Charcoal is a challenging medium to work with. It’s messy, can be hard to control fine details and traditionally, it hasn’t been considered archival. That is, until artist Josh Hernandez figured out his own proprietary method for making it archival. Once he cracked the code, the sky was the limit for what he was able to create.
For artist Trevor Swanson, there are no better words than, “I feel like I’m there.” That is his goal with every painting––to make the viewer feel like they have stepped into that scene.
The human experience is a nuanced journey filled with seasons of growth and plateaus, joy and sorrow, and light and dark. And for abstract artist Jessamyn Parker, art has been a channel for exploring and expressing those seasons and shared experiences to spark connection.
For a kid growing up in northern England, there was nothing more exotic and intriguing than depictions of the American West. At least that was the case for artist Andrew Bolam, who recalls watching the Lone Ranger and John Wayne and fantasizing about what it would be like to roam amongst buffalos, cowboys and Native Americans. Now, as an adult, this fascination comes to life through his artwork.
They say, “Go big or go home.” And that certainly seems to apply to J. Todd Paxton’s approach to his art. From his monumental statues of Native American warriors to his large-scale patina-on-steel paintings, the sheer scale of his work alone is enough to produce a visceral feeling. But he also uses texture, color and life-like details to tap into human emotion.
Paint where you live. This is a motto artist Jerry Salinas has come to live by and it took a move to the sunny Southwest to shift his perspective. Previously living in Chicago and other dense urban areas much of his life, Jerry’s subject matter often focused on city life. But after moving West, he began to see the rich history and saturated colors that surrounded him…that quickly became his muse.
For Myron Whitaker, art wasn’t ever really on his radar. He already had a career in the corporate world. Out of boredom he enrolled in a ceramics class, and when he started creating, it was as if he tapped into an innate ability––like he discovered something he was meant to be doing all along.
Though Cynthia Downs-Apodaca identifies more as a metalsmith than a jeweler, she says it was a fascination with the natural beauty of stones that attracted her to jewelry making. In many regards, she’s a bit of a stone whisperer––listening to the story each stone has to tell and building her designs around that.
For artist Elizabeth Butler, one of the greatest rewards of creating art is when she can reach a state of flow––when she simply becomes a channel for the expression of art to flow through. In this interview, she shares what that experience is like, how her work has evolved over the years, and how she’s exploring combining metal leaf with her oil paintings.
For Jessamyn Parker, a self-described playful, yet shy kid, abstract art became a way for her to break from the self-imposed boundaries and limitations.
