Check in with 12 artists who were featured years ago
This story was featured in the October 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2014 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story!
Beth Loftin
Evelyne Boren
Vic Payne
Rod Hubble
Duffy Sheridan
Bill Worrell
Raj Chaudhuri
Paul Van Ginkel
Kent Ullberg
Michael Albrechtsen
C.M. Cooper
Randy Pijoan
Beth Loftin
Featured in 2001
Beth Loftin, Cowboys and Indians, oil, 24 x 30.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? Years ago, the focus of my work was to remind people about the culture that came before us—the men and women who built our country with their grit and bare hands. Now, I focus less on social statements and more on simple beauty and form. I’m also less bold with color, creating works with simpler, more peaceful shapes and calm images.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? Staying in the game! After 38 years of being a professional artist, each day devoted to my passion is a great accomplishment. Currently, I’m working on a monumental sculpture—that certainly feels like one of my greatest accomplishments so far. Also, having a son in 2007 as an older woman, and raising him, makes me feel like I can accomplish anything!
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? Moving to Bozeman, MT, in 1993, and joining the art community there. It was the rocket for my career. It’s a place full of positive energy and wonderful artists, and it created a support system I could have never imagined.
What are your goals for the future? My goals are to paint and sculpt works that express more emotion with fewer strokes, to stay grateful every day for this wonderful passion for creating, and to never retire. Raising my son and helping to educate his generation about the role of art in our society—and the role of our ancestors in creating our society—is also important.
What galleries represent your work? A. Banks Gallery, Bozeman, MT.
Evelyne Boren
Featured in 2003
Evelyne Boren, Red Sky NM, watercolor, 30 x 42.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? After several years of concentrating solely on oil painting, I have returned to my original love: watercolors. I enjoy painting on watercolor canvas and other surfaces. It can be a challenge, as the paint does not get absorbed like on paper. However, I like the effect that I can get working wet into wet. The advantage is that changes can be made easily.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? This year I had my 41st annual solo show at Galerie Des Artistes in Puerto Vallarta; to have over 4,000 original paintings in private and corporate collections around the world; being featured in the recent Landscapes of Enchantment PBS special; and having a book published about my life and art (Joie de Vivre).
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? After 10 years as an underwater stunt person in the motion pictures, to spend a good part of the year in Mexico and devote my life to painting, teaching, and traveling around the world.
What are your goals for the future? To continue learning, exploring new ways to express what I feel about a subject both in oils and watercolors; to have my paintings become bolder and simpler; and to continue to have yearly exhibitions and cultivate new friends and collectors.
What galleries represent your work? Acosta-Strong Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM, and Oklahoma City, OK; Heinley Fine Art, Taos, NM; Galerie Des Artistes, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Abend Gallery, Denver, CO; and Rich Timmons Studio & Gallery, Doylestown, PA.
Vic Payne
Featured in 2000
Vic Payne, Circle the Wagons, bronze, 18 x 21 x 10.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? Over the years, I’ve noticed my leaning toward capturing the exact history of the American West. I enjoy sharing these moments in history through my sculptures. I constantly push myself to become a better historian and sculptor, and my desire is to bring this exciting time to life through art. This past decade, the demand for my work has increasingly moved toward monumental sculpture.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? It has been an honor to be selected by such prestigious clients as Cabela’s, Artesia MainStreet, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to create monumental sculptures that are displayed all over the country. I was honored to receive the Premier Platinum Award in 2013 for a historic sculpture of Buffalo Bill, the Prince of Monaco, and Chief Plenty Coups during the Buffalo Bill Art Show and Sale. Also, one of my greatest joys is to observe the evolution of my son Dustin Payne’s talent in becoming an accomplished bronze sculptor.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? My first monument, EAGLE CATCHER, propelled my career toward
heroic-size sculptures. This provided me with new opportunities to create monumental bronzes for various corporate clients, collectors, and museums.
What are your goals for the future? To continue to do what I love: sculpt until
I’m 90, stay healthy, and love my family
and friends.
What galleries represent your work? Mountain Trails Gallery, Jackson, WY, and Park City, UT; Mountain Trails Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM; and Mountain Trails Galleries, Sedona, AZ.
Rod Hubble
Featured in 2003
Rod Hubble, Arid Grace, oil, 30 x 40.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? It is softer and more focused. For five years I took care of my dear mother, a beautiful experience for us. I continued to paint; our love infused into my art. The resonance of her passing had a great depth.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? At 67, painting professionally for over 40 years and making a living at it is a great accomplishment.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? My open studio in Taos, followed by running my own gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, allowed me to meet many collectors and helped me understand why my work was loved. I became more passionate about beauty, and allowed myself to be vulnerable to it. The admiration of others helped me love to work more.
