Interview with Donald Bruce Wright
As you will read, Donald Bruce Wright’s road to becoming a painter started later in life. His story and experiences in Mexico will inspire you. He’s a great example of what happens when you stay open
Karen Lentz
Interview with Karen Lentz
Karen Lentz was the first resident writer at 360 Xochi Quetzal. We just acquired a new space in Chapala that seemed perfect for a writer looking for solitude but with all the comforts of home. Karen
Catherine Armbrust
Interview with Catherine Armbrust
Catherine was the first resident at 360 Xochi Quetzal. We received over 100 applications from talented artists around the world. As we evaluated the images, videos and manuscripts, Catherine’s work stood out. It was fresh, authentic and passionate.
Jenine Shereos
Interview with Jenine Shereos
Jenine Shereos’s residency application was jaw-dropping. Her small sculptures made with human hair were exquisite and unique and a good reminder that small work can pack a powerful punch. Like many who come to the residency,
Alice B. Fogel
Interview with Alice B. Fogel
Alice B. Fogel is the New Hampshire Poet Laureate, a five-year Governor-appointed position that enables her to promote poetry throughout the state and beyond. Alice has also published five collections of poetry and one guide to
Sue Lindton
Interview with Sue Lindton
Sue has been an enthusiastic participant in our personal residency program. She has visited Chapala annually for three years and intends to continue. We’d love to hear about your fiber art journey I started to knit
Elizabeth Irwin
Interview with Elizabeth Irwin
Elizabeth hiking on mountain with Sinatra Elizabeth Irwin is a playwright, screenwriter, and teacher based in New York City. She has come to 360 Xochi Quetzal each summer for the last three years to work on
Charlotte Hildebrand
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Interview with Charlotte Hildebrand
Charlotte Hildebrand was our first comic book artist at the 360 Xochi Quetzal residency program. Charlotte lives and works in Los Angeles and is a genuinely funny person. She moved from New York to LA in
Nancy Kay Turner
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Nancy Kay Turner is a visual artist, art critic, and founder of the art collective Hana Kark. She is an accidental archivist and alchemist using humble materials to tell stories. She has been called a time traveler and a medium. A graduate of Queens College, CUNY, University of California at Berkeley, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, she studied painting with Elmer Bischoff, Peter Saul and R.B. Kitaj though now is a multidisciplinary artist doing assemblage, collage, artist books and mixed media installations.
Website: www.nancyturnerstudio.com
Turner’s work is in private, public and corporate collections, including Warner Brothers Studios, ABC Studio and Chiat/Day Advertising Agency: and has been in movies and television shows among them, How To Get Away With Murder, Barry, Transparent, Mom, Ray Donovan, Lucifer, A Star Is Born, Hanging Up, Jane the Virgin among others. ARTPIC gallery in North Hollywood has represented Turner for two decades. Her work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally. She has a studio in DTLA, the arts district of Los Angeles and in Pasadena. Turner’s writing has been published in ARTWEEK, ARTSCENE, Visions Magazine, Coagula Curatorial, Cultural Weekly, Riot Material and Art and Cake.
Her work is in The Power of Feminist Art, edited by Norma Broude, Mary D. Garrard, Crossing over: Feminism and Art of Social Concern, edited by Arlene Raven, Cultural Deconstructions: Critical Issues in Collage, edited by Ric Kasini Kadour. Her drawings are in Life Drawing: A Sketchbook and Textbook, by Margaret Lazzari Echoes Of Yesteryear, edited by Twiggy Boyer. Turner’s essays have been published in “Perceive Me”, edited by Kristine Schomaker, and in the inaugural print issue of Riot Material, edited by Chris Hassett. A transcription of her artist talk at The Oceanside Museum of Art, on the artist Roland Reiss’s work is archived at The Smithsonian.
Work in Process: Unbidden
Nancy Kay TurnerWork In Progress: Artist mixed media book: 2018/2023 14” x 11” This empty sketch book was dyed continuously in rainwater/ink/metallic pigmentfor over one
Merridee Joan Smith
Artist Profiles
I love fiber arts – the history, beauty, tactile quality and variety – the common thread that links my hands to those of so many in the past. I am again focusing on silk painting and felt making,
though I also enjoy botanical printing and natural dyeing. Botanical printing allows me to walk outside to collect leaves, bark, roots, and flowers, process them on my silk and wool and obtain lovely prints. I literally bring the outdoors inside.
Silk painting is an excellent medium for capturing the colors, patterns and iridescence of flowers. The joy and challenge is to use the dyes and silk to interpret the subject’s complexity and beauty. I apply colors using liquid dyes that flow across the silk. Brilliant colors move and blend in ways that can be unexpected and beautiful. It feels as though the dyes, silk and I are collaborating on the final painting. The process, which requires relinquishing some control and allowing the unexpected, can be an exhilarating experience.
Merridee and her husband, Keith, a batik artist, were originally educated as chemists, and for many years viewed and experienced the world as scientists. Science and art require similar attributes in their view: an appreciation for the wonder of the world, creativity, serious study, and the ability to observe closely. In addition, art requires a passion to take what one experiences and render it in some personal form. These concepts inspire their individual and collaborative works. After a career as a forensic scientist, Merridee studied silk painting, rozome, batik, botanical printing and felt making from artists in diverse countries such as Japan, Indonesia, Israel, England, Ireland and Germany. She is delighted to be able to participate in artist residencies sponsored by 360 Xochi Quetzl by the inspirational Lake Chapala in Mexico. Her work has been shown in galleries in Northern California and Kauai, and is in collections on the West and East coasts as well as in Hawaii and Mexico. She was thrilled to have had her silk paintings displayed twice in shows sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution. Examples of her work can be seen in Susan Louise Moyer’s book, Silk Painting for Fine Art and Fashion. She is honored to to have been designated a Master Silk Painter by her peers in Silk Painters International.