Doyle Johnson's work explores the relationship between sexuality and ethics within a sphere of politics and spirituality-with influences as diverse as Jung and Warhol, new combinations are created from both explicit and implicit layers. As spatial terms become transformed through emergent and critical practice the viewer is left with an impression of the ideas of our future.

Johnson

My work is about exploring the beauty of pattern and repetition to create one-of-a-kind, unique and abstract works on paper. I often think of my compositions as printed textiles.

My graphic design training and background directly informs my prints; with a strong use of geometric form, color palettes, tonal contrast and modern compositional elements. Having lived in Japan, I have been influenced and inspired by the Japanese aesthetic of balanced compositions, and the contemplative qualities that can be found in the harmonious rhythms of pattern. The collecting of textiles from my world travels has also been hugely inspirational.

I place a strong emphasis on experimenting with process, and pushing the boundaries of what is possible with different printmaking mediums. I experiment with new mark-making techniques; discovering ways of making impressions with unexpected materials, and ways of transferring, layering, and removing imagery.

My concern as a conceptual artist is making the viewer think about something in a new way. I like to blur the line between the medium and the image, and often make pieces that are self referential or involve the viewer as a coconspirator. Aesthetically, I like to use unusual textures and optical effects. My pieces are playful, at least on the surface, but have a deeper, often disturbing meaning. As I've evolved as an artist, my work has become political and philosophical. 

I find found objects fascinating, and whereas many artists use them as elements in an assemblage, I like to feature them as they are, and by embellishing them, they are seen fresh, active perspective. For example, a gas mask is at first frightening, but upon reflection, one is never as vulnerable as when one is wearing one. 

As for involving the viewer, in The Judgement, one is forced to pace back and forth to read the curved text on the heads, just as a prisoner does in a cell. I also have a body of work using objects with lenses. For example, a microscope head mounted on the wall. When you look though it, you see the message “This is how they’ll find out that you’re dying.” A similarly mounted WWII bombsight focuses on text which says “This is how your grandparents’ house was last seen”.

I believe art should move us, either through beauty, emotion, or ideas. 

Virginia Barrett is an artist drawn to capturing form and color in nature, landscapes, and sculptural work from diverse cultures. Her series of mixed media painted poems celebrate a unique, spiritual relationship between the word and image. In addition to her visual work, Barrett is a published poet, author, and editor; her most recent books are: I Just Wear My Wings—collected poems of an aspiring mystic; OCCUPY SF—poems from the movement (co-editor); Mbira Maker Blues—a healing journey to Zimbabwe (travel memoir); and Radiance—poems from Mendocino.  Barrett is the founder and director of Sweet Sanctum, a salon-style art, literary, and performance space in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.

I believe one of the first places we learn to define our selves and our worlds is in stories, those from books and those we are told by our families and our society. In my paintings I create characters in symbolic environments to explore our relationship with those narrative worlds. In my print series, Primer, I deal with narrative more literally, layering text from nursery rhymes and contemporary news articles to reveal common themes and questions running through these two very disparate forms of storytelling. And in my conceptual and public art project, Fear Not, I explore the impact stories have on our perception of risk.

My work is inspired mainly by the use of color, which means to me light, happiness, and pleasure. I seek to turn everyday life into a more textured reality. Creation is for me a way to stir up my emotions and let my imagination run free.
Acrylic painting and collage are my favorite media. I mix them together so that one is always enhancing the other one. Acrylic painting is a very gratifying work as you can play easily with colors; have them blend to create something unique and new. I use knife as a tool. Collage is more into adding a little piece to another to build very slowly the result you are hoping for. I love the contrast of these two different works.
When people see my work I would like them to feel happy, just happy.