Patricia Gittins Vollmer

Artist's Statement

Well, I am not someone who said, "I am 3 years old and I want to be an artist."

I am someone who, during an art courses in college, fell in love with painting and design.  My instructor in a painting class encouraged my color landscapes and my need to spatially juxtapose the elements of light, color, and balance.  I am inspired by natural occurrences and scenes - the blue greens of a bed of sea kelp floating in the ocean, a blade of grass, the faded paint on a boat, a nest of pine needles. Then, I reduce them to their purest, strongest, elements of color.

 I believe color speaks not just to me, but to others in a very deep way. I think color is something we often remember- we might not remember where we saw it, but it says in our psyche.  I hope that when you view my paintings it makes you want to dive in and feel those colors, and to find your own connection.  Every person, I believe, possesses talent, and each of us houses "creative urge" - it's just so often buried by the demands of careers, and unbroken focus in an achievement- oriented world.

 So, hey, if you are out there waiting to get started, and to do what you love, just listen, and know that you are on the right path!      - pgv

Ron Troyano

A jack of all trades, you may see Ron discussing the vineyard soil in the Rhone Valley one minute and bussing your table the next. A firm believer in the "blue collar" work ethic of his upbringing and a passion for enjoying the dining experience, Ron is right at home in the restaurant industry...heck... he might even sleep here.

Matt Thomas

After years of pursuing "truth" through the study of philosophy, Matt found himself even more confused than when he started. He then chose to pursue his other favorite hobbies: cultural culinary delights, fine spirits and fermented grapes, and visual stimulation through design and art. At his final destination, Matt found himself nestled within the warm and "comforting bosom" of the restaurant and art industry.

Erich Tramonti

Being extremely successful in the world of retail wasn't enough for Erich (known to his friends as ET) he needed to challenge himself further with an even more stressful industry, the restaurant industry. ET brings his trained palette and keen sense of style to Alchemy to make sure the boys (and girls) keep their act together and the customers happy. Oh and maybe to sample the food and wine from time to time.

Geoff Thomas

A successful jewelry designer and artist, Geoff brings an outside perspective to the team. We rely on Geoff to supply us with art (and customers) from his contacts throughout the art world of Los Angeles. When in San Diego you can find Geoff at his favorite seat in the house...that would be the one with his name finely decorated on the back.

Ricardo Heredia

Ricardo began cooking in a sweat shop at the age of 9. After escaping, he started working at a kitchen in an Italian restaurant until the age of 15. At the age of 23 (with already 12 years under his belt) he began honing his skills in the kitchens of Columbus and Dayton Ohio. His influence spans the globe working with chefs from Italy, France, Thailand, and the Caribbean. Ricardo's food philosophy is simple; Let the products speak for themselves. Most importantly our chef focuses on the many local farms that California has to offer.

Todd Williams

A designer by trade and a sculptor by nature, he is truly a renaissance man at heart (even if he won't admit it).  Todd designed and built Alchemy around the centerpiece sculpture he created out of stainless steel and brass.  Todd's perfectionism allowed us to create a unique space that functions ergonomically and embraces our guests organically.

Drawings, Paintings and sculpture by John Matsch

Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune.
Noam Chomsky

I love being an Artist and making art......everything I do is art in some way.  

When I make art of any sort I have to like how it looks and have to like what it says:  I set out to make drawings of something I had never seen before and these are what happened.  I learned its super hard to render something from my mind that I had never before viewed with my eyes.  Not sure what they are, if you think you know contact me.  I also learned that talents and skills have a Progression (I made nearly 100 of these type of drawings) noticeable from the "Early" figures contrast to the "Later" figures depth and richness.  I learned that doing anything 100 times will lead to improvement.  Try it man.

I like to think of myself as an Intellectual but I'm really a farm boy for Illinois.  Most of my early experiences with technology came from associations with farm equipment; most of it was well used and beat up from overuse and makeshift field repair.  Rather than go into the intellectual explanation Ill simply say they are representations of my ideas of how language (Division of Words), symbols and meaning making in general create our perceptual world of experience.  Pretty cool huh?

The Paintings are of stuff I like to do or have or be.  "The dive bar" is my favorite painting....I know all the Bar Tenders in my neighborhood pretty well.  I only use oil paint because it looks nice. 

Hope you liked my art and enjoyed your drinks at this fine dining establishment.  Oh and if you have any questions or want to comment, heckle, purchase, complain, congratulate, or blather about my art you may contact me at joyousjohn@sbcglobal.net. 

