Gallery Moab is a showcase for original fine art and artisan crafts inspired by the incomparable beauty of the canyon country. Each month the gallery spotlights a special guest artist and features one of its member artists.

November’s Guest Artist is Janet Buckingham, an artist and writer who first began painting with pastels. She started using watercolor and ink while living in Kodiak Island, Alaska because she felt it expressed that watery landscape better than pastel. It has remained her preferred medium for painting the desert landscapes around Moab, where she has lived for 30 years. A talented fabric artist as well as a painter, Janet transfers her images to cotton fabric and integrates them into quilted bags and wall hangings. During this year’s pandemic she has made hundreds of masks, some designed with her evocative watercolor images of the canyon country.

In 2018 Janet was selected as Community Artist in the Parks for Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Hovenweep and National Bridges National Monuments. She spent the year traveling to each location exploring and painting on site while interacting with park visitors. In 2019 she was a guest artist/teacher for the HMK school program “Look Where We Live,” spending several days mentoring aspiring young artists at Arches and Canyonlands.

Mary Collar, our featured artist for November, grew up among central Wisconsin’s gently rolling hills and lush green cornfields. After moving west in 1979 she was so taken with the clear skies, stars, gorgeous mountains, dry climate and desert that she never looked back. She came here with no art experience, but living in Moab with its quirky, active community of artists changed that. She began to enjoy and collect local art, developing an admiration for people who could paint. After retiring she decided to try a class offered by a local pastel artist and found that she loved it.

Mary enjoys using pastels because the rich, lush colors can be layered to provide a quality not found in other media. Recently she has expanded her artistic skills by learning to paint with acrylics, which requires a totally different and very challenging approach to her art. Landscapes with their grand vistas, dazzling desert sun, deep blue skies, and glowing sunsets are Mary’s inspiration. She says she can “feel the colors,” some dramatic and intense, others soft and subdued. She aims to keep learning and exploring the landscape for that next scene to paint.

Stop by Gallery Moab to enjoy the works of these featured artists, as well as a diversity of paintings, photography, ceramics, sculpture, jewelry, prints, cards and more, all hand made by our many talented gallery artists. It’s the perfect place to find a unique memento of your visit to Moab or a gift for that special person!

Gallery Moab follows COVID safety protocols by sanitizing, social distancing, and requiring masks indoors. We offer a colorful selection of 100% cotton masks in different styles made by our artists. Sale of these masks helps us pay our rent!
Open 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. daily. Closed Thanksgiving Day. Call 435-220-0891 and we will open by appointment.

Gallery Moab LCA 59 South Main Street #1, Moab, Utah 84532 435-355-0024
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