Michele Usibelli
Like all artists, Michele feels she was born to create, and was drawn to art from an early age. After earning her degree in architecture from the University of Washington, she combined her professional life with her love of travel. Michele’s extensive travels and life experiences provide the solid platform from which her artwork is created. Her early training established a strong foundation in the Russian Impressionist tradition of seeing and painting shapes of light and color using relatively loose brushstrokes. She has studied extensively and has been influenced by numerous historic artists. All of these influences have allowed Michele to establish her own unique artistic style and defines her as a truly versatile artist. While she is drawn to many painting genres - still life, landscape, cityscapes and figurative - its her individual style and paint application, that creates and maintains a constant theme throughout her body of work. Michele enjoys working in oil, gouache and acrylic, both in the studio and “en plein air”., while splitting her time between her studio north of Seattle, Washington and her studio in Whitefish, MT. She strives for consistency of style that is uniquely her own.
Collectors say they "can spot Michele’s work from across the room". Establishing her own, unique, artistic voice is her primary goal.
Kate Starling
Kate is a landscape painter, living among the stark mesas and canyons of the desert, inspired to express the changing light as it describes the land she sees around her every day.
Visual art and the outdoors have been the constant interests throughout her life. Kate began her career as a Geologist and National Park Ranger in service to her love of being outside. She was able to marry this with artistic expression through learning painting and drawing from Yu Ji during his tenure at Southern Utah University. Yu Ji’s clear instruction gave her a solid foundation in direct observation she employs in her work.
Whether simply going from one place to another in the course of daily life or from the many hours Kate paints on site in a week, she gathers ideas for larger works from the natural world. Her paintings express her curiosity about the geomorphology of the land and, often, how it is impacted by human activity.
Kathryn Stats
Kathryn Stats is known for her vibrant color, dramatic compositions and subtle brushwork. Kathryn has developed a keen eye for the landscape and nature. She studied with artists in the Salt Lake City area on a continuous basis for approximately 20 years and continues to study books on color and landscape painting including Plein Air California Painters, Taos painters, Carlson’s Guide to Landscape painting and the Russian masters, favoring Vasily Polenov. She also continues to be influenced by other gifted artists including Edgar Payne, Clyde Aspevig, Scott Christensen, Hanson Puthuff, James Reynolds, Matt Smith and Ray Roberts.
She has traveled to and painted the coastal areas of California and Oregon as well as locations in Alaska, Hawaii, Russia, Spain, Italy, France and Portugal. She states: "I try not to get too comfortable working in a particular size or subject matter because I feel that comfort leads to staleness. For this reason, I’m always looking for fresh territory."
Most recently, Kathryn has developed a Mentorship Program. The one on one experience of Mentoring has added a new dimension to teaching.
She is a member of Plein Air Painters of America, Plein Air Painters of Utah and Oil Painters of America.