“Mark Venaglia is one of the most exciting artists in America today,” —New York Times and Los Angeles Times. I feel very fortunate that, within my own lifetime, my work has been acknowledged and comprehended by a wide variety of critics and collectors. This recognition provides me the freedom to continue growing as an artist. Please visit: www.Venagliastudio.com for a complete posting of current reviews.

I am in my twenty-third year as a professional artist, averaging two solo exhibitions yearly on both coasts. I attended Carnegie-Melon University in the Eighties and have three Trompe L’oeil murals in the Permanent Collection of The NYC Public Library. My paintings are in the corporate collections of Toyota, Sony Pictures, Bank of Visalia and Estee Lauder. The meticulous detail I render within each work serves as a visual meditation—varied and personal for each viewer while furthering accessibility. Painting is the one constant, grounding force throughout my life.

I gave my first unscripted tour of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC in 1986. The subsequent tours have been growing through a synergistic force of their own. Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, California Community Foundation and California Arts Council supported my 1990s expansion into public art lectures through every Museum in southern California. These grants additionally supported the creation of the first Walt Disney Imagineering commissioned seminars on Creativity, designed exclusively for their staff. I continue to offer these workshops to corporations throughout southern California in collaboration with Dogmelon Productions.

I taught myself to paint by studying the Permanent Collections in every Museum I have ever visited. This experience serves as the basis for our tours. Facilitating each tour with Jay, where groups of strangers become sincere friends within two hours-utilizing Fine Art as the common denominator, is one of most inspiring influences.

Growing up in Hawaii has given Jay an understanding and respect for nature, and all life has to offer. This is clearly demonstrated in her creation of unique floral designs with a natural flow and ease to them. Some of Jay's design inspiration comes from the works of art that appear in the same museums as our tours .Artwork from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Victorian periods are most influential to her.

Jay studied floriculture with various instructors in New York City & Los Angeles before starting her own floral design company in April of 2003.

Jay and Mark met in 2001 when she attended one of his gallery shows in Pasadena. She loved his work and purchased a painting for her collection. In March 2003, Jay curated an art show in West Hills, CA. She invited Mark to participate in the show. After the show, over a cup of coffee and a long phone conversations the idea for the art tours was reborn and Talking About Art became a reality.

For the past few years Jay has worked in numerous capacities as an educator before starting her floral design business. Jay's background includes: