Dianne Williams

Diane Williams is a Bay Area abstract painter whose work reflects an East–West sensibility influenced by Chinese bird-and-flower painting and Japanese ink traditions. After studying in Hangzhou, China, she developed a layered process combining cold wax, oil, rice paper, and hand-cut stencil techniques. Her practice explores nature, impermanence, and the poetics of excavation through sanding, burial, and mark-making. Williams has exhibited widely and teaches workshops nationally, sharing her innovative materials-based approach to abstraction.

Tubi Ho

Tubi Ho (b. 1982 Vietnamese-American) is an abstract expressionist based in Marin County, California. A self-taught artist, she works primarily with acrylics, pastels, and dyes on raw canvas. Her work explores the emotional complexity of the human experience through bold, intuitive gestures and layered compositions. Her brushwork brings a sense of presence and rhythm to each piece. Ho’s creative foundation began when she studied Chinese calligraphy as a child. These early lessons were rigorous, requiring hours of disciplined practice to achieve controlled, aesthetically balanced strokes – skills that continue to inform her abstract work today. As a first-generation Vietnamese-American, Ho grew up in a home where emotions were rarely discussed. This emotional suppression led to inner conflict that would later fuel her creative exploration. Seeking freedom of expression, she turned to visual art, particularly abstract expressionism. Soon after diving into this art form, she discovered deep parallels between abstract painting and Chinese calligraphy, noting that “both embody emotion and meaning in an abstract form.” For Ho, abstract painting is a deeply intuitive and evolving practice. It serves as a way to explore vulnerability, identity, human connection, and inner stillness, while also processing subconscious thoughts and emotional experiences. Her work is both raw and refined; an ongoing search for resolution, understanding, and healing through visual language. Over the years of engaging in dialogue with viewers, Ho treats these conversations as an extension of her practice. As her body of work continues to grow, so does her understanding of its emotional depth and meaning. These ongoing interactions offer new insights and perspectives, further enriching her exploration of abstract expressionism as a language of emotional connection and personal transformation.

Anna Trautman

Anna Trautman is a San Francisco-based botanical artist and founder of Verdant Spaces whose living sculptures explore the quiet tension between form and impermanence. Working primarily with kokedama, she creates minimal compositions that emphasize the relationship between moss, plant, and vessel. Each work invites close observation as the plant adapts over time, shaped by both natural process and the artist’s hand. Her process is methodical and meditative, unfolding through the preparation of soil, roots and clay. The resulting work are living sculptures that continue to grow and transform, reflecting cycles of care, change and renewal. As each piece leaves the studio, its story continues with its new caretakers. Through ongoing care, the work becomes a shared expression of reciprocity, inviting a deeper awareness of impermanence, connection and the evolving relationship between people and the natural world.