Bud Markos
Bud is a self-taught artist whose representational oils focus principally on western subjects. These include landscapes, wildlife, ranch animals and figurative subjects. This emphasis reflects a life-long interest in the region and can be summed up by the view "There is no other place like The Great American West."
His work has been included in numerous local, regional and nationally juried shows, and is in corporate and private collections nationwide.
Generally, Bud declines to interpret or comment in detail on his work. He rests on the belief that each piece stands on its own, and reserves final judgment for the viewer.
Christine Feller
Gazing out over any kind of natural scene, artist Christine Feller aims to capture its essence. She mostly abstracts landscapes or close-ups of flowers, simplifying the macro for distant viewing and adding micro touches for up-close interest. Aside from drawing inspiration from nature, experimenting with design and mark-making further intrigue this artist.
Painting and writing are Christine’s passions. They each offer a platform in visual or verbal expressions of anything from the mundane to the ethereal. She often names her paintings which share a glimpse of her inspiration.
How was this artist born? When she was 8 or 9, Christine would spend the night at her best friend’s house and, after dinner, the friend’s mom would sit at the dining table doodling women’s profiles while talking with the girls. Fascinated by the doodles, she asked to be shown how to execute them. In sixth grade, her teacher asked the students to create some art once, to display on a Friday parent/teacher conference evening. He said they’d be for sale. On Monday morning, Christine was handed some money, learning that a dentist bought her watercolor of a woman’s profile. In learning that others appreciated her images, she was even more galvanized in pursuing art.
Christine works in oil, acrylic, mixed media. Her images are often executed with words and found objects, always with passion and energy, meant to encourage exploration of a place, an idea or a mood. Living in Palisade, Colorado’s wine country, among the orchards and vineyards provides endless inspiration.
Cynthia Duff
"Art reveals the light of the soul."
In a studio overlooking the Grand Junction Valley, you will find Cynthia Duff creating her many works on Birch Wood. She captures the stunning vistas and wildlife of the magnificent West. Her technique of revealing the wood grains in her painting process and fracturing the image makes her unique. As a Colorado native, she was inspired by her family’s passion for art, music and nature. Her strength in design is attributed to training and working as a commercial artist in corporate and marketing design.
Cynthia has been acknowledged by; Vail “Art” Magazine, Legends of the Cranes, Artist Magazine, Watercolor Magic, Nebraska Life Magazine, Grand Valley Magazine, Southwest Art Magazine, Western Art and Architecture, Western Art Collector and “Outdoor Life”, a PBS series. Her publications include; Prairie Meditations, Kindred Spirits, Here’s Cheers and Crane Essence books in collaboration with poet Trish Moon-Beem. She has been included in the Winefest poster series with her whimsical animals dancing in the vineyards, Grand Junction Art and Jazz poster, posters for Powderhorn Ski resort, posters for the Sandhill Crane Festivals in Nebraska, New Mexico and Colorado, the DYAO painted Violin and the Mask Project in Denver.
Her works grace many hospitals and institutions in Nebraska, Colorado and Chicago, and in private collections around the world.
Diane Anglim
Diane is a mixed media sculptor and collage artist who works with found objects incorporating old tools, metal, acrylics and whatever she might pick up on her travels through life or gifts from friends. She has always had an interest in old objects – their beauty and design, and the way they often reflect nature. She uses the found objects to create birds, animals and abstract sculptures that present a new way of looking at an object or a tool.
Diane’s work has been included in the Annual Juried National Collage Society Show, The Collage Artists of America Annual Juried Show, The 2023 National Gallery Cayman Islands Biennial Show, the Art Center Member Show, the Rocky Mountain Collage Society Members’ Show, and shows at the Mesa County Library.
She also shows at Orbit ArtSpace and the Ashleigh Christie Gallery. Her work is also in numerous private collections.
Diane Saulnier
“I have been involved in the Art Scene in the Grand Valley for many years. I have participated in many shows and competitions, donated work and time to local non-profit organizations, taught privately and within class formats, volunteered and shown my work at events and festivals.
I am currently showing at Craig Gallery in Palisade, Western Colorado Center for the Arts Gift Shop, Mane Attraction Hair Salon in Fruita, Orbit Gallery in Fruita, Oakley Gallery in Gainesille GA, and Family Health West Primary Care in Fruita.
