OUR 2026 ARTISTS
The Artists of Scottsdale Ranch and our neighboring communities are diverse and unique. Each artist tells a story through their art, whether love of nature, people, places and things, experiences, new and different techniques and materials or just plain whimsy, you are sure to be awed and delighted. The 2026 show will feature the artists shown below. We look forward to seeing you at the show!
Acrylics
Judith Bloom
Acrylics, Director ASR Art Show
Judi spent 35 years in the cosmetic industry, the last 20 of which was leading a Special Events program for an International Beauty Brand. In her position she lead teams of women, empowering them to reach and break sales quotas while bringing out their inner and outer beauty.
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Following retirement she moved with her husband to Arizona and was ready and excited to try something new. She attended a wine and painting party and that unlocked a hidden talent that she never knew she had and she was immediately hooked!
She found her niche painting women and now has expanded to abstract landscapes, florals, bears and many commisssioned pieces. Most recently one of her paintings was selected to be featured in a book of Poetry and Art "Living Large" and also the featured artist in Trends Magazines 40th Anniversary edition. She loves what she does and her passion for life is clearly seen in her work! Judi hopes you enjoy viewing her art as much as she does painting her creations.
Julieta Hughes
Charcoal & Acrylics on Canvas
Julieta Hughes was born and raised in Argentina, has been an artist since the age of 3, when she had to stay home due to chickenpox, in her boredom she picked up a pencil and knew art was her life passion, more specifically portraiture.
Today she is a professional artist that creates artwork combining her love of portraits with nature in mixed media paintings, does commission artwork, has created portraiture courses for beginner artists, and has developed and patented an art tool that makes portrait drawing easier and quicker, called FaceMapper.
Check out her work at:
Elissa Nowacki
Acrylic on Canvas
Artist Elissa Nowacki enjoys adolescent humor, paranormal romance novels, 80's punk/alt rock and taking over her family's kitchen table to paint. When she isn't assistant principaling at a K-8 public school in Phoenix, she can be found in her tacky pajamas, using art as meditation from the stressors of adulting.
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Her formal art education is minimal. She and her exceptionally tolerant husband once enrolled in an evening painting class at Phoenix College, which they affectionately refer to as "marriage counseling." Elissa's family is checkered with interesting artist types. She credits her mother for most of her artistic education.
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Elissa is inspired by random things, including but not limited to flowers, skulls, Daleks, and family pets. In addition to painting, she has built wire sculptures, constructed intricate Halloween costumes for her children and made jewelry. She finds joy in paint...but also in clay, hot glue, and glitter.
Fiber Art
Barbara Janson
Fiber Art
The complexity and beauty of Barbara’s work reflects the essence of her heart and heritage. Raised in Minnesota, Barb inherited a love of the outdoors from her father and sewing skills from her mother, a professional seamstress. As an award-winning fiber artist and competitive quilter, Barb applies the rules of good design and the painterly skills she learned while earning her
Bachelors of Fine Arts to her favorite hard-edge medium- Fabric.
Inspired by nature and history, Barb Janson’s original impressionistic landscapes are created using bits of appliquéd batiks and other materials, occasionally enhanced with machine and hand embroidery, thread play, thread painting and ink.
Barb’s quilted landscapes from a painter’s perspective, often reflect the north woods of her childhood, the European countryside of her ancestors, and the beauty of her beloved Sonoran desert and her Arizona home.
Glass Art
Jacki Cohen
Glass Art
​Jacki is a kilnformed glass artist. Fused glass is an ancient art from dating back to over 4000 years ago. The glass is heated in a kiln to about 1500F to fuse the glass causing the colors to
blend and shapes to shift slightly. Jacki is a self taught glass artist after her art spirit was awakened after taking a stained glass recreational class over 20 years ago. Jacki’s signature
style is an intricate technique of organically layering pre-fired glass component pieces. She works with small detailed pieces on a larger glass canvas. She uses an array of vibrant colors, a variety of shapes and textures to create depth and interest to her pieces.
Jacki’s work has been featured in AZTV Phx Finds Holiday Gift guide, Fox News Made in Arizona TV feature, Glamour magazine, cover artist for the Hidden in the Hills 2023 catalog, and cover artist for the 2024 Jewish News Community Directory. Jacki accepts commissions and private studio shopping appointments.
