Workshop Facilitators

Cathy Goodale is a dedicated, persistent, and educated artist whose style reflects her individuality. "If you pay attention, art transcends all parts of life and makes the ordinary things in life "a painting". Her career has been filled with painting, teaching and learning. The demand for excellence continues to drive all of her endeavors and her imagination pushes her to paint past her "artistic safe places".

Growing up in Denver, Colorado, with an early introduction to art classics through her grandmothers scrapbooks was instrumental in leading Cathy to Stephens College in Missouri and to a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Northern Colorado. She continued her art training at Denver University, studying commercial art under William Sanderson.

The opportunity to study with the best has been a gift. She has studied with Charles Reid, Richard Schmid, Burt Silverman, Carolyn Anderson and Zolton Szabo, to name a few.

The opportunities of travel and teaching in different cultures such as Russia, Mexico, Africa, Spain, France Costa Rica will always be one of her greatest learning experiences.

James Biggers is never satisfied painting the same subject in the same way. He forced himself to learn and see more while constantly searching for inspirations and techniques to give his paintings essence. "I was a kid who stayed in at recess to work on my drawings." James was starting to learn the skills that would be the journey of his life.

James was thrilled with the opportunity to paint in a select group of artists with Richard Schmid as their mentor for five years. "Richard helped me grow, not just as a painter but as an artist." I will always be thankful for this opportunity.

Biggers discovered, "At some point you have to put something of yourself into your work, without this element, you will never have a great painting. Technique is what attracts people to your painting, heart is what keeps them there." The best way to capture the heart of a subject is to paint from life and to continually search for new subject matter. Travel has fed this desire. James travels include Costa Rica, Hawaii, Mexico, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France.

James wants more than a breathtaking scene to paint, his goal is to portray the essence of the emotion. He strives to give his paintings depth so that the viewer can go beyond what initially drew them in to the work of art. When someone comes to me and tells me that they have had one of my paintings for years and they can still feel the emotions of it, then I know I have succeeded as an artist."