The artwork of two Encinitas artists is on view in the Encinitas Library from January 19 through February 25, 2010.

Woodblock Narrative, Kirsten Francis

A Crystalline Encounter, Steve Klinsky

HANDS-ON WORKSHOP

Valentine's Lino Cut Relief Workshop with Kirsten Francis, for ages 14 to Adult. Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 6:00-7:30pm. Encinitas Library Community Room. To RSVP please call 760-633-2746. Open to the first 25 people. Presented by the City of Encinitas Commission for the Arts. 

KIRSTEN FRANCIS

Kirsten Francis currently lives and works in Encinitas, CA. She received a BA from Tufts University and a BFA in Printmaking from Pacific Northwest College of Art. Her woodblock prints, painstakingly carved and printed multiple times from one block, are colorful, intricate and allegorical.

Inspired by folklore, fairy tales and mythology, as well as her upbringing in Mexico and Denmark, she creates artwork that combines self portraits, images of animals and everyday objects to create a personal, yet universal, narrative. 

Chickens, hummingbirds, fruit, trees and a woman clad in jaguar skin, populate her work--each item signifying an experience or emotion, often from everyday life.  

STEVEN ANTON KLINSKY

Intrigued by potters throwing on the wheel since he was a young child, in 1979 Steve was pushed by friends into a class taught by Mr. Paul White, at Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA. It was a class that would change his life. After a lot of study and experimentation, he started selling pieces at craft shows. At one show he was approached by the owner of a design showroom located in Beverly Hills, CA, about making large ceramic pots. 

Living and working in San Diego, CA for twenty-seven years, Steve has been able to enjoy both his ceramic work, and his love of surfing. Upon returning to San Diego, he juried into the La Jolla Art Association, and is busy working on new art pieces with vibrant colors and varying textures. Most recently Steve has concentrated on zinc crystalline glazes, accenting his graceful shapes with large flower-like zinc crystals that form spontaneously as the tempera-ture rises. Once the glaze is fully melted and running off the piece, the temperature is rapidly dropped to a lower temperature, where the crystals are grown larger by holding this temperature for up to 6 hours. Once cooled, the crystals are frozen into the glaze as a permanent decoration. They are challenging glazes from which only about one half of the pieces are successful. The rewards of the successful pieces are worth it.

LIBRARY HOURS

The Encinitas Library is open Monday - Thursday, 9:30am-8:00pm; Friday and Saturday, 9:30am-5:00pm and Sunday, 1:00-5:00pm. 

The Civic Art Program is an initiative of the City of Encinitas Commission for the Arts.