Sculptor Karen Shapiro follows the same routine every morning. She wakes up, turns on the espresso machine, lights her first Marlboro Light of the day, says hello to her four cats, pours a cup of …

Alexandra Hedison’s exhibition “Ithaka” kicked off a month long celebration of photography in Los Angeles, brought to you by the same people responsible for the Lucie Awards – photography’s version of the Academy Awards. “The …

April 4, 1968: the day everything changed for San Francisco artist and musician Mike Henderson. He was a young man in the midst of a cultural revolution, both personally and collectively. It was the sixties …

May 18, 2005 – The fading sun dipped below the horizon of the New Jersey Turnpike. Free flowing traffic zipped along at 70 miles an hour. Ricardo Mazal, his wife, Fabiola, and their two young …

Alden Mason is 89-years-young. The Seattle painter’s hands tremble, his voice is weak, and he moves a little more slowly these days – but he’s full of life. Just released from rehabilitation after some health …

“Every move we make is about art,” Kirk Slaughter says. And he is not exaggerating. He and Elisabett Gudmann have a unique collaborative relationship. They live, love and work together 24/7. Even when they get frustrated or annoyed, the solution is a walk in the woods – together. They are quick to tell you it is not the perfect symbiotic relationship, but it is clear that they are puzzle pieces that fit together – one does not work without the other. However, they both have independent artistic visions and have developed distinct bodies of work.

Elis is a down-to-earth, what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of woman. She, no doubt, got her blonde hair and blue eyes from her mom and dad, Norwegian and Australian, respectively. Her parents met in San Francisco – that’s where they stayed and raised a family. Elis is self-taught and self-educated in the fine arts. She grew up in a home full of fine art and antiques, took several trips to Europe and fell in love with the culture of art. However, she had relatives who were struggling artists, so she wasn’t always encouraged to follow in those footsteps. But Elis has always chosen her own path. She is fun loving and even a bit of a ham sometimes. When it comes to her art, though, she is dedicated, disciplined and tough. She has a unique artistic vision, and has developed her technique over many, many years and is widely recognized for her wall pieces. The hand fabricated metal panels are laboriously etched leaving detailed surface textures and imagery in relief. Beautiful patinas are achieved by working with a variety of chemicals and a blowtorch.

Painter Gino Hollander hates to explain his work, in fact, he says he’s not interested in any kind of a “dialogue with the viewer.” He paints and leaves the interpretation up to others. Gino says …

Guy Dill’s bronze sculptures are sexy – sleek, strong and very masculine. The push and pull of smooth metal forms arranged together and often, metaphorically speaking, held together with a strong metallic embrace. They are …

Oliver Jackson blindsided me. Setting up our interview on the phone, he was polite and seemingly mild-mannered. Driving up to Oakland, I somehow avoided the infamous traffic on Interstate 880. I located Oliver’s place – …

Karl Kasten started up the gangplank when he looked up and locked eyes. “There at the top was the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen. She had this luscious red hair.” Karl knew she was …

Kim Frohsin is full of kinetic energy. She can’t help herself. Sitting for a two hour interview is about all she can take before she launches into a session of “Kim-fu” – her own …

Russell Chatham has constructed a surprisingly elegant life in south central Montana. On the welcome sign, Livingston is heralded as the “original” gateway to Yellowstone. Apparently Gardiner, a tourist town now thriving just outside the …