Artist Spotlight… Elizabeth Tolley 

Elizabeth "Libby" Tolley, an acclaimed artist who records the disappearing rural landscapes of the
Central Coast, often shares her love of natural California and her artistic talents at special lectures
and workshops sponsored by the Art Campus at Fallbrook – School of the Arts & Foundry. The
public is invited to listen to Libby at the Art Campus at Fallbrook at 310 East Alvarado St several times a year.. Her Plein Air Oil Workshop includes instructor demonstrations, daily painting on location in and around Fallbrook, and group critique with private instruction at the easel. The focus of her workshop workshop is understanding the land and designing the composition. Tolley believes that “compelling landscape paintings result when the artist knows
how to capture both the sense of place and their feelings about the subject.” In the workshops students work on the elements that let them translate that vision. For more information call (760) 728 6383 or go to www.artcampusatfallbrook.com

Elizabeth Tolley grew up in Fresno in a family of journalists and artists. For
Tolley, an award-winning naturalist or representational artist whose work is in galleries
from Balboa Island to Bar Harbor, Maine, it is all about shapes and interpreting light. “My goal in
painting is to capture the light and my feelings about it,” the Los Oso resident explains. Morning is her
favorite time to work. “I love to be out there before the sun is up to catch the first rays of the day,” she
says. Working in oils and watercolors, she has benefited from working with others and hope those
attending her 5-day Plein Air workshop reap the same rewards. “Everyone has something they want 
to work on,” she says. “I want to help artists on their path – not paint as I paint—but to develop their own
style.” She will teach techniques from her recently published Oil Painter's Solution Book: Landscapes.
She only teaches a couple of workshops each year but looks forward to returning to Fallbrook. “It’s an
up and coming art town.”

Artist Spotlight… Kelly and Trent Berning... Making a Difference With Clay

Kelly and Trent Berning are among the dozen or so Fallbrook artisans taking part in the Art of Holiday show at the Art Center of Fallbrook. The ceramicist couple moved to Fallbrook three years ago after graduating with Masters of Fine Art degrees from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The pair creates functional pottery and contemporary ceramics and sculpture at their studio on Olive Hill Road. Their work can be found at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, at the Brandon Gallery in Fallbrook, Hands on Cedros in Solana Beach and at their gallery on Olive Hill Road. They create both functional daily pottery thrown on the wheel, whimsical sculptures and jewelry. Although both are in their early 30s, they have a combined 31 years creating pieces of art from clay. Although Trent was from Kansas and Kelly from San Clemente, the couple got married at the Los Willows in Fallbrook and decided to stay. “We love it here,” says Kelly, who teaches at Mount San Jacinto College and Mira Costa College. “We are not moving.” For more on their work and classes go: www.berningclaygallery.com

Artist Spotlight… Jim Helms... Dentist Turned Sculptor Finds a New Outlet

By day Jim Helms takes care of people’s teeth. At night and on weekends, the Fallbrook dentist is a contemporary sculptor, giving new meaning to scraps and the remains of the recent wildfires that devastated Fallbrook. He says the two pursuits are not mutually exclusive. There’s not such a large leap from the “miniature sculpting” of dentistry he does daily to the cast-bronze and paper-and-glue pieces he now creates. You can find a couple of his representational bronze pieces at the Brandon Gallery on Main Street. Or you can go down to the entrance of the burned out Valley Oaks Mobile Home Park and see an evocative angel he created from bits and pieces of former homes in the park. “I don’t know how an angel popped into my head,” he said. But Park Angel, as he calls it, is about 7 feet tall and made up of aluminum siding, a lighting fixture and a metal trash can that he picked up after the October Rice Canyon Fire. He was worried initially that some of the fire victims might take exception to the piece, but said they “loved it.”

Jim recently cast a smaller version of the angel in resin, which he plans to sell and use the proceeds for a scholarship to the Art Campus of Fallbrook. The Park Angel bas relief was suggested by wife Victoria and Martha Minkler, Fallbrook Center for the Arts, Chief Executive Officer. . They felt that others might like to have their own angel. Created in clay first, then formed in a mold. From this he cast it in a bronze/resin mix." I am working with the Art Campus to provide scholarships for fire victims. I am donating my time and material for the project. The only expense will be the cost of the framing material. Jennifer from the Pinnell gallery is donating her time also," explains Jim.

This bas relief will sell for $150. The proceeds will go to the fund. Jim is looking for business' that would be interested in displaying the bas relief and helping sell them.They would have a sign up sheet. They would not have to deal with the payment side of the program. Or, if someone knows of the Angel they can buy one direct. The Art Campus will be handling both of these types of orders. They are located at 310 E Alvarado and can be reached at 760 728 6383.

Artist Spotlight… Pardell Adds a New Dimension to Sculpting

Sculpting is Christopher Pardell’s life. He began creating figures in clay at the age of four. By 20, he was earning a living as a sculptor. Along the way he learned his craft as an apprentice to old world sculptors in Chicago. They taught him Renaissance era techniques that have evolved over the last 500 years. It was at a commercial statuary company in Chicago that he received what he considers his "real education in art." Like the Renaissance masters, he has given his work and other pieces new life by using cutting edge techniques, in this case high tech tools of the 21st century. Rather than create a scaled down prototype the old fashioned way – by hand --, he creates it with the help of a computer and cutting edge milling equipment that can shape a three dimensional model out of a variety of materials. “It’s more cost effective than if I build it myself,” he explains. He tested the computer assisted design system in the 1980s and perfected it in the 1990s. Today he teaches classes -- Introduction to Digital Sculptural Design -- on creating 3D sculptural models on the computer at the Foundry at the Fallbrook Art Campus. For Pardell, it’s about giving back to his craft and helping others. “I am trying to build a facility in Fallbrook that helps other artists learn the craft,” said the 50-year Fallbrook resident. His artwork can be found in public and private collections throughout the world, including the “Letters Home” Veterans Memorial in Temecula’s Duck Pond. He travels worldwide as a consultant and has trained sculptors as far away as China.