Current Exhibition: Pam Douglas, Andrea Kichaven, Shelley Lazarus

August 30 – September 24, 2016

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 10, 5-8PM

Artist Panel: Saturday, September 17, 3pm


Pam Douglas – Rhythms

Pam Douglas, The Pulse of Our Times, Mixed media on canvas, 31 x 77"

Pam Douglas’ newest exhibition, “Rhythms” began in a doctor’s office where she lay hooked up to an electrocardiogram – an EKG machine. As she watched the lines form on the scrolling paper, Douglas was fascinated with the cadences, the peaks and rests that described her heart. Those series of rhythms inspired this newest series of paintings.

As Douglas explored, she asked, “What’s happening in the world that makes the heart clench?” She thought about the fear and hostility in our current political and social landscapes. Those anxieties bred mixed-media works utilizing newspaper headlines intertwined with the EKG lines. She also asked, “What helps the heart release?” The answer led to a monochromatic landscape constructed from an EKG that flat-lines into light.

Douglas’ palette of materials increased as these layers of meaning called for tougher mediums – rope, string, sand, as well as newsprint and paint. Representational elements – hands and birds – joined with abstractions.

Exploring this series further, Douglas’ subjects extended far beyond heartbeats. Waves of sound make similar rhythms, as do phases of nature. From heartbeats to sound waves, our lives are measured in pulses of energy. We sense universal tempos in the timing of our days.

Andrea Kichaven – Waves

Andrea Kichaven, Imagine, Acrylic on surfboard, 72 x 18 x 9"

In her exhibition entitled “Waves,” Southern California-based artist, Andrea Kichaven, takes a simple Californian staple, a leisurely stroll on beach, and transmutes the concept into something tangible by way of recycling worn out surfboards. Not only have these surfboards earned thousands of dollars for charities, they have earned the attention of many collectors.

“Surfboard art” is a departure for Kichaven in more ways than one. Abandoning her usual colorful and geometric compositions, Kichaven quite literally “rides the waves” with this body of work, letting the ocean tides and her imagination whisk her away to new heights and even greater depths. Even with the medium change, one will always be able to identify a Kichaven artwork by “how it makes one smile.”

Kichaven has painted on many sizes and surfaces, yet none have excited her more than this current obsession. Keeping with ecological and environmental thinking, Kichaven repurposes the surfboard as her own personal canvas, navigating the curves and grooves with her brush strokes, activating the space of an object whose function was previously exhausted. The boards cease to be surfboards the minute they are painted. They become a different shaped surface on which the artist can paint. The result is a body of work with as much variety as the waves themselves.

Shelley Lazarus – H20 COLOR

Shelley Lazarus, Gossip, Watercolor, 16 x 12.5"

Shelley Lazarus’ new works go back to her days in Brooklyn spending wonderful sun filled afternoons on the beaches of Coney Island and Brighton Beach. Today she has traded in her Atlantic Ocean times for the Pacific Ocean in Ventura, CA.

Watercolor has always been her medium of choice from the time she started traveling the globe with her husband. "Find a bench and pull out your very portable gear and get lost in the splendor of seeing your colors shimmering on the white page depicting your newest vista." Her paintings are noted for the vibrant colors that she works with. Shelley has never been a purist watercolor artist and will incorporate new ways to use her watercolors. Today she works in all forms of watercolors including mediums, photo papers and the infamous Yupa, besides finding new ways to use the many watercolor papers available today.

Shelley is a founding member of TAG and has been on its board since its inception, serving as president in 2000. She has been teaching watercolor to adults at the Brentwood Art Center for twenty-three years and is a signature member of many art related organizations including the Watercolor Honor Society. The proceeds of her shows go to the Robert David Lazarus Rehabilitation Unit at Cedar-Sinai Hospital in memory of her son Robert.