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.

Penny Boka Metal Sculpture pjboka@gmail.com

Bio
Angus Ross is a local resident here in Wickenburg, having moved here in 2021 from Newport RI. Prior to that he was a career naval officer (25 years) in the British Royal Navy, before coming to America and the US Naval War College as a faculty member in 1996.
He became a naturalized citizen in 2013 and continued to teach at the College until his retirement from full time work in 2021. Today, he continues to teach for the College on-line, in a part-time arrangement from his home.
Now that his family are grown and he has a little more time, he has recently re-kindled his love for painting and drawing, something that had to be put aside during a busy career.
He was last active (in sketching) in the 1980s, when he took to sketching sights seen around the world during his 25-year naval service.
Watercolors are essentially a new challenge for him, and he is thoroughly enjoying the experience. The unforgiving nature of the media, the very “natural” look of the pigments and the wonderfully “fluid” way in which contrast and color are applied, are a source of endless fascination to him.
He is currently trying all sorts of subjects, although wildlife, marine scenes and landscapes will probably end up being his favorites

Bio
I’m Lauri Harrington and I began painting in earnest about four years ago. I have always been a bit creative and when I was a young girl, my father brought home telephone wire for us to play with. I made an entire farm of horses and people out of that wire, using yarn as the horses tails. I went on to drawing horses from there.

As an adult, I enrolled in the fine arts program at a college in Traverse City, Michigan, taking drawing, design and pottery. I realized that becoming an artist was probably not the path to riches for me so I turned to getting a business degree. After moving to Colorado, the beautiful scenery inspired me to take up the arts again and I began taking pottery classes in Boulder and Golden, CO. Then after retiring in Colorado, I began sketching again and also took up making landscape quilts.

Since moving to Wickenburg, I have taken watercolor (my first love), acrylic and oil painting classes. I have been juried into the Wickenburg Art Center for mixed media and have exhibited in a number of shows there.

Now, I often find myself watching and practicing watercolor techniques on YouTube. It’s an interest rabbit hole that I throughly enjoy. I am currently working on a landscape quilt of aspen trees and preparing for upcoming shows at the Wickenburg Library and Wickenburg Art Center.

Bio
My paintings are mostly with oils, but also do watercolors and acrylics. I started oil painting at the age of 16, painting wildlife on paper plates with an oil paint set that a neighbor had given me.
 
Someday I’ll paint that!  Now it’s time. I am inspired by a lifetime of artistic memories, experiences and want to paint the picture.   Retired after 40 years of being advertising art director and graphic designer, I then began to seriously paint.  
 
One of my favorite things to paint is photos of history. Finding old black-and-white photos and paint them in my colors.  Photos that I have taken from the western history places that I’ve discovered.
 
 In high school, I was mostly interested in the art classes and and the drama classes.  My formal art education began after high school at the Central Academy of Commercial Art in Cincinnati, Ohio, plus 40 years of advertising art direction and marketing.
 
I like coming back to Wickenburg each winter for the art club, it’s helpful members and being able to paint outside in the AZ desert.
 
Some of my work is exhibited at the Platte Canyon Artist Guild’s Fall Fine Art Show in Bailey, Colorado, also at Wickenburg Art Club’s Fine Art Show and in their gallery.

Bio
Deborah Nielsen works in the watercolor and acrylic mediums. She began her adventures with watercolor and advanced very quickly. This inspired her to begin experimenting in acrylics, which became her second love. Deborah credits her success and love of these mediums to the local art instructors her in the valley, who helped her develop her God given talent.

Growing up point eh upper Midwest, first on a dairy farm as a little girl and then becoming a ranchers wife, inspired Deborah’s love and appreciation of animals and the beauty of the country atmosphere. Deborah, along with her husband Larry, is now semi-retired and living oil Wittmann, AZ. She is pursuing her dream of capturing the beauty around her and her love of animals. Deborah teaches both watercolor and acrylic classes on Arizona and for a few months in the summer she returns to Nebraska and helps work the ranch and teaches color classes at a local shop.

