UU Santa Monica’s November art exhibit, The Inner World of Isabel Martinez, features Martinez’s crosses, mixed media works, and oil paintings representing, in part, the spiritual side of her journey as a Latina immigrant. Meet the artist at the Opening Reception on Sunday, November 1 from 12:00 noon – 1:30pm. This event is free and open to the public from 9:00 am – 1:30 pm on Sundays through November 29 and on weekdays by appointment.
Martinez was born in a rural community in Mexico, studied at San Carlos Academy, and immigrated to Los Angeles in 1986. The works on display are from her ‘Vigin Series’ about which she says. “I am representing everyday people; and the idea behind of this series is that everybody has divinity inside. In the crosses, I began representing Aztec gods and goddesses. I am using the cross, because it is a universal symbol that represents human beings, where the vertical part represents spirituality and the horizontal part represents the material side… I convey my feelings, my inspiration and my soul to metaphorically represent my love of people and places where I felt loved and secure. I left my rural community when I was very little, but my community never left me.”
Martinez works have been in national and international exhibitions and in these books: Chicana and Chicano Art, Chicano Art for Our Millennium, Triumph of Our Communities, Painting the Towns, and from the University of Notre Dame, Caras Vemos, Corazones No Sabemos (Faces Seen, Hearts Unknown).
UU Santa Monica; 1260 18th Street (corner of 18th and Arizona); Santa Monica 90404 map
On Sundays look for signs to free parking at 1311 16th Street, the UCLA Hospital structure just south Arizona. Handicapped parking is available behind the church.
Contact Nancy at assistant@uusm.org, 310-829-5436 ext. 102 for information.
Please join us for an exhibit featuring a series of works dedicated to the 13th century Sufi mystic poet Moulana Jalaledin Roumi by acclaimed artist Yasman Moradi. Please help us welcome Moradi to the Artist Opening Reception on Sunday, October 4, from 12 pm to 1:30 pm in Angeline Forbes Hall. The show will run through Sunday, October 25.
Please join us for a stimulating exhibit featuring selected works of Michael Giliberti from 2012 to 2015. Come meet the artist! A Gala Artist Opening Reception for Michael Giliberti will be on Sunday, September 6, 2015 from 11am to 1pm in Forbes Hall. The show is free and open to the public and will run through Sunday, September 27th.
Michael Giliberti majored in Illustration at Parsons School of design in New York City. He studied printmaking at Otis College of Art in Los Angeles, California. Prior to committing full time to his painting and printmaking, Giliberti enjoyed a successful career as a creative director in corporate advertising. His work is currently on exhibit in corporate and private collections in California, New York and abroad.
Please join us for a special exhibit featuring the work of Joyce Lieberman: “Wall of Steals and Deals.” UU Santa Monica’s Beverly Alison has persuaded Lieberman to bring many wonderful pieces at unprecedented low prices! Come meet the artist. A Gala Artist Opening Reception for Joyce Lieberman will be on Sunday, August 2, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Forbes Hall. The show will run through Sunday, August 30.
Lieberman’s art rapidly became well known. She often works with series of pieces. Her “UNStill Life” series features painted works on paper and canvas displaying flower-filled vases in luscious colors with colliding and overlapping patterns. For her Personal Archaeology series, she used collage to incorporate pattern, organization of shapes and color, and subtle references to correspondence. These works have been widely collected by many individuals and institutions including the University of Wisconsin, Merrill Lynch, Beverly Hills Hilton, and Blue Moon hotel in Miami. They have appeared in many Hollywood films.
Please join us as we welcome multi-media artist Mathilde Lombard and come view Number of Years — her show of acrylic paintings. Lombard curated our Art Wall for 20 years and passed the job on to Beverly Alison about 20 years ago. We welcome back her fine art and friendship! A Gala Artist Opening Reception for Mathilde Lombard will be on Sunday, June 7, from 12 noon to 2 p.m., UU Santa Monica, Forbes Hall.
Lombard has been featured in many galleries in southern California and won a number of awards. She is a member of Women Painters West and the National Watercolor Society. From 1992 to 2006 she was represented by the Art Rental and Sales Gallery of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her work has also appeared in a number of publications including “Faces” by Jack Selleck, “The Art of Collage” by Gerald Brommer, and “The Best of Watercolor, Volume 3, Selected by Serge Hollerbach and Betty Lou Schlemm.”
Please help us give a warm welcome to our April artist Vera Arutyunyan, whose show, “A New Way of Thinking,” will grace our art wall with her highly personal Abstract Expressionist paintings. Artist Opening Reception: Sunday, March 29, 12 noon to 1:30 p.m., Forbes Hall. The show will run through Sunday, April 26 and is open to the public on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on weekdays by appointment.
Vera Arutyunyan immigrated to the United States from Armenia with $27 and a dream to become successful. Her early career led her to express her challenges and emotions as a new immigrant, “…to be understood, [to] obtain identity and significance, to become securely existent.” The results are deeply personal and moving abstract images.
Please help welcome Southern California visual artist Bonnie Lambert back for a return visit to our Art Wall. Artist Opening Reception for California Street Scenes, Sunday, March 1, 12 noon to 1:30 p.m., UU Santa Monica, Forbes Hall. 
After almost two decades of professional acting, Lambert moved to Los Angeles in 1989 and transitioned into visual arts. She took classes at the Art Center School of Design in Pasadena and studied with artists such as David Limrite, Ray Turner, and Mark Strickland. Chicana artist Margaret Garcia became her mentor and provided space for a solo show at the Garcia Studio. She has exhibited her work in over two dozen local venues.
Vera Arutyunyan, our April artist, will have her opening reception at 12 noon on Sunday, March 29, in Forbes Hall. Vera was born in Armenia in 1958 and educated at Yerevan State University. Her paintings, which are expressionistic abstracts, are emotionally and spiritually charged. She lives and works in Los Angeles. A more complete description of her work will appear in the April newsletter.
(Santa Monica, CA, January 20, 2015) Artist Opening Reception: Sunday, February 1, 2015, 12 Noon to 1:30pm, Unitarian Universalist Church of Santa Monica (UU Santa Monica). The show will run through Sunday, February 22nd and is open to the public Sundays 9am – 1pm and on weekdays by appointment.
He eventually settled in to a 30 year career at Shasta College in Redding, CA as a professor of theater, directing and lighting countless productions. He has curated dozens of exhibitions and is credited with discovering the Violent Femmes. During the last ten years, Soffian ventured from the public world of the theater to the private world of painting.
On Sundays look for signs to free parking at 1311 16th Street, the UCLA Hospital structure just south Arizona. Handicapped parking is available behind the church.
Sarah Hage brings her special vision of the world to our January Art Wall. Displaying a mixture of oil on canvas, pastel portraits, mixed media masks and sculptures, charcoals and acrylics, Hage presents her “functional and dysfunctional art [to] capture a sense of joy that casts some dark shadows, often with political undertones.”
Sarah Hage began her artistic journey in Boston, but has been exhibiting under the warm sun of Los Angeles for the last four years. She plans to continue for many more years finding new ways to express herself on both the canvas and in the 3D world.