Artists to encamp in Scottsdale for 2 shows
January 10, 2008 – 11:07 am 
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For years, artist Doug Tharalson searched for the Bohemian lifestyle enjoyed by his idols, Picasso, Braque and Modigliani.
“It’s the only art history I’ve ever studied,” the self-taught Tharalson said from his home near Malibu in California’s San Fernando Valley. “It was fascinating to me. I have an affinity for the way they lived.”
Now at 60, the Cubist believes he has found that same turn-of-the-20th-century Paris sensibility in the itinerant artist colony that mushrooms in Scottsdale annually for the Celebration of Fine Art, now in its 18th year.
‘Celebration’ a place to hand out
For 10 weeks, artists from across the nation inhabit white tents transformed into studios along Scottsdale Road.
Artists work on paintings, glass, stoneware, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, sculpture and other media in a 40,000-square-foot space.
You might see Tharalson barbecuing ribs for his artist friends and photographing the scene for posterity.
“It’s a family of artists who leave their homes, come to this event for 70 straight days,” he said, “and create a little Montparnasse.”
Each artist hauls work to the site and tricks out his or her own studio. Art lovers from all over swarm to the Celebration of Fine Art, often coming back again and again. Tharalson makes two-thirds of his yearly income at the show, which runs Jan. 12-March 23.
Arizona Fine Art Expo nearby
Shows of this type are rarely seen outside the Southwest, said Judith Combs, who four years ago created a second 10-week art show in response to artists’ demands.
“For 10 years, the artists asked me to do something,” said Combs, who also founded the Thunderbird Artists almost three decades ago. She persuaded her brother, Dennis Long, and his wife, Judy, to travel from Michigan every winter to help stage the Arizona Fine Art Expo.
Today, the two shows are friendly competitors, each boasting more than 100 artists.
Libby Ritter is one of those artists getting ready to pack up and move to Arizona for the expo. Ritter, a sculptor specializing in raku, will bring her mobile studio, table, kiln and her artwork in a trailer and bunk with friends in Chandler for 10 weeks.
“I’m so excited,” she said from her home in LaMonte, Mo.
A high-school art teacher for more than 30 years, Ritter now has time to produce her own work in bronze and raku, a Japanese technique that dates to the late-16th century.
Raku is a firing process in which the piece is removed from the kiln still fiery hot and is placed in a vessel filled with combustible material such as newspaper, sawdust or straw. The burning of that material gives the artwork a distinctive blackened appearance.
“Raku has been very good to me,” Ritter said. “It has allowed me to win competitions I didn’t think I’d ever be in.”
Few artists, she said, create raku pieces as large as hers. Each is different from the next, with the results unpredictable. See her work at
‘Like being in an art gallery’
At the Fine Art Expo, artists arrive to find their studios already constructed. The floors of the tents are carpeted, the backgrounds a neutral black. Inside are 44,000 square feet of space. Outdoors is a sculpture garden.
“It’s like being in an art gallery,” Long said.
In addition to working and selling her pieces, Ritter will offer sculpture classes. On Feb. 18, Presidents’ Day, she’ll give free classes to veterans and will especially welcome vets disabled in Iraq. She was inspired by a television program on the virtues of art as therapy.
“I’m not just going to show them how to push mud around,” she said. “I’m going to put the idea in their heads that they could make this part of their living.”
Such kindness has endeared Combs to the artists she works with.
“I’m very close to all of them,” she said. “It’s like a family. After it’s over, they’re exhausted. They can’t wait for it to be over, but when it’s over some of them start to cry.”
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