Fariba Abedin

Iranian born, Fariba Abedin's work explores geometric abstraction with an emphasis on color study where geometry and color become the subjects of her intriguing paintings. Her carefully selected shades and tones create the illusion of volume, space, and transparency.

Although Abedin’s work is geometric and structural, her concept of work is tender and appealing in its appreciation of the nature and science, Color and geometry.  She also conveys a message of love and peace through her work.

She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Architecture from Massachusetts College of Art and a Master of Science in Education from Connecticut State University.  Then, for the next three decades she studied painting and sculpture at prominent art institutions such as Art League of Houston and Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

She lives and works in Houston and has exhibited, and given lectures and workshops in geometric art at The Museum of Geometric and MADI Art in Dallas, Pear Fincher Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, University of North Texas, Irving Art Center, and in Houston, Asia Society, Lawndale Art Center, Jung Center, Bank of America Center, and the Houston City Hall.  She is among the  29 artists on the Houston Arts Alliance, City of Houston’s Artists Roster recommended for public art projects.  She is also among Top 5 Houston Artists by Houston Magazine.

Abedin’s work is in the collection of the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art, Houston First Corporation Sky Art Billboards, and United Airlines, Intercontinental Airport Concourse C.

Valentina Atkinson

Valentina Atkinson is a Houston-based visual artist known primarily for her abstract watercolor compositions. Valentina was born and raised in Mexico City. The daughter of a painter and an architect, Atkinson developed an early interest the arts that has become a lifelong passion. She studied Industrial Design at the Universidad Ibero-Americana in Mexico, and Textile Design and Communication Arts at the University of San Francisco in the U.S. She has studied with renowned artists such as Manuel Arrieta and Alicia Leyva in Mexico, and Arthur Turner and others, at the Glassell School of Art, the Houston Art League and Watercolor Society of Texas.

A Houston resident since 1990, Atkinson has been instrumental in introducing key exhibits from Mexico to Texas galleries and museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; first, as Executive Director and Chair of the Board of Directors at the Mexican Cultural Institute; and more recently as the owner and artistic director of Serrano Gallery (previously known as Canal Street Gallery). Today, Serrano Gallery specializes in contemporary art by international Houston artists and Latin American artists.

Valentina's work has been juried and shown throughout the United States and Mexico, and is held in dozens of private collections internationally.

Didier Mayés

Didier Mayés is a Mexican artist who is known for his distinctive and colorful abstract iconography. His education includes studies in the School of Fine Arts at the Universidad Benito Juarez in Oaxaca, and a degree in industrial design. He also studied ceramic arts under Juan Alberu, and studied art under Francisco Monterrosa. His works have been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, and Colombia.

Kelyne Reis

Kelyne Reis is a visual artist, born in Brazil, lived and worked in Houston/TX before moving to Hannover, Germany end 2017, where she currently lives and works.

Reis preferred media is acrylic on canvas, but she also has been painting unique objects, as well as murals, and just started a series of small sculptures. Influences of the German “Bauhaus” movement and of Pop Art can be seen in her works, in which she plays with bold colors, graphic shapes, and flat/clean surfaces, telling stories in a very simple way.

Her latest series – “Digital Embracing (Through Modification & Fragmentation Towards A New Wholeness)”- was originated from her experiments with digital media. Reis started digitally modifying her already existing works, creating completely new images, which she brought back to the canvas in her very unmistakable way.

Her actual series-in-progress has the work title: “What Your Eyes Say”, and is inspired on the eyes’ iris of expressive people she admires.

Reis is fascinated by how strongly the interaction between her works and the viewers is affected by the venue in which an exhibition takes place. Through the venues, her works gain different readings, even antagonistic meanings, turning her creative process actually more exciting.

Also, a collaborative mural featuring one of her signature subjects “The Thinker Is Relaxing” can be seeing at 1503 Chartres St., Houston, TX 77003. It was created to the HUE (Houston Urban Experience) Mural Festival 2016.

Her works have been exhibited in various venues, including commercial galleries, churches, museums, and as part of public projects. Reis has also participated in several juried-exhibitions, as well as has acted as curator in many others.

Reis lately solo exhibition was at The Jung Center Houston in December 2016, in which she presented the complete series “DIGITAL EMBRACING (Through Modification & Fragmentation Towards A New Wholeness)”, being this accompanied by a book, with introduction written by Anna Tahinci (Ph.D., Professor and Area Coordinator of Art History at the Glassell School of Art/MFAH).

