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Art Exhibition and Sale at
Carol Amos, Master Signature
Amanda Cowan, Signature
Kathy Ellem, Associate
Julie Gowing Hayes, Signature Emeritus
Jane Hunt, Master Signature
Dana Lombardo, Signature
Carolyn Mock, Signature
Brenda Morgan, Associate
Mary Lou Pape, Signature
Vicki Pedersen, Signature
Vanessa Rusczyk, Associate
Terri Wagner, Associate
WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE WEST (WAOW) is a non-profit organization of over 320 juried members across the United States, Australia, and Canada with the objectives of uniting women artists, elevating awareness of art created by women and encouraging technical excellence. WAOW supports members through education, workshops, and mentoring with a focus on encouraging both emerging and established artists in business and professional practices. WAOW members are publicly promoted through national advertising, exhibitions, online and social media.
WAOW is the oldest juried women’s art organization dedicated to women artists in the nation. We are honored to be celebrating 54 years of exhibitions. We appreciate the generosity of
Woolaroc and our sponsors for Woolaroc Presents Women Artists of the West Invitational Art Exhibition and Sale at the Tulsa International Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The fine artwork of various genres and mediums in this exhibition has been through a stringent selection process and features nationally-recognized artists from the United States, Canada and Australia. We are very pleased and proud to showcase the work of these outstanding, talented members of WAOW.
The entire exhibition catalog and images of the award-winning paintings in the exhibit are posted on the Women Artists of the West website, www.waow.org and Woolaroc’s website at www.woolaroc.org.
Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve is an educational and entertainment hub situated in the breathtaking Osage Hills of northeast Oklahoma. This 3,700-acre property just outside of Bartlesville was built in 1925 for Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum Company. Jane and Frank Phillips retained the essence of the West before the turn of the century with the art and artifacts in his museum. The 50,000-square-foot museum features the cultural heritage and lifestyles of early Western residents. The museum houses artifacts such as pottery, basketry, clothing, and more from
about 40 American Indian tribes, including pieces that trace back to prehistoric civilizations.
It displays paintings from a broad range of artists spanning decades, including works by Thomas Moran, Frank Tenney Johnson, John Clymer, impressive murals from W.R. Leigh, and much more. In addition to the massive paintings collection, some of the best Western sculptures, including pieces by Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, are on display in the museum.
CAROL AMOS, who hails from Missouri and Arizona has always created art. She gathers ideas for her realistic oil paintings and travels throughout the country but is most inspired by cacti, landscape and animals near her home in Scottsdale. Her paintings are exhibited and sold in gallery and museum shows and in western art sales throughout the country including Small Works Great Wonders at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City and the annual Mountain Oyster Club Art sale in Tucson.
CAROL AMOS, WAOW Master www.carolamos.com
AMANDA COWAN has been expressing herself through art her entire life. Self taught, she paints in watercolors and oils. Some of the shows she has participated in are Cowgirl Up!, Wickenburg, Arizona, the Best of the West show in Great Falls, Montana, and the America’s Horse in Art Show in Amarillo, Texas where she won the Steeldust Award in 2018. Her art is in private collections in Korea, Australia, Canada, France and the US.
AMANDA COWAN www.amandacowanart.com
KATHY ELLEM was born in 1975 and grew up on an apple orchard in Victoria, Australia, later living on remote cattle properties with her family. She began to paint seriously in 2002, struggling particularly with drawing she learned that persistence, over talent, leads to success. Kathy had been bucked off a horse as a child so she had a fear of them, however the fascination with draft horses overrode the fear and now she loves them and their incredibly unique owners. Working from her own reference images with a focus on relying on the eye to blend colours to create an accurate three dimensional painting.
KATHY ELLEM www.kathyellem.com
Blondes Have All the Fun exploring the creation of texture using palette knife and brush, leaving gems of pure pigment that visually combine from a distance is always the quest and challenge. Finding strength in the shadows is what makes the light really sing.
After injuring my knee and painting hand I had to dig deep and rely on 20 years of painting and teaching experience to work through We Mean Business. At a time when I was being challenged physically and emotionally, it would have been easier to give up, I focused on connecting to the implied power and strength of these animals to help me to push through and produce something I am truly proud to display.
Growing up on a farm in southwest Iowa helped develop a deep-rooted love of the outdoors for JULIE GOWING HAYES. Her oil paintings are inspired by the light and color she sees in nature. Hayes has a passion for birds, drawing from her hundreds of reference photos taken through countless hours of birdwatching, but she also paints landscapes, water and florals. Her studio is in the beautiful Ozarks of northwest Arkansas. Hayes is a member of Artists of Northwest Arkansas, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, Plein Air Painters of the Ozarks, member and board secretary for Heart of America Artists Association and currently a board advisor for Women Artists of the West.
JULIE GOWING HAYES www.juliehayesart.com
Driving through a popular migration stopover one December I saw many Trumpeter Swans, but the way these three posed while resting and preening in the afternoon was a subject I couldn’t resist.
JANE HUNT is a PAPNM and WAOW Master Signature Member, a Signature Member of AIS, OPA, LPAPA, AWA, PAAC, and an artist member of the Salmagundi Club and the California Art Club.
Hunt was recently ranked by ArtdataIntel as the twelfth most awarded artist in the U.S. She’s represented by galleries across the US, as well as her native England. Now based in Colorado, she frequently paints plein air, and continues to be awed by the beauty surrounding her.
