Artists in Focus – to see all, click HERE.
This is a selection from the current collection of Focus On The Masters artist documentation. Click on the picture or artist name to view the portrait, biography, media presentations and website of the artist.
All artists’ portraits are by Donna Granata. The photographs and artworks shown on this website are copyrighted by the artists and may not be reproduced without permission from the copyright owner. By entering this website, you agree to these conditions.
William McEnroe
Painter/Pastel Artist
With his wonderful wit, playful sense of humor and quotes of wisdom, Bill McEnroe shared with FOTM how, in 1950, he was plucked upon graduating from Stanford University to develop the...
William Hendricks
Photographer
Bill Hendricks is drawn to disappearing and shifting cultures, to the vulnerable among us, to the moment that separates today from tomorrow. His lens captures time and isolates it, giving us the...
William B. Dorsey
Painter
Primarily self-taught, William was best known as a California Landscape Painter. His paintings were reminiscent of the California Impressionists with rich atmospheric perspective and depth. It is important.....
Wesley Johnson
Painter
Wesley E. Johnson was born in Ojai, California and became involved with art while studying at Ventura College, where his plans were to become an engineer. He continued his art education at the Brooks Institute and...
Wayne Alaniz Healey
Painter/Sculptor/Muralist
“I think of myself as a journalist,” says Wayne Alaniz Healy, a painter, sculptor, muralist and retired aerospace engineer who understands the passion and political power of art. Through his...
Virginia Kron
Cellist
Accolades abound for Ojai resident Virginia Kron. She is called “a remarkable musician [with a] distinctive cello style.” Kron received her Bachelor’s in Music degree from University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1977...
Viq McCaslin
Ceramist
Ojai ceramist Viqui McCaslin is a Native American Yaqui Indian respected for her public art. Her work, which encompasses historic and environmental themes, is explored primarily through ceramic tile. McCaslin's...
Valerie Noelle
Environmental Artist/Ceramist
Valerie Noelle's work is greatly influenced by her childhood exposure to the diversity of human culture as well as nature's myriad forms, through her extensive travels as a result of her...
Tracy Lee Stum
Chalk Artist
Internationally recognized and award winning chalk artist, Tracy Lee Stum specializes in spectacular, interactive 3D anamorphic street paintings. Tracy’s mind-blowing 3D images continue to ‘wow’,...
Tony & Daphne Hallas
Astrophotographers
Tony and Daphne have always worked together as a team. They became enamored with the stars in 1986 when they bought their first 8 inch telescope. They viewed Saturn and were so fascinated...
Tom McMillin
Environmental Artist/Ceramist
Tom McMillin has made an impressive artistic evolution from sea captain and ceramist to conceptual artist of dynamic installations. “My art has been devoted to process and environmental...
Tom Jenkins
Painter/Sound Artist
Horses, motorcycles, pin-striped hot rods. Gymnastics. Steel spinning tops. Sound sculptures. These diverse threads are woven together as an artist who resists easy classification. Tom was reared in Colorado,...
The inkspots
Printmakers
The inkspots are a collective made up of area printmakers. The inkspots were formed in 2007 by Virginia who explains that the group is greater than the sum of its parts. “We take classes together. We learn new...
Tesi Sanchez-Halpert
Sculptor
The sculptures of Tesi Sanchez-Halpert are welded bits and pieces of steel discards made new through her imagination, sense of humor and zest for life. They will arouse your curiosity, make you smile or laugh...
Sylvia Torres
Painter/Encaustic Artist
Her artist-grandfather was very stern. He knew all the rules about art and wanted to be sure little Sylvia understood them. Consequently she stayed away from art until an understanding and gifted...
Sylvia Raz
Assemblage Artist
Her assemblages do more than delight the eye. Consider, for example, “¡Mamí, los tíos llegan!” Yes, Auntie and Uncle are arriving, heads held high, dressed for the occasion, bringing gifts. After the first...
