The People

Meet the people of the Majestic Ranch Arts Foundation! Join us in building an arts community.

Staff

Rene Hall Eldredge

Director of Public Relations
René spent seven years in Los Angeles, CA as a member of the cast and crew of the NBC/Walt Disney Pictures hit television show "Scrubs". René also worked for ABC, CBS, and Buena Vista television and has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild since 2001.

René received a Bachelor of Arts with emphasis on Modern Dance and English from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, where she was a Dean's List student and the recipient of the Janet Seeley Award for outstanding achievements in dance and choreography. She also received the Helen Heath Scholar Award for outstanding academic achievements. René was president of the Koshare Dance Collective and danced with the CRS Studio Dance Company in Ithaca, NY. In addition, René studied Shakespeare and romantic poetry in the Advanced Studies Program at University College, Oxford University. René also studied ballet for thirteen years at the Alfred Ballet Academy in upstate New York.

Stevie Kesner Ricks

Creative Director

A native of Texas, Stevie obtained her BA in Art and Education at Trinity University, San Antonio, and obtained her post-graduate studies at Trinity, Sam Houston State University and St. Mary's University. She taught in the NEISD for ten years, where the art program was recognized as the most outstanding art program in the State of Texas.

For over 35 years, Stevie's art career has included painting and exhibiting in galleries across the country from Chicago to Houston to Detroit to Reno. Stevie's international experience includes an exhibit in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. For the past several years, Stevie has been painting large, ethereal canvas pieces for private collections and corporations. Stevie has also been the co-director of Ricks Studio for the past 27 years.

Her paintings are a mystical expression of her experiences and travels around the world. Painted on both paper and raw duck canvas, the oversized pieces reflect a sophisticated abandon by throwing white paint across the space in a calligraphic rhythm, resulting in powerful movement.

Stevie has won many regional and national awards, including "Best of Show" in the Rocky Mountain National Exhibition, the Western Federation of Watercolor Exhibition, the Southern Watercolor Exhibition, the Southwestern Watercolor Society Exhibition, the Texas Watercolor Society Exhibition and the San Antonio Art League, Onderdonk Award.

Jane Wilson

Office Manager

Jane has been managing the office, dealing with administrative logistics, class scheduling and student registrations since the Foundation opened for classes in Fall 2006. Originally from England, where she received her B.A. in English Literature from England's Kingston University, Jane has a background in administration and management. Jane moved to San Antonio with her Texan husband in 2002. She and her husband have three sons, two cats and a dog. She recently became a US citizen.

Faculty

Sylvia Benitez

Sylvia Benitez is a nationally known, installation artist whose work has begun to explore landscape painting within the context of a site-specific agenda. She is the recipient of two Pollock-Krasner awards, an AICA award, and two National Endowment for the Arts Visiting Artist Awards. Benitez has conducted over 60 community based mural workshops along the eastern seaboard. She recently relocated to Seguin, TX, where she lives with her husband and white cat.

See Sylvia's paintings here and here

Brad Braune

Brad Braune is a native Texan who received a degree in Architecture from Texas Tech, where he also studied Art. He worked for a time as an artchitect, winning awards while working for prestigious firms including Ford Powell & Carson before turning to painting full time. His work is well-known throughout the country and many area natives will remember his painting of a longhorn cow with a balloon tied to her horn which was commissioned as the first Texas Folklife festival poster. He lives and works in San Antonio Texas. His website features recent work.

Roberta Buckles

Roberta has conducted workshops in colored pencil and water-soluble colored pencil techniques for the nationally advertised Art Methods and Material Show in Pasadena, CA, sponsored and promoted by American Artist Magazine. She was also showcased with other artist in the March 2005 issue of Artist's Magazine in the article, "Making the Leap."

Roberta is a current member and also served for three years on the national governing board of the Colored Pencil Society of American from 2001 to 2004. This organization holds international exhibitions every year and has over 24 District Chapters nationwide. Her love of drawing led her to this organization and much of her earlier work is in this vein.

