From oil, acrylic and watercolor painting to collages, Ann Snyder uses her passion for color to give energy to landscapes, still life and floral works. “Creating something I’ve never seen before gives me a sense of fulfillment…it’s experiencing a God-given expression. The challenge lies in seeing the world with fresh new eyes.”

Ann has become intrigued with the art of collage and each day discovers new techniques to create moods and drama that draws the viewer into the paintings. “In collage art, I work with unusual materials, mediums and semi-abstract shapes. The combination pushes me to look at the world in new ways.”

Painting started as a pastime and is now a driving force for Ann. In addition to a focus on her own work and involvement in several key art organizations, she finds time to work with others, helping them explore and discover their own talent for painting.

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after Ross and I were married almost 7 years ago we bought a home in beautiful mind you. We chose to renovate an original old homestead that was our robbery for studio.

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specializedartmanagement.com

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Deborah worked for several years representing artists at the various industry trade shows through out the United States. It was during this time that she became interested in the plight of the endangered Mountain Gorilla and the people of Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide. Through this interest, Deborah wrote a children’s book about the Dian Fossey’s legacy of protecting the Mountain Gorilla and wanted to illustrate the book herself. It was then that she “dusted off “ her own artistic talent and began painting mountain gorillas using photographs provided to her by Ruth Keesling of the Morris Animal Foundation and by Robert Campbell, well known National Geographic photographer. After completing eight paintings of mountain gorillas, Deborah painted a tiger, then a lion and from then on she was hooked. While wildlife remains her favorite subject, over the years, she has become open to any subject that calls out to her to paint including people, landscape and still life. Deborah uses her own photographs for reference material and carries her camera with her everywhere. She has donated work to several fund raising events for wildlife conservation and local organizations.

Deborah chose pastel as her medium because she admired the work of the pastel artist she represented as well as the great Masters. “I work on a special purchased veloue paper. I love the soft effect I get especially doing wildlife. I also work on Walis sanded papers and Pastelboard. I cover my entire surface with pastel and consider my work to be a painting and not a drawing” ( the category most art shows place pastel work in. Deborah loves to work in the Nu Pastel and various brands of soft pastel and combine both in many paintings. “I like pastel because I can work on a painting for five minutes or five hours”. She always has a painting in progress on the easel. Deborah has studied under Award winning artists Stephen Quiller; (Master Artist and Author) Tucker Smith, (Master Artist) and Lee Kromschroeder (Master Artist) at the prestigious Jackson Hole Artists’ Workshop (1999, 2000). Her work has been accepted in juried and non juried shows in the Northwest and other parts of the United States and has won many ribbons and cash awards. Deborah’s work hangs in private and corporate collections through out the United States, Canada, France and South America. She is a past member of the Northwest Pastel Society. And current member of The Arkansas Craft guild. In September of 2005, Deborah and her husband, Jesse, retired to Mountain Home, AR (from Washington), with three dogs and three cats. They have two grown children.

Visit Deborah’s website.

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Jacquelyn is a long-time teacher of watercolor and experimental watercolor painting at the Arkansas Arts Center at Little Rock. “I make art to bring happiness to others. I love how art enables you to share your own thoughts and perspectives of the world. Teaching also allows me to share my knowledge with students and watch them build on it. It is so rewarding to see what they make and the joy it brings into their lives.”

“I started painting when I was 7 when I went to stay with a cousin while my mother was in the hospital. My cousin was an art major and she and I painted the time away.”

www.jacquelynkaucher.com

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Jim has studied art as an art major in high school, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Central Arkansas, and numerous studies with other artists. The artist has won numerous art awards and honors. His art is part of public and private collections around the world. When asked about one of his most memorable art related experiences. Jim refers to the three years he spent teaching the late Jackson T. Stephens painting in the style of the impressionist. A portrait painting he did of the late Jackson T. Stephens just before his passing featuring Mr. Stephens and Arnold Palmer the golf pro visiting at the First Tee of Arkansas. Currently Jim is an expressive art specialist with Birch Tree Communities, Inc. teaching a therapeutic arts program which he designed and integrated into the day treatment program serving nearly Three Hundred adults with acute mental illness. Working with the mentally ill has been one of the greater experiences in Jim’s life. Jim’s great desire is that the community might embrace people with mental illness in a way that allows them to participate in the culture of the community in which they live to the greatest extent possible. Jim’s seizes opportunities to play a small part in helping reduce the stigma attached to those suffering with mental illness.

Jim has spread his belief that the arts are for everyone regardless of age, education, or social status. Jim put legs on that conviction when he was recruited by a social worker while majoring in fine art at the University of Central Arkansas to teach inner city children art. That was the beginning of an art teaching career that has spanned nearly forty years. Jim began his arts career with the City of North Little Rock, Arkansas and spent the next ten years developing the arts through the Parks and Recreation Department as art director. During the peak of the cities arts program their were some 500 men, women and children taking some form of art instruction at the cities five recreation centers. During the early years Jim co-founded the Arkansas League of Arkansas and served as its first president for the first five years. The ALA is a grass roots organization established for the specific purpose of promoting the philosophy that the arts are for everyone regardless of age, gender or economic status. The ALA is still active and going strong now nearly forty years later. Also in the mid seventies Jim initiated the Annual Burns Park Arts and Crafts Fair that at it’s peak attracted nearly fifty thousand visitors to view some three hundred exhibiting artists from all over the mid west.

Jim enjoys sketching caricatures on location at private parties, corporate picnics and festivals. His drawings are created using limited broad point permanent ink lines capturing a positive profile likeness of attendees in as little as one to two minutes.

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Russ is narrowed his activities in the art field down to make the zone gallery wrap frames, stretching the candidates and painting the Canada service with acrylic paint. Russ paints a variety of subjects including landscapes and figures, often telling a story with his paintings. His favorite subjects at present are centered on banjo, guitar and fiddle who figures may be human, animal or even insect. This allows room for humor and bright colors and most of all affords him the opportunity to do his work in a satisfying and enjoyable manner.