Introducing Artists New to Feminine Mystique Art Gallery

Judy Berry has a passion for design and color; and she loves the varied cultures of the world, including Native American history and crafts.  Her art is expressed through contemporary fiber art, including painting on fusible web, pictorial quilts, fabric faces and original handbags.

The artist changed professions at one point in her life to become a tour operator of adventure travel where she gained insight into the many cultures of the world which translated into her artwork.  When she moved from Portland to Scottsdale, she joined a quilt group and the Southwest’s colors became her signature.  She discovered a product you can mold with heat, but also sew through, “Creative Sculpt” and she has created many interesting pieces she calls “Wall Flowers.”

At present, Judy has been working with fusible webbing that she paints with acrylic paint, then adheres to fabric.  The piece is then layered with other fabrics of all types, threads, beads and pieces from nature.  Feminine Mystique Art Gallery is pleased to represent and sell Judy Berry’s artistic creations.

Regina Browne is enjoying time to devote to her art quilting, after many years in Alaska.  She now divides her time between Ajo, Arizona, and Montana.  She has always loved the touch of fabric and recreating fabrics.  It all started when she was young and created clothes for her dolls from scraps.  After some formal quilting training, she knew she wanted to do free form designs.  Her work is outstanding and beautiful; and it features fabric scenes of all forms of nature in the Northwest.

Kathie Cichon’s fine art photography focuses on nude women over the age of 40.  She does no touch-up to the natural body image.  Using well-designed studio lighting, she tastefully and artfully poses her subjects.  Then, the artist transfers her photograph onto a canvas.  She then applies many layers of wax pencil to draw (as an example) a colorful Mexican blanket over the subject’s nude shoulder.  Sometimes she utilizes two-tone black chalk pastel.  Further, her subject’s hair is painted in oil.

Kathie Cichon has a special love for textures and color – and it is apparent throughout her work.  As an artist, it is her conviction that every place and person has a story to tell and she documents that fact beautifully in her unique and captivating photography.  Her art photography is featured at The Feminine Mystique Art Gallery in Tubac, Arizona.  The gallery focuses solely on the art of women.

Ysabel Fuentes was born in Peru and continues to make that her home.  She began her career at an early age because she was born into a family of artists.  She studied at the Bellas Artes Institute and she shares her love for art with school children she teaches.

Ysabel works with watercolor and she beautifully captures the mood of the village where she lives and works.  Her brother  represents her work in the United States as she speaks only Spanish.

Susan Hartman came to Tucson, Arizona, a few years ago from Minnesota.  What drew her to this part of the country was the active and vibrant metal sculpting field of art that is present in Arizona.  Susan graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and she had minored in sculpting.  She  worked with clay and bronze at that time.

As so often happens with artists, Susan was inspired by a friend who was a talented artist.  Susan was a participant in many group exhibits including TCF Bank.  Citicorp, based in Minnesota, owns two of her paintings.  To supplement her income, she did wedding photography and also painted pet portraits.

Susan had always been interested in working with metal and bronze.  Her focus currently is the sculpting of metal pieces based on Greek Mythology:  specifically, The Three Graces:  Radiance, Joy and Fruitfulness.  Her creations are whimsical pieces displaying beauty, charm and nature.  She utilizes recycled metal and accents them with bronze.  Her metal art is perfect for garden wall hangings.

Gail Klosiewski moved to Arizona in 2004 from Wisconsin.  She had always loved drawing and painting.  Her paintings are a combination of Folk Art and fun whimsical.  Many of her paintings have been sold at silent auction for the welfare of rescued horses in Arizona.  They are colorful acrylics that catch your eye.

Kathleen McLeod (pronounced “McLoud”) is a California native who works with colored pencils, but is anything BUT an ordinary “pencil pusher.”  Her beautiful work will astound you!  She creates on paper, cardboard, and sometimes on wood.  Some pieces are accented with sand, small stones, or acrylic paints. 

Constance Meade, Organic/Naturalist Artist, When Constance Meade moved to Arizona, she found a place that truly fit her spirit and inspired her art celebrating the rugged beauty of the Southwest.  She loved gathering objects from the natural world as well as the world of human beings.  Her work often takes objects that have been cast off and she gives them meaning and value. Over the years, she has collected materials left to the elements and through that process added to their beauty.  Three-dimensional collage and assemblage techniques are used to create wall pieces and art cards – they have a primitive, talismanic feel that celebrate the lives and deaths of creatures whose bones and feathers arouse in us an innate, spiritual feeling.

Years ago, Uli Owens began working with pen and ink drawing as a hobby.  In the 1980s she took classes while living in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.  She was introduced to her instructor, Petra  Gerber, who suggested a book to her entitled “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” which tremendously helped with developing her art.  Uli credits Petra with teaching her important lessons and helping her open up her artistic talents. Uli then enrolled in watercolor classes and was taken with this less structured medium.

Eventually, Uli took courses in Florida at the Stained Glass Studio and she was hooked on the beautiful pieces she could create in stained glass!  She completed various courses at that Studio and she discovered that any mood formerly expressed in watercolor could be adapted to stained glass.

Today, Uli does custom stained glass work in the form of lamps, mirrors, boxes, panels measuring 5’ x 32” and smaller pieces that can hang from any window.  She concentrates on designs that are true to nature.  The Feminine Mystique Art Gallery in Tubac, Arizona, is proud to display and sell Uli’s new and exciting stained glass creations.