Roberta recently completed her study at California State University at Long Beach for art and is currently enrolled and pursuing her terminal degree, a Masters in Fine Art in Drawing and Painting, at the University of Texas San Antonio. You can see some of Roberta's work on her website and here.

Julie Gibson

Julie Gibson earned a BFA from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. She is an award winning teacher, has taught workshops in photography and digital imaging, and worked very successfully with troubled inner city youth for many years. Her photographic work has been published and features specializations in nature and portrait photography. Now living in the beautiful hill country, she also volunteers altering photographs for a herbarium website in which the hill country flora is being catalogued.

You can see some of Julie's work here.

Pat Farley

Pat Farley graduated from Harris Advertising Art School in Nashville, Tenn. She was resident artist at the David School of Basic Art in New Orleans for 20 years.

Private showings of her work included The French Quarter Gallery Membership.

Her many years of experience as an art teacher, and consultant, make for a perfect fit at the Majestic Ranch Arts Foundation. Her specialty is pencil, ink, charcoal and pastels.

Marc Howard

My daddy used to say "you came out of the chute talking, and you haven't shut up yet!" which is to say I don't remember ever not telling stories. I first began to be paid to tell about 20 years ago. I am know as "The Handyman", a reference to the handrpints on my outfit. I am a yankee, having moved from Michigan 4 years ago. I have performed in a vast array of settings, from festivals and libraries to camps and churches. I even did a wedding once. I love storytelling, and especially enjoy encouraging others to tell their stories. I have spent a day each year at Curington Elementary, where two of my children are students, telling and teaching the art. I have four wonder children, ranging in age from 4 to 14, and an awesome wife who has put up with me for over 17 years.

Lawrence Jennings

Lawrence is an artist, instructor and freelance writer for ARTL!IES who works in San Antonio, Texas. He received his MFA in Painting from UTSA in 2002. His abstract paintings, sculptures and videos have been included in solo and group shows in San Antonio and The Dallas Center for Contemporary Art. Laminae, a solo show at Sala Diaz, included a site-specific wall painting and video installation, shaped acrylic sheet paintings and sculpture made from skateboarding materials. His most recent work is a series of paintings on grip-taped panels that derive their patterns from video-feedback, which the artist admits is a rather dumb way of generating abstract imagery. Lawrence and his family live in north Bexar County. They are avid music fanatics and have been SPURS fans since the ABA days! For more information, check out Lawrence's website.

Lawrence's work here.

Lisa Kerpoe

Lisa Kerpoe is a fiber artist who focuses on creating art cloth, wall hangings and monoprints. She hand-dyes fabrics and then uses a variety of techniques including screenprinting, stamping, metal leaf and hand stitched beading to create images on the dyed fabric.

While Lisa always had an interest in art, she pursued a career in human resources. She left the business world in 1999 to pursue her art full-time. Lisa was inspired to focus on textiles because she enjoys their tactile qualities and is entranced by the drape and gentle movement of cloth with the air. She studied a range of surface design techniques and has worked many hours experimenting with new techniques and perfecting her craft. Lisa teaches workshops in San Antonio, and her work is available on her website, and also here.

Susie Monday

Susie Monday makes art cloth and art quilts in her hilltop studio near Pipe Creek, TX. Her vibrant contemporary fiber art is inspired by the region's cultures, natural beauty, stories and archetypes. Often incorporating both her own fabrics and ethnic and vintage cloth into her work, her voice is clear and distinct -- a goal she has for her students, as well. She has won numerous local and regional awards, and is a member of Texas Originals, the state's select group of craft artists, and artisans.

