Celebration of Fine Art

J. R. Eason was born on a rural Idaho ranch. She works in her home studio where it is delightful as she disconnects from everything. Her figures and their individual expressions are brought from her own mind, without the use of models or photos. J. R.’s self-taught spirit brings her bronze sculptures to life. Her figures depict an undeniable sense of humanity. They radiate with expressive gestures, contemplative faces, and pensive expressions depicting peaceful meditation. J. R.’s works exude a sense of understanding and knowledge, reborn in sculptural form with the wisdom and beauty that only “life” can bestow on an individual.

Although J. R. does not have a formal artistic education, her works display the raw understanding and talent of their artist. She developed her own style, creating from what she knows best, the fascinating female form with stylized curves. J. R. is known for her emotionally charged faces with the grace, the feeling, emotion, and experience of life. Not only are the depths of her creativity seen in her sculpture but in her words as well. Poetry has always been there as a remedy for J. R. and she likes to use it to convey what she is thinking as she creates each piece. It helps her explain where the emotion or the attitude comes from. Her first publication, “Life, A Full Vessel” is a collection of poetry and sculpture.

J. R. is happy to be a part of the Celebration of Fine Art and has many long-time collectors that look for her each year. Make sure to spend a few moments getting to know her and enjoying her work when you visit the Celebration this year.

What started as a child’s desire to mimic his grandfather’s sketches, over time developed into a passion and a career. Santiago Michalek was living in Argentina and recalls having to deliver bread and the morning paper to his grandfather everyday, who was living in a casita behind the family’s main home. While there his grandfather would draw cartoonish figures of men on horseback. It was those drawings that ignited a passion that Santiago believes was always within him.

“All I wanted to do was draw like my grandpa,” he said. “I worked at it, and worked at it. And I would compare my drawings to how good his were. That’s kind of where it started for me. I was always pretty artistic even from very, very young, but I just wanted to draw like my grandpa.”

Though Santiago never stopped painting, he began restoring Volkswagen Bugs and Buses to earn an income. Little did he know how much he would fall in love with the process and how it would forever impact his style of work.

“About 10 years ago I started restoring Volkswagens,” he said. “Every time I got a little more adventurous…until I was doing complete full-on restorations. I loved it. I had no idea how much fun it was going to be. My buses were just staring at me and I thought ‘I need to paint my buses.’ It’s what’s real for me. It’s what’s true for me.”

His knowledge and passion collided, and it opened the door to all-things vintage and mechanical, which he said is completely different than the organic human figure he was previously painting.

“It was drastically different than what I was doing,” Santiago said. “I love the history that is behind every single one of these vehicles and the story they tell in their rust, and in their abandonment or their restoration. I love it.”

Being his first year at the Celebration of Fine Art, Santiago also discovered the level of interaction among the guests and the other artists is fueling his passion in a whole new way.

“I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy talking to people and meeting people, and hearing feedback about my work and the other work of the other artists,” he said. “It’s really fun to talk to people, get their feedback, hear about where they’re from, why they like art, what it is they’re looking for. I didn’t anticipate enjoying so much of the art and talking to the artists and [learning] about their process. It’s completely different and everybody has a different perspective or insight or process. I love that.”

Whitney Peckman has always been drawn to the arts, but her passions have shifted over the years – shaped by experiences and exploration.

“I think a passion doesn’t have to be a single path,” she said. “A passion can be that part of you that loves to experience many things or that likes to experiment. I think we tend, in our language, to talk about ‘a passion’ when maybe there are many things we are passionate about. I think it was always with me and I was just fortunate enough to wander down enough paths to end up here.”

Her first foray into the arts was language arts, and while that passion has remained, Whitney has woven her way through textile design, tapestries, drawing and painting. Then almost by happenstance, she stumbled across gourds as a medium.

“I was so intrigued by the object – by the organic, unusual qualities of gourds,” Whitney said. “Once I got into them I just couldn’t stop working on them.”

Working with gourds also tapped into another passion she had – working with organic materials. For Whitney, feeling that connection to the earth is essential, and working with gourds fulfills that need.

“There’s something about the material that just draws me,” Whitney said. “I’m really captivated by the material and I see things in it. So that I completely understand a marble sculptor who says ‘you just cut the marble until you release the figure.’ That’s what I see in the gourd. I guess it kind of calls to me.”

While the foundation of her passion remains, Whitney continues to push the envelope with it – weaving in a hint of experimentation and a splash of exploration. In the past few years, at the Celebration of Fine Art, she has explored collaborations with other artists – Joseph Woodford, Kevin Powers and husband Syed Ahmad – and loves the process of two passions joining forces.

Tom Lucas resides in Lander, Wyoming; which was established in 1884, and lives near the Wind River Mountains. Tom, a western painter, is passionate about preserving “the old ways” of the Native American culture and uses his art to capture the traditions of the past.

Tom spent much of his youth on the Indian Reservations in Montana and Wyoming. During those years he developed a deep admiration for Native American culture leading him to learn the centuries-old techniques of making war bonnets, drums, whistles, bows, arrows and beadwork. His skill at ancestral tool making has been documented by Wyoming Public Television and his tools are in the Yellowstone National Park Sheep Eater Indian Collection.

His oil paintings preserve this vanishing culture. Inspired by his childhood memories of Charlie Russell, Tom always had a deep desire to create art of the Western culture. His lifestyle as a cowboy, mountain man, hunter, trapper and outdoorsman serves as the ultimate foundation for his art. His passion for being creative was always waiting to be fulfilled by the next canvas. Tom’s scope of work includes still lifes, landscapes and wildlife subjects. He paints with emotion while capturing a culture. Tom has been accepted as an Associate to the Oil Painters of America and is also a member of the Western Artists of America. He has received many awards for his works of art over the years.

Tom’s interest and passion of ancestral tool making has led him to be documented on PBS in such films as Sheep-Eaters: Life in the Mountains and Archers of the Yellowstone. Known as Tomahawk Tom in the Mountain Man arena, Tom has mastered replicating Indian artifacts, many of which are subject in hip paintings.

Be sure to make it a point to visit with Tom next time you are at the Celebration of Fine Art.