Indie, self-funded, publishing house
Covid Sketchers
It all started in a class, which aimed to develop sketches and ideas in a creative format of free flow.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to shift our in-person class to an online format.
The class seemed to have made a smooth transition to online meetings as it provided an outlet to focus the creative energy towards a positive learning experience for the students.
Once we finished the course, we decided to do something with the art we had created; that's how the Covid Sketchers Book was born.
This book has been part of the 2020 Iyashi exhibition at the Japanese Garden in San Diego.
Los Artistas
Wattana Khommarath
Wattana Khommarath is the instructor of the class. He’s an active member of the San Diego art community and has been teaching at the college level for over 13 years. Wattana also works as a tattoo artist, children’s book illustrator and mentors students from around the world.
Contact: @wattanatattoos
Cassedy Mahrer Owen
Cassedy Mahrer Owen is an internal medicine doctor by day, a ukulele singer/song writer and art enthusiast by night. Although she had little formal training in art due to studying/preparing for a career in medicine, she has always loved drawing and painting when time allowed. As a newly graduated physician, she has really enjoyed taking several art classes over the past year at UCSD Extension.
Instagram: @cassmcmowen
James Carroll
James Carroll is the youngest of three brothers brought up in a Vietnamese, Irish household. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He has always believed that every individual is born with a unique voice. That it is everyone’s personal duty to not only protect that voice, but to also use it.
Contact: www.instagram.com/jamespetercarroll/
Shelley Campbell
Shelley Campbell is a bronze sculptor. She is working toward the Art and the Creative Process professional certificate through USCD Extension.
Sofia Silva
Born and raised in the Andes of Ecuador. Her artwork is primarily done in black ink and watercolor.
As a child her mother encouraged her art. Years later she took classes at the Watercolor Museum Munoz Mariño in Quito, the Urban Sketchers UIO and worked with local artists.
Sofía relocated to San Diego in 2017. She finished the Children ́s Book Illustration Certification.
Contact: @sofiatechnicolor
Alvaro Alvarez
Alvaro Alvarez is an architectural artist living and working in the San Diego - Tijuana border community. After graduating from Cornell University in 2015, he moved to New York City and worked on the design and construction of the 15 Hudson Yards tower, among other hotel projects, until 2019 when he returned home to Southern California and Baja Mexico
He now helps his mother run her small business and is working towards creating his own studio, with a focus on two-dimensional architectural representation, hospitality story-telling, and the exploration of art and design as a tool for improving mental health.
Contact: www.AlvaroAAlvarez.com