"New Art for a New Year". presented by James Ratliff Gallery, Sedona, AZ

SEDONA, Ariz. - Dec. 13, 2016 - PRLog -- "New Art for a New Year" opens January 5, at James Ratliff Gallery, Hillside Sedona, 671 State Route 179, Suites A1 & A2, Sedona, AZ 86336.  There will be an opening reception Friday, January 6, from 5-8 PM.  This exhibit will continue through the end of January.  Featured artists include: Judy Choate, William Crook, Greg Heil, Cary Henrie, Kay Stratman.

Judy Choate's dramatic landscapes fire the imagination while exploring through brilliant color, vibrant,  and expressive palettes' creative interpretations of the magnificence of the Sonoran desert in which we live.

William Crook's paintings are a serene companion to Choate's flamboyant brilliance.  As Crook states:  "My desire, as I create my paintings, is to paint the ordinary in an extraordinary way, and to journey on a painting expedition less traveled, to imbue people and objects with humor, irony, compassion and endurance, and to be mindful of the occasional rainbow in an oil slick."  In Crook's selected works for the January exhibit, emphasis will be on his houses.

Greg Heil paints landscapes in his signature plein-air style.  Heil is part of a new tradition in American painting whose work bridges the gaps between abstraction, expressionism and traditional plein-air painting.  Heil's subject matter arises from his Southwest home which provides him with an abundance of motifs so that, in his words, "nature overpowers the human mind with an infinite variety of forms and colors".  Heil's magic draws the viewer in through realism infused with an element of fantasy.

Cary Henrie's classical education on scholarship at the Pratt Institute in New York and a following decade of work as a graphic artist in the Big Apple with publishers like Time, Sports Illustrated, etc. did not erase Henrie's passion for landscapes of the American West.  He found home and the refinement of his artistic techniques in the Wasatch Mountains where he still is at home today.  Continuous global travels have complemented Henrie's discoveries.  His work reveals how he incorporates what he's seen:  "Visiting Bali, Egypt, Israel and Europe, I loved the warm and broken patinas I had seen in these countries' art and architecture. I saw similarities to my native West, particularly weather-beaten landscapes, sandstone textures, patina of rusted metal contrasted with vast soft sunsets and auras of changing skies."  Henrie's works invite the viewer to enter a contained experience with timelessnes.

Kay Stratman uses a "splash and pour" technique to produce landscapes of "controlled spontaneity"  Stratman unites opposites (wet and dry, abstract and realistic, detail and loose suggestion) to illustrate the spirit and nature of a landscape.  Stratman's paintings have been described as contemporary realism.  The viewer's takeaway is a memory; the collector's takeaway is continuous encounter.

For further information about "New Art for a New Year" contact the James Ratliff Gallery:  phone:  928-282-1404; e-mail: FineArt@jamesratliffgallery.com; web site:  http://www.jamesratliffgallery.com.