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.

The inkspots

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...

Impermanence 2 by Ichiro Irie, 2017 permanent marker and white acrylic on canvas, 80" x 48"
Ichiro Irie

Ichiro Irie

Multidisciplinary Artist
Ichiro Irie is an artist, as well as curator, gallery owner and professor at Oxnard College. Born in Japan and reared in Westside LA, he originally studied film and communications at UCSB, earned an M.F.A. at Claremont Graduate University and was the recipient of a Fulbright....

Connie Jenkins
Connie Jenkins

Connie Jenkins

Painter
Connie Jenkins is an accomplished Realist painter whose large-scale canvasses feature rocks, water and the natural landscape, but also contain elements that are not as easily identified. Her images often represent...

Tom Jenkins

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,...

Wesley Johnson
Wesley Johnson

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...

Gerri McMillin
Gerri Johnson-McMillin

Gerri Johnson-McMillin

Weaver
Fiber art has always been a part of my life. Whether it is basketry, weaving, spinning, knotting or another form of fiber art, I love the tactile sensations of fibers and feeling the life within them. I am known for...

Mikael Jorgensen

Mikael Jorgensen

Musician
Mikael Jorgensen is lead pianist and keyboardist for the band Wilco as well as a member of the band Pronto. Mikael's father, an esteemed recording engineer, introduced him to the world of music and music...

Cassandra C. Jones
Cassandra C. Jones

Cassandra C. Jones

Photographer
Cassandra C. Jones is a cutting edge artist who finds paradox and contradiction in the world around her. Does an artist create public opinion or mirror it? Are artists the first to reflect on undercurrents in...

Joanne Julian
Joanne Julian

Joanne Julian

Painter
“Joanne Julian calls our attention to the beauty and transcendence of the natural world that surrounds us,” states contemporary art curator and writer Jay Belloli. Julian credits her old world, Armenian upbringing that paid attention to detail in...

Susan R. Kaufman
Susan R. Kaufman

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...

Richard Keit
Richard Keit

Richard Keit

Ceramist
RTK Studios are tile artisans steeped in the architectural ceramic traditions of the early 1900’s. The partners, Richard Keit & Mary Kennedy have brought back the old world techniques of the exquisite Malibu...

Roger Kellaway

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....

Mary Kennedy
Mary Kennedy

Mary Kennedy

Ceramist
RTK Studios are tile artisans steeped in the architectural ceramic traditions of the early 1900’s. The partners, Richard Keit & Mary Kennedy have brought back the old world techniques of the exquisite Malibu...

Maggie Kildee
Maggie Kildee

Maggie Kildee

Sculptor
If you’ve ever been accused of being an uppity woman, you will love the work of Maggie Kildee. Her resume includes jobs as mother, teacher and politician; jobs that require talent, perseverance and a sincere desire...

Norman Kirk
Norman Kirk

Norman Kirk

Painter
Having explored a broad spectrum of styles and media throughout his long career, Norman Kirk devotes his principal work to watercolor landscapes. He skillfully weaves large areas of white paper through his work....

Karen Kitchel

Karen Kitchel

Painter
Karen Kitchel’s landscapes are definitely not traditional. Of her work Karen states: "I paint them with the traditional craftsmanship of the genre’s past, and a critical eye on the geography of the...

Gerd Koch
Gerd Koch

Gerd Koch

Painter
Without a good teacher, many artists would never discover their full potential. Gerd Koch is that teacher. An instructor since 1953, Gerd Koch has personally contributed to the success of many well respected contemporary artists. He has a unique ability to “see” creatively and to teach his students to “see.”

Virginia Kron
Virginia Kron

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...

Jonny Kwan

Jonny Kwan

Creative Director, Walt Disney, Inc.
Kwan was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Oxnard. He has been drawing for as long as he can remember. While attending Channel Islands High School, his art teacher, Mr. Don Burrows, encouraged him to further develop his...

Jordon Laby
Jordon Laby

Jordon Laby

Inventor
Credit for much of the vibrancy of our arts community can be traced to a pool vacuum. How is that possible? Jordan Laby, dyslexic and partly color-blind, knew from an early age how to take things apart and put them...

Howard Lamar "She's An Angel" series, work on paper
Howard Lamar

Howard Lamar

Painter
A playful, joyous quality infuses the art of Ojai artist Howard Lamar. His work can be found in private and public collections internationally. Lamar has come a long way from his early...

