Master impressionistic painter Betty Carr is known for her confident and energetic brush work, full-of-life subject matter, vibrant color pallet, and lyrical passages of light and shadow in her still life and landscape paintings from the West.  Carr favors oil and watercolor in most of her work and teaches painting and drawing in workshops from the coast of Maine to the shores of California.  This exhibition will present the artist’s best work to date.

Betty Carr has been a student of art from an early age when her family would take her to museums.  Her passion for art, art history, and her realization of certain truths about nature compelled her toward studying the scientific characteristics of light as applied to art.  Carr developed her own light-effect techniques that brought her in touch with the power of her own self-expression.   Contemplating light, especially as it dances across a bouquet of flowers on the windowsill, as it flickers across rippled water by the creek, or warm morning light as it baths a vase of tulips and daffodils reaching out to celebrate the first sign of spring, has brought forth a profound understanding of the nature of life for Carr.  The movement of light for this artist is in the evolution of creation as the beauty of form changes and morphs into the dance of life, and that keeps this artist in awe of the divinity in all things.

Carr spent her early years as a sculptor, which has been an advantage for her as a painter, seeing a subject three dimensionally and then bringing objects on a flat surface to life with depth and volume.   “What catches my eye is the effect light has on form, whether fleeting, spilling over, or striking,” speaks Carr about her love of light. “I strive for confident enthusiastic brushwork, the maximizing of color’s value and intensity range, and a fresh painterly approach, the result appearing effortless.”  Collectors respond to her work and comment, “It looks like she has fun!  Her paintings are inspirational.”

Betty Carr has won numerous awards over her career as a painter, and is a member of the Northern Arizona Watercolor Society, the Arizona Watercolor Association, and a Signature Member of the Arizona Plein Air Painters Association as well as the Knickerbocker Artists, New York.   Carr has been a painting instructor for many schools and organization, including the Scottsdale Artists School, Loveland Fine Art Academy, and the Sedona Art Center.  She and artist husband Howard Carr travel around the country in their customized RV especially equipped for painting in search of beauty and inspiration for their next work of art. 

Joining Betty Carr will be a lively group of sculptors and painters including guest artists Deon Duncan and Kraig Varner from Utah.  Enjoy libations and lively conversation with this remarkable family of fine artists at this festive reception.  Exhibition through May 28, 2013.

336 SR179, Suites A-201 & B-122, Sedona, Arizona 86336.  (800.527.6556)   (928.282.3225)

INSPIRED BY TRADITION: The Best of the West

You are invited to our upcoming exhibition opening First Friday, April 5, 2013, Reception: 5 – 8 pm

Mountain Trails Galleries is proud to present Inspired by Tradition: The Best of the West which opens with a reception on First Friday, April 5, 2013, from 5-8 pm, at both their Tlaquepaque galleries in beautiful Sedona, Arizona. The show features more than 30 paintings and sculptures highlighting the cowboy way of life as well as the Native American culture. The deep roots of our American Western heritage is expressed in the sculpture by Vic Payne, Dustin Payne, Michael Trcic, and Oreland C. Joe, and in the paintings by Nicholas Coleman, Vicki Catapano, Lisa Danielle, Steven Lang, Marcia Molnar, George Molnar, J. W. Segler, Gene Speck, Wei Tai, and Brigitte Woosley. Guest artists-in-residence Deon Duncan and Kraig Varner, both from Utah, will be in the gallery giving sculpting demonstrations as they work on new figurative sculptures. Both Duncan and Varner are award-winning sculptors whose extensive exploration in multiple styles and media brings them recognition in national and international circles.

Mountain Trails Gallery is honored to also share the weekend with a distinguished member of the Confederated Tribe of the Colville Reservation in Washington. Known as Warcloud, Percy Edwards traces his heritage to four Native American tribes in Washington State and the Pacific Northwest and will be dancing in his 60-pound handmade Pow-Wow regalia. A new clay precast for bronze titled Warcloud: Spirit of the Cougar will be introduced by Sedona sculptor Michael Trcic at First Friday’s reception. The 1/3 life-size sculpture of Warcloud in all its intricate details of Plains dress will be available to order. The first person who orders an edition of the sculpture will receive a coup stick personally made and given by Warcloud himself.

The reception will also feature sculpting and painting demonstrations by several of the gallery’s artists as they tell the stories that inspired their creations. Enjoy libations and lively conversation with this remarkable family of fine artists and special guests at this festive reception. Exhibition through April 25, 2013.

Mountain Trails Galleries in Sedona is proud to present The Grand Canyon 7 in a celebration of new paintings by a group of artists dedicated to painting the majesty and splendor of the Grand Canyon.  Amery Bohling, Bill Cramer, Dave A. Santillanes, George Molnar, Joshua Been, Linda Glover Gooch, and Marcia Molnar all light up the gallery with oil on canvas paintings of their beloved Canyon as well as other landscapes from the West. 

All these award-winning artists have a history of painting at the Grand Canyon, and for the past four years, they have participated in the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art held each fall at the South Rim.   Their reunion at the 2011 event revealed their common fascination, and it was here that they joined together to express their dedication to this geographic wonder.  “It was a mischievous week of rain, lightning, wind and fog, but through it all, some great paintings came together as well as friendships.”

The Grand Canyon 7 exhibition opens with a reception for the artists on First Friday, March 1^st, 2013, from 5-8 pm.  Mountain Trails is located in the beautiful Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village in Sedona. Exhibition through March 21, 2013.  336 SR 179. A201 & B122, Sedona, Arizona  86336  (800-527-6556) (928-282-3225).