"During the interactive live auction, which was emceed by Dr. Alan EI-Tobgui, parents tried to outbid each other for art created by students at the school and local artists Maria Eames, Heather Everett, Sigi Oberlander and Jerry Hooper. Other auctioned items included weekend getaways, a luxury golf package and a one-day fishing charter trip with Capt. Dick Catri of Melbourne Beach."
Read the full article
Spaces Magazine January 2007
Digital Dreamworks
By Maria Sonnenberg
Maria Eames' larger-than life digital paintings are composed of moments and memories, layered, and blended together into a unified composition
Florida Today-Wednesday January 10, 2007
Artistic Array of Classes Begins Soon
By Maria Sonnenberg for Florida Today
MELBOURNE - Among your 2007 resolutions may be the intent to indulge your inner artist. LoPressionism Gallery of Fine Art can help make that resolve into reality with an array of classes that range from jewelry making to journal 
keeping. For those unsure of their artistic abilities, the gallery's Artist's Media Sampler may be the perfect venue to explore different mediums without making a big investment in time and money. Indialantic digital artist Maria Eames, who is also a certified life coach, will help participants explore various media, including charcoal pastel, watercolor, inks, acrylics and collage. Eames will also lead classes on watercolor for beginners and improving creativity. Eames employs visualization exercises during her all-day workshop to jump start imaginations, recharge creative batteries and redirect stress. LoPressionism Gallery of Fine Art is located at 1010-B E. New Haven Ave. in downtown Melbourne. Registration is required for all the classes. Call 722-6000.
Florida Today-Sunday September 17, 2006
Artists Revel In Mixed Medium
Pieces combine technology with canvas
By Shawna S. Kelsch for Florida Today
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Luminous images. Artist Maria Eames says her part digital, part painted finished products evolve from a single image being amplified and layered. This piece is called "Turquoise and Tanzanite."
Shawna S. Kelsch, for FLORIDA TODAY |
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MELBOURNE - After two years of experimenting with light, contrast, color and layering, Maria Eames of Indialantic unveiled 15 original mixed media pieces at a gallery show called "What the Tech?" at the LoPressionism Fine Art Gallery in Melbourne last month. Joining with artist Richard Fisher of Sebastian -- whose work employs a similar approach but completely different results -- the two discussed the evolutionary process of their works. Both use imagery from a digital format that is fed into a home computer and then manipulated and printed onto canvas. But that's where Fisher's method ends and Eames' process restarts. Atop the layers of color and abstraction, "I paint with acrylics or gel to bring out more of the work, and highlight the contrast and color," Eames said. The results in Eames' work are luminous images that use light play and color definition to both obscure and bring about certain elements hidden within and beneath the layers. Eames, who moved to Indialantic two years ago from Cleveland, said her part digital, part painted finished products evolve from a single image or a section of a single image being amplified and layered. "Some (pieces) can have up to 45 layers that are placed atop and overlapping each other," she said. The effect takes viewers on a visual journey of colorful proportions. Denise Roberts of Satellite Beach was taken aback by the brilliance and color in Eames' work. "I absolutely love this art. There's an incredible amount of gorgeous color and shimmer and they're beautiful to just stare at," she said.
In/site: The Re-Imagined Landscapes of Maria Eames
September 2006
By Nancy K. Turner
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| Turquoise and Tanzanite, 2004, Giclee on watercolor paper, 30 by 40 inches. |
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Maria Eames is a classically trained digital artist, whose semi-abstract luminescent images seamlessly blend her own scanned digital landscape photographs with her mixed-media and watercolor works. As she masterfully manipulates these images, Eames creates work that is characterized by elegant composition, overlapping transparent planes, organic shapes and luscious color. There is a sense of process here, a sort of archeology. The works evoke x-rays with their translucency revealing all the layers underneath, allowing the viewer to join in the many choices the artist has made. This creates an intimacy that draws the viewer into the work as a participant. These traces of color, pattern and texture underneath the picture plane surprise, mesmerize and enchant the viewer.
In the suite of images entitled “Bird of Paradise I” (Giclee print on watercolor paper, 15 1/2” X 15 ½”, 2004), and “Bird of Paradise II, III and IV” (Giclee print on watercolor paper, 8” x 8”, 2004), Eames works in the space between abstraction and figuration, creating a series of images with an emphasis on movement. Dazzling neon oranges, incandescent yellows and startling magenta jostle for attention, animating the composition. Through this transparent and gently undulating watery surface, we see biomorphic shapes of underwater flora, fauna and especially the iridescence of fabulous golden koi. Jagged lines zigzag excitedly over the surface, bending and twisting continuously.
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| Look, 2004, Giclee on Watercolor Paper, 13 by 16 inches.
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The series entitled “Capri I, II and III”” (Giclee print on watercolor paper, 2004), has a more muted tonality and a heightened sense of overall pattern. Characterized by a more compressed space, these images are reminiscent of Paul Klee’s playful watercolors. One is pulled into these subtle images as bits and pieces of recognizable imagery such as rocks, shells, leaves and pebbles are hazily visible. Although motion is a constant in all of Eames’ pieces, here there is a consistent and calm horizontal quality.
Emerging out of a thick, viscous black background are exotic forms in the Giclee prints entitled “Turquoise and Tanzanite”(30”X 40”, 2004), “Morning has broken” (18” X 24”, 2004) and “Look”, (6 ½” X 8”, 2004). These evocative images conjure up blow-ups of a magnificent reef, a magnified piece of tartan fabric, and a cluster of shells, respectively. The dynamic compositions are replete with dramatic diagonals and strong verticals highlighting the strong contrast between brilliant colors and black background.
Eames is a juicy colorist and digital alchemist conjuring up images that co-exist in the netherworld between figuration and abstraction. Her sure handling of the concrete and ephemeral, of the liquid and the solid, of transparent and opaque, of intensely bright and elegantly shaded colors, of pattern and rhythm, establishes her as a mature and gifted artist at the top of her game.
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