My Passion for Professional Still Imagery & Fine Art:   

As a Freshman in high school Aaron was filling up two to three rolls of 35mm films per-week.  The Riekes Center (a non-profit organization in Menlo Park, geared to helping people achieve their goals) made it possible for Aaron to perfect his numbers & exposures which spurred his true passion for the fine arts.

While finishing High School in 2007, Aaron was already active in the business of photography and would soon become a professional in the field.  In 2012 Aaron taught his first Digital Darkroom Photography class to underprivileged High School students in the Bay Area.

After graduating from the Art Institute of California in 2015, Aaron witnessed first hand how most students attending underprivileged schools needed more resources and mentors who were passionate about the field of Fine Arts.  So, Aaron took on the task to build new innovative ways to best serve the community through the arts by extending digital photography classes to these students.  

In 2015 to 2020 Aaron became the Visual Arts Director at the Riekes Center.  In this role, Aaron was able to provide new photography equipment to students, and develop a curriculum for photography techniques and digital data organization.  

In addition to Aaron’s role as a Visual Arts/Communication Arts & Financial Aid  Director, Aaron worked as a professional Freelance Photographer in the Bay Area with a tremendous amount of work, which led to meeting key community stakeholders within the Silicon Valley. 

Aaron’s Photography has been the contributing photographer for the Atherton Living, Los Altos Hills and Mountain Home private magazines since June 2021 and current.  

Aaron has now successfully shown his first Art Gallery showing in 2022 at Mirada Art Gallery on Main Street, Half Moon Bay. 

During the months of September through December, Aaron will be showcasing a series of Ancient tree series (4,850 year old pine trees) at Ocean Blue the Vault Art Gallery on Main Street, Half Moon Bay.

– Aaron believes that these ancient trees have genetic information that can help us understand our climates within the planet. These series of photographs will hold history, resistance, adaptation and growth. 

Aaron Alvarez Mendoza

Aaron’s Photography

www.alvarezmendoza.com

media@alvarezmendoza.com 

I am a self-taught artist who begun my career in the Philippines in the mid 1980’s.Here in Silicon Valley,I exhibited with the Silicon Valley Open Studio for several years.I am also a writer with an upcoming book titled “Ameasians”.It is about the children of US servicemen left behind in Subic Naval Base in Olongapo City Philippines during the Vietnam War.It will soon be release by Kindle Publishing.

My personal challenge is to create the most striking photography on a personal level, then share that vision. My photography realistically represents the subject and composition. I also develop an artistic, creative from an original digital image that has an imaginative interpretation. 

I photograph travel, coastal scenery, landscapes, nature, cityscapes. 

I prefer vibrant color, like bold graphics and use the best light possible for impact.

I offer my artwork in a variety of media types. Metal print, acrylic, wood, canvas and framed art. I also have image merchandise & notecards on my website. Online ordering with direct fulfillment offered.

It’s been a joy to be part of the Half Moon Bay community, participating in various organizations, work & volunteer activity over the years, fortunate to be a local Coast-side resident for the last 39 years. The natural surroundings and local community enrich me. 

Barbara Masek Photography has also been a commercial photography service business since 2010. I work with clients in head & portrait, event, and promotional assignments. https://www.barbaramasekphotography.com 

https://www.barbaramasekphoto.com

View more digital photography art and sign up to receive previews of new releases, and seasonal promotions. 

https://www.barbaramasekphoto.com

Follow me on social!    

https://www.instagram.com/barbaramasekphoto 

https://www.facebook.com/barbara.masek 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbaramasekphoto    

Casey is a lifelong, Half Moon Bay local. She created Layers Of Intention during the beginning of her Master’s degree program in Mind-Body Medicine nearly three years ago as a grounding tool, through the creation of jewelry and her Reiki practice. Now as she enters her Ph.D. program in Mind-Body Medicine at Saybrook University, she still finds comfort in creating pieces of jewelry that are layered with intention through the metaphysical properties of crystals.

David Ebner has designed and created memorable art for Television and Cinema since he was 18 years of age. Listed by Wired Magazine as one of Hollywood’s most creative individuals, Ebner has contributed to over 70 feature films and has worked with notable auteurs such as Steven Spielberg, Guillermo Del Toro, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, Stephen Sommers, Francis Ford Coppola, Taylor Hackford, David Fincher, John Woo, Frank Darabont, among others.

While only 22 years of age, Dateline NBC and Entertainment Tonight, the two leading cable programs were branded with title graphics created by Ebner and his team. On top of that, Ebner oversaw the graphics for HBO, Nat Geo Channel, ESPN, Skybox, among others, winning BDA and Promaxx awards. 

