Top 50 San Diego Artists and their Featured Art

After graduating from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles I became a Graphic Designer and later started my own company as a print broker. I always loved to paint, so when I retired I started painting seriously. I am a member of the Carlsbad Oceanside Art League, in Carlsbad, CA, Fallbrook Gallery, and SOCALPAPA, a plein air organization in Orange Country. I love painting in my studio as well as out in our beautiful Pacific Coastal areas and inland country sides.

Michelle Montrose is a passionate and intuitive artist living in San Diego, California. She graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from San Diego State University in 2015, is a member of The Southwestern Artists Association at the Spanish Village in Balboa Park, and participates in many local shows. She is currently seeking representation and opportunities for all bodies of work. Michelle paints in oils and mixed media. She also sews masks, quilts, fabric bowls, and other experimental fiber works. In addition to her career in the visual arts, Michelle performs in local renaissance faires, builds costumes, enjoys board games and rpgs, and volunteers to help the homeless in San Diego. You can support her work directly through Patreon, and you can see her work daily at Studio 16B in the Spanish Village at Balboa Park, San Diego from 11am-4pm.

Originally from Colorado, Stacie Birky Greene received degrees in Art and Art History from the University of Kentucky. She also studied in Florence, Italy, and at the Art Institute of Chicago. Although painting was the focus of her training, she has explored her art in a wide variety of media, including drawing, performance, photography, installation and video. 
 The central focus of Birky Greene’s work has been to explore nature through a combination of materials and techniques. Her approach has often been guided by a fascination with form and shape, particularly as nodes for connecting unlikely allies, such as coral and cacti. By taking organic materials (or at least their representation) out of context, she compels the viewer to revel in patterns of structural unity. Her recent work has also considered the impact of human consumption and climate change on the natural world. Appalled by mass deforestation and habitat destruction, she has turned her attention to bird species that have gone extinct since the time of her own birth. The tangible results of this study will be revealed over the course of years, in a variety of projects. One feature of these works that is important to consider is her choice of materials: namely, junk mail, and reclaimed wood, which she either uses “as is” or manipulates, with the addition of other detritus, into homemade paper. It is a project that implicates us all in its struggle: here are beautiful objects made, nevertheless, from unwanted materials. Moreover, the materials themselves are the products of overconsumption of resources – fossil fuels burned in production and transportation, and deforestation to provide wood pulp for paper. The problem of avian ecology and the pressures these birds face is multidimensional, but the viewer is placed in the unlikely position of assessing and admiring the victim even as its emblem is formed from components that have been implicated in its destruction. 
Birky Greene lives in San Diego, and she exhibits her artwork locally, nationally and internationally. She has taught art to children and adults since 1998.

I am a San Diego area native that spent several years in Oakland and San Francisco before returning. I was raised in the California interior where farming and heat are significant features. In addition to painting, I have been an unhappy bureaucrat for many years. Drawing was always something I did as a child. I was encouraged by two grandmothers that did a lot of folk painting and drawing. Formal art training was received at San Diego State but I am generally self-trained. I have been completing paintings and exhibiting for over 30 years.

Lulu is an artist trained in the traditional Chinese painting style who graduated from the master school at Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2014. She moved from Beijing to New York to obtain her second master’s degree in Illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After spending 4 years’ in New York, she relocated to San Diego in late 2018 to continue her focus on professional illustration and founded her LLC “LULU.LIVE ART” in 2019. She came to the United States to broaden her art skills albeit she still uses traditional Chinese painting materials; such as, ink, gouache, and Chinese brushes while drawing the modern city landscapes, fashion and food... She is passionate about combining traditional Asian art technique with modern Western art techniques together to explore more artistic possibilities. Her clients Include magazines, restaurants, fashion studios and education programs. She participated multiple solo and group exhibitions in New York City and San Diego, and published in different types of magazines. Lulu is also a mural artist and art instructor, she wants to spread her art voice out and influence more people by her artistic skills.

Carolina Arrieta is a Peruvian-American Artist & Designer located in San Diego, CA. She studied at ArtCenter College Of Design, where she graduated with a BFA in Art Illustration and Surface Design. Nowadays she is the proud owner and creator of her own Business, Artebycaro LLC, where she specializes in creating custom designs & art pieces for businesses and properties all over the world! Artebycaro LLC offers from custom Art and murals to wallpaper, Graphic design and Branding. Every project is unique and customized for each client.

Growing in San Diego, I was always creating; mostly in the form of drawing and coloring. It wasn't until a summer art camp at the San Diego Museum of Art that I discovered Acrylic painting and was influenced by Impressionism. Ever since that summer I spent my free time painting and looking to take more art classes in school. Even though I love painting and arts, I didn't know how I could make a career out of it when I was younger, and I was encouraged to look at other fields for college majors that included a creative process instead. I decided to pursue a degree in Interior Design for my Bachelors Degree. I felt it combined the theories and practices of creativity while also having a real life application that would have an impact on our society. While attending university, I was exposed to a whole new world of design, from furniture to textile to surface pattern. I realized the application of art on design was endless. Today, I work as a commercial interior designer, but have created a side business dedicated to my own creative work. While at times it is hard to balance both endeavors, I am working to combine my two passions together.

Raised in Chennai, India, one thing school convinced me was that science and math just wasn't my forte. I knew instantly that my ability instead sat in creative pursuits where I was not conformed by too many restrictions. Where I could have my own style and notion of color and dig deep into this world freely. After a few years of taking an Art elective in school, I decide to chase it full-time in college and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Stella Maris College, Chennai, India. Choosing to push out of my safe and secure comfort zone at home, I decided to move out to the US to broaden my horizons both personally and professionally and embrace life with an open mind. I moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where I received a Post Baccalaureate in Fine Art after an intense year of thinking out of the box and experimentation of new mediums. I am now a full-time Contemporary Artist/Painter living in San Diego, California, chasing my dream everyday.

About 20 years ago, I took a community college course in watercolor painting as a hobby interest, and fell in love with making art. I switched to oil painting several years ago, and now make painting in oils my passion in life. My artistic studies are largely self directed, and I am greatly inspired by classical realism and the classical method of painting.