Read a little about some of our talented artists
AND CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITES!
ALANMcNIEL
Since earning a Masters degree at the University of Montana Alan McNiel has worked as an independent artist, exhibiting his work through galleries, museums, and festivals throughout the west.
His work is included in the collections of University of Washington Medical Center, City of Seattle, University of Montana School of Law, Montana State University, North Idaho College, and Washington State Percent-for-Art.
Recent solo exhibitions include Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Hockaday Art Museum, and Clymer Museum of Art.
McNiel’s studio is located near Troy, Montana. More of his work can be found at Artsource – Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane, Frame of Reference Gallery in Whitefish and Bigfork, and www.alanmcniel.com.
DAVIDMARTY
David has been living in and finding inspiration from the Pacific Northwest for the last 35 years. His paintings have been juried into Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society and C.M. Russell exhibits. Recently he has been invited to participate in several plein air shows, most recently the Plein Air Glacier where he received the Curator’s Choice Award. He is represented in galleries in Coeur d’Alene, Jackson Hole, Santa Fe and Whitefish. David and his wife reside in Edmonds, Washington and have five children and three grandchildren.
DELGISH
Del calls himself a realist. In all of his paintings, an effort has been made to record some observable truth. Color, form, and light effects are all considered. These objective qualities are balanced by attitudes and thoughts that are unique to each artist. Mere selection of subject reveals a lot about the artist, at the same time the effort to paint is a very uncertain endeavor and inherent in everything the artist does is an element of mystery. Gish’s work is in public and private collections, including the Art Students League in New York City, the Seattle Art Museum, the Frye Art Museum, and the SAFECO collection. He resides in Medical Lake, WA.
DENNISPIRELLO
Born in Spokane, Washington in 1947, Dennis grew up on a working ranch where he developed an early connection to the land and the cowboy way of life. His formal art training began in 1971 covering graphic design, Illustration and fine art. His professional career has taken him from Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana, and then Spokane, Washington.
Currently Dennis lives with his wife Lois in Veradale, Washington. He is involved with the local art community.
Dennis loves history. Especially anything that involves the American West. Gun collecting, horseback riding, cowboy action shooting and mountain man rendezvous keep him connected to his passion.
DIANNEADAMS
Dianne has always been inspired by the use of colors, texture, and the infusion of light. She has found that watercolors and inks are like magic in the way they react to the painting surface. She creates all of those elements of design and captures a feeling one cannot acquire any other way. Dianne’s watercolors on canvas and ink on silk are edgy, bright, and innovative. Dianne’s work is represented in the following gallery: Exposures International Gallery, Sedona, AZ.
Doug was employed for 30 years in the steel industry. This is where he developed his passion for creating unique one-of-a-kind metal sculptured bells using many of the same techniques and processes he became so familiar with in working the steel mill. Making a sculpture out of old found objects and persuading it to succumb to the tools and the will of the artists hands is the challenge that Doug has thrived on in his work. Using items that might end up in junkyards or farmers backyards are all potential art objects in waiting. Doug’s signature garden bells have found international acclaim and are in public and private collections worldwide. His award-winning designs are cutting edge.
DOUGADAMS
HEIDICARNEY
Heidi Carney, a self-taught artist from Spokane Valley, WA has honed her craft with the guidance of local artists, mentors, and workshops. Her artistic journey, marked by a lifelong exploration of creativity, has led to acceptance into local juried exhibitions and national online exhibitions, including the American Impressionists Society and the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society. With a diverse range of pieces, from “Autumns Arrival” to “Here Comes the Sun”, Heidi’s art captures the essence of nature’s drama with each brush stroke.
Gary is a third generation artist, carrying on the Western tradition in oils,. He has been painting since he was 14, growing up in an atmosphere permeated by art. His major influence being his father, Western artist Joe Rader Roberts. In addition to his fathers training, he received one on one training from many of America’s finest artists; G. Harvey and A.D. Greer. Gary has taken this experience and molded it into his own style, a mixture of Realism and Impressionism. Gary’s work encompasses the time when cattle drives, Indian encampments and cowboys on horseback were prevalent.