My work ranges from photo realistic to pure abstract and it is often inspired by the beauty, the culture and the agriculture of the area. I just love to paint.”
Dianna Fritzler
“My paintings reflect how I see life - somewhat chaotic, but full of vibrancy and joy. I begin each painting with wild, unencumbered mark making and exuberant colors. The next several layers are applied like a dance of adding and subtracting energy and calm. Each layer builds a patchwork of color and shapes that often peak out from layers buried below. These “little jewels” remind me that it is often things in our past that help to guide us forward and create interest. It is the whole of our life journey that really matters, not just what appears on the surface. When painting, I retreat into the profound gift of living in the moment. My intention, always, is to sprinkle seeds of joy and help foster optimism.
Doris Janowski
Western Colorado artist DJ Janowski has lived/worked in London, New York, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Omaha and Denver. “I thoroughly enjoyed the bright lights and big cities,” she says, “but having grown up on a cattle ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills, I was always a Westerner at heart.” She works in a variety of media, ranging from oils and acrylics to pastels and charcoal. Major influences on her work include Fritz Scholder, Jac Kephart, Clyfford Still, the wabi sabi aesthetic and prehistoric rock art.
Perhaps the greatest influence on her work is her love of the American West -- “big sky country” – and its history. Her family’s first ranch was about 20 miles from Scout’s Rest Ranch, Buffalo Bill Cody’s Nebraska home. He was one of her childhood heroes.
“Our ranch was in a fairly remote area. My Dad always said that if you could see your neighbor’s chimney smoke, they were getting too close,” she says. She grew up riding horses, working cattle, building fence, branding, going to rodeos and driving a tractor. When her great grandparents came West in a covered wagon, they arrived on the Nebraska plains just as winter was setting in, too late to build a sod house. According to family legend, for housing, they dug a hole in the ground and turned the wagon upside down over it. “That was where my great grandmother had her first baby,” says DJ. “To me, that kind of resourcefulness and grit epitomizes the American West.”
“I enjoy painting animals because they have keenly individual personalities, natures and symbolic significance. I aim to capture the essence of each of the creatures I paint. Sometimes it’s fierce, or funny, or cheerful, or sad. You’ll meet a variety of creatures—from a jaunty badger to a calculating wolf—in my menagerie of animal paintings.
“Lately, I’ve been working on a new series, Freeze Frame, depicting people fly fishing, roping, moving cattle—all based on shared moments.”
Gail Evans
“The lure of creating art, the experience of being empty of thought, fully immersed opens us to inspiration. In the highest sense, creating art is a means to move beyond conscious thought. It is deeply meditative. The work becomes imbued with energy and spirit that may touch the viewer. This is my goal as an artist.
“Raised in Maryland, the ocean and waterways are close to my heart. In the early 1970’s I moved to Colorado having fallen in love at first sight with the Mountains, forests, canyons and all she holds. While living on the Eastern Slope, I had the opportunity to work at Ed Dwight Studios chasing waxes for bronze statues. By early 1990’s I moved to the Western Slope. Seeing Mt. Garfield brought chills, impressing me as a sacred Mount. The high desert has captured my heart and imagination with its rugged contours and brilliant colors enhanced by beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The Western Slope affords infinite subject matter.
“I am basically self-taught in art, learned to draw on my own, public school art plus a few focused classes in high school, a few art classes at Colorado Mountain College, Leadville then dabbling throughout life on my own in various mediums. Becoming fascinated with brilliant color after a class using bright poster colors led me to seek a medium of flowing, vibrant color. By 2014 I learned of a silk painting class offered by Mary Hertert at her then Color Creek Fiber Arts shop/ studio in Grand Junction. The sessions were a joyful dive into the processes, techniques and art of silk painting. Within a few weeks, Mary offered that I could come and paint in exchange for helping her in the studio, cleaning, organizing and more. I am forever grateful. By 2017 Color Creek closed and a studio for me was created at home. I have taken silk painting to fine art having found and developed new techniques of painting with dyes on a variety of silks, and conservation processes for mounting and framing.”
