Three Arizona-based artists detail their careers and creative processes.

 

Pokey Park

Where do you live and work?
I live and work in Tucson, Arizona, in the winter and migrate to the southeast coast of Massachusetts in the summer on Buzzards Bay. I am presently building a studio room addition on my Massachusetts home—my first dedicated space. I’ve found I can create sculpture in any size space: inside or out. The desire to create is the important driving force.

What are your favorite subjects to depict?
Endangered wildlife and other animals. Then birds, reptiles and children.

What is your creative process?
Ideas come first: myths, old fables, cultural symbols, children’s stories or simply an animal with a certain attitude that catches my eye. Then I make a small enough maquette (in oil-based clay) that is easily manipulated by bending, twisting and reassembling. The goal is to achieve my basic design shape—to achieve the flow of lines and negative spaces before I begin to refine or enlarge.

Where did you study art?
Workshops at Pond Farm Pottery in Gureneville, California, Taos Institute of Art and many others. I have a BFA from the University of Georgia, but it is mostly watching other artists over many years [that has influenced me]. Observation and questioning about materials and methods is the greatest teacher.

What are some of the highlights of your art career?
Receiving a commission to create 36 iconic animals for a California-based children’s hospital. During installation I was blessed with seeing the joyful response of the extremely ill children to my work. I still receive thank yous from staff and parents. A synergistic moment for me.

contact information
pokeypark.com

representation
K. Newby Gallery, Tubac, AZ, newbygallery.com
The Fredericksburg Good Art Company, Fredericksburg, TX, goodartcompany.com
Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK, lovettsgallery.com
SmithKlein Gallery, Boulder, CO, smithklein.com

Jacqueline Chanda

Where do you live and work?
I live and work in Tucson, Arizona.

What are your favorite subjects to depict?
As a representational oil painter, my favorite subject is people. I enjoy capturing moments in time; happy, sad moments hidden in the commonplace and transient scenes of everyday life.
I call these slices of life. My work is inspired from my personal experiences and observations.

What is your creative process?
To create my street and café scenes, I work from sketches done from life/observation and reference photos. I do small drawings and sometimes oil studies to develop the composition. When I am satisfied with a composition, I transfer the image to a larger canvas and begin to paint. However, I change things, putting more people in or taking others out as I develop the painting.

Where did you study art?
As an undergrad I attended UCLA and majored in drawing and painting. Graduate work took me to Paris, France, where I studied at the École Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, worked at the Port Royale Art Academy Port, a painting atelier, and did theory course work at the Sorbonne University.

What are some of the highlights of your art career?
Winning first prize in painting at the West Valley Art Museum show Celebration of Artists in Peoria, Arizona; having my artwork featured in a monthly publication that is distributed by mail to the Catalina Foothills and Tanque Verde valley communities of Tucson; and winning an International Women’s Study Center Artist Fellowship in Residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

contact information
jacquelinechanda.com

representation
ArtNova Gallery, Chatham, MA, artnovagallery.com
Calloway Fine Art & Consulting, Georgetown, D.C., callowayart.com
Eisele Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, eiselefineart.com
Broadmoor Galleries, Colorado Springs, CO, broadmoorgalleries.com

Sheila Cottrell

Where do you live and work?
Tucson, Arizona.

What are your favorite subjects to depict?
I enjoy painting anything to do with the West, past and present, but I especially love illustrating the tales of pioneering adventures my family experienced.

What is your creative process?
I am most well-known for my nocturnes and creating interest with light is always an issue. Artist Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939) used a cowboy lighting a cigarette to create warmth and show facial features, which always attracts people. But since the 1960s, with the emphasis on health, few people want paintings with cigarettes. The image of a lone cowboy working, especially at night, is synonymous with the Old West; so I have been using the warm light of lanterns to show their features and counter the cool moonlight.

Where did you study art?
University of Arizona and Scottsdale Artists’ School, but I feel that my real painting education began with my tutorship under James Reynolds.

What are some of the highlights of your art career?
One of the highlights of my art career was a two-artist show with James Reynolds at Claggett/Rey Gallery in 2005.

contact information
sheilacottrell.com

representation
Settlers West Galleries, Tucson, AZ, settlerswest.com.
Big Horn Galleries, Tubac, AZ, bighorngalleries.com.

This story appeared in the December 2023/January 2024 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.