Sedona AZ (September 27, 2018) – A stellar line-up of artists is scheduled for this autumn’s Renegades Art Show! Representing a wide range of artistic backgrounds, this select group of local artists will be displaying bronze and ceramic sculptures, oil and watercolor paintings, fine art photography, jewelry, and beautiful gourds under one roof. And every sale will benefit the Verde Valley Caregivers Coalition, an award-winning charity that assists older adults in maintaining their independence and quality of life!
The exhibit will be in the Special Exhibition Gallery at the Sedona Arts Center. It runs October 3 through October 9 and includes a festive First Friday artists’ reception. The show is open 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily, plus all the artists will be on hand for the First Friday event from 5:00 to 8:00 PM on October 5th.
Everyone is cordially invited to visit the show and the reception. You’ll see recent works from a group that brings a remarkable diversity of life experiences and artistic backgrounds to their endeavors.
Karen O’Donnell, for example, received college training in art but then moved to a long career in the insurance industry. Relatively new to Sedona, she embraces a wide variety of subject matter for her paintings, from beautiful sweeping landscapes and architecture to human and animal portraiture. All are unique and stamped with her own imaginative style.
Mary Helsaple is a renowned contemporary environmental painter whose goal is to create works connecting people to nature. Her paintings intimately reflect and interpret our surroundings, and through them the natural environment comes alive. Her creations encourage us to understand and accept the diversity of our planet and its inhabitants by telling a visual story of the human/nature relationship. “We protect what we know and love, and we preserve what we protect,” she notes.
Pat Priolo comes from a long and rewarding career as a social worker and social services manager. She is still in the business of making the lives of people better, now achieving that as a masterful gourd and jewelry artist. She often incorporates Southwestern and Native American themes into her works, always with an intense and energizing inventiveness guaranteeing that no two pieces will ever be alike.
Gary Jenkins is one of the best known floral painters in America. If his name sounds familiar – yes, it’s THAT Gary Jenkins, the one who, with his wife Kathwren, started the first nationwide art instruction series on the PBS TV network and enjoyed a long and successful career there as well as with his own series of classes and video tutorials. Collectors around the world regularly acquire his distinctive works.
Adryanna B Ciera shares her love of nature through her sculptures of animal and human forms. She has an extensive understanding of anatomy, which shows in her animals, and you will see her play with that knowledge as she skillfully stretches reality in her human forms. Coming from successful careers in both massage therapy and the training and breeding of Arabian horses, she lets her hands have carte blanche after her initial visualization of the intention for each sculpture.
Award winning photographer Jim Peterson is inspired by the stunning landscapes of the Southwest, where he grew up and first snapped a shutter. He earned a B.A. in Music and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Chicago, and then went on to a long and successful career in the tech industry. After retirement, he reinvigorated his longstanding passion for photography. His highly original works have received numerous awards and honors in juried shows and international competitions and have been acquired by collectors worldwide.
Karl Williams’ work with ceramics has progressed over the years to the point where he surprises even himself. Always creating outside the box, he might, for example, be found using the female torso as a pallet reflecting strength, purity, and complexity. His body of works embodies a profusion of passionate feelings, from colorful and free to sadness and heartbreak, to peace and tranquility. His depiction of owls, whimsical and wise at the same time, is unlike anything you might see elsewhere.
Rick Gandolfo is one of those artists who reminds us that those who create are generally ahead of their time. He notes that painting allows him to reflect deep, personal, and emotional responses to his surroundings. Thus, his viewers discover new ways to look at the world on both a conscious and unconscious level.
Carol Gandolfo, a painter and photographer, holds a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and, after a successful career in the defense industry, now operates a busy practice helping the developmentally disabled. She also volunteers extensively for emergency response agencies and The Verde Valley Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Her abiding interest in people and animals (especially cats) has considerable influence on her art, helping her to capture fleeting moments that reveal her subjects’ inner moods.
The Special Exhibition Gallery is on the lower level of the Sedona Arts Center at 15 Art Barn Road, Sedona AZ 86336. For additional information, contact Jim Peterson at 928-554-4340.
