May 3 is Sedona First Friday Gallery Tour. Check out below what some of the town’s galleries are planning for the month of May. Receptions are typically held from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Mountain Trails exhibits canyons and horses
Mountain Trails Gallery at Tlaquepaque is delighted to present Canyons and Horses, which opens with a reception Friday, May 3, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Talent and creativity is in the spotlight with a group of traditional and contemporary artists who are captivated by the intricate canyons of the West, especially the beloved Grand Canyon. Not to be missed are landscape artists Bill Cramer, Michelle Condrat, Betty Carr, Howard Carr, Linda Glover Gooch, Gregory Stocks, Marcia Molnar and more. They light up the walls with colorful paintings which capture a series of special moments experienced by these artists in the awe and beauty of nature.
The gallery also honors a select group of equine artists who know their animals so well, as they rise to the demanding challenge of painting or sculpting horses. Sandra Passmore Byland, Vicki Catapano, Maria D’Angelo, Susan Kliewer, Mark Edward Adams, Curt Mattson and Sarah Phippen express their deep connection that stems from growing up with horses in their “portraits” and scenes capturing their own special moments with these majestic animals.
Bill Cramer, who spends a great portion of his time at the Grand Canyon, is mesmerized by the changing light and color that appears over his beloved canyon. During any season, weather can change rapidly for this veteran painter, and Cramer is always ready to capture its drama and beauty. Michelle Condrat sees the motion that changing weather can create for the eye of the beholder. Condrat playfully renders the movement of light and shadow with pixelated shapes in her vibrantly colorful paintings.
When not in New York, Marcia Molnar can be found painting on a ranch in Arizona or camping and painting plein air at the Grand Canyon. The life force flows through this artist as she soaks in the beauty and changing drama of being on the rim of such an abyss. The clouds, the colors, the movement and light all come together in a heightened experience that translates to an enchanting blend of contemporary and traditional styles of painting. Plein air painters Betty Carr and Howard Carr are undaunted to capture the beauty of light in their canyon paintings. Their expressionistic renderings are passionately experienced as they watch the light and color change second by second.
Horses continue to hold a special place in art from the prehistoric equine images in the Caves of Lascaux in southwest France to the paintings and sculpture of Frederick Remington and Charles Russell, which have become icons of the American West. Whether depicting a quick maneuvering quarter horse known for settling the West, a spirited intuitive mustang, a regal intelligent Arabian or hardy versatile Appaloosa, their mystique, history and beauty compel painters and sculptors to share their reverence and inspiration.
Colored pencil artist Sandra Passmore Byland finds all these breeds captivating. Although spending countless hours caring for a variety of animals and wildlife, it has been the horse that speaks to her more deeply. Byland shares an almost transcendental expression in the way she conveys the mystique and reverence she feels for this beloved companion.
Riding her horse to school as a young student, Vicki Catapano immersed herself in the opportunities that growing up around ranching and horses gave her. She learned the vaquero ways of riding and handling horses and became entranced with each one as an individual. Catapano came to paint “portraits” of horses as well as the Native Americans she got to know and love.
Susan Kliewer has always had horses and continues to hold a special place in her heart for them. Her first drawings were of horses and from that point, they have been an important part of Susan’s life and family. Her new bronze, “Pony Girl,” expresses the joy and delight of her first independent ride as a little girl.
Contemporary sculptor Mark Edward Adams is enamored with the equine subject and is inspired to work with them in person. “Horses are so expressive and they convey a dynamic range of human emotions,” the artist said about his chosen subject. He grew up around horses and came to work with a horse-riding program for young people with disabilities. He saw how powerful the bond became between horse and child. In Adams’ body of work, horses predominate and are expressions of his own bond and place of honor he has for horses.
