Mountain Arts Network & Gallery
2024 Students Winner with their awards. Photo by David Ficke - Photographer
SATURDAY, APRIL 19 at 5:00 pm
9th ANNUAL STUDENT ART CONTEST
Winner Reception
Awards, prizes will be presented at the reception. Family and friends are welcome. In the tradition of supporting Art in the Lake Arrowhead Community, the Mountain Arts Network Gallery, located on the waterfront of Lake Arrowhead Village, is proud of supporting the Arts at Rim of the World High School. We look forward to the creativity and imagination that inspires the Rim’s art students as they prepare for this year’s contest.
Photo by Dean Lent - Photographer “RIP Helga Batman-Koplin. One of the good ones from Mountain Arts Gallery. Always a smile and an engaging story and your art was so colorful and tongue in cheek and joyful. And it was an honor to have a couple of your paintings in my movie.”
TRIBUTE TO HELGA BATMAN-KOPLIN
by Lisa Cook
Beloved mountain artist Helga Batman-Koplin passed away Saturday, March 22, 2025. Close to a year ago, Helga suffered a debilitating stroke and was confined to a bed with some paralysis. She was a favorite with the staff at her care center. Her spirited conversations and sometimes bawdy humor kept the staff highly entertained. She was an honored member of Mountain Arts Network and Gallery.
Helga Batman-Koplin was born and raised in Lorrach, Germany, where she began painting as a child. She was given a gift from her parents of a small box of watercolors and some crayons when she was 5 years of age. This was the impetus which inspired her artistic passion and commitment. She received a degree from the University of Mainz in Interpretation and Translation in French and English in 1959.
That same year Batman-Koplin immigrated to the United States but found French and English translators in little demand. She supported herself as a bank teller while continuing to paint. By 1970 she was working and studying in the art departments of Cypress College (Orange County) and California State University, Long Beach. Later she took additional classes in impressionist manner painting, life drawing and design with such noted Southern California artists as Hal Reed, Joseph Mendez, Mildred Walker, Kanya Bugreeff and Ted Goerschner. She began participating in juried shows.
(Photo by Lisa Cook)
As an accomplished painter, Batman-Koplin has received numerous Best in Show and 1st Place Awards. Among her awards was the Palos Verdes Art Center, Artist’s Open Group, Lake Arrowhead Art & Wine Festival, Fine Arts Institute, Redlands and San Bernardino Valley National Orange Show, Citrus Category. In 2000 she received a Winsor & Newton Award from the Redlands Arts Association, Miniature Show.
Her work has been purchased by many corporate and private collectors. Redlands Community Hospital and the County of San Bernardino have included her work as part of their permanent art collections. She was featured artist in the “County Heritage Show” and her work was purchased and now hangs in the Cultural Affairs Office in San Bernardino County.
In 1990 Batman-Koplin moved into her vacation home in Lake Arrowhead and started exhibiting her work around the county. Since then she was a featured artist in several exhibitions.
In 1995 a one-person show was held in Lake Arrowhead at Gallery Rodeo. Batman-Koplin was one of the exhibiting artists in “Art Alive” 1998, 1999 and 2000 at the Riverside Art Museum, at UCLA Fine Art & Dining in 2000, the Arts Council of San Bernardino County, the Fine Arts Institute in Redlands and the 31st annual national Palm Springs Desert Museum show in 2000.
Helga lost her home and everything in it in the 2003 Old Fire. All of her paintings were lost and she was forced to start anew. She is survived by her two children Kay Gobelin and Greg Batman. Her paintings and prints are currently exhibited for sale at the Mountain Arts Gallery in the Lake Arrowhead Village.
Lisa Cook
April Featured Artists
JON OLSON
I have always drawn and painted. My Grandmother painted. My Mom painted. And there was always the smell of paints and thinner in our house. During my 80+ years, I’ve taken many, many classes and workshops, but have come to the conclusion that all artists are self-taught!
My medium is oil paint. I like to paint in various formats and techniques. My mainstay has been maritime art, where I have been a signature member of the American Society of Marine Artists (ASMA) for the past 3 decades. I continue to participate in many juried shows, including the annual maritime show in Coos Bay, Oregon where one of my pieces in currently exhibited.
I also like to do aviation art and exhibited twice in the annual fly-in of the Experimental Aircraft Association at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Over the years I have completed 800 pieces of miniature art, both replicas and originals, and have participated in miniature shows in London, Madrid and the Chicago Internation Miniature show multiple times.
ALMA BORCUK
I'm a passionate artist who finds joy in expressing the beauty of nature through the graceful strokes of Chinese brush painting. There's something truly magical about translating the essence of the natural world onto paper! For me, each brushstroke is about more than just depicting a subject's physical appearance; it's about capturing its soul and spirit in just a few strokes.
Not only do I create art, but I also love sharing my passion with others as a teacher. Guiding students through the world of Chinese brush painting is incredibly rewarding. Together, we embark on a journey of discovery and self-expression, deepening our connection with nature along the way.
CARLOS CORTEZ
I have always been involved in some type ofwoodworking projects, from remodeling to building furniture. Several years agomy wife and I were at an arts fair in Fredericksburg, Texas. A particular vendor caught my eye. He had adisplay of several pieces that incorporated turquoise granules set in resininto veins in a mesquite lazy Susan. The pieces really intrigued me and I beganresearching the “how do you do this” part of the project. I beganexperimenting with making charcuterie boards with natural edged wood pieces andvarious colored resins. I attempt to utilize wood pieces sourced locally fromthe San Bernardino mountains and have also used pieces of walnut/black walnutand olive wood sourced from the central valley.
LINDA JONES
Toward the end of 1999 I moved to Lake Arrowhead. Throughout the years I visited my brother many times and was amazed by the beauty of this place. I moved from the San Fernando Valley where I indoors as an office manager for 25 years. I was looking for something new and different. Shortly after settling in I got a job with a landscaping company. That was really new! I worked outside all day doing landscaping and splitting and delivering firewood. Several years later I got my landscaping license and went into business myself.
I can't remember why I started making wreaths but I loved it. Now after making them for 41 years I still love it.