Gayle Gerson
Gayle Gerson has been teaching Mixed Media Art classes at the Art Center for over a decade. She has made the art museums of the world her study halls and loves to talk, teach, and think about art. She especially enjoys the medium of collage because it allows her to use the stuff of everyday life in the form the paper scraps, advertising, text and ephemera to embed evidence of our culture directly into the art pieces she creates. She considers herself an experimental artist and in her studio is always asking the question “What will happen if I do this?”
She is a signature member of the Colorado Watercolor Society and the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies and the National Collage Society. She is also a founding member of the Rocky Mountain Collage Society. Her work has been in many national juried shows and featured in Kolaj Magazine, Watercolor Artist, GV magazine, Incite-The Best of Mixed Media and on the cover of the UNESCO World Heritage Forest Report for 2011. She shows her work in many venues nation-wide and maintains a studio in Grand Junction, Colorado. Her art is in many private and public collections.
Gerry Jensen
Gerry Jensen is a landscape artist who is based in Grand Junction Colorado. He has been on a creative journey for the last 27 years, teaching himself how to paint through trial and error, lots of reading, studying, and painting with other artists who have provided constructive criticism, insight and direction along his creative path. While he has experimented with many different mediums, he primarily uses oil paint on canvas or panels. He paints scenery from all around the United States and beyond, but the majority represent the beauty of Colorado. Gerry’s goal has always been to, not only share with the viewer what he sees, but to elicit the same emotional response of ‘Awe’ that he experienced when witnessing the scene.
Gerry has participated in multiple regional art shows and has won several awards including first place in the professional class at the Palisade Art Lovers Show. He is a valued member of the Grand Junction Community, donating his artwork to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Hospice, and he has been invited to demo his painting style at a variety of social events over the years. Gerry has been a guest speaker at Western Colorado Center for the Arts and has been recognized several times in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. He was also commissioned by St Mary’s Hospital to create all of the paintings in their executive board room. Of all of his accomplishments, Gerry is most proud of continuing to paint after having a catastrophic stroke In 2022.
Gerry had a stroke impacting his ability to use the right side of his body, including his dominant right hand. He was not sure he would be able to continue painting, but because of his love of painting and his desire to create, he picked up his brushes with his left hand. As a result, his artwork has continued evolving. With vibrant color, unique brush strokes, and beautiful compositions, his paintings continue to gain more popularity. Gerry is proud to be a living example that nothing can stop you from following your dreams if you remain determined, motivated and passionate. He is a true inspiration and the beauty he creates in his paintings are proof of that.
Jennifer Kass
I have been creative all of my life. I earned my Art degree in 1980 from Kean University of New Jersey, and moved to Colorado in 1981. Texture, color and movement excite me! I see inspiration everywhere. I have been fortunate to travel internationally which inspires my art work. I am constantly learning, exploring and evolving. I love to integrate items- Natural and manmade into my art. Many of my pieces include my own handmade or dyed papers. I also enjoy working with Clay, Beads, Acrylics and alcohol inks… the list of mediums is endless!
Art is Everywhere…
John Anglim
John Anglim is an award-winning artist, photographer and designer who works in a variety of media. His work has appeared nationally in such publications as PhotoMethods, Creativity, American Institute of Graphic Arts, Arts & Crafts, and Art Directions.
He is a member of the Rocky Mountain Collage Society and a signature member of the National Collage Society
In Colorado, he has shown at the Art Center of Western Colorado, 13 Photography Gallery, Oakley Gallery, Frameworks Gallery, The Convention Center, City Hall, Main Street Gallery, Rose Hue Gallery, Wollow Creek Herbs And Teas, Orbit Art Space, and The Blue Pig Gallery.
His work is in the permanent collections of Colorado Mesa University, St. Mary’s Hospital, MarillacHealth, Mesa County Public Library, as well as numerous other private and corporation collections.
Kathryn McBride
“I am energized and challenged by the creative process involved in developing each of my oil paintings, often choosing dramatic scenes I find in Colorado where I live. I focus on capturing the moods I see and feel as I paint, and I often fit into the category of tonalist painters.
“How sun and clouds and sky intermingle with the earth’s surface is fascinating to me. I like to emphasize unusual lighting and scenes that you can’t find in broad daylight, leading the viewer into places of stillness and serenity.
