Meet Gallery Moab’s September artists

Both will have work on display throughout the month and during ArtWalk on September 9 

After a break during the hot summer months of July and August, Moab’s ArtWalk—an event showcasing local artists at a number of different venues—is back. The next event will take place on September 9 from 5 to 8 p.m., showcasing artists at Gallery Moab, the Tom Till Gallery, Moonflower Co-op, and Moab Arts.

Gallery Moab is a cooperative art gallery started by a group of artists in 2014; each month, the gallery highlights the work of one of its own members (the featured artist )and another local artist (the guest artist). During ArtWalk events, attendees will have the chance to meet each artist in the gallery and discuss their works. 

The featured artist this September is Joanne Savoie, who will showcase her ceramic coiled rock pots. The pots, formed from gorgeously stacked and coiled clay around the shapes of real rocks, are inspired by the Moab landscape, she said. 

“My style comes from immersion in this area, in the geology and the canyons: from collecting rocks and observing the lines of landscape constantly,” she said. “The coiled pottery pieces are a combination of techniques that were really motivated by teaching a course this last winter on coiled projects—it got me thinking more about how to incorporate that into my own works.” 

Savoie has been a ceramics artist for years; she majored in art in college, taught in elementary schools, and is now retired (though she still sometimes teaches classes at Desert Sun Ceramics). Her work doesn’t take on any one distinct shape, she said: she’s always looking for more inspiration and experimentation. 

The coiled pots came first from her inspiration teaching a coiling class, and second, from a collection of pots she had made using rock shapes. For this project, she combined the two techniques, developing a set of pots shaped entirely from the local landscape. 

“It really came together for me, and I really love putting the coils there as my summarization of the lines of landscape,” she said. Depicting the landscape through her work pushes her to be dynamic, she said, and she considers her work never fully finished. 

The guest artist this month is Nancye Culbreath, who will showcase a collection of oil landscapes. She uses bold colors and spirited brushstrokes to depict desert landscapes—she’s been painting for over 30 years, and her style first originated when she was an equestrian. 

Culbreath grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and was always captivated by two things: horses and drawing. As an adult, she received a professional certification in Horsemanship and Dressage, becoming an instructor in English Dressage in Virginia. In her early twenties, she moved out to Colorado, called by the lure of wide open spaces; she raised a family there, and didn’t return to painting or drawing until her forties. 

Since moving to Monticello just a few years ago, her style has gravitated more toward bold and fantastical landscapes, she said. 

“I’m not intimidated about perfection,” Culbreath said. “I’m working more now in trying to have a colorful, vibrant expression of the landscape—it’s not always realistic, and I have a little bit more of an imaginative quality to it.” 

By letting herself ignore the small details of the landscape, she gets more enjoyment out of painting: her works “lead the eye to imagine what might be beyond,” Culbreath said. 

At Gallery Moab, she’ll have 15 works on display, each depicting a different scene from the Southwest landscape.

If you miss the September 9 ArtWalk, don’t worry: works by Culbreath and Savoie will be on display throughout the entire month of September.