Something I’ve heard over and over again since I started working at Art of the West is how supportive the art community is. Through my work as the creative and production director, I thought I understood what that meant as I saw how artists support each other at shows I’ve attended and how we work to support artists through the work we do with the publication. But, after attending an artist workshop last fall, I have an even greater understanding of what that support means and how powerful it is.

I’ve always been a creative person and have found joy in art. One of my mom’s favorite art memories of me was when I woke up early one morning when I was about 6 because I wanted to draw the sunrise with my Crayola crayons, meticulously selecting which of the 64 colors would match what I was seeing outside. I do recall that Periwinkle was predominant and that Sky Blue was not actually the color of the sky that morning.

I took art classes through a community education program during the summers in between my years in elementary and middle school and later, while I was in high school, I took art classes up to the AP level. When I went to college to pursue a degree in magazine journalism and English, I didn’t have time to take art classes or to paint as a hobby, so my artistic endeavors stopped.

Read the full article in the January/February 2024 issue.