THOUSAND OAKS, CA - A Bulgarian portrait artist will work with students and community members as an artist-in-residence from Feb. 1 through March 2 at California Lutheran University.

The oil paintings of Ignat Ignatov will be exhibited in the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture during his residency as part of the 2012-2013 Artists and Speakers Series. A receptionwill be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9.

During his month-long residency, the Kwan Fong will be transformed from gallery to studio as Ignatov paints portraits of gallery visitors. Community members are invited to watch and learn as he creates new works and shares his technical ability with students.

At age 13, the Bulgarian native’s promising talent in drawing, painting and sculpting gained him one of only 30 positions to the renowned School of Arts in Tryavna. He was then accepted into the traditional Bulgarian University of Arts, where he studied under the demanding atelier approach to fine art.

Ignatov used the proceeds from the sale of his art to finance his move to the United States in 1997 and he became a U.S. citizen. He continued his studies at the California Art Institute inWestlake Village, Associates in Art in Sherman Oaks and the American Animation Institute in North Hollywood.

He has become a respected member of the Southern California community of portrait artists and has made a career as a teacher and demonstrator of alla prima, a style where the painting is completed while the paint is still wetrather than in layers. He works in oil paints, producing richly colorful portraits and imagery of Eastern European daily life.

He is a signature member of theCalifornia Art Club and was a finalist in the figurative category of the 2010-2011 International Art Renewal Center Salon. Since 2005, he has taught painting classes at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.

The Kwan Fong Gallery is located in the Soiland Humanities Center, which is on the south side of Memorial Parkway on the Thousand Oaks campus. It is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

CLU’s Artists and Speakers Committee and Art Department are sponsoring the residency and free exhibit. For more information, call Michael Pearce at 805-444-7716 or visit www.callutheran.edu/kwan_fong.