Irinaland Over the Balkans, by Hundertwasser (photo by Marilynn Davis)
Mark Your Calendar for Fine Art Salon September 17
Marilynn Davis
Mark your calendars for Sept. 17 at 10:30 a.m. in the Topaz Room!
The Fine Arts Guild presents a continuation of the well-attended May Salon on Gustav Klimt. This time we are back in Vienna after World War II and moving forward to the year 2000. Our featured artist is Friedensreich Hundertwasser. He was a man both of his time and ahead of his time. Many of his ideas (outside art circles) still resonate today.
After leaving the Vienna School of Fine Arts at the age of 20, he began his world travels. Inspired by images and ideas from other cultures, he developed his own unique style. He is a modernist and reflects the latter part of the 20th century.
As a painter, his work was characterized by vibrant colors (even psychedelic), irregular shapes, and a denial of the straight line. A sense of rhythm and energy dominated his painting, graphics, and architecture.
A lifelong commitment to the natural world and its preservation is evident in his work and his lifestyle. We will examine an independent thinker and an artist who carried us forward to the 21st century. As a world traveler, he collaborated, even with Ralph Nader in America.
In 1993 he was asked, “What should art be?” His reply, “The arts should be positive, free, romantic, beautiful—something like a jewel which you cannot do without.”
This presentation will be led by Marilynn Davis and Greta von Wrangel. Greta lived in Austria from 1945 to 1952. She brings an interesting perspective to our discussion and the conditions in Austria during Hundertwasser’s early life.
A special treat awaits you.
Fine Arts Guild Artists Win Awards
Jenni Long
Fran Dorr is currently in the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild “Summer Getaway” Show. She won an Award of Merit for her work Wind Song.
She also won an Award of Merit in the Southern Arizona Watercolor “Experimental” Show for her work entitled Mood Muy Allegre.
Theresa Poalucci recently received an Emerald Award for her piece entitled Untamed Territory from Gallery Ring.
Theresa also won second place in the 2025 Art Collector’s Awards in the World’s Best Floral Impressionists for her piece Sunlit Nectar. Artists from 49 countries entered this competition.
Agave Ascension won sixth place among the Top 20 Digital Artists at the 15th Annual Botanical Art Exhibition by Light Space & Time Gallery in Spring 2025.
Kay Sullivan is also in the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild “Summer Getaway” Show where she won an Honorable Mention for her piece Five Shades of Red.
Congratulations to these fine artists!
SaddleBrooke Fine Arts Guild Artist Display at Long Realty
Jenni Long
Long Realty Golder Ranch has forged a partnership with the SaddleBrooke Fine Arts Guild to promote the talented artists of SaddleBrooke. Every three months several local artists will be displaying their art in the lobby of Long Realty Goulder Ranch. Abstract art is the theme for the current display. Artists’ works currently on display are by Teri Jensen Freeman, Fran Dorr, and Jenni Long.
Teri Jensen Freeman
Teri grew up in California and Oregon, is an alumnus of University of Oregon, and worked in the corporate world for over 40 years. Spending time in the natural world and traveling the globe, Teri developed a passion for diverse cultures, the arts, and creative passions. Teri uses unique word and color combinations, as well as a sense of energy and movement in her work. Her work often explores themes of connection, meaning, and place, featuring the natural world. Teri believes that creative endeavors cause people to think about our lives, dreams, and choices. She strives to create work that causes people to pause, think, connect, and understand.
Jenni Long
Jenni was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and from the age of 10 worked in her father’s photography studio. After college, Jenni became the manager of the studio and then, when her father retired, she took over the business. Jenni found that she loved the art of photography and the joy of connecting with her subjects. Going to work was a pleasure!
After retiring, Jenni moved to Hawaii to pursue her love of scuba diving but discovered her artistic side instead. She happened on an art sampler day in the community center and tried watercolor. She was hooked and attended many classes, including drawing and perspective.