Ebner joined Guillermo Del Toro for Hellboy, then as a producer and production partner for Pan’s Labyrinth, in which his team created the visual effects, winning over 100 film festival awards and won the best in show at SigGraph’s Electronic Theater, representing the very best in Visual Effects work that year.

As the Creative Director and Senior VFX Supervisor of Cafefx, his team created the films for Universal Studio’s “Wizarding World of Harry Potter.”  It is still considered the most successful theme park addition, with an immediate boost of 1 million annual attendees to the park. 

Due to Ebner’s talents in art direction, Ebner was invited to direct a stage show, “Long Gone Dinosaurs” which has been visited by over 4 million people. 

Ebner’s watercolor, pencil and acrylic paintings reflect the emotion, passion, and feelings which percolate in his creative mind, drawing upon nature and imaginative inspirations as well as fascination by the works of Winslow Homer, Franz Marc, Claude Lorrain, Georgia O’Keefe, and master watercolor artist John Ebner.

Just as he has for many film directors, Ebner often reaches within for new possibilities and exploration to delight people, often the case with groundbreaking visuals that have never been seen before. 

​

Hi, I’m Diane.  I am a long time Coastsider and create functional and decorative pottery and mosaics for the home and garden.  My handmade ceramics are food, oven and dishwasher safe. I create mosaics primarily with repurposed and handmade ceramic materials.  Treasure hunting for colorful and unique materials inspires my creative flow that comes with making mosaics and knowing these treasures will find new life by giving people joy.

Pottery and mosaics are grounded in nature and allow me to feel, visualize and bring in the colors, textures and movement of our coastal shore, agriculture and mountains.  Whether working in the Half Moon Bay studio I shared with my father-in-law or in our Santa Cruz Mountains barn studio, my mind flows with cherished memories of Half Moon Bay, my parents and Papa Joe, a Half Moon Bay Native who graced the Coastside with his stories, stained glass, craftsmanship, kindness, and generosity. Honoring them and our family’s love of the Coastside through art is pure joy. My love of nature and agriculture has inspired me through my life.  My prior 42-year career included teaching Agriculture, Landscape Gardening, Design and Construction, Forestry, and Park Ranger.

I am thankful for the richness of our local community and the support of the Coastside Artists, the Vault my teachers and patrons.  In addition to the Vault, I’ve had the pleasure of showing my art at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival Made on the Coast, the Gathering of Women Artists, Mirada Art, and at various art shows. 

Eleven years ago we moved to Half Moon Bay. I love this beautiful place where green fields end at the bluffs above the Pacific Ocean.  We made our home in an old train station.  One day Coastside Land Trust brought a herd of goats and sheep to graze the coastal meadows. I owe those animals a debt of gratitude; their connection to the land, sea, and air shifted something in me.  After years of putting my creativity last, I moved it to the front of my to-do list.  I draw, paint and weave – finding inspiration from and incorporating elements of the natural world into the things I make. Often working in collaboration with my husband Steve we find delight in the creatures and elements in our garden and beyond.

Twilight, that magical time when it is neither day nor night, was what compelled me to take these images. I wanted to create something soothing and serene. My love of the water and abstract photography led me away from a literal subject. I was inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Baltic Sea, Rugen photograph. Something so simple, yet there was a complexity to it. Over the course of a month, I returned to the same location, at the same time of day and used the same composition, focusing on the light as my subject. I was amazed by the variations. I centered the horizon to achieve balance and increase the feeling of serenity. These pictures can be hung as a set, or individually.

Seeing something different, something more than the literal subject is my favorite pastime with my camera. My love of photography began at an early age with an Instamatic Kodak camera.  From the Instamatic I upgraded to a 35mm SLR film camera, and now use a mirrorless digital camera. The experience in my late teens of documenting a cross country road trip with my camera inspired me to earn a degree in photojournalism from Boston University. Over the years, I have worked as a reporter and photographer for a semi-weekly newspaper and photographed weddings and family portraits.

I have been published in the El Defensor Chieftain, the Socorro Chamber of Commerce and the Half Moon Bay Review. I have won awards at the Pacifica Fog Fest and the Peninsula Photo Contest. My work has been shown at New Mexico Tech, the Sanchez Art Gallery, Filoli Historic House, Palo Alto Art Center, the Arc Gallery, and the Healdsburg Center for the Arts. If you are interested in more details, please contact me at electrafieldphotography@gmail.com.

