Virginia Kamhi . California.waow
| Landscape | Architecture | Figurative | Cityscapes | Animals |
“ Poetry, imaginative power, and rhythms of the natural wonders…”
Women Artists of the West
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Virginia Kamhi
Much as a poet uses words to express spirit, emotion, and beauty of thought, pastel artist Virginia Kamhi paints painterly realistic paintings that convey the poetry, imaginative power, and rhythms of the natural wonders that surround her.
Growing up in Southern California, Kamhi spent many childhood hours roaming the hills around her home and many weekends bodysurfing in the ocean. These early memories perhaps influence her art, because California landscapes and seascapes are her preferred subjects.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Kamhi holds a Master's in Fine Art Painting from Academy of Art University. She has studied extensively with many eminent artists, among them Richard McKinley, Albert Handell, Lorenzo Chavez, Liz Haywood-Sullivan, and Jeanne Rosier Smith, Skip Whitcomb, and Gil Dellinger.
Although Kamhi also works in other media, pastels are her passion because of their tactile quality and unique ability to paint the visual poetry that nourishes her soul. She loves to hike in the local mountains and observe the essence of the sunlight, the complexity of form in the landscape, the interaction of light and shadow. She feels it is a privilege to closely observe what others fail to see in the course of their hurried lives.
Show judge Lizz Tucker commented about Kamhi's painting, Hilltop Sentinel, "There is such a peaceful quality about this painting. I love how the mountains are rendered with the light glow of the sky of early day behind them, and how the warm yellow grasses feel like they are quiet, but also gently moving. This feels so quintessential California and what our landscape looks like before it dries in the summer months.
Membership: PSWC, AWA Associate with Distinction, Associate WAOW
