We are thrilled to introduce this years featured artists:
Jennifer Wang, Maeve Croghan and last years top award winner Cathy Xu.
Each artist will bring their unique styles and perspectives, and love and dedication for the land to make this year’s MOPO one to remember.
Cathy Xu - “Painting the feeling of light”
Cathy Xu is an award-winning watercolor artist based in San Francisco. She uses painting to convey her joy to be fully alive taking in the essence and atmosphere of her surroundings. Her eye is captivated by the beauty of light, shadow, and shape. She paints landscapes, city life, and people. Anything can be a subject if the light is right.
Cathy’s preferred painting medium is watercolor. She seeks for her paintings to contain major passages that showcase the essence of the element water. Water has an irrepressible freedom in its movement, an eternal quest to find depth, and a power to unify all forms. She is captivated by the unlimited possibilities that water, gravity, and pigment present. Cathy’s dynamic style is a juxtaposition of fluid washes and intricate detail.
I have been an artist since I can remember. I was born with a love for drawing, a wonder for the natural world, and an eye for magic. My early memories involve sketching in the woods, building fairy houses out of twigs, and drawing pictures for my close friends. Later on in life, however, I took a non-linear path towards artistic development.
After my studies in Business Administration and History at UC Berkeley, I traveled extensively for over a decade. I worked in management consulting, technology startups, and international non-profits. I am grateful for the friendships, experiences and perspectives gained throughout my business career. All the while, however, I kept hearing my heart’s desire to make art. I found a creative outlet by working nights and weekends as a freelance illustrator for private and corporate events.
In 2020, I discovered the thrill of watercolor painting. Watching pigment dissolve in water was pure magic. But controlling the outcome was far from easy. Like many others, I was seduced by how a medium so effortless could also be so unforgiving. I immersed myself in learning watercolor, starting with the most fundamental compositional, drawing and painting skills, which I reinforced with daily practice and analysis. Somewhere along the way, the desire to be seen grew stronger than the fear of change. I embarked on my art career and began exhibiting my paintings in 2025.
My Story
Maeve Croghan
Maeve Croghan's paintings explore our natural world, interpreting nature’s phenomenal strength and beauty. Maeve paints directly from nature, experiencing a deep connection with her subject while painting. She finishes her paintings in the studio, working only from memory and intuition. Maeve’s subject is nature in her amazing forms. She believes painting Nature is paramount in the world today. She hopes to bring attention to our natural world and the need to protect and preserve it through her art.
Maeve began making paintings at age 15. She studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, Portland Museum College and the Corcoran School of Art. She has BA from New College of California in 'Art and Social Change', with a focus on community mural making.
She has been the recipient of many prestigious juried awards. Her paintings have been in museum showings in Alaska, California, Oregon, New Mexico, Michigan and Japan. Maeve’s paintings are shown in galleries around the country and are in collections throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and Mexico. She was invited to Japan as an ‘Honored Artist Guest’ for the showing of her paintings.
Recently her painting ‘Russet Vines’ was chosen for Georges Dubouef Beaujolais Nouveau wine label competition in France. Her paintings are also featured on the wine labels of Castoro Cellars in Templeton, Ca. She is the founder of the ‘Mendocino Eco Artists’, an Activist Artist group. The group has Art Shows benefitting different environmental organizations each year.
Maeve teaches Plein Air painting through the Mendocino Art Center, the Mackinac Arts Council and other arts organizations. She has a studio at Hunter's Point Shipyard Studios in San Francisco and in Mendocino, Ca.
Jennifer Wang
Jennifer Wang is a plein air painter, cartoonist, and naturalist based in Los Angeles. You can always find her by a stream or on a hilltop painting all the ways that light and color can illuminate the world, especially in the minutes before a brilliant sunset. Jennifer began her creative journey as a plein air painter, and now has also unfurled into a nature illustrator, zinester, and riso printmaker. She is deeply committed to the wildlands and ecosystems that inform, enrich, and inspire her art, and she holds deep gratitude for the places she paints.
Jennifer’s work has been exhibited since 2021 at various shows for Giant Robot, Gallery Nucleus, and Nucleus Portland. She has taught painting, drawing, and nature journaling workshops since 2024.
