Rob Appell
Working in my mother’s quilt shop, I started quilting, eager to try free
motion machine quilting. “The Dolphin Dance” was my second quilt, an easy strip pieced quilt that has sold over 600 patterns in my store alone and countless kits. I caught the quilt pox and was never cured. I began teaching myself to quilt through traditional techniques adapted for a man and his machine. Quilted Seascapes became my middle name.
I began teaching my techniques in classes at our store, then four day quilting retreats at Camp Ocean Pines. Somewhere along the line of trips to Houston quilt Market I made a wise crack to the president of Free Spirit fabrics and landed my first job as a fabric designer. Another wise crack and I was designing quilts for Michael Miller Fabric’s new releases. I also was offered to show my quilts in a Marine Art Gallery. My opening was a huge success, sold a third of my hangings in the first weekend, and hooked a commission quilt that now hangs in our county’s most prestigious health club.
This story travels with me as I present my quilts and techniques to guilds across California. I have taped for both Simply Quilts and Uncommon Threads in the past year, and things are just getting off the ground for me. Life is too short! Be creative, have fun!
The Cotton Ball
1199 Main Street
Morro Bay CA 93442
Joy Harvey: Chinese Brush Painting and Calligraphy
Joy is a native Californian. She graduated from Mills College with a BA in English Literature and minors in Spanish and Art. She studied Chinese Brush Painting with Jean Shua Chen at the University of California, San Diego, CA. for 15 years and completed 14 certificated art courses at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (ZAFA) and the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, PRC., between the years of 1987 and 2010.
Joy has studied the philosophy, calligraphy, and painting of Chinese Brush Painting for over 30 years. She paints the traditional subjects of the Four Gentlemen (plum, pine, orchid, and chrysanthemum), flower and bird, people, and landscapes. She paints animals mainly for her own pleasure, trying to find their “spirit” and personality in ink. Joy loves Chinese calligraphy for its history, discipline, and structure.
She lives in Springville, CA and is a member of the American Artists of Chinese Brush Painting, the Sumi-e Society, the Society of Western Artists, the Tulare Palette Club, the Visalia Art League, current president of the Porterville Art Association, and past president of the Arts Council of Tulare County. She teaches in Springville, CA, at Arts Visalia in Visalia, at Vision Academy in Oakhurst, CA., at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, CA. and at Camp Ocean Pines, in Cambria, CA., and at workshops throughout California.
Her personal artistic statement is as follows: “I believe the universal language of art bridges all cultures, and allows all of us to communicate without translators”.
Fred and Donnell Pasion
Fred and Donnell Pasion of Passiflora Mosaics are self-directed artists, teachers and native Central Coast residents.
For the past ten years, they have collaborated to create a diverse body of work that includes award-winning mixed media mosaics, recycled found object art and concrete sculpture. Their work consists of unique garden and architectural pieces and installations that are colorful, whimsical, textural, decorative and functional.
One of their biggest joys comes with sharing their knowledge and skills with others through workshops taught at their Grover Beach home studio and elsewhere around the Central Coast, and especially at beautiful Camp Ocean Pines! Now in their fourth year of leading mosaic art retreats at Camp, they can see how the art and the camp has touched others:
“We love everything about Camp Ocean Pines – the views, the ambiance, the whole creative experience. Chris and Rosemay and their entire staff are the best. They really care about the arts and the positive effect it brings. Putting on the workshops is a lot of hard work but it’s worth the effort, especially when you see the progress people make as artists and individuals.”