SLOPOKE 2024 ART BOOK

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WELCOME
to
SLOPOKE 2024
Contemporary Art of the American West
FLAG IS UP FARMS
901 East Highway 246, Solvang, California
Join Up, Sculpture by Pat Roberts
Friday September 27: 5:30 pm-7:30 pm
RECEPTION-AWARDS-MUSIC
Saturday September 28: SHOW TIME 10 am - 5 pm
Sunday September 29: SHOW TIME 10 am - 4 pm
ADMISSION: $25
( Single Ticket Price of $25 deducted from any $300 or more purchase )
admission includes: all days of show, reception, art book, and parking
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We thank you for coming to SLOPOKE 2024.
This unique book is meant to memorialize
your visit as well as the participation of all
the fine artists who work hard to create art
worthy of exhibiting. If you buy art, you are
helping these artists continue to work and
perhaps take the next step in their career. We
encourage you to take the time to read the
profile about each artist. They are all amazing
individuals from different backgrounds,
different areas, and different learning curves
in what they produce. Our featured artist,
Ezra Tucker, is among today’s very best
contemporary wildlife and western artists in
the United States. It is an honor to have him
exhibit his art here in the Santa Ynez Valley
where he got his start in fine art 35 years ago.
Likewise, this is the first year we have exhibited
the work of a legacy artist. Fred Oldfield
was renowned throughout the Pacific Northwest
as the Granddaddy of Western Artists.
His art, some for sale, is represented by his
daughter Joella Oldfield. We are also introducing
uniquely designed and handcrafted
wearable art – jewelry – by two wonderful
artists. Nancy Krause (aka Mrs. Ezra Tucker)
met and married Ezra as commercial artists
and she started their family of 3 children
here in Solvang. After they were grown, her
interest in art turned to making jewelry. Carol
Kron is another artist and engineer whose
interest in jewelry has a technical twist and
she is currently focused on sterling silver hat
bands. And there are 27 other talented artists
who provide an amazing spectrum of
sculpture, paintings, in photographs in many
styles, techniques, and colors. We all hope
you will find at least one to take home with
you. We also offer you an evening with original
music of Chris Murphy played by himself
and two other members of his Silver Mountain
String Band from Los Angeles. Chris
has over 500 compositions and travels internationally
to perform his music. We are so
grateful that SLOPOKE is here again at what
is now named the California Horse Center
on Flag Is Up Farms courtesy of Monty and
Pat Roberts and Debbie and Tom Loucks.
This is a wonderful family that loves fine art
and brought it back to the Santa Ynez Valley.
Sherie and I thank the Roberts’ family and
thank all of our visitors. It is a ton of work
to pull this show together every year, but
your presence makes it all worthwhile.
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SPONSOR APPRECIATION
Each year, SLOPOKE gains more sponsors.
We grateful for the support you give the us.
We especially acknowledge
the generosity
of our dear friend
and longtime supporter
of SLOPOKE: Keith
Renken. Keith has
supported us from the
beginning.
Not only is this appreciated but to artists
who have never thought of advertising, it
can be a game changer in confidence, exposure,
and growth in their art career.
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Opolo Wines of Paso
Robles sponsors our
Friday Evening Reception
with a selection of
their art of the grape.
We encourage you to
visit them at:
www.opolo.com
Four national art magazines sponsor 4 of our
awards. Each artist who receives one of these
awards receives a full page adverisement in a
future issue of the magazine.
The Sponsors and the Awards
• Art of the West Magazine:
Best Wildlife/Animal Award
• Western Art Collector Magazine:
Best Figurative Art award
• Southwest Art Magazine:
Best Depiction of Today’s West
• Western Art and Architecture Magazine:
People’s Choice Award
Everybody interested in visual arts benefits by
subscribing to at least one of these magazines.

SLOPOKE ARTISTS 2024
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EZRA TUCKER
Watching Zoologist Marling Perkins on Mutual
of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom on TV captured
the imagination of a young Ezra creating a
lifelong interest in creating animal and wildlife
art. The family’s acquisition of a set of
exotic animals and Ezra was especially fascinated
by the wild cats. By age 12, he had
decided to become a wildlife artist. There is
no doubt when you view his art, Ezra Tucker
is one of the best contemporary wildlife artists
in the Untied States. He received a BFA
degree from Memphis Academy of Arts, now
known as Memphis College of Art. His profes
sors quickly recognized his unique ability to
observe and capture details and the eye/hand
coordination to depict an animal’s proportions,the
play of light and shadow, line quality,
Texas Longhorn, 16 x 20, Acrylic on Canvas
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World Book Encyclopedias provided the information
and illustrations to feed his desire
to draw and paint animals. As a child, when
visiting grandparents on their small independent
farms in the Tennessee countryside, he
would study the farm animals intently and
when home again with his pencils and paper,
he would draw these animals from memory.
Visits to the Memphis Zoo introduced more

EZRA TUCKER
and a unique point of view. While at zoos,
he was troubled by the lack of spirit in many
confined animals a lack of spirit because the
TV documentaries showed similar wild animals
full of exuberance. However, he did see
unique personalities and intelligence in the
eyes of confined animals. This uniqueness
of personality in each animal often provides
insight into human nature. This experience
accounts for the visceral humanity evident
in all his animal portraits. He researched
early wildlife masters, especially the 19th
Century Animaliers as well as contemporary
artists. Those artists that paint realistically
always capture his attention with their ability
to imply and define movement, anatomy, and
drama. Ezra also aspires to create artwork
that will be admired and equally inspirational
to future animal artists. He has depicted many
creatures for corporate clients to numerous to
list here. Of all the animals he has depicted,
his favorite creations were the billboard and
print art of the Anhauser-Busch Clydesdales.
Proud Peacock, 12 x 36, Acrylic on Canvas
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ARIEL ANTON
Ariel Anton is an officer in the California Army
National Guard as well as an accomplished
artist. A recent graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis
Obispo, she grew up on the family farm raising
and showing her own livestock at county fairs
through the 4H Club and developed a love for
farm animals and the work it requires to raise
them. She taught herself acrylic painting in her
family’s backyard starting at the age of 14. Ariel
began exhibiting her paintings in her teens at
multiple county fairs, as well as the California
State Fair for several years. Although she never
expected to keep painting after high school, the
love for the process was still there. While pursuing
a B.S. in Agriculture Science and a minor in
Dairy Science, Ariel began painting animals by
commission. As her paintings gained popularity,
she began to dial in on her skill of painting livestock
portraits with eyes full of expression and
hides that looked silky to the touch. Her senior
project, the capstone to earning her diploma,
was an educational series of “Art About Agriculture”
which shared her working knowledge of
agriculture through her paintings to start a conversation
about agricultural misconceptions and
little-known facts about animal agriculture. It is
her dream to make painting a full-time career.
Chasing 8 Seconds, 36 x 24, Acrylic
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ARIEL ANTON
Longhorn, 30 x 40, Acrylic
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RUTH ASKREN
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Questions about our place at the intersection
of Nature and humanity is what drives
Ruth to answer in her creative painting.
She seeks to unravel the intricate threads
that intertwine human life and the built
world, and capture the radiance, color, stillness,
and sense of place that unite us all.
Windwolves Preserve, 8 x 10, Oil on Panel
Her exploration of creativity began with dance
as a child in which storytelling and theater
ignited her passion for creating with space
and light. After obtaining a BFA in Illustration
from Art Center College of Design, she
spent 11 years teaching art at Notre Dame
Academy Elementary School in Los Angeles.
During this time, she exhibited work in various
venues, including murals with the East
Los Streetscapers in 1999, San Bernardino
County Museum (Best in Show) in 2005, and a
series purchased for the permanent collection
at Chula Vista City Hall in 2006. Ruth’s art has
been featured in exhibitions at Offramp Gallery
in LA, Metro Gallery in Bakersfield, Brandstater
Gallery of La Sierra University, the Pasadena
Art Fair and Ventura Art Fair, where she
received the First Prize for painting in 2012.
In 2015, she took a hiatus from painting to
start a thriving bee keeping business called
“Through the Hive Tribe,” which she sold
in 2021 to refocus her energy on painting.
With its awe-inspiring beauty and untamed
essence, nature is bound up with humankind.
Its vastness looms as our own mark on the
world stands alongside with its own incredible
complexity. It is this magnetic pull towards the
land, the life it sustains, and forms of human impact
upon it, that fuels her artistic expression.
Through painting, Ruth engages in a dialogue
that summons the silent energies of nature
into tangible form. Nature is an undeniable
truth that somehow flows and is yet still, like
the tide. Her goal as an artist is to reveal
these ineffable energies, bridging the gap between
the known and the unknowable, and
offering viewers a glimpse into the profound
beauty and complexity that surrounds us all.

