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.
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...
Emily Bernstein
Clarinetist
Emily Bernstein (1959 - 2005) At the time of her death, Emily Bernstein was the principal clarinetist of the Los Angeles Opera. She also played first chair with the Pasadena Symphony under the direction of Jorge Mester
Elyn Zimmerman
Works on Paper/Sculptor
In different ways, Elyn Zimmerman's works on paper and site specific installations explore conditions of the natural world and celebrate images and materials of...
Elisse Pogofsky-Harris
Painter
Dreamy and surreal images, ripe with symbolism, gradually reveal to the viewer a world of multiple possibilities. Elisse Pogofsky-Harris worked mostly in oil on canvas. She spent 11 years...
Elaine Unzicker
Chain Mail Jeweler
When does jewelry become art? Is important jewelry made only with precious metals and gems? How does jewelry transform the wearer? Elaine Unzicker, a member of the Ojai Studio Artists, holds a Bachelor’s degree...
Duncan Regehr
Painter
Duncan Regehr is a prolific figurative painter whose enormous body of work is profoundly and distinctly poetic. His work revolves around images suggested to the artist through his relationships, his dreams and his many interests...
Duane Simshauser
Painter/Mixed Media
Duane Simshauser is a highly acclaimed mixed media artist who began his career in Ventura Couny. A resident of Fillmore, he works in the genre of assemblage, in which he applies paper and various types...
Douglas Spaulding
Sculptor
In 1956 Spaulding joined the Department of Defense School System (DoDSS) and moved to Yokohama, Japan to teach History. While in Japan, he continued to be active in amateur theater productions, traveled extensively throughout the Orient, and actively collected Japanese antiques and art. He also developed his own considerable talents as a sculptor, collaborated with local Japanese artists in Yokohama and Tokyo, and staged several exhibitions...
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...
Dorothy Hunter
Painter
Her oil paintings bring the emotional palette of impressionism to the world of abstract art. "I am usually referred to as an abstract artist but perhaps my work should be called abstract...
Donna Granata
Photographer/Art Historian/Archivist
Donna Granata is the Founder and Executive Director of Focus on the Masters (FOTM), a highly respected non-profit educational program documenting contemporary artists. An accomplished artist in her own right, Donna Granata is an internationally published and award winning.....
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...
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...
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...
De L’Esprie
Sculptor
Many have admired her work at the Janss Mall, at the Promenade and at the Crystal Cathedral. A Canadian by birth, sculptor De L’Esprie’s first forays into art began by painting under beds and in closets, haunts that...
Dawn Arrowsmith
Painter
Dawn Arrowsmith’s paintings are meditations in color. It has been said that each is a kind of minimalist luxury – pure, distilled, economical, but also rich, luscious, erotic. Her work is intuitive, greatly...
David Singer
Clarinetist
David Singer, clarinetist extraordinaire, has performed at the White House and played with Yo Yo Ma at the Spoleto Festival. He is equally comfortable at Moorpark High School, nurturing and encouraging young...
David Rivas
Environmental Artist/Ceramist
It’s tempting to say that David Rivas, photographer/metal sculptor/ former boiler operator, sees beauty where others see trash. What this talented artist really does is let us, the viewers discover the...
David Gallup
Painter
David Gallup, plein air painter and teacher, creates works that exquisitely capture a sense of place. A broad color palette and multi-layered paint only partially describe the paintings that explore nature’s character...
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...
David Blackburn
Woodworker
In David Blackburn’s own words, “wood art is the tree that never dies.” David’s pathway to exquisite woodworking has not been a straight line. It began as child’s play and grew through a tour in Viet Nam,...
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...
Daniel Black
Conductor
Daniel was a student of Miguel del Aguila during the summers of 1997-1999. He is on the brink of a brilliant career. He is fluent in Russian and, in addition to beginning a doctorate program at Northwestern...
Dane Goodman
Mixed Media
Dane Goodman is one of the Central Coast’s most accomplished artists. Working in a broad range of media, his artwork has been shown throughout the United States and is in numerous museum and private...
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...
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...
Colin Fraser Gray
Draftsman/Sculptor/Public Artist
Colin Fraser Gray’s eye on world events, ear for social nuance, and wry sense of humor have shaped his artistic path. His drawings, sculpture and public art are quirky, sometimes...
Cindy Pitou Burton
Photographer
Adventure drives the life and photography of Cindy Pitou Burton. She began her career as a photojournalist for the New York Times, soon expanding her contacts to CBS, NBC and PBS and magazines...
Christopher Trumbo
Writer
Christopher Trumbo was a writer whose film credits are impressive. They involved his working with some of the most iconic figures of a particularly complex era of Hollywood history. The lessons...
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...
Christine Brennan
Painter
Often dreamlike and enigmatic, Christine Brennan’s work features a host of symbolic and allegorical references. Brennan’s images draw from the unconscious leading the viewer into richly-lit narratives that...
Chris Provenzano
Sculptor
The mystery of stones guides sculptor Chris Provenzano’s fingers. “There’s always a surprise within each stone...
Cheryl Ann Thomas
Ceramist
Cheryl Ann Thomas delights in the unexpected and relishes the moment her hand coiled porcelain and stoneware vessels assume a life of their own. Constructing these sculptures is an intimate process involving...
Charlotte Bronstein
Actress/Writer/Director/Educator
Charlotte Bronstein (1918 - 2003) Charlotte Bronstein spent 50 years acting, writing and directing for television, film, radio and the stage in the United States and Canada. Her...
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...
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...
Carol Shaw-Sutton
Fiber Artist
Carol Shaw-Sutton has earned numerous awards, including two National Endowment of the Arts Individual Artist Fellowships. She is Professor Emerita of Art from California State...
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...
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...