The Artists

Hi I’m Vanessa Barboza! I’m based in Vernal UT and my favorite photography to create is Landscape, Wildlife, and Portraiture.
But I really do love any kind of photography!
I attribute my unique/ eccentric style to my beloved hometown of Moab, UT.
Capturing a moment with my camera that might otherwise be missed is one of the best rewards! I Love making beautiful photos and find great joy in capturing the beauty of the unexpected.  Everything has beauty, you just have to find it!

Robin O’Crowley:
I love art! I love flowers! Painting has been part of my life on and off my whole life. But, in the last three years watercolor has become my medium of choice and it is very challenging. It is unforgiving. My love of flowers comes out by zeroing in on botanical art. There is such beauty in nature. I paint more for fun really.
I am a mother of seven grown children. I was born in Delaware and raised in California, graduating from high school in Illinois. I have my associates in business management and merchandising, graduating from UVCC. I love to serve others and have spent 5 ½ years on humanitarian missions throughout the world.
I love to garden in the summer and paint in the winter. My work centers on the things I love most the Savior and botanicals.

Trista Merrell lives in Vernal, Utah with her husband and two children. She enjoys hiking, camping, mountain biking and painting. Her desire to create art started before elementary school. Trista’s inspiration can come from many things like the vibrant colors in a sunset, a character in a story or a experience in nature. She typically works in acrylic but also loves oil, watercolor and linoleum prints. Trista believes we all have the ability to be a creator of something special and wants to inspire others to share their gifts, even when they feel like they don’t quite fit in.

Stephen Sandau:
Through photography I seek to capture moments that inspire and edify.
Light is the medium.
Objects and landscapes around us are the stuff which the Light uses to invoke mood, understanding, prospective, clarity, and desire.
Without the Light there is nothing visual.
I enjoy seeking out the Light in my life. The more light I discover, the clearer my ideas are expressed through photography and all other expressions.
For me… the Light is the medium.

Jeanne E. Newman:
The role of art in our world today is to share our joy in the beauty of the world with others; to elevate the mundane to the sublime; to record the meaning of a moment in time through quiet observation; to distill and to articulate the essence of such moments. To that end, Ms. Newman’s work mainly consists of impressions of our landscape, wildlife, domestic animals, and botanical subjects.

Sherril B. Porter:
Painter, UBVA Treasurer, Webmaster
Studied art in high school & college. Worked as a lab tech and a sign maker. Retired to painting with oils, watercolor, and other mediums. Paint mainly landscapes but also include buildings and figures and other subjects. Paint from photos, reverence material, imagination, or plein air.

Hi, I’m Nicolette Nelson. I’m from Northern California. The first time I got interested in photography was when I was around 17. My favorite things to photograph are flowers, landscapes, wildlife & Old Ranches. I hope you enjoy my photography of the creation of God’s beautiful world.

Lori D. Burchinal was born and raised in Vernal, Utah, where she raised her three children and now has 15 grandchildren. Her passions in life are being in the great outdoors, painting, fly fishing and enjoying friends and family. In addition to being an avid fly-fisherman, she is a Rod Builder and Tier of Trout Flies. She owned her own business, “Big Foot Fly Shop” for almost two decades.

Lori ‘s opportunities for expanding the arts while running the Fly Shop were limited, but she decided to sell her business to pursue her love of painting. She was basically self-taught to that point in her education. She attended many workshops, classes, and mentors, refining her skills in portraiture, animals, and landscapes, in all mediums. Watercolor is her favorite. Lori has received various awards, including the David Gale Memorial Award at the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies and is a Signature Member in Utah Watercolor Society. Lori traveled to Florence Italy to enroll in Florence Classical Academy Of Arts, a Russian based atelier in the Classical Art Training and immersed in the ambience of the Italian spirit of the arts.

Deena Riley Millecam grew up on a fruit farm in Payson Utah. She moved to Vernal in 1969 when her husband, the late John Millecam, dragged her to the Uintah Basin. Fifty-two years later after raising seven children in this beautiful area, she moved to St George.
Deena enjoyed her experience in education with the youth and her peers in the Uintah schools.
Deena teaches art classes and exhibits in galleries throughout the state. She, along with Stephen Sandau, have combined their art in a traveling show ‘Brush&Lens’ presently being exhibited at Uintah Heritage Museum.
Deena pays honor to her husband and best friend, John Millecam, past owner of Utah Motor Co. and grandfather of nineteen grandchildren and one little great!

Jim Atherton:
From Las Vegas to Lapoint!
Born in Provo, UT in the 70’s, I married my wife, Alisa in 1994. We eventually settled in Las Vegas, NV, where we raised 5 children over the last two decades. I’ve always had family in the Uintah Basin, in the Deep Creek area.
In late 2021, our family traded city living for the country and are building a home in Lapoint, UT surrounded by family and beauty, living a more simple life. I have been involved in illustration and publishing for over 27 years. Painting in oils, my new preferred medium, is one that I continue to explore and discover. The familiar landscapes and life in the mountains are my inspiration.

Abby J. Fox is an artist based in the Mountain West who loves putting pen to paper. She began to develop her illustrative style while earning a BFA in printmaking from Colorado State University. Abby is inspired by travel, and in 2019 she left her heavy printmaking tools at home to take her sketchbook on a trip around the world. She continues to document her adventures through printmaking and an *almost* daily drawing and painting practice.

Jennifer Bell:
I am from Logan, Utah, where I graduated from Utah State. I met my husband Rick Bell, while attending USU and moved to Vernal. I didn’t finish my schooling until after 6 babies came to join our family. In 1988 I went to work for Uintah School District. 
Then, in 2001, all the kids were out of the nest, so I went back to school to complete a Master’s degree. I taught mostly 1st grade for 31 years. Now I’ve retired and have a little more time. 
I’ve always liked art and a year ago I started taking watercolor classes from Lori Burchinal and a few other artists. I also like to do pencil drawings. I am a co-owner of Boot Hill Farms and Foods including an on-farm store where we sell meats, raw milk, eggs, and other fresh agricultural products.