Art Instructors; Jason Stehmeier (Ceramics), Morgan Stehmeier (Mixed Media) and Kristel Cobb (Photography) were present and congratulated their students on their fine work.
The winners from Rim High School Student Art Contest will be showcased at the Mountain Arts Gallery for the entire month of May. Don't miss out on the opportunity to see the work of these very talented young artist.
Best of Show: Photograph by Sky Maddox
Ceramics: 1st place: Audrey Siples, 2nd place: Emily Iles, 3rd place: Jamilet Chevez Barboza
Mixed Media: 1st place: Shelby Gross, 2nd place: Nina Hidajat, 3rd place: Nola Ruda
Photography: 1st place: Phobe Steward, 2nd place: Amelia Garcia, 3rd place: Jazmin Bahena
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.”
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.
Sandra Charlebois loves impressionism with its interaction of light and color. She paints mainly in oil, demonstrating a free style with her brush. Using a full spectrum, colorful palette she is influenced by French and American impressionist painters.
Balancing this background in landscape painting, Sandra has developed a passion for painting intimate portraits of bears with their many moods. Her latest series, fondly called Sandy's Bears, is a fun interpretive encounter about a young bear visiting her back yard and her fascination with these beautiful, lumbering creatures. The colorful paintings call up the viewer's imagination to view each bear's personality. Sandra has great fun painting and never knows how the bears will turn out on the easel, as they develop a life and personality on their own.
Graeme Gale is a southern gentleman, from southern England, that is! Graeme transplanted to the US over 30 years ago from his hometown of Brighton, England. He and his wife operated a record store in Los Angeles for many years, then relocated to Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino mountains. He began creating with wood as a hobby, but he quickly discovered a passion for the Manzanita tree in particular. As he sands the bark away, the hidden beauty of the wood grain is revealed, and he "reads" the wood and decides the best way to incorporate it into a functional object. His designs are elegant, delicate and wildly organic in form. No two pieces are alike, he crafts one-of-a-kind unique works of art.
Outdoorsy folks find it hard to leave the outdoors on their doorsteps. The Thunderbird Rustic Furniture collection was created to bring a bit of the outdoors inside with warm reminders of the natural world.
Born in the snow belt of Cincinnati, Ohio, Phoebe Kimble our newest local artist moved to sunny Southern California approximately 36 years ago where she married into a blended family about 15 years ago. She has been drawing since age two and enjoys all mediums ranging from lead pencil, to acrylic and oil paints. Phoebe is fond of gardening, baking and entertaining friends and family.
Her approach to art is allowing people to enjoy other cultures and amazing ways to view portraits. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the eyes are the window of expression. Capturing the deepest emotions through the eyes of the portraits is the challenge she tries to accomplish while painting. Phoebe enjoys crafting with friends and creating incredible interiors for her business clients.
Born and raised in the vast outdoors of Oregon ranching country I have always felt connected to the earth and her creatures. These are major influences and recurring themes in my work. From the Pacific Coast to the desert Southwest I find, in my travels, objects of interest that entice me to include them in my wearable works of art. Many of my pieces are designed to wear alone, or in multiple layers, so that the patrons of my work can impart their own style while enjoying wearing them. My studio is located in the beautiful mountain town of Running Springs, surrounded by the everchanging forest and it's creatures.
My education started at the University of Oregon, studying fine art and special education, and ended at Pacific Oakes College with a B.A. human development and social change. With a desire to make the arts accessible, I have 14 years of experience bringing the arts to both typical and extraordinary students. I currently am one of the instructors for MAN's special needs art classes and I will once again be teaching jewelry design and construction for MAN's low-cost summer classes.