VILLAGE GALLERY GOES WILD in JULY

The month of July at The Village Gallery of Local Artists will feature the work of two artists, each living her dream after retiring from long professional careers unrelated to art: Pat Priolo is a multi-talented artist who makes jewelry and uniquely decorated display gourds, and Stephanie Brand is a world traveler and wildlife photographer extraordinaire.

Meet the artists on July 6th from 5-8 pm First Friday Art Walk

Stephanie Brand retired from her busy law practice on the east coast, picked up her camera and has never looked back. Though primarily self-taught, she studied at the International Center of Photography in New York and has done workshops with some of today’s most respected photographers. She has been a Sedona resident for 8 years and currently shows her work at the Village Gallery in the Village of Oak Creek, Sedona. Her photos will be on exhibit at the Herberger Theater and Arts Center in Phoenix in August and September, and later at Sedona city Hall in the fall.

Stephanie’s display of photography in the Village Gallery is a spectacular eyeful in more ways than one. She has traveled extensively to photograph, in her own words, “anything with eyes.” From the gleaming yellow eyes of the big cats who have met her camera’s gaze to the close-up stare of a startled bear in an unexpected encounter the photog snapped while on a bumpy rubber raft in Alaska, to images of elephant and gorilla families, stampeding wildebeests, giraffes, birds and even people, Stephanie has captured for the viewer a vision of South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Rwanda, Alaska and beyond. “I hope my images bring you to a place that makes you feel, just for a moment, that you were there, too.”

Stephanie’s work has been displayed in many New York exhibits, including The African-American Museum, is in private collections across the USA and in Africa, and has garnered many awards in Sedona, published in Arizona Highways and more.

Meet the artist at the Village Gallery First Friday Art Walk on July 6th and ask Stephanie her about her experiences with Diane Fossey’s tracker from whom she learned about ‘Gorilla speech’ during what she describes as an extraordinary, even life-changing experience among the gentle endangered Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda.

Pat Priolo is known at the Village Gallery for her decorative gourd art designs which utilize beads left over from the necklaces, earrings, and arm and ankle bracelets which are also on display in the local gallery. In her early years, she was eager to try “absolutely everything” related to arts/crafts and studied Art and Design. Her keen interest in sewing eventually led to a sewing and fabric business where she designed and made, among other things, quilts and teddy bears- a stress relief from her regular long-term job in Child Welfare services in the Bay Area.

Now that Pat is retired and living in Sedona with her husband and two doggies, she is free to produce her beautiful gourds, jewelry, and dreamcatchers and play with color, design, different types of paints, dyes and inks and techniques like wood burning to enhance her art and enrich many lives.

Join Pat at the Village Gallery for July 6th First Friday Art Walk and bring your questions!

WHAT: Village Gallery First Friday Art Walk

WHERE: Hwy 179 at Cortez roundabout  Village of Oak Creek, Sedona

WHEN: July 7th, 5-8pm Join the artists for food, wine, and lively conversation

The Village Gallery of Local Artists is open 10-6 Daily and is currently accepting artist applications.   www.sedonalocalartists.com (928) 284-1416