Red Union Hair Salon – San Francisco

Patty Mulligan has been creating photographs on real 22-carat gold for almost 20 years. Previously, she worked with Polaroid film doing Polaroid Emulsion Transfers, but in 2009 Polaroid ceased making the film she used. She has only a few prints left using the Polaroid emulsion transfer process, some of which will hang in the Red Union Salon. Recently, she has developed a new process for printing on gold, which she refers to as “orotones”. (See description below.)

All of her gold photographs evoke the historic process exemplified in the work by Edward Curtis who documented the West at the turn of the century. With her unique processes, she can transform a typical photograph by backing it with 22-carat gold. By doing so, the gold fosters a warm, emotional response that that changes depending on the light that strikes it. She is interested in how different light throughout the day changes the effect on the photo and as a result, the viewer’s response. She also enjoys blurring the distinction between a photograph and a painting.

Orotones:
Edward Curtis would print a black & white photograph on glass plate and then coat the back of the plate with gold, giving the images a transparent, glowing effect. Patty has spent the last several years developing her own orotone process to achieve a similar effect using a high-end archival inkjet printer. To create these pieces, she first coats a glass plate with a liquid emulsion and then prints the image on the plate. Later, the plate is backed with 22-carat gold. The entire glass plate is then reversed so that both the image and the gold are on the underside. Because she uses a modern printer, she can print in color (unlike Curtis) so that photographs come alive with the vibrancy of color that is enhanced by the gold. The glass gives depth and the metals luminescence and warmth, yielding a print with sparkle and life not found in regular photographic prints on paper.

“The ordinary photographic print, however good, lacks depth and transparency, or more strictly speaking, translucency. We all know how beautiful are the stones and pebbles in the limpid brook of the forest where the water absorbs the blue of the sky and the green of the foliage, yet when we take the same iridescent pebbles from the water and dry them they are dull and lifeless, so it is with the ordinary photographic print, but in the Curt-Tones all the transparency is retained and they are as full of life and sparkle as an opal.” – Edward Curtis

Tags: Edward Curtis, Gold, hair salon, Orotones, Patty Mulligan, Photographer, Photography, San Francisco

“I was born in Northern California and currently live in San Francisco. I have been painting since I was twelve years-old and started having exhibits at seventeen with my first show being solo.  Growing up around art, music, and culture creative influences were always around me.  It came to me easily but there is always more to learn.  I hope to become better everyday and continue to expand.  I am inspired by experience, contrast, sexuality, and resilience.  I try to convey, whatever the subject may be, in my work a sense of strength in order to keep a theme of myself paying homage to where I’ve come from and especially where I am going.”

–Milan

Milan has been showing her work for three years now and has sold over a hundred pieces created in her studio, painted live, and numerous commissioned pieces both private and commercial.   In addition to this success she has been and continues to be attack her art as ever-changing and always learning.  Your support is greatly appreciated.

Website milanevje.com
Email: milanevje@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ArtistMilanEvje
Prints: society6.com/MilanEvje

Tags: artist, hair salon, Milan Felice Evje, San Francisco

Born in 1972, J.D. Lenzen grew up in and around the Bay Area—the bubble he calls home. He spent his mid-twenties living and working in the redwoods of the San Mateo Mountains, and his late-twenties exploring, playing and stumbling within the various underground scenes of San Francisco. His paintings explore the dance between image and identity; questioning popular social archetypes through the use of genderless characters he calls “Moles”.

In his own words:  ”For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated the human condition, the exploration of self and identity in the context of society and the societal roles we embrace. I seek to illustrate, and ultimately process, the multitude of feelings we have about ourselves, others and the homeostatic neuroses that pave our common ground.”

In addition to his paintings, JD is also an accomplished knot tyer and novelist.

His YouTube channel “Tying it All Together“, has over 23,000 followers.  His book “Decorative Fusion Knots” is available for purchase on Amazon.com.

JD has published two novels, “Soft Candy” and “Disturbingly Normal“. Both are available for purchase on Amazon.com.

