Affordable Art Fair

Oakland, California-based painter Carmen McNall (b. 1988) incorporates textures and patterns significant within the history of traditional craft-making to explore the symbolism of handmade objects. These timeless pieces represent humanity and hold personal power, providing strength in times of struggle and telling fragments of intimate stories and moments in time. Using a unique process that combines painting and wood-carving, Carmen's work balances colored patterns bound by organic shapes against stretches of pure pigment, suspending the objects in saturated space, and accentuating grooves of carved wood. Carmen's practice relates directly to the handmade in both subject matter and execution, opening a dialogue about the relationship between people and their environments and examining the empowering qualities these places retain.

Paola Rodriguez Arias (b. 1975) is a visual artist and designer based in Geneva, Switzerland. With a background in fashion, jewelry and ceramic design, Paola’s inspiration for her current textile-based works are informed by her upbringing in Colombia and its rich tradition of handicraft. Paola creates her work through a meticulous process of coiling yarn onto panels to create symbolic compositions that incorporate references to found objects, figures and the natural landscape. Though the meditative act of constructing her compositions, Paola’s work is inherently contemplative, allowing her to imbue the work with votive-like meaning.

Hayley Sheldon (b. 1984) is a West Palm Beach, Florida-based multidisciplinary sculptor and installation artist. With a focus on tactility and color, Hayley’s shaped screens explore fleeting experiences of the natural world, like the slow growth of plant life and the gentle shift of sunset to dusk. Distilled to discrete shapes and palettes, these individual pieces can be arranged and reconfigured to suit multiple installations and story-telling opportunities.