"State of the Art"
A Collector's Evening
Friday, September 15, 2006

Press Release

Tlaquepaque Announces
Artists selected for
"State of the Art"

Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village is pleased to announce the artists that have been chosen to participate in 1st State of the Art collectors evening on September 15th. The nine fine art galleries have created themes for the evening and all of the artists have been handpicked by their individual galleries. Given the intimate setting of the evening a limited amount of artists were allowed to participate. The nine galleries involved are Spiritwind Gallery, El Prado Gallery, Shaffer the Gallery, Geoffrey Roth Ltd., Gifted Hands, Mountain Trails Gallery, Navarro Gallery, Andrea Smith Gallery, and Kuivato Glass Gallery.

Spiritwind Gallery's theme is Design and Deception: A Treat for the Senses and features the works of sculptors Wendy Salin and James La Casse, and painter Dina Farris Appel. Both sculptors are renowned and highly collected. Since the early 1990's James Le Casse has established himself among collectors and art aficionados as a major force in the world of sculpture. Wendy Salin sculptures celebrate the human form. "I am very passionate about creating sculptures that celebrate the human experience" states Salin.

Dina Farris Appel is most known for "The art of Trompe l'oeil", which means fool the eye. It is an ancient art form that creates the illusion of the three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface. First recorded in the 4th century B.C., Greek artist Appelles painted grapes that were so realistic that birds flew down and pecked at them. Sometimes called the Brain surgery of Art for its difficulty, trompe l'oeil is the rarest form of painting practices in America today.

El Prado Gallery has created "Elements that Inspire" featuring John Cogan and Richard Albin. Both artists are extremely unique. Richard Albin, whose "rock furniture" is now placed in collector's outdoor living spaces across the globe, successfully blended his love for rock climbing with his love for making furniture. A man of few words, Richard Albin has little to say when asked about his work, feeling that the furniture speaks for itself.

When he is asked by younger artists for advice, John Cogan says to "paint what you know." He follows that counsel himself, painting the western landscapes that he has loved since he was a boy. His work has been featured in SOUTHWEST ART magazine (October 1989) and in ART OF THE WEST magazine (September/October1995 and March/April 1990). John's biography is included in WHO'S WHO IN AMERICAN ART, and the 2000 edition of WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA. During the past few years, John has placed twelve paintings in the TOP 100 of the Arts for the Parks competition. He has won three awards, including the first ever Collectors Award in 1995 and the Landscape Award of Merit in 1994.

Shaffer the Gallery's "Where Originality Meets the Eye" features artists SJ Shaffer and Mike Medow. Shelly Shaffer's distinctive style and manner of capturing the beauty, color and culture of the Southwest has brought her great acclaim. Her work is instantly recognizable.

Mike Medow's "wood carvings" have been shown in such renowned places as the Phoenix Art Institute, Sky Harbor Airport and the Mayo Clinic. The Sky Harbor exhibit, called Rings of Time, originally opened at the Sun Valley Museum. One of the more stunning pieces featured at the Shaffer Gallery is "6 Figures". Described by Medow's as a figurescape, this piece was carved from one plank of Jelutonb, a wood from Indonesia. The figures are so connected that viewers often think that Medow's carved each piece separately and then fitted them together.

Geoffrey Roth Ltd is presenting "The Eternal Allure of Fantasy Through the Eyes of the Artist" featuring Kim Kori's bronze work and the Masriera Jewelry line represented by Joseph Meli. Kori says of her work "I strive to give my sculptures an enchanting and somewhat magical quality that can transport views to that rare place between the believable and the unbelievable." She creates whimsical bronzes and wildlife sculpture that delight collectors with their fairytale like quality.

The Masriera Jewelry line has had worldwide acclaim since its inception in 1839. This line's tour-de-force is the use of a technique known as plique a jour. Creating an effect like a stained glass window, this requires the jeweler to fill a tiny skeleton made from platinum, gold or silver with colored enamels. Being open backed, this allows light to pass through the enamel in varying shades and with the natural striations producing effects like the brush stokes of an impressionistic painting.