Tags: Decorative Fusion Knots, Disturbingly Normal, J.D. Lenzen, San Francisco Artist, San Mateo, Soft Candy, Tying it All Together

Jamie V. Rodriguez’ obsession with postcards started at a young age. Growing up in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, she was exposed to graphic design, pop culture, and print advertising, specifically postcards.

To pursue a career in the arts and also keep up with fast paced technology, Jamie V. Rodriguez studied graphic design at the Academy of Art University. Needing a more organic outlet, she took random objects in her surroundings and made a postcard everyday. Soon, the pieces of artwork grew, forming a whole series. Thus, The Daily Postcard was born.

Jamie V. Rodriguez is currently a freelance web designer and is also pursuing her other passion…traveling.

Tags: graphic design, Jamie V. Rodriguez, pop culture, print advertising, San Francisco Featured Artist, San Francisco Hair Salon

Ingrid Butler, a Sausalito Bay Area artist, has been active in the art community for thirty years. Moth Marblers is her business were she designs one of a kind marbled and decorative papers for book binders, collage artists, card designers, jewelry makers, and any one that needs traditional or modern papers for their project.

Ingrid is multifaceted, She not only decorates paper but also uses her papers in 3D installations which pop off the wall or hang from the ceiling. Butler also uses her papers in mixed media collages.

Recently, she has begun making art books with her paper samples from the past twenty-five years. Houghton Library at Harvard University has just acquired several sheets of her paper as well as one of her books, Twenty-five Years of Marbled and Decorative Papers.

Butler is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. She has dedicated her life to bringing beauty and good design into the world.

Tags: 3D, card designers, collage artists, decorative papers, Ingrid Butler, jewelry makers, Marbler, Rhode Island School of Design, Sausalito, Twenty-five Years of Marbled and Decorative Papers, Valentine's Day

Dana Draper has been strongly influenced by his family who were involved in the arts. Harry Guggenheim, director of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum for 20 years, encouraged Draper to appreciate the arts by his volunteering in the museum library and in the art restoration conservatory.

Peggy Guggenheim opened her doors to her 20th century art filled home in Venice, Italy to the young Draper. With this exposure, Draper later entered the Art Student League and obtained a masters in fine arts from NYU.

Draper’s grandmother, Dorothy Draper, internationally recognized interior designer, who decorated the San Francisco Fairmont and Mark Hopkins Hotels, played a dominate roll in young Draper’s education. She was “The Designer” of the fifties and she taught him a keen sense of color and scale.

Currently: Again, Draper is working with copper, he has made the full circle from his early days in Chile. Draper employs a unique form of copper painting. He applies water based acids, and oxides directly on copper. Acids such as rice vinegar, lemon juice, and rock salt as well as special recipes are used to obtain exciting color patina interactions on the copper. Large sheets of copper that Draper has artfully crafted are transformed into unique art doors, interior dividers, wall panels, and site commissioned projects.

Draper is primarily a figurative artist focusing on the qualities of motion and light. Why nudes? “The undraped figures are devoid of politics, pretensions, and material possessions. Therefore, expression, feeling, motion, color, and relationship come into play as the primary visual and emotional factors.”

Tags: Architecture, artist, beauty, Color, Copper, Copper Figures, Dana Draper, Figures, salon, San Francisco, Sausalito, Scoll, Scroll Paintings

Gregory Dugan is an outsider artist who paints Abstract Expressionism landscape paintings on small and large canvases creating brilliant and beautiful colors, textures and action paint movement. He depicts raw emotions and deep spirituality in his paintings using acrylics, oils and gold leaf. His paintings are extremely visual, dramatic and highly sought after by private collectors. Mr. Dugan’s internationally known studio is located in Pacific Heights, San Francisco, California, a beautiful neighborhood that continues to have a famous history of resident artists, silversmiths, and photographers. Mr. Dugan’s paintings can be viewed by appointment at his gallery, Johnny Utah, located at 1496 Valencia Street, San Francisco.

