YVONNE APODACA has been sewing since age 12. She was a prize winning sewer in sewing competitions in her teen years. After graduating from NYU she had a successful career in the entertainment industry and worked for MTV as well as News Corporation (Fox) before starting a family and settling back down in her home town of San Diego. In San Diego, Yvonne started and co-owned her own successful baby line, Little Marie's and also started a non-profit awareness group, Mission for Music, whose goal was to keep music alive and well in San Diego city schools. She was also the co-owner of Home ec. Studio in South Park where she shared her sewing knowledge to create fun projects for "seamsters" of all ages. Yvonne now runs her own esthetics business, Wax and Glow in Mission Hills in San Diego, California.

AMY BECRAFT is a graphic designer and artist. She began her studies at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, holds a BFA in Painting from San Francisco Art Institute, an MBA from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, and studied graphic design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She shares her dedication to art and design, with a generous dose of humor and wit, a fun spirit and accomplishments in both fields, with all of her students. As an instructor, Amy cultivates a comfortable, open and interactive environment for experimentation, creativity, and knowledge building. She taught art fundamentals and woodworking in Zurich, Switzerland, and has taught typography, information design, packaging design, page layout and graphic design at San Diego City College, San Diego State University and Southwestern College.

CHRISTOPHER CONROE is a classically trained Fine Artist applying his talents and skills to painting, graphic design, and illustration. He earned his BA in Art from San Francisco State University, where he also studied abroad for a year at l'Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, Italy. He earned his MFA in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and also completed a Certificate of Accomplishment in Graphic Design from Mira Costa College.

Christopher has been creating fine art, illustrations, and designs since 2012, showing in exhibitions across California. Before that he exhibited in Florence, Italy, and New York City. He recently displayed work in shows sponsored by the San Diego Museum of Art Artist Guild and the Oceanside Museum of Art Artist Guild, The San Dieguito Art Guild, & La Jolla Art Association. His design clients have included Prodigi Kids, The Del Mar Art Center Gallery, The San Dieguito Art Guild and The Whole Food Nut.

Christopher enjoys creating abstract and plein air paintings as well as doing graphic design and illustration. He values the opportunity to create, express, and innovate that art provides.   www.christopherconroefineart.com

JEAN DEGENFELDER of Jean’s Handwovens holds a Bachelor of Arts in Clothing and Textiles from San Diego State University and began weaving in 1994. She has continued her training at fiber workshops, seminars and conferences in the United States and in Europe and Asia. She shares her passion for fibers in classrooms throughout San Diego County, and during the summer, operates a summer school for young artists at her studio, which is housed in a yurt at her family compound in northern San Diego County. For weaver and designer Jean Degenfelder, it all begins with color. Her one-of-a-kind jackets, shawls, bags, capes and specialty garments are infused with hues that can be rich, bright, and vibrant, or more subtle and muted in nature. Jean blends cottons, rayon chenille and silk in her work, and is now incorporating Tencel™ which has a silk-like quality and creates a soft cloth that drapes easily. Once Jean has created the cloth, its size and texture helps determine which garments she will create.

Jean's work has been shown at Contemporary Craft Market, Santa Monica and San Francisco; American Art Festivals, San Jose, San Diego, and Santa Monica; Festival of Arts, Tempe, Arizona; and Great Arts and Crafts Festival, Las Vegas, among other venues. Her work is available at Weaving Southwest, Taos, New Mexico; The Weaving Center, New Hampshire, and on the internet through her website at www.jeanshandwovens.com

Bravo's co- founder, LAUREN BECKER DOWNEY was born an artist. She remembers creating her first weaving in kindergarten when she made her Mom a pot holder. Earning a BFA in Weaving and Textile Design from Tyler School of Art of Temple University in Philadelphia, she was immersed in the world of art making. She also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Utah. For many years, she exhibited woven tapestries and painted fabrics of abstract, nonrepresentational imagery. Lauren now uses Mosaics and Painted Furniture as the medium for her expression. As a Founder of Bravo School of Art, the former Director of Workshops at the Art Academy of San Diego, and the former owner of Bravo Gallery and Bravo Workshop, Lauren has been involved in San Diego’s arts community since 1990. She has been teaching art and fine crafts to adults throughout San Diego County since 1992.

WENDY FETTERLY is a painter, illustrator and chalk artist working and living in San Diego, CA. Wendy graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a degree in drawing and painting. She uses her skills to create murals, chalkboards for displays and menu boards for clients. Wendy complements her fine art background with a love of technology, as she also works in graphic design and website design.

