Wendy Sue grew up in Southern California drawing the animals and mountains and beaches she loved.
Most of her formal art education was from Indiana University, Bloomington, and University of St. Francis, Ft. Wayne, IN.
While painting and teaching in Tucson in the 80s she studied with watercolorists Tom Hill and Zoltan Szabo. She was juried into the Southern Arizona Water Color Guild and enjoyed showing and selling her work in their events.
The magnificent southwestern landscape held a special place in her heart, but, alas, family and career and life kept her from pursuing painting full-time until retirement.
Involvement in San Diego Watercolor Society and Redlands Art Association provided many opportunities to show and sell her work and learn from other artists. Workshops with watercolorists Tom Lynch and Keiko Tanabe have reignited her passion for watercolor.
Now, surrounded again by the beautiful landscapes and people and wildlife of Arizona she is expressing the joy she feels in her surroundings through her paintings.
She hopes she has communicated that joy to you too.
Growing up amidst the beautiful landscapes of rural New Mexico, I lived in the natural beauty and the rich vibrant culture of the southwest from an early age. The rugged desert vistas, breathtaking sunsets and the captivating stories of the past weren’t just my surroundings, they became an integral part of who I am today. This also is what inspires my oil paintings reflecting not just what I see, but how I feel about the region I hold so dear.
My art is deeply rooted in the southwest spirit, history, and landscapes of the Southwest. Whether it’s a solitary saguaro standing proudly against a dramatic sky, the quiet dignity of an old mission, or the story of miners and settlers carving out their lives in this rugged terrain, I strive to capture more than just the scene. I aim to evoke a sense of place and time creating something that feels alive and deeply resonates with the viewer.
Now living in Arizona, I am surrounded by stunning vistas and cultural richness that continue to fuel my creativity. My goal is simple: to keep telling stories of the Southwest through my paintings, preserving its beauty and heritage while sharing a piece of my journey with those who view my art. This is my passion. Every brushstroke feels like a tribute to the land and its history. It is a heartfelt thank you to the place that has given me so much.
Laura grew up in PA Dutch farm country near the Appalachian trail. One of her favorite places to spend time was Hawk Mountain, a major migration fly way.
As a young adult she developed a love of the outdoors and spent time hiking and canoe tripping in Canada and Maine.
She did not begin painting until she was in her fifties having spent her work life as a social worker and family therapist.
After moving to the southwest, she began taking lessons from local artists as she developed her style with a focus on landscape painting in watercolor and oil.
As an avid hiker, many of her paintings illustrate the places she has hiked including Ireland, Peru, the Grand Canyon and Utah’s Bif 5.
She aspires to share the beauty, vivid color and peacefulness of being in nature within her paintings.
Barry Richardson began his creative journey as a woodworking hobbyist. After ending his career with the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams, he began pursuing his passion for creating in earnest. Using skills and equipment accumulated over the years, he mines his experiences from global travel, the beauty of marine life, and nature in general as inspiration for his work. His love for wood began as a child, growing up in the wooded landscape of rural Missouri. This canopy served as his playground, emotional sanctuary, and constant source of wonder.
“Artistic furniture, sculpture, carving, and turning are my focus areas for design and creation. I use reclaimed local wood whenever possible.”
Barry is a juried member of the Wickenburg Art Club, the Sedona Art Center, and belongs to the American Association of Woodturners.
His work has been featured in a year- long exhibit in Goodyear’s City Hall, featured at the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix, and was jury selected for the 5-year anniversary Gallery Show at the Tempe Center for the Arts.
He currently shows his work in the Wickenburg Art Center, and the Sedona Art Center. Barry and his wife Laura live in Buckeye AZ .
I have always been an artist, painting in acrylic, watercolor, pastel and now oil with cold wax medium. I have led a long
and successful career in sculpting in stone with my pieces on show around the country. My focus is now abstract art and photography.
I picked up a camera for the first time in 2017 when I retired from my medical career as a nurse practitioner specializing in emergency pediatrics in Santa Barbara, CA. I took up photography so I could have a portable art medium rather than bring all my paints etc. on our camping trips around the country. I instantly fell in love with photography due to the many possibilities of composing a photograph as in a paintings striving for simplicity, color harmony, composition, light and contrast.
I am self-taught in photography and painting with a few workshops under my belt. I love both the painting and photography mediums and I often combine my photography with my paintings as inspiration or incorporate them together in collage.
I have come to love the complex simplicity and the light of the desert. I find inspiration for my art expression from the beautiful
sunrises, sunsets and abundance of clouds during monsoon season. I also love photographing flowers with my close-up
camera lens and try to capture a vision of a flower that a person does not usually expect to see, a new way to see a flower.
When I go to photograph at the rodeo grounds, I try to find a photo that reflects a special moment in time for either the horses, riders or the spectators.
I once photographed a bronco rider kneeling in prayer before his ride, that’s the type of photograph I love to capture.
My interest is oil on canvas and primary landscapes, rustic buildings, and domestic and wild animals.