Susan Tibbles
Assemblage Artist/Illustrator
She has the unique ability to take unassuming objects, merge them with a concept and present a thought-provoking artwork that combines both symbolic and intellectual results as well as an aesthetic experience...
Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend
Glass/Mixed Media
For Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, inspiration comes from many sources, both mundane and elegant. Her unconscious doodles find their way from her desk calendar to sheets of glass and are combined with...
Susan R. Kaufman
Sculptor
Susan’s sculptures remind us of the inevitable passage of time and the always present need for love. Her greatest influence is her father, a Russian immigrant whose art captured the horrors of Cossack marauders...
Susan Petty
Painter
Susan Petty paints because she has to. Her works chronicle timelessness and continuity. Her technical expertise resonates in both tightly detailed images of delicate lace and barren tracks of land. Yet she continues to...
Susan Cook
Painter
Susan Cook is a contemporary fine artist whose oil paintings are inspired by nature and an interest in experimenting with figuration, color and shapes. Initially, her paintings are quickly drawn, going through many color transformations with her signature brushwork, often destroying entire passages and repainting others to give focus.
Song Byeok
Song Byeok was invited to Ventura, CA as a Global Artist of Distinction in 2018, and his story is one of stony resilience in the face of oppression, and art as a form of political protest. Born into a working-class family in a town outside of Pyongyang, North Korea, Song once worked as an official state propaganda artist. His patriotism turned to disillusionment, when the famine of the 1990s hit.
Sherry Loehr
Painter
Award-winning Ojai artist Sherry Loehr is best known for her still-life compositions inspired by nature done in a unique aesthetic style she calls “Contemporary Realism.” The painter unexpectedly combines subjects...
Shamsia Hassani
Born April 1988, is the first female graffiti artist of Afghanistan. Through her artworks, Shamsia portrays Afghan women in a male dominant society. Her art gives Afghan women a different face, a face with power, ambitions, and willingness to achieve goals.
Sergio Aragones
Mad Magazine Cartoonist
Sergio Aragonés considers himself just a regular guy with a great job, even though illustrating for Mad Magazine since 1962 has earned him numerous accolades, tremendous respect, and considerable notoriety.
Sandra Price
Tatto Artist
Rock stars and celebrities sport them. A tattoo can be decoration or can express solidarity among those who have served overseas. An exquisitely colored song bird may be a way of overcoming...
Sally Weber
Holographic Artist
Sally Weber's innovative use of holography is a striking reminder that art itself is constantly evolving. The entire concept of paint, palette and canvas is completely re-evaluated in Weber's work because...
Sally Miller
Painter
Sally Miller was revered as a painter par excellence, compassionate critic and inspiring teacher. Josef Woodard, writing in the Los Angeles Times, called her work...
Ruth Pastine
Painter
The paintings actively engage the viewer to experience light and color from black, from a perceptual place where visibility is ambiguous and is free from preconceived notions, and is redefined. Ruth Pastine Intense...
Russell Crotty
Installation/Mixed Media
Ojai-resident Russell Crotty, awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2015, is an amateur astronomer, dedicated surfer and outstanding artist whose drawings push the limits of that medium. He earned his BFA in painting from.....
Rondal Partridge
Photographer/Master Printer
The son of renowned photographer Imogen Cunningham, Rondal Partridge grew up surrounded by some of America’s most iconic photographers, among them Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and...
Roland Reiss
Painter
A teacher’s influence is often a major force in an artist’s career. It continues to guide, shape and inspire long after the time spent in the classroom. Such a teacher is Roland Reiss, accomplished artist, academic...
Roger Kellaway
Musician
Internationally renowned jazz pianist and composer, Roger Kellaway has recorded numerous CDs and has written for film, television (All in the Family), and theatrical productions. Sohm and Kellaway collaborated on Visions of America, an orchestral....
Robert Rickards
Painter
Western artist Robert L. Rickards has spent over 23 years capturing the historic two-year-plus journey of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from St. Louis to the West Coast in a monumental...