Cowboy artist Curt Mattson has lived the life he sculpts in his action packed storytelling bronzes. He speaks about his inspiration, “My passion is the world of the buckaroo and of horsemen and horsewomen, both contemporary and historic. This is my background, combined with the love of art and of training horses.” Mattson sculpts horses that he knows and creates situations that he has experienced. His sensitivity to equine behavior reveals itself in his sculpture in not only the charm a horse can express, but in the artist’s deep appreciation for all that a horse gives. Curt Mattson celebrates each day doing what he considers “a great joy, a privilege and a great responsibility.”
Mountain Trails Gallery at Tlaquepaque in Sedona is proud to represent these artists and more in a group of award-winning artists from the West. A festive reception for the exhibition Canyons and Horses takes place First Friday, May 3, from 5 to 8 p.m. and runs through the month of May.
Mountain Trails Gallery is located at 336 SR 179, upstairs in Suite A201. Call 282-3225 or visit mountaintrailssedona.com for information.
- Lanning welcomes two masters of glass
The spring art season at Bryant Nagel Galleries includes a reception at Lanning for two gifted glass artists. Masters of Glass: Peter Wright & Peggy Pettigrew Stewart opens with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 3, and an artist talk offered by each beginning at 5:45 p.m. that evening.
Peggy Pettigrew Stewart has won awards for her glass art, as well as her techniques. She devised a kiln-cast process that enables her to work with large pieces of flat glass she can melt over a mold.
The process allows her to create texture, pattern and intricate detail, releasing prismatic colors as lighting or background colors change.
She is also one of the few U.S. instructors teaching the Verre Églomisé glass technique, which she also uses.
A project close to her heart is the portraits in glass of famous musicians from the Woodstock festival that she creates. In this 50th anniversary year, she has even been made a part of the official celebrations.
Peter Wright, by contrast, creates hand-blown glass that he acid-etches or sand-blasts to remove shine to such a degree that viewers recognize his material only after they have responded to its form. “I am fascinated by the endless possibilities [glass] has to offer. I love working with color and surface, gesture and form,” he said. A fascination with all types of indigenous arts, especially Native American, African and Pre-Columbian, shaped Wright’s influences and the statements he wishes to express with his glass.
All are welcome to the exhibition opening to meet both gifted glass artists. Masters of Glass: Peter Wright & Peggy Pettigrew Stewart runs through Sunday, May 19.
Visit Facebook.com/LanningGallerySedona or lanninggallery. com, call 282-6865 or email mail@lanninggallery.com for more information. The gallery is located at Hozho, 431 SR 179 in Sedona and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Rowe Fine Art Gallery honors nature’s mothers
May holds a special place in the hearts of gallery owners Ken and Monica Rowe, not only because of Mom but because it’s the month when nature seems to be bursting with beauty: Baby animals, wildflowers and abundant sunshine.
Award-winning bronze wildlife sculptor Ken Rowe credits his mom, an amateur painter, for his love of art. As a gallery of wildlife and landscape artists, Rowe Fine Art pays tribute to both Mom and Mother Nature this month with Mother Nurture, happening Friday, May 3, from 5 to 8 p.m.
The Rowes invite everyone to stop by to pay homage to the natural world by enjoying new artwork from gallery artists. Let the gallery’s knowledgeable staff help you choose a piece of nature-inspired art to give to your favorite mom on Mother’s Day. Hint: Jewelry is always a big hit.
“Ken and I have both been fortunate to have extraordinary relationships with our mothers,” Monica Rowe said. “I consider my 91-year-old mother to be my best friend. She is truly an inspiration to all she meets — she has a gentle spirit and heart for both people and nature. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why Ken and I have always felt a close relationship to Mother Nature. Ken has been sculpting Mother Nature’s most precious gift — wildlife — for 30 years, and, when we opened the gallery nine years ago, we knew we wanted to represent artists who are also inspired by our magnificent environment.”
