JC: Tell me about the artists you are showing here.

LC: Amy Genser is from Connecticut. She creates all of her art using rolled paper and acrylic on canvas or board. She takes pieces of Thai rice paper and rolls it and cuts it and pulls it and pushes it and squeezes it to create these wonderfully dimensional organic landscapes. It's so exciting when people see Amy's work for the first time and they see the depth and the dimension and all of the texture and they really feel transported into another world.

JC: Is Amy commissionable for architects and designers?

LC: Absolutely, Amy is available to do any size or color combination. She actually works with a lot of interior designers. She recently created a work for a client who wanted mostly violets and greens, and it was very successful. The client was thrilled.

Amy Genser- Swish, 2014 54 x 36 inRolled Paper and Acrylic on Canvas

JC: Tell me about this next piece; is this a painting or a photograph?

LC: This work is a painting by Carol Bennett. Carol lives in Kauai and all of her work is about being in or moving through water. They are all oil on wood paintings that take off from photography. She paints and sands multiple layers that are then lightly varnished to create dimension. All these paintings serve to transport the viewer to that meditative state of being in the water and in the flow.

Carol Bennett, Moon Lighting, 2014 40 x 60 in Oil on Wood Panel

JC: As I walk across the room, I'm looking at some beautiful, colorful, architecture paintings. Can you talk about them?

LC: This work is by Martha Hughes, who is from Marfa, Texas. (Marfa: A remote Texas town transformed by artist Donald Judd who arrived there in the early 70s, establishing a vibrant art-world frontier.) Martha recently had a show at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe with Chuck Close, Sol Lewitt and Agnes Martin. Martha's work is all about interior space. She only works in two sizes, 12 x 12 inches or 6 x 6 feet, nothing in between! They work equally well as individual pieces or in groupings.

Martha Hughes, Scene 53, 2013 12 x 12 in Acrylic on Panel

JC: Now I'm looking at a Tootsie Pop! What can you tell me about this piece?

LC: Tootsie Pop and Gummi Bears...these hyper-realistic pieces are by the husband and wife team Peter and Madeline Powell. They are based in Maui. They take approximately 72 photographs of every object they want to paint in order to find the right shape and shadow. Then they select one and draw it out on canvas in graphite and then they begin to paint...and they paint every painting together. Peter spray paints the background and Maddie takes sable brushes and works on all the detail. Their paintings are focused on candy and nostalgic items. We've got paintings of old retro lunch boxes featuring super heroes as well.

Peter and Madeline Powell

Cherry Pop, 2014 Pile O Gummies, 2014

30 x 18 in 30 x 32 in

Acrylic on Canvas Acrylic on Canvas

JC: There are Tom Wesselman-like wood collages here. Can you tell me about this artist?

LC: These are all done by Houston artist Mitch McGee. Mitch is very much inspired by Roy Lichtenstein. He has taken that inspiration and created a body of work using cut and layered birch wood. He comes up with a design and then he will laser cut and stain the wood. Comprised of three to five layers, each piece takes more than 40 hours to complete. From a distance they have that pop art look. When you get up close you see the wood grain. It's from that vantage point where the viewer makes a more emotional connection.

Mitch McGee, I Trusted You, 2014 36 x 36 in Cut, Stained and Layered Birch Wood

JC: Kimber Berry was on ArtSpecifier for a while! Tell me about her work and how you came to represent her.

LC: I have represented Kimber Berry's work since 2011. She is one of a group of Los Angeles "Flow" painters. The term "Flow Art" was coined by LA critic Peter Frank and refers to a group of about 10 or 15 Southern California painters who use paint in a way that flows. Kimber uses a combination of digitally altered photographs of her paint strokes collaged in with her actual paint strokes and loves to blur the line between what's real and what's illusion. This painting is part of a new series called "Plastic Gardens" where she is mourning the loss of a lot of our woods and green and floral spaces as we continue to build and grow. She's created these wonderful organic dimensional landscapes where you can get lost.

Kimber Berry, La Vita Bella, 2014, 60 x 48 in, Mixed Media on Canvas

JC: How long have you been running your gallery?

LC: I opened the gallery in November 2007.

JC: If I were to ask you to provide any advice for artists who are seeking representation, what would you say?

LC: Go to the gallery web site first and look at their submission policy and follow the guidelines. If the policy says don't email, don't just go ahead and send an email saying, "I think you'd like my work." Look at the other artists represented by the gallery and carefully consider whether your work would fit in with that aesthetic and use that to make your case. Go to the art fairs, walk around, see which galleries you think you might fit in with, but never never never pitch a gallery at an art fair!

JC: Thank you, that's great advice!