A studio arts graduate of Trinity University, Susie has been teaching adults and young people for more than 40 years, as well as having worked professionally as a museum designer, graphics art director, newspaper and freelance journalist and educational consultant. Susie believes creative work is our birthright as human beings and that age, habits and lack of time are no excuse for not finding one's own creative path. She now works as an artist and teaches fiber arts full time. See her work on her website and here

Paul Northway

Paul Northway received his MFA from the University of Montana and his BFA from Montana State. His work was featured in a recent show at the Joan Grona Gallery located in downtown San Antonio, and he has exhibited on a national and international level. Northway has taught classes for the Southwest School of Art and Craft, Incarnate Word University, University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas Lutheran University. Recent artist and residency programs include the International Ceramic Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary and the Listagil Guest Studio in Akureyri, Iceland. A new arrival to San Antonio in 2005, Northway's studio work examines his role as a father, son, husband and brother, motivated by observing the curiosity of children.

Frankeen Price

Frankeen Price, a resident of Tapatio Springs in Boerne, Texas, has been expressing herself through art since 1970. Frankeen's formal training as a Registered Nurse provides her with an ongoing quest for knowledge, and the ability to see the fullness and depth of life; its joys and sorrows. Using both water media and oil, she brings these characteristics and insights into her work. Frankeen's art conveys her passion for color and its unique collective impact. Her work skillfully communicates her deep appreciation for the force that "shapes" express. However, Frankeen's greatest gift to the viewer of her art is her aptitude to expertly enlighten us with the story she has carefully imagined and crafted for our viewing.

A believer in continuous learning, Frankeen has studied with well known artists in Texas, New Mexico and the Caribbean. As a result of her desire for creating new perspectives in her art, she most recently has begun to study photography. In her search for learning and integrating new art dimensions into her work, she just completed a course exploring encaustic techniques.

Frankeen's work can be bound in both corporate collections in the United States, Mexico, South America, Europe and the Caribbean. Her works have been shown at various venues in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. She is a member of the San Antonio Art League and the San Antonio Watercolor Group.

Phil A. Simpson

Phil Simpson is a landscape-sensitive sculptor who masterfully forms steel that responds to the environment through sensuous and elegant expression. Created in forged and fabricated steel, his works are found in corporate, museum, university and private collections throughout the United States.

Phil has been teaching for over 25 years in an academic college setting, and he has been teaching painting, sculpture and ornamental ironwork for the past ten years.

"As a working artist, I hope never to make up my mind. I want to continue to make art in whatever way, with whatever materials best communicate the feelings evoked within me."

Phil Simpson was the Artist of the Year in 2007 and you can see some of his artwork here.

Desiree Schanding

Desiree Schanding earned her MFA in Imaging Arts from the Rochester Institue of Technology. She has also completed a Graduate Certificate in Non-toxic Printmaking and can teach both Photography and Non-toxic Printmaking. Desiree received her BFA from The University of Texas at San Antonio in 2004. She is represented by the Robert Hughes Gallery San Antonio. She lives in San Antonio, TX with her husband Zack.

Vicki Stephens

Vicki Stephens was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and received her early education in Washington State and Michigan. Moving to Louisiana after high school graduation she worked in the manufacturing industry for many years. During these years, her childhood interest in art found expression through drawing and painting. In 1987, after graduating studies in Graphic Arts at the Shreveport-Bossier Technical Institute, she worked in the commercial printing industry for 12 years. During this time she exhibited paintings in numerous shows, including Chicago. In 1999 she continued her education by attending San Antonio College to study art. After transferring to the University of Texas at San Antonio, she chose to concentrate on printmaking. Today she continues a pursuit of higher education through the Masters program at UTSA. As a printmaker, Vicki's prints have won several awards. In her current work she reflects an interest in form, color, texture and space. Drawing from her experience in manufacturing, she also exhibits an interest in systems, and the processes of making art.

Curtis Whittington

Curtis began making furniture more than 45 years ago, and he started carving 10 years later. Curtis studied classical carving with Ian Agrell - one of 30 British master carvers.

"Decorative carving is my most favorite thing to do, and teaching it to others is most rewarding. It's nice to pass along what I have learned."

Curtis has taught many seminars on furniture making and carving. They are informative and energetic, with lots of open discussion.

Seminar costs include tools and materials - just bring paper, pencils, ruler and prepare to enjoy yourself!