Daniel and Linda Baker have been working as a jewelry-making team since their first exhibition in 1974. They produce jewelry of sterling silver, various gold karats and platinum using lost wax casting and a variety of fabrication techniques, including: granulation, reticulation, and mokume gane. They’ve won many awards in shows throughout the Southwest with their innovative designs which combine Classical and Celtic elements in a contemporary setting. Dan especially enjoys carving gemstones and working with fossils in his “Jurassic Classics.”

Some of Charles Brooks earliest memories are of drawing farm animals and his dad teaching him the art of making wooden toys. Born in Alabama towards the end of the Great Depression, Charles’ first job after high school landed him among working cowboys in the heart of West Texas ranching country. After graduation from Texas Tech, his career in the business world took him to East Texas where his love of art won out as he and his wife, Kathy, owned and operated an art gallery for a while. After selling the gallery, Charles began traveling to art shows, exhibiting his wood sculpture. In 2000, he took up the graphite pencil again and now devotes most of his time to drawing his favorite subjects, the working cowboy and ranch animals. He has exhibited all across the southwest, including Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Karen Brown has had a life-long love for western art and the life it portrays. Her early interest in drawing and painting led to her taking lessons at the age of eleven. Since then, she has exhibited and received awards for her work in juried art shows and exhibitions throughout the Southwest. In 2001, her pen and ink work was included in a manuscript on longhorns published by the Institute of Texan Cultures. Karen's paintings are mainly western in theme with a high regard for authenticity. Primarily using oil on linen or canvas and pen and ink with color ink washes, her work is distinctive for its clarity, bright color, and strong use of light.

Roy Brown has been involved in the Arts for more than 30 years. With a Masters Degree in Fine Art from Southern Methodist University, he has pursued his passion for pottery and its elevation to an art form through a continuous process of past and present influences from his surrounding environment. Roy also works periodically on a local ranch which allows for clarity and insights into the forces that underlie his creations. An accomplished metalsmith as well as a potter, he expands his artwork to include metal that is hand forged to fit the designs of his pottery. From finials on lids, to bases for his larger platters, Roy, searches for the forms that will enhance his work. He divides his time between his family ranch in Ballinger, his studio, Design Origins in Lincoln County, New Mexico and exhibiting at shows throughout the Southwest.

Randy Bryant has merged his childhood interest in rocks, fossils, Indian artifacts and love of the outdoors with his adult training as a draftsman to shape his professional career. This native Texan excels in creating his “One of a Kind Works of Art” of hand fabricated settings for his personally cut gemstones, including intarsia and inlay. Many of the settings include double and triple overlay, with mixed metals (sterling, 14kt & 18kt gold) employing a variety of texturing methods. He has exhibited his award winning work at juried art shows throughout the Southwest.

After taking a class on making metal flowers in 1972, Janice Clark began giving them as gifts while improving her own skills and technique. In 1980, she made her first sales at a museum benefit and after returning to her homestate of Texas in 1986, she began the production of her native wildflower collection. Her creations grace the boardroom of the National Wildflower Research Center in Austin as well as the offices of other public figures. Now the botanically accurate flowers, which she cuts out and assembles out of aluminum and hand paints, brighten the lives of the patrons who flock to her exhibitions at juried art shows and sales all over Texas.

John has always had an interest in art but decided to try making a living as a professional baseball player in the Houston Astros’ and Colt 45s’ organization. After three baseball seasons a shoulder injury ended his career. While earning his livelihood with an electrical utility company, he developed a passion for photography which led to a business shooting weddings and portraits. His love of nature began to express itself in his photography and John started exhibiting his work in art shows and gaining recognition for his skill and artistry. Among the many first place awards he’s received was “Best in Category” at the 2005 Texas Arts and Crafts Show in Kerrville. Not only does John enjoy sharing his vision of the beauty in nature at art shows but also in publications throughout the country including Texas Highways and Smithsonian Magazine.

