The Diversity Center

Center Art Gallery

The Diversity Center is proud to feature local LGBTIQ and LGBTIQ-friendly artists at the Diversity Center Art Gallery located at 1117 Soquel Ave. Please visit the space during our open hours or during our Artist Reception and Open House. To get the most up to date times for open hours, please call 425-5422.

If you are a Santa Cruz County artist, or know of an artist in the community, who would like to inquire about being a featured artist, please click here for more information or contact us at 425-5422 or .

Featured Artist This Period

February - March 2010

Julia Elizabeth "Lenihan" Lonergan

Premier showing of the painting, "The Magnolia Rose, 1853, Capitola".

A showcase history of Mission Santa Cruz California when it was Mexico, including the Magnolia Rose Mansion which was a Mexican-Spanish Luxury Hotel build by the Castro's on the Esplanade in Capitola California, facing SouthWest.

Artist Reception: Wednesday February 17, 2010 from 5:30-6:30 p.m at The Diversity Center.

10% of all proceeds from the sale of her painting and her book "The Haunting of Mission Santa Cruz, Mexico, 1708 to 1876" will be donated to the Diversity Center.

Julia Elizabeth “Lenihan” Lonergan is a graduate in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.  She came to Mission Santa Cruz in 2003 from the Southern Tewa Indian Reservation on the rio Grande River, called the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico.  She is a member of the Foundation for Endangered Languages and studies indigenous ritual and the embodiment of philosophy in perceptual metaphor (art, material infrastructure, dance).  She works with the famous psychologist Dr. Raymond Gibbs, the author of Poetics of Mind; and, J. Lonergan & A. Guerisoli (2009) are the authors of The Haunting of Mission Santa Cruz, Mexico, 1708 to 1876, a book on Santa Cruz when it was Mexico.  AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM

You can contact her at

Previously Featured Artists

January 2010: Mike Tossy

"Puzzles and Posters"
Manipulated Photos from the Digital Darkroom By Mike Tossy

Mike started his photography career using black and white film. His transition to digital spurred a new interest in color images. About a year ago, Mike started experimenting with heavily manipulated images. This is his first exhibit in this new style and includes images styled to look like posters and assemblages he calls "puzzles".

Mike is an award winning photographer. He has exhibited his work at UCSC, SC Pride, and Men's Network. This is his 2nd show at The Diversity Center.

His website is http://www.MikeTossy.com

Artist's Reception: Saturday January 30th 6-8 p.m. at The Diversity Center

October - November 2009: Desiree Cassel

REFLECTIONS:  New work by Desiree Cassel      Abstract mosaics, incorporating tile, mirror bits, fossils, stone, broken ceramics and found objects.

Artist's Reception Saturday, October 17, 3- 6 PM

"I began working with a therapist this year, and found myself wanting to make art again.  I started making mosaics, a medium I had worked in long ago.  I began bringing my work to my therapy sessions.  At first my pieces were well-balanced and interesting, but maybe a bit "careful."  My therapist suggested I "embrace chaos" in making my next piece.  What I made surprised and excited me, and I continue to make these reflections of the life that I am."

Thanks!  And come to the reception!

Désirée

 

June - July 2009: Josefina Estrada

Art exibit entitled "Marginadas"

 

August - November 2008: Marie Garcia and Kwai Lam

Marie Garcia 

Born and raised in Santa Cruz and living life in my 50th Year, I have been a PG&E employee for 30 years and I still work as a full time employee. Away from work I presently enjoy same-sex ballroom dancing, bicycling, socializing with my family of friends and volunteering my time to various organizations. The most recent have been the Queer Youth Leadership Awards and the AIDS/LifeCycle to which I dedicate my time for training & fundraising.

I have dabbled in photography for many years, and what Inspires me most is the Human Spirit. Through Joyful occasions, dance and community events, I am touched by the Spirit of each individual I see through the lens of my camera. The image captured is what I see and feel through the opening of my Heart. We are all as One and it is my sincere Honor to bear witness to the Human Spirit.