As a self-taught artist with no formal training or education, I am always exploring new mediums and creative ways to reflect the beauty and tranquility of my home in Half Moon Bay, California. I am inspired by the calm, but also powerful emotions of the ocean.

Creating art is self-care for me and allows me to nurture my soul. When I am not painting, I am spending time with my family and my beloved dog Lola (who has become the best art and work assistant ever!) or you can find me volunteering with animals.

In addition to creating art, I work full-time with a local Energy Efficiency consulting firm – Resource Innovations. I am married with an 19-year-old son and our family has lived in this beautiful coastal town for 20+ years.

I am so honored to be included in the Vault’s collective with so many talented artists. I hope my art evokes the ocean in your heart no matter where you are.

XO,
Heather Prince
HMBheatherart

James Maher was born in New York 1954 and spent his childhood in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx,  Jersey City, finally landing at the Jersey Shore for his teens. When entering adulthood, James moved  to Miami and began to explore what independence, community and art means to a person. He  discovered he never chose to be an artist, rather he used art and artistic thought to delve into and  process his own learnings. In the late 1970s, James set down roots in the San Francisco Bay Area,  established his business as a hairstylist and salon owner, started a family and continued his discovery  into his own art. Using any and all mediums ranging from his regular application of oils, inks and  acrylics, venturing into glass and steel work, and most recently, using industrial-inspired hardware,  these individual pieces all fuse to communicate transitions and growth of James as an artist and can  reflect our collective understandings. 

“All of my work is a narrative, it’s not just shapes and forms; it’s a fragmented idea, it is fragmented to  me too. It is not for me to tell you what it is. I’m hoping people look at the work and see it through the  prism of their own narrative.”

mahrzart.com

JEFF REGAN PHOTOGRAPHY

My passion for photography was rekindled in 2013 while on a trip to the Galapagos Islands where I was immersed and in awe of its unspoiled beauty and wildlife. Living on the San Mateo Coast with its dramatic seascapes, colorful sunsets, and many points of interest, I hope my local photography brings you closer to nature and perhaps spark the photographer in you!

All proceeds benefit Abundant Grace Coastside Worker, as nonprofit organization, whose mission is to transform the lives of coastsiders experiencing homelessness through meaningful employment, skills training, community-building, food justice, and much more. Thank you for your kind support. 

Instagram @SSVHD

Jo Fry 

Owner and Artist Fierce Siren Studios 

I am an avid beachcomber and self-proclaimed history geek, an artist who incorporates beach finds into  my work and writes about their history. I was always drawing as a child, and even won a competition in  high school to create our school logo (we were The Saints, and it was a St. Bernard.) I studied art and  architectural history at the University of London and ended up graduating from San Jose State with  Honors and a BS in Interior Design. However, life and family kept me away from creating for decades,  until the sea rekindled my spark. I founded Fierce Siren Studios in 2021 and like to think of myself as a  re-emerging artist whose inspiration is the waste of the past. 

Shows and Exhibits 

Women’s View 2024 Group Exhibit for Women’s History Month – Caldwell Gallery, Redwood City 

Coastal Arts League – “A Moment in Time’ juried show March/April 2024 Two of my works were  selected, “Textures and Contrasts” juried show Summer 2023 

Ocean Blue Vault – Spring 2024, Winter 2024, Spring/Summer/Fall 2023, Summer/Fall 2022 Art Guild of Pacifica – “The Four Seasons” Feb-March 2024, “Light and Shadow” January-February 2024 San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture – Redwood City public art display July-August 2023 Mohr Gallery, Menlo Park March-April 2023 

Los Altos Library, public art display April-May 2023 

Festivals and Speaking Engagements 

Winter Art Faire 2023, Art Guild of Pacifica  

Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival – Local’s block (juried) 2022, Main Festival (juried) 2023 Santa Cruz Sea Glass and Ocean Arts Festival – Vendor (juried) and Presenter 2023, Vendor (juried) 2022 Santa Barbara Sea Glass and Ocean Arts Festival – Vendor (juried) and Presenter “What Did I Find?” 2023 Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival – Vendor (juried) 2023 

Half Moon Bay History Association, Speaker “The History of Miramar” August 2023 Published Articles and Art 

“The Amesport Pier: Lifeline to the World” – Half Moon Bay History Association, February 2024 “Three Masts and a Ghost” – Story, Beachcombing Magazine, volume 38 September-October 2023

“Spirit of the Sea” – Painting, Beachcombing Magazine, volume 38 September – October 2023

“Small Town, Big History” – Half Moon Bay History Association website, August 2023 “Half Moon Bay History Reveled Through Glass” – Half Moon Bay History Association website, Dec 2021 “Basic Guild to Bottle Identification” – Half Moon Bay History Association website, Dec 2021 Affiliations 

Coastal Arts League 

Colony of Coastside Artists (CoCA) 

South Coast Artists Alliance 

Art Guild of Pacifica 

Silicon Valley Open Studios

Joni is a native of Half Moon Bay, and with so much natural beauty, I wanted to capture it in my watercolor art.

