A Portfolio of Winners

25 painters working in a wide range of genres

This story was featured in the January 2013 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Order the Southwest Art January 2013 print edition, or download the Southwest Art January 2013 issue now…Or just subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss an issue!

Last month we introduced you to the winners of our Artistic Excellence 
competition. This month we bring you another group of talented artists: 
The painters featured in the following pages were all finalists in the 29th Annual 
Art Competition recently presented by The Artist’s Magazine, a sister 
publication to Southwest Art. They hail from around the country, and their 
subject matter and media are diverse. We hope you enjoy their impressive work.

 

Dennis Joseph Yanoski

Where did you study art? I have been blessed with great mentors. I have been surrounded by talented artists and wonderful people who I have learned from on many different levels. I went to high school in South Amboy, NJ, and my art teacher, Mrs. Reese, invested in my talents by giving me my first oil set, which I still use today. She helped me get a grant to attend Montclair State University in New Jersey, where I received a bachelor’s in studio art. I continue to take courses and watch videos from various teachers and artists.

How would you describe your style? In college, one of my painting professors was Peter Barnett, who taught that subject matter should be viewed from uncommon angles. This helped me develop a style that I call contemporary intrinsic realism.
What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? I have many paintings in private collections. Doing one-man art shows in galleries, doing outdoor art fairs, and being a finalist in The Artist’s Magazine painting competition are all meaningful.

What are your goals for the future? To paint a painting that makes the sea so lifelike that when you pick up the work, you feel like you’re holding water.

 

Tricia Kaman

Where did you study art? I received my formal training at Cooper School of Art in Cleveland, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and the Art Students League of New York. I continue my training at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia.

How would you describe your style? Classic, natural, and realistic. I work primarily in oils, and I paint portraits and figurative works. I also work in pastels. I paint only one or two landscape or still-life pieces a year, and though I have made prints of these, most of the originals are kept at my summer cottage for my personal enjoyment.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? I feel especially honored when my paintings earn a place in international competitions (18 in the past two years). Solo shows are the brass ring, and I have had four of them to date with a fifth on the way.

What are your goals for the future? To be invited to show with other nationally recognized artists. To have a solo show at a museum and to publish a book of my work.

What galleries represent your work? Agora Gallery, New York, NY; Tricia Kaman Studio Gallery, Cleveland, OH.

 

William Whitaker

Where did you study art? I got most of my fundamentals in drawing and painting from my painter father in the 1950’s. He was an amazing colorist, and he taught me everything he knew about color. I studied figure and portrait drawing and painting with the highly gifted portrait painter Alvin Gittins at the University of Utah.

How would you describe your style? I think I would call it classical realism. I’ve explored just about every style I know over the past 40 years, but I currently prefer working in oil and casein on smooth panels using 17th-century techniques.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Apart from being featured in Southwest Art several times, I guess it would be being featured in the PBS TV series Profiles in American Art during the 1980s.

What are your goals for the future? To paint until the hour I die. My eyes are healthy. My hand is steady. I count my blessings. I’m also comforted to know that art is an old person’s business. Unlike athletes, artists just get better with age.

What galleries represent your work? Trailside Galleries, Jackson, WY, and Scottsdale, AZ; Nedra Matteucci Galleries, Santa Fe, NM; Whistle Pik Galleries, Fredericksburg, TX; Cornerstone Gallery of Fine Art, Salt Lake City, UT.

 

David Beal

Where did you study art? I studied anatomy, drawing, and painting at the Art Students League of New York with Robert Beverly Hale, Daniel Greene, and Robert Emil Schulz, and I studied illustration at Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, OH.

How would you describe your style? I’m a storytelling realist who enjoys a little mystery—classic in composition, methods, and techniques while looking for new, provocative ways to tell relationship stories.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? It sounds geeky, but when I was 16 years old, President Gerald Ford contacted me to thank me for the mural work I was doing to commemorate the bicentennial. It was a big deal for a kid from a small town in Ohio. I began to recognize that being an artist was actually a career option.

What are your goals for the future? To continue learning and improving not only in the craft but also in the messages I convey with my work, and to edit content in order to provide clearer messages. To say more with less.

