BerryLine is proud to feature local artists from our community...

Bren Bataclan

ARTIST BIO: In the summer of 2003, I began my street art installation entitled, "The Smile Boston Project." The project involves me leaving my cartoon inspired acrylic paintings for people to take for "free" all over Boston (Park benches, train stations, hospitals, etc.). Attached to each painting is a note saying, "This painting is yours if you promise to smile at random people more often." My goals are to:

1. Bring art to people who typically do not visit art galleries and museums.
2. Give paintings to folks who may not be able to afford original artwork.
3. See smiles around the globe.

In a nutshell, I've always been a big fan of graffiti but I never had the guts to spray paint a wall. Instead, I use different cities across the country and around the world as my temporary exhibit spaces.

To learn more about Bren Bataclan and his art, visit his website at http://bataclan.com/
and watch his recent CBS appearance on youtube.

Oneil Pimentel Junior

ARTIST BIO: Since my childhood, I have always wanted to be an artist. Growing up in Brazil, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by beautiful paintings by my grandmother,who painted until her last days. My work has developed at a very steady pace and at times in a very suprising way. I am self-taught and started painting in 2001 as a way to escape from the real world and the real problems. At first, my work reflected my thirst for color and warmth in a city where winters can really affect you. However, the long periods of cold weather did not stop me from loving Boston and all it has to offer. That is when I, almost inadvertently, started portraying my surroundings in bold, cheerful, and colorful acrylics that bring out the true livelihood behind the Bostonian architecture. So far, I have had dozens of shows in busy cafes, restaurants, libraries and galleries; all of which brought me a lot of both financial success and popularity. It is really great when someone comes to one of my shows and tells me that he/she has seen and admired my work before. I recently painted one of the Cows that were grazing the city of Boston this summer (2006). CowParade is a fundraiser that benefits Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. Bovinely,

To learn more about Oneil Pimentel Junior and his art, visit his website at http://www.oneiljunior.com

Melody Winnig

ARTIST BIO: "We got a wanderlust passport here,” the customs agent exclaimed as my son came back into the US with his passport of many stamps. I too have a wanderlust passport and my photo art unfolds from those wanderings on this beautiful interconnected planet.

I am fascinated by border lands. There is an energy at borders, a heightened sense of awareness, a cross-pollination of cultures that thrills me. Sometimes dangerous, sometimes crazy, corrupt and generous. I have been stranded at borders, unable to bribe my way into either country. I have walked miles across the no-man’s land between two countries that were not legally connected, experiencing the strange earth in-between. Borders can be as dramatic as the one between two warring nations or as simple as the invisible line between two gangs or two ethnic neighborhoods. I wander along borders, camera in hand, taking photos as invisibly as I can.

“Here on the border they can no longer build walls high enough
Eventually we will see what is truly happening.
We will make full-hearted art and build a new syntax.” Bobby Byrd

My art springs from the unruly intoxication of possibility, from delving into the border lands between photography and painting. I begin with photographs and paint on them with water colors, oil stick, & pastels. I sometimes collage the images & add corn silk or sand. Then I digitally enlarge the images and paint on them again, hoping to make “full-hearted art” & capture a slice of the energy of the people and places where I have wandered.

My art has been shown at The National Center of the Arts, Mexico City; Rencontres Internationales De La Photographie D'Arles, France; The Mark Gallery, Cambridge, MA; Coffey Gallery, Kingston, NY; Ormand Memorial Art Museum, Ormand FL; Alex Echo Gallery, East Hampton, NY; Mandala Gallery, Sarasota, FL; The Fuller Museum & The Fitchburg Museum. As I also create commissions from photos of clients, my commissioned works are in private collections throughout the US, Brazil and Spain.

For inquiries about purchasing art, licensing images for commercial use or for information about creating commissioned works from your photographs, please contact me at mwinnig@comcast.net

Dan Blakeslee

ARTIST BIO: Dan Blakeslee walked into Laconia State Prison last year, not knowing what to expect. He'd always admired Johnny Cash and his affection for the underdog. Similar to Cash at Folsom Prison, Blakeslee was about to perform live for a house full of murderers and felons. Behind closed doors he could hear the prisoners stir, and he felt as though he was about to be fed to the wolves. But instead of inciting a riot, Blakeslee anesthetized the prisoners with his crooning voice and delicate charms, slowly calling out angels and demons alike with equal regard for both. Blakeslee walked out with a homemade recording of the event that night (Live at Laconia State Prison), a perfect blueprint of his own complicated soul.

After attending the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Blakeslee ventured northward to Boston. He toiled with his acoustic in the smoke-laden subways before slowly rolling his influences (Leonard Cohen, Red House Painters, The Smiths, Jeff Buckley, Vic Chestnut, Radiohead, Tom Waits and the aforementioned Cash) into his own eclectic blend of music with chameleon-like appeal. www.danblakselee.com