And since retiring, I’m able to devote more time, to what I love, painting.

Thank you for checking out my artwork at The Ocean Blue Vault.

I’m excited to be part of this season’s show at The Vault in Half Moon Bay! I’m happy for this opportunity to share my painted furniture with the community.

My furniture originates mostly as found, second-hand pieces that need new life. I love to see an old table or chair reborn with new color and a fresh purpose. My passion is to experiment with vibrant colors and unique shapes so that my furniture can inspire happiness in a new home. For me, it’s all about the shape of the “canvas.” I love to find discarded furniture and other objects with interesting curves and lines that come to life with vibrant violet, cobalt, tangerine, or magenta. Recently, I have started adding beads to some of my pieces because who doesn’t like playing with beads! My recent favorites include a telephone table, plant stand, shelves, and dollhouse furniture. 

I was lucky to end up on the northern California coast in the 1990s. My children grew up in Half Moon Bay, and through my talented artistic daughter, Genevieve, I started exploring the inner artist in myself. When Genni was 5 and started after-school art classes at Fly on The Wall Art School, the studio’s owner, Susan Carkeek, became her teacher and my mentor. My daughter is now an art student at the California College of Art in San Francisco, and I aspire to be half as good as she is. Susan continues to mentor and inspire me, and I feel privileged to live in a community that supports and nurtures the arts. 

Kim Zaidain

https://www.instagram.com/zaidainfurniturestudio/

Larry Salveson is a Software Developer in the San Mateo, CA area. He has enjoyed a lifelong passion for photography, which has evolved to include creating digital paintings. Larry’s images span a broad range of interests including people, abstracts, nature, and landscapes. 

Custom sizes are available for most images. Contact me directly for signed prints that I make myself. Other prints can be ordered from my website. 

Larry Salveson 

Larry@LarrySalveson.com 

LarrySalveson.com

I currently live on the beautiful coast, but I grew up in Pennsylvania where my love of art began as a child.  I am a creative person who is  inspired by nature and the world around me.  A lot of things I see in nature show themselves as something else in my mind’s eye. A rock looks like a face, a piece of wood with a hole is an owl’s eye, a spikey tree nut on the ground is a hedgehog.  I like to collect these items and use them in my nature inspired collages.  I have been collecting bits and pieces from nature since I can remember.  I incorporate these pieces of nature into mixed media collages that represent landscape scenery, people, animals or just about anything that is relevant in my life.  My most recent work is a collage of an angel that represents a teenage girl who was taken from the Earth too soon.  The flowers from her funeral are in her wings and dress, there is sheet music and cats and crystals, and nature, and so many things that she loved incorporated into the piece.

I love to teach art classes for my two kids and their friends and classmates.  This enables me to share my love of creativity and hopefully inspire others to create along with me.  I’m always being introduced to various forms of art and I love to experiment and see what transpires.

Recently, I have been included in the following themed juried exhibits:

San Francisco Women Artists Gallery- 647 Irving Street, San Francisco, CA 94122

Mistlin Gallery, Central Ca Art Association- 1015 J Street Modesto CA 95354

SIY Gallery- 1026 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Patt Sheldon is local—born in San Francisco and raised on the Peninsula. She taught mostly middle school English and Health Education in Belmont for 35 years, and never considered herself artistic, though her flair for color always showed.

Patt became a knitter, then a weaver after moving “over the hill” in 1999. Experiencing two summers of heavy coastal fog, she realized she needed indoor sports to combat the fog. She took a few weaving classes and many knitting technique workshops, learned ice dyeing one afternoon, and is self-taught in jewelry design. She creates unusual pieces and prefers being ahead of the crowd rather than part of it. Her works are one of a kind.

Patt’s love of color led her to Czech glass beads and the Czech Republic’s centuries-old family-run factories. She has visited three times and brought back many treasures to share in her work. Her excuse in returning is to combat losing these companies to cheaper made Chinese beads that have infiltrated the market.

