Dan & Linda Baker | Jewelry
Daniel and Linda Baker exhibited at their first art show in 1974 and have been a fulltime jewelry-making team since August of 1976. They produce jewelry of sterling silver, various gold karats and platinum using lost wax casting and a variety of fabrication techniques, including: granulation, reticulation, and mokume gane. They’ve won many awards in shows throughout the Southwest with their innovative designs which combine Classical and Celtic elements in contemporary settings. Their rings and pendants set with Ancient Greek and Roman coins and shards of glass and pottery have gained a worldwide following. Dan especially enjoys carving gemstones and working with fossilized ammonites in his “Jurassic Classics.”
Randy Bryant | Jewelry
Randy Bryant has merged his childhood interest in rocks, fossils, Indian artifacts and love of the outdoors with his adult training as a draftsman to shape his professional career. This native Texan excels in creating his “One of a Kind Works of Art” of hand fabricated settings for his personally cut gemstones, including intarsia and inlay. Many of the settings include double and triple overlay, with mixed metals (sterling, 14kt & 18kt gold) employing a variety of texturing methods. He has exhibited his award winning work at juried art shows throughout the Southwest.
Wade Butler has been painting Texas wildlife and landscapes for over 25 years. Like many of the other Texas Masters show artists, Wade loves Nature and has a background in the Natural Sciences. After receiving a degree in fisheries biology and chemistry, he served as a fisheries biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for over 15 years before becoming a fulltime artist. His paintings have garnered awards in some of the most prestigious wildlife art shows in the United States and have been sold to raise funds for conservation organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, the National Turkey Federation, and others. Butler has twice been named Texas Ducks Unlimited Sponsor Print Artist and is the current Texas Ducks Unlimited Artist of the Year; an honor he also received in 1999.
Garland
After taking a class on making metal flowers in 1972, Janice Clark began giving them as gifts while improving her own skills and technique. In 1980, she made her first sales at a museum benefit and after returning to her homestate of Texas in 1986, she began the production of her native wildflower collection. Her creations grace the boardroom of the National Wildflower Research Center in Austin as well as the offices of other public figures. Now the botanically accurate flowers, which she cuts out and assembles out of aluminum and hand paints, brighten the lives of the patrons who flock to her exhibitions at juried art shows and sales all over Texas.
John has always had an interest in art but decided to try making a living as a professional baseball player in the Houston Astros’ and Colt 45s’ organization. After three baseball seasons a shoulder injury ended his career. While earning his livelihood with an electrical utility company, he developed a passion for photography which led to a business shooting weddings and portraits. His love of nature began to express itself in his photography and John started exhibiting his work in art shows and gaining recognition for his skill and artistry. Among the many first place awards he’s received was “Best in Category” at the 2005 Texas Arts and Crafts Show in Kerrville. Not only does John enjoy sharing his vision of the beauty in nature at art shows but also in publications throughout the country including Texas Highways and Smithsonian Magazine.
Melanie’s work allows you to get up close and personal with the smaller creatures that share their world with us. Like the other Texas Masters artists she’s had an intense, life-long interest in the natural world. Melanie spent her youth exploring the various natural habitats near where she lived, becoming familiar with the inhabitants and gathering information which she now uses in her designs. Her earliest memories include a preoccupation with drawing, painting, and sculpting which she continues to pursue in her studio located in the Texas Hill Country. In this beautiful landscape, she is inspired by the wildlife she sees every day. She translates her sensitive perceptions into elegant watercolors and hand-colored etchings which find broad appeal among naturalists and sportsmen alike. Since beginning her art career in 1982, Melanie’s work has garnered top awards in juried art shows throughout the US and in prestigious national and international competitions.
Born in Coyame, in the northwest state of Chihuahua, Mexico, Manuel’s academic training was as a mining engineer. After several years, Manuel left mining to pursue his love of art. His early artistic inspiration came from his mother, who worked with ground glass, creating images similar to sand paintings. His choice of subject matter ranges from Southwestern, Western, wildlife, portraiture, Native American and still life, rendered in oil, pencil, pastel, bronze or watercolor. Each piece is characterized by the fine detail for which he’s become recognized. After thirty years of exhibiting, Manuel’s work has become popular throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.
