About the Artist
 Throughout her life, Andrea Raft has found herself drawn to art and to the expressiveness it offers her. In her work, she is most responsive to the deceptive simplicity of the natural world itself, finding in its complex textures and earthy hues the mood for her own canvasses. Her work reveals her preference for the abstract, choosing to evoke an impression or feeling rather than depict representational images. In addition to the lessons of nature, Raft is inspired by such painters as Paul Cézanne, Anselm Kiefer, and Mark Rothko. Her travels to India, China, Nepal and Tibet have enriched her abiding interest in Asian art and Eastern philosophy. Andrea contends that her work is as much a spiritual exercise as an act of creation, as much a meditation as an expression. When she paints, she hopes to share the gift of quiet introspection born of the tumult of creativity with those who will contemplate her canvasses.
The inextricable blend of Nature's spirit and artist's prayer is conveyed in Andrea Raft's mix media pieces through oils and acrylics, often interspersed with found objects, rocks, metals, and photographs. Most striking about Raft's canvasses, however, are the references to Eastern cultures that infuse her work. Taken together, the Asian symbols and textiles that denote so many of Raft's pieces tell a rich story about history, about philosophy, and about art: an intricate narrative interwoven with Nature's own.
Andrea Raft first studied painting at the Brentwood Art Center in Los Angeles, where under its auspices, she traveled to Giglio, Italy, to study and paint. It was in Giglio that Andrea developed her interest in layered colors and texture. The walls, doors, and streets of the 11th century walled city inspired her to paint in overlapping layers, with the old under girding the new. Subsequently, Raft spent six years in the Bahamas, where she was tutored by her proximity to the sea and by the unhurried pace of life around her, more recently in the countryside of California's central coast, and now residing in the foothills of the Santa Susana Mountains. Each shift--from ancient to modern, from urban to rural, from land to sea, from west to east--has enriched Andrea's artistic perceptions, enabling her to study, paint, and show her work professionally in a host of disparate environments.
ANDREA RAFT
andrea@andrearaftstudio.com
805 306-1459
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
UP-COMING BRAND LIBRARY January 2009 Glendale, CA
FORTINI HOME AND GARDEN San Luis Obispo, CA October 2006
THE NATURAL WORLD, North Tahoe Art Center, Lake Tahoe, CA. September 2006
ASIAN STYLE 2005 Excellent Experiences Gallery at the Morgan Stanley Building, San Luis Obispo, CA.
ASIAN STYLE 2004 McConnell Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA.
THE CALMING EFFECT Big Sky Café, San Luis Obispo, CA 2002
SELECTED JURIED EXHIBITONS
DAC Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2008
Goggle Works, National Association Women Artist’s Reading, PA 2008
Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA 2008
California State Fair Fine Art Competition Sacramento, CA 2008 Award of Exellence
Viva Gallery, Experimental Artists Guild Sherman Oaks, CA 2008
Orlando Gallery, Tarzana, CA 2008 Small Works Show/ Women Painters West
ArtCore Brewery Annex, Los Angeles, CA. 2008 Women Painters West
Burbank Creative Arts Center, Burbank, CA. 2008 Collage Artist of America
Lauryn Taylor Fine Arts, Carmel CA. “Holiday Lites” 2007
Picture This Gallery, Long Beach, CA “Frida Kahlo 100th Birthday” Art Show 2007
Lekae Gallery, Scottsdale Arizona “American Women Artists National Competition 2007
Longview Museum Longview Texas “Personal Landscapes” N.A.W.A. 2007
Monroe Center for the Arts Hoboken, New Jersey N.A.W.A 118th Annual Exhibition 2007
San Luis Obispo Art Center, San Luis Obispo, CA. Annual International Society of Acrylic Painters, San Luis Obispo, CA. 2007
Art House Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. “Women as Witness” Women Painters West 2007
Peter Stynberg Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA. “Indomitable Spirits: Giving Face/Voice To Courage” 2007
Lauryn Taylor Fine Arts, Carmel, CA. “Strata-Various” 2006
Goggle Works Center for the Arts, Reading, PA. N.A.W.A 117th Annual Juried Show 2006
Elliott Fouts Gallery, Sacramento CA. 2005
San Luis Obispo Art Center, San Luis Obispo, CA. Brushstrokes 2003
Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria, CA. Group Show 2007
San Luis Obispo Art Center, San Luis Obispo, CA. “Curators Choice” 2001
Rand Nature Center, Bahamas National Trust Art Show, Freeport Bahamas “Art Noel” 1998
Central Bank of The Bahamas, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas All Women Show “Hear Me Roar” 1996
Rand Theatre, Freeport Bahamas “Moods of Freeport” 1994
Beverly Hills Art Festival Beverly Hills, CA “Affaire in the Garden” 1989
AWARDS
Award of Excellence California State Fair Fine Art Competition 2008
Image-ination Award Honorable Mention Collage Artists Juried Show Burbank Creative Arts Center 2008
Blessing Semler Award given for Creativity Women Painters West Juried Show Art House Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 2007
1st Prize Award for Mixed Media Division Brushstrokes 2003 San Luis Obispo Art Center, San Luis Obispo, CA
EDUCATION
Cuesta College Fine Arts Program, San Luis Obispo, CA
Allan Hancock College, Fine Arts Program, Santa Maria, CA
Brentwood Art Center, School of Fine Art, Brentwood, CA
B. A. University of California at Northridge, Northridge, CA 1975
ORGANIZATIONS
Collage Artists of America
ISAP International Society of Acrylic Painters Signature Member
N.A.W.A. National Association of Women Artist’s Juried Member
Women Painters West Juried Active Member
Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art |