ANNE GAFFEY’s work is a joy to behold. Her work has depth, dimension and delight. Each art creation tells an uplifting tale. Gaffey says, “I paint with intention from a dream, a memory, a conversation, a feeling, an open heart. Through my use of color and design I hope to inspire happiness, lightness and uplift your spirit!”. Gaffey says her own work has been influenced by abstract artists including de Kooning, Jackson Pollack, Jasper Johns, Chagall, Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Originally from California, Gaffey lived in Connecticut and Massachusetts before returning to San Diego in October of 2020.

Gaffey started her career twenty-five years ago working mainly with designers and their clients to create custom pieces of art including decorative furniture, beautiful floor cloths and mosaic tables. She has done set design and won 2nd place in a window design contest at the Williams-Sonoma store at Horton Plaza in San Diego, CA. Gaffey’s style is influenced by the artists and teachers she has studied with over the years, such as Niki de Saint Phalle in 1999/2000. She worked with her on the Queen Califia’s Magical Circle Garden project in Escondido, CA.

Gaffey has exhibited in several shows in Boston and the surrounding area. She exhibited in a group show in NYC’s Highline District in West Chelsea. Additionally, Gaffey was represented by Canvas Fine Art. annegaffeyart.com

STACIE BIRKY GREENE originally from Colorado, received degrees in Art and Art History from the University of Kentucky. She also studied in Florence, Italy, and at the Art Institute of Chicago. Her focus is on painting; she also explores creating art through a wide variety of media, including drawing, installation, and photography. The central focus of Stacie's recent work is an exploration of nature lost, through a series drawings of endangered birds and birds who have gone extinct in her lifetime. Stacie lives in San Diego and exhibits her artwork locally and internationally. She has taught art to children and adults since 1998.

DANIELA RADOVIC HESS was born in former Yugoslavia and raised in the urban cozy sprawls of Mostar, Daniela’s fine artistic aesthetic was shaped early on by the distinctive beauty and light of her city, and Southern Europe.

Daniela is currently living in San Diego, California, she has lived and traveled halfway around the globe. Her rich, versatile and complex background greatly influences her art, as her ideas come from reflecting on the culture and the lives of people she has known, the places she has lived, and have been inspired by.

Daniela’s love for art, and the amazing effect that art has had on her life, has inspired her to become an art teacher so she can guide her students to discover, nurture and develop their passion for art, and realize their potential in art and their lives. She graduated the intensive art teacher training program with Prima Materia Institute.

Nancy Isbell has been a full time artist since 1972. After graduating from Humboldt State University, with honors and a bachelor's degree in art, she began a career in art at Sea World as an illustrator and graphic artist designing gifts and souvenirs. In 1974 she traveled to the Virgin Islands where she worked at an advertising agency as a graphic artist and illustrator. In 1976, after completing a teacher credential for teaching art, instead of teaching she began painting large works on restaurant walls, traveling all over the United States.Since 1980 Nancy has been providing artistic services to clients: Murals, Trompe' l Oeil, Faux Finishes, Carousel Restoration, Signage, Illustration, Watercolors, Oils. The work ranges from canvas paintings, to large murals. Nancy has traveled extensively to restaurants and homes around the country, decorating walls with her own style of scenery and trompe l’ oeil.Nancy's favorite challenge is to create a mood through the use of her own imagined idyllic settings. Some of the tangible results are in the form of murals, found in private residences, schools and businesses. In addition to producing artwork, she has been teaching seminars and classes in art techniques to adults and children in private lessons, summer camps, and in the public schools.Trained by the San Diego Unified School District in ways to implement the CA Visual Arts Standards, Nancy has been presenting visual art lessons to elementary teachers as part of a teacher training program since 2003. www.nancyisbellarts.com

As a teenager, artist IRINA KOREN immigrated to United States from Russia in 1991. Making art is her way of connecting cultures. In her paintings, she focuses on uncovering layers of human perception of the world and our place in it through juxtaposition of colors, textures, and concepts. Irina strives to evoke emotion and start a dialogue about the important concepts of modern life, our role in it, and the problems we are facing. She finds beauty in ordinary objects that inspire her artwork and wants to challenge the viewer to see familiar things in a new way. Irina earned a BA in Visual Communication from Maryland Institute College of Art. Irina enjoys helping her students find their creative voice. It is very rewarding to see art bring more joy and beauty into their lives.
www.irinasartstudio.net

