As an integral aesthetic of the practice, FDFAC helps support local artists by displaying paintings and mixed media. The value to our patients are echoed by compliments of all who enter our office.

We are always looking for emerging artists to display work in our office. If you're a Bay Area artist or know someone who might be interested, please contact FDFAC for more information.

I'm interested in creating work that explores my psychology. Working from personal photographs, the painting process is a method of self-evaluation, a way of understanding various levels of my conscious and unconscious thoughts and motivations.

I set out in avoidance of meaning or concept as a way to discover the types of decisions I would make as an intuitive being. Reacting to my sensory environment, I found myself drawn to objects that were, even if mundane, beautiful to me. Although these subjects began as arbitrary moments of inspiration, they came to fit into a system of archetypes, representing a much larger world.

In all my work I strive to reconcile the mechanical, objective form of photography, with the abstract and subjective nature of painting. Color, form, and composition are exploited in the process of transforming personal photographs, into contemporary representational paintings. - Servando Garcia

As a landscape painter, I depict moments in which the scene establishes an emotional rapport with the viewer. Whether the viewer is excited by light against a facade, a dark and strange tree, or a sliver of sky, I am searching for the instance where the viewer unexpectedly personifies the environment. Sometimes a random set of items, such as houses, roadway, and greenery, react together to form an evocative tone. The tone produced may be sadness, brightness, pride, or resignation, but these locations have a personality in and of themselves. Where the paintings are most successful, the artwork captures the imagined traits of the environment and translates the artist's relationship to the site.

My aesthetic sense is informed by American artists Hopper, Diebenkorn, Bechtle, and Thiebaud. To me, their works portray a great range of urban and rural moods, and stimulate the viewer to consider if the mood presented reflects his or her own experience. My own sense of the environments in which I paint is that there is often a determination to exist within whatever beauty can be attained that day, even if it is only attained in a painted picture. - Sherrod Blankner

The work I have been doing for the last couple of years has focused on pattern, repetition, and color, working in a palette of more muted colors than I have in the past. Although the motif of circles in varying sizes is simple, the circles placed together create a dynamic pattern and a rich visual texture. The colors melt into one another to convey a subtle contrast, and the simplicity in the design is comforting yet elegant.

The technique I use is a little different than traditional painting. The process is more labor intensive that what I've done in the past, but I love each step. I'll try to briefly explain the process. Each painting is made up of several individual square paintings, assembled together on a larger wood panel. The first step is selecting the palette for the overall piece, then painting on layers of the selected colors, with a circle in the middle of each one. Once I am satisfied with the amount of paint layers, I move into the sanding phase, I use an electric sander, and wear away the layers of paint. Once all the squares have been sanded, they are arranged over and over until a pleasing pattern is formed, then glued to the wood panel. That's when I sit back and admire the final result and come up with the names. - Audrey Welch

My creative life began with my introduction to the fiber arts. Ever since, it has been a doorway to wonderful possibilities. Playing with established processes such as weaving with wire mesh-pre-made cloth, or trash from the SF dump, even using basket reed as warp, has allowed me outstanding sculptural creations. I can lift dimensional vessels from the loom, clothing can become, far out performance costume as well as sculpture when not worn, or fabricate decorative quilts, hats, shoes, literally anything and everything that can be made from cloth.

Another way that textiles reflect who I am is its unique environmental character. As natural concerns are woven into my work as both process and subject matter, I consider it remarkable that a weaver can get by without electrical power, can be portable, and uses mostly renewable resources, often natural plant material gathered at specific times in partnership with the earth. As a teacher and speaker I feature the non-traditional activist role of fiber in my career history. In the fiber facets of my work, I find a complete world to explore. - Estelle Akamine