I also like to have fun with titles.”

Above: Waggner uses a skateboard for a canvas for his “Mall Grip;” detail of same; a look at “Girl Times Three.”

Waggner adds that “I love it when people see my work and [I can] watch it trigger memories or a narrative, many times completely different from what I see or intend.”

Certainly in his current exhibition, there are a wide range of pieces that could and do evoke memories and stories in the viewer, such as a stunning, panoramic take on LA’s Dingbat architecture; another such dimensional piece depicting a stunning view of the Strand beach walk, sea and sky…

…and even a simple and warmly recognizable image of a surf-board-carrying youth, holding his iPhone as he does what the title suggests, “Texting in Sick” in order to catch a wave.

There are orange clad monks in meditation, a dark car on a rain-slick road, a mustard-yellow train engine chugging on, and even a lovely portrait of the Broad Museum in DTLA.

Take a peak at these and other examples of Waggner’s bountiful, beautiful slice-of-life visual stories in Golden Days, now at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Redondo Beach through October 4th.

  • Genie Davis; photos courtesy of the artist and Davis

 

Linda Stelling Paints Nature’s Portraits

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Linda Stelling doesn’t paint what she sees: instead she paints what she knows, “from my childhood, from my life. Nature first; the garden, the weather, water, atmosphere, seasonal change, environmental shifts…I absorb it from experiencing it and noticing.”

She describes color as a “physical necessity for me: color is my food.” And she washes that down with a deep perception, she says.
“I’m fascinated by how differently we each see and experience the same thing.”

Stelling’s work is also steeped in memory, dreams, and the subconscious, and she lets her work lead her brush. “I respond to how the painting wants me to go. Inspiration for me can come from anywhere. I think I’m constantly collecting things without realizing I’m doing it at all.”

While the artist began making art at a young age, supported by a family that included those who were artists herself, her art creation has shifted and grown over the years. “Style has alway been difficult to identify from the inside. I’m highly responsive to my surroundings and experiences and these leaves residues which stick to my emotional cavity, affecting my choices…but I don’t think I am always aware of that.”

She notes that change is ineveitable for her, because she is always absorbing her art work. “I can’t remain the same. For me it would be horribly boring.”

Her art has an alchemic energy, whether she is creating landscapes with full moons or blazing suns, calming ocean waves, or bouquets of clouds. She creates abstract, hot pink and orange striations as seemingly effortlessly as she shapes figurative cloud and seascapes and flowers and a wide range of landscapes and emotional scales between the two.

“Place was a big change for me,” she says. Originally living in Wisconsin, coming to Los Angeles was exciting and challenging for her, she notes.  “Sensitivity and experience gave me a different way of seeing. What changed in me is what changed the work. I think what has changed most is not necessarily how I create but how much more life I bring with me when I go to the studio.”

She adds that becoming a mother changed her “internal compass. Time became more real. Time eventually asks us to choose. Wandering has given me material. I’ve taken detours, changed environments, taught, and kept making work. Time is funny thing.”

Stelling works in a wide range of mediums from painting, weaving, and wearable art, to ceramic sculpture, stained glass, and the creations of large scale installations. Her undergraduate degere in ceramic sculpture helped give her “form and dimensionality,” but painting has become her “most immediate language.”

Currently, the artist has a solo exhibition at Diversions Fine Arts in Manhattan Beach,  and a near-future goal in mind, to “develop a two or multi- women show at a large space.”

In the meantime, nature is her manifestor. “[It] is sensory for me. The changing light, a sudden warm current of air that can change all movement. I notice everything…Sound, smell , vibrations, all produce a reaction and a resonance.”

Color is a big component of that manifestation. ” It’s what drives me, excites me, feeds me on so many levels. My emotional brain goes on overload. Color is how nature reaches me. The studio which is like a giant tree house that provides me with a bird’s eye view of blue water, green trees, pink and red flowers, the bluejays flying by ( stopping for the peanuts I feed them). Color is sustenance for me.”  She attests that “Painting is mark making but color says what marks cannot.”

It is also an invitation from Stelling. “It pulls the viewer toward the painting and then asks them to enter it. Once inside, I’m not asking them to understand anything, just allow a memory or recognition. If I’m lucky, the viewer might leave with a sensation or a pleasure.

