Congratulations to our
Third Place Award of Excellence Winner
CHRISTINE AMES
Christine was awarded the third place in The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild's 2026 ONLINE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION juried by Tina Yapelli
Professor of Art and Design, Senior Curator University Art Gallery School of Art and Design, San Diego State University
for her Mixed Media At The Edge of Quiet.
Please view the exhbition on the Artists Guild's Online Gallery on the Guild's website: http://www.sdmaag.org
About Christine:
Christine Ames was born Christine Ishikawa in Chicago, Illinois to parents of Japanese descent. In high school, she had a wonderful teacher/mentor who inspired and encouraged her to enter a student group art tour competition. Christine’s artistic talent impressed the review committee and was selected to exhibit in a worldwide tour sponsored by the Art Institute of Chicago. Christine went on to obtain a B.S. in biology, an M.B.A. and pursue a career in research, sales and marketing. Many years later she returned to her artistic passion and now resides between Oceanside, California, and Rome, Italy. Christine is a Mixed Media Abstract Artist. Her work is a process-oriented journey; a journey that focuses on line, color, and shape, and their relationships to each other. Her overall goal in a painting is compositional balance.
Her subject choice is never intentional, but because inspiration comes from nature, science, and architecture, she embraces these elements, which are sometimes apparent in the end result. Her hopes for the viewer are to see that the arrangement of shapes are interrelated, motivating the eye to wander, and to speculate the aesthetics of the placement of these elements which are captured on canvas.
Recent Exhibitions:
COAL Gallery, 75th anniversary open exhibit, Carlsbad, CA
Brooks Theater Gallery, Oceanside, CA
Biblioteca Nidle Loti - solo exhibit, Rome, Italy
Zanon Gallery, Rome .Italy
La Vaccarella Gallery Rome, Italy
Oceanside Museum of Art
About At the Edge of Quiet:
This piece is about serenity shadowed by unease. The botanicals in green, ochre, and coral sit on a shelf, which is more like a threshold than a surface. Two loosely sketched blossoms drift on top of a near black wall, unfinished on purpose. Scraping back, drawing wet into wet, layering pattern over form, and calm painted areas, were used to achieve both quiet and unrest at the same time. It's not only about the silence, but also the point in time right before it, where everything is moving just under the surface.
Websites:
http://christineames.weebly.com
www.yessy.com/christinelames
Second Place Award of Excellence Winner
STEPHEN VON MASON
Stephen was awarded the second place in
The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild's
2026 ONLINE JURIED INTERNATIOAL EXHIBITION
juried by Tina Yapelli Professor of Art and Design, Senior Curator University Art Gallery School of Art and Design, San Diego State University
for his
Oil on Canvas Guardians of Light.
Please view the exhbition on the Artists Guild's Online Gallery on the Guild's website: www.sdmaag.org
About Stephen:
Stephen Von Mason is an American painter and printmaker whose work explores African American history, cultural memory, resilience, love, and the possibility of healing through art. Born in South Bend, Indiana, Mason earned a BFA in printmaking from the John Heron School of Art in Indianapolis and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied painting and printmaking. His artistic practice has been shaped by a lifelong engagement with the history and lived experiences of African Americans, as well as by his belief that art can challenge cultural erasure while creating space for reflection, connection, and renewal. Based in the Bay Area, Mason has exhibited widely and has spent much of his career both creating and teaching art. His vibrant figurative paintings bring together intense color, symbolic imagery, nature, and human relationships to explore the enduring strength of identity, community, love, and the human spirit.
Recent Exhibitions: 2026 - Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, MAH, Survey, Santa Cruz, CA2026 - National Art League Annual, New York, NY 2026 & 2019 - Venice Biennial Project, Venice, Italy 2025 - Sausalito Center for the Arts Open, Sausalito, CA 2024 - Whitelock Art Center, (Excellence Award Winner,) New York, NY 2023 - The deYoung Museum of Art Open Triennial, San Francisco, CA
About Guardians of Light:
Guardians of Light celebrates love, companionship, and the sacred relationship between humanity and the natural world. At the center of the painting, a couple stands together within an abundant landscape filled with birds, flowers, trees, and animals, their presence suggesting that they are not simply inhabitants of this world but its caretakers and protectors. The vibrant colors and luminous forms transform the landscape into a place of possibility, where nature becomes a metaphor for renewal, growth, and hope. The couple's quiet connection represents the strength found in loving partnership—the understanding that we are not meant to journey through life alone. For me, the "guardians" are those who protect what gives life: love, family, community, memory, beauty, and the natural world. Guardians of Light ultimately asks us to consider what we choose to preserve and what kind of light we will carry forward for those who come after us.
Website: https://vonmasonart.com
Congratulations to our First Place Award of Excellence Winner
LORI MITCHELL
Lori was awarded the first place in
2026 ONLINE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION juried by
Tina YapelliProfessor of Art and Design, Senior Curator University Art Gallery School of Art and Design, San Diego State University
for her Watercolor on Paper Place de Vosges.
