Spotlight | Hidden in the Hills Studio Tour

Cave Creek/Carefree, AZ, Multiple Locations, November 16-18 & 23-25

Sandi Ciaramitaro, Love at First Sight, oil, 4 x 5 feet.

Sandi Ciaramitaro, Love at First Sight, oil, 4 x 5 feet.

This story was featured in the November 2012 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Order the Southwest Art November 2012 print edition here, or purchase the Southwest Art November 2012 digital download here. Or simply subscribe to Southwest Art magazine and never miss a story!

For the two weekends surrounding Thanksgiving, many artists in Cave Creek, Carefree, and North Scottsdale, AZ, open their studios to the public for the self-guided Hidden in the Hills studio tour, presented by the Sonoran Arts League. Over 160 artists in 50 different studios are participating in this year’s event. For more information, and to create a personalized tour map, visit www.hiddeninthehills.org. Here we introduce you to a few of the artists participating in this year’s tour.

Karel Armstrong works in watercolors and colored pencils to create Southwest landscapes and animal-themed artworks. Photographer Susan Quin Byrd travels the world in search of dramatic events, people, and places to be captured in the moment. Favorite subjects include the beauty of the American West and horses.

Patricia Cain works in acrylics and oils to paint abstract and representational works, from the landscapes that have captured her heart to the people and animals whose characters captivate her. Nancy Christy-Mooreuses a technique she calls “inner painting” to discover and create her abstracted floral and equine water-media works.

Nancy Michaelson, Green, acrylic, 24 x 72.

Nancy Michaelson, Green, acrylic, 24 x 72.

Oil and watercolor artist Sandi Ciaramitaro paints alla prima en plein air when she’s not working in the studio. Favorite subjects include Southwestern architecture, landscapes, and plants. Elizabeth Dunlop’s dichroic-glass-and-metal wall hangings and abstract, contemporary watercolor works come from the heart and speak to the heart, she says.

Travel and vivid dreams inspire Joan Collins’ abstract and representational paintings rendered in watercolors and acrylics. Her photography studies the patterns and color found in both nature and the world of man. Katalin Ehling combines watercolors with her “life’s work” in batik to produce abstract, figurative, and landscape works inspired by her frequent travels.

Sandy Tracey, Heavy Duty, acrylic, 48 x 36.

Sandy Tracey, Heavy Duty, acrylic, 48 x 36.

Betsy Glatz has been active in the arts community for more than 30 years; she creates glass wallscapes and abstract acrylic paintings. Beth Hyatt-Rapp paints large, intimate human and animal portraits, rendered in oil, that focus on what is communicated by the eyes and facial features.

Pamela Mangelsdorf is frequently visited by desert wildlife, and she captures these transient visitors—as well as domestic pets, flowers, and the occasional still life—in watercolor. Nancy Michaelson creates color-saturated, symbol-driven landscapes and still lifes that express the beauty she finds in her everyday life—restorative beauty that she believes transcends darker realities.

Misty Mulleneaux blends her love of color with cubist theory, sculpting and painting Picasso-inspired hounds, psychedelic guitars, and whimsically colored interiors and Southwestern landscapes. Carolyn Sato fashions symbolic, contemporary sculptures, often with semi-
precious gemstone elements, which re-create the visions of her meditations.

Employing multiple media, Sandy 
Tracey paints coloristic interpretations of the desert Southwest, with a particular fondness for saguaro cactus, muscle cars, and iconic Route 66 images. After a career in an ad agency and running a horse ranch in Arizona, Willi Waltrip returned to her love of fine art and now paints impressionistic, richly colored works depicting her beloved horses as well as ranching and rodeo scenes.

Acrylic artist Beth Zink’s love of desert botanicals spills across her large canvases with intensified color and close-up perspective. Her favorite subjects are colorful blooming cacti and wildflowers.—Laura Rintala

contact information
480.575.6624
www.hiddeninthehills.org

Featured in the November 2012 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art magazine November 2012 digital download
Southwest Art magazine November 2012 print edition
Or subscribe to Southwest Art magazine and never miss a story!


MORE RESOURCES FOR ART COLLECTORS & ENTHUSIASTS
Subscribe to Southwest Art magazine
Learn how to paint & how to draw with downloads, books, videos & more from North Light Shop
Sign up for your Southwest Art email newsletter & download a FREE ebook