Melanie’s work allows you to get up close and personal with the smaller creatures that share their world with us. Like the other Texas Masters artists she’s had an intense, life-long interest in the natural world. Melanie spent her youth exploring the various natural habitats near where she lived, becoming familiar with the inhabitants and gathering information which she now uses in her designs. Her earliest memories include a preoccupation with drawing, painting, and sculpting which she continues to pursue in her studio located on seven acres in the Texas Hill Country. In this beautiful landscape, she is inspired by the wildlife she sees every day. She translates her sensitive perceptions into elegant watercolors and hand-colored etchings which find broad appeal among naturalists and sportsmen alike. Since beginning her art career in 1982, Melanie's work has garnered top awards in juried art shows throughout the US and in prestigious national and international competitions.

Born in Coyame, in the northwest state of Chihuahua, Mexico, Manuel's academic training was as a mining engineer. After several years, Manuel left mining to pursue his love of art. His early artistic inspiration came from his mother, who worked with ground glass, creating images similar to sand paintings. Manny's choice of subject matter ranges from Southwestern, Western, wildlife, portraiture, Native American and still life, rendered in oil, pencil, pastel, bronze or watercolor. Each piece is characterized by the fine detail for which he's become recognized. After twenty years of exhibiting, Manuel's work has become popular throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

A self-taught sculptor, Jurgen was born in Trier, Germany, but has spent most of his adult life in the southwestern United States. He began his art career carving wildfowl in wood, but soon moved on to stone and bronze. His fascination with nature and Native American culture is expressed in his sculptures which convey his respect for these elements of his adopted land. Jurgen was privileged to sculpt a life-size Longhorn steer’s head for the Sister Cities organization of Fort Worth that was presented to Trier, Germany for installation in its garden honoring the sister city status of his two hometowns.

This native Texan combines the experiences she has gained in her travels, visiting the ancient cultures of the earth, with traditional woodblock printing techniques she learned in Japan and years of artistic endeavor to produce her award-winning prints and collages. In her studio on a fifty acre ranch near Austin, Daryl painstakingly employs the discipline of woodblock printing on handmade mulberry paper which she embosses with her signature in 22Kt gold, silver or copper leaf. Her artistic vision takes flight in the mixed media collages constructed on metallic-leafed board from pieces of paper, print fragments, gemstones and earth pigments. As she says,”The technique of woodblock printmaking is part of my soul. After thirty years of sketching, carving and printing, I am still as excited as I was when I pulled my first print with Hodaka Yoshida in Tokyo.” A true “Texas Master”, Daryl Howard adds a special dimension to every exhibition in which she participates.

Monroe Jackson, who styles his jewelry creations as “One of a Kind by Drago,” began dabbling with silversmithing and gemcutting in 1967. Since then he has exhibited his fabricated, mixed metal, award winning work in galleries, tradeshows and juried exhibitions around the country. Monroe calculates that he has sold a piece of jewelry to a resident of each state in the Union. His customers have come to appreciate the innovative shapes and patterns in his jewelry, as well as its comfortable functionality, accompanied by distinctive gemstones, especially opal.

Almost from her birth in the Texas Panhandle, Gail has pursued her dream to be an artist. She developed her talent in art classes throughout her formative years. In college, she discovered jewelry design and after more than 30 years of jewelry making, her sculpted pieces in gold and silver, set with gemstones are recognized for the quality of their craftsmanship as well as the artistry of their design. Gail has exhibited at juried art shows throughout the Southwest and her sunny disposition, as much as the brilliance of her jewelry, has created a loyal following of patrons wherever she shows.

Curtis Alston Laudermilk has been turning wood for over a quarter century. He creates lamps, vases, bowls, platters, and crosses from native Texas mesquite. A retired educator with experience in both the public schools and the Texas Youth Commission, Curtis is attracted to mesquite because of its unique characteristics. Hard, dense and extremely stable when drying, its tenacity has enabled it to defy all attempts at eradication. The native wood is rendered by this artist into objects that are given character by the irregularities like burls, bark inclusions and other "beauty marks" left by Mother Nature.

