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.
Linda Elder
Sculptor
Linda Elder was first introduced to her favorite art form when an art teacher in high school allowed her to do sculpture in the back of the class while the rest of the class worked on drawing projects....
David Elder
Sculptor
A son of a Lutheran minister at Wittenberg University, David Elder was slated to go to seminary, but instead turned out to be a sculptor. Upon completion of a Masters degree at Ohio State University, he had the...
Michael Dvortcsak
Painter
Dvortcsak is an artist whose work defies categorization. Although his paintings speak to the intellect, they contain elements that are as primal as a scream. His imagery is realistic, yet dreamlike;...
JoAnne Duby
Sculptor
JoAnne Duby began her art career as a ceramist over 25 years ago by studying at the Seaward Ceramic School in her hometown of Seattle, Washington. Growing up in Seattle fostered her appreciation for the natural...
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.....
Don Bachardy
Painter
Santa Monica-based portrait artist Don Bachardy studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and the Slade School of Art in London. Bachardy’s decades-long relationship with writer Christopher Isherwood inspired...
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.
Richard Amend
Painter/Set Designer
“Richard Amend believes in the transporting pleasure of beauty. His paintings and drawings embody the sublime ‘essence’ of Nature, abstracted and amplified,” writes art critic Jo Lauria.
Laddie John Dill
Sculptor/Painter/Light & Space Artist
Los Angeles native, Laddie John Dill graduated from Chouinard Art Institute in 1968. At 28 he was offered his first one-man exhibit at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York. Today he is an internationally...
Karen Carson
Painter
Karen Carson, a major figure in the Los Angeles feminist art movement, has employed varied techniques and materials to reflect and comment on the turbulence of everyday life....
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...
Nuvi Mehta
Violinist/Conductor
Mehta began violin studies at the age of six. Attending Indiana University as a student of the famed Josef Gingold...
Mary Michel
Painter/Printmaker
Mary Michel remarked that she had been an artist as long as she could remember. Known for her bold yet delicate paintings and serigraphs, her signature style was an elegant and refined technique...
Leslie McQuaide
Sculptor
Clay, bits of old jewelry and thrift shop cast-offs are the tools of Leslie McQuaide’s trade. Her work can at first seem humorous, but humor is merely the door through which we enter into her personal history. ...
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...
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...
Carole Milton
Painter
Milton says her work “expresses my subconscious visions… to my perceptions of reality.” Her work explores “texture, impasto, calligraphy, and buildup of color layers” and creates an image in response to the “impressions, visions, questions, doubts, evaluations, and journeys of my...
Cynthia Minet
Sculptor
Cynthia Minet’s sculptures, often larger than life and composed of synthetic materials, immediately capture attention. The choice of subject and materials is not accidental; it is a comment on our consumer...
Carlyle Montomery
Sculptor
Carlyle Montgomery’s interest in the arts began as a child when he experimented in both two and three dimensional work. His love of art...
Michael Moore
Photographer
The Universal Landscape is a document in progress, a constantly expanding definition of how I interact with the land...
Christine Morla
Painter
Christine Morla combines images from her Filipino-American background to create art that expresses universal statements about family, world events and popular culture. She is a mixed-media artist who appropriates...
Bob Moskowitz
Painter
In his teaching and in his own work, he stresses the importance of mastering the fundamentals, of not taking short-cuts. His colleagues describe...
Marta Nelson
Painter/Printmaker
Since winning her first art scholarship at age 10, Marta Nelson has continued a career in fine arts. A life-long love affair with drawing the human figure developed when she attended her first...
Arnold Newman
Photographer
In a career that spanned almost 58 years, Arnold Newman was a significant contributor to the history of photography. His photographs are part of permanent collections at the most respected museums...
John Nichols
Photographer
Yogi Berra may have counseled “when you get to a fork in the road, take it,” but photographer John Nichols is apt to not only take the fork, but will probably examine it, learn from it, and happily follow...
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...
Paula Odor
Painter
Odor's watercolors emphasize composition and design, establishing an equilibrium of all the elements within the picture plane. Paula Odor Painter and etcher Paula Odor began her studies at the Texas State College for...
Dennis Oppenheim
Conceptual Artist
Dennis Oppenheim created Bus-Home, the large functional sculpture graces the Bus Transfer Center at Ventura’s Pacific View Mall. Stanford educated, Oppenheim was a world famous pioneering...
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...
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...
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...
Joseph Piasentin
Painter/Mixed Media
Joseph Piasentin is a professor of painting and drawing at Pepperdine University. It has been said that Piasentin encourages his students to be responsible for every choice, every decision made...
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...
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...
Nancy Rupp
Brush Painter
Nancy Rupp was a widely exhibited brush painter known for the bold ink work that underlies traditional Chinese brush painting. She captured the energy and emotion of her subject through strong...
Carol Rosenak
Painter
Carol Rosenak considered still-life painting her best, most evolved work. With perfect linear precision and a heightened vibrancy of color, her interior scenes...
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...