 

Sidne Teske

Where did you study art? I am primarily self-taught, although I have taken workshops with Len Chmiel, Ted Goerschner, George Carlson, Herman Margulies, and Laura Ross-Paul.

How would you describe your style? Sort of a hodgepodge. I like the immediacy and energy of the look of marks, so I use a toothy support. I also like the way colors interact, and I play with that a lot.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? I have received many awards and honors. But I think the most meaningful to me is that people part with their hard-earned money to purchase something I have made so that they can live with it. That is pretty cool.

What are your goals for the future? I am really interested in continuing my exploration of the human figure, combining the figure with landscape, and playing with positive and negative spaces. I would like to publish a children’s book and am fascinated with the world of artists’ books.

What galleries represent your work? My work is available at my studio and at www.sidneteske.com.

 

Paula Holtzclaw

Where did you study art? I am essentially a self-taught artist, which I believe helped me to find my own voice. I have in recent years studied at the Scottsdale Artists’ School with Joni Falk and Linda Glover Gooch and also with Jeff Legg and Scott Christensen.

How would you describe your style? My style has evolved into what I would call painterly realism. I’m pretty much in the middle between being tight and loose in my renderings.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Each award or recognition that I receive means so much to me! One that was especially meaningful was an award from the American Women Artists at their national show in Scottsdale in 2007.

What are your goals for the future? To just keep improving, having each painting be better than the last. As long as that is happening, then everything else falls into place.

What galleries represent your work? Cheryl Newby Gallery, Pawleys Island, SC; Burchtree Fine Art, Wayne, PA; Providence Gallery Fine Art, Charlotte, NC; Horizon Fine Art Gallery, Jackson Hole, WY; Highlands Art Gallery, Bernardsville, NJ; Edgartown Art Gallery, Edgartown, MA.

 

Lee Alban

Where did you study art? I have been drawing since I was a child and was self-taught until age 52, when I attended the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore.

How would you describe your style? I use thin layers of color and paints made from powdered pigments. I sometimes use an underpainting and glazing with Maroger medium. The subjects are rendered in a tight, realistic style, although my landscapes can be more impressionistic.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Most meaningful to me is the publicity I have received from various media. Last summer International Artist magazine included a 12-page spread about my work. Southwest Art has featured my work on two previous occasions.

What are your goals for the future? Right now I am working on a series of paintings featuring trains and other railroad images. I have also collected a lot of lighthouse images and would like to paint them someday.

What galleries represent your work? Gallery Elite, Carmel, CA; Scottsdale Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ; Paderewski Fine Art, Beaver Creek, CO; Wynne Fine Art, Chatham, MA; Main St. Gallery, Annapolis, MD.

 

Pat Moseuk

Where did you study art? I began at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland for two years and then transferred to the Academy of Art College in San Francisco (now the Academy of Art University), where I received a bachelor of fine arts in illustration.

How would you describe your style? Contemporary. 
My paintings are a reflection of what I see, feel, and interpret. I start with a theme and then engage in a dialogue with the piece, layering textures, found objects, and vivid colors, spontaneously working on canvas or paper. With a background in design and illustration, I’m always balancing shapes, dimension, texture and color.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? In the last two years I started entering a few art competitions, and I would say that it is being a finalist in The Artist’s Magazine’s competition this year. Last year I was accepted into a fine-art fair that only a few new artists could enter.

What are your goals for the future? I want to always keep growing as an artist and to one day find my muse. I would like to get my master’s degree in fine art and study abroad for a year, probably when my son attends college.

What galleries represent your work? M.J. Studios, Pleasant Hill, CA.

 

Robin Murray

Where did you study art? I am self-taught. I was schooled at home and have no formal education in art.

How would you describe your style? Realism.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? I was accepted into Artists for Conservation, an elite group of 500 nature artists.

What are your goals for the future? To gain recognition as an artist, to make my art a full-time career, and to use my art to help nature conservation.

 

 Elaine Kurie

Where did you study art? Temple University in Philadelphia and the Grand Central Academy of Art in New York City.