“Wild Open Spaces” is an apt description of Laura Lewis’ landscape painting. This Lubbock-based artist was a Fine Arts major at UT Austin, primarily interested in printmaking and, like many of our “Texas Masters”, she’s studied a variety of media over the years. She focused for a while on portraiture in pastel and oil before eventually developing an enthusiasm for capturing the landscapes of the Texas High Plains on canvas. She conveys her excitement to the viewers of her work with her range of painting—from fine-grained representational realism to broad, bold brushstrokes in an almost Expressionistic manner. Laura relates that she is particularly interested in the rhythms and patterns that lie hidden in the land-...or sky-scape. “I want to explore the effects of light and shadows on color, capturing the rhythm, mood and drama of the scene.” Her work has received critical acclaim as well as a widening recognition, as she has garnered awards in juried exhibitions both in her native southwest and nationally.

After 25 years in residential construction, Benito Loera decided on a change in lifestyle. In 1998, he pursued his life-long dream of designing furniture as a career. With the help of his son, Daniel, he started to build small furniture such as cedar chests and coffee tables. As his business grew, he began to concentrate on working with natural mesquite -- including the worm holes, bark inclusions and burls in his designs. With the help of his wife, Doris, and Daniel, he started filling some of the cavities of the wood with gemstone material, including turquoise and lapis lazuli. Now his award-winning product line has grown to include aromatic cedar chests, inlaid tables, jewelry and jewelry boxes, pool tables and much more.

The vivid color of Steve Napper's pastel paintings is so intense that it awakens the sense memories of the smells and sounds of the scenes he represents. This West Texas native began his career as a commercial artist in Los Angeles after receiving his BA and MA of Fine Arts at West Texas State University. Eventually he returned to Texas where, for the last 35 years, he's been building an international reputation as a master artist and teacher of pastels and other media as well. He's a member of the most prestigious art organizations in America and his awards are too numerous to mention. Steven currently resides in Ingram where he runs his own art gallery, just down the road from Kerrville.

Doug Ricketts has always been drawn to the ruins and archetypal structures of the West with their textures and patterns of long use and change. While earning a BFA in sculpture and ceramics, Doug worked as a carpenter and cabinetmaker, not realizing he was heading for a career as a furniture maker. A need for a personal and cultural sense of place has led him to create regionally-inspired furniture, combining fine domestic woods with castoff ag machinery parts and occasional accent lumber from the ruins. Each piece of Prairie View Furniture is a one-of-a-kind sculpture with a story to tell.

After years of pursuing jewelry making as a hobby and studying the work of other jewelers, getting laid off from their jobs almost simultaneously launched the professional jewelry careers of these sisters. One can tell from their finished product that the San Marcos artists are still having fun and a growing customer base will attest to the quality of their craftsmanship. Working independently, they use a wide variety of stones and techniques to create a fresh style of their own. "Our designs vary widely...so customers can usually find something that appeals to their tastes - especially if they like large jewelry that makes a statement."

It’s not by chance that viewing Nina Walker’s paintings feels like visiting a European art museum. This native Texan’s style, ranging from classical representational to impressionistic, results from years of study both in college and with prominent artists such as the Russian-born Aleksander Titovets. The deep, rich colors which she applies in an impasto technique create texture and mood in her paintings which have gained recognition and top awards in numerous juried exhibitions both in the United States and internationally. After almost 30 years of pursuing a career in art which includes teaching as well as exhibitions, Nina remains committed to “... a never ending process of growth and learning... to paint at a higher level--to be able to evoke strong emotions and feelings through the medium of paint.” Some of her recent awards include First Place in Oils at the International Art Show in Raton, NM and a merit award from the National League of American Pen Women. She is a member of the El Paso Art Association, the National League of American Pen Women and a founding member of the Classical Impressionists of El Paso. Nina’s paintings hang in private collections not only in the US but also Mexico, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.