Artists exhibited at Rowe Fine Art Gallery include Larisa Aukon, Julie T. Chapman, Dane Chinnock, Kim Diment, Jen Farnsworth, Lynn Heil, Liam Herbert, Jennifer Inge, Kim Kori, Sue Krzyston, Alvin Marshall, Erik Petersen, John Poon, John Rasberry, Ken Rowe, Jason Scull, Ken Steigerwalt, Gabor Svagrik and Joshua Tobey.
Rowe Fine Art Gallery represents traditional and contemporary southwestern artists. The gallery, located under the bell tower in Patio de las Campanas at Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village, is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Call 282-8877 or visit rowegallery.com for more information.
- Expressions impress at Goldenstein
Goldenstein Gallery kicks off its highly anticipated and popular show: Impressionist-Expressionist on Friday, May 3, from 5 to 8 p.m.
When we think of arts enduring and popular modalities, Impressionism and Expressionism, one does not normally envision something radical. Yet, in their time, these movements were ground-breaking and forever changed the art world.
Artworks featured this month at Goldenstein Gallery are by artists whose work continues that lineage of creating a distinct expression of artistic vision. Among the featured works are paintings by Patricia A. Griffin, Kevin McCarthy, Marilyn Bos, James Cook, LauRha Frankfort and Ali Mignonne and sculpture by John Waddell and Lucius Upshaw.
Griffin spent 28 years painting, teaching and traversing the US. Renowned for her impressionist paintings of animals, her palette is responsible in large for the power of her work. Bold colors and light dominate her paintings where multiple layers of colors in oil paint are applied producing a dynamic vibration that captures the personality of her subjects.
Griffin said, “My wish is to bring the viewer into the present moment of reflection and peace.” Griffin will be painting in residence at L’Auberge in Goldenstein’s Artist in Residence program during her visit May 2 to 6 and in the gallery on Sunday, May 6, each day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit GoldensteinArt.com for a complete listing of artists and times.
Frankfort is a renaissance woman as a multi-media artist, musician, singer and the first medically certified qigong instructor in Arizona. In the qigong theory, specific colors and materials heal. She paints human form, mostly female, blending color along the body’s energy lines that correspond to certain body parts. Frankfort will be performing live music during the First Friday reception.
Bos uses a mix of styles and techniques and layers, often 100 to 300 or more layers on a single painting, allowing light and shadow to create the essence of what happens. Much like the Red Rocks, each painting changes as the light reaches the various layers and the sculpted texture.
Waddell is known for his bronze nudes and paintings depicting the human form. His seven decades of work has had a dramatic impact on communities and opened hearts and minds.
A prolific artist, there are 14 public venues in Phoenix where his sculpture is on display including “Dance” at Phoenix’s Herberger theatre, which helped establish the growing city’s commitment to public art.
Cook’s landscape paintings are big and full of virtuosity, with lavish confident brush strokes.
“Cook’s deliciously buttery paint charges outward into a third dimension,” Margaret Regan said of his work. “Thick swaths of glossy oils — blue against beige, yellow over forest green, rose on maroon — rush across the linen. Cook appeals to art conservatives and iconoclasts alike.”
Mignonne’s stunning paintings in her trademark style were developed by chance in the early 2000s. She discovered the versatility of multiple mediums and began experimenting with the effects. Seeing that she could “sculpt” the paint and mixed media onto canvas she developed her current technique creating 3-D landscapes that pop off the canvas.
The public is invited to meet the artists at the opening reception for Impressionist-Expressionist on Friday, May 3, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Curated by owner Linda Goldenstein, the gallery seeks to inspire and move their collectors by enhancing their lives through art. Goldenstein Gallery is known for its diversity of world-renowned local and regional artists in all media and styles.
Visit GoldensteinArt.com for information on artists, artwork and artists in residence. Sign up for its monthly E-zine, Instagram and Facebook or call 204-1765. Open daily, Goldenstein Gallery’s is located at 150 SR 179, south of the State Routes 179 and 89A roundabout.
