Waiting for spring, perhaps this spring in particular, set our minds to try something new. In an effort to step forward with old friends, make new starts, introductions, and knit new beginnings, we invited some artists to our gallery that we felt inspired to see. This is the first of a series of Invitationals: a dressed up word for a phone call whose business begins with, “What do you think if we…” The direction steers toward the obvious: the works are beautiful. It is our pleasure to share these artists’ works with you. They are mentioned in order from left to right according to the detail provided.

Daniel Brice (detail far left) works in the interplay between line and plane. The thick black line seems a stroke or action that is broken and replayed or drifts off; these moments of motion are stilled into variations by putty colored frames and the occasional dust of color. Brice grew up in Glendale, California. He studied painting at California State University at Long Beach and has served as an Artist in Residence at the Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Brice is included in many private collections across the U.S and Canada. He has also been a part of numerous group and solo exhibitions throughout North America.

Tyrell Collins (detail 2nd in from left) layers calligraphic strokes onto anodized aluminum to create a sense of depth from the repetition of line. Collins graduated from the University of Houston and attended the San Francisco Art Institute advanced painting workshop. She has exhibited extensively in the San Francisco area.

Dan Gualdoni (detail 2nd from right) draws from his studies in painting and printmaking to layer shadows and subtle saturations into haunting landscapes. He captures the image beneath a layer of polymer glue to give the work a soft matte luster; the effect is wistful over a stark, even primordial, landscape. Gualdoni received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California. He’s recently had exhibitions located in St. Louis, Seattle, and Tennessee. Gualdoni’s work is in a number of public, corporate and private collections.

Marilla Palmer’s (detail far right) watercolor twigs tributary to holograms and macromay. They are in the spirit of Nature’s game of “what if?” wandering between the crafted and the arbitrary. Palmer has exhibited her work at numerous galleries including Pierogi and PPOW in New York City, Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum at California State University San Bernardino, and Christopher Grimes Gallery, Los Angeles. She has been included in dozens of group exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Europe.