Ann Potthoff has found her passion in creating through gourds.  The ideas come to her as she studies the various shapes of gourd with which she works.

After many years of dabbling in different forms of art, she feels that this medium fulfills her desire to create.  She has developed many interesting designs with gourds:  dolls, Eskimo dolls, bread baskets and numerous others.  Her wonderfully unique and colorful creations are represented at The Feminine Mystique Art Gallery in Tubac, Arizona.

Originally, Lindsay Roberts worked in tinsmithing, using recycled metals and tin and creating animal sculptures. Her work was colonial tinsmithing, similar to some that you see today in Mexico. She worked her way through college first to Bradley Univeristy in Illinois then transferring to Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio doing welding creating metal sculptures.

When Lindsay moved to Arizona, she became attracted to the warm, rich hues of copper. She established a line of copper jewelry called “Curly CU” and she created wonderful necklaces, bracelets and earrings. The copper wire she works with allows her to coax it into smooth, organic shapes and forms – spirals which she forms into different and exciting designs and textures. Lindsay adds Chinese turquoise and other stones and beads to accent her pieces and they are stunning! Also, she has created copper purses. Feminine Mystique Art Gallery, in Tubac, Arizona, is delighted to present her wonderful designs.

Allison  Rockefeller, Handbuilt Pottery Artist. From an early age, Allison has had a love for horses, which became the inspiration for her artwork.  She is a resident of Tucson and has a background in graphic design, although it was in pottery that she found her true passion.  She creates unique, beautiful hand-built stoneware pottery jars adorned with hand-sculpted faces, which she affectionately calls “dream jars.”  Her whimsical stoneware and raku horse fetishes are each hand-built and reflect the countless hours she has spent observing and admiring her own beloved horses.  All of her pieces are handmade originals and no two are exactly alike.

Allison Rockefeller’s creations have been displayed at the Tucson Museum of Art, Desert Artisans’ Gallery and now The Feminine Mystique Art Gallery in Tubac, Arizona.

Julie Rybachek is passionate about photography. She can often be found traveling the southwest in search of crumbling adobe homesteads, the abandoned santuario, and the forgotten back road. These are the subjects of her photographic images.

Her love of the natural, cultural, and historic beauty of the american west has inspired Julie to capture the spirit of this land before it disappears into folklore.

Julie's photographs are printed on metallic paper, a process that enhances the vibrant colors found in the desert southwest. Her work speaks of the soul of the southwest.

Sandy Swallow-Morgan experimented with oils and watercolors while living on a ranch in South Dakota.  She was virtually self-taught and longed to create art capturing her spiritual connection to nature, home and family.  She discovered the painstaking medium of hand-pulled block printmaking and she was able to create dramatic pieces with deep earth tones and pastel colors depicting the traditional Native American symbols and images.  Her work conveys a peaceful quality.

As a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe, Sandy’s fascinating life history includes many proud family members who have served their tribe and their country well!

Sandy Swallow’s work in oils and watercolors has been displayed and honored in many prominent and regional art shows.  In 1998, her art was chosen to be featured at Hofstra University in New York, for an art show entitled “We Are All Connected:  The Native American Experience.”  The Sandy Swallow Gallery in Hill City, South Dakota, showcases Northern Plains and Lakota art and many nationally known Native American Artists’ works.

Shireen Truitt was born in Scotland and migrated to the United States with her entire family in 1966.  Eventually she married and 20 years ago, the couple moved to the Southwest.

Shireen’s family all had artistic abilities, but hers became apparent in painting with oils and acrylics.  Though she had no formal training, she developed her style over the years.  Her inspiration, she says, comes from her subconscious and inner feelings and dialogues.  Her beautiful, creative work will be shown and sold at the Feminine Mystique Art Gallery in Tubac, Arizona.  She also places some of her abstract art in a Scottsdale gallery.

Irene Wisnewski developed her artistic talents during the 1960’s in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she established her studio.  At that time she did Sumi ink painting, collagraph printmaking, as well as paper making.

In 1995, Irene moved to Tubac, Arizona, where she worked with oils, acrylics and mixed media collage.  Her beautiful and unique mixed media collages are displayed and sold at Feminine Mystique Art Gallery where she also presents her acrylic flower paintings which add vibrant color to any home or office.

Robin Wrex came to Arizona from Boston  in 1999, and she is so happy to have made that move.  She is self-taught, although she learned much from her late brother in Massachusetts. 

Robin started out creatively painting children’s tables and chairs, stools, etc.  However, after her move to Tucson, she bought a paint-it-yourself pot and found she was energized by the creative process and eventually she began working with tile and glass doing mosaic tile picture frames and flower pots.  This led to larger items and she now creates beautiful stone garden benches decorated with mosaic glass, ceramic tiles, and anything else she finds interesting to include in her designs.  Feminine Mystique Art Gallery in Tubac, Arizona, displays and sells her beautiful garden benches.

Intrigued by texture, Ms. Wurtz will often fix papers, seeds, sticks or crushed leaves to the canvas prior to painting. From 2000 - 2006, she completed a series of paintings which are deeply personal reflecting the importance of relationships in the lives of women and touching on topics of recovery from traumatic life events.

Since moving to Tucson in 2006, she has been pleased to join other artists in weekly drawing sessions with a live model. This connection to a practice that artists have participated in for centuries has inspired her to create a new series using drawings of nudes in an abstracted setting, often employing divisions of the picture plane to suggest planes of existence through which the human form may or may not intersect.