What are your goals for the future? I will paint as long as my fingers will move. I will teach a few more years and may write a small book or make an instructional video. I compose music; I’m an amateur pianist of romantic songs much like my paintings. An artist’s creativity is of one theme, a central thread of that person’s consciousness.
What galleries represent your work? Bill Hester Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM; Sendero Gallery, Durango, CO; and Majestic Enchantment Art Gallery, Blanco, NM.
Duffy Sheridan
Featured in 2003
Duffy Sheridan, Head Study With White Scarf, Alexis, oil, 18 x 18.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? I like to think that my work is always in flux; I hope it is evolving and improving.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? I feel honored that I have received international recognition over the years, including being named a Living Master by the Art Renewal Center and receiving a number of awards in their annual Salon, and also receiving the President’s Award at the Florence Biennale and awards at many masters shows. I have also had the privilege of being a charter member of both the International Guild of Realism and the American Society of Traditional Artists.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? After living in remote locations around the world for so many years, upon returning to the United States, I received recognition through association with Mill Pond Press and the Art Renewal Center, and my work rapidly became known. It was heartening for me to know that such organizations considered my work to be of some worth when I first entered the United States art scene.
What are your goals for the future? My goals will always be to strive to create inspiring art and to share what I can with others. We have recently moved to Kauai, HI, where I am looking forward to doing more teaching.
What galleries represent your work? My main gallery representation is Jones & Terwilliger Galleries in Carmel and Palm Desert, CA.
Bill Worrell
Featured in 2000
Bill Worrell, Love, Peace, Light, bronze, 12 x 9 x 1.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? Although I continue to experiment with various art forms, my focus remains on shaman images and the pictographic art of the Lower Pecos region. My art has evolved into more intricate designs, and the marriage between sculptures, paintings, jewelry, and my writings has intensified.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? To continue to make a living as a full-time artist.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? When I first started out, I was on fire to be an artist. I went back to school and studied art, along with having a full-time job and a family. I would attempt to get my work into galleries and met rejection after rejection. Then I did a six-day float down the Lower Pecos River, during which violent storms forced me to take refuge in rock shelters. The art I found in those shelters forever changed the focus of my work. In this pictographic art, I found a spiritual connection.
What are your goals for the future? To create art, to continue writing, to produce additional CDs, to write more music, and to continue to assist those seeking to establish art careers.
What galleries represent your work? In 2012, my longtime friend Jay Boy Adams and his wife, Mary, opened a gallery on the corner of Palace Avenue and Washington Avenue in Santa Fe and named it Worrell Gallery. I am also represented by Exposures International in Sedona, AZ, and Sandstone Cellars Winery in Mason, TX.
Raj Chaudhuri
Featured in 2010
Raj Chaudhuri, Playing at the Pool, oil, 48 x 48.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? I have developed as an artist technically. In my paintings, I’ve been focusing on value and drawing, creating a clear visual idea with each painting. To improve my drawing and painting-from-life skills, I regularly paint live models with a group at the Art Students League of Denver. This has been great study for me in my growth as an artist.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? These past couple of years I have joined the faculty at the Art Students League of Denver. This has been a significant step in my artistic career. Receiving national-level awards at multiple Oil Painters of America and Salon International shows has helped me gain more recognition.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? Undoubtedly the Art Students League of Denver has been the biggest turning point of my artistic career. I had never attended art school or taken any college art classes prior to the League—I just developed my natural talent and desire to paint. The Art Students League helped me refine my process with a family of artists learning and painting alongside me. Similarly, teaching my own students has added another level of insight into my own art and process as well.
What are your goals for the future? To continue improving my drawing skills and to explore more subject matter in my work, as well as to continue teaching others what I’ve learned.
What galleries represent your work? Saks Galleries, Denver, CO; Jack Meier Gallery, Houston, TX.
Paul Van Ginkel
Featured in 2004
Paul Van Ginkel, Beautiful Break, oil, 48 x 72.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? Like every artist, I hope that the quality of my artwork has noticeably improved, and I’m getting more skilled with each new painting. Despite specializing in western subjects, I’ve also expanded into dance, figurative, architectural, and floral images. A lot of my current paintings are also larger with a greater amount of detail.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? There have been many accomplishments, however, two that immediately come to mind are: Being the first fine artist commissioned to paint the annual Calgary Stampede poster. Subsequent poster artists include Harley Brown and Oleg Stavrowsky. And second, opening my own gallery in Calgary and recently selling an equine painting for $45,000.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? Surviving cancer in 2009, and then recalibrating both my personal and professional life.
What are your goals for the future? My primary goal is to become a more proficient painter and to increase the demand for my work. Another proud achievement would be acceptance into prestigious exhibitions including the annual Prix de West and Masters of the American West shows.
What galleries represent your work? The Van Ginkel Art Gallery, Calgary, AB, Canada, and McLarry Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM.