After a decade of professional graphic design, one day I decided to step away from the computer and take a long walk. The notion took me to Spain, where I trekked 303 miles along the Camino de Santiago in 2009. The journey inspired me to get back into slow process image making, and I treated my inner artist to some paints and canvas. When I'm not creating a logo or a book design, I'm stretching canvas over handmade frames the size of walls, slowly filling my world with every abstract expression of love that the Camino planted in me.

I am very much influenced by Spanish masters - Miró, Picasso, Gaudi, Dali. I am also inspired by street art, distressed wood, rusty metal, indie bands, and children.

The work process stems from the idea that "there is no such thing as wasted paint," where even the slightest bit of paint on the brush or palette is precious, and put to use. The base layers are thick, and the subsequent layers are a mix of both heavy body, and watered down transparent, building depth and character to the pieces.

The two ++ symbols are my way of saying love, borrowed from "xoxo." They also represent the intersection of time + space, which brings us to the here + now, or the present.

I hope this visual artwork inspires a sense of playfulness, or creativity in the viewer. I want someone to walk away from my work feeling ready to make something beautiful - a living room, an office, or any other sort of canvas.

Enjoy the layered paintings, jewels, and mixed media treasures I've created. Splash up amazing spaces and have fun.

amybacalopez.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TehRbcrzkBo

Dok has created comic book, video game and concept art for over twenty years, working at leading game developers such as Sony Online Entertainment, 989 Studios, BlueSky Sofware, Sega of America and Midway Games. Dok continues to hone his craft by attending art classes, story-telling seminars, workshops and by exhibiting personal work relating to the human figure and pop surrealism.

Closely monitored by various bulldogs, Dok is kept both laughing and cursing in equal measure.

FOOD MEETS ART WITH AGRI*PLANET

Martini media artist & chef, Melissa Mayer, whose AGRI*PLANET show was created in collaboration with San Diego's 1st Annual Grass Fed Beef Week Promotion

The 411 on the show:

Opening Reception:

"AGRI*PLANET" @ Alchemy in South Park, San Diego

June 9th from 6pm-10pm

AGRI*PLANET is a suggestive, provocative and often irony-laden series of work within multiple mediums that is a social & political commentary on the state of our food culture and the food industry.  The artist's reception will include temporary installations and the remaining works within the show will be on view @ Alchemy into early July, 2011.

10% of the proceeds from the sales of the artwork in this collection will benefit Slow Food Urban San Diego, a 100% grassroots organization supporting and promoting food that is good, clean and fair.

Typically, my process begins in the scetchbook with ballpoint pen drawings. Using the "automatic writing" technique of the Surrealists, I start out by covering the page with scribbles.  I then look closely at this seemingly random mass of lines until, invariably, images and patterns that speak to me emerge.  I develop and hone these images into a cohesive picture, adding new shapes and lines as needeed.  When I feel satisfied with it, I transfer the drawing onto my painting surface.  I employ a number of both direct and indirect painting techinques, and often experiment to acheive the desired effect.

As to influences, they are many and varied.  They come principally from 20th century movements, especially those of Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.  Specific artists whose work I find particularly inspiring include Arshile Gorky, Wilfredo Lam, Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Max Beckman, Ljuba Popovic, Adolph Gottlieb, Henry Moore, Max Ernst, and Joan Miro.  Additionally, I have a keen appreciation for tribal art, especially that of Africa and Oceana.  For literary influences, pride of place goes to the work of H.P. Lovecraft.  In his stories, I have found a unique and endlessly fascinating voice that strikes a cord with my own particular sensibilities.  Also, from a very early age, I have been drawn to Classical mythology, and references to it find their way into my work from time to time.  Musically, I derive inspiration from such diverse sounds as those of John Coltrane, Metallica, and Dead Can Dance.

Daniel Ketelhut

(858) 564-9506

dpketelhut@gmail.com

www.danielketelhut.com

Armando was born in Tijuana Baja California and raised in Chula Vista. He enlisted in the Army and served with the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg NC, with one year assignments in Germany and Korea.  He then attended the New York School of Visual Arts, Santa Monica school of Design and Architecture, and Otis school of art and design. During his studies in Los Angeles he was also Project manager for Alternate Routes, an outreach program for Side Street Projects where He taught woodworking to kids on a school bus that was transformed into a mobile woodshop. Currently He is living in San Diego where he is a member of several organizations. The Prizm Process, which develops programs in the community that are designed to transform inspire and uplift communities through arts and civic engagement. The Border Corps, a performance art collective that deals with Social Justice and border issues among other topics, and The Roots Factory, an activist art collective that promotes global consciousness through a message of peace and protest. In his free time he can be found in his studio on G Street playing the Fender Rhodes electric piano and singing songs with all his friends.

