SantaFe.com

March 1, 2006 - May 1, 2006

Robin Branham's work has been published in Art in America and she has won five awards at the Wiseman Museum Show in Calfornia. Her work has hung in the San Diego Museum of Art and is included in the permanent collections of the Sony Corporation, the Leanin’ Tree Museum in Colorado, Mr. R. J. Allen’s touring museum collection based in Chicago, Illinois; and the EST&G Collection in California. She has exhibited with acclaimed artists such as Christo and Kostabi.

Her technique involves the application of multiple layers of paint to the canvas. From the layered paint she fashions abstract shapes and various textures with a myriad of colors to create the form and composition.

May 1, 2006 - July 1, 2006

Penny Benjamin Peterson has been painting since 1976. She is included in many private and corporate collections such as Magellan Resources, First Interstate Bank, and National Car Rental to name a few. Her work has shown in the West Valley Art Museum and the Casa Grande Art Museum and she has been featured in Art Business News Magazine, Artbook of the New West, Phoenix Home and Garden, and Art Buyers Guide...

July 1, 2006 - September 1, 2006

Ezra Katz, a plein-air and studio impressionist painter captures the essence of cityscapes, landscapes and figures with fluidity and abstraction, branding his pieces with a unique punch. Recognized in national publications, Katz’ notoriety has sky-rocked and collectors are taking notice.

A California artist from Baja California Sur, Mexico, Katz grew up and established himself quickly in galleries and private collections in Mexico. In the off seasons, he traveled through the United States, painting commissions for private clients, in California, Texas and Arizona.

James Leonard has emerged as one of California’s leading abstract expressionist painters. He works in acrylic on canvas and uses bold horizontal and vertical strokes with strong color to trigger the viewer’s emotions. His painting style includes pulling paint to create layers, or “history,” within the painting. While primarily an abstract artist, his emotionally charged, vibrant canvases often portray backdrops for dramatically suspended figures.

"Art has always been the focus of my life," he says. "Just as our lives unfold in unique and beautiful ways, so do my paintings have their own unique individual expression."

Leonard grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and has always been drawn to the early expressionists of the 1930's and 40's. The German painter Gerhard Richter has had an influence on his style, approach and directness. His work is exhibited in both Europe and the United States including the San Diego Museum of Art. Numerous corporate collections feature his work, such as: NASA, Motorola, Lifoka Greafische in Holland and Sky Across Tokyo, Japan to name a few.

Kim Casebeer’s interest in art dates back to her early childhood. Kim’s first art sale was a landscape she sold for $20 through a 4-H event when she was in 6th grade. Art continued to be a part of her life through high school, and she enrolled in the graphic design program at Kansas State University, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1992. She worked as a graphic designer and art director in order to pay the bills, while spending evenings and weekends painting. In 2002, she was able to make the leap to full-time artist.

The paintings of Joseph Hutchinson have evolved over his fifty-year career as an artist and teacher. Experiences in the landscape of places where he has lived, current political and social issues have shaped his paintings. He is consistent in working with oil or acrylic on canvas in abstract compositions with expressionistic overtones of vigorous brush strokes and color. Currently, he is exploring the contrasting geometry of the ancient cliff dwellings with the organic landscape of Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon and the Acoma Mesa with these painterly techniques.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1963, Alex Barrett has been actively working in metal sculpture since the age of 14. Acting as apprentice to his father, sculptor Bill Barrett, in New York, Alex developed the ability to bring an idea to life and gained an intimate knowledge of fabrication. Alex works in the abstract, beginning with a concept. The concept may be inspired by any number of things; the shape of a hand, a person, an emotional state, or an object. From that concept comes a drawing and from the drawing, a sculpture.

Many of his sculptures become monumental pieces, but all begin with a small maquette. The maquettes are fabricated from sheet bronze, and most are single edition artist proofs. Unlike most bronze artists, Alex' work is typically not cast, but is created; cut, joined, inflated, and welded by his own hands in his studio. This makes his sculpture truly special in that all elements are completely controlled by him, from the initial concept to the application of patina. But this is just the beginning.

Painter Dale C. Peché was born November 28, 1928 in Long Beach, California. Known internationally for his work, Peché paintings reside in permanent collections in the Vatican, Rome; Glendale Federal Savings & Loan, California; McCleary-Cummings’ Artists of America collection; and in private collections in the United States and abroad.

Upon completion of a four-year tour with the United States Army in 1948, Peché attended Art Center College of Design from 1948 – 1952. While there he studied painting with renowned instructors Feitelson, Reckless and Tyler. He was awarded a Bachelor of Professional Arts in 1952.