It’s all for one and one for all at F1VEart Studio & Gallery in Liberty Station. Starting with five female artists the gallery now numbers six – Denise Cerro, Ann Golumbuk, Yahel Yan, Susie Zol, Sheri Hayes, and Melissa Marquardt – who’ve joined to share studio space in the Arts District to promote and market their work.

All six artists from all over San Diego are now pooling their considerable talents in Barracks 16, Studio 206 at 2730 Historic Decatur Road. Collectively and individually, they are exploring a wide range of vibrant colors and compositions to create one-of-a-kind pieces of art that reflect each artist’s style and vision.

An Oklahoman, Golumbuk has a university degree in interior design. Yan, of Mexico City, was exposed to art and color early on. Cerro’s background includes parallel careers in both visual presentation and as a faux finish and mural artist. Southern Californian Hays is steeped in her love for the outdoors. Zol paints intuitively letting layers of paint, marks, fabric, and paper interact and unfold into a story. Marquardt, an abstract artist working with oil, acrylic, and mixed media, creates works that transport viewers to a place of calm and serenity.

“Most of us have painted together for quite a few years,” said Cerro of their nearly four-year partnership adding, “There were originally five of us and that’s where the name came from.”

Of their team’s origin, Cerro said: “When COVID happened there was nowhere to be. We had a Zoom group to keep connected. Then after things eased up we started to say, ‘Hey let’s get a studio.’ And bam, this showed up.”

“We had a support group of five artists,” noted Yan adding, “This year we started doing solo shows for each one of us in our gallery area, as well as bringing in artists from the outside allowing them to show.”

“We’re a group that supports the individual artists,” pointed out Cerro. “And each artist supports the group. But we’re usually not in this studio all at the same time.”

Discussing their work together, Cerro said they refer to themselves as contemporary artists. “Some of us do seascapes,” she said. “I always like to have something I can recognize in my work.”

“I’m both abstract and figurative,” noted Yan. “Here I paint with acrylics. At home, I do oil paintings.”

Yan talked about a favored artistic theme. “I paint a lot of chairs,” she said. “So it’s representational more than figurative. What I do is I paint chairs and I try to make them as human as possible. I give them personality and a sense of being alive.”

Zol does both abstract and figurative work. “I paint abstract and like to do (both) figurative and portrait,” said Susie adding she started out painting in a journal. “Then that expanded into working on a canvas and (got) bigger and bigger and I just love it. I have a studio at home and paint almost every day.”

Why abstract? “Because I can be the most free with abstract,” answered Zol. “I like that feeling in painting. I’m very much focused on the creative process.”

Why do art, what do you get out of it?

“That’s what I do just because it comes naturally to me,” replied Cerro. “I’ve been in the arts my whole life. Every job I’ve ever had has been a creative job.”

Zol enjoys working in a studio where they all share expenses and where “I can express and have my creative time with somebody.”

“It’s a nice camaraderie here,” concluded Yan. “We share ideas.”

F1VEART STUDIO & GALLERY

Where: Liberty Station Arts District, Barracks 16, Studio 206, 2730 Historic Decatur Road

Información: [email protected].