I’m self-taught having spend considerable time with online tutorials. I live in Wickenburg and find tons of inspiration from the surrounding area.
I sign my name as Tavarozzi on honor of grandparents (Anything and Mary Tavarozzi) who Immigrated from Italy.
Thanks
Jim Tavary (Tavarozzi)
Mainly self-taught, art has been such a joy to me on and off over the past 85 years.
Oils, oil pastels, acrylic and now colored pencil and pastels have played a part of my progress.
Animals have always been my first passion with portraits coming in a close second.
In 2018, I started an adventure using feathers as my support with acrylics, after a friend gave me a print of a feather painting of a wolf.
In late 2022, another friend started me down a new path with colored pencils and pastels.
Now I spend many pleasant hours immersed in pursuing these lovely mediums along with my feathers.
It has been an added pleasure to enjoy completing commissions memorializing pets, people and events so important to all of our lives.
Please let me know if I can help you save a treasured memory for you.
After working for 20+ years as a computer programmer in the corporate world, I experienced a level of burnout
that left me longing for change.
My first foray into the art world was through the door of art-as-therapy. I studied with the late art therapist and
prolific author, Lucia Capacchione, PhD, ATR, and became a certified coach of her methods of
journaling and expressive arts.
My work with Dr. Capacchione created a profound shift from the predominantly left-brained computer geek
I had been, and awakened the more right-brained, creative artist that has been lying dormant
In me for my entire life.
As this new self emerged, I explored many mediums including acrylics, watercolor, pastels, colored pencil, mixed media
and collage.
After participating in a 3-D mosaic workshop with Debra Mater a few years ago, I immediately recognized
that I had finally found the medium my creative heart had been looking for.
I enjoy reusing old discarding jewelry, semi-precious stones, tile, glass, beads, buttons, and other
trinkets to create my mosaic pieces. I build connections through color, shape, theme and texture.
I blow the dust off thrift store cast offs and bring them back to life with new sparkle and shine.
I delight in creating playful and imaginative birds, animals and insects.
My work is sometimes whimsical, sometimes mystical and often grounded in nature and the divine feminine.
Gabriele Bitter is a painter, collage artist,
artist, printmaker, and art instructor
originally from Germany.
Primarily self-taught, she also completed
completed a three-year art program and has attended numerous workshops to deepen her practice.
Her work centers around non-objective
abstract acrylic painting and collage work,
often incorporating layered textures, quiet colors and the expressive faces of women.
A longtime wig wearer, Gabriele brings personal experience into her current series “Bare Beauty”, which features women without hair as a tribute to those living with hair loss or alopecia.
Her art explores themes of identity, resilience, and inner beauty— inviting viewers to connect, reflect, and feel.
As an instructor, Gabriele encourages play, exploration, and staying present in the creative process. Her philosophy is
simple: the more you make art, the more you grow—and perfectionism is overrated. Just let yourself be in the moment.
When I moved here in September 2010, I never dreamed I would become a 2-D soft pastel artist. Or a 2-D artist of any kind! I visited “the club” to find put if they recognized basketry as an art form. Because that’s what I was, a Basket weaver! I was given an unequivocal “Yes”.
The club offered all kinds of classes and I decided to do all of them. When I took a charcoal class, I found that I had permission and loved getting “dirty”! A fellow member then guided me toward pastels …. And the rest is history….
That is what the club does so well….teaches, guides, encourages, and supports creativity in the arts.
I was born and raised in Colorado. My style of rustic sculpture began with the love of drawing animals and walks in the country. In High School I was introduced to clay and have been sculpting ever since. In college I majored in art, completing course work at New Mexico Highlands University, Colorado State University and Mesa State in Grand Junction. Over the years I have taken major interest in learning more about ceramics and have attende various classes and workshops.
Art is a shared experience. A vision is captured in clay, something we can see and touch. God created wonders for us to behold and I like to show His work in abstract or primitive style, creating a moment in time. My objective is to share that and in the process to improve on shape, color and technique, to continue to experiment in an expressive medium that can be shaped, molded and given life.
Bio
Celeste Woodes Koper grew up outside of Boston Massachusetts spending most of her summers on Cape Cod.
A cross country summer long trip with her facility at the age of 12 changed her view of the world. During that trip she experienced the beauty of nature and all its diversity. Her love of nature, its beauty and moodiness is apparent in her colorful evocative paintings. Paintings depicting the American landscape.
Ms. Koper is mostly a self taught painter. She has taken occasional workshops at the Cape Cod School of the Art and Scottsdale Artists School. Her paintings are in private and corporate collections around the world including France, England, Germany and China.
Ms. Koper’s paintings have been incorporated into television and movie set designs. Along with her many other accomplishments, Ms. Koper taught art at the Gatehouse Academy in Wickenburg, Arizona during the winter season.
She own and operates her own Fine Art Gallery for the past 20 summer seasons in Wellfleet Massachusetts on Cape Code.
Ms. Koper presently decides her time between Wellfleet on Cape Cod and Wickenburg, Arizona.