GARYLYNNROBERTS
HAYLEYSHORTRIDGEGABRIEL
Hailey was raised in the arts. Her father, Stephen Charles Shortridge, is a nationally acclaimed artist and her mother Cathy Shortridge ran the Painter’s Chair Gallery where Hayley often worked the floor selling art from around the world. A Coeur d’Alene local, Hayley was awarded the honor of Top 30 under 40 in 2012 for her art. That same year she started True Life Canvas after discovering through her artistry she could offer 3D paramedical tattooing to breast cancer survivors. She also helps many others with a wide range of medical conditions as well as those just wanting more convenience by offering realistic looking permanent cosmetic eyebrows, eyeliner, lips, tattoo removal, scar camouflaging etc. Hayley was again awarded top 30 under 40 in 2020 for her work with True Life Canvas which has grown into a unique boutique Medspa focusing on the embetterment of their client’s lives through the specific services they offer.
Hita paints images of the West in a contemporary style. Many of her oil paintings are about the American West - the cowboys, the cowgirls, the ranchers, horses, cattle, coyotes, eagles, landscapes, wind farms and myths - the romance and drama of the West, a dynamic space where heroism is both epic and everyday. Another great source of inspiration is Puget Sound – ships, ports, and great industrial sites. She previously won the Puget Sound Energy Purchase Award and was named the commissioned artist for Allied Arts on Vashon Island where she lives, and along with her family are finding out how addictive raising foals can be.
Her painting “Downhill Racers” was chosen to be in the TV series “Longmire”. She was featured in the January 2015 issue of Cowboys and Indians Magazine. Her most recent shows were at the Western Heritage Foundation invitational art show “Windows to the West” in Estes Park, CO, in 2017, where her painting was in a four-way tie for best painting as voted on by fellow artists. She has shown at the Clymer Museum’s “Greatest Show on Dirt”, in 2016, and the 2016 and 2017 Western Masters Show’s “Heart of the West” art show in Coeur d’Alene and Bozeman. She is a member of Valise Gallery on Vashon Island, a gallery at the Clymer Museum and the Western Art Association in Ellensburg, WA. She is currently in a group show at the Clymer Museum and last month in a two person show at Valise Gallery on Vashon Island. Von Mende has designed and painted sets for opera, theater and ballet. Her work is in numerous corporate and private collections.
HITAVONMENDE
JACKBABCOCK
Jack has spent more than forty years developing his distinctive style, whether on canvas or glass. Jack has had several mentors, the ones who had the greatest impact on his work was Robert Walton and Fred Oldfield. Robert with use of light, and shadow in his paintings. Fred pushed me out of my comfort zone by encouraging me to incorporate animals and cowboys in my work and pushed me to get back into painting and get my work out in public. Jack has also been painting on glass ornaments for 42 years you can view this on his web site. Jack participates in shows in Washington, Oregon, Tennessee and Montana.
Judy had a love for art as a young student in grade school, she was drawing the pictures as the teacher was reading a story. She kept developing her art and was voted most artistic in high school. Although she has never had a formal art education, she has taken art classes from various artists in our local area, such as Betty Meyers, Joe Kronenburg and Michael Dodash. She enjoys painting scenery of local surroundings, portraits and animals. These classes have helped her develop her own style of artwork in pastel and in oil.
She loves painting from a photo that she has taken or a client’s photo and transforming it into a forever memory. Painting brings inner peace to her as she gets lost in the paintings as she is working on them.
She is a member of Oil Painters of America, Pastel Society of America, Portrait Society of America and American Women Artists.
JUDYFOUSTHARRELL
JERRISHRADER
Highly motivated and award-winning artist, Jerri Shrader, incorporates a powerful, realistic and sensitive approach to her paintings. Her objectives have always been to communicate, historically educate and accurately portray her subjects in order to emotionally inspire the viewer. Universities, museums, galleries and private collections of notability account for much of her work to date.
Jerri was the youngest woman to have a one-woman showing in the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, WA. In 1975, she was commissioned to paint actor John Wayne by his family. She was selected to paint three Washington State Centennial Murals in 1989 for Aberdeen, Hoquiam and Pacific Beach. Her works of art are in the permanent collections of Washington State University, Dr. Norman Rose, and Ralph Monroe, retired and the late Red Skelton estate. Jerri was the winner of the 2012 prestigious Nancy McLaughlin Award for Outstanding and Versatile Female Artists at the Oldfield show in Puyallup, WA.