RUTH ASKREN
Lechuza Beach, 11x14, Oil on Panel
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TOM BURGHER
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Taking photographs since the age of 9, Tom
is comfortable with creating as well as capturing
art with a camera. To breakout of his
comfort zone, he is trying to learn to plein
air paint in oil. This is a difficult challenge,
and he is nowhere near ready to present an
City of Angels, 28x22, Ink on Glass
original oil painting in this show. However, it
shows his recognition that art created without
machine assistance is a skill set worth preserving
and celebrating. Photography is also
a valid art form and now faces its own challenges
from AI. Photography became a serious
study in early adulthood when film and a
darkroom were still “wet” tools of the trade. In
that era, he conducted “photo safaris” around
Baltimore City and the Maryland countryside
seeking patterns, contrasts, colors, or other
cues to what might make a compelling image.
He was the photographer for Batik Unlimited,
a book by artist Joanifer Gibbs. This included
1970’s fashion as well as “how-to” photography.
Then disruptive digital technology
upset everyone’s apple cart but proved also
a creative stimulus. Mostly self-taught with a
great set of Time-Life Books on Photography,
he learned at workshops led by renowned
photographers George Lepp and Bob Krist.
He won several awards and was published in
a few annual books of photography. He was
soon drawn to big sky views of land and sea
and discovered a love for western art by attending
the Masters of the American West Exhibitions
at the Autry Museum. Tom is always
on the lookout for a means to discriminate his
photography from others. This year, he set out
to capture the 21st Century urban American
West with a series of images captured in Los

TOM BURGHER
“City of Angels” is an example of both fantasy
and created images with the “angels.”
This would definitely cause a “sig-alert”
for the city leaders who are working hard
to clean up the Figueroa Street corridor.
Downtown Designs, 28x22, Ink on Glass
Angeles. This is a different LA than you
might know; some of it is real; some of it is
fantasy. He experiments with subject matter,
lighting, perspective, printing, media
and even creating people with multiple images
compiled, blended, and software manipulated
into a realistic looking image.
Handy Parking Spots, 28x22, Ink on Glass
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NATALIE CAMPBELL
Born and raised in rural Northern California,
Natalie Campbell grew up spending
summers riding her horses and competing
in local horseshows, gymkhanas
and rodeos. By high school she
was a member of the FFA Horse Judging
Team, as well as competing in High
School Rodeo barrel racing and pole
bending events. After she graduated,
she met her husband Gabe and raised
beef cattle in the Laytonville, California.
As a stay-at-home mom with two young
boys looking for an outlet, art found her.
She took a ceramic sculpting class from
the local college and when asked to keep
a sketch book for project ideas, she purchased
a sketch kit. It was the first time
using charcoal and she loved it. When
covid shut down the class, Natalie purchased
a do-at-your-own pace, ungraded,
tutorial online and never looked back.
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Natalie creates art because it makes her
happy and allows her the freedom to feel
like she is creating something meaningful,
that will last. Soon her newfound
love of art collided with her passion for
horses and the western way of life. She
grew up a “horse crazy” girl, spending as
much time in the barn with her horses as
Bosal (left) & Snaffle (right), 12 x 30, Pastel
Pencil on Black Archival Paper

NATATLIE CAMPBELL
possible. Now beautiful horses have
naturally become the main focus
of her artwork. And all the years of
studying the conformation of horses
helps advance her art. Her process
starts with ideas for images which
either “pop” into her mind or evolve
most over time. With the idea in mind,
she heads out to take reference photos.
Other times, she takes photos
at local events (rodeos, brandings,
etc.) that she believes would make
a great work of art. Sometimes, the
idea is “too big” for a single painting
and the work evolves into a series.
Working mostly on black paper with
pastel or color pencils she brings
the beauty of the world around her
to life. Although still a relatively
new artist, she has already received
multiple awards for her works in local
art competitions and looks forward
to entering more competitions
both at the local level and beyond.
No surprise, her all-time favorite artist
is Charles Russell. Artists fill all
sorts of roles in society and while
she may not push any social boundaries
with her art, she tried to portray
the rural, western way of life for
those who haven’t experienced it.
Rhythm of the Rein, 24 x 30, Pastel Pencil
on Black Archival Paper
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BARBARA FREUND
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For Barbara, art is a way to tell stories. Primarily
a plein air painter, she creates paintings that
speak a language of shared experiences and
provide visual reminders of what we hold dear.
Her attraction to plein air painting is being in
the natural environment where she can wit
ness the changing atmosphere, shadows,
clouds, brightness, and the myriad effects
of wind on the mountain and coastal views
she favors. It is a challenge to develop and
21st Century Chuckwagon:
Food Truck Patrons - Malibu Style,
11x14, Oil on Panel
improve the skills needed to tell the story
she is trying to tell with a particular painting.
This is especially true with plein air painting.
Art plays a significant role in her life because
it lets her create a permanent visual memory
of something important to her and others.
Although exposed to art at an early age with
frequent trips to Boston’s Museum of Fine
Art, Barbara doesn’t have a background education
in art. As she matured, she read art
instruction books and practiced the
exercises. She enrolled in workshops
and classes offered on weekends or
evenings after work at the Contemporary
Art Center in Virginia Beach.
She became more involved in painting
after moving to California where
she attended a plein air painting workshop
with the artist Ken Auster, after
which she was completely hooked.
Following that experience she enrolled
in short workshops with some of her
other favorite California artists, including
Randall Sexton, Calvin Liang,
Karl Dempwolf, and Frank Serrano.
She exhibits in both group and solo
venues, including the Santa Monica
Mountains Anthony Beileson Interagency
Visitor Center, La Galleria Gitana,
Malibu City Hall, Santa Paula Art Museum,
and Topanga Canyon Gallery.