Jewelry & Accessories
Carol Tenwalde
Statement Jewelry - Twisted Sister
My Dad always said, "When life throws you a curveball you just have to learn to hit them!" 7 years ago a medical accident rendered my hubby a shut in for 8 months. As his caregiver, I needed something to fill my hours. I had boxes and boxes of beads from a previous hobby, so I decided to make and sell handmade jewelry.
Jewelry is a very crowded field and I wanted to be unique to set me apart. After much trial and error, I developed a wire wrapping technique I call The Twisted Sister. The wire wrapping and twisting makes a very unique structural statement piece that lies flat on your neck and is virtually weightless. If you love getting tons of compliments on your jewelry then The Twisted Sister is made for YOU!
With repurposing and recycling trending, I also have a beautiful, colorful line of fiber jewelry that is made from recycled India saris that I buy from a Fair-Trade Organization and I am very proud to support them. These bright, cheery pieces are all one-of-a-kind originals and because they are made from silk are also weightless.
Linda Lawrence
Kumihimo Jewelry
I am a designer and artist of Japanese inspired jewelry. Keeping to the Japanese esthetic I create pieces of beauty through the simplicity of design. I use the ancient Japanese braiding technique called Kumihimo (pronounced, Ku-me-he-mo), combined with modern materials to create braided jewelry that is both unique and timeless.
I work on a Marudai (mar-a-di), the traditional Japanese braiding stand. The repetitive braiding movements, and the sounds of the wooden bobbins hitting against the legs of the stand becomes a form of meditation and focused relaxation.
The challenge of working with such a colorful array of beads and materials is what keeps the creation process interesting. I’m obsessed with color and texture and will often create a bead soup of dozens of different beads, gemstones and pearls to use in a piece of jewelry. I also enjoy creating ombre effects where one color of bead blends seamlessly into another. Most of my life I was an art quilter. My quilts won numerous awards and several traveled throughout the world in special exhibits. When I discovered Kumihimo in 2013, I was immediately smitten and traded in all my fabric for beads. I am forever expanding my skills, taking six master classes with respected Kumihimo jewelry artist, Adrienne Gaskell, and in 2015 traveled to Japan to study with Japanese master, Makiko Tada, at the Kyoto Institute.
Veronique Benoit
Silversmith Artist & Enameling
For over three decades, I worked as an integrative psychotherapist, walking alongside people on their healing journeys. It was soulful, meaningful work—rooted in presence, transformation, and deep human connection.
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In 2015, I moved to the U.S., carrying with me a lifetime of experience—but no clear path forward. I found myself in unfamiliar territory, with space to rediscover and reinvent.
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It began quietly, with clay beads—small, meditative acts that kept me grounded. The colors, the textures, the rhythm of creation all stirred something deep within me. Then, by sheer chance, I missed a class and was placed in an advanced silversmithing workshop. That “accident” changed everything.
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Silversmithing captivated me instantly. I dove in headfirst—immersing myself in workshops, retreats, and every technique I could find. Each new skill was like opening a door to another part of myself. Working with metal, with fire, with the alchemy of transformation—it felt like home.
As someone who had long facilitated inner change, I was now embodying that same energy with my hands. Metal became my new medium for healing.
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Color has always spoken to me, and when I discovered enameling, something clicked into place. The soulfulness of color, the strength of silver, the beauty of imperfection—it was the perfect fusion. Enamel gave voice to emotion and instinct in a language beyond words.
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Each piece I create tells a story—infused with a message, a feeling, an invitation. My work is both deeply personal and universally resonant, offering moments of reflection, connection, and transformation.
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Today, my studio is growing—filled with passion, purpose, and a lifetime of listening. I’m proud to share that my pieces are now featured at the local Fountain Hills gallery, where they continue
to reach others on their own journeys. I work with intention, with love, and with the unwavering belief that transformation is always possible—whether in the psyche or in silver.
Mixed Media
Jim Rapisarda
Metal Artist
Painting is a talent that I discovered later in life. With no formal training, my art has taken many different directions through the years. Much of my early work was reflective of life on Long Island, NY, where I grew up with my family. Seascapes on stone and driftwood provided a variety of interpretive expressions using oils and acrylics.
After moving to Arizona in 1981, this new environment led me to a new direction in my artwork and the mediums that I could use. The use of copper has enabled me to capture desert landscapes and mountains in a unique and often abstract way. Using techniques that were developed for painting on stone, has enabled me to embellish copper in a way that is most interesting and exciting. Copper is a unique painting medium. In addition to its daily use in construction and technology, copper has properties that provide the artist an opportunity use it in a variety of ways.
