Dana Balaban

May through July, Gaia is showing Anastasia by local photographer and designer Dana Balaban.

Bio:

Anastasia – one who loves nature and beauty...

Artist – ... creates, images, observes and arranges beauty

Meet Dana at a reception for the artist at Gaia, on Thursday, May 6, 6-8 p.m.

 

 

 

 

Leslie Rowland

August through October, Gaia is showing a collection of works by artist Leslie Rowland

Leslie is a celebrated artist living in Las Vegas. She has been featured on public television and in numerous Las Vegas and national art shows. She has had multiple one-woman shows, and has been chosen as pick of the week in both Las Vegas City Life Magazine and the Las Vegas Weekly on multiple occasions. She and her work have been featured in several newspapers and magazines.

Leslie began painting out of sheer desire when she was a college student. She furnished her first homes by scouring junk shops and estate sales for gems in the rough. She unleashed her imagination, refinishing furniture pieces with random house paints and everything else she could get her hands on. An obsession was born. She spent much of the following 18 years experimenting madly. What emerged was a distinct style. The obsession lives on. Her works have evolved over the years, into something extravagant. Her abstract canvases boast mediums never seen before and she manages to turn vintage furniture into fine art.

For more about Leslie and her work, visit her website.

Christine Curtis Wilson

Also showing at Gaia through October is a collection of stained glass art by Christine Curtis Wilson.

A native of Las Vegas, Christine became a Certified Public Accountant and received her MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Feeling restless in accounting, she became a group fitness instructor and personal trainer and ultimately purchased her own Women's Health Club. In her spare time, Christine earned her commercial helicopter pilot's license. Yet, she had a creative side that urged her to expand.

Christine's mother is an artist and exposed her to a variety of art forms at an early age. Christine's favorite medium, stained glass, became her passion. Her love of animals, nature and underwater photography help her design vibrant, original works of art in glass. Her work has been shown in galleries, shows and shops around Nevada and California, and has appeared on television and in national magazines. She won 1st Place and a People’s Choice Award for the Stained Glass Category in the Gallery of Excellence at the 2009 Las Vegas Glass Expo.

For more about Christine, visit her website.

Robert Arnold

Robert was born in Baltimore Maryland several years ago. At the age of seventeen he lied to a recruiter and joined the U.S. Navy to avoid a pending indictment from his parents for unrealistic expectations and typical adolescent behavior and attitude. The Navy corrected this insolent behavior and provided the necessary attitude adjustments and discipline. Unfortunately this behavior modification took 22 years and was immediately disregarded upon his retirement from the military. Fortunately the Navy also gave him a view of the world that few people ever have the opportunity to experience. Robert likes to make things. Seventeen years ago he began making custom furniture and woodturning. In recent years he has begun working in ceramics and printmaking. All of his work is direct and uncomplicated. His primary goal is to make things that are attractive and functional. Robert is the token male artist currently working with Gaia. See more of Roberts work at www.tektwn.com.

Shari Bray

It took a long time for Shari to find herself as a professional artist.  Along the way, her perspective was shaped by a lifelong exposure to many cultures and art forms.  She grew up in a military family, traveled and lived across the United States and Europe, graduated from the University of California at Davis, then spent almost thirty years in the corporate world before turning her full attention back to the arts.

Her history has shaped her experience and approach.  She makes a variety of artwork, mostly ceramic, some functional and some not.  Most recently she has developed a love affair with the Japanese firing process called raku.  However, instead of relying on the lustrous glaze effects typically associated with raku, Shari uses the process as more of a medium with which to draw or paint.  This approach results in some surprising effects, while incorporating the warmth and seeming antiquity of the process.

Visit Shari’s Web site at http://www.sharibray.com.

Kathie Clinesmith

Gourd artist Kathie Clinesmith began working with gourds in 1996. A retired high school librarian, she had been growing gourds for several years and storing them in hammocks hung from the ceiling in the garage. When her husband threatened to throw them out, she decided to start experimenting with painting and wood burning them and has been crafting ever since!

She says, “I like working with petroglyph designs and learning about the uses of gourds. They have been used in almost every culture around the world and are one of the oldest domesticated plants. They are fun to work with because no two of them are ever the same and they push you to try different techniques and styles.  Every yard sale is a treasure hunt for supplies and every trip into the desert an opportunity for design ideas! ”

Kathie belongs to the Southern Nevada Rock Art Association, the American  Gourd Society and the California Gourd Society. She is a graduate of Cal State, Los Angeles where she majored in English with a minor in Art and later received her Masters degree in Library Science at the University of Hawaii. She is a 35 year resident of Las Vegas.  When not working with her gourds and taking gourd classes, she enjoys riding her horse and exploring the desert with her husband looking for petroglyph sites.

 

Samantha Dixon

Samantha was born in Santa Monica, but raised in Hollywood. It was there, working in a special effects studio, that her childhood fascination with art turned into a passion for sculpting.

