ARTIST STATEMENT

I’m a cityscape oil painter in love with intense color and deep contrast. The fluid light, dramatic vistas, stark landscapes and energized urban neighborhoods of the Los Angeles provide endless inspiration for my work. I paint with a vibrant palette and expressive brushstrokes to share my vision of an essence of the urban experience.

I’m drawn to the tension between nature and the hand-of-man on the city. I ask the viewer to observe situations so common that we experience them unconsciously; to see places and objects in a new light, and to consider that they are rich in meaning and beautiful.

BIO

Earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Lambert was a professional actress for nearly two decades. Her theatrical background lends natural drama and mystery to her work as well as joy and celebration.

She studied art for two years at The Art Center School of Design in Pasadena, California, before she met her mentor, museum-collected artist Margaret Garcia in 2009. Since Lambert’s first exhibit in 2011, she has participated in more than 85 shows and exhibitions, including solo exhibits at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum (2017, Mesa, AZ), The City of Burbank Creative Arts Center Gallery (2016), ChimMaya Art Gallery (2016, Los Angeles), and the Jean Deleage Art Gallery (2014, Los Angeles). Group exhibitions include, among many others, The Lines Gallery (Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, 2017) and the TAG Gallery (2020, LA Open Exhibition).

ARTICLE WRITTEN ABOUT BONNIE LAMBERT BY STEVE WEINGARTEN FOR THE MAGAZINE “1VOICE.”

“I was an actress for many years and always felt electrified when I performed in front of a live audience,” Bonnie Lambert said. “Now I’m an oil painter, and my years on stage are one of my greatest influences.”

Lambert’s world revolves around gridlocked rush-hour traffic, edgy boulevards turning electric under neon, and power-lines and telephone poles slicing the sky into geometric shapes. She has captured Los Angeles vistas from the Arroyo Secco to Lincoln Park and beyond in a different light. 

“My actors are a vibrant palette and expressive, impasto brushstrokes,” She said. “I hope viewers will be moved to see how beautiful this wonderful world is.”

Lambert studied at the Art Center School of Design. She has attended Margaret Garia’s painting workshop since 2009, and teaches oil painting at Plaza de la Raza.

Her work has been shown at the Southwest and Forest Lawn museums Los Angeles, the Pasadena Museum of History, Latino Museum of Art in Pomona, and Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, Arizona.

Science through Art by Jessie Kendall-Bar   

The Opening Reception for Jessie Kendall-Bar’s exhibit, Science through Art, will be held at UU Santa Monica on Sunday, January 5, 2020 from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm. Come chat with the artist; she is a PhD candidate in Marine Biology who believes that scientific progress is futile unless communicated successfully. During the reception marine mammal themed pillows, phone cases, bags, t-shirts and other goodies will be available for your consideration. Light snacks will be provided. The exhibit will be open every Sunday from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon and on weekdays by appointment through January 26th. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Jessie’s illustrations, photography, and cinematography aim to accurately portray science and its role in preserving the underwater ecosystem. She has illustrated two children’s books. The Castor Oil Rig Tales, published by AzBukiVeri Press, depicts the conservation success story of a community of marine organisms, which colonizes an abandoned oil rig. Her illustrations for a second children’s book, Looking for Marla, tells the story of a clownfish which changes sex from male to female (which is what male clownfish normally do when the mother disappears).

At the interface of science and art, Jessie endeavors to make meaningful discoveries and to convey those results broadly and creatively to impact diverse populations. To reach her audiences she uses photography, animation, illustration, cinematography, science comics, wood burning, alcohol markers, watercolors, acrylics and more.

Brave Spaces: Mindful Social Practice and Authentic Allyship

Please join the Healthy Congregation Council in welcoming Jeremy Arnold, son of Board member Abby Arnold, to our church for a workshop on the topic of Microaggressions. Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D., defines these as “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership.” The persons making the comments may be otherwise well-intentioned and unaware of the potential impact of their words. Jeremy will share tools for navigating fraught conversations, around marginalization, and maintaining positive relationships with fellow community members.

