Brandon Beatson, Photographer, 1980 - 2013

In tribute to young photographer Brandon Beatson, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 33, the Studio Shop will host a photography exhibition and fundraiser this Sunday, Aug. 4 at 2PM. Brandon was living in Costa Rica and pursuing his dream of photographing nature and surf action shots.  (view Brandon's images) As a result of this heartbreaking tragedy we have had the great opportunity to work closely with Brandon's parents and friends to produce an exhibition which honors Brandon's photography and raises funds for charities he felt deeply about.

Upon hearing the news of Brandon's death our hearts broke for Brandon's parents, David and Diana, his younger brother, Brian and his family and friends. It is way too sad when someone dies too young, before the chance to live a full adult life. What started as grief and sorrow and sadness sparked a thought of how to honor Brandon's creativity. Why not offer the gallery as a space to exhibit  Brandon's photography?  Janet mentioned the idea to Diana, who said that his friends had been thinking of holding an exhibition and were looking for a space to hold the event, so this was perfect.  Sometimes when things happen easily it is for a reason.

A meeting was set-up with Brandon's parents and we got to meet his friends, Bill, Joe, Chris, Justin and others, all wonderful, gracious people.  Everyone was united in the cause of Brandon's memory and wanted to contribute to make the event happen. There would be camera cards to sort through, discussions about printing and Brandon's favorite charities.  As an avid Giants fan and dog lover, proceeds would go to the San Francisco Giants Community Fund and the Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue.

Twenty nine thousand images later, thanks to the patience of our digital tech Ty Nguyen and the help of friends and family,  Brandon's life's work has been curated to thirty three images that will be in the exhibition.  The show is divided into several categories representing Brandon's photographic passions, nature, sports, surfing, street photography, cityscapes and abstract.

When we started thinking about details like donation receipts, splitting proceeds to multiple charities we wondered what we got ourselves into.  It would be a book-keeping nightmare to run it through the Studio Shop. Along came Larry Harper of the Good Tidings Foundation to the rescue.  He offered to take care of the business side of things and distribute funds to the partnering charities.  It feels great when things start falling into place and gaining momentum.

Just a few days left to go.   Most of the printing is done.  Even the two 24 x 36  prints came back and they look gorgeous: a landscape of sand dunes at White Sands National Monument and a beautiful surf action shot.  I can't wait to see the framed photographs on the wall.  We'll be busy this week with picture framing and typing final image lists.  The art installation will happen on Saturday night, just in time for the Sunday festivities.  

Stop in and see the show Sunday, Aug. 4, 2pm.  Remember, all the proceeds benefit the Giants Community Fund, Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue and the Good Tidings Foundation.

In loving memory of Brandon Beatson, 1980 - 2013.

The exhibition will be held at The Studio Shop, 244 Primrose Rd., Burlingame, CA 94010
For more information, call the gallery at 650-344-1378

Brandon Beatson, Photographer, 1980 - 2013

Studio Shop Staff Art Show, July 2013

This July The Studio Shop is doing something new and completely different, a staff art show to display the multi-talented creativity of our awesome Studio Shop team.

  

   

Ty Nguyen brings his digital photography skills to The Studio Shop where he photographs the art work and performs digital retouching and printing for clients.  He is a recent photography student at the Acadamy of Art University in San Francisco where he prefers to shoot in film and then print in both darkroom and digitally.  The above scene is a panoramic photo collage of an iconic San Francisco location,  made with over 90 prints and spanning almost 8 feet.

Gary Mohan is the Studio Shop head framer and is a multi-talented artist with work in photo printing, mixed media and sculpture(on the right). 

In his early artistic period Gary experimented with unique methods of photo printing which included Vaseline, photo paper and a face plant.  Sounds weird but the results are amazing and you have to come in and see for yourself.  One of his prints won first place in a Marathon County, Wisconsin, photo contest but then was unfortunately lost when it went to the state contest in Madison.  Now this extremely rare work of art is probably in someone's attic waiting to be rediscovered by Antiques Roadshow and acknowledged as the ground-breaking work that it truly is. Another print from that series has survived and will be on display.












Steve Stowell is the frame builder and master of wood finishing at The Studio Shop.  He is also an extremely fine photographer with a career spanning several decades from a Sears camera with flash cubes to shooting weddings with a Mamiya medium format film camera.  Today Steve carries a digital camera on hikes and bike rides capturing his visions of pattern and composition.

    

Kristen Benson, gallery manager, art consultant and frame designer extraordinaire, is a long time artist with an art degree from Humbolt State.  She has worked in textiles, mixed media and currently a lot of painting.  The piece on left is painting on canvas and titled Moment by Moment.

    

Carl Martin wears many hats at The Studio Shop including web meister, art installer, IT, HR, photographer, trombone player and janitor.  While his trombone playing will not be on display, some of his photography will be. The architectural photo on the right is of an office stairway in Belmont and part of a series of other Bay Area locations.

Also, Janet Martin and Julie Venosa, too late for photographs so come see their work in person.

Julie's finely executed landscape painting reveals a powerful dose of artistic DNA from her father, life long career artist Joseph Kertesz.  Julie gained another couple decades of arts education by successfully running the family's Kertesz Gallery in San Francisco in the 80s and 90s.

Janet began her arts education by growing up with her parents at The Studio Shop.  During her college years she supported herself as a working artist by carving and selling wood sculptures.  More recently she has delved into mixed media/found art sculptures which will be on display at The Studio Shop.  

Studio Shop Staff Art Show, July 2013