In the midst of her ceramics training, Sam broke her left wrist in half, an injury that has since prevented her from throwing pottery. But it hasn’t stopped her creative spirit. Sam’s work in high-fire clay has a unique rough-hewn sensuality.

Sam’s influences are many, ranging from her Bohemian mother and writer-producer-director father, to Hollywood figures like Tim Burton and Crash McCreery. “My biggest satisfaction is seeing the joy in people’s eyes when they see what I can do,” she says.

Man Hue Duong

Man Hue Duong was born in Vietnam and her family immigrated to the U.S. when she was four years old. She uses her extensive formal training and teaching experience in ceramic arts to explore, in her own work, the dualities of the human condition. After receiving an associate’s degree in fine arts from Munson Williams Proctor Institute in Utica, N.Y., and dual bachelor’s degrees in art education and fine art from the State University of New York at New Paltz, N.Y., Man got a master’s of science in art education in 2005 from the City University of New York at Queen’s College in Flushing, N.Y.

Meanwhile, she was practicing her craft, both through teaching and personal projects. Man taught art for four years at Clarkstown High School in New City, N.Y., where she started a ceramics program. Since 2006, she’s been an art specialist at Herbert Derfelt Elementary School, here in Las Vegas.

You can see more samples of Man’s work at the Web site of the Nevada Clay Guild, http://www.nevadaclayguild.org/.

Ashleigh Edwards

Ashleigh Edwards has been crafting jewelry for more than six years. During that time, she has created custom pieces for band members of Ky-Mani Marley, son of world famous reggae singer Bob Marley, and displayed her work in several boutiques. Her jewelry was also featured in a fashion show in which recycled materials were used to create works of wearable art.

Ashleigh moved to Nevada from Oklahoma , where she studied fine arts at Southwestern Oklahoma State University . Her mother was her first true art teacher, modeling techniques that ranged from hair adornment to sewing. Ashleigh grew up watching her mother successfully manage a crafting business while raising four kids and working as a nurse.

“I can clearly remember an outfit my mother made for me as a child," she recalls. "Its tribal print, rich in golden browns and olive tans, stood out against a backdrop of mass-produced neon colors so prevalent during the ‘80s in Oklahoma .I wore that outfit with pride and wish I could still fit it today.”

Ashleigh works with several mediums, but primarily uses stones and repurposed materials to create her pieces.  In the future, she hopes to couple her passions for serving the specials needs community and her love of art.

Kelly Fowler

Kelly Fowler was born and raised in Las Vegas, and spent the last eight years in Portland, Ore. She returned to Las Vegas in July 2009.

Her early artistic interests focused on jewelry making, pottery and watercolor painting. While growing up, she patched, altered and disassembled her clothing to learn how it was made, and so began the love of sewing.

At 19 she got her first new sewing machine from her Grandma Rita, and still uses the same White machine today.

All of Kelly’s pieces are one-of-a-kind, handmade, reclaimed and upcycled. She uses vintage and found materials, such as clothing, upholstery samples, discarded children’s books and such. These would have otherwise ended up in landfills.

Kelly works as a sign language interpreter, and in her free time she rides and restores vintage bicycles, creates in her sewing room, explores thrift stores, and spends time with her husband, dog, two cats, family and friends.

She is donating 5% of the profit from all her sales at Gaia to the Las Vegas Basset Rescue.

She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Pier Marsh

Pier is excited about any opportunity to share her work, which has evolved out of her passion for the arts, the outdoors, gardening and cooking. Her years of practice as a grass-roots potter have given rise to a personal style that incorporates the shapes, colors, and textures of her desert surroundings. Pier's inspiration comes from the fun she has experimenting with different shapes, styles and glazes. The results have been no less exciting than the joy and satisfaction she feels when she experiments in the kitchen and produces a fabulous new recipe!

Pier's beautiful, understated work can be incorporated into any environment, from the garden, to the kitchen, to the office. Any of Gaia's plants can be potted in one of her hand-made pots to make a more special, and lasting gift. Browse our selection here.

You can learn more about Pier and her work at her Web site.

Kelly McLendon

Kelly McLendon  has been making pottery since 1992. She was introduced to clay while getting a degree in fine art photography at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her background in photography has greatly influenced her work in ceramics, teaching her to incorporate visual balance and contrast to achieve dramatic effects. But it is her love of the process and functional art in everyday living that have kept Kelly working in clay.

Kelly is currently showing a collection of pedestal vases at Gaia that are inspired by her love of the ocean, plants, and Asian Art. Elegant lines and a delicate visual balance ensure the quality and strength of each piece, making them precious heirlooms which can stay in families for many generations. They are multi-functional and dishwasher safe. No matter how you use them, these one-of-a-kind pieces will bring the joy of elegant artwork to your everyday life.

See more of Kelly's work on Etsy.