Gary Lang
Gary Lang

Gary Lang

Painter
Gary Lang is a radical painter in the modernist tradition whose free hand process has earned the artist international acclaim. Brilliant lines and circles of color draw the viewer deeper into the canvas. Freeform plaids...

JoEllen Lee

JoEllen Lee

Beader
When does jewelry become art? Is important jewelry made only with precious metals and gems? How does jewelry transform the wearer? Master beader Jo Ellen Lee earned a Ph.D. in Medical Genetics and worked...

David Leffel
David A. Leffel

David A. Leffel

Painter
“Every mark, every brushstroke one registers on the canvas requires the utmost taste and sensitivity to produce a beautiful painting. This quality of caring and consideration is what makes the art of the discipline so...

Ripening by Karen Lewis, 12”x12” oil on canvas
Karen Lewis

Karen Lewis

Painter
World War II. A Japanese prison camp in the Philippines. A girl passes the time cutting out and coloring paper dolls. Is this when the artistic career of Karen K. Lewis began? She earned her BA at...

Paul Lindhard
Paul Lindhard

Paul Lindhard

Sculptor
Paul Lindhard, is the founder of Art City, a unique artists’ enclave located in west Ventura. Primarily a stone sculptor, Lindhard founded Art City so that it would serve as a constant artistic stimulus to enhance...

Eternally Searching (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13...) by Erika Lizée, 2017, acrylic on duralar, 8' x 69' x 3'
Erika Lizée

Erika Lizée

Installation Artist
Erika Lizée is a perceptive artist whose work reflects, in her words, an ever-shifting and nebulous boundary between what is known and unknown. Her installations, using materials such as Duralar, a polyester film, is grounded in a life-long appreciation for nature...

Douglas Lochner Rejoice
Douglas Lochner

Douglas Lochner

Sculptor
“A minimalist, I strive to create art that touches people on a primal level, exploring universal themes that circumvent the limitations of language and culture.” Ojai sculptor Douglas Lochner thus describes in true...

Sherry Loehr
Sherry Loehr

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...

Jeff Mann by Guy Webster
Jeff Mann

Jeff Mann

Draftsman
How did a self-described “greaser, surfer, hippy” become a vice president of the Empire that Star Wars built? Ojai-based artist Jeff Mann, born and raised in Hollywood, has always shown an amazing talent for drawing that...

Frank Massarella
Frank Massarella

Frank Massarella

Ceramist
Frank Massarella was drawn to pottery because he loves the feel of the clay and the independence of the work. His state-of-the-art kilns provide him with more versatile ways to fire ceramics. He sees ceramics as...

Alice Matzkin
Alice Matzkin

Alice Matzkin

Painter
In a society obsessed with youth and the fleeting beauty of perfection, Alice Matzkin has always looked at the positive side of growing older painting lines and wrinkles as the story of women’s years. The “Women of...

James McCarthy
James McCarthy

James McCarthy

Wood Craftsman
Jim McCarthy creates fine furniture inspired by the California Arts and Crafts movement and Asian design. His works range from single pieces of furniture, to custom woodworking and cabinetry in historic...

Richard Matzkin
Richard Matzkin

Richard Matzkin

Sculptor
In a very real sense, Richard Matzkin’s life has come full circle. He showed an early talent for the arts but in the 60s his interests changed to music and psychology. Some 20 years later his wife enrolled him in...

Viqui McCaslin
Viq McCaslin

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...

William McEnroe
William McEnroe

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...

Bill McEwen
Bill McEwen

Bill McEwen

Sculptor
A major, universal principle of nature’s construction is that the greatest most intense activity and emphasis occurs at transition points. “I make theoretical, absolute experimental art objects as an...

Katherine McGuire
Katherine McGuire

Katherine McGuire

Painter
Katherine McGuire, artist and advocate for the arts, captured quintessential Ventura landmarks with meticulous attention to architectural detail, not at all surprising when you consider that she...

Debra McKillop
Debra McKillop

Debra McKillop

Mixed Media
Debra McKillop did her undergraduate work at the University of California Los Angeles, University of California at Santa Barbara, Pasadena Art Center, and in Mexico. She earned a MFA from California State...