Lon Clark is a San Francisco artist who has
been working in painting, drawing, photography
and mixed media for over forty years.
Originally from New York City, Clark attended
at the Silvermine School of Art, Pratt Institute and the
Art Students League, studying painting with Edwin Dickinson,
Mercedes Matter, Charles Cajori and Philip Pearlstein.
During that period he approached Mercedes Matter about
founding an art school representing the ideals of depth of
study over the fragmented curricula at degree-granting art
schools. Subsequently he worked closely with Matter on the
creation of the New York Studio School.
To immerse himself further in painting Clark moved to Woodstock,
NY where he exhibited at the Polari Gallery, was selected
for the new talent show at the Woodstock Artists
Association, received attention from Philip Guston, who took
an interest in his work, won awards at the Albany Institute as
well as a purchase prize at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute.
Clark moved to Southern California where he completed a
series of large paintings under the auspices of the actor Lee
Marvin. He then settled in San Francisco where his paintings
were represented by the ADI Gallery.
Clark worked closely with the photographer Ruth Bernhard,
helping her publish the first portfolio of her work. Clark was a
founding member of SF Camerawork and served on its board
of directors. He also founded North Beach Press, which was
noted for the quality of its publications and their dedication to
fine art. His own photography publication, "Itinerary" won top
awards across the country. His latest work explores the use
of diptychs as a means to juxtapose time and place.
Clark has taught at colleges in the Bay Area for many years, becoming
Director of Graduate Photography at the Academy of
Art University, where he developed a strong program in fine
art. His current emphasis is his own studio practice, teaching drawing and painting, and his ongoing work with Drawing Itself, an association of San Francisco painters devoted to drawing as a medium of expression at the same level as painting.
According to the needs of any given semester
and the particular involvements of students,
artists, critics and/or guest lecturers participate in
talks or presentations at the school.
- David Cohen - Art Critic, New York Sun &
artcritical.com
- Judith Foosaner - Painter
- Karl Kasten - Painter and Printmaker
- Robert Koch - Director, Robert Koch Gallery
- Francis Mill - Hackett Mill Gallery
- Hearne Pardee - Painter, Art Critic and
Prof. of Art, UC Davis
- Leo Rubinfien - Photographer
- Peter Selz - Curator, Author and Prof. Emeritus of
the History of Art at UC Berkeley
- Louise Siddons - Asst. Curator,
Achenbach Foundation
- Josine Smits, Ph.D - Art Historian
- Terry St. John - Painter
- Sandy Walker - Painter and Printmaker
- Gina Werfel - Painter, Prof. of Art, UC Davis
- Connie Wirtz - Co-director, Wirtz Gallery
- John Zurier - Painter
Laura Harden’s work has a strong basis in
color as the dominant force in structuring
abstract imagery in her painting. Noted by
San Francisco art critic Kenneth Baker, Harden's work creates
an archetypal sense of subject matter through a particular
tension between the forces of form and color. Harden
represents a new generation’s revitalization of the concept of
the visual artist as a substantial force in the expanded field
of art today. Harden has also placed importance on relevant
education in visual art.
Over recent years her paintings have been included in numerous
exhibitions including "Values: Drawing and Photography,"
"Surface and Substance, Works on Paper," and "The
Nature of Landscape" at the SFSS Gallery, San Francisco.
She was a panelist with curator Peter Selz discussing, "The
Commoditization of Art and Its Significance to the Authentic
Artist Today."
Harden's photographic work resonates with her painting, engaging
narrative and poetic imagery often drawing on the
documentary framework. For her work, "Images From
Arkansas" she was a Semi-Finalist at the Center for Documentary
Studies at Duke University and a finalist in Photographer's
Forum Magazine "Best of Photography 2004."
Photographs from the Arkansas project have been included
in many juried exhibitions, jurors for which included: Sue
Brisk of Magnum Photos, Robert Fitzpatrick, Director of Museum
of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Karen Haas, Museum
of Fine Arts Boston and Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography
at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Harden also
won the "Arthur Griffin Legacy Award" 2003. She is currently
a member of the SFMOMA's Photography Accessions Committee
from 2007-2013.
Harden received her Bachelor of Arts from the American University
in Washington DC, and her MFA from the Academy of
Art University, where she subsequently held the position of full time faculty.
Her current work includes a photography book in production
titled, “In the Light of Shadows,” and the completion of a
comprehensive series of canvases engaging the colorist tradition
in painting.