About The Artists

Many of the artists featured in LeafdogArt's Galleries are sucessful professionals/businessmen and women who also express themselves in one or several art techniques. Most of them would not have called themselves artists when they first picked up brush, pen or stylus. But today all are producing interesting and often poignant works. Some in the group have formal training including degrees in Fine Arts, Design and Architecture. Together the group creates a dynamic which crosses age, gender and media definitions resulting in interesting art, critique and cultural expression. See for yourself by clicking the Gallery tab or thumbnail left.



image Sharon Anck

Sharon has spent her career in a variety of management positions mostly within the banking industry. She has no formal art training, however she has had a life-long love of art in all forms. Her creative outlet has for many years been centered in the field of photography. Sharon is part of a world-wide community of City Daily Photo bloggers, posting a photo a day from the city of Phoenix on Phoenix Daily Photo. She is enjoying being part of the Arizona Art Challenges hosted by Leafdog Press, taking her out of her comfort zone to try new things and learning from some very talented artists and art lovers. Click Anck Gallery or one of the above links to see her work.


image Dawn Baker

Dawn Baker is a physician, wife, mother, and minimalist entrepreneur. She runs a small business called Practice Balance, where she does writing, speaking, and coaching for busy professionals who crave more work-life balance and a mindful approach to achievement. Dawn was a prolific sketcher as a girl and moved to photography as a young woman. She is a perpetual lover of exercise, personal development, spending time outdoors, and experiencing the world through travel. You can see all these themes in her photographic images. Her website Practice Balance can be reached by clicking on the link. To see her photographic gallery click Baker Gallery.


image Peter Bugg -- Founding Member Emeritus

Peter was born and raised in Madison, WI, and earned his Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of Chicago. After spending a couple of years in South America and Asia, he began work on his MFA in studio art at Arizona State University. When he finally acknowledged his fascination with Hollywood, tabloid magazines, and paparazzi, he began making art about America's obsession with celebrity. In 2009, he interned at a paparazzi agency in Los Angeles, CA, and his work was featured in the Arizona Biennial at the Tucson Museum of Art. He completed his terminal degree in May of 2010. He has participated in the Arizona Art Challenges since its inception and is currently an emeritus member. Click Art Challenge to see his artwork. Peter also has his own website showing more of his art at PeterBugg.com Read here a NewTimes Article about Peter.


image Tom Fay (1940 - 2016)

Tom was an oboist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for 17 years before moving into arts administration as General Manager of the Houston Symphony. Following this he embarked on a highly successful career in Development initially with the University of Wisconsin followed by Arizona State University Foundation where he was Director of Development for the Herberger College of the Arts. Tom was a talented pen and ink artist, specializing in Native American style graphics working out of his studio in Omaha, Nebraska. Click Fay Gallery to see his work.


image Diane Hillyard

Diane was drawn to fiber arts at a young age, designing a multitude of 'couture' doll clothes and then sewing and embellishing her wardrobe. She also spent endless hours dabbling in various visual arts. This interest continued into her professional life in public education, teaching elementary and secondary students utilizing arts integration. Joining the Arizona Art Challenge and Leafdog Art Galleries has provided a platform for experimenting with new techniques and the opportunity to interact with supportive artists. Click Hillyard Gallery or Art Challenge to see her artwork..


image Jillian Jones

Jill was turned on to art at a young age. She worked in colored pencils, ink markers and chalks but quickly graduated to charcoals, watercolors & oils. Today Jill works in the fields of Dyslexia Intervention and Community Relations but she still finds time for her art, focusing mainly on the oil painting techniques of Bob Ross. Click J. Jones Gallery to see her oils and charcoal sketches.




image Tim Keneipp

Tim is an Architect by training. His eye for design blends well with his artistic expression. He is accomplished in many art techniques and often employs mixed media in his works. His gallery page includes many excellent oils and water colors. Several of his sculptures and three dimensional objects are also featured. The Pen and Ink sketches in the gallery are a real treat -- visually pleasing and striking in their structural beauty. Tim's work is featured in publications and online. He is currently emphasizing metal sculpture and works out of his studio in Scottsdale, Arizona. Click Keneipp Gallery to see his work. In addition, he is a co-founder of the Arizona Art Challenge hosted by Leafdog Press and has participated each year since its inception. Click Art Challenge to see the Challenge artwork.