Life, as in art, presents us with a new view of reality each day. That change in perspective has helped me create new and exciting approaches to use a variety of techniques in new and exciting works.
Leslie Kiefus
Ceramic Sculpture
I am inspired by the feel and shape of objects: textiles, tapestries, textured surfaces, sculpture, sand, and especially perfectly smooth pebbles. My creations started in grade school with sewing just because the fabrics were beautiful, transitioned to Papier-mâché because because the materials were readily available, but since taking a 2010 handbuilding class, I’ve been enamoured with clay.
Clay is a wonderful medium: forgiving, therapeutic, and magically transformed by heat and glaze. For me, sculpting bypasses any purposeful thinking. I visualize a shape, and minutes or hours or days later that shape has manifested in clay; it’s directly eyes to fingers, and it’s magic. Daydreaming is a key part of the process.
Each of my wall pieces is comprised of several parts, and final assembly is often challenging. The entire process, from working with raw clay to installing finished pieces in customers’ homes, is totally fulfilling and more than a bit addictive!
Judith Rothenstein-Putzer
Mixed Media
A Photographer’s Eye With An Artist’s Vision
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Scottsdale artist Judith Rothenstein-Putzer has been putting a new spin on her love of photography by creating Alcohol Transfers with Pen and Ink. The mixed media technique she uses is a hybrid between printmaking and photography. The process involves printing an original photograph onto a transparency which is then transferred on to printmaking paper soaked in an alcohol-based solution. Depending upon the concentration of alcohol and the type of printmaking paper, the results vary from the softness of watercolor to the boldness of acrylics. When the transfer is completed, Rothenstein-Putzer enhances the negative space with pen and ink thereby creating dynamic linear and color effects in the artworks.
“Sometimes I take pleasure in capturing the moment for its form or color. Other times, I try to expand the boundaries of reality.”
The artist and her husband have been avid travelers for many years, which to the artist is synonymous with photography (She’s been known to pack more camera equipment than clothes)! Rothenstein-Putzer’s subject matter tends to be very eclectic. She remarks that some of her photos are the typical tourist shots, while others tend toward social commentary. Sometimes she just looks at objects in
everyday life with regard to color, form and space. Those are the ones that are generally the basis for her art. An award-winning artist, she is a juried member of both the Sonoran Arts League and the Arizona Art Alliance.
Sandy Gatlin
Abstract and Mixed Media
I have been surrounded by extremely talented artists my entire life, my father, my husband, Jim, and my son, Alex. I was an Art Major in High School and College, however, life came with priorities: marriage, raising my kids, and a career in the medical world. Now in my retirement years is the time for creating my art.
A few years ago, inspired by two great Abstract Artist, Arlene Towne and Bonnie Miller, I found my joy and my happiness at the end of a Palette knife. Through the use of color, texture, intuition and imagination, I am on my own Abstract journey. Pure joy is in a tube of paint. Happiness happens on a finished canvas.
I am living the dream. My art is hanging in a gallery and in people’s homes. I am finally doing what my college journey was all about, teaching art, and sharing my work with others. I am grateful.
Mosaic
Kathy Samuels
Mosaic Pots
Kathy is a former High School teacher who fulfilled her lifelong dream of raising two boys. She began the art of mosaic in 1998 when a colleague invited several teachers to learn how to create stained glass windows and to mosaic terra cotta pots. Creating inventive patterns using clay tiles, sea glass, pottery, china, etc.
She began designing pots to be sold at charity auctions. Mexican tile is her preferred resource as the colors and patterns speak to her on her most creative level. Many friends and colleagues have plants potted in their yards and businesses that she has created, a most gratifying sight to see for Kathy!
Oil Painting
Carrie Palmore
Oil Paint & Mixed Media
Carrie Palmore was raised in rural southern Oregon and has spent most of her life in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Her professional journey began with a 15-year career at Intel, followed by nearly two decades in the real estate industry. It was during this time that Carrie discovered her love for art.
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"I was spending all my time thinking about my business and what else I needed to be doing," she recalls. "Deciding I needed a hobby, I walked into Michaels one day and walked out with a set of colored pencils, a sketchbook, and an instructional manual. The rest is history!"
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What began with colored pencils soon evolved into a deeper artistic journey, moving through acrylics and eventually to oil painting. Initially focused on oil landscapes, Carrie’s style transformed in 2024 when she enrolled in the online program at the Milan Art Institute. There, she developed a unique mixed media approach combining acrylic and oil paints.
