Sedona News – After a pandemic-era break of over 2 years, the Sedona Renegades are back in the saddle! The local artist group is pleased to announce its Summer 2022 Art Exhibit at the Sedona Arts Center.
Running from July 31 through August 28, 2022, this show features some of the area’s most gifted and skilled artists displaying a remarkable variety of works. The public is cordially invited to hang out with the artists at a First Friday Artists Reception, August 5 from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM.
And every sale from the show will benefit the Verde Valley Caregivers Coalition, an award-winning charity that assists older adults in maintaining their independence and quality of life!
The Sedona Renegades bring a remarkable diversity of life experiences and backgrounds to their artistic endeavors. Karen O’Donnell, for example, studied art in college but then kicked off a career in the insurance industry. Her art is founded in impressionism, mixed with a splash of contemporary flair. She paints in a variety of mediums, with oil her current preference, and is adding watercolor to expand and spark her imagination.
Award-winning photographer Jim Peterson is inspired by the stunning landscapes of the Southwest, where he grew up and first snapped a shutter. His highly original images have received numerous awards and have been acquired by collectors worldwide. In recent years he has explored new expressive dimensions by adding infrared photography to his repertoire.
Woodturner Keith Knisley has refined his skills and designs over many years through his own efforts plus interactions with woodturners from across the country. His elegant bowls, platters, finial ornaments, boxes, and bottle stoppers incorporate both domestic and exotic woods with smooth, durable, food safe finishes.
Carol Gandolfo is a painter, photographer, author, and clinical psychologist. She runs a company assisting the developmentally disabled and is the President of The Verde Valley Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Her abiding interest in people and animals (especially cats) resonates through her works, helping her capture fleeting moments that reveal her subjects’ inner moods in her striking portraits.
Self-taught painter Cathy Knisley is a physician who returned to art after retiring and enjoys exploring different painting media. After mastering abstract cellism using fluid acrylics, she expanded into other fluid arts, including resins, alcohol inks, and watercolors. These inspire her multifaceted expressions of imagination with endless opportunities for discovery.
Jodie Ball is a native Texan who has made Sedona her permanent home. After retiring from her career as a biochemist, she began pursuing her other passion, art and painting. She has had the good fortune to do a lot of European travel and see a lot of the great art in other countries. These travels plus the beauty of Sedona provide a wellspring of inspiration for her captivating paintings.
After retiring from a career as a photographer and photography teacher, Judy Feldman discovered the fine art of creating jewelry using glass beads. For her, beads work like pixels from which she fashions abstracts, patterns, and other designs using colors in a way that is different from a camera. She usually uses Japanese and Czech beads, and her entrancing works can embody as many as 3500 individual beads.
Born in France and raised in Spain, Monique Kristofors became an American citizen at age 17. After a successful career in public service, she moved to Sedona in 2011 and has not stopped painting ever since. Influenced by Pablo Picasso and other 20th century masters, her vibrant paintings range between abstract and realism, with the themes and subject forever changing and evolving.
A passion for art has energized multimedia artist Nora Sims since she was a small child. She starts each piece with a simple question, such as: “I wonder what it would look like if…?” She makes generous and imaginative use of repurposed materials, and has mastered the art of seeing what else something could be. She finds it a very metaphorical and satisfying process.
Born in Phoenix, Rick Gandolfo spent most of his career working in the aerospace industry. Now retired, he paints striking plein air landscapes with a contemporary bent. The bold colors and brushstrokes of his paintings allow him to reflect deep, personal, and emotional responses to his surroundings.
A native of Maine, Sandra Beck had two careers as a physical therapist and then as the owner of a retail plant nursery. After moving to Sedona, she discovered a love of painting, working first in watercolors and then adding oil painting and ceramics. Her unique style blends realism and impressionism. She has taught watercolor since 2021 and paints in France several weeks each summer.
John Warren Oakes’ elegant paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally. While living in Glastonbury, England in 2008, he began creating enchanting encaustics, a painting technique using beeswax and pigment. A retired art professor, he has authored numerous books and publications on art, and is listed in Sedona’s Best Artists by Louise Sheldon MacDonald and Sedona Verde Valley Art: A History from Red Rocks to Plein-Air by Lili DeBarbieri.
The Sedona Renegades exhibit is held in the Special Exhibition Gallery at the Sedona Arts Center, 15 Art Barn Road, Sedona, Arizona 86336. It opens Sunday July 31 at 10:00 AM and continues daily 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, except Sundays noon to 5:00 PM, through August 28, 2022. For more information, contact Jim Peterson at 602-828-7407.