2002 Additional Artists

Cindy Eaton comes highly recommended by my sisters.  I am as anxious as anyone to see Cindy’s work.  She works in wool and incorporates found objects such as sticks, rocks, feathers and arrowheads in her large-scale wall hangings.  She will also have some smaller-scale art pieces.

Crandall Vail is a fascinating, multi-talented individual.  He was the director of the art department for the Nazarene Publishing House for over thirty years.  He is an accomplished professional photographer and a fine, fine watercolorist.  Crandall is known for his barn paintings along with the farmstead scenes and country churches that he exhibited for the first fifteen years of the Plaza Art Fair.  Crandall laments the loss of the rural landscape of southwest Johnson County, Kansas.  He will be displaying his most recent paintings of birds, butterflies, vines, trees and other scenes of nature that have been inspired by the Turkey Creek Streamway Path.

Jim Hamil is one of the most recognizable names in the Kansas City art world.  Jim is a former Hallmark Cards artist and is well known for his beautiful renditions of the Plaza and other local landmarks.  After decades of working in watercolor he has achieved a masterful handling of the medium.  His delicate use of color and his purposeful positioning of light bring to the viewer his fresh, uniquely personal vision of many of our local scenes or to whatever he chooses to paint.  Jim has been visiting and studying the path and will be displaying his most recent original pieces.

Alice Medley works with concrete and tile to create her garden birdbaths.  Alice lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her husband, Lou Bartholome, and two children.  Once again, I have not seen Alice’s work but I’m sure we will not be disappointed; it fits so well with our theme.

Diana Werts works in pastel and oftentimes outdoors on site or, en plein air, as the French put it.  Diana has a love for the rural landscapes of Kansas, which you will see in many of her paintings.  She will also be displaying her own original paintings of Turkey Creek.  Diana’s husband, Kelly Werts, will be playing guitar and singing traditional songs of Kansas on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.  Kelly and Diana are two-thirds of the musical group The Plaid Family.

"Mark Weber is an award-winning artist whose work appears in many corporate collections including Shell Oil, Marathon Oil, Grand Canyon Association and the Federal Reserve Building."

In May, Mark took his paint box and easel down to the Turkey Creek Streamway Park path and painted for an afternoon.  His resulting painting of wild purple phlox will be on display at the show.

Paul Kethley lives in Buena Vista, Colorado.  He "aspires to being a creative storyteller, a skilled 'compositionalist' and a master at capturing the effects of light. His primary interest is placing figures in a dramatic western landscape, which interact with the environment, or each other in an interesting way."

Paul will be displaying his most recent western-style paintings, which he did especially for this show.

Paul was the unheralded backbone of our first show.  His assessment of our last minute construction needs and his carpentry skills were a timely blessing -- not to mention his willingness, along with his wife, Lisa, and Mark’s neighbor Jay Haefele, to roll up their sleeves and do what needed to be done. Thanks, guys.

"I’ve always found inspiration in natural beauty and in the gifts that God has so abundantly blessed us with.  I’m so grateful for the gift of my talent and want to honor God in all that I do."

Cathi Freund is a former fashion illustrator and former Hallmark Cards artist.  The paintings that she has chosen to exhibit are examples of her "soft palette."