Gifted Hands chose "Art of the Earth" - A celebration of color, fine art gourds by Sedona Artist Robert Brunner. This celebrated artist has a fine art degree from Fordham and explored various mediums before focusing on gourd art. Each of his gourds is unique and speaks to an intense sense of color, design and patience.

Mountain Trails Gallery's "The Working Artists and the New West – a modern appreciator of western history, Features sculptor Susan Kliewer. "My work," she says, "aims to show the common thread that underlies all human experience, and which I hope brings us to a greater understanding between all peoples." Kliewer often uses her Navajo friends and grandchildren as models to capture the special intimacy, which is the hallmark of her work. Her depiction of the ways of Native Americans in everyday life, from the past as well as the present, has attracted major collectors from all over the world.

"Alla Prima" Art with Total Abandon featuring the work of Stephen Day is being presented by the Navarro Gallery. Day is a masterful and highly experienced painter who uses classical expressionism. His forte is Plein-aire. Inspired by images of the southwest he says, "I paint almost exclusively from life trying to capture the feeling and the mood of the subject before me."

Andrea Smith Gallery's "Spiritually Infused Art" will showcase Smith's amazing ability to evoke a sense of peace. For Andrea Smith art is not only a thing created it is also a thing that creates. Her work has been called surreal, abstract, expressionistic and mystic. Using a blend of ancient and unconscious symbolism, she fills each painting with the textures and tones of our modern complex world.

Kuivato Glass Gallery presents "Light, Wind and Fire" featuring Deanne Sabeck, Chilhuly Limited Editions, Bruce Fruend, and Jeffrey Laudenslager. Each of these artists uses glass in an individual and spectacular manner. Using illusion, movement and perception of space in combinations which slightly bend our normal experience of space and mass, Laudenslager creates a broad range of three-dimensional sculpture. Sabeck has received numerous awards for her work.




"State of the Art" was designed to give collectors the opportunity to experience both art and artist in an elegant setting. All artists will be available to discuss their work in detail. To preserve the intimate nature of the event there are an extremely limited number of reservations available.

Tlaquepaque will donate the proceeds from "State of the Art" to the Sedona Chapter of Friends of the Forest. One of the agencies working hand in hand with the Forest Service to "rehabilitate" the Coconino National Forest after the recent Brins Fire, Friends of the Forest is dedicated to maintaining, protecting and restoring the scenic beauty of the National Forest lands near Sedona for the enjoyment and use of present and future generations.

"We are all about community and partnership," says Chuck Jenkins President of the local Chapter "We are pleased to be chosen by Tlaquepaque which is one of Sedona's landmarks as the recipient of these funds." Currently Friends of the Forest is working with the U.S. service to develop a long range plan for the "rehab" of the forest.

"As part of the Sedona Community we want to participate in the rebuilding," says Wendy Lippman managing partner of Tlaquepaque "Donating the proceeds from State of the Art seemed like the logical choice"

Additionally, the Chef's from three of Sedona's finest Resorts will present a three-course dinner. Each course and wine pairing is being created by a different Chef allowing diners to experience a sampling of each chef's cuisine. Chef Alan MacClean from Amara Resort is creating the first course, Chef Jonathon Gelman from L'Auberge de Sedona the entrée, and Chef Kyle Evans from Sedona Rouge is presenting the dessert course.

Entertainment is being provided by Dragon Knight Stilt Theatre. A spectacular combination of puppetry and acrobatics, Dragon Knight has performed at festivals, on stages and at museums across the globe. This will be their first Arizona performance.

Sedona Rouge resort and Spa, Amara Resort and L'Auberge de Sedona have all created special accommodation packages for guests attending "State of The Art".


Limited to 125 persons
Proceeds to benefit Friends of the Forest
Tickets $195.00 Per Person


For more information about "State of the Art" or packages go to
www.tlaq.com or call 928-282-4838.


For more information about Friends of the Forest go to
www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org.