Jeremy, who was raised in our church, is currently Program Director at Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), an interfaith worker-justice nonprofit. At Tulane University, he studied critical perspectives including Critical Race Theory, Feminist Studies, Queer Theory, Marxist Analysis, New Media Theory, and New Historicism, and was the Community Outreach Director for the Tulane chapter of Amnesty International. Throughout his time in college, he worked in the restaurant and bar industry as well as with the local hotel workers’ union, Unite Here Local 23. In his role at CLUE, he supervises a team of community organizers who educate, organize, and mobilize religious communities to support workers and immigrants in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

We will meet on Sunday, February 2 at 11:45 a.m. in the Warren Mathews Conference Center.

For further information, please contact rightrelations@uusm.org.

 Lessons of Loss - with Leon Henderson-MacLennan, MD   We will be holding our last two gatherings of this four session group on Zoom -- this Sunday, March 29th, and Easter Sunday, April 12th, from 12:00 to 3:00 pm.

If you are signed up for this class, and have yet to receive the Zoom link and instructions on how to use Zoom, please email AdultRE@UUSM.org.  

The Lessons of Loss is a Life-Span Curriculum developed by Unitarian Universalist Carol Galginaitis. Leon has facilitated this popular program annually since 2007, save, notably, for the last few years. He is pleased to resurrect this ministry understanding the great need.

To paraphrase Carol Galginaitis, in Lessons of Loss, we frequently note that loss and gain are part of the same experience. We permit the certainty of death to aid our focus on those aspects of life we find most precious. We do not suppress the great pain of loss, yet we recognize that with it may come growth, greater capacity to survive change, and novel avenues of strength. When shared, we recognize that related experiences may help our neighbors, families, and children face life -- and its often relentless sets of losses -- with grace, hope, and peace of mind. 

Lessons of Loss will help participants to: 

·         recognize that change and loss are inevitable and exist throughout nature

·         have an opportunity to voice fears and questions about loss

·         understand that grieving, with its wide range of feelings, is a normal reaction to loss

·         recognize that every person responds to loss in a different way

·         identify UU and other religious/cultural traditions concerning death and dying

·         understand how the UU principles provide guidance in understanding

·         loss and supporting the grieving process

·         develop a personal theology regarding loss, death, and dying

·         respectfully remember loved ones who have died

We shall explore participants' experiences to losses large and small including those associated with death. Reflecting on experiences, we shall also explore the consequences of both sharing and ignoring feelings of loss as well as relevant, related Unitarian Universalist theses from theologians and lay people alike.  

Lessons of Loss - with Leon Henderson-MacLennan, MD   We will be holding our last two gatherings of this four session group on Zoom -- this Sunday, March 29th, and Easter Sunday, April 12th, from 12:00 to 3:00 pm.

If you are signed up for this class, and have yet to receive the Zoom link and instructions on how to use Zoom, please email AdultRE@UUSM.org.  

 The Lessons of Loss is a Life-Span Curriculum developed by Unitarian Universalist Carol Galginaitis. Leon has facilitated this popular program annually since 2007, save, notably, for the last few years. He is pleased to resurrect this ministry understanding the great need.

To paraphrase Carol Galginaitis, in Lessons of Loss, we frequently note that loss and gain are part of the same experience. We permit the certainty of death to aid our focus on those aspects of life we find most precious. We do not suppress the great pain of loss, yet we recognize that with it may come growth, greater capacity to survive change, and novel avenues of strength. When shared, we recognize that related experiences may help our neighbors, families, and children face life -- and its often relentless sets of losses -- with grace, hope, and peace of mind. 

Lessons of Loss will help participants to: 

·         recognize that change and loss are inevitable and exist throughout nature

·         have an opportunity to voice fears and questions about loss

·         understand that grieving, with its wide range of feelings, is a normal reaction to loss

·         recognize that every person responds to loss in a different way

·         identify UU and other religious/cultural traditions concerning death and dying

·         understand how the UU principles provide guidance in understanding

·         loss and supporting the grieving process

·         develop a personal theology regarding loss, death, and dying

·         respectfully remember loved ones who have died

We shall explore participants' experiences to losses large and small including those associated with death. Reflecting on experiences, we shall also explore the consequences of both sharing and ignoring feelings of loss as well as relevant, related Unitarian Universalist theses from theologians and lay people alike.