A self-taught sculptor, Jurgen was born in Trier, Germany, but has spent most of his adult life in the southwestern United States. He began his art career carving wildfowl in wood, but soon moved on to stone and bronze. His fascination with nature and Native American culture is expressed in his sculptures which convey his respect for these elements of his adopted land. Jurgen was privileged to sculpt a life-size Longhorn steer’s head for the Sister Cities organization of Fort Worth that was presented to Trier, Germany for installation in its garden honoring the sister city status of his two hometowns.
Monroe Jackson | Jewelry
Midland
Monroe Jackson, who styles his jewelry creations as “One of a Kind by Drago,” began dabbling with silversmithing and gemcutting in 1967. Since then he has exhibited his fabricated, mixed metal, award winning work in galleries, tradeshows and juried exhibitions around the country. Monroe calculates that he has sold a piece of jewelry to a resident of each state in the Union. His customers have come to appreciate the innovative shapes and patterns in his jewelry, as well as its comfortable functionality, accompanied by distinctive gemstones, especially opal.
Gail Kincaid | Jewelry
Almost from her birth in the Texas Panhandle, Gail has pursued her dream to be an artist. She developed her talent in art classes throughout her formative years. In college, she discovered jewelry design and after more than 30 years of jewelry making, her sculpted pieces in gold and silver, set with gemstones are recognized for the quality of their craftsmanship as well as the artistry of their design. Gail has exhibited at juried art shows throughout the Southwest and her sunny disposition, as much as the brilliance of her jewelry, has created a loyal following of patrons wherever she shows.
Curtis Alston Laudermilk has been turning wood for over a quarter century. He creates lamps, vases, bowls, platters, and crosses from native Texas mesquite. A retired educator with experience in both the public schools and the Texas Youth Commission, Curtis is attracted to mesquite because of its unique characteristics. Hard, dense and extremely stable when drying, its tenacity has enabled it to defy all attempts at eradication. The native wood is rendered by this artist into objects that are given character by the irregularities like burls, bark inclusions and other “beauty marks” left by Mother Nature.
After 25 years in residential construction, Benito Loera decided on a change in lifestyle. In 1998, he pursued his life-long dream of designing furniture as a career. With the help of his son, Daniel, he started to build small furniture such as cedar chests and coffee tables. As his business grew, he began to concentrate on working with natural mesquite — including the worm holes, bark inclusions and burls in his designs. With the help of his wife, Doris, and Daniel, he started filling some of the cavities of the wood with gemstone material, including turquoise and lapis lazuli. Now his award-winning product line has grown to include aromatic cedar chests, inlaid tables, jewelry and jewelry boxes, pool tables and much more.
Vicki started drawing at about four years of age. As an adult she continued her art training under two of the world’s leading authorities on Old Masters techniques, which she now teaches at the Corpus Christi Art Community Center.
Vicki paints still life and landscape but the main interest in her work is figurative: figures on the beach, in the street and children busy at things kids like to do. She is a member of The Corpus Christi Art Community Center, The Art Association of Corpus Christi, The South Texas Traditional Art Assoc. and The Oil Painters of America. Many of her paintings are now in private collections across the USA, Mexico and Canada. One of her landscapes of Mexico is in the permanent collection of the Corpus Christi Museum.
A native San Antonian, Edith Maskey has loved art for as long as she can remember. “Painting is the finest form of expression I know, and is my personal statement about the things around me.”
Edith studied 5 years with Warren Hunter of San Antonio, and with many other nationally know painters through the years. Her work is characterized by a love of color and exuberance of expression. Although her subject matter is highly varied, Mexico, Texana and people bear a special preference. Her work has been the subject of feature articles in Southwest Art, Art Voices, American Artist and Texas Magazine.