image George Lowery

George is a retired police lieutenant. He grew up in the South Bronx, N.Y. where as a young man he developed a passion for building and carving miniature objects from wood. It began with airplanes and small dioramas. Military service, starting a family, and building a career put woodworking on hold. Then in 1988, his son Robert sent him a kit of a wooden ship model for Christmas, and his passion for woodworking was reawakened. George apprenticed under a master model builder for several years, then struck out on his own, and has been building ship models ever since. He now works out of his studio in Phoenix, Arizona and turns out museum quality models. Click George Lowery Gallery to see his wooden ships.


image Jim Lowman

Simultaneous with a successful business career, Jim was focused on fine arts for much of his life -- first as a student and collector, now as a full-time working artist, printer and sculptor. He employs a variety of media, specializing in photography and various fine art printing techniques to display his drawn images. His work has been featured in calendars and used on the internet. His stone recreations of ancient petroglyphs are sold in California at Idyllwild Arts Gallery. Jim studies at Shemer Art Center and works out of his Scottsdale, Arizona studio at LeafdogPress. Click Lowman Gallery to see his photography -- Lowman - Various Media Gallery to see his sketches, sculpture and paintings. He is a co-founder and participant of the Arizona Art Challenges and is the webmaster for Leafdog Art Galleries which hosts the Challenge art. Click Art Challenge to see the Challenge artwork. To see his Etched/Intaglio, linocut and silkscreened prints click LeafdogPress. To see the Shows, Exhibitions in which Jim has participated including Website contributions - click this link.



image Kim MacEachern

A fourth generation Arizonan, Kim's artistic nature surfaced in fits and starts over her lifetime. She grew up across the street from a working artist who offered lessons in her early years, but it most often emerged in personal projects such as calligraphy, crafting, knitting and mural work at home. Her fervor rekindled when she became an Art Masterpiece mentor for her daughter's third grade class. Long a museum denizen, Kim seeks out exhibitions in unlikely places to supplement visits to more established institutions: a favorite was the 24- hour Church of Elvis in Portland, OR. After co-authoring three Southwestern cookbooks, Kim was drawn to the Arizona Art Challenge as a means of expression and release from her hectic career as a business/ environmental lawyer/lobbyist/judge. She has served as the President of the Shemer Art Center and Museum Association, an incubator for local artists in a 1919 adobe house where she has also led cooking and craft classes. She posts to an art and food blog on line at kmacsobservatory. Click McEachren Gallery or Art Challenge to see her artwork.


image Mike Maffie 1948 - 2020

Mike was a highly successful businessman, CEO and financier before his retirement. Originally as a stress reducing effort, then as a creative outlet he took up painting. He specialized in recreating famous artists' work in oils. His typical canvas grew to monumental size with some pieces exceeding 8' x 12'. In his gallery one can see the influence of his love for Southwestern themes. Mike worked out of his Scottsdale and Flagstaff studios. Click Maffie Gallery to see his work.





image Larry Nisula

Larry is multitalented, producing works in bronze and silver, on canvas and various print media. Printing formats include etching/intaglio, silk-screen, wood and lino-cuts. He teaches art at several locations in Arizona, including the Shemer Art Center and home schooled students. Click Nisula Gallery to see his work. He has participated in the Arizona Art Challenge since its inception. Click Art Challenge to see the Challenge artwork.


