Standard Fine Art Judge: NATASHA ISENHOUR
Contemporary American Realist Natasha arrived in New Mexico in 1997, but her connection began much earlier. As a child, passing through the state at dusk, she encountered a landscape that lodged itself in memory. For years, she tried to recall what those young eyes had seen, certain she belonged there.
Once settled in NM, Isenhour became obsessed with the light — how it reshapes the land moment by moment. Even while painting architecture and still life, she studied the desert’s shifting forms. When encouraged by her gallery to pursue landscape more seriously, everything she had been holding internally finally emerged.
The wide open spaces of New Mexico remain central to her work: deserts stretching for miles, bounded only by mirage-like mountain ridges in the distance; wetlands reflecting vast skies in Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge; isolated structures standing against emptiness. At Ghost Ranch, where she spends a couple of months each year, the silence feels ancestral, commanding, and deeply familiar. “As I continue painting the Southwest,” she says, “everything I paint becomes a portrait of myself.”
Relics of abandoned buildings become metaphors — open hearts, bones exposed to weather. The land teaches authenticity and impermanence. Change is constant, whether geological or personal, and Isenhour embraces that uncertainty as the point of creative life.
While she resists direct lineage to historical painters, she admires Georgia O’Keeffe’s fearlessness more than her imagery. What matters is not emulation but emotional transmission.
“To do the work is the responsibility,” Isenhour says. Showing up, again and again, is how she honors the land — and herself. (Biographical credit Plein Air Magazine 2026)
Recent Awards Include:
2026 Dakota Pastels, 2nd Quarter, First Place Established Artist
2026 Oil Painters of America, Finalist
2026 Pastel 100, HM Landscape
2025 Dakota Pastels, 4th Quarter, First Place Established Artist
2025 Studio Texas, HM Juried Competition
2025 Pastel Society of the West Coast, 2nd Place (MOOS)
2024 American Women Artists Annual Online, 1st Place Signature Category
2023 Oil Painters of America Summer Online, Award of Excellence
2022 Oil Painters of America Western Regional, Award of Excellence
Represented by: Ventana Fine Art in Santa Fe, NM, Marshall Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ and Others
Affiliations:
Oil Painters of America (Signature Pending)
International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS/ Mastercircle)
California Art Club (Artist Member)
Salmagundi Art Club NYC 2021-2024
American Women Artists (Signature)
Pastel Society of America (Signature)
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico (Signature)
Pastel Society of New Mexico (Distinguished Pastellist)
Standard Fine Art Jurors
Michele Byrne
Michele is an impressionistic oil painter celebrated for her bold use of palette knife and expressive brushwork. Known for capturing The Art of Conversation, she paints vibrant cafés, street scenes, New Mexico Churches, and landscapes illuminated by dramatic light.
Featured on the January 2020 cover of PleinAir Magazine in an eight-page feature article, Michele has received numerous awards for both her plein air and studio work. PaintTubeTV has released three instructional videos showcasing her techniques, including Palette Knife Cityscapes.
Michele is represented by Reinert Fine Art in Charleston, South Carolina, and James R. Ross Fine Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society and the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, and is also a member of OPA, NMWA, PAAC, and NOAPS.
A Royal Talens North America Artist Ambassador and sought-after instructor, Michele teaches in-person and online workshops, mentorships, and classes in Santa Fe, throughout the United States, and in Europe.
Michele is passionate about helping artists of all levels see light, color, and design in new ways while developing confidence in their own unique artistic voice.
Michele is also a MasterWorksNM 2027 Workshop Instructor.
Michael Chesley Johnson
Michael paints in oil, pastel and gouache in the American Southwest, coastal Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. He has been an invited artist to many national plein air painting events over the years, including the annual Plein Air Convention & Expo, and has competed in challenging locations such as Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks. His work has been featured in PleinAir, Pastel Journal, The Artists Magazine and several books. Elected a Master Pastellist by Pastel Artists Canada in 2008, he is a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society and the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico.
His latest book is Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air and Outdoor Study to Studio: Take Your Plein Air Paintings to the Next Level. A long-time writer for art magazines, he splits his year between Maine and New Mexico, painting and teaching in both areas. Michael also specializes in teaching plein air workshops and running painting retreats for experienced painters in scenic locations, both in theUS and abroad. www.mchesleyjohnson.com
Lee McVey
Lee paints landscapes which evoke a feeling of being there in the moment. Her love of nature began when she was a young girl while walking in the woods with her grandparents. Those experiences have inspired Lee to focus on studio and plein air landscape painting in either oil or pastel.
She is a Master Signature member of Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, Master Circle member of International Association of Pastel Societies, Distinguished Pastelist of Pastel Society of New Mexico, Signature member of Pastel Society of America, Plein Air Artists Colorado, and Pastel Painter’s Society of Cape Cod. Her pastels have been featured in articles in the magazines Southwest Art, Pastel Journal, American Artist, and International Artist. Lee’s work has also been featured in the books 100 Ways to Paint the Landscape and Plein Air New Mexico. Her work has been in numerous juried national shows and has garnered awards at local and national levels. Her pastels won an honorable mention in Pastel Journal magazine’s Pastel 100 competition in 2019 and 2012 and her work was a finalist in The Artist Magazine’s competition in 2010.
