Elissa Lieberman Krasenbaum. I am a San Diego Painter, educator, and Owner of the San Diego Art Loft, a teaching studio in San Diego.I hold a Master of Fine Art degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art. I have been on the faculties of five universities and colleges as well as many art studios and ateliers. I served as the manager of the Museum Art School for the San Diego Museum of Art. I am greatly influenced by the Renaissance masters and contemporary figurative painters. I am always drawn to portraiture and other figurative art. My philosophy is that art is ground on which many layers of the psyche can be expressed both literally and figuratively. It can unify by expressing the human experience using expressive faces and bodily gestures.