KELLY LUSCOMBE BEA
PAINTINGS, MIXED MEDIA
Co-Director of Gallery 525
Kelly Luscombe Bea paints in oil and acrylic on canvas and mixed media wooden constructions in a narrative and visionary style. She employs portraiture, figuration and objects to tell stories about everyday life, or to open internal doors, giving privy to dreamlike, surrealistic worlds. She is inspired by dreams, the lives of saints, the ironic, odd moments of life, and natural and cultural influences absorbed during her travels to Spain, India and beyond.
In addition to painting and exhibiting her own art, Luscombe Bea founded and ran a gallery in San Francisco's Mission district in from 1997 to 2001. There she exhibited emerging, cutting edge to established artists at Gallery Luscombe at 24th St. near Treat St. Many internationally known artists had their first art exhibitions at Gallery Luscombe, due to Luscombe's ability to recognize artists not yet seen and lauded by the art world. Luscombe Bea closed the gallery in 2001 in San Francisco and moved to Ojai to concentrate on her own work and to teach in an idyllic setting. Since that time, she has had numerous one woman shows and has hosted many in-depth art and yoga retreats at the Ananda Verandah (aka Blue Verandah).
Luscombe Bea was was drawn back to gallery life when she and others via Gallery 525 in Ojai perceived that an art space was vitally needed to showcase artists locally, and to stimulate the artistic community by hosting exhibitions for national and international artists.
After beginning college in Anthropology and Dance, her studies continued at the San Francisco Academy of Art College and University of London in Art and Design, leading to a B.A. with Honors in Art, Painting Emphasis, from San Francisco State University in 1986.
Luscombe Bea's artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group shows. In addition to publishing her illustrations with Simon and Schuster for The Art of The Table, written by her mother Suzanne von Drachenfels, she has lectured and demonstrated art techniques at major museums, including the San Francisco M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, and has conducted television interviews regarding her work. Luscombe Bea taught art at the San Francisco Day School and in the San Francisco public school system with the aid of grants, and has taught art as far away as Andra Pradesh, India. She continues with teaching children and adults at the Blue Verandah/Ananda Verandah, located at her Ojai East End 1889 victorian studio, and hosts painting and mixed media workshops at Gallery 525.
TAKING OFF, Solo Exhibition by Kelly Luscombe Bea at Gallery 525
October 21 - November 29, 2015
Ventana Monthly, The Art of Imperfection, September, 2014
http://kellyluscombebea.com