Nature-inspired art works take center stage in Burbank

Artist couple Roger Dolin and Emily Goff are exhibiting ‘Side by Side: Visions of Nature’ at the Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center in Burbank, on view through August 20.

Emily Goff creates abstract, mixed media landscapes inspired by her hikes and travels. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from UC Santa Barbara and previously taught high school art in Glendale. Her artworks incorporate dried flowers, onion skin, garlic, Japanese paper, acrylic, and Pellon, reflecting the artist’s inner world and her responses to social issues, all seen through the lens of nature.

Goff’s style has moved through distinct phases.

“I have always turned to nature for solace. My earlier paintings were inspired by the plants in my garden, where root systems and growth patterns became visual metaphors for my own state of mind,” she wrote in her artist statement. Those early works were built from vivid colors and remnants of past projects. In 2024, she began incorporating Japanese paper, garlic, and onion skins as symbols of fragility and resilience — a body of work that became her first solo show, ‘Collective Sigh,’ on display at Gallery 825 in June 2026. Her most recent work draws on natural materials gathered in her kitchen or found along hiking trails.

“I love the painting called ‘Etna’ because it incorporates sand from Mt. Etna in Sicily. I was drawn to it because it contains a brilliant swirl of many colors in a flowing pattern, reminiscent of flower petals at the center,” said art lover Kathy Wolff, who purchased one of Goff’s pieces.

Roger Dolin, Goff’s partner, has spent most of his career creating murals, building an impressive portfolio that has earned him several awards. His work can be found in public spaces and schools throughout the region, including Eagle Rock, Northridge, Burbank, and Woodland Hills, with his latest mural, completed in 2023, located in the city of Avalon on Catalina Island.

These days, Dolin’s work turns toward local nature. “I find peace and awe in nature. My images come from spending time there. I want the artwork to resonate with the peace I feel when immersed in nature,” he wrote in his artist statement.

His process begins on his hikes, where he takes photographs that he later breaks into small squares, painting each one individually in an abstract form before assembling them into a single, highly detailed landscape.

In 2020, Dolin came across a discarded shoji screen on the street and saw in it the makings of a framework for a new piece. The result, ‘Deukmejian Shoji,’ is now a large-scale work on display at the Brand Library Gallery in Glendale through August 28, as part of ‘Brand 54: 54th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper,’ a group show featuring 100 artworks from artists around the country.