JANE HUNT
www.janehuntart.com
Into the West is an upsized version of one of my favorite sunset paintings. The much smaller version of this piece was so well received at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum that I thought it would be a wonderful challenge to re-create it on a much larger scale.
DANA LOMBARDO is a self-taught artist who lives and works at Grand Lake in Oklahoma. Her subject matter includes western figurative, urban scenes, boat scenes, landscapes and still life. Her artwork is currently featured in a six-page article in the 2024 May/June issue of Art of the West magazine. Dana is an Associate member of National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, Oil Painters of America, and signature member of American Women Artists. She has participated in many national juried exhibitions and has received numerous awards including a museum purchase award and best in show.
DANA LOMBARDO www.danalombardo.com
She Who Walks in the Sun, Oil, 36” x 24” $6,500
The Cheyenne woman, She Who Walks in the Sun in this painting seems to glow with pride from within. I incorporated Native basket symbolism into the painting that represent the sun, earth, and life of her people.
Oklahoman CAROLYN MOCK grew up in rural settings where art was not offered. After high school commercial art was the only contact she had with art. She also worked as a technical illustrator and at advertising agencies. Then she began studying at workshops in Montana with the greats of the wildlife art world such as Terry Isaac, Carl Brenders and Robert Bateman and others, finally realizing her dream. Carolyn’s oil paintings were licensed for many years and gained her many honors. She paints wildlife, landscapes, portraits. Her art continues to evolve.
CAROLYN MOCK
www.carolynmock.com
BRENDA MORGAN, an award-winning oil painter. She is also a signature member of the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, Southwest Artists, Miniature Artists of America, American Plains Artists, American Women Artists and the International Guild of Realism. Born in California, she was raised in Oklahoma City and now works from her studio in Dardanelle, Arkansas.
BRENDA MORGAN www.brendamorganart.com
I added this skull to my collection, purchasing it from the widow of a dear artist friend a few years ago. I see what appears to be an entry wound from a spear and only wish my friend had been able to tell me the story and age of this Ghost of the Prairie.
Nature’s Force (previous page) depicts a bison in one of a small herd only minutes from my home (even though I placed him in Colorado for this painting). He was the leader of the group and naturally, the most handsome.
The beauty and diversity of nature and travels to the many national parks, nature preserves, ranches and farms in America continually provide MARY LOU PAPE with inspiration for her paintings of the wildlife and people in our remarkable country. She attended Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas as a fine art major and has taken numerous workshops with admired artists. Her primary mediums are oil, pastel and pencil. She lives and works in Topeka, KS.
MARY LOU PAPE www.marypape.com
This Lakota woman is standing near a cottonwood tree, valued as a protector and the tree of life to her people. She Waits and watches for the return of her loved one.
VICKI PEDERSEN has a life-long love for art. She is passionate about painting the American West— cowboys and cowgirls, Native Americans, and the beautiful landscapes of deserts, mountains, and everything in between. She works primarily in oils but also loves to work in graphite and charcoal. Traveling throughout the West enables her to paint from life and take the photos she uses as reference for her paintings. The West offers an endless source of inspiration for her work. Its people and landscapes are what make western art both timeless and compelling
VICKI PEDERSEN
www.vickipedersen.com
VANESSA RUSCZYK’S award-winning portraits of flowers and plants give viewers a close look at plant structure and natural design, immersing them in that small world on a large scale. Her paintings are inspired by hikes and road trips, along with the native plant species she grows in her garden. Vanessa was raised in New Mexico, and after eight years on the East Coast she returned to the West she loves. She lives in North San Diego County, surrounded by wild chaparral hillsides that define much of Southern California and provide daily inspiration.
While focusing on native plants of California started her art career, her subject matter has broadened to the vast landscapes of western America. Trips to canyon country of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico inspire new works that aim to give a sense of vast space inhabited by resilient plant life. Paintings begin with a brightly colored underpainting that is followed by thin layers of more realistic color to create vibrant depictions of the natural subject matter. Her work draws people in because of the color, composition, and technique, but then as the viewer takes a closer look, they start asking questions about the subject matter itself.
Appreciation and the desire to care for something usually starts with an initial attraction that is often hard to explain. Vanessa’s art creates that moment for the viewer.
Vanessa is also a Signature Member of American Women Artists.
VANESSA RUSCZYK www.studiosoledad.com
This translucent pair of flowers were tucked behind some rocks on the trail to Hickman Bridge in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Pale evening primrose (Oenothera pallida) often grow in large clumps, with new blooms appearing daily. This Primrose Duo was the solitary bloom atop a large bush with undulating, jagged leaves, standing out against the volcanic rock and deep purple shadows.
During a walk along the Matrimonial Trail at Ghost Ranch in Northern New Mexico, I was lucky to spot a single blooming Sego Lily (Calochortus nuttallii) alongside the trail. Barely inches above the deep red soil, a single bloom and bud stood above the dried remains of leaves twining on the ground. This small Trailside Treasure was waiting to be discovered by a careful observer.
TERRI WAGNER is an award-winning artist living on a small farm in Kiefer, Oklahoma. At four years old she was drawing horses, seeing the world through an artist’s eye. Her love of horses, animals and the outdoors inspires her to paint, responding to the amazing world around her. “I like to paint realism, but strive to keep it loose with bold brushstrokes and vibrant colors.”
TERRI WAGNER
www.terriwagnerstudio.com
