Lian Quan Zhen is a sought-after watercolor and Chinese painting artist and teacher in the US and abroad. He is one of the most popular authors of North Light Books.
He started sketching and painting in his childhood and continued as a hobby while practicing medicine as a family physician in Canton Province, China. After immigrating to the US in 1985, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from University of California at Berkeley in 1992 and a Master of Architecture Degree from MIT in 1996. He has many shows in the US, Hong Kong and China and has developed an international following. His paintings hang in numerous institutional and private collections including the MIT Museum which has collected 14 of his paintings.
His art teaching credentials include: the University of California at Berkeley where he taught watercolor outdoor sketching for 8 years; watercolor and Chinese painting workshops nationwide in the US, and other countries in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, China, South Africa and Australia. Lian has also been an invited juror for California, Colorado, New Mexico, Georgia, Arizona and Kentucky Watercolor Societies' exhibitions and other local shows. His paintings are featured in magazines such as Watercolor 94 Spring, Splash4, Collectors (Hong Kong) and books of Landscape on Watercolor (UK), Finding Your Visual Voice and Painter's Quick Reference books by North Light Books: Flowers and Blooms, Dogs and Cats, Birds and Butterflies, Landscapes and Drawing and Painting Animals - the Essential Guide.
Lian’s Five books published by North Light Books have been distributed internationally. They are: The Chinese Painting Techniques for Exquisite Watercolor, published in October of 2000; the Chinese Watercolor Techniques - Painting Animals, published in December of 2004, with demos on video tapes and DVDs made by Teaching Arts in UK; Chinese Watercolor Techniques for Exquisite Flowers published in 2009; Chinese Landscape Techniques for Watercolor in September 2013. They were main selections for North Light Book Club members. In 2015, North Light Books choose two live artists amoung all its authors to made two coffee table books with their paintings. Lian was one of the selected artists and his book is named: Chinese Watercolor Journey with Lian Quan Zhen.
Kathleen Key grew up in the lower valley of El Paso much like the Mesilla Valley where she lives today. She graduated from UT El Paso with degrees in History and English Literature. She moved to Houston and studied Art History at University of Houston getting her Master’s in Art History from University of St Thomas. In her 32 years of teaching, she has taught Art History I and II, History of Fashion, 20th Century Fashion Designers at the Art Institute of Houston, Houston Community College and University of Houston. At the University of Houston she taught History of Ancient Egyptian art, Ancient Greek art and Ancient Roman art. Kathleen has taught for five years at UT El Paso (UTEP) in their regular program and since 2015 she has taught a variety of classes in art history at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, or “OLLI”, UTEP”s Continuing Education Program.
Ms. Key began teaching Feed Your Mind art seminars at the Doña Ana Arts Council’s Arts & Cultural Center in January 2018. She is an engaging and energetic art historian with a wealth of knowledge that she loves to share with her students.
