Portable Strength | Chitra Gopala

A collection of botanic portraits of flowers and cacti that act as little memories of this local southern California region. The floral portraits are of native species of plants that populate the countryside whereas the cacti are more whimsical representations of the landscape, carrying with them the strength, light and energy of this geographic region.

Chitra is a graphic designer and painter with a great affinity for new media and traditional craft forms. Co-founder of an artisan-centered social enterprise called Kara Weaves, Chitra also has an MFA in Graphic Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and from the ESAG Penninghen, Paris. Her studio practice is informed by various aspects of her business and life. She creates works that question the spaces women inhabit in contemporary society and their relationship to the world around them.

The Neural Pathways | Cataphant, 2019 Acrylic on wood, 4x4inches. ($75 each)

The Neural Pathways series is a celebration of how recent advances in brain imaging has allowed us to get a better look at the brain’s architecture, which reveals that neural pathways are far more structured than once previously thought, despite how random and disorganized thinking may often feel. The creation of these pieces was a meditative exercise, imagining the pathways of anxious thoughts in an effort to slow and redirect them.

Enduring Passion | Anna Stump

Nudes (drawings and paintings) with collaged text from the 1950s marriage manual, "Enduring Passion"

Anna Stump is an artist and arts educator living in San Diego and Los Angeles. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at Occidental College and her Master of Fine Arts at San Diego State University. She was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to Turkey in 2006-2007 (kloeamongtheturks.com) and was recently awarded residencies at Cill Rialaig, Ireland, Centre Pompadour, France and Guapamacataro, Mexico. Anna teaches studio art courses at Grossmont College.

“My work as a painter, performance artist and curator is intimately connected. Interest in body politics, feminism, and physicality is grounded in community building and education, which I challenge personally by cultural risk-taking. My job is to both please and provoke.”

($50 each)

Jonny Alexander

Jonny Alexander comes to us with an introspective look at our natural planet. Growing up in California and spending his time exploring the state’s deserts, mountains and coastlines his art sheds light on the intricate patterns of the natural environment and the varying forms it takes. Drawing connections between patterns in nature and patterns in us, his work walks a thin line between existentialism and surrealism. Work that takes into account the duality of our lives in society and our lives in a greater world. He has painted murals in Detroit, San Diego, San Francisco, Miami, Denver, Mexico, and New Zealand. He has shown works in galleries from Cass Contemporary in Tampa to Inner State Gallery in Detroit, to 111 Minna in San Francisco and more. Not only does his practice include studio and public art but he also holds a BFA in Traditional Printmaking. He spent the Summer 2015 – Summer 2017 as the Master Printer and Co-Director of the Artists in Residence Program for the publishing company 1XRUN in Detroit, MI. Working with artists from varying countries and disciplines to create unique hand pulled screen print editions. His personal work has always shined in addition to helping others create their unique vision through print. You may find Jonny in his studio painting small details, out working on a mural, in the printmaking studio or possibly outside somewhere crouched down looking very closely at a stick or some rocks.

1-5: Gouache on Illustration Board 4 1⁄2” x 5” $60

6-8: Ink / Graphite 3 1⁄4” x 4 1⁄2” $50

 Permanent Dreams| Joe Cantrell

“This series is an effort to concretize the ephemeral human experience of dreaming, using transcription of a close friend’s extraordinary dreams. The normally-fleeting memories are etched permanently in recycled ceramic tiles. They can be used or displayed as art objects, but can also be included in permanent construction, as you would use any ceramic tile.”- Joe Cantrell

Joe Cantrell is a musician and multi media artist. His work is inspired by the implications and consequences of technological objects and practices. Cantrell’s practice examines the incessant acceleration of technology and media production, the ownership of same, and its effects on our collective identities and memories. He utilizes a variety of techniques to accomplish this including re-purposed materials, feedback, and computer-generation. Cantrell holds a BFA from CalArts, an MFA in Digital Arts from UC Santa Cruz, and a PhD in integrative studies from UC San Diego.

Botanical Hybrids | Amanda Kachadoorian

Amanda Kachadoorian is a contemporary painter who creates botanical hybrids based on individuals multicultural history.