Deborah is juried onto the Art Club in Wickenburg, AZ and has competed on the Artisan Fair Art show during Gold Rush Days for the past few years where each year she has won honors in both mediums. In 2018 she was also juried into the Glendale Fine Art show with two of her paintings, “Blue Agave” and “Platinum Vintage”, and in 2019 with her painting “Bird of Paradise”, and in 2021 the painting “Tatonka”. The West of Center Art show in the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, in Wickenburg, AZ, also accepted two of Deborah’s paintings, “Chinks” and “Platinum Vintage”, for showing and sale.

Bio
Art has always been a part of my life. Forever learning and experimenting. I had never received any formal training until I met Pat Lambrett Hould, an abstract artist. I found my way to the human figure and portrait. I like subjects with attitude, confidence, and playfulness. 

My art is mixed media and collage:

My art usually starts with a color palette, shapes, or an idea.  I prep the canvas and add gold, silver, and copper leaf, papers, or a combination of all. Using the leaf as a reflective light source under acrylic glares that create constant changing images. My work is a process of building multiple layers of leafing, collage papers and acrylic glares. Anything goes!

I try to be creative on the edge of abstract. My goal is to be the best artist I can be, with quality in my work. 

Having been born in Phoenix and raised in Wickenburg, Arizona has been my home most of my life. Although, I spent 12 years in wonderful Wyoming raising my 3 children, I was happy to get back to the Sonoran Desert in 1996.

Art has always been in my life. My grandfather was an oil painter and my father was a great sketcher and saddle maker, tooling beautiful works of art. I was taught to appreciate artistic ability and quality from them, at an early age. 

I have also dabbled in oil painting and sketching off and on through the years, but it wasn’t until 2019 that I found clay and it became my passion. 

In early 2023, I became the chair of the Wickenburg Clay Group. I spend most days at the art club creating and enjoying the friendships I have made there. 
 
I also enjoy getting out into the desert to ride our side by side, go camping and rock hounding. 

My other joy is being the “Nawnie” to 7 grands and 4 great grands. 

Artistic ability has shown up in my children and now some of my grands. I’m very happy that this part of my heritage is continuing on.

I am a recent transplant to Arizona, and I love it! I have always lived “up north” and worked in several different genres that mostly represented the area in which I dwelled, but I have always been drawn to the art and warm colors of the Southwest.

This move has inspired me to experiment with a new genre – metal embossing. By using various metal foils such as copper, aluminum and brass, I emboss them with a multitude of patterns using a rolling press, and color with alcohol inks.

Once dried and stabilized with a protectant coat, I then cut them into various sizes and shapes to achieve my design.

The mosaic pieces are somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle – I quit to design it and make sure all the pieces fit perfectly. Some of my work will incorporate leather and glass tile beads to achieve a multi-dimensional look.

“Art is spiritual for me and brings me a great fulfillment , which I hope is reflected in my work.”

Bio
Hi! I am Linda Sanders. I’ve been a member of the Wickenburg Art Club for many years. I have been a jewelry lover all my life and started making jewelry about 35 years ago. I specialize in using gemstones, pearls, high-quality crystals and sterling silver. Lately, I have been focusing on making Southwestern-style necklaces and earrings using sterling silver and turquoise. 
I pay special attention to the composition and colors of each precious piece. I shy away from gemstones and metals that aren’t genuine. I use professional grade wire for stringing and use special findings to make my jewelry strong and long-lasting. 
My styles are varied and unique. I have worked full-time as a Wickenburg real estate agent for 31 years and continue to do so, but I find time to do local arts and craft shows and Wickenburg Art Club events. Ten years ago, I started a monthly craft show that benefits the Wickenburg Public Library that supports both the library, the community and the participating artists.
My jewelry craft and the other artisans that I have met and worked with over the years have enriched my life immensely.