Mark Engelein will be the featured artist at the BAA Art Center through November. The Art Center WILL be open for November Wednesday—Saturday, with a virtual show on the Bakersfield Art Assn. website, the Art Association Face-book and Instagram pages will be available. There will regrettably be no First Friday reception. While at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Mark studied drawing, watercolor, and ceramics as part of his training to be an architect. He used his drawing skills to represent visions of de-sign concepts as part of his professional activity. Art has also been a means of personal expression for much of his life.He began to use ink sketching as a means to create memories of places he visited,while on a river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest,in the year 2000. He learned that a sketch embeds the memory of an experience more deeply and indelibly than any photograph. After retirement he attended an Urban Sketching workshop in 2018 held in Costa Rica, conducted by James Richards who utilizes watercolor to enhance his ink sketches.When the Pandemic hit he used this new-found time, to reactivate and enhance his watercolor skills, which he had not used as his primary medium for over 40 years.The show at the Bakersfield Art Center is made up of Watercolor Paintings created during the Pandemic shut down. Mark says, “This show is called Favorite Places, as I have been creating paintings from my photographs of places I have had the good fortune to have visited."
Laura Beat is one of Bakersfield’s prospective local Artists. She began the year with her first solo Art Show in January, titled, “Expressions,” featuring over a dozen of her watercolor pencil portraits. The following months she began ambitiously exhibiting her work in several of the BAA’s satellite locations as well as Featured Group Shows at the Art Center.
Although the galleries and art shows were closed shortly afterward due to statewide shutdowns this did not slow her passion to paint. Like many others Laura was inspired with a greater reason to create and she became more aware of other Artisans and small business owners who were also experiencing financial hardships from mandatory closures. She began feeling a greater sense of community and was inspired to create a new series of paintings that would give tribute to her hometown and include several of Bakersfield’s treasured local businesses and historic landmarks.
Laura has already received “raving reviews” for her series on social media platforms as recognized by Bakersfield’s local 23abc news, and has caught the attention of several local Art Collectors as well as business owners who are excited to invest in her new series of works. As the BAA’s December Featured Artist Laura’s work will be on display through the end of December. More of her work can be viewed on her webpage www.LauraLeeStudio.com as well as her social media: @LauraLeeArtStudio. For inquiries please contact her directly via email, LauraLeeArtStudio@gmail.com.