Native Texan John Maskey received his first training at the Hunter School of Art, and later with many nationally prominent artists. His bold use of light and color weave a vibrant tapestry of the life and culture of the region. “The unique character of the land and people of the Southwest is rooted in powerful traditions. The blending of cultures, rugged landscape and classically simple architecture are timeless.” John paints what he knows and loves best – the colorful history, romance and flavor of Texas, Mexico, and the Southwest.
Maskey’s work has been the subject of feature articles in Southwest Art, Art Voices, American Artist and other publications. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Western Art and other prominent collections.
The vivid color of Steve Napper’s pastel paintings is so intense that it awakens the sense memories of the smells and sounds of the scenes he represents. This West Texas native began his career as a commercial artist in Los Angeles after receiving his BA and MA of Fine Arts at West Texas State University. Eventually he returned to Texas where, for the last 35 years, he’s been building an international reputation as a master artist and teacher of pastels and other media as well. He’s a member of the most prestigious art organizations in America and his awards are too numerous to mention.
Linda Nowell | Pottery
After years of studying pastels and oil painting on her own, Linda Nowell enrolled in a pottery class in 1999. Excited by the possibilities of expression that a sculptural medium afforded her, she traveled to more classes in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. She eventually settled in the Texas Hill Country, where she found a favorable climate for the development of her pottery career. Textures characteristic of organic growth abound in her designs which are both wheel thrown and hand built. Many of her pieces are pierced, carved and sculpted with scale-like, crackled surfaces and bark finishes. Among the awards she’s received for her pottery, she’s most proud of the “Peoples’ Choice Award” at the 2006 National Ceramic Show in San Angelo, TX.
Bill creates many of his paintings from his personal experiences. Influenced by his father at an early age, Bill spent much of his life hunting. He still believes responsible hunting is part of “nature’s balance,” an equilibrium determined by the Creator who placed us and all the creatures and plants on this planet. Bill believes that, as the intelligent species, we need to cherish as well as use the resources given to humanity. He attempts to convey through his art an awareness of his experiences in the world of nature. His portrayals of wildlife in their natural surroundings engaging in their activities without human interventions, are the product of his many ventures throughout the Western United States.
William Smith was born and raised in South Texas, where he learned about ranching and cattle. A selftaught artist, William’s love of his Western Heritage is the inspiration of most of his paintings. He tries to create “memories” for those who view his art work. His paintings have been displayed in the Corpus Christi Art Center, Bryant Gallery [Kingsville,TX], Beeville Art Museum [Beeville, TX]and in numerous private collections throughout the United States.
Denise and Diana Steinhagen | Jewelry
San Marcos
After years of pursuing jewelry making as a hobby and studying the work of other jewelers, getting laid off from their jobs almost simultaneously launched the professional jewelry careers of these sisters. One can tell from their finished product that the San Marcos artists are still having fun and a growing customer base will attest to the quality of their craftsmanship. Working independently, they use a wide variety of stones and techniques to create a fresh style of their own. “Our designs vary widely…so customers can usually find something that appeals to their tastes – especially if they like large jewelry that makes a statement.”
Five miles west of Dripping Springs on Lonesomesage Longhorn Ranch is the inspirational setting where Gary Thompson forges copper and brass into the shapes of native desert plants of the Southwest. Exhibiting his work as Designs by Thompson, Gary captures the unique raw beauty of cactus and yucca in both traditional sculptural forms and as functional lamps, tables, candelabra and wall accents. His designs were once described as “sour in color, deformed in shape and featuring lethal textures.”Gary is self-taught and his early inspiration came from watching his grandfather forge steel in his Central Texas blacksmith shop.
Gary’s “prickly art”, which he’s exhibited since 1972, has won numerous awards including “Best in Metal” at the Rockport Art Festival. He’s also received the Texas Original (TXO) designation from the State of Texas Commission on the Arts, signifying high–quality, authentic, original work by a Texas artist.
