Decor & Style, San Diego, CA May 1998

Zasloff Captures The Lake District Of Northern Italy On Canvas Cherine Tavassoli (2 pages - 4 color)

When most of us look into a pond full of koi, we see fish swimming steadily in the water. When Lee Zasloff looks into that same pond, she sees magic . . . a kaleidoscope of colors swirling continuously with reforming shapes and scattered light. Every moment brings a new vision, creating what she refers to as a "magical reality." And she possesses the talent and ability to transfer those moments of serenity onto canvas, communicating tranquillity in a high speed world.

Zasloff earned a Bachelors in Art Education as well as a Masters in Art from California State University, Long Beach, all while raising three sons. She has resided in southern California for more than twenty years and has used these peaceful surroundings as inspiration for some of her work, such as her paintings of the koi. That particular work had its beginning when Zasloff visited the Self-Realization fellowship in Cardiff by The Sea, watching the koi swimming in the ponds. She describes what she saw as a magical inspiration of form and color. "You get these breaks in the water and the way the color splits, it was fascinating to me ... like a movable canvas." The vision resulted in a series of paintings in both acrylic on canvas and watercolors, reproducing her spontaneous reaction to what she saw.

Zasloff is most inspired by the Post-Impressionist and the Fauve artists and the uses of color that came from these schools. "I'm really a colorist if anybody were to describe me. I like to use color very strongly." She uses this as the primary device to communicate her impressions, reacting to the vivid hues nature has given us. It is an influential element that affects the senses, utilizing the power of color as well as the image she is representing.

A long time dream for Zasloff became a reality when, last summer, she spent a few weeks traveling throughout the Lake District of Northern Italy. During this time, she worked on a collection of small watercolors capturing the magnificent beauty of the area. Italy boasts the sun-splashed buildings of small lakefront towns nestled at the base of immense, overwhelming mountains. Zasloff captured the moment, reproducing her reaction to what she saw.

"You can take a million photographs, but it's never going to be the same as your immediate reaction to something that you're looking at: you're admiring the beauty and the way the light is hitting the water or the mountains ... all the magical quality." Her work portrays these impressions and captures the manner in which something so astonishingly beautiful can grab your attention and leave you standing in awe of it.

While much of her work has focused on her reaction to her environment, Zasloff feels that the end result is the most important part of art. It's one reason she is so excited about a computer software program called Fractal Design Painter 5. Her latest project is taping a series of television episodes on cable channel 16 offered by Palomar College, teaching the use of this software from the basics to its advanced capabilities. The course, Introduction to Fractal Design Painter 5, will be offered for Summer '98 and will continue in the Fall. (For information, contact Palomar College/ETV: 760-744-1150). The course allows students of all ages to view the program at their conveneience and attend occasional labs in the classroom. The software allows an artist to utilize endless capabilities and outlets for one's imagination. Using the computer allows Zasloff to create effects that cannot be achieved conventionally. Some may disagree, stating that the use of computer technology is not true art, however Zasloff sees it differently. "I don't really care what you're using to create an end result . . . it only matters what you get." Her watercolors and acrylics give you an impression, her reaction to a situation and a scene, but the work that can be accomplished utilizing the computer is creative in its own right and the result can be equally as beautiful and inspiring.

In what spare time this busy artist has, she also designs and maintains her own web page: www.zasloff.com. Here, visitors can view many of her paintings and learn more about Zasloff as a person and an artist. The watercolors from her trip to Italy can also be viewed here, as well as the koi imagery and many other pieces. Her work can also be seen locally. She has a few pieces at Kern & Company in Solana Beach and shows through Annex Gallery in San Diego, among other galleries in the area.

Lee Zasloff takes her first impression and reactions to her surroundings to create peaceful images. Though color is the most prominent feature in her work, there is a quiet, tranquil quality that affects the viewers. And in a world dictated by high speed communications and active lifestyles, it is this calming effect that is Zasloff's goal. She creates her art with the hope that somebody will just take a moment. "Stopping in front of your work saying 'hmmmmm . . . nice,' you know? Just a moment of quiet."

Shown on page 124, two untitled watercolors from the Italian Series.

Decor & Style, San Diego, CA August 1996

San Diego Artists World-Class Talent In Our Own Backyard Beverly Vincent (6 pages - 4 color)

An art professor once told me that to truly appreciate a work of art you must respond to how it makes you feel, not to what you see. The artist works, not to mirror life, but to interpret it for us through the form, color and texture he chooses. And so, we must consider the emotions the artist evokes in us.

