Sunni Gibbons - The Artist
My intention is to create powerful art that conveys a deep feeling of vision, strength and beauty.

My work is about contrast and relationships: the contrast of light vs. dark; detail vs. free form; energy vs. tranquillity and the relationships between shape and color. I also simply love to draw. At some level there is a pull to explore and express what it is to be alive, to be human, to live in our world. Yet when I approach a new piece, I am mostly aware of capturing a certain sense of reality in time. For this experience, flower images interest me the most. It’s as if deep within the heart of the flower there is an essential secret waiting to be revealed. It only needs to be observed and recorded. I also love to explore contrast in the way that paint moves and runs or can be controlled on the painting surface. It seems to be an ongoing quest for me.

A California Central Coast artist, Sunni was raised in a military family. This somewhat gypsy lifestyle brought such diverse experiences as a small farm-style homelife in rural Washington state, to teenage years in Port Lyautey, North Africa and high school graduation from Marymount International School in Barcelona, Spain.

Early art training included two years of Commercial Art at San Jose State University followed by a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art Painting at the University of Washington in Seattle. After a short hiatus starting a family, she returned to graduate studies at San Jose State completing a Master of Arts degree in Drawing and Printmaking.

Following several years as a graphic designer in the San Francisco Bay area Sunni and her husband moved to Santa Maria, California where a more relaxed lifestyle affords time and space to develop her personal expression in fine art. Sunni works in both oil and watercolor. Recent awards and exhibits include A Third Place Award at the Central Coast Watercolor Society's Pacific Regional Aquarius 2005 Exhibition, and a Featured Artist (August-September, 2005) Exhibition at the Broadway Gallery in Santa Maria.