BARBARA FREUND
Trail Talk, 12 x 16, Oil on Canvas
She currently serves as President of the Allied
Artists of the Santa Monica Mountains
and Seashore. This group of local fine artists
has a long history of painting representational
art of the Santa Monica Mountains and
beaches to promote appreciation of the environment
and to support conservation and
maintenance in the Santa Monica Mountains.
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JAN HANDTMANN
Jan is a true multimedia artist collaborating
on graphic design, drawing, painting,
photography, printmaking, sculpture, furniture
design, collage, and architectural
planning. Her own art challenge today is to
as a commercial space planner and interior
architectural designer in Los Angeles
and Orange counties after graduation.
Ruth Weisberg her print making Professor
at USC and former Dean of the Roski
school encouraged Jan to carry on her studio
practice when she retired from design
work. Jan is interested in presenting narratives
of her work in the most effective ways possible
by using multiple medias and combining them to
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Vanishing, 18 x 24, Mixed Media Drawing
utilize new media and technology with
old-world techniques to create art that
speaks to the viewer with a new narrative
and perspective. Art has always been a
passion for Jan, a native Californian and a
summa cum laude graduate of USC’s Gayle
Garner Roski School of Fine Art. Jan has
maintained her relationship with USC and
served on the Board of Councilors for the
Roski School for many years. She worked

JAN HANDTMANN
best express the concepts of her different
series. Much of her work is abstract
and symbolic. Using and repeating
shapes, subjects, and materials gives
them strong symbolic meaning and creates
her visual vocabulary. One of the
goals is to free the symbols from their
traditional perspective and view-point so
they float in space. Color, light, and tex
ture are instrumental in her work to create
mood, energy, emotion and compositional
connection. Jan creates a body of work as
a series that relates to time and change.
Each tells a story of the past, present and/or
future. Subjects of these series are diverse
and might be biographical, philosophical
or examine things in the world today.
Cool Yer Heels, 9 x 27.5, Mixed Media Collage
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MARTHA HERNANDEZ
Martha Hernandez is a photographer from
Costa Mesa, California who explores and
creates impressionistic art with intentional
camera movement and post-production techniques
that reward us with her subjective interpretations
of the landscape. Martha’s work
has received excellent professional reviews
and she exhibits at the Laguna Beach Art
Fair. She is currently at work on several portfolios
that explore motion and color emotion.
Martha’s primary photographic interest is in
capturing the exceptional beauty of the natural
world. This can include the wordless grandeur
of a landscape; the subtle interactions
of texture and color found in a single flower;
or the extraordinary varieties of immaterial
light itself, when dappled through a forest,
or reflected off water. For Martha, the inex-
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Faint Memory, 8 x 13 (17 x 29 Framed) Photograph
Printed on Archival Epson Legacy Etching Paper with Pigment Ink

MARTHA HERNANDEZ
haustible shapes in which the natural world
reveals itself are a source of personal inspiration
and a reminder of something basic.
Martha’s images are not statements about
the landscape world through art; they are
statements about art through the detachment
of images from the bits of landscape
reality she finds. Her work is no accident. It
is a signaled commitment to photography as
art. Sharing with and communicating to others
what she sees is Martha’s goal: through the
craft of photography to make visible a world
that we too often do not see, but is available to
us if we would just slow down, stop, and look.
Icehouse, 11.25 x 20 (Framed 16 x 25) Photograph
Printed on Archival Epson Legacy Fiber Paper with Pigment Ink
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RICK HILL
Rick was born in 1952 and raised on the
shores of Lake Erie, in Erie Pennsylvania.
He received his formal art training at the Art
Institute of Pittsburgh where he graduated
in 1976 and later worked as a graphic designer
at Welch’s in Westfield, NY. His love
of art started as a child when he stood for
hours and watched his Dad sit down and
sketch after work. He received his formal
training in the early 1980’s at the Art Institute
of Pittsburgh. He then moved to Los
Angeles, CA and started working at Hughes
Aircraft as a graphic designer and retired 27
years later. He turned his attention to sculpture
in 1995. Here he learned how to build
an armature with plumbers piping and how
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Chasin’ Strays, 22 x 18 x 10, Bronze

to shape 1/8” gauge wire into the piece
visualized to build. This is the first step in
sculpting before adding and finishing the
clay piece. When finished, the piece is
taken to a foundry to be cast into bronze.
In Los Angeles he studied at Santa Monica
City College, Art Center College of Design,
Pasadena, and Otis College of Art
and Design, Los Angeles, but he is mostly
self-taught. Over the course of his 17-year
sculpting career, he has studied under many
well-known sculptors
including Scott Rogers
(SLOPOKE 2018)
and Sandy Scott. His
sculpture tells stories
of nature and history
with a rich portrayal of
expressive figures and
wilderness scenes as
in his sculpture of an
American Indian called
“Seneca Warrior.” Rick
rose to the challenge
of portraying the subtle
look in his eyes that expresses
the hardships
he and his tribe endured.
His biggest thrill
came in 2016 when he
was commissioned by
RICK HILL
the Gabrieleno Indians (Kizh) of Southern California
to design a bust of a young Gabrieleno Indian
woman named Toypurina who led a revolt
but was captured by the Spanish and forced to
marry a Spanish soldier. She died at the age of
twenty-nine. Her bust is located on the Fedde
Middle School grounds in Orange County, California
near where Rick and his wife now live.
Rick is a member of the National Sculpture Society
and the National Museum of Wildlife Art.
His goal is to produce a large, monumental piece.
Show Time. 16x20, Graphite on Paper
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TERRI IBERS
Terri paints passionately her favorite subjects:
horses in motion, with emotion, in stillness and
in jubilation. She was so in love with horses at
a ridiculously young age that when she first
saw someone drawing, she just had to draw
Back Scratchin’ 24 x 48, Acrylic
a horse, and she never stopped. Her feelings
for the subject run deep so she must try to
get those feelings on to canvas. From these
feelings, a mental image forms which she
then begins to sketch. She eschews
working from a photograph.
Instead
Terri will
create
a com-
position
entirely
original
from her
heart,
soul, and
imagination.
She has
dedicat-
ed a lifetime studying
her sub- jects. After decades
of painting, she has created styles
that are both entertaining and recognizable
in mediums of acrylic paint, porcelain and
silk. While the colors are bold and emotional
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High Plains Drifters, 20 x 60, Acrylic on Canvas

TERRI IBERS
the lighting is subtle or
dramatic as necessary to
bring out the horse’s personality
and subtle undertones
that further accentuate
their strengths
and vulnerabilities. The
warmth of their worlds,
the life in the animals
themselves and the motion
of these special creatures
make these paintings
seem alive. Each
animal exudes power and
strength whether highly
active or deceptively
calm. The paintings contain
palpable emotion
that connects the viewer
to the personalities of the
horses portrayed. She
strives to make art that
makes the viewer feel joy,
peace or strength. For
Terri, this is what creates
beauty in her paintings.
Cool Blue Morning, 30 x 20, Acrylic on Canvas
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VALERIY KAGOUNKIN
Born in the Chuvash Republic of Russia
in 1959 to Chuvash parents, members of
a migratory ethnic group, Valeriy attended
children’s Art School in Siberia, graduated
from Krasnoyarsk Junior Art College
with honors, and was accepted to the Moscow
Academy of Art of V. Surikov in 1982.
After graduating, he returned to the Krasnoyarsk
Junior Art Academy to teach fine art.
He was awarded the United Nations Silver
Medal #193 in 2012 for a body of work on
Pre-Revolutionary Siberia. In 2013 and 2014,
he was awarded the Big Gold Medal from
the Russian Academy of Arts (founded 1775)
and in 2014, Valeriy became a permanent
member of the Russian Academy of Arts. His
works hang in the Contemporary Museum
of Moscow, the History Museum of Siberia,
as well as private collections worldwide.
Today, Valeriy’s paintings concentrate on his
people, the indigenous natives of Russia and
Siberia and their North American counterpart,
the Native American, as well as the cowboy
and others who built The American West.
He won the Phippen Family, Art of the West
Award, and the Phippen Foundation Award
from the Phippen Museum in 2015. Again, in
2017 he won the Best Acrylic Painting Award
from the Phippen Museum. In the same year,
he won the Best Acrylic Painting Award at the
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Trail to Yellowstone River, Headwater, WY, 16 x 24, Oil on Panel

