About the Artists
Amadeo Bachar
Growing up on the coast of California, it was hard not to be inspired by the natural beauty that surrounded me. The amazing thing is that for how beautiful California is above water, drop your head beneath the waves and the amazing factor goes up 10 fold. Ok, maybe I'm biased for all things marine, but that environment provides enough color, curiosity, and drama to fuel my creative drive far beyond this lifetime.
Drawing, design, and being creative have always been things I've had the desire to do beyond crayons and craft day in grade school. I have, also, always had a strong curiosity for the processes of natural history that shape our world and the critters that live within it. I had to find a way to combine these. I studied fine art and art history at Cabrillo College and transferred up the hill to UCSC to study biology. Upon graduating with a B.S. in marine biology, I applied for, and accepted a spot in the Science Illustration graduate program at UCSC. Following the program I attended an internship at National Geographic Magazine, which spring-boarded me into my freelance illustration and design career.
Currently I spend most of my time as a freelance artist, working on projects ranging from 3D modeling of nano-tools, to watercolor paintings of marine ecosystems. I am also teaching part-time for the Science Illustration graduate program, from which I graduated.
Tom Killion
Tom was born and raised in Mill Valley, California, on the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais. The rugged scenery of Marin County and Northern California inspired him from an early age to create landscape prints using linoleum and wood, strongly influenced by the traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e style of Hokusai and Hiroshige. He studied History at UC Santa Cruz, where he was introduced to fine book printing by William Everson and Jack Stauffacher. In 1975, he produced his first illustrated book on UCSC's Cowell Press. In 1977 he founded his own Quail Press, where he published his second book, "Fortress Marin". In 1978, Killion began graduate studies in African History at Stanford University, completing a doctorate on Ethiopia in 1985. He also continued to make woodcut prints of the California landscape, producing his large-format "The Coast of California" in 1979. In 1990, Tom produced "Walls: A Journey Across Three Continents" -- an extensively illustrated travel book combining his African experiences with woodcut printmaking. In collaboration with Pulitzer prize-winning poet Gary Snyder, in 2002 Tom produced a hand-printed, large-format book, "The High Sierra of California". Tom currently lives in Inverness, near Point Reyes, with his wife and two children. He also maintains a studio in Santa Cruz, his home of many years.
Kathy Kelly of the University of California Santa Barbara sang the Groundfish Anthem.