Bay Area Artists

Viola Frey Viola Frey was born on August 15, 1933. She was an American artist who sculpted, painted, and drew. Viola grew up on her family’s vineyard in Lodi, California. She received a BFA in 1956 from California College of Arts and Crafts and then attended Tulane University. Viola left Tulane University before getting her Master’s Degree and moved to San Francisco in 1960. In San Francisco, she began making large plates and assemblages along with sculptures and paintings. Then, in 1965 Viola began teaching at the California College of Arts and Crafts. In the late 70’s, Viola moved into a large studio in Oakland. Since she had space, she was able to create her signature larger­than­life figures. Viola was committed to her art and continued working almost till her death on July 26, 2004 at the age of 70.

Artworks of Viola Frey

Fallen Man

Medium: Sculpture The man is on the ground.There are trees, plants, and rocks in the background. The sculpture is outside. The sculpture made me remember about a time when I fell.

There are a lot of colors used like blue, red, orange, yellow and many more.The sculpture has a glossy texture and is smooth. I think the sculpture represents how the man tripped and is too lazy to get up because he doesn’t want to go to work.

Joe Mangrum Joe Mangrum was born on February 10, 1969. He was born in Florissant, Missouri and at the age of 8 he took oil painting lessons. Later in his life Joe attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received his BFA in 1991.

He created many sand paintings and public art. After graduating college Joe traveled throughout Europe and the United States. Then, he moved to Laguna Beach, California and arranged mandalas in public places. In the mid 1990s Joe moved to San Francisco and continued to make public art. After several years, Joe moved to New York in 2008. There he was able to install a solo show and became famous with interviews because of his artwork.

Artworks of Joe Mangrum

Asynchronous Syntropy

Asynchronous Syntropy

Asynchronous Syntropy

Medium: Sandwork This artwork is very fascinating and creative. It caught my eye and I couldn’t stop looking at it. It is very colorful and has round shapes and straight lines. The painting is 2­D and the artwork has many patterns. Joe might have made this artwork to express his creative mind and to show how you can make big things with even the smallest things like sand.

Christopher Brown Christopher Brown was born in 1951 at Camp Lejeune. When Chris was 3 years old his family moved to Ohio. In Ohio, Brown took art classes at his neighbors house. Then, when Brown was 13 he moved to Illinois. Later in his life, Brown majors in painting and graduates at the University of Illinois. He does a lot of work with oil pastels. After he graduated in 1973 he moved to California and attended UC Davis. He graduated UC Davis in 1976 and moved to San Francisco in 1978. Later, he taught at UC Berkeley and he is still alive and painting.

Artworks of Christopher Brown

Sails and Seas Ⅱ

Medium: Oil on linen In the art there are many people looking at ships sailing. The first thing that popped out to me was the different shades of blue that Christopher Brown used to show the sea. He used colors like blue, red, brown, white, and many other colors. I think that the people on the side show how sometimes we are helpless and can’t help others because the people in the painting are just looking at the ships in the sea sinking.