culture Frederick Stephens Painter Inspired By: Wolf Kahn
“Kahn’s landscapes experiment with color in a way that is abstract. I admire the way he has mixed contemporary and traditional approaches in his painting.”
Brady Richardson
Ceramic Artist Inspired By: Maria Martinez
“Maria has her own design and technique that she developed herself. Through her creativity, she made a way for her people to create their own economy.”
Ginny Northcott
Painter Inspired By: Leonardo da Vinci
“I can spend hours perusing the images of da Vinci, especially his drawings. The curiosity and inventiveness shown in his anatomical drawings amaze me. Life drawing is one of my passions and I want to draw just like him ‘when I grow up’!”
Royden Card
Painter Inspired By: Pierre Bonnard
“Bonnard’s main influence has been his sense of color, which is always pushing beyond the ordinary with surprising intensities and modulations. He took the common and made it visually powerful, but with a quiet intimacy.”
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WRITTEN BY Gina Jrel
We all look to the past for inspiration. We all value a guiding hand, someone who has been there before us. Someone to emulate, someone to look up to, someone to guide us. Someone to inspire us.
“In every art, beginners must start with models of those who have practiced the same art before them,” said Ruth Whitman. “… it is a matter of being drawn into the art of realizing that it has been made by a real human being, and trying to discover the secret of its creation.” “What master artist are you inspired by, and why?” I have posed this question to many of our local artists, whose creative work has contributed to the richness and artistic culture of Southern Utah and beyond. Discover who their mentors are, and how these masters have influenced the wonderful art you find them creating today.
Debra Proball
Aimee Bonham Stephens Ceramic Painter Inspired By: Thomas Nozkowski
“Nozkowski’s work and philosophy has greatly influenced me. He said, ‘Improvisation, however, is essential to my work.’ I relate to that: I want my ideas to be located at the tip of my brush. I want my materials to talk back to me. I want to be surprised.”
Jewelry Artist Inspired By: Pablo Picasso
“I am inspired by Picasso’s brave use of asymmetry in his compositions. This translates into my own creations, all the way from my stone purchasing choices to the way I assemble these selections to make my jewelry.”
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Russell Wrankle Ceramic Artist Inspired By: Hieronymus Bosch
Matt Clark
Sculptor Inspired By: Vincent van Gogh
“I relate to van Gogh, because I feel he was completely misunderstood about who he was and what he was trying to communicate in the context of his time. I am inspired by his love of the art, his love for creating.”
“I like the darkness of his subject matter and his sinister animated creatures. My work has a darkness to it, and in the darkness there is light.”
Alisa Graham
Painter Inspired By: Salvador Dalí
“Dalí artwork inspired me to paint the craziest things I would never even think about. Because of his influence, my pictures are more ‘opened up,’ and my paintings became more ‘random’, which is good.”
Reece Thompson
Painter Inspired By: Georges Braque
“I feel Braque embodies quantum physics. My creative work also embodies quantum physics.”
Eva Pelton
Sculptor/Ceramic Artist Inspired By: Leonardo da Vinci
Jennifer Strachan
“I am inspired by da Vinci’s contribution to both art and science. I admire many things about him, but he influences my own work in that he advocates the importance of studying your subject: thoroughly immersing yourself in learning everything you can about what you are working on and creating.”
Painter Inspired By: Pablo Picasso
“Picasso’s drawings and colors inspire me to paint with simplicity and vibrant color. Picasso inspires me to find ways in my own work to convey a feeling or emotion by using color and simplicity.”
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Daniel Pettegrew
Designer/Sculptor Inspired By: Antoni Gaudí
Jeff Ham
Painter Inspired By: Francis Bacon
“Bacon’s ability to honestly reveal himself in his work is a benchmark that I continue to strive for in my own paintings. His fearless and unfiltered approach of sharing who he is connects with the viewer on multiple levels and continues to inspire and remind me to do the same with my work.”
“Gaudí has inspired my work as a designer and wood sculptor. His ‘out there’ colors, shapes and style, based on the natural world, resonate with my own connection to the environment and the universe.”
THE ARTS ISSUE 2012
Ed Hlavka
Sculptor Inspired By: Michelangelo Buonarroti
“I have a plaque in my studio near the door that says ‘Aocora Imparo’, a quote from Michaelangelo near the end of his life. It means ‘I am still learning’.”
Del Parson
Painter Inspired By: John Singer Sargent
Julie Dumas Glen Blakley Ceramic Artist Inspired By: Michelangelo Buonarroti
“Michelangelo has inspired me to do my best and to work like there is no tomorrow. Perfection and excellence is the driving force behind what I create. Michealangelo was the first super hero artist.”
Marlene Proctor
Glass Artist Inspired By: Jean-Francois Millet
“As a little girl I spent many long afternoons looking deep into a print by Millet that hung on my Grandma’s wall. I love the subtle, soft backgrounds and the richness of his subjects. My own work seems to have a deeper tone which must have been inspired by this reflection.”
Joyce Baron
Embroidery Artist Inspired By: Gustav Klimt
Painter Inspired By: Pablo Picasso
“His work is sensual, romantic. My embroidery work shows his influence in that I use many different colors of thread, love creating endless patterns, and often employ the use of metallic gold thread.”
“Picasso was very experimental and creative all of his long life! I am inspired by his compositions: they are intriguing and complex.”
“Sargent inspires me to paint with similar objectives: great light, feeling of people as subjects, and beautiful paint.”
Phil Ertel
Glass Artist Inspired By: Louis Comfort Tiffany
Alisha Tolman Burton Painter/Printmaker Inspired By: Mark Rothko
“Rothko was a self-described ‘abstract painter’ who believed that pure color and form can act as symbols that have the ability to remind us of our spiritual needs and capacities. Like Rothko, I believe the right composition of color jogs something in our spiritual and emotional memory. I could spend a lifetime exploring that connection.”
“Tiffany made his own glass and used it in creative ways. I am inspired by his realistic designs, and his ability to make scenes with such intricate detail that the stained glass panel looks real. I find the quality of the design and construction of his panels to be amazing, knowing that he didn’t have the technolog y and machines that we have today.”
Birgit McMullen
painter Inspired By: Friedensreich Hundertwasser
“I love his bright color choices, the use of gold leaf, and his unconventional subject matters. His artwork is design-driven with a whimsical and even child-like quality. Bright colors, plenty of patterns and organic lines and shapes, the integration of nature into urban life inspire me beyond measures. I have an encyclopedia of his complete works right next to my work space.”
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Jerry Anderson
Sculptor Inspired By: Michelangelo Buonarroti
“I am inspired my Michelangelo’s understanding of anatomy. That influences my work.”
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