"After forty years as a professional photographer, I am still inspired by the direct intuitive process of using the camera. For me it is a tool for seeing the world deeply and honoring my artistic vision. I often draw my inspiration from derelict and abandoned places where the passage of time is evident. In my recent series, "Nevada," for instance, each image is a close-up of a derelict building surface whose colors and textures have been formed by the passage of time. As in abstract painting, the viewer is deliberately not supplied with perspective or context. This ambiguity invites viewers to make their own associations. I had been photographing these subjects for years before I became aware of the Japanese esthetic, Wabi-Sabi. 'It is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. It is the beauty of things modest and humble. It is the beauty of things unconventional...'*"

Mark will be a participating artist in the Cultural Council's 2010 Open Studios Art Tour.

*From Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, by Leonard Koren, Imperfect Publishing, Point Reyes, California.

Be sure to stop by the Cultural Council office for a look at Mark's unique work! 

Margaret Niven

Margaret has been painting in oils and watercolors as well as developing her hand as a printmaker. Her recent paintings, like her earlier work, still emanate from an intent to convey a mood, to elicit a reaction, to draw the viewer into her intricate, intimate, dream-like way of thinking.

Margaret teaches art at Monterey Peninsula College and West Valley College. She regularly shows in Santa Cruz and will participate in the Cultural Council's 2010 Open Studios Art Tour at her live-work home home in the Artspace Tannery Lofts.

View Margaret's dreamy work at the Cultural Council office!