VALERIY KAGOUNKIN
Old West Museum Show in Cheyenne and
then the People’s Choice Award at the Cattlemen’s
Art Show 2016. Valeriy exhibited in the
SLOPOKE from 2017 through 2019 and was
awarded the SLOPOKE Best of Show in 2017.
While he focuses on capturing the American
West on canvas, he also feels a duty
to serve the community. One recent project
was painting a mural atop a lift in 90-degree
weather on an 8-story building breathing in
wildfire smoke-filled air near Sacramento. “It
is what it is,” he says. “This is real artwork.
American Spirit, 27 x 35, Acrylic on Canvas
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KASIA KAZNOCHA
Horses are a passion and a constant source
of inspiration for Kasia. She loves riding them
and she loves painting them. Born and raised
in Poland, she graduated with a Master of Arts
Degree in Graphic Design from Silesian University
in Cieszyn. She married and moved to
Los Angeles in 2012 and now lives and works
in Thousand Oaks, California. Horses have
always been the love and the life of this art
ist. Kasia not only knows how to paint horses
but knows how to ride them. She is an avid
horse rider and has been riding horses since
she was a little girl. In 2008 she earned her
Certificate as a Riding Instructor and teaches
dressage and jumping. She has worked for a
few well-established stables as a rider. Kasia
also owns a horse named Enigma which is
often the subject of her paintings. For Kasia,
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The Great Escape, 36 x 48, Acrylic on Canvas

KASIA KAZNOCHA
Midnight Sun, 36 x 48, Acrylic on Canvas
horses combine extraordinary delicacy with
strength and beauty. Each horse is different,
just as every human being is different and as
she is constantly discovering the uniqueness
of each and tries to convey their personalities
and emotions in her paintings. In her art we
see not only physical horses, but also sadness,
pride, and peace. It is very important
to her that the emotional message felt in her
paintings allows anyone to explore something
new every day. She paints in acrylic on canvas
sometimes with gold leaf backgrounds void of
detail to create an iconic image focusing the
viewer’s attention on the emotional elements
of the animal. Kasia’s passion for horses is
evident in her brush strokes and compositions
which create larger than life mythical paintings
in which one finds the heart of the story.
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NORA KOERBER
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As a child, Nora drew constantly. Creating art
has always been just part of who she is. Creating
fine art has come later in life. After many
years in the commercial illustration world,
Nora has turned to creating fine art paintings,
Fire and Water, 30 x 24, Oil on Canvas
where she can express what and how she
chooses. Receiving a formal art education at
the Art Center College of Design, she was a
freelance illustrator for fifteen years. She then
obtained her M.F.A. from California State University,
(CSU) Los Angeles in Design / Illustration.
She taught for a year at Otis Art Institute,
CSU Northridge and Los Angeles County High
School for the Arts and then accepted employment
full time at Storyboards Online until 2017.
Since then, as a contemporary, traditional artist,
Nora explores the broad realm of what is
“Western” and regionally what is “California”
often from what she finds in her own location.
She tends to give women a voice in her visual
narratives, as the traditional cowboy is hugely
represented. She does not seek to create a literal
translation of the scene before her, but focuses
upon what is essential to the “story” and
allows all else to employ degrees of flattened
shapes and stippled, impressionistic strokes
to be supporting elements of the painting.
Nora always is able to find inspiration to
paint any sunject matter. Inspiration is
prompted by an a external cue and what
she does with it becomes her painting.
On occaision, she paints en plein air to bond
with a natural scene and describe the essence
and feel of what she is experiencing. Plein air
painting forces her to work quickly; to discard
the notion of exactness or pure depiction.

NORA KOERBER
Plein air works tend to
be very Impressionistic
and gestural, while
studio works tend to
be “tighter”, appearing
more realistic. Her main
style is “impressionistic
realism”. She employs
a colorist approach to
many of her paintings
but doesn’t stray too far
from reality. A degree of
abstraction may be incorporated
to add texture,
interest, and gesture.
If there is a word that
describes a common
thread in Nora’s work, it
is movement. Especially
seen in landscapes, it
is common to notice a
flow that leads the eye in
and around the picture
plane, often times in an
upward “sweep” to the
right, signifying positivity.
The role of the artist in
society is to remind us of
not merely the beauty of the external world,
but that our interior world is equally as important.
Archetypal cues that artists unwittingly
Sunny Bluffs of Santa Barbara, 12 x 12, Oil on Panel
include in their work by means of subject or
symbol, become connective sparks that remind
us who we are and where we belong.
33

NANCY KRAUSE
From kindergarten to college summer school,
Nancy took art classes at the Minneapolis
Art Institute. While at Colorado State University,
Nancy majored in Illustration and Design.
Upon graduation, she began her career
as an illustrator working at Hallmark Cards
in Kansas City. Nancy has created greeting
cards for all occasions, gift wrap, decorative
plaques, jewelry boxes, address books, photo
albums, stationary, wallpaper, needle point
designs, plus toys, and textile designs. She
also was then commissioned by the US Postal
Service to create three separate designs
that were all used as US Postage stamps.
It was at Hallmark that she met and married
her husband, Ezra Tucker. Shortly after their
marriage, they moved to Sherman Oaks, California
and continued their pursuit of freelance
illustration work. While exploring southern and
central California, Nancy “discovered” Solvang
which appealed to them more than Sherman
Oaks. They moved to Solvang in 1988
and started their family over the next 11 years
before moving again to Monument, Colorado.
34

NANCY KRAUSE
In 2005, Nancy began making jewelry as a
hobby. She was frustrated by the poor selection
of unusual designs. She collected
a wide variety of art beads from all over the
world. Many of the international vendors were
accessible at the semi-annual Denver Bead
Shows, and the gigantic annual Tucson Bead
Show. Whenever Nancy travels, she hunts
out the most interesting bead sources. She
has shopped with bead suppliers worldwide.
In 2010, her hobby turned into a business as
she was besieged by requests from friends
and admirers for pieces similar to what Nancy
models daily. Her work celebrates a global
aesthetic view that combines diverse art cultures
into the sensitive cultural infusions of
her jewelry. “Designing jewelry is very much
like painting,” Nancy says. “CoIor choice, balance
of elements, texture, focus, weight, and
silhouette, are essential to strong design. But
unlike painting, being aware of current fashion
trends and necklines is a whole other dimension.
The challenge is inspiring. I dream
in beads. I want my clientele to enjoy wearing
these pieces as much as I did creating them.
35

CAROL KRON
As a self-taught artist, Carol began making
bead jewelry but now works with silver adding
turquoise, variscite and other stones to
some of the pieces. Inspiration for her designs
comes from patterns found in nature
With about 20 years of experience in creating
jewelry using beads and wire, Carol got
started with silversmithing just 3 years ago.
She is part of a social media community of
jewelry artists, who support and help each
other. She has learned much through the
sharing of art, techniques, favorite tools, and
process videos within the community. It is
like a 21st Century guild where artists learn
from others. She has a small studio in her
home in Long Beach, California, but her favorite
place to be is in her “She-Shed” studio
at her cabin in Lake Isabella, California.
It is from this location she derived her business
name: “Thistle & Stones” because the
land is covered in large boulders with a lot of
beautiful pink thistles growing among them.
It is here that she gets many of her nature-inspired
design ideas. The quietness of the
area helps her notice and study things like
the shape of a leaf or petal on a yucca plant.
Carol makes sketches of the ideas which are
mapped out on her computer and shapes
rotated around an axis to make precise geometric
patterns. Each drill hole must be
marked, as the holes must be the right size
36
Sterling silver handcrafted hat bands
Friendly cowgirls model various hat bands

CAROL KRON
Tools of the trade for handcrafting jewelry
and distance apart. She admits to being a
bit of a geometry nerd. If the holes are too
close together or the drill bit slips, it can
ruin a whole piece! The patterns are transferred
to the silver and drilled and sawed
out by hand. She uses a tabletop drill
press and a jeweler’s saw with tiny blades.
Handcrafted Earrings & Necklaces with
striking natural stones attract many.
For the past year, Carol has been making sil
ver hat bands that combine her love of hats
and making jewelry. She saws and drills the
flower shapes my hand. Then, most of the
hat bands have between 2000 to 4000 hand
drilled holes that make up intricate patterns.
She makes horsehair braids, sewn buttons
and tassels to connect the hat bands.
37

