Oh Sheet! A Really BIG Art Show!
Exhibit on display entire month of August at:
South First Billiards,
420 S. First Street, San Jose 95113

Q&A with the Artists

Q: How would you characterize your work? Do you have an artist statement?

Lacey and Lara: We are a collaborative art duo based in the South Bay. The two of us, Lara Sophia and Lacey Bryant, are solo artists who work together in a unique collaborative style. We paint on the same piece of art at the same time, creating colorful and expressive artwork in acrylic paint and in oil pastels. Building on each other’s marks, each piece of art is unique and spontaneous. Although each of us brings different ideas and styles to the piece, an important element of our work is a cohesive composition and color palette that works together as a whole. We focus on portraiture and the expressive quality of human faces and hands. To make things more confusing, we sign our work “Sans”, San being the Japanese word for “friend”. We have become active in the live, collaborative, improvisational art scene and can be found painting for an audience at many San Jose events. Recently, our focus has shifted to include large scale works and public art.

The “Oh Sheet!” show focuses on a group of paintings created on recycled bed sheets. The paintings are vibrant portraits of a variety of people done in a very large version of our unique and colorful style.

Q: What is your favorite medium and why? What is your range of mediums?

Lacey and Lara in enthusiastic unison: Oil Pastels! We like them because they are thick, smushy, bright, fast and easy to carry with. You can work in layers, blend, make bold marks or soft ones. We also work in acrylics together.

Lacey: I also work in oil paint, ceramic and polymer clay. I’ve worked in many other media as well and I expect I will work with many more before I’m through.

Lara: I enjoy sketching with pencil or pen sometimes and drawing with oil pastels of course the most. I have worked with water soluble oils, acrylic paints, play doh, clay, paper, chalk, ink, mixed media. I have mostly worked 2 dimensionally but I would like to push my talents by working more 3 dimensionally.

Q: Where have you studied art? Where have you exhibited work?

Lacey: I have an AA degree from Ohlone College in Fremont. I have exhibited all over the Bay Area and as far north as Sacramento. I have taken part in group shows at galleries, including the Olive Hyde Gallery in Fremont, the Sacramento Fine Arts Center and the Peninsula Museum of Art; and I have had many solo and duo shows (with Lara) at alternative art spaces including Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Great Bear Coffee, Caffe Pergolessi, Gardner Community Center and others.

Lara: I have gone to various community colleges ending with an Associate’s degree in Fine Art from Ohlone Community College in Fremont, CA. After that I went to Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA for a bachelorette’s degree in Art with an emphasis in Education. Lacey and I recently exhibited at Good Karma Vegan Café in downtown San Jose. We’ve also shown at Barefoot Coffe Roasters a few times. Barefoot is now our home base for art and we just recently completed a collaborative mural there. Most of the places I’ve shown in the bay area have been duo shows with Lacey. I’ve shown some work up in Arcata while I was going to school amongst the redwoods.

Q: What is your favorite work? And what is your favorite response from others to your work?

Lacey: I don’t think I could choose a favorite! We have made well over 300 pictures between us. We put out a comment book for people to write in at our shows. My favorite comments are a tie between "Your shit sux!', "Great job. Nice colors. Get a real job." and "Very bright and vibrant (like drinking a symphony in C).” I just like it when people like what they see and feel inspired. It’s cool when a piece gets someone thinking, but it’s just as nice when all they do is make people smile for a minute!

Lara: I like making the art more than I like picking a favorite. I would like other people to have a favorite because then maybe they would take it home and love it. My favorite response is when someone walks into the location of our art show and looks at the walls and smiles and feels the need to say out loud that they like this work and that it makes them happy. My usual response, if I happen to be the one they tell, is that Lacey and I like the bright colors and that they make us happy, so we want to share that.

Q: Where are you going now? What direction is calling you?

Lacey: We are planning to do some work together using play-doh. I’m working with a lot of scrap wood and recycled materials these days, so I expect to be following that for a bit. I’ve got a couple of series of new paintings in the works, which I hope to be ready to show early next year.

Lara: I’d like to teach. I’ve been doing this in various forms for about a year now. Teaching and art are calling me, sometimes at the same time. I plan to continue with these and somehow make more than 24 hours in a day and never get tired so I can make art for longer periods of time. Especially since Lacey has so much energy and would greatly appreciate me being able to make more art work with her.Come join us in celebrating Lacey and Lara's art!


If you would like to find out more about the Flying Artistas, check out their blog at:
http://www.theflyingartistas.blogspot.com. Also see http://www.laceybryantartist.com and http://www.larasophia.com.