Red Union Hair Salon – San Francisco

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

Each season of the year, Red Union Salon features new artwork from various talented artists.

Photos from the Chelsea Croy party can also be download for free on Flickr:

Photos from the Lorraine Lawson party can also be download for free on Flickr:

Tags: art, artist, salon

Erika Redding, also known as Hairika, is the founder and owner of Red Union Salon, and loves running a dynamic hair salon on fashionable Union Street. Erika opened Red Union Salon to merge hair, fashion, and art all into one space. Now this vision has come true, and Red Union Salon frequently hosts art openings and continually displays new artwork in the salon.

Her hair and fashion expertise has included work both in front and behind the camera as a hair designer, fashion designer, makeup artist, model, set and wardrobe designer. Her advanced international training by Martin Parson, Redken, Matrix and Vidal-Sassoon has enabled her to educate other stylist at hair shows across North America. She has even modeled and designed hair backstage at Prêt-à-Porter, the famous international fashion event in Paris. Her closest friends and clients include many actors, actresses, athletes, artists, models, and fashion designers here in the United States as well as back in her native land of Germany and throughout Europe.

Erika has been called the “Zen” hairstylist for her grounding, calming effect, on her clients, and takes you from “Zen” to “Ten!” With her expert haircutting and hair coloring techniques, she is a true artist at work that loves designing a breathtaking new look for you!

Comments or questions are welcome.

Tags: actors, actresses, art, artist, athletes, barber, Erika, fashion designer, Germany, hair, hair designer, hair salon san francisco, haircut san francisco, hairdresser, Hairika, makeup artist, Martin Parson, Matrix, model, models, Prêt-à-Porter, Redken, salon, set designer, wardrobe designer, ZenVidal-Sassoon

San Francisco artist Katie Callahan grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Katie attended Appalachian State University and graduated with a Political Science degree.

Katie also works with local non-profits, studies Russian, and is applying to Law School. For more information, see Katie’s website Kallahan Works.

Tags: Appalachian Mountains, artist, Kallahan Works, Katie Callahan, North Carolina, San Francisco

As an artist, I have always used my work as a vehicle to express how and what I feel. The sources that I draw inspiration from cover a spectrum of subjects, typically my work, however abstract in its final form, is originally inspired by a source text, whether literary, visual, or cultural in nature. Although I am a painter, I see my work as not being limited by the tradition of the medium and have currently begun to explore and experiment with many different albeit unconventional materials. My latest body of work has been inspired by the notion of the medieval practice of Imaginative Pilgrimages. It was the habit of medieval monks, who often transcribed and copied literary works and maps, to imagine that they themselves were seeing and experiencing these far away lands and events. Often, these monks would mark in the margins their spiritual pilgrimage and actually draw places and cities though they had never left the room. Using this idea as my foundation, I was intrigued by the idea of evoking the feeling that cities, countries, and even history can conjure up. I began to work with the maps of old cities and countries, trying to bring to the surface of the work what I imagine it would feel like to have traveled there. I wanted to take in my “imagined” surroundings through all of my senses and recreate the resonant feeling with color, structure, and material.

About the Artist: Romy Mariano is originally from San Diego CA. She graduated from Lafayette College in 2005 where she majored in Art and English and received honors for her painting thesis. Romy has had several successful solo and group shows and has exhibited both in the United States and Italy. As of the fall of 2008, Romy has been pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree in painting at the San Francisco Art institute where she plans to graduate in the spring of 2010.

Tags: artist, Lafayette, painting, Romy Mariano, San Diego

“My goal and ambition as an artist, is to visually express the worlds that exist in the realm of dream and mythology. While mostly it results in entertainment for the senses, I believe that these universal images be they frightening, enchanting or enlightening can be used to explore the mysteries of the unknown. This reality has drawn me specifically into the realm of science fiction, surrealism, and fantasy.

By infusing classical themes of beauty into new forms and ideals, my hope is to enhance our collective sense of what is beautiful today and what may exsist in the future.”

Born in Fresno, California, Josh Lockwood has been pursuing his artistic passions since early childhood. After graduating high school in Fresno, Josh came to San francisco to study illustration at the Academy of Art University, earning his AA in 2005 while currently pursuing his BFA anticipating graduation in 2010.