KAREN LEONI
38
Although she was attracted to drawing and
painting as a young girl, Karen chose an education
in Biology which led to a career in
technical sales based in Atlanta, GA. Photography
scratched the creative itch during
this time. When she took a new job in San
Francisco at mid-career, she was immediately
struck by the natural beauty that enveloped
her and was inspired to return to drawing
and painting from the world of photography.
She began taking art classes and complet
Spring Harvest, 18 x 18, Oil on Canvas
ed a 4-year degree from the Academy of Art
University in San Francisco. Understanding
the fundamentals of art and stirred with passion
to create art, gave her the confidence to
begin pursuing a fulltime career as an artist.
Karen often paints en plein air in an effort to
capture the essence of the landscape. She
believes that observation is key when painting
because it is important to understand
what you are painting and how light affects it.
She works at being as “one with her paints,
paint brushes, and linen” so that her work will
channel through her as often as possible rather
than painting being a technical endeavor.
Although she thoroughly enjoys exploring remote
locations, usually her plein air sessions
are accomplished close to home but she also
likes traveling and recently spent a month
painting in Italy. Exploring new places, whether
at home or abroad, is a constant source
of inspiration for her. Painting allows her to
closely examine nature and notice everyday
things that otherwise would have passed by.
Time slows down when you paint or sketch.
As an artist, she is interested in showing the
beauty in nature and all things that are around
us. She works in both the oil and pastel mediums
and believes that one enhances the other.
And she continues to enjoy photography which
keeps her observations skills keen. Currently
she is primarily focusing on the figure and the

KAREN LEONI
Anticipation, 16 x 20, Oil on Canvas
animals in the landscape and prepares by
painting small studies outdoors in the plein
air style. She believes that these studies
improve the larger, finished pieces by enabling
her to capture and recreate more accurate
color and atmosphere. It also develops
her “artist memory” when racing the
clock and observing the rapid changes in
light that only occur when painting plein air.
She is a signature member of the California
Plein Air Painters, and a member of the
California Art Club, Oil Painters of America,
and American Impressionist Society.
39

KELLY LEWIS
Since childhood, Kelly has always loved animals
and creating. As a kid, she would doodle
in class, draw animals, and plants. Soon,
she began to draw portraits of celebrities and
models she has seen in magazines, which inspired
friends to request me drawings of their
favorite celebrities’ portraits.
In high school she
became involved in the
Future Farmers of America
agriculture program
which cultivated her particular
interest in western
and wildlife art. Other
than taking art as an
elective in high school,
Kelly has not had any for
mal art training, but she
has studied many wildlife
and western artists
which contributed
to the development of
her artistic style. Art is
something Kelly feels
compelled to create.
She believes it is her
purpose. She is motivated
by the subjects she
portrays, and she wants
to inspire awe in other
people to help them
slow down and appre-
40
Pounce, 8 x 8, Acrylic on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas

KELLY LEWIS
ciate the creatures that share our planet. The
importance of this notion was re-enforced
by her time as a Park Ranger. Although artwas
always her passion, it is only recently
that she has come to believe in having a
successful career as an artist. Her mission
is to share her gift of art with the world.
Kelly is a self-representing artist residing in
the picturesque mountains of Southern California,
where she enjoys spending time on
the lake in her kayak, exploring wild places
with her canine companions, conducting research
about the subjects that inhabit her
art. It provides a scientific and holistic approach
to her art which melds all of Kelly’s
passions collectively. Drawing inspiration
from firsthand encounters, she weaves tales
of wildlife onto her canvases with meticulous
detail to bring each piece to life. Kelly’s
journey is one of relentless dedication and
boundless curiosity. She works in acrylic
paint and graphite to capture the essence of
her wild subjects in order to ignite a spark
of appreciation for the creatures that share
our world. Part of the purpose of her art is
to help others escape the fast-paced world
we live in; to appreciate the creatures we
live amongst. Kelly is an Artisan Member
of Cowgirl Artists of America and a member
of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrator.
Mud Runner, 10 x 20, Acrylic on Canvas
41

JOSH LOUCHHEIM
42
Josh is a self-taught oil painter depicting the
American West. Most of his paintings are fabrications
of his imagination, usually a lone
figure in the vastness of the desert, with a
surrealistic undertone. More recently, he is
more specific with his landscapes, including
the major mountains in and surrounding the
Phoenix area. He considers his work to be a
The Equestrian, 24 x 20, Oil on Linen
modern version of western art with high
er chromatic colors. But, he also is beginning
to explore with more traditional ideas.
Born in Illinois, his family packed up the RV with
their lives and moved to Scottsdale, Arizona
where he has spent most of his life. Early years
were spent skateboarding, racing BMX bikes,
and listening to music. But skateboarding was
a passion, and he pushed himself to be better
at it every day. This drive to be better he believes
instilled his current work ethic as an artist.
Shortly after graduating from high school,
Josh found himself moseying around for a
few years “living the life.” While in California
he worked in the kitchen of a steakhouse
and spent his free time skateboarding, surfing
and hanging on the beach. But eventually
he found his way back to the desert.
Once back in Arizona Josh made the decision
to dedicate himself to art and put together
a band; with the intentions of learning
how to sing and blend words with music.
Soon the band had written enough songs,
and began performing in venues throughout
the valley., which they did for a few years
and then disbanded. This is when he decided
to focus all his creative efforts on painting.
As a child, he showed a natural ability to draw
and a third grade art class began to shape his

JOSH LOUCHHEIM
knowledge of composition
and fine art. And he began
to dream of being an artist.
He was fortunate in growing
up around practicing artists
like Phillip C. Curtis and
Bill Keane, who were family
friends. He remembers
visiting Curtis’s Studio and
being captivated seeing a
real artist in his workspace.
From these memories he
draws inspiration, and it
made the dream of being an
artist tangible. His dream is
materializing as he has been
painting, strictly in oil, for 13
years. For 11 years, he has
exhibited his work in several
local galleries and sold it
to many private collections
across the country from
California to New York. He
is currently exhibiting his
largest piece, a 4 ft by 6 ft
diptych titled “Desert Lovebirds,”
with the Museum of
Arizona Artist’s group show,
“Art and the City,” at Gallery
119 until the end of the year.
The Prophet, 24 x 18, Oil on Linen
43

TAMARA MAGDALINA
Born in Russia, Tamara was blessed to have
parents who encouraged her artistic talent.
She began painting at the age of 5 and attended
art school for children in her hometown of
Abakan, Siberia, until age fifteen. Then she
continued her education at Art Academies in
Krasnoyarsk, Siberia and in Moscow. Tamara
met her husband, Valeriy Kagounkin at the Junior
Art Academy in Krasnoyarsk of which she
later became the Dean. They began their family
there with first son Anton but they also traveled
often finally settling in Sacramento, where
their second son Dennis was born. Both sons
have become artists and musicians. Today, she
continues to share her knowledge and teaches
young children the joy and techniques of
traditional European art. Tamara and her family
make it a point to use their art to unite all
cultures. “Art has its own language,” she says.
“We need to love each other, no matter what.”
44
Winter Glory, 30 x 40, Oil on Canvas

