Meeting: Friday, September 21, 2007
Guest artist: Ulrica Bell
Ulrica Bell is a mixed-media artist who specializes mainly in collage and is inspired by the diversity of world culture. She is the daughter of New York artist Ulric Bell who encouraged her to paint from an early age and taught her that subjects for art surround us. With her father, she drew and painted New Yorkers in Central Park, circus performers and city scenes. As an adult, her work has moved toward semi-abstraction.
A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, she has traveled throughout the world. Her work has been inspired in particular by the two years she spent in Africa, and by trips to Israel, Asia, Latin America, and more recently by a 10-day trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. As a college teacher and lifelong student, she has explored many cultures and themes. She has been a board member of the Allied Arts of the Antelope Valley for many years. As president of the Unitarian-Universalist fellowship of the Antelope Valley in recent years, she has worked for justice and peace.
Ulrica minored in art history at Bryn Mawr College where she received a BA in literature, went on to earn a Master in Teaching from Harvard University, and a doctorate in theatre from the University of California at Davis. She studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute and the California College of Arts and Crafts. She has also studied with many artists including collagist Arthur Secunda and experimental artist Maxine Masterfield. She has had several one-woman shows and has participated in many group shows. She was juried into Woman Painters West and a founding member of the Collage Artists of America in its early incarnation as California Collagists.
Her art has been displayed at Art From the Heart in Green Valley; the Four Seasons Gallery in Wrightwood, California; at the Cedar Centre Gallery in Lancaster; and the Arts and Valleys Gallery in Lake Hughes as well as private collections all over the United States. She has exhibited in many national shows and museums and won awards for her colorful collages and mixed media works of art. Her work combines many media and is experimental.
As a collagist, she incorporates many techniques including the use of maps, everyday objects, ink techniques, painted papers, found papers, and poetry. She believes that there is a healing power that resides in art. To learn more about the artist or to contact the artist directly, email artyzebra@aol.com.
Ulrica is graciously and generously donating one of her artworks for our raffle.
For more information, we invite you to check out her website.