SHELBY MARZONI has not always been a painter, but she’s been a teacher for 48 years! She began as a graduate instructor in the Sociology Department at Purdue University and transitioned to health education after completing her Ph.D. in 1983. Before moving to San Diego in 1987, she became certified as a Childbirth Educator and taught classes for Sharp Healthcare for 15 years. During the later years of raising her five children, her creative drive began to stretch and awaken from its long dormancy. She wrote and completed a yet-unpublished novel and began to paint; studying with Olya Losina at Losina Art Center. Shelby has experience teaching painting to students ranging in age from 12 to 94; at an after-school art program for junior high and high school students and in a weekly acrylic painting class at the Imperial Beach Senior Center. She has also led paint parties at churches, birthday parties, corporate events, and vineyards. Whether it’s a serious painting class or an event “just for fun,” Shelby tries to work in some technical takeaways or a tidbit of art history for the curious. For the past several years, Shelby began to turn more to oil as her preferred medium. She loves the buttery texture, the amazing blending capabilities, its longer drying time, the luminous colors one can achieve, and the ability to layer glazes. A lifelong learner, Shelby is always a painter, a teacher, and a student. She has an ongoing coaching relationship with Oceanside painter, Margaret Chiaro, whose magical realism style continues to influence her approach to landscapes, portraits, and multi-figural scenes. Shelby has shown her work at Art on 30th, the Athenaeum, Escondido Arts Partnership, Studio Door, the Coronado Art Walk, Studio 21 in Spanish Village, and the first annual Chula Vista Art Festival. She was honored to win First Prize in the Front Porch Gallery juried show in 2019. Shelby currently lives and paints in the South Park community of San Diego.

Landscape Painting in Oils

ORNA McCANN is an artist specializing in, painting, drawing, illustration, design, photography, and publishing her books on Amazon. For more than 20 years, she has taught Fine Arts to all grade levels, from preschool to university and beyond. Orna received her BA in Studio Art from Clark University, Worcester, MA. Her still-life photographs are in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France and in private collections.

MARJORIE PEZZOLI is a San Diego silk artist whose color and imaging technique has captured the attention of San Diego designers. With elegant artistry and a penchant for pattern, Marjorie is inspired by the sheen of silk, and the play and flow of color on fabric. Each of her signature pieces is uniquely crafted using high quality color-fast dye and the precise ‘Pezzoli’ touch. The style and charm of her wearable silks are sure to be a winner in any wardrobe. She has also created interior pieces for both retail and personal use. Over the years, her silks have been in galleries, boutiques, museums & museum gift shops. Marjorie has been featured in The Best of Hand Painted Silk by Diane Tuckman and Jan Janas, and is a member of the San Diego Silk Guild. She has been painting silk for over 20 years, and enjoys sharing her knowledge of silk painting with her students. Her hand dyed silk fabric was showcased in ‘Art Meets Fashion’, San Diego’s 2011 premiere art and fashion event. Her large silk wraps accompanied Debb Solan's Fairy dresses on the runway for Leonard Simpson's 2013 & 2015 Fashion Fundraisers. Other projects in which Marjorie is involved are Sea Changes Act and The Jellygirls; both to promote ocean awareness and stewardship. Her sea silks were at the Museum of Monterery and at Oceanside Museum of Art.

SUSAN ROTHMAN always had crayons or a paintbrush in her hands. In college, she debated between teaching and art. Art won! After graduating from Northern Illinois University, Susan began her career in graphic design. Then came her own children and painting furniture and murals. She went on to receive her teaching credential from University of California San Diego, and then taught art in the Solana Beach School District. Next she taught in the San Diego Unified School District VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) program, and worked with neurodiverse students and discovered how much art sparked their inner souls. She was inspired to go back to school and earned her special education credential and Masters in Art and Autism from Point Loma Nazarene University. Her time as a special education teacher in the Chula Vista Elementary School District is where she touched many lives. Susan’s journey led her to special education advocacy work and also teaching a variety of art classes and helping her students express themselves and find their creative outlet. She believes there is something very therapeutic about watching art emerge as students create; whether it’s mixed media, mosaic, journaling, or watercolor. Her speciality is giving neurodivergent students a voice in the arts. Art is a safe space for these students, and also for others, with mental health conditions, to express themselves and shine. When she is not teaching art, Susan can be found spending time with her grandkids or her favorite poodle, Norman.

LEE ANNA YATER has been creating art since childhood. Both her parents, being artists themselves, encouraged and supported all of her creative endeavors. LeeAnna began her professional art career as a weaver in 1985. She eventually evolved to "fiber paintings”. The images she chooses for her artwork are a reflection of personal experiences, usually memories of childhood and dreams. However, Lee Anna enjoys the challenge of creating artwork for any one who may want a piece narrating their life and/or interests. The education and years of experience as an artist and designer have allowed her to be open to and challenged by various unique projects that have come her way.