- This event has passed.
Spiritual Landscapes
NHI Art Gallery Presents
Spiritual Landscapes
an art exhibition by Donna Larson and Sheila Kollasch
January 24, 2025 through April 11, 2025
Spiritual Landscapes invites you to explore the deep interconnectedness of nature through the eyes of two Arizona artists, Donna Larson and Sheila Kollasch. This exhibition features vibrant paintings and intricate drawings that reflect the natural history and literature of our Southwest region over many years. By embracing the land through exploration, study, and creative expression, Larson and Kollasch capture the essence of a spiritual connection to the earth. Whether through the scent of ponderosa pines, the sparkle of sunlit rocks, or the gentle whispers of aspen trees, their work honors the profound bond we all share with the natural world. Join us in celebrating this vital relationship—an invitation to reconnect, reflect, and renew our collective responsibility for the land we call home.
Save the dates for the following Spiritual Landscapes events:
Grand Opening Reception
Friday, January 24, 2025
Visit the NHI Art Gallery for the grand opening of Spiritual Landscapes and meet artists Donna Larson and Sheila Kollasch from 5pm to 7:30pm
No registration is required!
Gallery Hours
Monday – Friday
9am – 5pm
4th Friday Art Walks
January 24, February 28, and March 28
5pm – 7:00pm
Spiritual Landscapes: Art and Spirit of the Southwest
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Join Arizona artists Donna Larson and Sheila Kollasch for an art talk about how Southwest landscapes influence their work.
Register here!
Snapshot to Sketch: Transforming Outdoor Photos into Artistic Creations
Saturday, February 8, 2025
Learn how to transform digital photos from outings into a natural history sketchbook for planning paintings and drawings.
Register here!
Donna Rae Larson
Artist Statement
“For over 50 years, I have been inspired by the shapes and colors of the Southwest. The landscapes and mysteries of trails beyond paved roads drew me into the canyons, deserts, and rivers. I marvel and wonder at nature’s millenniums of work and admire the pecked and painted glyphs created by the original artists of this landscape and their ancestors. Exploring the land and archaeology, discovering the large and small marks of the ancients, and getting brief glimpses of the animals, reptiles, and birds inspire my pieces.
From memory, study and imagination I weave together the mysteries I feel. I work mainly with graphite and ink. Although I love color and the energy that color infuses into a scene, expressing my marks in monotones of graphite and ink allows the mind’s eye to add spectrums of light into the images I create on paper.”
Sheila Kollasch
Artist Statement
“I have lived all of my life in the Sonoran Desert. As a child, I played, digging holes for forts in the shade of bur sage and creosote bushes. My friends and I cooled ourselves in irrigation ditches that meandered like creeks instead of flowing in the well-engineered straight lines indicated by water company maps. Our suburban desert creeks were lined with huge cottonwood, ash, mesquite, and Palo Verde trees. The perfumed aroma of desert rain storms and wet creosote bushes bring back my earliest and most precious memories of childhood—memories of a vibrant desert.
My work reveals the intimate relationship I have with this desert landscape. Outings result in paintings that share with the viewer my joy of broken cliff faces, festooned streambed pebbles, tangled trees and plants striving for a foothold on life in precarious places.”