Kelyne Reis works are part of many private collections in the United States, Germany, and Brazil, as well as the collection of the City of Houston, and the Health Museum of Houston, TX.

Rolando Rojas

Rolando Rojas is a Mexican painter and printmaker who lives in Oaxaca, Mexico. His work remains deeply connected thematically to his cultural history and the legacy of the rich Oaxacan visual arts tradition.  Universal themes of fertility, sensuality and music and recurring motifs, such as the cosmos, the sun and the moon are hallmarks of his work.

Like so many of his contemporaries in Oaxaca, Rolando Rojas grew up in a culture where storytelling was an important part of every child’s upbringing. His work is influenced by the tales told by his grandmother and great-grandmother, which included narratives about historical events and a variety of indigenous myths about human behavior and the beginning of the world.

There is a sense that Rolando has captured another place, another time, another dimension—one that is replete with unusual creatures, altered by the perspective of a childhood spent in a small rural village. But, there is also a quiet and playful energy about his work that contains multiple layers of meaning, and rich sensual symbolism that, in some cases, is waiting to be discovered.

When Rolando Rojas first began to paint, he refrained from attending classes or workshops because he could not afford them. In time, the artist would open his own studio and teach others what he had learned through his journey. Today, Rolando Rojas is an internationally-acclaimed artist, with experience working with a variety of techniques and materials including linoleum, lithographs, metal, ink, mixed media and Oleographs (an engraving technique that replaces ink with oil, endowing each work with rich colors and a beautifully textured finish).

In some cases, surfaces texture is created  by mixing actual soil from Sierra Madre de Chiapas with paint, making a primordial connection to his Zapotec Indian ancestry.  Rolando gathers up handfuls of various hues of earth pigment, and mixes them by hand to build his palette.

This unique focus and power in his composition allows his work to transcend any national boundaries and connects with a universal language represented by the work of artists like Wilhelm DeKooning, Robert Beachamp, and Gerhard Richter. In a relatively short time, Rolando Rojas has become a master of this tradition and has achieved international recognition in the USA, Japan, France, Canada, Cuba, Argentina, and Puerto Rico.

Ryan T. Schmidt

For over 15 years, Schmidt has turned his sketches of sweeping arcs and sleek curvilinear lines into fine stainless steel sculptures. His polished mirror-finished creates brilliant and complex image with surface that reflects the organic transformation between existence and illusion. He uses one of the highest grades of stainless steel, type 316, which is very resilient for all weather conditions; resulting in a surface that can be maintained with minimal effort. 

Schmidt’s creative interest started at the early age of five in Origami and Constructs (predecessor to legos). Later during his school years he explored into painting and photography; excelling in both set a definite artistic direction. Throughout his childhood years he spent the weekends and summers learning to work with wood, metal and plastic in his father’s business of custom remodeling, landscaping, and handcrafted playgrounds. Transitioning into college, he furthered his studies in photography, painting, drawing, color and design, printmaking, ceramics, and finally transitioned into sculpture. Schmidt began working in cast aluminum, later in bronze, and ultimately found the everlasting properties of stainless steel with its brilliant reflection to be most satisfying. In 2002, he established Rykan Expedition, Inc. and started combining landscaping, water fountains and outdoor sculpture. Later, he moved to Los Angeles and spent 5 years to focus more on producing sculptures while establishing his gallery connections. Schmidt returned to his hometown in Bryant, Arkansas in 2015 to expand the production of sculptures. 

In recent years, Schmidt has exhibited throughout California, Michigan, Arkansas, Florida, and Taiwan. He won “First Place” at the Hot Springs 4th Annual Sculpture Showcase in Arkansas (2009), “First Place” at the 11th Annual Indian Wells Arts Festival in California (2013), placed in the “Top 25” at Art Prize in Michigan (2015, 2017), “Third Place” Sculpture category at the 54th Annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival (2017), and recipient of Proskauer Prize at the National Sculpture Society’s 85th Annual Awards Exhibition for his Rain of Faith Sculpture (2018).

Schmidt’s corporate installations can be found at the Taiwan International Contemporary Artist Association in World Trade Center Taipei, BankUnited Building at the Financial District Downtown Miami, Florida, and Amway Botanical R&D Center in Wuxi/Shanghai, China; and his public works in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Northglenn, Colorado, Little Rock, and Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is represented by galleries in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Aspen, Miami Beach, Dubai, San Antonio, and Bridgehampton, New York.