Amanda Rose Kachadoorian is an emerging Californian artist who was born and raised in San Diego, California. She is a recent graduate from the University of California, Berkeley with a BFA in Art Practice. Her art practice has been focused on painting and drawing while experimenting with mixed media, sculpture, and installation. Her body of work aims to express the notions of identity, psychology, ephemerality, and nature. Every concept has an underlying relationship with one another which she intends to create a dialogue around. She derives these ideas from human anatomy, diverse plant life, and individuals’ multi-cultural background.

 Sweater Drawings | Michelle Montjoy

Michelle Montjoy is an Oceanside based visual artist. Her work ranges from room sized knitted installations to tiny drawings, centered around ideas of connection, loss, comfort and protection. Montjoy has shown at numerous art venues in San Diego and beyond, notably at MCASD and in the San Diego International Airport.

$40 each

SendFrom | HILLERY KEMP

Greetings FROM San Diego: Adventures in recycled, handmade postcards encouraging creative thoughtfulness on the go.

After nearly a decade of professional marketing/branding experience, Kemp traded in her blazer for a Postmaster uniform. She created FROM, a create-it-yourself greeting card concept on wheels. In Al Green, a 1971 neon green postal Jeep, others can make cards from all recycled materials, design them using rubber stamps from reclaimed wood, and send the card right from the postal Jeep.

Bees | Don Porcella

Don Porcella seeks to transform low-brow materials and elevate them to a high art context, creating a highly imaginative world that pokes fun at the human condition.

Don Porcella was born and raised in Modesto, California. His artwork has been exhibited at galleries and museums across the U.S. and in Berlin, Paris, and Copenhagen. He holds a BA in Psychology from UCSD, a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts and an MFA from Hunter College in New York. Porcella has received grants from the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island, the Brooklyn Arts Council, an EAF Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park, and the 2012 West Collects Prize. He completed residencies at the Museum of Arts and Design and Swatch Art Peace Hotel Shanghai. Porcella also created multiple installations for Hermes retail spaces in Manhattan and Shanghai.

Marlboro Man | JUSTIN A. MCHUGH

McHugh’s recent body of work, deconstructs the myth of the Marlboro Man through collage and video installation-- a truly American figure, manufactured to represent freedom, manifest destiny, and rugged masculinity-- while simultaneously concealing and coercing a cancerous, addictive product. This recent series is a reflection, a meditation on the western notion of complete power or control over the landscape, exploring the consequences of manifest destiny, and exposing the semiotics of advertising and addiction. Justin A McHugh lives and works in San Diego, and is a BFA candidate at UCSD. His work often appropriates or assimilates familiar imagery, in ways that cause the viewer to question their preconceived notions of truth and of myth.

$45 each

Poems | Kevin Devaney

Collection of custom-written poetry in volumes for children and adults.
Kevin Devaney is a writer, entrepreneur, and professional typewriter poet. For the past three years, he has been traveling the country, writing custom poems on a typewriter in cities from Provincetown, MA to San Diego, CA. He is a graduate of the Sarah Lawrence MFA program, a regular performer with the Poetry Society of New York, and has been granted residencies from the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the Steelville Arts Council, The Santa Cruz Arts Council, Iconica Social Club, and the North Street Collective (forthcoming). From the founding of Northampton Poetry in 2009, a significant portion of his artistic expression has been dedicated to honing how to present poetry, how to cultivate poetry communities, and how to get poets compensated for the value of their work.

Otomi Paintings | KATIE RUIZ

Katie Ruiz is a Chicana artist who resides in San Diego. She was raised in LA and Northern Arizona. Ruiz is known for her blanket series, which portrays couples standing or lying under colorful Mexican blankets. Her travels to over 22 countries have influenced her work, especially in the use of Latin American textiles, and she uses bright colors and geometric patterns. Ruiz grew up with her single mother and younger sister, and draws strength from the female figures in her life. Relationships play a large role in Ruiz’s paintings. She also feels a powerful connection to nature, and incorporates natural objects into her weavings and sculptures. She has BFA from Northern Arizona University and an MFA from The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture in NYC.