Jerry is a bronze sculptor whose awards include many People’s Choice and Best Sculpture awards at various national shows. His sculptures have been purchased for the permanent collections of museums, corporations, and communities. Spokane Valley’s collection includes the monumental mountain man “Working the Line”; the 16’ high “Dance of Sun & Moon”; “Coup Ponies” for the new city hall; three figured “Indomitable Spirit”; life-size bear, “Huckleberry Daze”, and “Otter Woman” acquired in 2024.
JERRYMcKELLAR
JOHNTHAMM
John F Thamm, Spokane artist, is an accomplished portrait and landscape painter who taught workshops in the United States and Europe. In 2009 he painted fifty portraits of area veterans seeking medical attention at the Mann-Grandstaff Medical VA Center that resulted in a show and book-“VETS: 50 Portraits of Veterans and their Stories”. In 2016 he launched a show of portraits of the US Presidents and authored the book “The Presidential Collection.” John maintains two studios-Peaceful Valley, Spokane and 40 Main St. Bisbee, AZ. John’s work is in private collections throughout the United States and the Wilfson Museum in Miami Beach, FL. Visit his website to view more work.
Oil painter Kyle Paliotto gathers imagery from the beautiful rustic landscape of his local surroundings in North Idaho. He searches out rural settings which display a time gone by when harmony between land and man existed. His style is one that takes from impressionism without disregarding the discipline of representational art up to the early 1900’s. Painting en plein air, on location, is essential to his process but the real meat and potatoes is in the studio.
As a national artist Kyle shows in galleries and events from California to South Carolina. He has been featured in Southwest Art, Western Art Collector and local magazines displaying his paintings.
At the age of 46, Kyle has had some great achievements, but his greatest joys are his wife Rebecca and children Vincent and Sophia. Teaching a weekly art class along with workshops has added to his love of art and ability to share his passion. Life is just getting exciting and Kyle looks forward to a long rewarding career.
KYLEPALIOTTO
MIKEWISE
Mike is a painter best known for his lush landscapes and sculptural use of oils. His approach to representational art is based in impressionism and abstract design with loose brushwork and extensive use of palette knife. The result is a painting with movement and energy, rich in color, texture, and a distinct three-dimensional feel that draws the viewer deep into the painted image. Wise grew up an outdoor enthusiast, surrounded by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Throughout his life, the extraordinary coastlines and mountains, as well as the beautiful backroads and farmland of the American landscape, have provided endless inspiration for his work.
Naomi is an oil painter who likes to paint a variety of subject matter in nature. She is particularly known for her ability to capture and express the feelings of animals. She lives in Ellensburg, WA, with her husband Peter, pet chickens, and a house sparrow named Tobi. She paints in her home studio, and she likes to paint landscapes everywhere she travels. The Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce has chosen her landscape paintings for its membership plaque images for 2014 and 2017.
In Tokyo, where she was born and received formal art education throughout her youth, her fascination with Western movies and astronomy inspired her to go to the University of Arizona. In Arizona she learned to fly hang gliders, and that has been her favorite way to explore the world for the past 24 years. Marriage to a fellow hang glider pilot brought her to Ellensburg, and she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with an emphasis in oil painting, at Central Washington University, in 2007.
She is a member of Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society, Plein Air Washington Artists, and Women Painters of Washington. She has studied oil painting with several painting masters, including Kathleen Dunphy and Jeff Legg, while also teaching her own art lessons. She continues to explore artistic expression beyond the boundaries of realistic and impressionistic paintings.
NAOMIGRAY
ROBERTKROGLE
Robert specializes in oil paintings and charcoal drawings in western landscape, figurative, equine, wildlife and portrait subjects. He is classically trained at Chouinard Art Institute of Los Angeles with a background as a national award winning illustrator. Spending the last 16 years as an oil painter, Robert has pursued capturing the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest and the human figure. In 2007 Robert was the John Clymer Museum Award recipient. “It’s my hope that my work will bring joy into people’s lives and inspire them to find their own creative way”.
Ron Adamson, a native of Libby, Montana, began his artistic journey during his high school years. Despite limited initial exposure to art, his innate passion for creativity flourished. Recognizing Ron’s potential, his art teacher, though not an artist, wholeheartedly encouraged him to pursue a career in the arts.