Here, in San Diego, we have an opportunity to experience the work of local artists with world-class talent -- fine artists who, through various media, have achieved audience appeal for their ability to call up feelings of wonder and delight.

We won't say we discovered the artists included in our feature, but perhaps you are viewing their works here for the first time.

On the following pages you can explore the talents that surround us like the fine-art photography of Leland Foerster who captures the mystical past in his series on aged Baja missions. Helene Turgeon, known for her equine art switches gears to capture people at their decadent best. And Franco Nanartonis, at age 78, paints lush still-life oils in the spirit of the Old Masters. I could go on, but as the saying goes, "One picture is worth a thousand words."

Pictures shown clockwise from lower left: Franco Nanartonis; William Glen Crooks; Helene Turgeon; James Renner, Lee Zasloff, Leland Foerster, Dan Sayles.

Shown on page 47: Full page four color examples of works by Lee Zasloff- Gather Ye Rosebuds and Dream Fish I.

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KOI USA, Costa Mesa, CA January/February, 1996

Artist's Corner - Featuring Lee Zasloff Joyce Conrad (full page - 4 color)

Our artist for January/February is Lee Zasloff, an artist from Encinitas, California. She has studied at California State University in Long Beach as well as Cooper Union in New York.

She has won many awards for her work including the Winsor & Newton Award for her koi painting entitled Carpe Diem at the Faber Birren Color Award Show in Stamford, Connecticut. She has just completed a giclée (digital fine art print with extremely high resolution) of Carpe Diem. Copies are available directly from Ms. Zasloff at 760/634-2482. The watercolor featured here is called Serenity I.

She has three basic themes that have been important for her:

To capture the spectacular colors and mesmerizing patterns of the koi as they glide through the water.

To bring the viewer into her world of "magical realism," of shapes seen and imagined - implied and specific.

To create an experience of stillness, quiet and introspection through the use of lush colors and abstracted sensual shapes.

"It's great to have the opportunity to get a chance to see whether I can create what I want. It's really fabulous to be doing something I really love."

Color image shown on half the page: Serenity I.

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Encinitas Sun Thursday, February 4, 1993

Artist's work eases stress By Curt Barry - Staff Writer

Swirling flashes of light flicker in the water as the koi fish swim in elongated spheres.

Lee Zasloff, the artist, sits near the pond, set in the tranquil, immaculate gardens at the Self Realization Fellowship on Second Street.

It is here she attempts to transfer the mesmerizing mood of the fish's movement and the spectacular colors of blue, orange, yellow and others to the sketch pad, and later the canvas.

"You paint for yourself first," Zasloff says, "but it also is a form of communication that is very exciting."

A Cardiff-by-the-Sea resident, Zasloff created "The Lily Pond Series" -- more than a dozen acrylic paints -- during the past several years, hoping to provide a natural relaxant for people.

I'm very pleased when people find the color very appealing and are moved by the mood, the tranquility that I try to bring out," she says. "I think that's what many people are looking for in art; we're all stressed out of our minds."

Zasloff recalls fondly a time three years ago when she resided in England. The area inspired her to paint lily ponds and the life among them.

"It was dreary and dark already at about 3 o'clock, and I decided that I had to recreate some of the California warmth and sun," she says.

Zasloff paints full time after spending 10 years working as an art teacher in Los Angeles, a packaging designer and advertising manager. During that same period, she was also busy helping to raise three sons and painting in her spare time.

To be able to walk up to the fellowship gardens when she wants and sit by the pond is a luxury she cannot get enough of. Nor the freedom to return to her Cardiff studio to paint, in solitude.

"It's great to have the opportunity to get a chance to see whether I can create what I want. It's really fabulous to be doing something you really love."

A groundswell of favorable responses to her work is gaining, she says, which could mean her Lily Ponds Series will be sold as prints and postcards through a variety of retail outlets, such as gift shops.

Pieces of The Lily Ponds Series are on display at Kern & Co Interiors, 1010 First St. and the b.b. la femme gallery, 545 F St., San Diego.

Shown: Picture of Lee Zasloff captioned "A lily pond at the Self Realization Fellowship inspired Lee Zasloff's artwork. Also shown reproduction of art piece with caption "Swirls of koi fish relax the eye."

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