She also uses different types of gemstones, especially for pieces for sale at the Vault.

Ice dyeing natural fibers became a passion, preferring its soft patterns to deliberate designs. She dyes clothing and large array of home goods, as well as fabric. The most exciting part of her ice dyeing has been collaborating with a former 6th grade student, now a fashion designer in Los Angeles.

Realizing how isolated artists can be, particularly after retiring from teaching and working at home, Patt started a group called Colony of Coastside Artists in Feb, 2010. The group is open to any level artist living on the coast interested in socializing, art discussions, and group projects, and is currently over 120 members strong. Prior to 2020, CoCA met monthly, and has resumed annually sponsoring Open Studios in November, which is available to all coastside artists.

Besides selling through CoCA’s Open Studios, her diverse work sells in stores, and several in-person shows, mostly on the coast. Her website www.pattsheldon.com highlights her vivid colors and textures. Patt also sells through Harvard Market, Make It Main Street, and Etsy and GoImagine online under the name Patt711.

She is very excited to return to The Vault’s collective art group.

Following early art training at La Jolla High School, Mr. Evans began his art exposure and sales at the Bazaar Del Mundo in Old Town, San Diego. He had an ongoing contract with them as their in-house artist and had frequent showings there, as well as at the Tri Forum Gallery in Point Loma. He now resides in Santa Cruz, CA where he extensively studied at the nearby University of California and Cabrillo College. His work has been shown in many coastal galleries including San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, and Venice Beach. Further from home, the Thompson Art Gallery in South Carolina, private collections in Arizona, and various restaurants and businesses have his pieces. Additionally, he continues to offer custom paintings for individual homes, even assisting in the design on location.

The experience of painting is fascinating and often challenging. I am amazed and in awe of color and light, and I work to convey the beauty that I see. I have spent time observing the works of other artists in hopes of absorbing some of their expertise, their solutions to the aspects of painting, and to gain inspiration from their work. 

There is an interesting phrase from the artist George Wm Allen, who said: “ I am an artistic bandit if you will, stealing and interpreting the strengths of the many great painters who have, and who continue to influence me ”. Perhaps we are all artist bandits of one form or another. 

I have drawn inspiration from some past and present artists such as Frans Mortelmans, Edward Seago, Richard Schmid, Laura Robb, Kelli Folsom, and Elizabeth Robbins. 

Instagram: @sharonwardstudio 

Memberships: 

American Impressionist Society 

Coastal Arts League

I’ve been a maker from my earliest years. As a child, I drew horses, made paper dolls, greeting cards, garments, cooked and baked. I could draw all the Flintstone characters, and a pencil drawing I did of Peter Tork of The Monkees was published in a teen magazine. I painted 40 murals in a hospital when I was 18. By the time I got to high school, I decided to major in art, stepping away from my high academic achievement and probably disappointing my parents. I went to Pratt Institute but quit in my second year. Since then, I have been on the journey. Always creating — my hands are never idle! I had a long career in graphic design, including my own sign company in the 80s and 90s, and a career in advertising until my retirement two years ago. I now devote much of my time to painting and have completed over 700 paintings in the last 40 years, mostly in private collections.

I like to paint outdoors from life (en plein air) and about 50% of my paintings are done that way. I pack my gear and take it when I travel. Having a focus on depicting the places I visit gives added meaning, and mementos galore! Visit my website for more details on my long and varied career.

Susan Grabowski, originally from New Jersey, spent 22 years on Cape Cod before making her way to the San Francisco Bay Area. She captures the fleeting moments in her light-filled paintings in the California plein air/impressionist style.

Instagram: @susan_grabowski_art

Website: susangrabowski.com

I feel very fortunate to have lived near the coast for the majority of my life. I was raised in Southern California and spent much of my childhood and young adult life on  Catalina Island. I now call the San Francisco Bay Area home where I have lived for the past 23 years. 

My love of the coast has heavily influenced my art and is a  continuing source of inspiration. The changing colors of the sea, the shadows from the cliffs, and even the fog which we experience regularly has its own beauty. When I paint I  not only try to capture the scene on my canvas but I also try to convey a feeling and a mood about the subjects which hopefully translates to the viewer.  

Though mostly a self-taught artist with little formal training  I have attended various workshops of well-known artists whom I admire. I typically paint in oils but I also enjoy using gouache and experimenting with mixed media.  

I belong to the Bay Area Plein Air Group along with various other art organizations: California Art Club, Oil Painters of  America, Society of West Coast Arts, and the Laguna Plein  Air Painters Association.