Carrie Nardello
carrienardello.com
Carrie Nardello is a fine art painter living and working in her studio at Project Artaud, one of San Francisco's longest sustaining artist collectives. Originally from New York City, Nardello relocated to the west coast to attend the San Francisco Art Institute where she received a BFA in painting.

Nardello's work is bright, bold and spontaneously imaginative using a symbolic vocabulary to express a feeling or story. Everyday imagery like tables, chairs, beds, houses, fire, water and animals relay the narrative.

Although the work is often inspired by personal experiences it is communicated with this universal language as to engage the viewer to connect to their own story. With an intentionally childlike approach, Carrie seeks to capture the innocence and immediacy of the heart and move the viewer to relate intimately.

Carrie Nardello's paintings are in private collections across the United States and Europe.  Her work is on view every spring and fall as part of Open Studios.

 

Meg Abraham & Madison Hardy
recyclewearfashion.com
OUR FANTASIES
Megan Elizabeth Abraham has been living and creating in Oakland for three years - you may remember her work from her original Shadow Box Series shown at Bocanova last year! She holds a BFA in Theater Design from Syracuse University and her vision for the boxes is to infuse wall art with the dimension and theatricality of set design.

In Our Fantasies, Abraham couples a passion for photography with an appreciation of texture, obsession with silhouette and a penchant for activating surfaces with pigment and paint. She takes bits of information from all around, isolates and celebrates the most compelling parts and combines them as intuition leads.  This fall, Ms. Abraham invited Madison Cathy Hardy, known for her innovative and eclectic jewelry line Recycle Wear to collaborate with her on this series. (RecycleWearFashion.com and also available for sale at local boutique Oaklandish)

Madison Cathy Hardy sees glamour in the strangest places: toilet chains, Barbie shoes, and even snipped-off locks of hair. Ever since childhood, she's been collecting tiny treasures, and giving them new life. This collaboration has opened her eyes to new opportunities beyond jewelry design, in which her creativity can shine. Her favorite materials can be seen in the boxes, they include: mixed media paper, color samples, metal scraps, and industrial hardware. Currently a senior at San Francisco State University, when she's not hitting the books, Hardy can be found with Abraham, hovering over several new pieces and bouncing ideas off one another. Both inspired by the streets of Oakland and the characters inhabiting their world, the female artists found that their ideas not only merged easily but also compliment each other aesthetically - finding a cohesive balance. Madison is a server here at Bocanova; feel free to say hello.

Jeff Margolin
jeffmargolin.com
Jeff began working with clay over thirty five years ago, at
studios around West Los Angeles.  Although he was always
devoted to ceramics, it was not until college that clay became
his career choice.

During his studies in political theory at UCBerkeley it became
clear to him that clay had chosen him more than he had
chosen clay. His realization that the only life he could justify
was as a ceramic artist was as surprising as it was certain. He
immediately reoriented his approach from functional to
sculptural and began to present his work seriously. He has
been gradually refining and evolving his work ever since.

Jeff Margolin's clay sculptures convey a strong personal style that reveals an engaging
and sensual aesthetic, often containing subtle philosophical statements.  His pieces are
dynamic in nature and their sense of flow and movement is inspired by artists such as
Dali and Giger.  There is a unique merging of textured and polished, transparent and
opaque, rounded and sharp, which makes for a destabilizing artistic message.
The sculptures are prominent in their space, while constantly altering it.

Jeff's unique touch is evident in each dimension of his art.  His forms, carvings, and
finish combine to leave his inimitable signature.