“I also like variety and am compelled to try new things to expand my perspectives and abilities as a painter. I sometimes choose still life flower scenes to make sure I’m having fun and developing balance and new ideas in my paintings.”
Lorelei
A retired air traffic controller, Lori Brietzke (“Lorelei”) has been painting in oils since her early teens. Her latest creation is a series of automotive vignettes done in a hyper-realistic style and sourced from photos she has taken herself. After spending the last 9 years in Alberta, Canada, Lori has returned home to the Grand Valley, and she looks forward to beginning a new series inspired by the natural beauty of the area.
Mary Pat Ettinger
Mary Pat Ettinger first studied with an Italian artist in her teen years before going on to study at Laguna Beach School of Art and Design and Chapman College of Orange.
“I am a contemporary landscape painter working in acrylics on canvas in a watercolor style. My passionate journey in landscapes has gained me recognition in national and international shows, with my collectors spanning the globe. I work both plein air and in the studio, finding inspiration in my daily interaction with the western landscape.
My unique style provides me with an incredible challenge, as acrylics dry quickly and are impervious to change after drying. I love the careful edges created on the ‘raw’ canvas, and yet am invigorated by the spontaneous and unpredictable flows of color that I get as I lay in my wet washes. It is a joy to work in this stimulating artistic process that challenges me with its sometimes impulsive and arbitrary behavior.
I love what I have been gifted to do. It amazes me that I am allowed to paint and illustrate the beautiful land in which we live. I am grateful that my work enriches the lives of others, and hope it continue to do so.
In addition to painting, I am passionate about teaching workshops that encourage others with my expertise and enthusiasm.
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” —Pablo Picasso
Nancee Busse
Nancee J Busse is an acclaimed artist known for her captivating and emotive works.
With a keen eye for detail and a profound understanding of color, she creates thought-provoking pieces that evoke deep emotions and introspection. Drawing inspiration from nature and the human experience, Nancee's art beautifully combines realism and abstraction, capturing the essence of her subjects.
Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and has garnered recognition for its striking originality.
Nancee's passion for art shines through in every brushstroke, inviting viewers to explore the intricate layers of her artistic vision.
Peg Oswald
My journey into painting started after I retired in 1999 from a career as an elementary school teacher. I took several classes in different mediums at The Art Center in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was when I took a class in pastels from Sara Oakley in 2001 that I found my "happy place" and have been working with pastels ever since.
My love of nature and the outdoors inspires my paintings. I enjoy plein air painting and also work off of photos I have taken on my travels around Colorado and New York state.
I am a member of the Pastel Society of Colorado, the Uptown Art Colony and have exhibited in the PSC member shows and several shows at the Art Center in Grand Junction. I was an artist with The Blue Pig Gallery for several years and now my work can be seen at Craig Gallery in Palisade, Colorado.
Ron Cloyd
Reflecting his fascination with the local geologic formations, Ron Cloyd manipulates the clay in his pottery to mimic the erosion and weathering of the high desert of Western Colorado. He then fires his pieces in mineral vapors to add the desired coloring, resulting in pots that celebrate the timeless beauty of our region.
Also an active clay sculptor, Cloyd gets his greatest pleasure from the figurative explorations of form and texture. While many of his pieces have a definite “tongue in cheek” character, a number of his sculptures also mimic the local geology and culture.
He started his clay journey through classes at the Western Colorado Center for the Arts in 1995, and has since continued his art education through classes and workshops with numerous nationally and world renowned clay artists. He currently exhibits in 3 galleries, and has had work in several others as well as numerous public exhibits throughout the years.
Cloyd also instructs sculpture classes at the Art Center, is president of The Junction Clay Arts Guild, and serves on the Grand Junction Commission for Arts and Culture.
Tammy Craig
Tammy is a self taught artist. After many years of painting for herself, commission work, and showing at the Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade, she opened Craig Gallery where she hosted quarterly shows that follow set themes, such as Cubism, Portraits, Masters, and Fear. The shows included local and out-of-state artists who are encouraged to work outside their normal style and “get in the zone.”
“The joy of creative work is when I am in the creative zone. In that zone I am free”.