Nature, history, cultural traditions, and stories, either real or imaginary, inspire me to create fiber art. Much of my work utilizes color and figurative imagery to educate, entertain, inspire, and stimulate ideas and discussion. Using my sewing skills and improvisational techniques, I make art that represents the world as I see it. There is joy and excitement in showing the beauty in the world around us. My work is designed and created to show the colors, rhythms, and experiences of life. Frequently I use photos that are computer manipulated and projected, then collaged and stitched. All pieces are created from a variety of materials including African prints, batiks, dyed fabrics, domestic fabrics, beads, buttons, yarns, and found objects. I have created a number of whimsical pieces such as “Carnival Queen” that was exhibited in South Africa and a series of mermaids that have always garnered cheerful responses. My work is displayed at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center; also I have exhibited in the De Young Museum in San Francisco and at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek.


For more art by Marion Coleman, click here.

For the last four years I have been working on a series of narrative paintings that explore the relationship between perception, memory, and loss. Working with images of absent family members, I examine “real” memories and the construction of memory mediated by the fiction of the family snapshot. Photographs of my parents are referenced that epitomize the mixed messages of the post-World War II era and the promise of “The American Dream.” But below the surface appearance of happiness and prosperity lie darker truths of unspoken anxiety, longing, and loss. The paintings use multiple “frames” to create unexpected juxtapositions, adding discontinuity and tension to the narrative. The trope of illusionist painting serves to frame my meditations on loss and the truth on impermanence. This ongoing body of work is a memorial project reflecting the death of my parents in 2000. My reverence for the craft of painting continues to deepen by living in an age obsessed with speed of information and bombardment of images. The physical evidence of the painter’s journey – the mark and touch – is critical to my engagement with my work. My studio practice is strongly rooted in the figurative tradition of working from observation, motivated by more than a desire to get back to the basics or achieve greater technical mastery over the medium of oil painting. I embrace figurative painting for its potential to communicate complex human motives, struggles, and ideals. Painting is a process of continual self-reflection that transcends self through a responsive and empathetic relationship to the visual world. My work is informed by contemplative and philosophical literature, especially the writings of Thoman Merton, Paul Tillich, and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. The power of Illusionist painting is not that it tries to create a “now” reality, but that it can mirror consciousness and embody the paradoxical truths of impermanence and (in the words of Tillich) “The Eternal Now.”


For more art by Mary K. Connelly, click here.

After only five years of working in corporate America (with a focus on information technology), and plagued with a constant urge to create with his hands, Al Mansour founded AfroLink. He created the first Afrocentric interactive multimedia software, as well as Black clip art. AfroLink allowed Al Mansour to express himself through the combination of technology, art, Black culture, and history. While continuing to work in corporate America and travel, such experiences would form the basis for his passion as an artist to create and offer commentary on Black history and contemporary culture.


For more art by Kamal Al Mansour, click here.