Dana Point Resident to be Featured in San Clemente Art Show

By Breeana Greenberg

For Dana Point resident Nevine Erian, the process of creating artwork is meditational and grounding.

The dichotomy between Erian’s career as a consultant in biotech regulatory affairs and compliance and her passion for creating free-flowing, improvisational artwork is clearest when she’s painting.

Painting is “very relaxing,” Erian said. “When I paint for eight hours, I don’t think about anything else. It’s like I’m meditating. Which is very peaceful, because I’m a very analytical and worrywart type of person … it helps ground me.”

Erian studied Electrical Engineering in college and went on to get a Master of Science in Quality Assurance and a Master of Business Administration.

“I had a passion for mathematics,” Erian said. “I did not want to pursue art, because I wanted to be financially independent, and artists have a tough time making it, I guess.”

In high school in Cairo, Egypt, Erian was drawn to painting. Before Erian left Egypt, she decided to do something along the arts, whether it was flower arranging, photography or designing jewelry.

She immigrated to Los Angeles when she was 16, and later moved to Dana Point in 1999.

“I started engineering, but after college, I took photography classes and did professional photography portraits and weddings and all kinds of photography just for the fun of it,” Erian said.

Over the years, Erian has designed jewelry, painted and dabbled in flower arrangements. In early 2020, she came across a video on Pinterest showing the process of acrylic fluid painting and was instantly intrigued.

Erian loved the flexibility and freedom of painting abstractly.

“I like the sense of adventure,” Erian said. “It’s very different than the work I do during the day, which is these are the laws, this is how you meet them, these are procedures you follow, and this is the output you are going to get.”

Fluid acrylic painting is a more “improvisational type of art,” Erian said.

The abstract style of pouring acrylic paint onto a canvas, “flowing, bending and moving” the paint without a brush, offers more freedom than other mediums, said Erian, whose work will be on display for several weeks at the San Clemente Community Center starting on Nov. 6.

For its Winter Show, which will run through Dec. 22, the San Clemente Art Association chose Erian as its featured artist.

“The San Clemente Art Association is delighted to have Nevine Erian as our featured artist for the Winter Show,” the Art Association said in a prepared statement. “Her paintings are bold and exhibit a wonderful kinetic energy and color palette.”

The association added that Erian “consistently wins awards in SCAA shows and is one of our most popular artists.”

Being the featured artist in the upcoming art show, she said, is an honor.

“The majority of the entries of the artists who submitted their work are classical artists: they’re watercolor artists or oil or acrylic, but more realism,” Erian said. “I liked the abstractness. I like going into something not knowing exactly how it’s going to turn out.”

Erian hopes to evoke joy in all who see her work.

“This kind of medium and painting gives me lots of joy, and my objective is for other people to experience this joy when they see my work,” Erian said. “I want someone, when they pass by my painting on their wall, I want to bring them a smile on their face every time they see it.”

Prior to the Winter Show, Erian will be at the Rancho Santa Margarita Arts and Crafts Fair on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., selling small holiday gifts and painted ornaments.

Breeana Greenberg

Breeana Greenberg is the city reporter for the Dana Point Times. She graduated from Chapman University with a bachelor of arts degree in English. Before joining Picket Fence Media, she worked as a freelance reporter with the Laguna Beach Independent. Breeana can be reached by email at bgreenberg@picketfencemedia.com