Barbara Nuss is an award–winning oil painter of landscapes and still life scenes.  She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree Syracuse University, the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore.  She began her art career at a graphic artist and illustrator. 

Nuss is the author of the book, Secrets to Composition.  She taught still life and landscape painting at her atelier from 1983 to 1996.  She continues to share her skills through plein air workshops and atelier teaching.

Ni Zhu turned to painting after studying law at Beijing University and pursuing graduate studies in the U.S. and Canada. Changing her career path, she honed her passion for the media by attending classes at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and taking workshops with master painters, ultimately earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2020.  Zhu’s academic and creative pursuits from law to art and personal transition from China to North America have informed her practice as an artist. 

Lori Abrams Rauchwerger is an accomplished and award-winning artist whose creations are predominantly inspired by dogs, people, and other pets. She works to capture their essence in diverse settings utilizing a diverse range of media, including oil, pastel, and watercolor.

Sharon Markwardt is a life-long artist with a Fine Art degree and a Biology minor.  She grew up in Texas, the daughter of an Artist and an Engineer, and now enjoys an artist's life in Santa Fe, NM. The colorful style for which she is known emerged in the last decade or so, and paralleled her entrance into horsemanship, with its associated injuries and challenges. She laughingly credits her mare with “throwing her into western art!" since her colorful style emerged after a fall. She had the courage to get back in the saddle, and eventually learned the value of calm assertiveness. A new boldness entered her art, and she moved from watercolor to oils.  Her color perception altered, as did her subject matter: stronger, brighter, more Western.  Sharon enjoys pushing her colors and designs while retaining realism and attention to detail, injecting humor whenever possible.

Christine Drewyer takes great joy in painting the powerful tranquility of the Rural American landscape or the beautiful, peaceful beasts of our planet.  She hopes we will always reside in a world where we can enjoy these simple pleasures.  She seeks to create art that will transport the viewer beyond the senses, free of thought and self-consciousness.  The paintings then become an Instrument through which the viewer and the artist glimpse the joyful oneness of which we are all a part.

Elizabeth Rouland O'Dell earned her B.A. in art from the University of California, Santa Cruz, graduating with honors in 1991.  She worked with printmaking techniques including intaglio etching, drypoint, and monotypes during her college years. More recently, she has returned to focus on oil painting, and she is ever enthralled with the challenge of interpreting the world around her through color and texture. 

Rose Irelan is inspired by the diverse landscapes of the coast, desert, and mountains. Her paintings capture the energy and changing light of the natural world, using expressive brushwork and a deep appreciation for color. Whether painting the rugged shoreline, the quiet beauty of a desert morning, or towering mountains, she strives to convey the feeling of a moment rather than just a scene.

Lori Cusick loves to create art of the land.  Her style is colorful and stylized.  She received her Bachelors of Fine Art degree from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn,  New York.

Her process begins on location with oil paints and canvas in tow.  Leaving the studio behind and working in the great outdoors provides and endless source of inspiration. 

Janel Maher's sculptures are known for capturing the heart, soul and very essence of one of our greatest treasures — the horse. Maher's sculptures can be found among collections throughout the United States, Europe and South America with two perpetual trophies in England and South Africa.

Elizabeth Sage honed her self-taught ability to see and render the most difficult of images and precious of moments through a corporate career in graphic design for over 20 years.  In 2000 she changed her calling and passion to full time professional fine artist, creating powerful imagery and stories on canvas.

Dana Lombardo resides by the shores of Grand Lake in Northeast Oklahoma. There she draws endless inspiration from the picturesque surrounding landscape and the vibrant local culture. Her artistic works manifest a deep-rooted affection for the land.  She also depicts Native American themes in which she endeavors to preserve and share the depth of their heritage.

Susan De’Armond turned her passion for art into a serious pursuit of a fine art career in 2007.  Plein air painting takes her back to memories of trekking through the woods on family outings, or memories of her grandmother tending her garden filled with her irises and lilacs.  When De’Armond gets out into the woods or the wild, she says it feels like coming home. 

Rose Collins was enthralled with art, painting, and the western culture from her early childhood.  She relocated to Tucson, Arizona when she retired from her practice as a psychologist in New York.  She picked up a paintbrush and took a leap of faith into the unknown. That began a soul-searching decade of self-discovery, mentorship and successes in the very competitive art world, and paved the way to gallery representation. She loves being an established local Tucson Wildlife and Contemporary Southwest Artist.. 

Shelly J. Cox is a contemporary realist oil painter who lives and works in the horse community of Jupiter Farms, Florida, USA.  She is a graduate of the Art Institute, Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a degree in commercial illustration, but she is a self-taught oil painter.  Cox diligently works regularly with master artist mentors to advance her painting skills. 

 Western and wildlife artist, Amanda Cowan, spends her time outdoors drawing the horses, cows and any wildlife that she comes into contact with.  She is self taught, painting in watercolors and oils.  Her art is in private collections in Korea, Australia, Canada, France and the United States.  

Heather Coen is most renowned for her mastery of western wildlife, desert, mountain and water images.  Many layers of oil paint or pastel go into her works, creating a third dimension in each original piece.  The subject matter changes and varies from a study of a single flower to Alaskan wide–open expanses.

Each day is a gift that Cobb-Kelleher treasures. She strives to capture those special but otherwise missed moments of ranch life — moments that poignantly highlight the struggle for that tenuous and beautiful balance between the world as it is and the world as we wish it to be.

"Betty Jean Billups is a superb Impressionist painter, blessed with the talent to produce rich and colorful paintings of her everyday experiences.  She paints powerful works of visual delight and honest truth. 

Using a bold brush and solid colors, she paints from her heart and her soul."

—     (Mr.)Jean Stern, Director Emeritus, The Irvine Museum

It is the connection, the joy – the reluctance to leave the scene that inspires Jenifer Cline to paint.  She considers the sense of place, the effects of light and the linkage of heart and soul to the earth as the most important aspects of her work.  She paints exclusively in oils en plein air. 

Collette Claros feels a deep passion for painting people and conveying emotion through her art. She is especially drawn to painting the human face and form.  It is thrilling when that face becomes real and starts pushing through the canvas.