Diversions Fine Arts is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach. The exhibition runs through October 4th; there will be a curatorial walk through at 3 p.m. on October 3rd; on October 4th, an artist talk and closing reception will run from 1-3 p.m.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist and by Diversions Fine Arts

Graceful Watercolors: The Art of Claudia Kazachinsky

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Claudia Kazachinsky primarily works in watercolor, painting delicately nuanced beauty inspired by everyday life. Everything this prolific and passionate artist sees becomes an image she cherishes and often paints.

She says “from a flower I photograph on one of my walks to an interesting face or scene I happen to notice in a restaurant, museum, or while traveling… I think artists are always observing the world around them, and I’m no exception. I am an avid urban sketcher and almost always carry a sketchbook, a pen, and a small watercolor palette with me because I never know when I’ll come across something I want to capture. I consider myself primarily an observational artist, painting what I see, but I also love to let my imagination take over. ”

According to Kazachinsky, she often adds “whimsical elements, rich textures, expressive backgrounds, and handmade printed paper collages that bring another layer of interest and storytelling to my work. While my paintings begin with real-life observations, they often evolve into something that reflects not just what I saw, but how I experienced the moment.”

She began painting when she was a small child and never stopped. “Art has always been a part of my life,” she attests. “I can honestly say that my style has continually involved.”

When she began to paint regularly ten years ago, she relates that she worked “almost entirely from observation,” describing herself as more timid with her art. While today she still begins her work by painting what she sees, now she is more willing to “let my imagination take over” and introduce “unexpected elements, textures, and patterns that make each painting uniquely my own.”

The artist describes herself as a “fast, loose painter” and notes that her current challenge is learning to “slow down and pay closer attention to detail. I especially love painting portraits and the human figure, although it took me a long time to become confident with them. As the saying goes, it’s ‘all about the miles on the brush. Every painting has taught me something.”

While she says that her first love is and always will be watercolor, she also enjoys working in mixed media. In regard to watercolor, she explains that “Most people don’t realize that it’s actually one of the most difficult mediums to master. I love its
spontaneity, its fluidity, and the luminosity of its colors. There is something magical about watching the paint move across the paper, creating effects that can’t be completely controlled.”

When it comes to mixed media she says that she jokes about throwing “everything at the canvas but the kitchen sink. I enjoy experimenting with texture, collage, handmade printed papers, and anything else that adds depth and interest to the work.”

Kazachinsky has even returned to a past love of oil painting, rediscovering her enjoyment of the medium. ” Unlike watercolor, oil forces me to slow down. The longer drying time gives me the opportunity to step back, rethink, and refine my paintings,
something that has been an important part of my growth as an artist.”

Over the years, her work has changed most dramatically in terms of thematic focus, having initially spent many years painting portraits. “In 2019, while visiting Washington, D.C., we happened to stumble upon the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Standing in those galleries, I made a promise to myself that one day I would submit my own work to the competition…it has motivated me to keep learning, growing, and becoming a better portrait painter with every brushstroke.”

That said, Kazachinsky creates dynamic floral works and delightful images of animals as well.  And while she describes portraiture as her “greatest passion” she also enjoys plein air painting that allows her to “observe light, atmosphere, and color in a way that continues to influence all of my work.”

Her current exhibition at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery in Manhattan Beach represents “the largest body of work I have had
the opportunity to showcase,” but the artist continues to be an integral part of multiple group exhibitions around greater Los Angeles.

Kazachinksy spent nearly 35 years as an interior designer while continuing to paint throughout her career. That experience gave her “a unique perspective on how art transforms a space and how the right piece can completely change the feeling of a home.”

She loves to assist collectors and designers in sourcing artwork and placing it. “Choosing art isn’t simply about finding something that matches the sofa—it’s about selecting pieces that speak to you emotionally while also considering scale, proportion, placement, and how the artwork interacts with the architecture and furnishings around it.”

She feels that some people are intimated by the act of buying original art simply because they don’t know enough about it. “My goal is to make that process enjoyable and approachable. Art should move you first and foremost, but when it is thoughtfully
chosen and beautifully displayed, it has the power to elevate not only a room but the way you experience your home every day.”

Viewers can let Kazachinsky’s art elevate their lives at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery through August 30th. The gallery is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach. A gallery hop with other area galleries will take place August 22nd 12-3; the exhibition will have a closing reception and artist talk on the 30th from 1-3 p.m. along with fellow exhibiting artists Jeffrey Sklan and Angelica Sotiriou.

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