Local Artist - Growing Up in Santa Cruz

John McKinley

growingupsc — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 14:21:48 +0000

John McKinley Local Artist Hello! I’m a cartoonist and illustrator from Aptos specializing in fun and quirky characters. My work has appeared in many publications, including the picture book Monster Academy and the popular Ready, Freddy series from Scholastic Books. I started drawing at a very early age and always knew I wanted to be an artist. Drawing skills improve with practice, so I recommend kids keep a sketchbook handy. When you fill up one sketchbook , start a new one! You can really see improvement over time. I will be participating in the Santa Cruz Arts Council Open Studios Tour in October. I’ll be open the weekends of Oct. 8-9th and Oct.15-16th from 10am-5pm each day. Follow the bright green signs to studio #289. I’ll be showing some of my latest creations! Or visit me on the web at www.mckinleyink.com and Instagram @johnmckinleyart. Read More Local Artist Articles

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June’s Local Artist

growingupsc — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 18:01:01 +0000

Madisyn Huntress Hein I’m a recent SLVHS graduate attending Cabrillo College. I’ve lived all over the Santa Cruz Mountain areas. My interest in art started at a young age, and my first art teacher, Lisa Alexander, sparked my passion for creating art. She was encouraging and helped me believe in myself as an artist at a young age. Many of my skills are self-taught, with some instruction from various high school art teachers. I paint mostly plant life and landscapes. I also enjoy focusing on bringing my imagination of fairies and magic to life. I’ve been oil painting on and off since my sophomore year of high school. While I am majoring in psychology and not art, it’s still a large part of my life. I’ve started learning ceramics recently, which has been a bit of a learning curve. The people who work at the Santa Cruz Mountain Art Center are helpful and friendly. I’ve also recently taken up painting classes at the art center. I generally paint from photos taken while out and about at the beach or hiking in the woods. Most of the pieces I’ve done recently have taken about a month to a month and a half to complete. Read More Local Artist Articles

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Encaustic Paintings

growingupsc — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 19:20:43 +0000

Encaustic Paintings by Terry Dowell I have been swept away by the challenges and immense rewards of educating and inspiring people that somehow find their way to me. The thrill of offering an opportunity to enliven the creative spirit in the lives of my students is a lifetime dream. My intent is simple…paint for myself, teach workshops and, of course, show my art to the public and allow my art to flow out into the world. I have been painting and creating all my life…over 50 years now. I invented myself as an artist by way of workshops and courses throughout the United States. Largely self-taught in a variety of mixed media techniques I’ve tried every medium that was in reach…pottery, enameling, painting, plein-aire painting, drawing, watercolor, photography, assemblage, encaustic etc. I feel fortunate in having come to art by following this path… I’ve never had anyone discourage me. Encaustic came my way over 8 years ago when I attended a free demonstration with hot wax. I knew it was right for me when I had an immediate sense of “I can do that” resounding from my soul. Diving into this exciting process… I became hooked after my first piece and have been diligently painting ever since. I work largely from my surroundings which includes my conceptual imagination! Being fortunate enough to live in the immensely beautiful coastline of Northern California that provides me with spectacular views in all directions. This feeds my soul and artful spirit. Pushing the limits of beeswax has been quite amazing and finding how far the medium will go has been an inspiration. Now sharing my well-earned knowledge of encaustic painting through teaching, I love to see the light in someone’s eyes when they first see the never ending possibilities of experimentation and discovery. My challenge is to guide my students to find their unique and satisfying style in the positive and safe environment of my studio in Aptos. Uniquely, I define myself as a mixed media artist specializing in encaustic painting. I am excited that my work can be seen in private collections and juried art exhibitions throughout the United States. Thank you for this opportunity to be seen; if only by one! Read More Local Artist Articles

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Ashton Reedy

growingupsc — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 18:57:52 +0000

Ashton Reedy Local Artist My name is Ashton Reedy, and I am 17, almost 18. I have lived all over the world, and everywhere I have been, there have always been two things in common: good food and amazing art. While I am not a great cook, I love making art, and I’ve been drawing since I was very little, from monsters to costume designs. It’s been a long road. I started off with just small sketches on the corner of a test to slowly build up my skill and eventually swap to digital and start to work as a commission artist. I specialize mainly in characters as I deeply enjoy the process of creating new characters and telling their stories. As a Dungeons and Dragons player and a big-time nerd, art is a great outlet for that creativity. It has really allowed me to explore different aspects of the things I love, and I have made quite a few new friends through my commission work, having designed many of the characters for people who are designing games. But I’m not perfect and have so much to learn; I’m still learning new things about the software I use every day. Read More Local Artist Articles

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New Year Local Artist

growingupsc — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 17:34:17 +0000

Joaquin Cruz Local Artist My name is Joaquin Cruz, I’m 17 and currently a senior at SLVHS. I’m what feels like inches away from the end of high school which is somewhat terrifying but at least that means I’m growing. The paintings and art I do has meaning and no meaning, it really varies. While painting, sketching, testing different mediums regardless of how it looks, etc. I did my best to create somewhat of a surreal look, even though that look and mindset changed frequently. The majority of my art revolves around the themes of my ethnicity, how I see myself (portraits), how I see the political climates during the moments I paint, etc. But sometimes (which can be kind of shown with these works), I took a moment from making a meaning and just wanted to create something. Some of my inspirations or people I’ve looked up to for the works shown are artists like David Choe and Stanley Donwood, as well as some fashion designers such as Kerwin Frost, Jeremy Scott, and Nigo. I worked with various kinds of mediums, such as acrylic, pour acrylic, colored pencils, chalk, pastel, alcohol markers, watercolor markers, acrylic markers, sharpies, spray paint, flammable material, etc. Technique wise? I just did the good old Joaquin technique of doing whatever I assumed or thought would be a good idea at the time. I used what I could to my advantage to get whatever was in my head out. I intend to continue pushing myself to those limits and creating whatever I create, even if it looks like pure gibberish to the eyes. Read More Local Artist Articles

