About Us
Our Mission
International Shenzhen Artist Forum (ISZAF) is an independent foreign and Chinese artist network, platform, and community based out of Shenzhen and the Greater Bay Area of Southern China.
Cooperating with both local Chinese and foreign galleries, art insitutions and organisations, ISZAF provides a network and support for both independent and group collaboration on all levels of the arts and culture industry in China.
Whether hosting group shows, artist forums, live drawing, artist networking and culture events-just to name a few, ISZAF is always looking for further cooperation and promotion for its artists within the community.
深圳国际艺术家论坛（ISZAF）是一个荟聚深圳及中国南方大湾区众多中外艺术家的独立的交流平台、网络与社区。
ISZAF与众多中外及本地画廊、艺术机构组织等合作，不断为中国艺术文化产业各层面的独立个人与团体合作提供有效的沟通网络与大力支持。
无论是举办团体展览、艺术家论坛、现场绘画活动、艺术家交流会或大型文化活动，ISZAF始终致力于拓展和推广社区艺术家们进一步的合作与发展。
Connect: Connecting professional visual artists of all backgrounds, disciplines and nationalities, ISZAF promotes international artist networking, collaboration and professional development within the Greater Bay Area (BGA) of Guangdong, China, while engaging the local community as well through our various programmes, professional workshops and art/gallery events.
Converse: Providing various outlets for discussion, critique or for the exploration of new artistic techniques, ISZAF assists with constructive outlets for artistic conversation on all levels both within the ISZAF community and the community abroad. In addition, ISZAF works in diverse ways with artists and their galleries through their programmes for its’ members and supporters, curators and arts professionals.
Convey: Creating a platform for artists and their work to have greater visibility within greater China, ISZAF brings audiences and collectors close to the work of the artists through various media outlets (digital & print), individual gallery or group shows, and community art events.
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ISZAF Administrative Team
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Brittan Aebischer, Co-Chair and Founder Brittan Aebischer is an American artist and community arts leader, living and working in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) of Southern China for over seven years. Working as a mixed-media artist, Brittan identifies his work through his 'personal "ontologies"' in philosophy and the human condition. Brittan believes in the power of conceptualisation to be the driving force when composing visual imagery and artistic experiences. His work is graphic, surreal, cathartic, and intellectualised; focusing on the reality, yet abstraction of the human experience. Founding (ISZAF) International Shenzhen Artist Forum in fall of 2016 and currently the Co-Chair of ISZAF, Brittan desires to create a platform for all international aestheticians and artists of all disciplines to connect and collaborate within the GBA region of Southern, China. It is with this belief that he hopes to establish a stronger network and community of art professionals, providing greater economic viability and opportunities within China’s arts and culture industries. Brittan holds a Bachelors in Graphic Design and a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT). He has over 7 years of arts education teaching experience, ages 9-18. If you have any questions regarding ISZAF, the organization, or their many collaboration projects, please feel free to contact us via our social media accounts. Website: brittanaebischer.com   |
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Gloria Carnevale,
Co-Chair and Founding Member Gloria holds degrees in visuals arts (BFA, Mount Allison Unversity), Design (Sheridan Institute of Technolgy and Advance Learning) and education (B.Ed, Brock University), and has worked as an educational and design industry professional for years. Gloria's artwork explores the themes surrounding the concept of identity, such as how relationships and surroundings collaborate to identify a person. She enjoys to incorporate both serious and satirical elements into her work, as well as manipulating repetition, bold colours and textures. Website: www.gloriacarnevale.com |
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Kumi Onari- Legault,
Co-Chair and Community Drawing Coordinator
Kumi Onari-Legault draws her inspiration from her cultural diversity. Kumi, the daughter of Japanese parents, was born and raised in Venezuela. Influenced by the art of her mother and grandfather, Kumi has experimented with visual art throughout her life. Kumi entered the Universidad del Zulia, in Maracaibo, Venezuela to study Design and Architecture and was selected to serve the university as an Associate Professor of Architecture. Kumi has since moved from Venezuela and developed her career as an international school Visual Arts teacher and has lived in Nagoya (Japan), Seoul, Shanghai and currently in Shenzhen. Kumi believes that art is within all of us. She particularly enjoys inspiring young artists to unlock their potential.
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Marjorie Hernandez, Co-Chair and ISZAF Admin Team Member After Marjorie Hernandez decided to pursue an Arts Degree at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, her life became “curioser and curioser”. Once she started portraying faraway lands in her works, she found herself trading the gray skies of Lima, where she grew up, to chase the mesmerizing skies of Asia. Marjorie follows her dreams wherever they take her, whether it is an authentic deserted island lost somewhere in the China Sea or to the depths of a coral bank in Indonesia. Looking at her pieces is, in her own words, “looking at the world, not the way it is, but the way I want it to be.” Her digital art transports the viewer into an oneiric world, sometimes showered by a unique glimmering light that makes the colors seem alive and surreal. She creates her mixed media prints from her studio in Shenzhen and shares them with her audience around the world.
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Lotus, Co-Chair and The Forum Lecture Coodinator Maria is an American artist and educator, who has been living and working in Shenzhen since 2017. She holds a BFA with a concentration in sculpture, and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction. Her work reflects a feminine and domestic quality, which she unendingly actualizes in her life. She travels through thoughts, perceptions and stereotypes in the feminine realm, crossing over circumstances, and issues often considered to be exclusively related to women. She embarks upon feminine symbols and transforms into artworks by an investigation of materials that reveals the potential of objects and materials when combined and manipulated.
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Michael Williams, Co-Chair Community Outreach Coodinator Michael Williams is an American artist and educator. He has lived in Shenzhen for 6 years and has been part of the ISZAF community for most of that time. Michael has spent most of his artistic career seeing the world behind a camera. His current artistic practices have evolved and now incorporate digital, watercolor, pencil and ink drawings, in addition to his camera. Michael holds a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management and a Master of Arts in education (MAEd). His classroom may not be an art class, but he believes that art should be infused into all learning, and as a result has a lot of artwork on display. Michael thinks actively creating art to tell a story or to explain a word or phrase helps connect the auditory and written part of learning to the visual in the minds of the learner. . Website: https://13thlayerproduction.com/ |
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