WAOW Artistry of the West

The WAOW Artistry is slowly being built to provide a page on our site to promote each artist* You can search by name, location or by subject matter to find an artist.

*Artist Source Acknowledgment: Content on these pages is shared with permission and is sourced from the featured member artist’s website and professional biography. All rights remain with the artist.

Terry Denson • Florida • waow

Terry Denson creates paintings that are vibrant and realistic, with just a touch of abstraction.  She seeks to capture the dramatic contrast between color saturated subjects and deep shadows. 

Denson began her career as a full–time artist in 2003.  She was initially self–taught, but has taken opportunities to study in workshops throughout the country with nationally recognized artists, and attended formal drawing instruction at several schools in Maryland, including the Maryland Institute, College of Art.

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Dagmar Galleithner–Steiner • Washington • waow

Dagmar Galleithner-Steiner is a German born artist specializing in horse and dog portraits, and abstract expressionism.  She moved to the United States in 2013 and found artistic success with her realistic portraits of dogs and horses.  She was commissioned to paint the official portraits of six Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s Pacific Classic winners. 

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Corey Garman • Arizona • waow

Corey Garman paints the sweeping landscapes of the southwest in oils.  She views landscape painting as a doorway that is open to let the viewer see inside and encourages one to feel that place, smell it and maybe even hear it.  She creates her works primarily in the studio with an occasional venture into plein air. 

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Kathy Gale • Idaho • waow

Kathy Gale creates contemporary art that is a fusion of impressionism and abstraction.   She tells the stories of farmers, migrant workers, and ranch hands at work set against the sweeping vistas of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana.    She uses a variety of media to achieve her characteristic broken color that lends richness and texture to her painting surfaces, including oils, acrylics, gouache, watercolor and pastels. 

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Molly Moore • Wyoming • waow

Molly Moore draws and paints the stunning beauty and wildlife of the West.  She especially seeks to portray the souls of wild animals from real life experience. Molly divides her time between creating in her studio and exploring outdoors to observe wildlife, often painting en plein air to capture the beautiful habitat they live in.   

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Jane Hunt • Colorado • waow

Jane Hunt is the 12th most awarded artist in the United States, according to Art Data Intel.  This remarkable designation is the result of Hunt’s relentless pursuit of craft and unsurpassed beauty realized in her landscape paintings.  She has lived in Colorado for thirty years, where she frequently paints en plein air to gather information for her larger studio works.  She loves the American West and continues to be awed and inspired by the beauty surrounding her.

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Karen Ann Hitt • Florida • waow

Karen Ann Hitt is an award-winning artist, classically trained at Parson’s School of Design in New York.  That classic background is ever evident in her style, along with her love of capturing the figure and the effects of light in all of her scenes. Her paintings are noted to accentuate the effects of light, adding to their luminosity.   Her landscapes and skyscapes reflect the essence of the landmark.

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Margie Hildreth • Texas • waow

Margie Hildreth is a watercolor artist who loves the way the medium moves and blends.  It is a medium that requires a collaboration of sorts — a dance between artistic control and then allowing the serendipitous play of water and pigment to surprise and delight.  She uses vibrant color to show the contrast of light and shadow and likes to drop in unexpected colors or splatter to evoke a sense of casual fun in her paintings. 

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Diane Fechenbach • Colorado • waow

Diane Fechenbach’s artistic passion is dramatic light and shadow; and clean, saturated color.  She is particularly interested in the effect of light on snow, trees, rocks and water.  She works in a variety of media, including pastel, oil, and watercolor. Her subjects are varied, but she particularly enjoys painting en plein air.

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Judy Fairley • Washington • waow

Judy Fairley is pastel and scratchboard artist, living and working in Washington.  She grew up in Clarkston, where she and her twin sister helped on the family's horse and cattle ranch. Her experiences while growing up provided her with endless inspiration that she has shared in her numerous artworks shown and exhibited throughout the United States and Canada.

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Susan Temple Neumann • Texas • waow

Susan Temple Neumann is an oil painter who enjoys a more painterly style of realism, which helps keep the artwork fresh and "alive." Her art is born from a desire to capture the emotion or mood of a particular scene.  A life-long fascination with native Americans, cowboys, horses, wildlife and the western landscape has fueled Neumann's art over the years and been the inspiration for her western pieces.

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Sue Wipf • Minnesota • waow

Sue Wipf worked on her parents' farm and spent time pondering the skies and the beauty around her. That experience continues to influence her values and her perspective on the world around her.  Her love for nature is expressed in her plein air paintings and studio work.  The artworks of Vermeer, Sargent, Turner, and Sorolla have influenced her.  She has studied at the Schroeder Studio and taken workshops from other master artists.

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Laura Pollak • North Carolina • waow

Laura Pollak is an award–winning, fulltime, professional fine artist.  She works primarily in oil and pastel.  Her art practice explores landscapes of the earth and constellations, as a continual search for her place in the universe.  Her artworks run the gamut from realism to explorations of the abstract.

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Mary Lou Pape • Kansas • waow

Mary Lou Pape’s passion for nature has made wildlife and the western way of life the primary focus of her artistic practice.  Her primary mediums are oil, pastel and pencil.  Travels to national parks, nature preserves, rodeos and ranches in America continually provide her with inspiration for her paintings of life in our remarkable country.  

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Nancy Harkins • Oklahoma • waow

Nancy Harkins is a watercolorist and graphite artist from Oklahoma.  Her style is realist and her subjects are wide ranging.  Her award–winning works have been featured in the watercolor anthology, Splash 19:  The Illusion of Light, and featured in two books, Seasons of Life and Seasons of Love. Her paintings are avidly sought for private and corporate collections.

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Kristen Federchuk • Canada • waow

Kristin Federchuk a self-taught artist.   She practiced drawing by studying the works of artists she admired. She feels that her art career is what she was created to do.   She experiences great joy and excitement as she brings each painting to its ultimate fruition.  Federchuk’s subjects are varied, preferring to be free to explore and paint the beauty around her.

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Janice Wright • Colorado • waow

Janice Wright is originally from Western Canada, but now calls Arvada, Colorado her home.   She is a Visual Communications graduate from the Alberta College of Art of Canada.  Wright worked as a graphic designer for over fifteen years.   A one year residence in Europe provided her the opportunity to see paintings that previously she had only see in art history books. Profoundly moved by the experience, she stopped producing commercial art and began her fine art career.

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Sharon Grubbs • North Carolina • waow

 Sharon Grubbs finds inspiration in people and places throughout North Carolina’s Piedmont region. Her paintings range from traditional rural landscapes and images of local farmers, representing the area’s strong agricultural roots, to works featuring members of the many ethnic groups who have introduced new cultures to the area, even as they become an integral part of it. 

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Gloria Chadwick • California • waow

Gloria Chadwick finds joy in the wildlife sketching possibilities at the world–famous zoos, aquariums and wonderful coastline of the San Diego, California area, of which she is a native.  She is a master painter working in oils, acrylics, and watercolors. 

Chadwick is a dedicated enthusiast of wildlife conservation and delights to create art that brings attention to the animals—especially endangered species.  Her works have been accepted in many juried shows and festivals and have won numerous awards. 

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