JoAnne Henault

Painter

Since she has retired, JoAnne has discovered the world of art and the love of painting and drawing.  Using watercolor, acrylics and graphite, she has created many landscapes and animal drawings.  She especially enjoys having her friends’ animals as subjects for her pictures.  Local landscapes are also included in her paintings.

JoAnne has no formal art training but has enjoyed taking many classes from local artists.  They have offered a wealth of background by sharing the years of experience.  As a member of the River Ridge Association of Fine Arts, JoAnne has been able to show her art at different venues around Spokane. Living in Spokane, WA., JoAnne has a studio in her south side home. 

Virgina (Gina) Hoefler

Mixed Media

Coming from a “art family,” surrounded by art of all kinds, I grew up with many opportunities to experience art. Our family visited art galleries, museums and exhibits. Embedded in my memory are visions of great works of art that impressed a child's mind. I still happily spend whole days in an art museum if the opportunity presents itself. (A one day layover in Amsterdam was, of course, spent inside the Rijksmuseum.) The craftsmanship of the old masters, the science of the Impressionists, and the emotion in post-impressionism continue to be my inspiration. Artistic expression is part of every culture and every culture has many things to inspire an artist. Naturally, I am influenced by artists and craftsmen, past and present, in all parts of the world.

Learning about art was as natural as breathing in our house. I was fortunate to have had almost unlimited art and craft materials to experiment with and to use. Starting with scotch tape, Crayola's 64 colors, scraps of cloth, thread, the old treadle sewing machine, water colors, glue, paper, clay, paper mache . . . One of my earliest attempts, I've been told, seems to have been painting my brother with our mother's oil paints – literally. (I think that is when she learned that toddlers need to be watched and oil paints kept out of their reach.) 

I was fortunate to have had art lessons early in childhood. There were private lessons, children's art camps, art associations and art classes at school. I studied art in college and continue to learn through adult classes, workshops, conferences, travel, and hanging around with other artists.

I was blessed with a good grounding in the fundamentals of art: history, composition, theory and color. From there I feel free to experiment and grow. I love to work with color. Some of my current experiments are in drawing with colored pencils and painting with oils or with water media.