TAMARA MAGDALINA
Her goal with her own painting is to express
God’s creation through her works. Nature, the
land, and the ocean are her strongest passions,
evident by her use of light and shadow
to portray these interests where we can share
in her awe. She has won a Silver Medal from
the United Nations for her contributions to
culture and
history, as
well as many
awards for
the paintings
she has exhibited.
An
exhibitor in
SLOPOKE
2017 through
2019, she
won Best
Painting at
SLOPOKE
2019. Her
paintings
are in the
permanent
collection
of the Contemporary
Museum of
Moscow and the History Museum of Siberia,
as well as in private collections in Japan,
Germany, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, and the
United States. She is a member of the Russian
Artists Union, a Gold Medal winner and
member of the Russian Academy of Arts.
The Evening Organ Melody, 24 x 30, Oil on Canvas
45

FRED OLDFIELD
Blending life and art, Fred painted his own
experiences as a working cowboy in Eastern
Washington. He was born in 1918 on the Yakama
Indian Reservation, where his parents
leased land, and he traveled over 1,000 miles
in a covered wagon as his parents moved
through Washington, Oregon, and Idaho seeking
employment. Fred often found work as a
cowboy and began sketching his surroundings.
He sold his first paintings in Alaska,
working on discarded 9″x 9″ linoleum tiles.
When the war started, he headed back to
the lower 48 to serve in the Army during
WWII. After the war, he went to the Burnley
School of Professional Art in Seattle on
the GI Bill. He didn’t like commercial art so
he began painting murals and his instructors
graded his murals to keep him enrolled.
By the mid 60’s Fred became a full-time
painter and began showing his work at regional
and national venues. Fred’s paintings
include landscapes and scenes of everyday
life in the open spaces of the Pacific NW. As
an artist, closely connected to Native commu-
46
A Chance Meeting (1975) 12 x 24, Oil on Canvas

FRED OLDFIELD
Who the Hell Needs Water (1975) 24 x 36 Oil on Canvas
nities in Central Washington, Fred portrayed
the American Indians with a sympathetic
eye, exposing past injustices. He also showcased
contemporary Native American Cowboys
working in today’s ranching industry.
Fred donated a painting for auction annually
to the Washington State Fair Foundation’s
Scholarship Fund, raising thousands of dollars
for the students. He was host and center
piece for the Celebration of Western Art Show,
the largest western art show in the Pacific
Northwest. He is one of the Granddaddy’s of
Western Art, sharing his love of Western Art
and the American West for all generations.
Fred is lovingly represented by his daughter,
Joella Oldfield, Assistant Director of the Fred
Oldfield Western Heritage and Art Center,
in Puyallup, Washington.
47

SHANNON PATTERSON
As a new sculptor, Shannon has not garnered
any awards or recognition -- yet. Her art reflects
memories and experiences gathered throughout
her life, from earliest childhood, when she
competed in youth 4-H, FFA, rodeo and gymkhanas,
to marriage and “buckarooing.” The
word “buckaroo” is a term used by vaqueros,
the Hispanic herdsman of Spanish and Mexican-California
descent. Derived from vaca—
Spanish for cow—and pronounced vah-kairoh,
with the Spanish “v” sounding phonetically
like the English “b,” resulting in the Anglicized
word “buckaroo.” So, part of Shannon’s life
buckarooing was saddle riding up to 6 days
a week managing and herding cattle following
her husband to jobs from the Great Basin,
to Idaho, Nevada, and eastern California.
Although she painted in her younger years, she
was never happy with the results as they did
not look right to her eye. She has no formal art
“I Don’t Think So, Scooter,” 8 x 10 x 15.5
48
“Hold My Beer,” 19.75 x 9.125 x 20.125,
education but with a long interest and a calling
to art, she eventually found that sculpture
brought her yearning and talents together. She
was in her thirties before discovering that clay
was the place her artist’s soul could create,
not only what she witnessed but also the story
behind each image pictured by the viewer.
As a sculptor, she hopes that people will see
their own stories in her art. Shannon is a storyteller
in her own way, drawing on her own
experience and love of all things ranching. Her
sculptural narratives depict the stories of the
past, the present, and future: so many stories

SHANNON PATTERSON
“I Think I Lost A Button,” 13.25 x 13 x 17.5, Bronze
that would otherwise only be remembered
by a very few. Her art is inspired by and reflects
the good, the bad, and the funny (after
the fact) happenings. She creates work that
leaves people wondering what happened next
or remembering that moment from the past.
Driven by her love of the horses, cattle and
the people who choose to ranch, she wants
people to find, remember, and smile at whatever
memories emerge from seeing her work.
49

AMY RATTNER
Amy grew up near Salinas, California drawing
and painting with her sister, who is also a
gifted artist. She now lives in Woodside, California
with her husband, two sons and three
dogs. Earning both BA and MA degrees in
English from Stanford University, she began
her career as a graphic designer, working for
Stanford and then for her own company, Kindred-Storey
Designs. Circa 2008, she began
taking art classes at the Pacific Art League
and discovered her artistic voice at an intensive
water media seminar with Skip Lawrence,
Katherine Chang Liu, Fran Larsen, and
Christopher Schink. Painting is a portal into
her imagination and serves her as meditation
to center her thoughts and feelings. From the
beginning, depicting animals has been her
passion and it begins with a deep admira-
50
Aloft II, 20 x 30, Acrylic on Paper

AMY RATTNER
tion for the unique beauty and character of
each creature. She uses color, value, and
line to capture the spirit, personality, and cultural
significance of her subjects so that all
can experience her passion. Therefore, her
style has evolved to be a combination of realism,
whimsy, and graphic art with a strong
emphasis on color, line, and symbolic patterns.
She is most influenced by the work
of John Nieto whose use of bold colors, expressive
lines, and incredible sense of design,
with interplay of positive and negative
space Amy finds enchanting. However, Amy
has created her own style in animal art that
is at once sophisticated and contemporary.
Amy is a veteran SLOPOKE artist whose
work is found in private collections worldwide,
including the USA, France and Norway.
Aloft I, 20 x 30, Acrylic on Paper
51

PAT ROBERTS
Henri Cartier Bresson was a French artist
and photographer considered a master
of candid photography. He pioneered the
genre of street photography, and viewed
capturing the decisive moment in a scene
as the mark of a good image. Horses are
movement machines, muscles rippling,
legs moving, nostrils flaring, ears pointing
and fleeing at the first
scent of danger. Life
as an accomplished
horsewoman training,
breeding, and showing
thoroughbred
race horses has given
Pat the opportunity
to study this subject
which she loves.
A naturally gifted
sculptor, Pat has
had no formal
training but
she attended
workshops
given by contemporary
artists she admires. She credits
this for keeping her true to her own style,
which can be described as realism with just
a touch of impressionism. What sets her
work apart from other equine sculptors is
that she presents us with the movement
of a horse at just that moment – the decisive
moment – that as Bresson observed
tells the whole sto- ry. The three
sculptures shown here
a r e excellent examples.
Spirit
of India, the
Marwari horse
sculpture, is
found in India where there
are less than 5,000 remaining
in the world. This tall
horse is slim and sleek with
large eyes set wide apart, flared
nostrils and unique ears
curved inward so that
the tips almost touch.
The breed was developed
by the Rajput’s
warrior clan
in the 12th century.
Despite being known
as a warrior’s horse, they are known to be
loyal and friendly. An amazing equestrian,
Pat still competes in rodeos and wins
52
Spirit of India, 9 x 18 x 20.5, Bronze, Edition of 35.