View her award-winning work on the Artists Guikd website in our Online Gallery: www.sdmaag.org
About Lori:
Lori received her BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Lori's work has been featured in juried exhibitions, galleries and museums. She taught Drawing and Composition at Palomar College for fifteen years and currently teaches Pen & Watercolor through the Athenaeum in La Jolla. Lori illustrated ten books, including the award winning Different Just Like Me, which was featured on the Oprah show. She has three murals and a three-panel watercolor on display at Warwick’s, the oldest family-owned bookstore in the United States. Lori also was just chosen by the San Diego Museum of Art as a Centennial Honoree to create a piece of artwork using the Museum facade as inspiration for the 100 year celebration. Lori’s artwork Lady in Red can be seen at the 34th Annual Athenaeum’s juried exhibit until October 9. 2026. and she has another work, Oreos and Milk, at the National juried exhibition at Woodward Contemporary gallery until September 12, 2026. She also has a piece, Women in Art, that will be on display in the 46th International Exhibition at the San Diego Watercolor Society from September 26 - October 3, 2026.
About Place de Vosges:
My husband and I like to travel. As we were wandering around Paris, we came upon this lovely little park, Place des Vosges. We spotted the woman with the wonderful red hair and stripes on her pants and shirt. My husband sat down on the other end of the bench she was sitting on, and I managed to get a photo with her in the frame. I loved the color of her hair next to the green of the leaves. I see so many people usually looking at their phones, so it was very refreshing to see her reading a book. It was just such a nice little moment that I wanted to capture.
Web: https://www.lorimitchellart.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stories/lorimitchellart/
The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild
2026 ONLINE INTERNATIOAL EXHIBITION
Juror: Tina Yapelli Professor of Art and Design, Senior Curator University Art Gallery School of Art and Design, San Diego State University
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR AWARD WINNERS:
FIRST PLACE:
Lori Mitchell, San Diego, California
Place de Vosges
Watercolor on Paper
SECOND PLACE:Stephen Von Mason, Vallejo, California
Guardians of Light Mixed Media
THIRD PLACE: Christine Ames, Rome, Italy
At The Edge of Quiet
Mixed Media
HONORABLE MENTION:Carolyn McLeod, Chico, California Great Blue HeronDigital Photograph Laurie Batter, Carlsbad, California The Pause BetweenMixed Media
Jacquelyn Giuffre, San Rafael, California EdwardCast Bronze
Yoshie Kato, San Jose, California UtopiaAcrylic on Canvas
Opening May 30, 2026 5pm - 7pm
Solo shows for 12 local artists. In the upper hallway, Steve Harlow is showing 40 pieces from his ongoing painting cycle, "DEMOGRAPHICS."
Techne Art Center 1609 Ord Way, Oceanside, CA
Exhibition continues through August 1, 2026 Thurs, Fri, Sat 12 noon - 6pm
"3 YEARS EXHIBITION" - Solo exhibition by Vira Ustianska.
I am a Ukrainian artist. And I live in San Diego, not by chance...
My mission is to keep the tradition of Ukrainian Impressionism and share the aesthetic pleasure that gives me the strength and resilience. By capturing the essence of my surroundings in my canvases, I am contributing to the preservation of cultural heritage, creating a bridge between Ukrainian and Californian traditional painting.
During 3 years of living in the new country, I have created around 500 paintings. Every day work helped me focus on living in the moment, emphasizing the beauty around me. Now you can see familiar local scenes on my "living canvases" filled with special energy...
Each wall of this small gallery features paintings from 2022 to 2025. Come to my show to see how my style has transformed and discover more secrets of my oil painting technique, as well as support my Art, which is the meaning of my life.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 31 4-7 PM Space-in-Between Gallery, 4184 Adams Ave, 92116
Charlene Mosley’s current series explores the quiet, persistent resilience found in both nature and the human spirit—the instinct to endure, to adapt, and to survive. Through vibrant, textural oil paintings, bright and fluid watercolors, and intricately expressive drawings, Mosley visualizes the wild within us all. Intertwining human forms with elements of untamed wildlife and organic plant shapes, the artist wants to reveal a connection to the primal, emotional undercurrents that connect us to the natural world. Bold hues and layered textures reflect both inner strength and raw vulnerability.
Pollinators seen as fragile, like butterflies—appear throughout her work not only as symbols of delicate beauty, but of astonishing endurance. A butterfly, seemingly ephemeral, survives migration, transformation amidst often hostile environments. Wild animals such as tigers, are a reflection of inner courage, strength and adventure. Snakes are a symbol of taking risk and shedding an old self to adapt and flourish into something bigger. These creatures become metaphors for the hidden resilience we carry, the instincts we suppress, and the wild beauty we often forget exists within us.
Charlene Mosley invites viewers to activate and embrace their inner wild and highlights the importance of the balance between inward looking and outward living.
Show Dates: August 1- September 30th
Opening Reception: August 30th, 2025 Time: 4-7pm
Gallery Hours:
Wed: 3-7pm
Thu - Sat: 8a - 2:30pm
"Hoe in Peace: Mace in Woe: A Sculptural Representation of the Hamas War" by Hilary McGuire. Saddened by how Hamas and the Palestinian people have traded their food-producing hoes for the woes of war, longtime artist Hilary Paul McGuire has devised “Hoe in Peace: Mace in Woe." This piece was juried into the Sept/Oct 2024 "Small Art--Big Impact" fine art exhibit at the Ace Gallery in Oceanside, CA. Hours are: Tues, Wed, Thur from 11 AM to 6 PM and Fri from 11 AM to 5 PM through October 25th.
See more of Hilary's work at bit.ly/hpmcguire
Email Us:
President@sdmaag.org
Address:Mailing Address:P.O. Box 122107San Diego, CA 92112-2107