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Tony Hernandez

growingupsc — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 18:15:36 +0000

Tony Hernandez Local Artist Tony is a teen who enjoys the simple things in life. In his short life, he’s experienced quite a bit; however, you wouldn’t be able to tell, given his lighthearted spirit and humor. Tony’s overcome many obstacles, one of those has been learning how to navigate life as an individual diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum. Although this diagnosis can be quite scary for many, we’ve learned to help Tony find ways to navigate its complexities. One of those ways has been exploring new hobbies. Over the past couple of years, he’s acquired a passion for the arts. Thanks to his aid, Lou, Tony is now excited to draw. He’s most passionate about drawing cartoons or things he likes, such as Superheros, Scoob, and Sonic. By looking at his artwork, you wouldn’t be able to tell he’s a young man who’s gone through and overcome so much. We are quite proud of his accomplishments, newfound passion and look forward to his continued growth. Read More Local Artist Articles

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Gavin Gasparotti

growingupsc — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 14:45:08 +0000

Gavin Gasparotti Local Artist Hi, I’m Gavin Gasparotti, and I am a recent graduate of Soquel High. Art has been one of my hobbies ever since I was a small child. As I was growing up, I put a lot of practice into developing my natural gifts. By the end of elementary school, I had developed a reputation as an artist, and I even had my art displayed at a gallery in Ben Lomond. During my time at New Brighton Middle School, I drew a picture used as the yearbook cover. I also designed the look of the school planner one year. My art was included in a display of student work in the Capitola city hall. But my largest project, in both size and importance, was a sports mural painted on the wall of the gym. I continued to pursue art in high school, whereby in my third year of study, I was able to do special art studies, which gave me the freedom to focus on anything I wanted to create. In addition to art, I also have a passion for cars and automotive design. So the subjects of most of my more recent pieces are cars. The illustrations of cars included in this article are done with watercolor pens, but my favorite media to draw with is classic printer paper and a ballpoint pen. The role art will play in my future is still undecided. As I prepare to start college at CSU Chico, my attention is focused on other career goals. No matter what happens, I know I will keep drawing. A sketch is my favorite way to pass the time! Read More Local Artist Articles

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Ava Barret

growingupsc — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 07:06:00 +0000

Ava Barret Local Artist You don’t need to be good at art to call yourself an artist. My name is Ava Barrett, and I am an artist. I have been dancing at the tannery arts center for seven years. And I know what your thinking. What does dance have to do with these pictures I have painted? Well, dance is my main outlet for creativity. Recently I have been given fantastic opportunities to work with professional dancers to further my artistry. Within those seven years, I have seen tremendous growth in my body and mind, now onto the subject of painting. I took art classes as a kid but never really took them seriously until it became my elective freshman year. When I paint, I tend to do portraits. I paint a figure or a face and paint the background however I like. However, in my art class, I was challenged to play with concepts. I had never done this before after coming up with an idea. I began to paint. As I saw my image coming together, I couldn’t help but get other meanings than what I wanted to show. I worried that what I wanted to say wouldn’t be clear as more ideas popped into my head of what this painting could mean. I realized that art is subjective. So why worry about what others will think? And this isn’t only in art. Dance is personal as well. What most people don’t know is most of us go through a process when choreographing. We ask ourselves: What do I want to say with this piece. Through that, we determine the quality of our movement and how it portrays that message. And it doesn’t need to be something profound to do this. We don’t need to worry about our art fitting into a specific category to be considered good. What makes us a good artist is our creativity and uniqueness. That is the one thing I have realized throughout my years as an artist. And I will continue to tell myself as I grow. Read More Local Artist Articles

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Killian Rose O’Brien

growingupsc — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 22:22:18 +0000

Killian Rose O’Brien Local Artist Killian is finishing up the 2nd grade at SLV Elementary. She was first drawn to art when her Aunt Laura took her to some Drawn-2-Art classes when she was in preschool. She is currently taking weekly art classes with our small pod of friends from her other Aunt Suzanne, she is so lucky to have such artistic people in her life! In her own words: “Art is fun to me and it is just a thing I do to calm myself down. It is fun to me to draw weird shapes and make it into a creature. I like shading and that is what I like to do.”

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Mom and Son Artists

growingupsc — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 19:50:38 +0000

Zephy Pfotenhauer and Dante Clark Mother and Son Duo Mother and son Zephyr Pfotenhauer and Dante Clark (11) have been working together creatively for as long as Dante can remember. A professional artist and designer, Zephyr is often inspired by Dante for her own work and regularly enlists his help in completing various projects, from murals to printmaking. Dante is a longtime member of Art Lab in Boulder Creek and particularly enjoys building in Lego, Minecraft, wood and clay in worlds both real and virtual. A 6th grader at the Nature Academy, he is looking forward to returning to school, seeing friends and exploring the county with his classmates. Until recently Zephyr worked for Discretion Brewing as their in-house artist and designer, creating labels and merchandise for the family-owned craft brewery. Now fully self-employed, her clients include Edible Monterey Bay, the SC County Arts Council, Fruition Brewing and numerous others in need of her sharp-yet-whimsical creative aesthetic. Her work can be found at the Felton Mercantile and online at zephyrpfo.com or @zephyrpfo.o on Instagram. Read More Local Artist Articles

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