Ones to watch

PAUL MOORE
BIG IS SUBJECTIVE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO THE LARGER-THAN-LIFE SCULPTURES THAT EMBODY THE WORK OF SCULPTOR PAUL MOORE. Using an innate ability to see beyond the subject’s outward form, Moore reaches for the individuating spark of humanity within. Recently he set his hand to creating one of the largest bronze sculptures in the world — a recreation of the Great Land Rush of 1889 — at the University of Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Centennial Land Run Monument consists of 45 elements and is larger than a football field. Moore studiously researched the period, striving to capture the spirit of the moment, the excitement and fear in the settlers as they forded forward amidst the turmoil. With eight years into the project and six more to go until the sculpture is complete, Moore says he looks at the installation one piece at a time with an eye to the overall integrity of the time and place.

“I think about how chaotic it must have been and, after looking at the site, I tried to figure out the movement of the piece, the wagons and the horses going all out,” he said. “I visualize it completely every time I put a new piece in.”

Paul Moore is a fellow and board member of the National Sculpture Society. Throughout his career he has sculpted more than 100 commissions. His work is held in the collections of The United States Capital Collection; the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery; Muncie Children’s Museum, Muncie, Indiana; The Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; The Museum of the Great Plains, Lawton, Oklahoma; The Chisholm Trail Heritage Center, Duncan, Oklahoma; The San Diego Zoo, San Diego, California; Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank, California; Citibank and other numerous municipal, corporate, private and international institutions. He is currently the artist-in-residence at the University of Oklahoma.

Moore has garnered numerous awards including The Otis Sullivant Award, University of Oklahoma, 2007; the Leonard J. Meiselman Memorial Award, 74th Annual National Sculpture Society Exhibition, New York, 2007; Silver Medal of Honor and the John Cavanaugh Memorial Award, National Sculpture Society 72nd Annual Exhibition, New York, 2005.

His work is represented by the Figarelli Fine Art Gallery, in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the Bronzesmith Fine Art Gallery & Foundry in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

— Michele Corriel



Painter Kim Frohsin harnesses the power of the female figure by incorporating startling color to impart movement. Her pieces crackle with vitality. Creating a dialogue with the subject, Frohsin allows the viewer to participate in the conversation. The lack of background and facial features minimize any distractions. It is in the use of the body, the form itself, bathed in its purest elements, that we can experience joy and freedom, melancholy and regret. Honest spontaneity and emboldened color palettes add to her directness with the pieces.

Her work is widely collected and is included in the collections of The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; The San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California; The Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, California; Office of The Governor, State Capital, Sacramento, California; Alza Corporation, U.S. Headquarters, Mountain View, California; Gordon and Rees, San Francisco, California; Keker & Van Nest, San Francisco, California; Hartnett-Hall Gallery Collection, Minot State University, Minot, North Dakota; Johnson & Johnson, New York City, New York; The Fifth Floor, Hotel Palomar, San Francisco, California; Hotel W, San Francisco, California; Nordstrom, Seattle, Washington; and Neiman Marcus, among others.

She is represented by Visions West Gallery, in Bozeman and Livingston, Montana, as well as Visions West in Denver, Colorado; Mongerson Galleries, Chicago, Illinois; Modern Arts, Corrales, New Mexico; Leanne Hull Fine Art, La Jolla, California; SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, California; and the Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, California.
— Michele Corriel




Jean Arnold’s ability to stare at the constantly moving world as if unblinking permeates her work. Her canvases breathe with motion. Her colors, like windows without casings, form without structure, mirror the fleeting visuals of our hurried lives.

On a deeper level, Arnold talks about hurtling through space as “a palpable presence of the energy and power underlying our civilization,” and how she takes that energy and embeds it in her paintings to “convey immediacy and a sense of transience.”  She is concerned with our society’s dependence on fossil fuel and uses her work as a way to speak about our tendency toward disjointed complexity.

Arnold recently held a solo exhibit at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana, and had a piece taken into its permanent collection. Her work is also in the James T. Dyke Collection of Contemporary Drawings, which has been on exhibit at the Naples Museum of Art and the Arkansas Arts Center. Other collectors include: Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll, Salt Lake City, Utah; Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho; Chantal Corporation, Houston, Texas; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada; and The Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Macao, China.

Her work is represented by LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Plus Gallery, Denver, Colorado; and the Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah.
— Michele Corriel




Michael Canatsey’s design philosophy could be compared to the approach of a good psychoanalyst: The award-winning architect believes that listening to clients is of paramount importance. “We’ve learned that if you have good communication, you’re going to get a good project,” he says. To that end, his eponymous, Seattle-based firm takes extreme measures to dig deep and explore peoples’ preferences. One exercise has prospective clients complete a 26-page questionnaire with queries ranging from “Can you recall the most memorable house you’ve experienced?” to “Do you want to wake up to sunshine?”

Canatsey’s architectural designs — which have garnered recognition from AIA, Blueprint for Architecture and the Seattle Design Commission, among others — don’t have a singular, trademark look. Instead, he says, “We strive to be true to the style the client wants, and consistent in our approach.” During the creative process the team utilizes an internal ‘check and balance’ system, assigning one architect as the project’s ‘critic’ to ask questions and challenge decisions. “It keeps us grounded in designing what the client really wants,” Canatsey says of the unconventional process.

Residential projects range from traditional to contemporary, mountain homes to urban lofts, and the careful restoration of some of the area’s historic residences. Dealing with sloping terrain is common in the region; “There are no flat lots left in Seattle, so we work with many challenging sites,” Canatsey says.

The firm’s commercial portfolio is similarly diverse: New Balance retains the company to design its Olympic Games hospitality clubs, including a dramatic, contemporary building for the 2008 venue in Beijing. Closer to home, the firm designed a special-needs residence near Tacoma, Washington, for five young men in wheelchairs. The architects collaborated extensively with both the clients and their caregivers, resulting in numerous design details that increased mobility and access.

Clearly, fostering such in-depth communication enables Canatsey to continue developing uniquely creative solutions, informed by the very people who ultimately benefit from his firm’s thoughtful designs.
— Eliza Cross