Dawn Zintel

Artist Bio

Having painted since high school, Dawn studied art at McGill and Concordia Universities in Montreal, Canada, although she was never in a Fine Arts program. She made her career in Education as an elementary school teacher then, for 43 years, she owned a training business in California which specialized in designing and teaching courses for employees in Fortune 100 to 500 companies in many different industries worldwide. Although she no longer focused on art, she was able to be design games and other creative learning strategies for her clients.

During her career, her creative outlet included making hand-built pottery and stained-glass art. Then, in the early 90s, she began to paint again using watercolors and for a few years was winning awards and having solo shows. After the mid-90s, Dawn did not paint again until 2010 when she decided to semi-retire and her family moved to an island in British Columbia which had many artists. Since then, Dawn has studied with several award-winning Canadian and US artists. She has had the good fortune to win awards with the Federation of Canadian Artists and in several competitive shows in Arizona.

Since Dawn became a full-time retiree in 2015, she has continued to explore many different art mediums and techniques. She moved to Prescott, Arizona in 2017 and became a member of the Prescott Valley Art Guild where she managed the newsletter and the Quad City Annual Juried Art Show. She also joined Mountain Artists Guild in Prescott where she was Vice-President for two years and then President for two years through 2021. Currently, Dawn is Treasurer of Friends of the Prescott Public Library and an Art Adult Education Speaker for the Prescott Arts Docents. Her art is shown in the Mountain Artists Guild Gallery, the Art Barn Gallery of the Sedona Art Center, Currently, one of her paintings is featured by the Arizona Philharmonic on all their marketing materials for 2023-2024.​

Artist Statement

The landscape of the Central Highlands surrounding Prescott, Arizona is a feast for the eyes throughout the year with each season adding its own distinct variation. Cougar, coyotes, deer and javelinas roam throughout our neighborhood while hawks and eagles soar overhead. Inspiration springs forth and manifests itself in my studio where I create fanciful and impressionistic interpretations of my everyday life and surroundings.

While I work primarily with oil and acrylic paints, I integrate alcohol and acrylic inks, collage papers and stenciling into many of my more whimsical paintings, as well as continue to paint impressionist landscapes, animals, birds and flowers. I hope you enjoy my artistic creations.

www.dawnzintel.com

Cathy Severson

Artist Bio

I didn’t view myself as an artist until later in life.  As a youngster, I looked at my very talented friends, assessed I didn’t have any artistic capability, and put my brushes aside.  Growing up I enjoyed the arts as a spectator, dabbled in craft projects, and home decorating, but nothing serious.

In January 1997, I decided to take a watercolor class.  And I’ve been hooked ever since.  For me, painting is all about color, the relationship between lights and darks, the interplay and relationships as they commingle on the paper.

My grandson was born in 1999 with a wonderful head of bright red hair. He wasn’t always crazy about it, but I was enamored. When he was about 18 months old, I decided to paint his portrait-just to see if I could capture the color of his hair. He became my muse for many years. Then his sister and other members of the family followed as subjects. When I retired I started doing commissioned portraits. I found I like painting what I want to paint when I want to paint it.

Watercolor is still my primary medium, but I’ve expanded into collage and photography as I hike in Prescott and the surrounding areas.

Artist Statement

I never considered myself an artist as a young person, but beauty has always been an important element in my life.  It wasn’t until working on my master’s in counseling that I confronted myself as an artist.  In an assessment class, I ranked high in the Art arena. In the subsequent paper, I wrote, I explained at great length how I couldn’t be artistic. My brilliant professor responded that I could be anything I wanted— that even my retort was written like an artist.  That was a turning point in my life in many ways.

Years after graduating and becoming a professional counselor, the nagging idea of my being an artist grabbed me by the throat and forced me to engage. There were three key components that helped in the beginning stages of the artist quest: taking the workshop ‘The Artist Way’ by Julia Cameron, my first watercolor class at the local Parks & Rec, and a commitment to be gentle with my over perfectionist self as I began this process.

The reason I write about this artistic journey in my artist statement is I encounter so many people who admire my work, saying, “Oh, Cathy, you are so talented. I could never do that.”  I believe that creativity is the essence of what it means to be human.  Not everyone is drawn to pick up a brush, but every individual can find some creative endeavor to explore and develop.

While slowing down my counseling work, artistic expression becomes my focus. I continue primarily in watercolor but am also drawn to photography (an activity I share with my husband). Art and beauty, both as an observer and creator will be an intricate part of the rest of my life.