After high school Ron took a job at the local lumber mill. It was there that he honed his skills in wood carving. Finding moments during breaks and evenings to experiment on scraps of wood he collected from Rocky Mountain stream beds. After nearly four years, Ron’s unique and rustic wood carvings gained enough popularity to match his earnings at the lumber mill. He left the mill and began exploring bronze sculpture.
Ron’s diverse artistic talents extend beyond sculpture. He’s also a skilled oil painter, watercolor artist, decoy carver, and even a producer of instructional carving videos. He was an early adopter of internet art marketing, establishing one of North America’s first artist websites.
As a full-time artist, Ron’s work found a home in various art shows across the United States, from California’s “Mule Days” to the Midwest’s “Boys Club” show and exhibitions in Buffalo, New York, and Mystic, Connecticut. Ron’s enduring passion and dedication to the arts make him a true luminary in the field.
RONADAMSON
STEPHENSHORTRIDGE
Stephen has been a professional artist for more than thirty years. In the 70’s and 80’s he had a successful career in acting that included film, TV and commercials. You might have seen him selling Mennen Speedstick for nearly a decade, or on “Welcome Back Kotter” in 1979, as a new “sweathog” replacing John Travolta. In 1989, after two years as part of the original cast of the CBS soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful”, he left Los Angeles and acting to pursue his love of art - and to design a slower life. He has since become a world renowned painter and his writing is taking up more and more of his time and heart.
“I have such fun painting, that you sense and share in that is my hope. Now that I am over 50 I realize that for all these years I’ve been doing what I’ll do when I retire. For me as an artist, to see beauty is my job. As I pursue to improve I see more and more beauty all the time. It’s a pretty nice job.”
A Coeur d’Alene, Idaho native, Lee has traveled, and painted, around the world. His trademark giant canvases and bold colors are prized by his collectors. His luminescent scenes of wild animals and Italian country sides capture the eye and the imagination, and his equal prowess as a sculptor makes him a formidable force in today’s art world.
TERRYLEE
STEPHANIEKJOHNSON
Stephanie's artwork invites viewers to experience the glow and mystery of the old masters. People started collecting Stephanie’s work when she was very young. She sold her first original painting at the Redmond Saturday Market at the tender age of eleven. At twelve she entered her first gallery and by fourteen she had incorporated her own business. Stephanie is a graduate of the four year, Juliette Aristides Classical Atelier at Gage. There she cultivated an appreciation for the art of still life painting and traditional techniques. Stephanie is currently a full-time artist and works from her home studio in northern Idaho.
Jeff is a fine artist from Portland, Oregon, specializing in oil and pastel paintings. Known for his dramatic and colorful skyscapes and depictions of the beautiful Northwest landscapes, his art is collected from around the world by many, including Clint and Dina Eastwood, Schnitzer Steel, and grammy-award winner Joanna Newsom. When not painting, Jeff enjoys cooking, fishing, traveling and spending time with his wife and five children.
JEFFWHITE
AARONSMITH
Aaron Smith has had an unconventional artistic journey. It began with a chance encounter with the Tao Te Ching, a small book he stumbled upon in a thrift store over two decades ago. Intrigued, he decided to delve deeper, seeking out a teacher of Tai Chi to explore its principles firsthand. Under the guidance of a Chinese master steeped in the traditions of Taijichuan, which encompasses both Tai Chi and Kung Fu, he found myself unexpectedly drawn into a decade-long immersion in the art. However, at the age of 37, he felt a calling to transition. While bidding farewell to martial arts, he wasn’t ready to relinquish the discipline and dedication cultivated over the years. After some contemplation, he landed on painting. Aaron began with stick figures, practicing daily. Inspired by another book, “Outliers,” he aimed for mastery through 10,000 hours of deliberate practice aiming for three hours of practice each day over the next decade. For Aaron, art became not just a creative outlet but a journey of disciplined mastery, where every moment of practice brings him closer to his fullest potential.
Jeff is a fine artist from Portland, Oregon, specializing in oil and pastel paintings. Known for his dramatic and colorful skyscapes and depictions of the beautiful Northwest landscapes, his art is collected from around the world by many, including Clint and Dina Eastwood, Schnitzer Steel, and grammy-award winner Joanna Newsom. When not painting, Jeff enjoys cooking, fishing, traveling and spending time with his wife and five children.
DENISEBOWELS