PAT ROBERTS
against riders her grandchildren’s age. She knows
her subject matter better than almost any other
sculptor. Her sculptures, cast in bronze limited
editions, are found in collections across 14
countries and in the homes of royalty, museums
and corporate presidents, including the
personal collection of Her Majesty, the late
Queen Elizabeth II. Although the horse is
her favorite subject, she also enjoys sculpting
and capturing the movement of other
animals such as cougars, donkeys, bulls,
deer, and people riding dressage or roping
as well as her husband Monty at the decisive
moment of Join Up (see cover page).
Bobcat Springs, 9 x 11.5 x 15.5, Bronze
A full size male Bobcat making his rounds
is known around Flag Is Up Farms but usually
only a problem for smaller animals.
Miss Tessie, 18.5 x 22 x 6, Bronze,
Miss Tessie, a lady riding a Western saddle
in the early 19th century was inspired by a
1937 Edward Borein pen and ink illustration.
53

LEE RUE
e
54
Born in Suzhou, China, in 1962, Lee Rue has
a MFA degree from Academy of Art University,
San Francisco in the 90’s. Lee is fulfilling his
childhood dream as an artist from his family
tradition. Although he spent most of his early
years in designs and other works, his passion
Rugged Hill Road, 22 x 28, Oil on Canvas
to be creative and to find exquisite and unique
ways of art never fades. He started his career as
a designer and taught many years of art, design
and lighting techniques at the Fashion Institute
of Design and Merchandising, Academy of Art
University and UC Berkeley Extension in San

LEE RUE
Francisco. Lee’s painting style combines realistic
basics with impres-sionistic colors,
strokes and light. His paintings also include
a thin touch of fine romantic sentiment that
makes his style a mythical and untamed
fashion but mostly his work falls between
impressionistic and realistic styles. He paints
mostly western genre images, native Americans,
cowboys, horses, and settlers of the
old west, some of them with a touch of humor.
He also paints live models, portraits,
and landscapes. His all-time favorite artist is
Frederic Remington and one can spot a bit
of Remington in Lee’s own unique style. Lee
is a current associate member of Oil Painters
of America, National Oil and Acrylic Painters’
Society and American
Impressionist Society.
His paintings have received
awards from the
Phippen Museum Foundation
at its Western
Art Show in Arizona and
People’s Choice Award
at Mountain View Americana
Art Show in South
Carolina. He also had a
special joint exhibition
with four renowned master
painters in Yolo Arts
and Silicone Valley Asian
Art Center, in California.
Many of his paintings
have been nationally juried
into Oil Painters of
America (OPA), Art Identification
Standard (AIS)
The_Echo_of_Big_Sky, 24 X 20,_Oil on Canvas
55

NATASCHA RUIZ
Guardian of the Night, 16 x 20, Acrylic on Canvas
56
Natascha is an artist whose diverse background
and experiences have shaped a
unique artistic voice. Born in Germany with
Dutch nationality, Natascha was raised in the
Santa Ynez Valley and deeply influenced by
the western lifestyle of cattle and horses. As
a junior in high school, she moved to Southern
France followed by moves to Belgium,
England, Spain, and Dubai, which broadened
her artistic perspective. She also spent 1 year
training at the Pratt College of Fine Arts in Seattle,
focusing on lampworking and jewelry.
This blend of cultural influences and technical
training is evident in her work, which spans
multiple mediums including painting, photography,
lampworking, leatherworking, and

NATASCHA RUIZ
pyrography. Additionally, Natascha is also
a professional dancer, a discipline that has
deeply influenced her understanding of
movement and expression allowing her to
create dynamic and evocative pieces that
resonate on multiple levels. Her paintings
focus on wildlife and the western lifestyle,
capturing the essence of both in vivid detail.
She has honed her skills and developed a
distinctive style as seen in this striking painting
of an owl which captures the intense gaze
and intricate details of this majestic creature.
The painting of a bull rider, reflects both the
power and grace of this traditional sport
while blending old techniques with modern
aesthetics. It is part of a larger exploration
of today’s western lifestyle: rodeos, ranches,
and the people of the Santa Ynez Valley.
Leap of Determination, 24 x 30, Acrylic on Canvas
57

SOFIA SHARBAT
Sofia started painting at a very young age
learning oil painting at the age of 12 from
the renowned Iranian artist Abbas Katouzian.
Later, she won first place in a world painting
competition held in South Korea, where 72
countries participated, and she received an
honorary diploma. This achievement motivated
her to take painting even more seriously.
With a BFA in graphic design from the University
of Art and Architecture in Tehran, Sofia has
passionately translated her artistic vision into
captivating paintings for over three decades.
She been painting consistently, exploring various
styles, starting with realism, palette knife
impressionism, and abstract landscapes.
Later on she started painting in a modern impressionist
style, which she continues to develop
and which is on exhibit here.Sofia’s artistic
journey has been marked by a profound
58
La Jolla Cove, 8x12, Acrylic on Canvas
Ballet of Bisrches, 30x48, Acryilic on Canvas

SOFIA SHARBAT
fascination with impressionist
art, a theme seamlessly
woven into her creations.
In fact, the artists
that resonate with her
the most are Monet and
Van Gogh. Both inspire
her with their mastery of
light, color, and emotional
depth. Relocating to
Southern California added
a new dimension to
her inspiration, with the
breathtaking landscapes
influencing a deeper exploration
of impressionism.
Her work reflects
a harmonious blend of
visible brushstrokes and
vibrant colors, capturing
the essence of nature’s
beauty. For Sofia, art is
more than a canvas; it’s
that extra layer that enhances life’s beauty.
She paints to capture the beauty that surrounds
us, inspired by the impressionist art
master’s and the enchanting landscapes of
Southern California. Her work is a celebration
of nature’s allure, expressed through the
Santa Monica Blooms, 30x40, Acrylic on Canvas
dance of brushstrokes and vibrant colors. Sofia
believes the role of the artist in society is to
inspire and reflect on the human experience.
Artists bring beauty, culture, and emotional
connections to the world. Art for Sofia is that
magical touch that enriches and beautifies life.
59

LISA SKELLY
60
Lisa Skelly is an award-winning soft pastel
artist who is deeply inspired by the beauty
of nature. Through her paintings, she captures
the essence of the natural world, with
a particular focus on seascapes, landscapes,
waves, skies, and clouds. Lisa’s medium of
choice is pure pigment, which she expertly
manipulates to create vibrant, lifelike images
that transport viewers to the heart of her
scenes. She always thought of herself as an
artist, even at a very young age, before kindergarten,
she was an artist. Enrolled in art
classes, she started painting murals during
High School in the tiny town of Wauconda,
On the Coast, 8 x 10, Pastel
Illinois. Graduating as a graphic design major
from Northern Illinois University, was useful
and gratifying because she believes good
design is embodied in everything beautiful.
Drawing on her lifelong love of nature and
her training in fine arts, Lisa’s work reflects
her passion for the outdoors and her deep
appreciation for the power and beauty of
the natural world. Her paintings are inspired
by the beauty of nature, everyday life and
people’s emotions. Lisa is drawn to painting
landscapes, seascapes and urbanscapes
that really tug at her heartstrings. She will
paint a series of seascapes of a specific
place that beckons to her to paint many different
views and tell the story of a particular
location. By using soft pastels, she can convey
the fluidity and movement of waves, the
depth and texture of landscapes, and the ever-changing
drama of the sky. Her paintings
are both realistic and ethereal, capturing the
essence of each scene in a way that invites
viewers to lose themselves in the moment.
For Lisa, painting is not just a creative outlet,
but a way of connecting with the world around
her. She believes that it is the role of the artist
to capture moments in time and the beauty
of our lives as humans on this planet. She
is most drawn to the early California Impressionists
such as Karl Dempwolf, Debra Huse,