Kent Ullberg
Featured in 2003
Kent Ullberg, Call to the Dance, bronze, 16 x 6 x 8.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? I have been constant- ly busy since then with many public commissions.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? My public sculptures in the United States and Europe.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? Without any doubt, coming to America and getting the chance to live my dream as an artist. I studied art in Sweden and kept sculpting while I worked at museums there and in Africa. In 1974 I was hired by the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to be the curator for the Botswana Hall they were creating. At the time, it was also the beginning of a major western-art movement, and I became friends with George Carlson. He recommended me to what is now called Prix de West. I won awards there, and that set the course of my career.
What are your goals for the future? I’ve been working for two years on a life-size mastodon for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. It’s emotional for me because it is exactly 40 years since I came to Denver to live my dream. Now 40 years later, I am placing a sculpture in front of the museum. It’s like closing a circle on my life.
What galleries represent your work? Helena Fox Fine Art, Charleston, SC; Paderewski Fine Art, Beaver Creek, CO; Pitzer’s Fine Arts, Wimberley, TX; Trailside Galleries, Jackson, WY, and Scottsdale, AZ; Whistle Pik Galleries, Fredericksburg, TX; and , Santa Fe, NM.
Michael Albrechtsen
Featured in 2000
Michael Albrechtsen, Nature’s Calm, oil, 36 x 36.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? I’ve been plein-air painting a lot more. My work used to have a lot more contrast, but now I think my paintings feel more real. My goal has always been to convey what I am experiencing while viewing a particular subject—color, air temperature, location, time of day, or emotion.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? Completing a large mural for the Mormon church. I have always wanted to give back to God a piece of what he has given me, and this was a way to accomplish that goal.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? Painting with an artist named Roger Blum and visiting with Ralph Oberg. In a conversation about our plein-air paintings, they discussed values they see outside versus what they see inside and color theories to achieve some of those subtleties seen while painting outdoors. I feel that conversation was invaluable to my career.
What are your goals for the future? I want to get out and paint even more and see as many different parts of the world as I possibly can. I look forward to getting out in nature more and experiencing the love I have for the outdoors. Maybe even get back to participating in more shows.
What galleries represent your work? Whistle Pik Galleries, Fredericksburg, TX; Legacy Gallery, Jackson, WY, and Scottsdale, AZ; Highlands Art Gallery, Lambertville, NJ; and The Rice Gallery, Overland Park, KS.
C.M. Cooper
Featured in 2003
C.M. Cooper, Gifts of Joy, oil, 20 x 16.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? I hope my drawing skills have improved and my studies from life are at a more consistent level. Working from life is always tricky because there are so many psychological factors involved that affect our ability to concentrate and maintain a level of focus.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? I do not enter enough shows, but I did receive a top award from Salon International a few years back. I am also working for a company painting in my own style but using licensed characters as my subjects. I also have expanded my teaching.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? My biggest positive turning points have been winning awards in small venues and being included in some great shows. On the not-so-good side, the downturn of the economy cut back on sales from some good galleries and caused one great gallery [of mine] to close down.
What are your goals for the future? I hope to keep improving [various aspects of] my technique, including my drawing, composition, color, edges, et cetera.
What galleries represent your work? Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA; Tirage Gallery, Pasadena, CA; Evalyn Dunn Gallery, Westfield, NJ; Richland Fine Art, Nashville, TN.
Randy Pijoan
Featured in 2010
Randy Pijoan, Villa Grove Reservation, oil, 60 x 72.
How has your artwork changed since you were last featured? It’s gotten larger. Five-by-7-foot paintings have been taking up a lot of the easel time and studio real estate, and my body of hand-pulled prints has grown to include reduction woodblock prints and lithography.
What have been your greatest accomplishments since then? In 2010 I was illustrating Milagro of the Spanish Bean Pot. The book won a Western Heritage award and other national honors. On a different level, walking the Camino de Santiago [a popular pilgrimage in Spain] with my father after the traumatic death of my mother, regrouping myself and my work, and being better because of it.
What has been the biggest turning point in your career? Realizing that I never had to repeat myself in painting, from the debut of Phrasism and the urban nightscapes through any of my 10 art movements. As long as I kept the poetry fresh and followed my instincts artistically, the business followed.
What are your goals for the future? Finishing a two-year project for the first major national showing of my Camino de Santiago paintings, curated by artist Tony Ortega, which debuts in Denver in February 2015. I would also like to expand my audience and galleries to handle larger-format paintings, and to secure representation in China and eastern Europe.
What galleries represent your work? Sugarman Peterson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Sunset Art Gallery, Amarillo, TX; Ventero Open Press Fine Art, San Luis, CO; and Gallery 903, Portland, OR.
Featured in the October 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art October 2014 print issue or digital download Or subscribe to Southwest Art 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