The A.Muse artists

China Blue, by Barbara Schade. Click the images for links to larger versions.

In case you missed the opening of the A.Muse Salon show at Gallery 839 yesterday, below the fold you'll find profiles of the artists and samples of their work. The show will be open on Friday, September 17 and Friday, September 24 from 11 am to 2 pm, at the TAG offices in Burbank.

Grand Roses, by Rita Joyce.

RITA JOYCE, a California Artist, creates shadow and light with a vibrant pallet. She is best known for her distinctive, gold embellished images of birds, tropical flowers, palms, and exotic wildlife, as well as extravagant, old world inspired urns profuse with flora and fauna. A contemporary series titled "Float" is presently being developed.

Rita uses creative visualization to compose mental pictures prior to painting. Using photos from her travels to botanical gardens and wildlife habitats, she then puts brush to canvas. She is influenced by Georgia O'Keefe, Jesse Arms Botke, Gustav Klimt, the Dutch Masters and the California impressionists. Rita has studied with many prominent watercolor and oil masters, and has attended the California Art Institute and Art Associates.

During her career as a professional Artist, Rita has received numerous awards and participated in many one woman shows, as well as group showings. She has exhibited at the Los Angeles and New York Art Expos, Art 21-Art for the 21st Century and various shows at the Carnegie Cultural Center. She is included in Noel Goldblatt's "People of the Century" collection, and was commissioned by the Pan American Museum Foundation to illustrate their collections of Pre-Colonial Mexican Masks and Amazon Indian feather work. As well she worked for Walt Disney studios creating back grounds for The Tigger Movie, a feature film.

She has exhibited her unique style of artistry in over 40 galleries and museums in the continental United States, Hawaii, Japan as well as cruise ships around the world. Her award winning paintings are included in major private and corporate collections, and she is also a member of the Huntington Library Artists Guild.

Ritz Carlton Hotels and The Universal City Hilton have chosen Rita's work for their interior design.

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Hiver en Forêt de Fontainebleau, by Stephanie Pyren

The numerous works of STEPHANIE PYREN are a fascinating fusion of passionate life and ethereal spirit executed with the poetic sensitivity of the old masters. Stephanie is competent in all medias: watercolors, oils, graphics and pastels.

She was born in Pennsylvania but, at the age of 10, the family moved to California and it was there she began her artistic career receiving awards and scholarships. She gained her BA of Fine Arts at California State University Northridge while working as a fashion illustrator for a major fashion company and then as a character and background artist in the animation industry. Stephanie's talent has taken her to numerous locations and professions.

She taught life drawing, fashion illustration and window display at the University of South Carolina. She was asked to teach background painting techniques for a major American animation company in Bangkok, Thailand as well as she worked at most major studios in Los Angeles. Also to her credit, she has illustrated four children's books, developed a line of toys with, "Small World Toys and the "Little Old Toy Maker" companies and continues with new ongoing ventures.

Although her career is somewhat diverse, her need to create fine art is her omnipresent driving desire. Her first professional show was at the age of eighteen and from there she has had many one-man showings nationally and internationally. In 1989.She moved to France at the request of the famous painter Jacques Harvey to help recreate the famous "School of Barbizon. where she exhibited her work in Barbizon, Paris and throughout Europe. At that time she was also commissioned to paint both paintings and murals for private collectors and public enterprises. She was honored when asked to paint a mural depicting the village of Barbizon in the local restaurant "Le Royal" which still receives much acclaim. Stephanie travels yearly to Europe and continues to paint the landscapes and people of the various cities she visits.

Stephanie's paintings has been received well and her clientele continues to grow with many prominent collectors.

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BARBARA SCHADE is a fifth generation Californian whose broad exposure to the cultural diversity of the Los Angeles area in music, theatre, dance and the arts is an exciting inspiration to this artist.

Starting at the Walt Disney Studios in 1954, she worked on "Sleeping Beauty" and "Lady and the Tramp", at UPA Studios on "Mister Magoo", and with Ray Bradbury on his "Icarus" film on flight.

She developed her painting skills for many years primarily in transparent watercolor, painting for galleries, client commissions and regional art shows. One of the founding members of Valley Watercolor Society, she was very active in many Ventura county art associations and was elected president of Simi Valley Art Association. She then chaired annual shows and developed publicity for a number of years. She was selected as a judge and juried regional art shows, teaching watercolor painting, including workshops and demonstrations throughout California.

After returning from a Watercolor Creativenture in China in 1981 where she painted on location with leading Chinese painters, she put together an exhibition of paintings, and many opportunities have occurred as a result this experience.

Notably her painting "Walpi" was purchased by the World Affairs Council as a gift to the Chinese government from the Reagan Administration prior to President Reagan's trip to China. The painting hangs in the Foreign Affairs building in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

In 1991 she returned to the animation industry painting backgrounds and creating designs for many different productions including TV commercials. She was honored in 1997 with an individual "Emmy for Background Painting " for a Chinese fairy tale "The Magic Pearl" at Film Roman Studios.

Returning to Disney after many other studio productions, she completed painting for "The Tigger Movie", "The Three Musketeers", and "Lilo and Stitch" before retiring in 2003.

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Slot Canyon, by Gwen Wetzler

GWEN SANDIFF WETZLER began oil painting at the age of six. In high school Wetzler studied art under Joe Playcan at the Erie Trade Technical School, she excelled in her studies which led to a prized Scholarship to Syracuse University.

In 1955 she arrived in Los Angeles and was accepted by The Walt Disney Studios for their new Apprentice Program where she worked as an inbetweener in the animation department. Over the next 50 years Wetzler worked in the animation industry, she became the first woman to Direct at a major studio and then the first woman to Produce. Wetzler was later acknowledged for her ground breaking accomplishments as a Director and Producer in the industry.

Wetzler directed at Filmation Studios working on such projects as "Flash Gordon" and "The Greatest Adventure of All," which became a Movie of the Week on CBS. At Marvel Studios she produced several successful animation series such as "Transformers," "Jem and the Holograms" and "Young Astronauts."

Wetzler has returned to painting, she works primarily in watercolors and mixed media. Her work can be seen at select juried shows and in fine art galleries in the U.S.

Wetzler, along with three other artists, is a founding member of A.Muse Artists Salon. The first A.Muse group show will be held at The Autry National Center's gallery in 2010. She will exhibit her recent collection of original watercolor paintings inspired by natural earth formations. Her work is sought after by many fine art collectors.