September 30, 2019
As a painter, Brenda Semanick's work has been included in both national and local juried shows: Oil Painters of America, American Women Artists, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, Arts for the Parks...
September 26, 2019
John Schaefer: Dr. Schaefer is President Emeritus of the University of Arizona, where he had an active, 21-year career in teaching and research. A conservationist and avid birdwatcher, he helped organize the Tucson Audobon Society...
September 20, 2019
After retiring from the printing business in 2008, I was able to dedicate more time to scratchboard and began attending art shows across the country. Today, I attend an average of 20 shows per year, mostly in the southwest. One of the...
September 4, 2019
Richard Iams was born in 1950 in West Virginia, near the borders of Ohio and Pennsylvania. He attended Marietta College in southeastern Ohio, intending to major in mathematics until he was exposed to his first art class as a...
September 3, 2019
Darcie grew up in the Midwest with a passion for the outdoors – often drawing and painting her outdoor adventures throughout primary and secondary school. With a BA in Art and a MA in Interior Design, Darcie has taught art...
August 30, 2019
Painter and sculptor Buck McCain was raised on a working cattle ranch in southern California near the Mexican border. McCain was home-schooled by his mother and also learned Spanish and the native Indian language from...
August 28, 2019
Primarily self-taught, Barry’s basic fundamentals of painting with emphasis on watercolor and acrylic on canvas were acquired through courses taken at the University of Arizona, Pima Community College, The Tucson Art Center...
August 28, 2019
The quest for tranquil yet powerful images lured Michael Ewing from his childhood home in Michigan to the Arizona desert some thirty five years ago. That is when he began a journey to blend an impressionist training with his love of...
July 24, 2019
Per Patty: “When I was four years old growing up in St. Louis, my parents gave me Christmas presents which foretold my life as an artist. An old “Super 8″ movie shows me trying to wriggle into a fringed Annie Oakley outfit...
July 24, 2019
Judy paints a wide variety of subjects in both oil and watercolor. Her paintings are a representational style that includes landscape, portraits, figure and architectural components. She enjoys painting the West with its colorful...
July 12, 2019
Jackson Boelts has been an artist, educator, designer for over 40 years and in that time he has won over 400 awards for his work. He has exhibited work in Moscow, Mexico City, Berlin, Warszawa, Chile, and numerous locations...
July 12, 2019
Best known for his iconic shamanistic images, Lawrence W. Lee has been a professional artist for over forty years. His work is in thousands of private collections around the world as well as in the permanent collections of noted...
July 12, 2019
Rob Waters is a Southern California native. He did his undergraduate studies at Pt. Loma College in San Diego. He also studied illustration at the highly-regarded Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Rob has participated in...
June 28, 2019
Per Karryl: “Hi Everybody, I am Karryl Salit – but I go by Karryl for my professional name. I am primarily a sculptor (work in clay, cast in bronze) but also love drawing and other media. My work is known for a stylized, loose and...
June 28, 2019
Art has been part of Patti Andre’s life from when she was a young girl. Patti has lived in many different parts of the United States and has traveled to many countries around the world. An enthusiastic nature lover and traveler, she is always...
June 28, 2019
Inspired by her travels, Barbara Gurwitz paints bright, colorful, expressive landscapes featuring villages set in valleys of the mountainous countryside. Her original paintings are in numerous private and public collections throughout...
June 28, 2019
Pat works with both brush and palette knife to create impressions of light and color. Snowbirds from Northern Minnesota for fourteen years, she and her husband recently made Arizona their full time home. Pat loves the expanded...
June 28, 2019
Judy Choate was born in Wisconsin, but raised in Eureka, California. During her teenage years, her family moved to the San Francisco Bay area. She finished her last year of high school in Redwood City and attended the College of...
June 28, 2019
At age six, Allen Polt’s first grade teacher, so impressed with his natural talent, arranged the artist’s first one-man show. Immediately, his gift was acknowledged and his life’s purpose defined Polt went on to earn his Degree...
June 27, 2019
Tucson native, Stephanie Campos began her love for drawing at a young age. During an art project in kindergarten, her teacher called her parents to inform them she was an artist. That led to art supplies and encouragement. At age 13...
June 27, 2019
Santos Barbosa was born and raised in McAllen, Texas. He has resided in Tucson since the 1960’s. He has drawn sketches of people and places since he was a young man. While he has taken a few art classes as an adult, he is largely...
June 27, 2019
Chuck writes: “I have always been creative and involved in creativity. I played jazz at a time when it was possible. I depended on being skillful as a designer to achieve success in architectural practice. I was creative and innovative as a teacher...
June 27, 2019
Inspired by her travels, Barbara Gurwitz paints bright, colorful, expressive landscapes featuring villages set in valleys of the mountainous countryside. Her original paintings are in numerous private and public collections throughout the...
June 27, 2019
Susan Imwalle grew up in Portland, Oregon. She became interested in art at a very early age and this was due to the encouragement of her father, who was also an artist. She received her bachelor of fine arts...
June 27, 2019
Wyoming native, Carol Swinney paints primarily on location, preferring such places as the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Colorado, the mountains of Arizona or the vast Wyoming landscape. She paints with a palette knife instead of...
Sample of Past Artist of the Year Award Recipients (1974-2017)
January 11, 2018
Santos Barbosa was born and raised in McAllen, Texas. He has resided in Tucson since the 1960’s. He has drawn sketches of people and places since he was a young man. While he has taken a few art classes as an adult, he is...
September 1, 2016
Joni Falk, realist painter of still life and landscapes, has lived in Phoenix, Arizona since 1960. She grew up in Chicago, and is a graduate of of Marquette University In Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The southwest culture and history provided...
January 7, 2015
While still in high school, Bill met Terrance Duren, a well-known New York illustrator, who had retired to his native Nebraska. Duren saw some of Bill's drawings at a local art show and offered to teach him the fundamentals...
August 19, 2014
Don Crowley is one of the best known painters of the contemporary Indian, preferring to paint the Apache and Paiute. From his earliest years, his major art interests were concerned with...
August 19, 2014
Buck McCain is the 33rd artist to be recognized in what is now a Tucson tradition, started by the Tucson Festival Society in 1974, and carried on by Friends of Western Art. McCain, born in...
August 19, 2014
Janice P. Smith is a painter from Sierra Vista, Arizona. She received a Friends of Western Art scholarship to attend the Ray Roberts Portrait Workshop. During the Workshop, Roberts...
August 19, 2014
The Navajo have a special place in his heart and finger tips. "The most exciting, stimulating, and challenging paintings I do are portraits of the older Navajo folks. The lines in their faces reflect more...
August 18, 2014
Tim Cox was born in Safford, Arizona - a fourth generation westerner, he was raised on a property just outside of Duncan, Arizona. Tim began drawing at an early age and his parents...
August 18, 2014
Fred Fellows is a two-time past president of the world famous Cowboy Artists of America. His work has won many awards including the Grumbacher Fine Arts Award and...