I don’t know which I loved more as a child, my art supplies, or my stick horses. I blame television’s Roy Rogers and Trigger for the horse obsession. Over time, I gradually began drawing realistic horses, and got more and more infatuated with the pencils. While I still love the challenge of manipulating graphite between whispers of gray and the blackest of blacks, I have a fascination with new media and drawing surfaces. Cheryl Harley Volz

Donna Merchant-Crooks has a kinship with nature, where she finds solace and inspiration. She spent years cooking and pulling mule strings in Idaho’s wilderness, developing an appreciation for the rare and untouched.