How would you describe your work? I would describe myself as a contemporary realist. I am interested in painting images that convey a sense of serenity, clarity, and quiet strength. Working under natural, ambient light and using restrained color, I concentrate on painting the feeling of the air and the surrounding atmosphere that envelops the still-life setups in my studio as well as the mood evoked by certain lighting conditions. I distill the objects to their essential forms and avoid extraneous details. In this way, images emerge that reflect the stillness of the moment and the subject’s inherent strength.

What is the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Exhibiting in the 2012 Fort Wayne Museum of Art’s Contemporary Realism Biennial, a national invitational and juried exhibition.

What are your goals for the future? To continue working on a new series of paintings and to challenge myself artistically.
What galleries represent your work? My work is available by contacting me at [email protected].

 

Keith Wilkie

Where did you study art? I’m self-taught. I’ve had the opportunity to visit many of the world’s finest museums—some quite often—closely observing and admiring work by Monet, Sargent, Homer, and the like. I’ve done plenty of reading and taken online workshops as well, but mostly I learn on my own by painting.

How would you describe your style? Realism with a touch of impressionism. Some of my works look almost like photographs, while other paintings are much looser, but they almost always include rather bold colors.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Seeing a child say “wow” when seeing one of my seascapes in person. I’ve also been accepted into many national juried exhibitions, which is always encouraging, but probably the most meaningful was when one of my seascapes was accepted by the American Society of Marine Artists for a national traveling exhibit.

What are your goals for the future? To begin painting full time. To increase exposure for my work by gaining representation in one or more galleries.

 

Calvin Lai

Where did you study art? I received my bachelor’s degree in art at San Francisco State University, and I am currently finishing up a master’s degree at the Academy of Art University.

How would you describe your style? I love realism, and it’s this love that makes me strive to achieve as close of a representation to my subject as I can. But within this aspiration, I also like to give some indication that what the viewer is looking at is indeed a painting. Playing with the areas of focus and kinds of brushwork and varying the degrees of development within different areas helps me achieve this effect.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Becoming one of the finalists in The Artist’s Magazine’s Annual Art Competition.

What are your goals for the future? I plan on staying in the San Francisco Bay Area and continuing my work as an artist. My main focus will be painting realistic figurative and portrait work, but I hope to be branching out into landscapes and still lifes. I also plan on working as a children’s book illustrator and a muralist.

 

Yvonne Korotky

Where did you study art? I am a self-taught artist. Although I was mentored for two years by two different professional artists, I initially bought some art books, paint, and brushes and went to work. I had a passion to paint from the beginning.

How would you describe your style? I paint colorfully, realistically, and where possible I use my imagination for some backgrounds. Lately I have become more creative than when I first began painting.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? My most meaningful recognitions were winning a juried competition and having my painting NEW YORK FARMLAND published in a book titled Eyes On Landscapes by Blaze Hill Press in May of 2012.

What are your goals for the future? To continue painting to become the very best artist I can be with God’s help. When I sell a painting, I donate 75 percent of the money to those who need it most. I sincerely believe helping others is what I am meant to do.

 

Teresa Onoda

Where did you study art? I graduated from Creighton University with a degree in fine arts.

How would you describe your style? My style is to use extremes in regard to color and contrast, so that the painting becomes a verb and not a noun.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? I do a large number of commissions for collectors who have very sophisticated taste and hang my work alongside other California artists whom I greatly admire.

What are your goals for the future? I do not look far into the future. My work has a kind of flow, and it seems to give me direction. I do see that my compositions are requiring larger and larger canvases.

What galleries represent your work? Cohen Abee Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Nancy Dodds Gallery, Carmel, CA; Kavanaugh Art Gallery, 
Des Moines, IA.

 

Nancy Bass

Where did you study art? I studied art at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Drake University in Des Moines, IA, but my real art education has been at workshops at the Scottsdale Artists’ School and with many inspiring teachers.