LISA SKELLY
Mark Shasha, Mark Fehlman, Daniel Marshall,
Camille Przewodek, Michael Obermeyer, Kim
Lordier, Ray Roberts and others that she has
collected over time. Her work is a celebration
of the natural beauty that surrounds us, and
an invitation to slow down and appreciate the
wonders of the world. Through her soft pastel
paintings, Lisa Skelly invites us to step into a
world of color, light, and movement, and to experience
the power and beauty of nature in a
way that is both uplifting and transformative.
In Edgar’s Footsteps, 8 x 10, Pastel
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GLENDA STEVENS
2022 was the first year that Glenda Stevens
exhibited at SLOPOKE, and she was selected
for the Best of Show Award for her display of
dramatic rodeo action paintings characterized
by Ridin’ Crawdad and Bull Rider, both large
40 x48 inch paintings. Her curiosity leads her
to paint a variety of different subjects from
western ranch life to southwestern themes,
religious art, landscapes, still lifes, and sometimes
the racy side of society. Glenda has always
been creative which her parents recognized.
At age eleven they encouraged her to
study acrylic painting with an impassioned art
teacher. There she learned to be fearless and
free to express herself in art. By age 13, Glenda
won first place for an abstract painting and
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Mission Meadow Wine Picnic, 24x36, Acrylic on Canvas

GLENDA STEVENS
had her first solo show at only 15 years of
age. Excelling in art in high school, she was
awarded a scholarship to Mount St. Mary’s
College. After her studies she evolved into
painting realism, which is her favorite style
because the more detail to paint, the more
she enjoy it. Horses, cowboys, American Indians,
rodeos, and vistas of the West have
captured her spirit, and she strives to paint
these subjects as honestly as she can. Over
the years she has developed her skill to capture
the representation of the many aspects of
reality or fantasy. She is committed to achieving
her style of realism, abstract and a little bit
of both.” Her subject matter is broad because
painting what she likes is what motivates her.
Olio de Oliva and Wine Stillife, 22x28 Acrylic on Canvas
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HELLE URBAN
Helle was a shy 5-year-old when she moved
from Denmark to the United States and drawing
was both her outlet and her joy. She grew
up to command an extensive background in
visual art. She earned her Bachelor of Fine
Arts Degree from the Art Center College of
Design in Pasadena, CA and became an artist/illustrator
for 40 years I was creating fine
art, doing commissioned portraits. I put my
illustration work aside to focus on fine art.
She also has managed or worked at
several fine art galleries and painted
numerous murals. She worked as a
background artist in the animation industry
and then moved on to work inhouse
for a children’s book publisher illustrating
books. For the past 15 years
she has freelanced illustrating children’s
books for Sleeping Bear Press.
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Daydreaming, 14 x 11, Oil on Canvas_
She specializes in painting children
and animal portraits. Portraying her
subjects in a relaxed and casual pose.
She conveys her subjects through
careful design, harmony of color,
spontaneity of expression, and an eloquent
portrayal of the eyes while emphasizing
softness in her brushwork
to create strikingly life like images.
Although mostly painting in oils, she
also uses watercolors, acrylics and
color pencil occasionally for a change
in pace. Her newest adventure is Plein
Air painting. She loves nature, the out

HELLE URBAN
doors, and being able to paint from life is exhilarating.
She is an Associate Member of the
California Art Club and finds networking with
other artists is amazing! Like so many artists,
Helle feels blessed to have this talent for art
and believes it is truly a gift from God! To be
able to create fine art paintings and bring joy
to others is her inspiration and reward!
Sunny Field, 18 x 24, Oil on Canvas
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TOM WRIGHT
Tom Wright received the award for Best
Figurative Art at the 2022 SLOPOKE after
review and judging by California Art Club
President Michael Obermeyer. Finding and
promoting artistic talent otherwise unseen
is perhaps the most valuable attribute of the
annual SLOPOKE Exhibition. Married for 47
years, Tom and Faye live the ranch life west
of Bakersfield, California. Tom studied art in
school for five years, four in high school and
one in junior college. At graduation from Bakersfield
High School, he was named “Most
Artistic Student”. At the end of his first year
at Bakersfield Junior College, circumstances
dictated he needed to find a full-time job as
school was no longer a viable option. That
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Who’s Drivin’ Who, 16 x 20, Pencil on Board

TOM WRIGHT
one year of art courses ombined with his
natural talent, planted the creative seed that
would sprout many years later. Over the intervening
years he would occasionally produce
art for friends and family but his work
schedule then did not allow time to chase his
dreams of being a full-time artist. Retiring just
as the pandemic struck provided the opportunity
to become re-engaged with art. Simply
making animal art drawings for his grandchildren
provided the creative stimulus needed
to become a full-time professional artist.
This, Tom is an example that an person can
respond to the creative itch at any time in life.
Most of his artwork today is western themed
subjects that reflect life experiences such as
being raised around livestock and horses and
several years spent on the PRCA rodeo circuit
as a bull rider and team roper. As a child,
he happened to see a neighbor’s charcoal
drawing depicting a scene of the old west
that made a lasting impression on him. He
decided right then to try and produce similar
art that would capture attention and influence
people by making a similar impression
on them. Because he did not have access to
expensive art supplies, pencil and paper became
his medium of choice. He has always
loved the darks and lights that the contrasts
of this media produce and believes it portrays
the art of the western world perfectly. He is
also exploring color in his depictions of the
American West with the use of acrylic paint
on canvas. Whether paint or pencil, his subjects
depict a brief narrative with an iconic
quality unconfused by background detail.
Lakota Sioux Brave, 14 x 18,
Acrylic on Canvas
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THE SLOPOKE STORY
A random phone call received
while on a international business
trip in the twilight years of my
aerospace career led to the
purchase of a retail art gallery in
2008. This was just in time for
the global financial crisis with
the bankruptcy of America’s 4th
largest investment bank in October
of that year. By 2010, Sherie
and I had learned two facts: retail
galleries anywhere depended
on semi-random walk-in trade,
but customers would travel to
a themed art show of interest.
Seeing the attraction of wealth to
the Jackson Hole Art Auction in
2009 and a visit to the Masters of
the American West Exhibition at
the Autry Museum in 2010 convinced
us of a sustainable market
for quality western-themed
art professionally presented. So,
we established the SLOPOKE
Western Art Rodeo in 2011. For
5 years, it was presented as a
multiple-artist gallery-managed
event in the month of July. We
sought a memorable name for
the show. “SLO” was for San
Luis Obispo, “Poke” connoted
cowpoke, and “Rodeo” is a Span-
Original SLOPOKE 2011
ish word for “round up” which is
what we did with western artists
annually. In 2016, we reorganized
our business assets making the
SLOPOKE a separate entity to
be presented in a public place. .
So now that we owned an annual
remote from the gallery art show,
we needed walls. Purchasing
manufactured museum walls
or renting walls from larger
trade shows proved impractical
due weight and cost. With
some “Yankee ingenuity,” we
designed and built our own walls
balancing size, weight, durabil
Open Air Wall “Factory”
ity, and assembly concerns. We
received permission to use a former
paved open space to use as
a weekend “factory.” With the
help of friends, artist and gallery
owner Karen and Bill Fed-
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first used for SLOPOKE 2016
at the Pismo Beach Veteran’s
and Monty Roberts owned as
the venue if we would move
the show to the Santa Ynez
Valley and continue to operate
it. We shortened the
name to just “SLOPOKE” and
we have been at Flag Is Up
With the help of friends, artist
and gallery owner Karen
and Bill Fedderson, and Karen
Peterson, working with Sherie,
Tom and our youngest son
Andrew, we unloaded materials
from a 26-ft truck, assembled,
glued, nailed, painted,
and reloaded the truck, then
unloaded for storage (50) fifty
8’ x 4’ x 2” thick walls in one
weekend. These walls were
Hall in 2016 and continue to be
used today. In 2017, one our
artists, sculptor Pat Roberts,
offered the ranch that she
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Farms since 2017 courtesy of
the kindness and generosity
of the Roberts’ family. From
idea to operation, SLOPOKE
was pulled together by our
bootstraps.

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