image Julie Pace

Julie is a fourth generation Arizonan. She has continued the artistic skills first expressed in her youth when she made mixed media, painted and hand crafted cards. She has trained extensively in photography and has been mentored by many leading photographers. Julie has participated in several photographic safaris around the world, becoming an accomplished photographer.   Her images have been shown in galleries, online, nationally published travel brochures and in two books.  Her work can be seen on Viva La Voyage by clicking this link.  She loves to travel and is an avid art collector having logged more than 50 countries on 6 continents. She is knowledgeable about art in many areas including: Native American, Mexican, Oaxacan, Argentine, Peruvian, European, Chinese, and Tibetan.  In her working life Julie is an influential Arizona lawyer specializing in employment, immigration and OSHA law.  Click Julie Pace Gallery to see a mix of her art. She has participated in the Arizona Art Challenges and had a Virtual Art Gallery at Leafdog Art since 2010.  Click Art Challenge to see the Challenge artwork.


  image Dave Selden

Dave's studies in art history have taken him to more than 50 countries, and he has collected more than 1,000 works of art from multiple continents, including works obtained directly from the artists of indigenous cultures.  To create his own art Dave's media of choice is photography.  His images have won awards and been used for the cover of a national travel publication. His photography was profiled in a magazine cover story and featured at Todd Gallery, Phoenix. In his working life Dave is a leading Arizona lawyer specializing in employment law/litigation  and has been a law school professor.  Dave has recently stretched his art skills by creating watercolor and acrylic paintings as well as mixed media sculpture.  He has participated in the Arizona Art Challenges and Leafdog Art Galleries since their inception. Click Selden Gallery to see his Leafdog Art Gallery. Click Art Challenge to see his Challenge art. Click Tamarindo Costa Rica Daily Photo and Viva La Voyage to see many of his photographs.


     image Ted Wolter

Ted is an eclectic artist. He is an excellent ceramicist as well as a painter/illustrator in watercolors and airbrush. He is active in both fine arts and graphic arts and has considerable computer graphic skills. Ted is a published illustrator with three books currently available at Amazon.com. His work is represented in several permanent collections and he frequently serves as an art juror and guest lecturer. He has an extensive exhibition record of over 100 exhibits, including several one-man shows. He received a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Illinois and is emeritus art instructor at Chandler-Gilbert Community College having served there for more than 20 years. One of the original artists participating in the Art Challenge click here to see his Challenge artwork. Click Wolter Gallery to see more of his work at his gallery on Leafdog Art


image Barbara McKenzie

Barbara's love for art began in high school where she was given the opportunity to experience free-hand drawing, oil painting, and water based media. She has studied at the University of Cincinnati and at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. For the past 12 years she has been mentored and instructed by Ken Landon Buck. Barbara's percise drawing skills serve her well as she creates detailed water color images. Her art has been in several shows in the Cincinnati area and has been included in published annual calendars. Click Barbara McKenzie Gallery to see some of her paintings.


image Herb Zeller

Herb is an architect by trade with a degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. He has had a love of art since he was a youngster and developed his skills in photography and water colors over the years both at work and for his own pleasure. He creates his art in the studio of his restored Victorian-Row-House home in Boston's South End. Click Herb Zeller Gallery to see some of his paintings and photographs.



image image ARTERY COLLECTIVE

Members of the Artery Collective participated in rounds 10 and 11 of the Art Challenge along with many of the above artists in 2011 and again in 2014 for rounds 25 and 26. Click Art Challenge to see their work.

On the southwest corner of 7th Street and Indian School stands a historic red brick building, THE ARTERY. There you will find an eclectic group of artists who produce a variety of expression, representation art, avant-garde abstract, mixed media, heavy expressive oils and acrylics, photographic images, charcoal sketches, and hand pulled prints. Walt Wieder, Robert Rosselli, Marilene Farmer, Barry Farmer, Beverly Shlinder, Laura Cohen-Hogan, Ann Osgood and Paulette Olive make up the 2014 artist members of the Artery. Other artists have participated in past years including: Donna Stenger, Kent Corbin, Agustin Vargas, Laura Black, Sandra Ortega, Joan Thompson, Barbara McGuire, Paulette Redmond, Michele and Brian Hinz, Matt Hunt, Norman Lazan, and Raul Gallegos. The Artists of Studio 6 maintain a Blog which can be accessed here.



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