_Paint Pens in Purses_female urban art collective

Here are few favorites from the 2013 artMrkt at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. I was surprised to see so many of these great galleries were based right here in San Francisco. Here are the artists and galleries from left to right, top to bottom.

1. Hyon Gyon Park, Shin Gallery (New York, CA)
2. Taro Hattori, Swarm Gallery (Oakland, CA)
3. Joel Daniel Phillips, Spoke Art Gallery (San Francisco, CA)
4. Jess Hess, Spoke Art Gallery (San Francisco, CA)
5. Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth, Catharine Clark Gallery (San Francisco, CA)
6. Laurina Paperina, Fouladi Projects (San Francisco, CA)
7. David Mach, Forum Gallery (New York, NY)
8. Todd Hildo, Stephen Wirtz Gallery (San Francisco, CA)

Featured Artist ||| Cristina Natsuko Paulos (Las Vegas, NV)

This week’s featured artist is Cristina Natsuko Paulos, a talented animator, puppeteer, cartoonist, illustrator and artist who resides in Las Vegas, NV. As a Gemini, I was instantly drawn to Cristina’s series, Mirror Twins. At the risk of oversimplifying, it also reminded me of the my favorite Sanrio characters, the Twin Stars. So, perhaps I am a bit impartial. In any case, I hope you will enjoy reading more about the undeniably amazing, Cristina Natsuko Paulos. For more of her work visit: www.cristinapaulos.com and http://nookofcuriosity.com.

Cristina Natsuko Paulos graduated from Cal Arts in the Character Animation Program in 2006. In her work she creates from her own original characters the MIRROR TWINS. She often works on wood, handmade papers and canvas.  She uses mix media materials such as oil paints, acrylic, watercolor, graphite, sumi ink, and dyes.  In her work she combines narrative storytelling with abstraction influenced by cartoon movement used in animation.

“My paintings are made through the process of drawing, rather than using traditional painting techniques. I work very fast but with very slow pacing, to stop and reflect back up upon the subject. The painting “build up” process and the drawing immediate response are infused, often chaotic but with fluidity of movement.

Taking the elements of intuitive approaches to line-marking, I am able to expose the raw emotion, gravity, lightness and coarse beauty of those I capture.” -Cristina Natsuko Paulos

Here is a little bit about the Mirror Twins, which I pulled from Cristina’s website. I was quite thrilled to see that they are Geminis! 



Names: Victoria and Eleanor
Birthday: June 1st
Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Unknown
Hangouts: Antique Shops
Food: Japanese Sweets
Likes: socks, cat’s cradle, outer space, jump rope, the changing of the seasons


Victoria and Eleanor are two twin girls. They were born in a test tube in a desert town. They speak in “idioglossia” their own secret language. Their secrets lies in their eyes. 

Featured Artist ||| Amy Miller (New York) 

Amy Williamson Miller explores life passages and social norms by questioning how identity is formed around life events; when we fall apart, reshape, agonize and come out anew. Her work is part storyteller and part autobiographical, born from the site of cultural construction and consumption. She seeks to memorialize, while simultaneously revealing, an increasing need to abandon or modify these fraying conventions. She commemorates these extraordinary events using the language of confections. Using this saccharine symbol, Miller reconstitutes and exaggerates in order to convey a sense of longing, wonder and familiarity, celebration and failure, desire and anticipation. She has developed the materials she uses in her process to create an aesthetic experience by mimicking the ephemeral colors, textures and forms native to confections and the pageantry associated with ceremony. More information and images can be found at www.amywmiller.com.

Bio: Amy Williamson Miller spent many years as an artisan and designer in Atlanta, GA. She then moved to New York City where she earned her MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute. She maintained a daily art practice in a studio situated within Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg artist enclave. Concurrently, Miller worked with other designers and artists in NYC as a specialist fabricating sculptural costume pieces for many industries including Broadway, the Met Opera, ballet, fashion and film. Most recently she completed a three month long exhibition of sculpture at the Florida Museum for Women Artists aided by funds awarded by the Sarasota Arts and Cultural Alliance. Miller’s work was featured at Select Art Fair 2012 in Miami Beach alongside fellow members of Sarasota’s contemporary artist collective S/aRt/Q. Outside of her studio, she is a design specialist at the Ringling Museum of Art and co-partner of Parlor Arts. In addition, she creates heirloom quality costumes for children in her store on ETSY, No. 9 DreamLand. Miller’s work has been featured in curated and juried group shows throughout NYC, Florida, and Atlanta as well as a six month long exhibition at The Urban Institute for Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, MI. 

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