Exhibitions and group Shows:

           "La Vida and Comida Aktion Drawing" Self Help Graphics, East Los Angeles 2010

           "Summer Salon Series" Border Corps, San Diego Museum of Art 2010

            "Here Not There: San Diego Art Now" Border Corps, MCASD  La Jolla 2010

           "Coatlicue Mi Amor" Border Corps, Agitprop San Diego 2010

           "La Entrada" Public Art Project, San Diego, 2009

            "P.L.A.T.O." Multi Media. Centro Cultural de la Raza, 2008

           "The Guild" Multi Media, GGHCDC, 2008

           "Multi Media Happening" GGHCDC, 2008

           "World Philosophy Conference" Painting Exhibition, India, 2007

           "Espasifico" Multi Media exhibition, Voz Alta, San Diego, 2007

           "Love" Painting, group exhibition, Jedite Gallery, New York ,  2006

           "Family and Spirit" paintings exhibition, Chicano Pirk, San Diego,2005

           "Drive by gallery 2" Multimedia exhibition, Club Recognize, San Diego, 2004

           "Drive by gallery" Multimedia art show, Voz Alta, San Diego, 2004

           "AutoPilot" Exhibition, The City Market Gallery, Los Angeles, 2003

           "Brick Lodge" Stages Theater, Hollywood, 2002

           "Generic Art" Multimedia show, Hollywood, 2002

           "Back Yard Show" The Hatch, Venice, 2001

           "Nothing from Something" Screening, LA 2001

           "Group Show" The bolski gallery, Otis, Los Angeles  2001

           "Night Life" Side Street Projects, Los Angeles, 2001

           "The Facts of life" Media Group Show, Los Angeles, 2001

           "Otis and Vidayoh presents "Screening, Los Angeles, 2001

           "Synopsis" Julia Rico Gallery, Santa Monica, 2001

           "Labor day" Smart Gals Production, LA, 2000

           "Ramal Collective" Side Street Projects, LA, 2000

           "Venice Vortex" Santa Monica College Gallery, Santa Monica, 1999

           "Into the unknown" Second Story Arts, West Wood, 1999

           "Celebration Show" School of Design Art and Architecture, LA 1998

Armando de la Torre

619-288-3731

guavasufi@gmail.com

armandodelatorre.com

Born in Berkeley, California, and now a resident of San Diego, Robert Glick spent most of his adult life in the maritime business.  It was not until he moved to Houston for professional reasons that the owners of a local gallery called the Blank Canvas became interested in Robert's poetry and offered to sell it if he could find a way to display it. Intrigued by the challenge, Robert received some technical advice and started painting in 2001; he soon discovered ways in which language could combine with visual composition to display a higher form of expression, and this kept him going until he developed sufficient skill to fully surrender to the call of art in 2006.

In 2007, Robert started painting with fire.  Inspired by the great Yves Klein, Robert wanted his art to reside "somewhere beyond the visible" (Klein) and began using transformational elements such as fire, heat and wind, along with more conventional mediums to create a permanent impression of transient nature. When asked about a series of fire paintings constructed for a 2009 group exhibit called "The Art of War", Robert noted: "When flames leap headlong into the void, they leave behind an unsullied imprint, a shining moment, the incarnation of form flickering between this world and the unknown, between life and death - pure energy incarnate."

Using a wide variety of mediums, such as ink, oil and acrylic, sometimes combined with resin, plaster, graphite and flame, Robert ranges between the abstract, conceptual and figurative.  Much of his work is inspired by the changing face of nature and the human condition. Some paintings evoke images of religion, evolution and the origins of man. Like all serious artists, Robert is searching for that "unsullied imprint" in a complex world. The more encompassing the subject matter, the more challenging the commonalities are to portray, until finally artistic language breaks down and art becomes as abstract as the concept itself. Somewhere between these material and immaterial worlds, Robert's art stands out.

Robert continues to write, and has a series of newsletters about art and the human condition on his website: www.robertglickart.com.