In January and February, Sedona Arts Center’s Fine Art Gallery is featuring large works by ML Coleman, Bill Cramer, Joella Jean Mahoney, Sandra Meissner, Vince Fazio and Susan Kliewer.

The center’s Fine Art Gallery showcases the largest selection in Sedona of artwork by local artists. Learn more about the artists below and stop in to the Uptown gallery to see these incredible works.

• Coleman said, “My goal as an artist is to create awareness of nature’s beauty, mystery and drama which surround us yet so often go unnoticed. Inspired by the ever-changing light and colors found in nature.” He seeks to convey the essence of his subject using a painterly form of realism that is fresh, vibrant and energetic. His passion for nature developed while growing up in Yellowstone Park where his father was a ranger. Seven years old and equipped with a set of oil paints, he set out to paint the falls and grandeur of Yellowstone. A long-time resident of Sedona, Coleman travels often throughout the United States and abroad to paint the landscapes that have so captured his attention.
• Cramer said, “Any landscape worth painting is more than the obvious visual elements. The push of an evening breeze, the feel of sun baked sandstone, the scent of sagebrush or the sound of a raven sudden­ly overhead are examples of the many unseen elements that inform my work. I’m
  satisfied when a painting is as rich as the landscape that inspired it. My goals are to keep exploring the Southwest’s wild places, search for new ideas and express what I find exciting about landscapes and about painting.”
• Mahoney is known for her dramatic, large-scale landscapes in oil. Even though she has a flower series, a figure series and a horse series, the canyon landscape of the Colorado Plateau has become the major motif of her work. “At age three I experienced a powerful connection between myself and nature. I wanted to share this wonder at being alive with my parents and brothers. I could not yet explain wonder and awe in words, but I could through painting and drawing. So, I began serious art making and have never stopped,” she said.
• Meissner said, “Painting is an outward expression of the inward excitement and fascination I see in color, line, shapes, shadows and light. I enjoy investigating the intricate design of things such as the warm or cool shadows of color on the edge of a flower petal or the reflection of light on the delicate eyelash of a horse. Contrasts in dark shadow versus bright light or soft curving lines in juxtaposition to hard straight lines keep me searching nature for the never ending supply of contrasts found in nature’s beauty that I enjoy trying to capture on canvas.”
• Fazio began his art career directly after high school by spending a year in Italy in a very traditional figurative atelier. He then attended numerous art programs in New York City and Colorado, ultimately getting his MFA with a concentration in painting from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. After teaching college level courses for a number of years, he became director of the School of the Arts at the Sedona Arts Center in 1999. Fazio enjoys both plein air painting on an intimate scale and experimenting in the studio on larger scale works.
• Kliewer began her sculpting career as a worker at the local foundry. There she met and ultimately was mentored by the legendary Joe Beeler. Beeler and other cowboy artists took her under their wings and taught her the magic of sculpting. Kliewer often uses her American Indian friends and relatives as models to capture that special intimacy, which is a hallmark of her work. “My work aims to show the common thread that underlies all human experience, and which, I hope brings us to a greater understanding between all people,” she said.
  Sedona Arts Center is one of Northern Arizona’s most well-established cultural organizations and serves as the creative heart of Sedona. Founded in 1958, the nonprofit is based at the Art Barn in Uptown and offers year-round classes, exhibitions, festivals, and cultural events that enhance the creative life of the Verde Valley.

The Center’s Fine Art Gallery, open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., promotes the original works of over 100 local artists and regularly offers special assistance for collectors and art buyers, offers private studio visits, and fosters hundreds of arts education opportunities each year.

For more information about Confluence of Color, or any other opportunities at Sedona Arts Center, contact 282-3809 or visit SedonaArtsCenter.org