Spotlight | Hidden in the Hills Studio Tour

Various locations, Cave Creek, AZ
November 22-24 & November 29-December 1

Dick Mueller, I’m Watching You, colored pencil, 12 x 17.

This story was featured in the November 2013 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2013 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story!

This month, the Sonoran Arts League presents the 17th annual Hidden in the Hills Studio Tour. For two weekends in November, 46 artists’ studios open to the public in the Sonoran Foothills communities of Cave Creek, Carefree, and North Scottsdale, AZ. Working in these studios are more than 165 artists who produce everything from jewelry and ceramics to glasswork and oil paintings. A full-color, 112-page studio directory is available for purchase online, and visitors can create and download a free, custom tour map from the website. Here we introduce you to just a few of the artists participating in this year’s studio tour.

Karen Budan, Cactus Beauty, oil, 20 x 16.

Karen Budan works in oils and pastels to create brightly colored still-life paintings. Favorite subjects include vintage toys and marbles, southwestern cacti and flowers, and vibrant fruits and vegetables. Linda Budge’s deep affinity with animals is the creative impetus of her oil paintings. Her general knowledge of animal behavior and anatomy come from a lifetime of observing and working with animals. She paints the wildlife of places she has lived, dogs, and burros.

Sandi Ciaramitaro began her art career as a draftsman for General Motors in Detroit, but after visiting Arizona once, she and her family promptly relocated to the desert Southwest. She paints desert landscapes and florals in both transparent watercolor and oil. Elizabeth Cox fashions dried gourds into stylized Gambel’s quails (the indigenous, top-knotted ground-dwelling bird found in her area). She then adorns each piece with an original desert scene using inks and pyrography.

Lucy Dickens says that she’s drawn to the landscape and moments in it that take her breath away. She captures the landscapes of her home area of Arizona as well as those of her far-flung travels in Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Israel. Betsy Glatz has been active in the art community for over 40 years. She paints large, abstract works in acrylic and makes glass wallscapes inspired by her energy and interpretation of movement and color.

With an insatiable wanderlust, artist Paul Kinslow has journeyed through both far-reaching lands and many professions. Now his passion is to create images of the landscapes he’s traveled through—in acrylic or oil paintings or photographs—and the animals found therein. Dick Mueller works with colored pencil and graphite to produce western scenes, figurative pieces, and wildlife drawings that have won him numerous awards from the Phippen Museum Western Art Show in the category of drawing. —Laura Rintala

contact information
480.575.6624
 www.hiddeninthehills.org

Featured in the November 2013 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art November 2013 print issue or digital download
Or subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!