Miniature Fine Art Judge: LIN McKAY
Lin’s earliest memories relate to being creative. Whether it was learning to draw along on TV with Miss Frances’ Ding Dong School, crocheting on her grandmother’s front porch, making doll clothes or just drawing on paper, life was about creating. At age 10, she received the Jon Gnagy Drawing Lessons for the Beginner. A blank sheet of paper was always fair game to be drawn upon. She was lucky enough to attend a grade school that had a professional artist come to the classroom once a week to teach oil pastels. Though drawing was always happening, from age 10 through 18 it was more in sketching out designs to be used in designing and sewing her own clothing as well as crocheting, knitting, tatting and embroidery. Embroidery was probably the beginning of her love for miniatures, though she didn’t know it at the time. She often worked on any small pieces of fabric with an even weave such as linen. Her needlework gained her awards and created new divisions at the New Mexico State Fair.
A short-term move in 1998 to California gave her the opportunity to study watercolors. It also gave her the opportunity to meet miniature artist Barbara Stanton who introduced her to fine art in miniatures. Upon moving back to Albuquerque, Linda continued to take classes with many artists both in-person and online from around the world in multiple mediums: watercolor, gouache, colored-pencil, pastel, oil pastel, charcoal, acrylic, origami, stone carvings, gourds, and ceramics.
She has belonged to multiple societies: New Mexico Watercolor Society, Colored Pencil Society of America, Pencil Painters of New Mexico, Rio Grande Art Association, New Mexico Gourd Society, Libros (book binding guild) and Urban Sketchers. Her thirst for new mediums and techniques is unending.
Miniature Fine Art Jurors
Alexa Grodner
As a formally trained artist, I began my career at the Florence Academy in Italy, where I developed a deep appreciation for classical techniques, craftsmanship, and the timeless language of sculpture. I established my practice as a fine artist specializing in bronze sculpture, drawn to the strength, permanence, and expressive possibilities of the medium.
While living in Italy, I exhibited my work in numerous venues throughout Belgium, Holland, France, Switzerland, and Chicago, Illinois. These years provided me with the opportunity to share my work internationally and to grow both as an artist and as an individual.
When the art market faced a crisis in the early 1990s, I continued to create while raising my two children. Although my path shifted during those years, my commitment to creativity never left me. Art remained an important part of my life, evolving in ways I could not have anticipated.
In 2001, I moved from Europe to New Mexico, where I discovered a new and deeply rewarding form of artistic expression through teaching. Working with children allowed me to share my love of creativity and imagination while developing art and cooking curricula that encouraged exploration, confidence, and hands-on discovery. Teaching became another way of making art – one that allowed me to touch the lives of others and inspire the next generation of creative thinkers.
Now, as I retire from my teaching career, I find myself entering an exciting new chapter. I have the opportunity to return more fully to my own artistic practice and reconnect with the ideas, materials, and creative expression that first inspired me. My years as a sculptor, mother, educator, and mentor have all shaped the artist I am today.
Sally Harris
Sally Harris MD MS FAAN NMWS is a neurologist who first planned to be an artist. As a child she was chosen for a gifted art program in Pittsburgh and received a BA in Art Education cum laude in Fine Arts from CU Boulder. She went directly to graduate school and got her Master’s in Computer Science with a minor in Exercise Physiology at CU Boulder. She then went to medical school and became a board-certified neurologist. After passing her boards, she joined a beginner watercolor class in 2001. She now paints mainly in watercolor, acrylic, and oil with a variety of other media at times. For many years she has been a Scholastic Art judge.
She is currently president of Rio Grande Art Association and has volunteered her time as well with the New Mexico Watercolor Society. Her work can be seen in Weems Gallery and has been shown in Popejoy Donors Lounge, NMCC Gallery with a Cause, MasterWorksNM, NMWS shows, Jewish Community Center, Kimo Theater, Sheehan Winery, Los Alamos Step Up Gallery, Sandia Neurology Clinic, Los Alamos National Lab, University of Colorado Art Department, St. Mark’s Cathedral, NM State Fair, La Mesa Presbyterian Church, Mama’s Minerals, St Mark’s Episcopal Church, the NM Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, St. John’s Cathedral, and many others. Proceeds from her sold work are donated entirely to Animal Humane.
Vicki Pleau
Vickie is an oil painter inspired by the beauty of the natural world. Working primarily in landscapes and wildlife, she creates paintings that capture not only the appearance of a place or animal, but also the atmosphere, mood, and a sense of connection. For Vickie each painting is an invitation to pause, explore, and experience a moment in time.
Based in Albuquerque, Vickie continues to develop her skills through local workshops. She has shown her work at The Gallery ABQ, and exhibitions including the New Mexico Art League, Rio Grande Masterworks and Encantada, New Mexico State Fair Fine Art Expo, Mosaic Gallery in Santa Fe, and the UNM Law School Art Gallery. Her work has received several awards in juried exhibitions.