Lark Calderon-Gomez was born and raised in California where she fell in love with oil painting when she was seven.  Her mother, a gifted artist, started teaching her at that time. She was twenty years old when she landed her first professional work as an illustrator for a book on magic illusions published by Pearson/Simmel Press.  She went on to work in animation for award-winning MetroLight Studios in LA. She worked under award-winning digital effects artist, Mark A. Lassoff.  They worked in the 2D division called, MetroCel, where Lark painted cels on Ren & Stimpy and Beavis & Butthead, respectively. 

In 1994 Lark and her husband decided to move back to Northern California for a peaceful life in the mountains.

In Lake Tahoe, she studied for four years with talented painter, Phyllis Shafer.  

Lark and her husband now live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Being kind of a news junkie, news would sometimes come to her for subject matter.  From Afghani orphans of war, the genocide of the Ethnic Albanians under Milosevic, (The Refuge painting), to the tsunami orphans...the stories were so heartbreaking she had to paint them, to interpret and deal with them.  She feels this will continue through out her life.

The Aeta: Children of the Philippines

I started this project after I learned about the indigenous people who lived on the mountainside region in the Philippines that were devastated by a huge volcanic eruption. They were almost wiped out completely. After seeing photos and hearing their story, I was drawn to paint them. So, with the approval of the foundation, I went ahead and put a few paintings together with the hope to show them, and raise a little money for the Aeta Tribe Foundation if I’m lucky. 

This effort is for the Aeta Tribe Foundation, a special organization doing great work.

Their Mission
"Our mission is derived from the concept of sustainable development and we aim to rebuild the forest and replace both natural and human made resources in equal or greater value without damaging or endangering the natural forest system. We aim to shift the focus to social and economic development for future Aeta generations."

The  Vision

”Our vision is derived from the concept of sustainable development and aims to re-build the forest and replace resources that are natural or human made in equal or greater value without degrading or endangering the natural forest system but instead, shifting the focus to the social and economic development while protecting the environment for future generations.”

“Urgency of life, 

love, the heat of the soul...warm breath to keep the demons on their toes. 

Everything seems to go faster and become more important daily, whilst at the same time becoming harder to fathom.” 

~ Morcheeba

At the end of 2017 I had a solo show at The Sanchez Contemporary. It was titled, "Urgency of Life.” 

During the painting stage for this series there was a lot going on in this country; the 2016 election and the Women's Marches that followed. The news consumed me and it entered my work. 

The collage process is one of my favorite developments lately and I try to incorporate relevant news into each piece. Sometimes they were painted over, other times they were very visible to the viewer. 

This was a fun project and I look forward to the next.