Contact information:
jlockwoodmail@gmail.com
phereousdesigns.com

Tags: Academy of Art University, artist, California, dream and mythology, fantasy, Fresno, Josh Lockwood, science fiction, surrealism

Born and raised in Cleveland, OH. I started painting and drawing at a very young age. Went to art school at Kent State University for a BA in Drawing. I ran my own Graphics and Screen Printing business in Cleveland for 7 years. I moved to San Francisco in January 09 to pursue my career as a fine artist. All of my work is inspired by and dedicated to my 2 children.

Artist Statement:
“My paintings and drawings evolve from automatic applications of color into very cognitive pieces of work. The lines begin to take shape; the shapes begin to take form, sometimes living between the worlds of abstract and surreal. I like to think that I paint how ‘nature’ would paint itself…with the freedom to evolve and the ability to evolve effectively.”

The title I have given to my exhibit is “Resurgence”

Thanks,
John Benko

Tags: artist, Cleveland, drawings, Graphics, john benko, Kent State, Paintings, Resurgence, Screen Printing

The figure has always captivated me. It compels us and we identify with it. We see arms, legs, and head and imagine blood, bones, heart, emotions and intellect. The human body is a symbol of contrasts. It is our nature to be strong, yet delicate, fallible yet sublime, solid yet susceptible. These are qualities I keep in mind whenever beginning a new work.

My images are bold, passionate and often monumental in scale. They are a celebration of our individual uniqueness, resilience and power.

Chelsea Croy has always lived in the bay area and is currently living and working in Sausalito. Her mother was an artist and started her off early in that direction. Chelsea began her education in art at the College of Marin, then continuing at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, and the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. In 2003 and 2004 she was chosen to show at the prestigious Sausalito Art Festival. Chelsea Croy has been selected to show at the Artisan Gallery, and at the gallery at the College of Marin, Her work is collected throughout the country.

Contact the Artist:
chelseachristina@gmail.com
www.chelseacroy.com
589 Bridgeway #4
Sausalito, CA 94965

Tags: Academy of Art, Artisan Gallery, artist, Chelsea Croy, College of Arts and Crafts, College of Marin, Oakland, painting, San Francisco, Sausalito, Sausalito Art Festival

My paintings, inspired by cartoons and dream logic, deal with issues of aggression and anxiety, which are especially relevant given the recent economic and political climate. I feel we live in a society where aggression has become not only socially acceptable, but also a necessary trait for survival. Contemporary, capitalist, urban America has pushed competition – for jobs, housing, sex, $, parking spaces – into an intense daily struggle. It is survival of the fittest, where you are either the hunter (full of aggression) or the hunted (full of anxiety). Quite often we are filled with both, which is what these paintings explore. At the same time, a rather dry and dark humor underscores the mood of my paintings and pokes fun at the absurdity of modern life.

Music is a tremendous influence on my work as a painter. I am fascinated with the spatial, temporal, and structural components of music. I work with dense layering of paint and collage to create a network of intertwining patterns, stories, and colors which suggests movement, history, and rhythm. As structural and spatial patterns emerge, this dense layering of paint and collage is woven together into a unified composition. I see many parallels between the structural rhythm of music and that of life. My paintings are an attempt to understand and to capture the movement, the structure, the patterns, the rhythm, the history, and the interconnectedness of life.

To veiw Brian McDonald’s Art go to his website at:
SillyDilly.com

Tags: artist, Brian McDonald, cartoons, Contemporary, dream logic, painting, spatial patterns

About the artist:
Originally from Rochester, New York, James C. Osterberg Jr. relocated to San Francisco in September of 2002 looking to expand upon an existing, enthusiastic client base. His painting technique of using pure, vibrant acrylic colors straight from the tubes and mixing them on the canvas with dramatic brush work, together with his unique way of looking at and depicting everyday life, give his work an undeniably magnetic quality.

From the artist:
The true purpose of my art has become the rendering of the human spirit, stylizing and distorting, while using bold, pure color to intensify the images, and their messages. I strive to communicate my feelings and life experiences to my audience, while enriching and adding new dimension to the common threads of our lives.

To veiw Studio Osterberg’s Art go to his website at:
StudioOsterberg.com

Tags: acrylic, artist, everyday life magnetic, James C. Osterberg Jr, San Francisco, Studio Osterberg, tubes