Denice Bartels' interest in the Light and Space period informs her drawings. In the Water Series which spanned 8 years’ work, she drew from photos of various patterns of light on the surface of water where she found a two-dimensional materiality to the light's shapes. The new drawing series entitled “Clementine Observes the Moon” marries the rugged surfaces of moons, not dissimilar to ocean floors, with sea creatures and perhaps more. With a view to capturing a relationship between micro- and macrocosms, choices in imagery convey the interiority of an undersea world and the grandest external universe.

Bartels spent five years traveling overland through all the inhabited continents before attaining degrees at Claremont Graduate University and Otis College of Art and Design. She exhibits her drawings annually at venues which include the Long Beach Museum of Art, LA Municipal Art Gallery Barnsdall Park, Louis Stern Gallery, Gallery 825 and many public spaces. A recent relationship was formed with PYO Gallery, in Seoul, South Korea extending representation across the Pacific. Bartels lives and teaches art in Los Angeles.