How would you describe your style? My style is the combination of realistic portraits of animals against color-field abstraction. My paintings are inspired by my own herd of cows with their individual names and personalities. My husband and I have raised cows for more than 30 years on our farm.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? The most meaningful recognition I have received for my work has been being a finalist for the last three years in The Artist’s Magazine competition and being included in the exhibition titled Color Study at the Asheville Art Museum alongside famous color-field painters such as Morris Louis.

What are your goals for the future? To find a gallery in the western United States and to paint the animals of that region inspired by a western color palette.

What galleries represent your work? Nichols Gallery Annex, Barboursville, VA; Berkley Gallery, Warrenton, VA; Pandion Gallery, Fishers Island, NY.

 

Kort Duce

Where did you study art? I graduated from the University of Montana with a bachelor of arts degree. I majored in history and journalism but took several art classes. After graduation, I worked as a newspaper photographer and later moved into magazine, commercial, and industrial photography.

How would you describe your style? My style is vibrant. I prefer clean, simple lines and a bright color palette. Texture also is very important. Whether through photography or painting, my journalism background has instilled in me a desire to tell stories. Right now, I am painting a rooster and chicken series. It’s fun because, for me, painting is pure imagination.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? In 2011, the director of the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho contacted me about displaying my art after she saw how people reacted to paintings I had entered in a local fair. The museum displayed 24 of my paintings and used them to educate local students about color theory and using your imagination to create art.

What are your goals for the future? I am searching for gallery representation and would like to sell more paintings.

 

McGarren Flack

Where did you study art? I earned my bachelor of fine arts from Brigham Young University in illustration, then I studied at Corry Studio of Figurative Art while getting my master’s of fine art in painting and drawing at the University of Utah.

How would you describe your style? Painterly realism. The ability to make an image come to life while showing brush strokes is my end goal.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? This year I received the Award of Excellence from the Portrait Society of America.

What are your goals for the future? For this year it would be to get gallery representation outside of Utah, become a finalist in the Portrait Society of America competition, run a marathon in 2:45, paint 50 portraits, and buy a Tesla S.

What galleries represent your work? Authentique Gallery, St. George, UT; Contemporary Design & Art Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT.

 

Carol Schinkel

Where did you study art? I would like to say I am self-taught, but I have actually been taught by many people through workshops, classes, and museum and gallery visits. The truth is I have studied extensively, but under my own curriculum.

How would you describe your style? My style is experimental. When I start a painting or a series of paintings, I decide to work with an element such as a specific texture or a certain combination of colors. I proceed from there, letting the painting guide me, many times working through multiple layers before the puzzle is solved.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? People who have purchased my work tell me (sometimes years later) that they love having it and how it affects them.

What are your goals for the future? First, to keep discovering the possibilities by experimenting and studying. Second, finding suitable places for my art to be shown.

 

Ray-Mel Cornelius

Where did you study art? East Texas State University in Commerce, TX (now Texas A&M University, Commerce).

How would you describe your style? I paint in a representational style, although not necessarily in a realistic style. I paint images of subjects with which I have had some experience or personal connection. After I have decided on the subject, I approach the painting process with an eye to color, tonal value, and texture.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Anytime someone is moved by, or feels a connection to, my work, it is very gratifying. Communication between the viewer and me is the best recognition I can have.

What are your goals for the future? I want to continue to create work that satisfies me and finds an appreciative audience. By continuing to work, I hope to become a better painter.

What galleries represent your work? Copper Moon Gallery, Taos, NM; Monte Wade Fine Arts Gallery, San Antonio, TX; Norwood Flynn Gallery, Dallas, TX.

 

Suzanne McCourt

Where did you study art? I became many things before a fine artist: registered nurse, insurance agent, entrepreneur. I have been a professional fine artist for 20 years. I studied at Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA. I have studied with Howard Ikemoto, Bob Burridge, Mike Bailey, Christopher Schink, Don Andrews, and Arne Westerman.

How would you describe your style? The love of the process is at the heart of my work. I love globs of paint and experimentation. I came upon many articles, photos, memorabilia, and handmade papers and started to incorporate these into my designs. This has led me to find my voice.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Being the official artist of the 25th Annual AT&T Pebble Beach National Golf Pro-Am. I am the first female to be asked to become the program artist.
What are your goals for the future? I am currently moving forward to national and international representation. I recently expanded from a 450-square-foot studio to a new 1,300-square-foot studio to expand production of my work.