When I woke up to my workday alarm on the morning of June 17, 2008, Day One of Gay & Lesbian Weddings in California, my first thought was, "What a Huge Day this is to be!" My second thought was with all the couples who were getting married that day and wondering what they must be feeling. I felt a strong need and desire to witness and document this historic day in my hometown of Santa Cruz. All I knew was that I had to go! I had not planned on attending...so I called work and took a Family Day of Leave. After all, I did have a number of Family members getting married!

Whether you have been together for 1 year or more than 35 years...Congratulations Newlyweds!

Kwai Lam

Kwai Lam has 30+ years of photography and video experience: from portraits and weddings to landscapes, shows, performance and erotica.  Since 1984 he has participated in and documented queer community and culture in Santa Cruz and beyod: Bulkhead Collective, Radical Faeries, Diversity Center, Community TV and more. He delights in providing the community a mirror and memory for our hearts, dreams and beauty through video, still images and organizations.

June - July 2008: Steve Homer

I'm a fine-art photographer living in Santa Cruz. I work exclusively in black-and-white, using conventional and infrared films. I do all of my film processing and printing in a traditional "wet" paper-and-chemical darkroom.

My usual subject matter is the female body, clothed and unclothed. I see my figurative work as more akin to "portraiture of naked people" than to classical figure photography or erotic/glamour photography. I have a particular fascination with the androgynous body and with people who present themselves to the world in a gender-ambiguous way. Photography is my way of exploring and commenting about gender politics. I've been doing this sort of photography since 1990.

Locally, I have exhibited my work at UCSC's GLBTI resource center, the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center, and the Pajaro Valley Arts Council gallery in Watsonville. I have also exhibited in Portland, Oregon, and in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, where I spend part of each year volunteering as a photography and English teacher for indigenous (Mayan) cultural organizations.

My Diversity Center exhibit will include the more "modest" side of my work over the past few years. I'm hoping that through this show I'll be able to connect with other local photographers and with prospective models.

March - June 2008: Hedwig M. Heerschop

Hedwig is currently studying for her MFA Degree in Fine Arts/Photography and is a lecturer at San José State University, San José, CA. She divides her time with her studies as well as working as a free-lance photographer. Enjoys working with alternative photographic processes such as Cyanotype prints and Gumbichromate prints. Both are non-silver printing techniques from the mid-1800s. She is also interested in taking pictures of all walks of life with her 35mm. camera documenting life as it is all around us.

Dutch-born photographer Hedwig M. Heerschop received her B.F.A. Degree in Fine Arts/Photography, Cum Laude, from San José State University. She has received several art scholarships. Hedwig's work has been exhibited in the USA and the Netherlands. Her work has been published in Californian newspapers as well as in catalogues and art papers. Hedwig lives and works in Santa Cruz County, CA.

February - March 2008: Gregory

Gregory recently moved to California from Texas. He is currently living and working in Spreckles. His work is dramatic and colorful human forms in acrylic on canvas. He recently showed his work at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas.

December - January 2008: Alene Smith

October - November 2007: Jeff Billett

Jeff Billett is a local painter who has exhibited at Open Studios, the Pajaro Valley Art Center, and SPLAT. His work has been shown in galleries in Santa Fe and Reno, as well as local venues.

The works shown here include abstraction in acrylic, oils from the live figure, and figurative pastels. The tradition of impressionist color in these works reflect Jeffs training at the Pacific Academy of Fine Art and the Cape Cod School of Art.

Jeff is currently working in digital art and sculptural concrete, and Dry media. Contact the artist by .

August - September 2007:  Nana Mongomery

June - July 2007: Steve Thomas

Steve Thomas was born in San Jose. His family built a home in the hills of Soquel in 1974, and, for the most part, this area has been his home ever since. He is currently an "independent contractor" but finds his passion in photography. Using both film and digital formats, color and black and white, he shoots just about everything that ends up in front of the camera. "I don't consider myself a particularly good photographer; I just take a lot of picture."

This was the first public display of his work. The show included landscape, close-focus, portrait and digitally manipulated photos as well as a number of pictures of local personalities and events.

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The Diversity Center of Santa Cruz