“Visions Six,” the annual exhibit by the associate members of Topanga Canyon Gallery, opened on February 9th. Stop in, the exhibition will be on view through March 3, 2013.

Topanga Canyon Gallery, known for highly individual and accomplished work from its members, is pleased to display pieces by: Linda Bolhuis, dyes on silk; Christo Brock, photography; Teri Garcia, graphite on paper; Susan Haskell, glass; Carmen Monne photography; and Carole Spence, acrylic painting.

Linda Bolhuis (see image, below left) is widely recognized for her exquisitely designed and impeccably executed work in which she uses the Serti technique of painting with dyes on silk.

Her highly interpretative work is sought by collectors for its emotional impact. Represented by the Shidoni Gallery in Santa Fe, she has exhibited from the Pacific Rim to the Eastern United States and is represented in both public and private collections. Classes at her studio for those wanting to learn this silk painting technique are always in demand. www.lindabolhuis.com

Teri Garcia has been making art since she was first able to hold a crayon. Orlando Gallery, Schomberg Gallery at Bergamot, Aquarius Gallery in Cambria have all exhibited her work as well as Topanga Canyon Gallery and Howell and Green Gallery. Garcia was juried into the ARSG Gallery at LACMA and during that time her work was shown at the Wellness Center in Malibu and other private collections.

Serving as President of Women Painters’ West as well as serving on the board of VIVA Gallery, she is currently Fine Art Department Chair at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, teaching Beginning Art and AP Studio. Although her work includes painting and print making, her real love is drawing and the current work is graphite on paper. The pieces are about impermanence, time, and space and include images that Garcia finds evocative and that reoccur throughout her work. www.terigarciafineart.com.

Christo Brock (see image, below right), grew up on a farm in sub-rural Pennsylvania. As a child Christo found his love of nature; as an adult he finds stimulation from living in urban areas. The collision of the natural and the manmade informs much of Christo’s photos, and it’s evident in his work. When Christo has a camera in his hands, the world looks different – it becomes an abstraction of simple elements: color, line, shape and form and trusts this reaction to inform what he captures.

Christo Is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. When he’s not working his photographs, Christo spends his time making documentary films. Christo is also a member of the TAG Gallery in Bergamot Station, Santa Monica. More on Christo’s work at christobrock.com.

Susan Haskell is a glass artist and painter born and raised in Los Angeles. Her love of glass led her to explore a variety of creative methods including glass blowing, torch working, and fusing. Her paintings have included large-scale outdoor murals (Los Liones Canyon) and a twenty-year series of photo realistic paintings of tunnels (The Tunnel Vision Series.) She received a B.A, in Pictorial Arts and a M.A. in Design from UCLA. She also earned teaching credentials from Pepperdine University and is currently a teaching assistant at Santa Monica College in the Glass Blowing Department. Susan’s greatest pleasure has come from over twenty-five years of teaching elementary school art at Canyon Charter Elementary School in Santa Monica Canyon. sihaskell@aol.com

Carmen Martin Monne, a Cuban-born artist, crossed the Caribbean as a teenager to commence a new life in the Unites States. Thirty years later, she returned to her native Cuba, a poignant reunion that inspires her current body of work. The theme of homeland, as a place of personal and emotional belonging, is explored in her patinated watercolors, many of which contain vulnerable figures often distanced from this tropical land. Windows open and close, and the possibility of flight and lightness, as well as the implications of becoming and sinking into the surrounding world are juxtaposed in her work. She states, ” My paintings and photographs belong where a lost Cuban homeland and Los Angeles converge.” (website under construction)

Carole Spence appreciates the joy and wonder a California garden can bring, whether a formal arrangement or a small assortment of plants in unexpected places. “The energy and reassurance from the abundance of life are what I want to share.”

She is not only interested in the quality of light affecting plants and the evolution of color as the day progresses, but also that scale is important so that the plants represented receive the significance she feels they deserve. She is currently promoting Carry’alls, a line of designer tote bags with appliquéd prints of her garden paintings. www.carolespence.com

Topanga Canyon Gallery, 120 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Suite 109, Topanga, CA 90290. Gallery hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., Sunday, 11:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m. Parking is available.

On view: February 5, 2013 – March 3, 2013

Where: Topanga Canyon Gallery, 120 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Suite 109, Topanga, CA 90290
www.topangacanyongallery.com