“I try to live an interesting life, why be boring when you can be exciting?” exclaims the SF BAWJ June feature Artist, Eve Shen!

Eve’s parents set the stage for an exciting life when they moved their family from Taiwan to the United States.  She was 11 at the time and her parents settled their family in New Jersey.

Art has always been a part of Eve’s life…starting with coloring books as a child and later as her favorite class in high school.  That interest continued into college where Eve attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design.  Feeling stuck in New York, she eventually moved to San Francisco to pursue her passions and see new things!

Art is Therapy for Eve

Eve describes art as her therapy.  When she is creating she is often “dancing” at the same time.  Her artwork provides a way to get her energy out and to feel good.  It’s also a place where she can explore new things and do what feels right to her in the moment.

Chocolate Rasberry

Being a Mom is a New Kind of Creative Expression!

And lately…her moments have been filled with a new kind of creative expression…a son. Today Eve finds herself in the fulltime role of “Mom”.  She happily says that her art right now is finding creative ways to raise her son!

"Bulls Eye" was featured on the June cover.

Art Provides Self-Expression and Life Balance

Visual art still has a place in Eve’s life. She relishes the opportunity for self expression and balance that it brings to her life today. Her son and his wonderful imagination are an endless source of inspiration as well as the simple act of stepping outside and experiencing the natural beauty of the Bay Area.

Eve describes her work as organic, fresh, colorful and happy!  To learn more please visit her web site at eveshen.com.

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Tomoko Maruyama

In every edition of the San Francisco Bay Area Women’s Journal we feature the artwork of a local artist on our cover.  Art enriches and deepens our life experience.  And here in the Bay Area, rich with creativity, we are pleased to bring you artwork each month that we hope touches you in a unique way.

Tomoko Maruyama is our featured artist for May.  Originally from Japan, Tomoko is a San Francisco based graphic designer.  She started her career in Tokyo as a sports teacher for children and seniors. 

But she soon realized her real passion and interest was in graphic design.  This took her to New York where she studied art and began to develop her unique artistic style!

Tomoko strives to create artwork that evokes feelings of happiness and peace which are a reflection of her warm heart.  With a distinctive design style that is warm, positive and soft, she is influenced by the daily experience of the cities that she has lived in including Tokyo, New York and San Francisco. 

Her illustration of the “Golden Gate” is a great example of her style!

On the May cover of the San Francisco Bay Area Women’s Journal we featured a piece of her work called appropriately enough “SF”.  You can see the cover here.

Prints, Apparel, Greeting Cards and More!

Today her work can be found on adorable baby clothes, t-shirts, greeting cards, wedding invitations and hanging on walls across the world!  A favorite illustration has to be “The Painted Ladies”.

Looking at these adorable baby clothes, it’s easy to see why people are effusive in their responses to her work…adorable, so sweet, love the soft colors, breath of fresh air, so happy… are often heard when people see her work. 

Her career switch might seem dramatic, but it’s obvious that she has found her true calling and is living her dream!

For a complete listing of retailers who carry Tomoko’s work, click here.   You can also buy Tomoko’s work from her Etsy shop and visit her website TomokoMaruyama.com to learn more.

If you enjoyed this article and want to share it with a friend or the world:) …it’s easy. Click on the Share/Save button and you can e-mail, Tweet or Bookmark it!

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by Carolyn Jones

In 2004, I began to photograph gates. I was initally drawn to their beauty, but at some point they began to have a much deeper meaning to me. 

Circle of Giving

For example, in the photograph, Circle of Giving, I am drawn to the circle and to the way that each curl gently and gracefully leads into and supports the next.

I see that as one curl gives to another, the curl being given to is able to gain the needed support to grow into its own gentle and graceful being, able to give to the next curl, and so forth.

And, just as one curl gives to the next, so was it given to by another before it. Receiving the gift offered becomes a part of the circle.

Then, when the circle of giving is established, I see each curl in the gate’s top arch as a multitude of beings, touching in some way, coming together in harmony and peace.

As I view the Circle of Giving, I am reminded that when we give, a graceful flow is created, which forms a never-ending circle of beauty and strength, of giving and receiving.

When I photgraph gates, a characteristic of each one seem to speak to me about  a virtue, a principle of living, or a feeling, that have relevance in my life. My Gate collection has come to represent the ways that I want and strive to live in this world. 

Carolyn Jones photographs both wrought iron gates and images created by the physics of light’s energy when it interacts with glass.  She started her career as a nurse, but eventually transitioned to her life passion…photography.  You can see more of her Gate Collection at her website, CarolynJonesPhotography.

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