Tags: Abstract Expressionism, Gregory Dugan, Johnny Utah, Pacific Heights, San Francisco

          Erin Wapple and Tom McCullough started their art journey at California State University Chico. They graduated with their BA in Art Studio. Erin received her MFA in Painting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She continues to paint in good company of her cat Toby. Tom has ventured out into the work force while still following his interest in art and music. Together they face the challenges of surviving as artists.

Tom’s website:
myspace.com/itsthebutcher

Erin’s website:
erinwapple.com

Tags: Academy of Art, California State University Chico, Erin Wapple, Tom McCullough

The artist Amanda Holt has been living in the bay for nearly a decade. She graduated from The Art Institute of California, San Francisco, with a B.S. in Media Arts and Animation. She has coined her style ‘Urban Cartoon’ although she has the ability to truly mix up and blend a diverse medium, subject and technique-shaking up the overall composition to create a brilliance of color and imagination.

The artist will recall learning how to hold the pencil at 3, to create a world to escape into even early on in childhood. By the age 7 she had began to declare that she wanted to be an ‘animator’ when she grew up. She always pursued the arts and theatre realizing that animation would be the perfect opportunity to ‘act through her pencil’ so she figured may as well adapt to the concepts early on. She pursued a career in animation at age 18 when moving to San Francisco to study her passion. She has worked all over the bay for Independant Non-Profit companies providing services in graphic design, illustration and animation. Currently, she is working on an animation collaboration with local artist Alp Ozberker. Alongside multiple independent projects.

To view more examples of illustrations see:
imagineartistone.carbonmade.com

Tags: Alp Ozberker, Amanda Holt, Art Institute of California, artist, party, San Francisco

 About the Artist:
Greg Wilkie was born in Albany, NY in 1948. He spent a great deal of his youth in self-isolation, working on his drawings and water-color paintings or practicing magic. He studied mechanical drawing and art all through school and was frequently advanced to the next level. Looking back, he realized he missed out on some basic techniques since his works gave the appearance of a trained artist. Thus he worked harder outside of class to catch up. His mother recognized his talent early on and encouraged him to become a commercial artist. He could not envision such a career since there were many times he just didn’t feel like painting! And, he liked to create his own work, not what someone else told him to produce.
His mother entered many of his works in the County Fairs where he frequently received first place awards.
 
Unfortunately, his early works and awards were destroyed when his parents home burned to the ground. For years afterwards he shied away from painting and focused instead on the art of magic.
 
Reality of Life
Mr. Wilkie enlisted in the Navy at 17 and served two tours of duty in Vietnam where the idyllic life of youth suddenly evaporated. It was during that time that he became aware of the fleeting nature of life. When he returned to civilian life, nothing was the same. His older brother died suddenly in 1972 followed by his father in 1975. The compound trauma sent him into the throes of depression. He spent two decades searching for purpose in his life. While on his quest, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Administration of Justice, a Masters in Public Administration, worked as a laborer, ambulance driver, police officer, window washer, long-haul truck driver, a BART train operator and magician. None of these activities fulfilled his soul.
 
Rebirth of the Painter
Mr. Wilkie regained his passion for painting while watching water-color artists in Thailand while he and his family were touring Southeast Asia performing magic. He was intrigued by the simplicity of the palm tree and ocean scenes and the artists’ ability to produce them quickly and with ease. Nothing ever came that easily to him.
 
He immediately got to work, sitting for hours on the floor, with brushes, paints and paper. So ended his magic interlude and the four year tour of Southeast Asia. He and his family returned to United States and made their home in California.
 
Finding Acrylics
Mr. Wilkie discovered acrylic paints and realized he had found his medium of choice. He could blend the techniques of both water-color and oil painting. He has painted on a variety of supports including glass, wood, canvas, paper and most recently mat board. He is on a quest to find durable supports that will last long into the future…
 
Mr. Wilkie is ever-concerned about preserving his works. His goal is to leave pieces of himself behind so that his descendants will be able to see the life he lived through his eyes. For him, there is only the reality of what was and what is in the moment. In his view, life is real—and that’s the way he paints it.

Tags: Acrylics, art gallery, Featured Artist, Greg Wilkie, opening, salon, San Francisco