Now, living in SaddleBrooke, Jenni has gone in a different direction with her art. She is painting large abstracts with acrylic paint, adding texture with acrylic mediums and found objects to add interest. She is a member of the SaddleBrooke Fine Arts Guild and has taken many of the wonderful classes they offer, as well as benefitting from the support from fellow artists.
You can find Jenni’s work in the SaddleBrooke galleries and Absolutely Art in Catalina.
Fran Dorr
Fran became a permanent resident of Arizona in 2017 after spending years living on both coasts plus Michigan and Guatemala, C.A. She has a B.S. degree in home economics from Western Michigan University, is a Return Peace Corps Volunteer, and was coordinator of a W.I.C. nutrition program in Michigan. She grew up in a creative atmosphere. Her father was an art director, her aunt was Ziegfeld’s prima ballerina in the ‘30s, her sister was a dancer, and her brother was a writer and journalist
After losing her husband Ted in 2018, Fran is focusing on art and other activities in SaddleBrooke. She took art classes and courses over the years at various colleges and universities that she attended or worked at.
She is an eclectic artist with an intuitive approach and uses a wide range of mediums, such as watercolor, acrylics, collage, and fiber arts. Her styles are abstract, impressionism, or representational. Inspiration for her comes from her love of Asian art, impressionism, pre-Columbian, and primitive arts.
Fran has won awards and is currently a member of and involved with various art groups, including SaddleBrooke Fine Arts Group, Southern Arizona Water Color Guild, National Watercolor Society, International Society of Experimental Artists (ISEA), and National Collage Society. She is currently on the ISEA committee to set up their annual art symposiums in the Southwest for the next three years (Tubac and the Desert Museum) and is serving on their 2025 Scholarship Committee.
You can view the work of these fine artists at Long Realty Golder Ranch located in the Bashas’ Shopping Center. The office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Artists Are Making a Scene in SaddleBrooke
Jenni Long
As a longtime resident of SaddleBrooke, president of the SaddleBrooke Fine Arts Guild, and an artist/photographer, I’ve enjoyed many years of collaboration with other creatives in our community and have come to know that we have a lot of extremely talented people living here. So, when Mario Coelho, former SaddleBrooke One’s common area manager, approached Delys Nast (also a board member in the Fine Arts Guild and member of several other creative clubs in SaddleBrooke) to gather various creative people from our community to discuss a beautification project, we were thrilled to get the word out. With representation from many of our creative clubs (Photography, Glass, Pottery, Wood Carvers, Fine Arts, etc.), we brainstormed about what we might do to collaborate on murals that would be placed along Ridgeview Boulevard to start.
We all agreed that this project needed to do more than just place pictures on the walls. We wanted the visual imagery to include the landscaping in the foreground to create a more inclusive experience for people passing by. With a bit of research, we discovered that today’s advanced printing technology gives us the ability to print images on tiles that are then fired and can be installed anywhere tiles can be laid, both indoors and outside. This has many advantages, including a very long life in our extreme conditions here in the desert Southwest.
The Photography and Fine Arts group called for members to submit work with a southwest focus, and we received several amazing images from which to choose our first two images. A smaller group from the original team reviewed and winnowed down entries to select the final images for our initial installations—one from the Photography Club and one from the Fine Arts Guild. A great deal of thought and consideration went into the selection process, with special attention to what would have the greatest appeal to our residents and what would support our community by boosting appeal and even home values.
Ellen Victor’s photography and the fine art of Delys Nast created the first two images selected for this year’s installation. These two images are just the first of what we hope will be several creative installations of murals along Ridgeview and on other walls along key streets in SaddleBrooke to showcase the many talented artists in our community. An extension of this project that we already enjoy includes the Pottery group’s Lizzy the Lizard and other works in the RoadRunner Grill, with more to come. Also in the works is an art installation from our Glass Club and plans for more art displays in our new Creative Arts and Wellness Center planned for SaddleBrooke One.
These first two images will be placed on the concrete walls along Ridgeview Boulevard in the first part of July, along with landscaping to enhance the experience. So, keep your eyes open for more beauty in the ‘Brooke!