OUR 2025 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 2025 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.
Ceramics
Deborah Bauer
Ceramics
Deborah is a ceramic artist living and working in Phoenix and Prescott, Arizona. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art with a specialization in Graphic Design, and graduate degrees in both Education and English. Besides ceramics, Deborah also paints using watercolors. She has studied ceramics as an undergraduate art student, and most recently at the Mesa Art Center.
She is a member of the Arizona Clay Association. Deborah draws on her background in design to create floral and graphic patterns using underglaze in mono-printing techniques and sgraffito. The result is both ornamental and fully functional for everyday use. Each piece is hand-built, one-of a-kind, and dishwasher and microwave safe. Her hand-painted, hand-built, mugs, bowls, and trays bring art and design into everyday life.
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.
Lois Wendling
Fiber Art
As a young girl, I learned to quilt from my mom, and her creativity has undeniably influenced my own. I began with traditional bed quilts and sofa throws, but everything changed when I discovered "Art Quilts" or "Textile Art." I found my passion, which has driven me to explore this vibrant expression. My textile art quilts, which are layered like traditional quilts but matted and framed for wall display, stand as original, one-of-a-kind creations that reflect my unique vision.
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I thrive in designing and creating new textile art pieces in my studio, and I continuously seek out new techniques to enhance my work. The beauty of nature serves as my primary inspiration, and I revel in working with a spectrum of colors and diverse fabric designs. The comfort and fulfillment I experience while creating my art are unparalleled.
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I have achieved significant recognition, winning numerous ribbons and awards, and my work has been selected for display in art galleries locally and nationally. My accomplishments speak to my dedication and talent in the world of textile art.
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.
April Bower
Argentium Sterling
April Bower has always been fascinated by all the varied processes involved in metalworking. “Metal is an extremely versatile medium, that can be cast, stretched, compressed, pounded, welded, textured and colored or melted down to start all over again. From steel to copper to gold and silver, from ancient forging techniques to modern electroforming, the possibilities are endless.”
After receiving a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree, she spent 18+ years doing bench work in fine jewelry stores in Arizona. Over the years her focus has spanned from fine jewelry to copper fountain sculptures.
Primarily a Goldsmith, Bower teaches metalsmithing online and in live workshops at Art Retreats and studios throughout the US. She specializes in Argentium silver, bimetal &reticulation with texture & contrast being the driving elements.
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!
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.
