Archives for 2026 May-June Issue

A Deep Connection

A Deep Connection

April 8, 2026 | by

“When I first experienced Glacier National Park, it was like I’d come home,” says Michael G. Booth. “The rugged mountains, the isolated beauty and exalted display of nature fit me like a glove.” Booth has spent the past four decades with one foot in a college classroom and the other on the trail. An accomplished painter, sculptor, and potter, he has built a life’s work in the American West that marries academic rigor with the heart of a storyteller. Booth studied at Boise State University and Utah State University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and then a Master’s
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The Sculptor and His Village

The Sculptor and His Village

April 8, 2026 | by

  Loveland, Colorado-based sculptor Dan Ostermiller is hard at work on a new piece that will be part of a 50th anniversary celebration of his work at Nedra Matteucci Galleries in June. It’s a huge sculpture—nine feet long—and it’s somewhat unusual. “It’s 12 rabbits,” he says. “They’re all interacting with each other—jumping off this wall and running around it and sleeping on it, scratching their ears. All of them doing different things on it. It’s pretty cool.” In the world of wildlife sculpture, Ostermiller’s pieces stand out in a few key ways, including their sheer size and the virtuosity of
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Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes

April 8, 2026 | by

  The last time the Seattle Seahawks played the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, Aaron Hazel had to rethink his whole life. He had built much of his early artistic career painting the Seattle Seahawks. Not only was he painting and selling vignettes from the team’s big wins, but players were commissioning him to paint large portraits and other scenes. In 2014, when the Seahawks trounced the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XL-VIII, Hazel’s work became so in demand that he was able to leave his bartending job and become a full-time artist. But then came Super Bowl
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Romantic Realism

Romantic Realism

April 8, 2026 | by

  When viewing one of Tom Perkinson’s landscape paintings, you will catch yourself thinking, “Where did he see this?” The answer is simple: in his mind’s eye. “I’m an intuitive painter,” Perkinson says. “I’m a painter of fiction.” He’s not a plein air painter, and he doesn’t work from photographs, unless it’s a landmark structure. He simply looks inward, using his imagination to create—and then paint—whatever comes to him. And what comes to Perkinson are stunning landscapes filled with light and brilliant colors. “I want viewers to see the world in a different way,” he says. “I want them to
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The Grandmother of Scratchboard

The Grandmother of Scratchboard

April 8, 2026 | by

  Scratchboard is a subtractive medium that Sally Maxwell has moved toward becoming an additive medium as well. The medium consists of etching away black India ink from a white clay subsurface, using fine-tipped tools—one painstaking line at a time. For Maxwell, the process evokes emotions she can’t find in other art forms. “It feels so good to work with it,” she says, adding that her personal satisfaction stems from the way she’s wired—specifically mathematically. Many artists of her caliber came through top-tier art programs in college, but Maxwell dropped out of Monmouth College in the early 1960s after an
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Blown—And Blowing—Away

Blown—And Blowing—Away

April 8, 2026 | by

  Dan Friday’s artwork almost defies description. A master glass blower, it celebrates and honors his heritage as a member of the Lummi Nation located near Bellingham, Washington, through vibrantly colorful pieces that incorporate stories and meanings that aren’t readily understood by non-Native Americans. That being said, Friday’s art is stunningly beautiful. To say that Friday’s road to success as an artist was a rocky one would be a gross understatement but, once he found his calling, that road smoothed out and has taken him to great heights and to several foreign countries. That includes a three-week visit to New
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Riding High

Riding High

April 8, 2026 | by

  If you’ve ever imagined living on a ranch, riding high in the saddle, herding cattle, and working in nature, you can live that vicariously through the art of Sherry Cobb-Kelleher. “I don’t know if I’m being romantic or what, but I’ve always had such a connection to the land and the animals,” she says. “I want to be able to show that in my artwork so people can see and feel it. I’ve had this connection my whole life. That’s why I paint—to make that connection.” Born into a family of artists, Cobb-Kelleher describes her trajectory to becoming an
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The Studio of Heather Burton & Dave Santillanes

The Studio of Heather Burton & Dave Santillanes

April 8, 2026 | by

  Since meeting in Maui in 2014, artists Dave Santillanes and Heather Burton have been side by side in many ways: dating, marriage, parenting, and living as full-time artists in Colorado. Since September 2025, when they moved from Wellington, Colorado, to Colorado Springs, they have also been side by side when painting in their spacious studio on the main level of their home on the northern part of town near Black Forest. The main-level studio is the first room a visitor sees, and once in the studio, the view is as inspirational as their art. “We look right out at
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