Helen Becker returns to Gallery Moab as Guest Artist for the month of September. Helen has heart strings attached to Gallery Moab because she was one of the founding board members who created it. Although she has worked in many mediums, acrylic collage painting is her favorite. Creating in this manner since 2016, Helen has moved from abstract work to her present figurative work. Helen has exhibited regionally and recently took some of her collage paintings to New York City where she participated in a summer show. From her studio in Moab, Helen enjoys passing on what she has learned as an artist to beginning students of drawing and painting.

Lady Bug, Lady Bug Ride Down The River by Helen Becker

About her recent work, Helen writes, “my art becomes tangled up in the music I play in my studio. I move with a rhythm in time to its beat. Responding to music helps inspiration flow. My gold-faced friends bedecked with sparkly sunglasses are the subjects of my art. I like to describe my friends with quirkiness. It gives them special pizazz. They do common everyday things in unique ways. I describe their light heartedness with my light heart. Soon the friends in my paintings become tangled up in my music. They are alive and complete and sway with a rhythm in time to their own beat.”

The gallery’s Featured Artist for September is Mary Collar. Mary moved to Moab in 1979 from central Wisconsin, taken with the West’s clear skies, stars, gorgeous mountains, dry climate, and most of all, the desert. She has enjoyed skiing, canoeing, snowshoeing, hiking, and backpacking. She had no art experience, never drew or painted a thing in her life (except maybe with crayons and pencils when she was a kid). She especially disliked crafts. But something changed in her life in Moab. She discovered art. She took a beginning pastel class in 2011. She was terrified but kept at it and decided it was pretty interesting and even fun.

Candlestick After The Storm by Mary Collar

Landscapes interest Mary the most: the grand vistas, the dazzling desert sun, deep blue skies, glowing sunsets. She likes painting with pastels. The colors are lush and rich and can be layered to provide a quality not found in other mediums. It takes time to decide what scene to paint and even longer to paint it. She says she can feel the colors. Some paintings are very dramatic with intense colors, some soft and subdued.

She wants to continue to learn and will always be exploring the landscape for that next scene to paint. Recently, Mary decided to expand her painting experiences by learning to paint with another medium. Acrylics provide Mary with a totally different and challenging approach to her art. She looks at her work differently now with an eye toward keeping her new paintings loose, fluid, and fun.

A reception for the artists will be held on Saturday, September 14 from 5-8 pm. Gallery Moab is open Daily from 12-9 pm, and is located at 87 North Main Street. Join us!

Work by gallery artists can been seen at gallerymoab.com and on Facebook or call 435-355-0024

Dustin LeFevre
I grew up in the foothills of the Oquirrh Mountains and developed a deep love of the outdoors through a childhood of exploration. My mother always had a camera in hand, so it didn’t take long before I was asking to borrow it. Soon I got one of my own and I was hooked. My passion for photography and my love of the outdoors have grown together ever since and at times have bordered on obsession that has shaped my life in many ways. I even met my wife Emily through photography by purchasing a lens from her on the local classifieds. Any chance I get, I can be found wandering the desert, looking for cool rocks and seeking conditions that make for unforgettable images and experiences.

Steven Michael Howa
A native Utah photographer who started photography late in life while serving with the Army in Iraq. Documenting my experiences and capturing fellow soldiers became an obsession which carried over the landscape photography after retirement. The camera has taken me places I’ve never dreamed of going or even existed. It’s like a divining rod, always pointing to the treasure, and the west is full of treasure. I’ve had the luxury of learning the art of landscape photography from two of the best; Dustin Lefevre and Chad Dudson. So much more to learn and so much treasure to seek...