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Now retired from real estate, Carrie lives in Surprise, Arizona, with her husband, Rick. Her days are joyfully split between the pickleball court in the morning and her art studio in the afternoon. Together, Carrie and Rick enjoy spending time with their two daughters and four grandchildren, who continue to inspire her creative spirit.
Karin Giannini
Oil on Canvas
Karin Giannini was raised in Phoenix, Arizona; her parents arriving in 1961 from Chicago when she was just one year old. She attended Arizona State University where she received a BSE in Environmental Engineering. Although she pursued a very linear career path, Karin has always had a passion for interior design; color, light and composition - and architecture; the relationship between line and form; shadow and light. Late in life, Karin discovered an interest in drawing, painting, collage, and art journaling. Since retiring in 2016, Karin has thrown herself into her art with unwavering passion. With a strong foundation from a variety of art courses, she is now immersed in her studies at the Milan Art Institute, honing her craft and pursuing her love for painting at an even higher level.
Karin’s artistic style is Abstract Realism, which is an interpretation of something real that, when she paints it, dissipates into abstraction. She is known for the overlay of women, silhouettes and nature combining bold color and the revelation of self on her canvas. Karin’s ability to dig inside and paint her soul is a talent she’s earned after more than six decades of a purposeful life. Karin is particularly interested in expressing the sensual romance of the Arizona desert, where her soul resides, and declaring the strengths in the feminine psyche. She paints daily in the large studio attached to her home that contains a giant easel for her to paint several pieces at once. She paints, talks to herself and dances while her three year old Maltese chases tiny tennis balls around the studio. Karin starts her painting day with gentle, soothing music as she melts into her paint. By noon, she blasts her favorite playlist that contains everything from 90’s Booty Rap, 2000’s Pop, and, of course, Classic Rock. The energy of the beat is what she’s after so that she can invite that same energy into her paintings. By the afternoon, it’s 60’s and 70’s music while she studies her pieces for the story she wants to express to her viewers; making a list of any adjustments she wants to make the following day.
Karin is currently working on a series entitled Myth’s of Her in which she reveals the effect of beliefs that have disrupted her path and summoned her to explore her depths through writing and painting. Karin’s future painting adventures are steeped in the archeology of six decades living an eloquent yet thunderous life, and the journey that lies ahead. She intends to paint for the rest of her life, finding it both deeply meditative and a way to engage with her experiences with graceful perspective.
Pastels & Charoals
Kristin Ryan
Pastels
I started painting about 9 years ago. I initially painted landscapes using acrylics, but was quickly introduced to reductive pastel at a 3 day art workshop. Pastel gave me the freedom to use my hands rather than brushes and inspired me to branch out to painting birds and flowers in addition to landscapes.
I am an avid mountain biker and hiker, so I am frequently stopped in my tracks (literally) because of the beauty surrounding me. I can't wait to present the scene using my own colorful flare. I am retiring in May 2025 from a career as an elementary school art teacher. I am looking forward to having more time and energy to devote to expanding my artistic style!​
Pen & Ink
Richard Bauer
Pen & Ink
Richard J. Bauer is a life-long artist, holding both a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Art. Richard, a full time visual artist, has lived in Arizona for the past thirty-five years. Over his fifty year art career, his work has been exhibited and collected throughout the United States.
Watercolor
Judy Nelson
Watercolor
I didn't start painting until the ripe old age of 60 years. I had no training but a challenge from a younger sister was bm one I couldn’t resist. Living in Minnesota and Door Co, WI there were plenty of “arti” opportunities to explore, and one day I just said “Today is the day” and signed up for a beginning watercolor class at the local art school and there you have it, an immediate love!
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Since then I’ve tried many mediums watercolor being my primary one but love to try many others. It’s never boring and the world is so full of fun and beauty that you never run out of ideas or things to paint. This art show has been great fun and a super outlet for something that started out as a hobby but has turned into a real passion. Enjoy the show this year! Many new things to bring a smile to the day!
Carolyn Wheelock
Watercolor
Carolyn had always “dabbled” in painting, but it wasn’t until her husband’s job was transferred from the Bay Area to Phoenix that she seriously invested herself in art. Now she pursues painting in transparent watercolor and in acrylics with a watercolor feel.
Carolyn’s style is representational but not overly illustrated. She calls her compositions “intimate landscapes” – including such things as patio gates, interesting architectural features, and subjects from plein air outings. At the 2025 ASR Show she is presenting some of her recent watercolor and acrylic paintings.