 

Suzie Seerey-Lester

Where did you study art? I took my first formal art class in 1990 in San Diego, and then I took several workshops around the country with different instructors.

How would you describe your style? I paint in a realistic form, with lots of detail. I am trying to be looser.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? I have won many prestigious awards, but what has been most meaningful for me is to be accepted several times into the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s annual Birds in Art show.

What are your goals for the future? My goals are to paint, paint, paint! My husband and I will be working on several art books this year; there may be a book of my art in the works.

What galleries represent your work? Trailside Galleries, Jackson Hole, WY, and Scottsdale, AZ; Hueys Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM; Germanton Art Gallery, Germanton, NC; The Plainsmen Gallery, Clearwater, FL.

 

Carol E. Maltby

Where did you study art? I am a self-taught artist. Reading books and talking to other artists is my main connection to different media. I’ve been drawing all of my life.

How would you describe your style? My style is realistic. Realism is my forte, although I have tried other forms.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? I think my most meaningful recognition is when I receive the appreciation and approval of my peers. I’ve won several best of shows and first prizes in various shows and have many works in collections around the country.

What are your goals for the future? I have no immediate goals for the future, just to do the best with the subjects that take my eye.

What galleries represent your work? My work is available by contacting me at [email protected].

 

Linda Israel

Where did you study art? I studied art and design at the University of Colorado and the New York School of Interior Design in Manhattan. I also learn so much about art through observing nature and the animal kingdom. I am inspired each day by the wonder of nature.

How would you describe your style? Colorful expression of nature. I love color!

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Hearing people tell me how I have “captured the souls of the animals” in my paintings and how that touches them and makes them smile.

What are your goals for the future? My goal is to continue to express my deep gratitude and connection to animals and nature. I continue to paint from a soulful place, so that others reconnect to the beauty of this earth expressed in the joy of color.

What galleries represent your work? Aspen Art Gallery, Aspen, CO; Center for Visual Arts, Steamboat Springs, CO; Natural Accents Gallery, Taos, NM; Robert Kelly Home, Park City, UT; Stone Heart Gallery, Evergreen, CO; SmithKlein Gallery, Boulder, CO; Whispering Pine, Grand Lake, CO.

 

Laurie Schwartz

Where did you study art? I have learned the methods and techniques of the old masters, having studied part time for many years at the Schuler School for Fine Arts. I have also taken several workshops with David Leffel.

How would you describe your style? I would describe my style as realism with my own creative twist, primarily through the selection of unusual subjects or compositions.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? Having my work hung in a juried show at the National Arts Club in New York City and being recognized as a finalist from a field of over 1,000 entries, including many nationally recognized artists, by The Artist’s Magazine’s annual competition.

What are your goals for the future? To continue to grow and improve as an artist and to continue to push myself to tackle ever more challenging subjects. I would also like to branch out to paint more plein-air landscapes.

What galleries represent your work? I show my work in several local galleries, cafés, and shows. My website is 
www.laurieschwartz.com.

 

Joe Anna Arnett

Where did you study art? I earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Texas, and after that I moved to New York. There, I began my studies at the Art Students League. It was a wonderful experience.

How would you describe your style? If I must select some words, it would have to include romantic because I’m a romantic. It would have to include the word optimist because I’m that, too. I’m also a realist because I begin my work with something that already exists. So, perhaps that makes me a romantic, optimistic realist, with my execution including a casual, relaxed, and confident brush.

What’s the most meaningful recognition you’ve received for your artwork? I was invited to the Artists of America show for 11 years and the Prix de West for 14 years, but the most meaningful recognition is when someone looks at one of my paintings and really experiences a moment of enjoyment, or when I look at the faces of my students and see that they are truly learning and understanding.

What are your goals for the future? To continue to grow, to create compelling paintings, and to continue to expand my subject areas so that my work remains fresh.

What galleries represent your work? Zaplin Lampert Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.

 

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

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