Art

Elena Willis graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University in 2003. Through dreams, Elena finds her inspiration. She contemplates and deciphers the world that exists behind our sleeping eyes, giving rich pictorial meanings to imagery that is often dismissed as irrational and incomprehensible. Elena thoroughly and exhaustively works on every detail of her photographs to ensure a truthful and accurate recreation of a dream. She has been awarded grants by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Qubec, The Du Maurier Arts Council, and most recently the Canada Council for the Arts. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States and in France and is part of collections in Canada and the United States.

Eliza Gregory grew up in San Francisco and moved to Phoenix in 2006. She is the recipient of a 2008 Arizona Commission on the Arts Project Grant to support her work making portraits of resettled refugees in Phoenix. Thanks to a public art commission from the City of Phoenix, last year she had a photograph on display at the bus stop installation at 7th Avenue and Glenrosa, and last spring she was honored by a Contemporary Forum Artist Grant Award. She joined the Eye Lounge Gallery and Artists' Cooperative in 2007, and has served as the Cooperative's co-president since 2008. Her next show of new work, Refugee Status at School, will open April 17th at the eye lounge and run through the second weekend May.

Eva Isaksen was born and raised in Bodø, Norway. She received a BFA in painting from University of South Dakota in 1983, and an MFA in painting from Montana State University in 1986. Since then she has lived and worked full time as an artist in Seattle, WA. Her work is represented by Foster White Gallery in Seattle, where her fifth solo exhibition is scheduled for October 2009. Her work is also represented by Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis, MO. Isaksen has had numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Her work has also been chosen for labels on Ste. Michelle Winerys artist series wine, a 2006 meritage wine to be released in Fall 2009.

Jose Bechara was born, lives, and works in Rio de Janeiro. His most significant solo and group exhibitions include those held at the Culturgest in Lisbon, Portugal; the XXV Sao Paulo International Biennial, Brazil; the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Tomie Ohtake Institute in Sao Paulo, Brazil; the Arizona State University Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona; the Patio Herreriano Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art in Valladolid, Spain; the Valencian Institute of Modern Art (IVAM) in Valencia, Spain and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO) in Vigo, Spain. His works are included in public and private collections in Brazil and abroad.

Karen Green lives and works out of her studio/gallery, "Beautiful Crap," in Claremont, California. Her book Here/Gone, an alphabet book for grownups, was published by Spineless Books in October, 2008.

Kim Eugene Hood studied painting at the University of Washington and photography at the Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle. He currently works as an outdoor guide and fine art photographer. A passion for travel and exploration has driven him to climb and trek in mountain ranges on all seven continents. Kim has shown his photographs nationally, including the Denver International Airport Invitational and the Texas Photographic Society National Juried Competition. Hood recently published his first book of photography and prose, Seven Continents.

After years of writing and painting, Peter Schwartz has moved to another medium: photography. In the past his work has been featured in many prestigious print and online journals including: Existere, Failbetter, Hobart, International Poetry Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Reed, and Willard & Maple. Doing interviews, collaborating with other artists, and pushing the borders of creativity, his mission is to broaden the ways the world sees art.

Ryan G. Beckman's photography started out as poetry. While living in New Brunswick, he purchased his first camera and started to examine the role of nature in urban landscapes. His work has developed from endless experimentation and been influenced by photographers Amanda Smith and Matthew Burns. In recent years, Beckman has focused on abandoned homes and factories in Binghamton, New York. These locations serve as illustrations for both the destruction and the preservation of social memory. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout New York and New Jersey as well as in Italy.

Steve Weiss is a Phoenix native of the worst kind, the kind that prattles on endlessly about the good old days when there was nothing North of Camelback Road and folks rode horseback through the neighborhood on the way to the desert. Exposed to photography in high school, he only complicated matters by attending the San Francisco Art Institute and Arizona State University, getting a B.F.A. in 1978 that taught him the difference between the "winkin'" eye" and the "shootin' eye". His work is in the fine art collections of Del Webb Corporation, Salt River Project and the Gallagher Kennedy law firm.