Best Local Artists to Collect Now

Collect the Best - Beautiful, unique artwork can bring a whole new dimension to the look of your home. Here, Gallery owners share their picks for the best talent in town.

John Suhay has been documenting daily life in Pittsburgh and Pueblo for more than 40 years. His black and white prints highlight the mentality of the two cities, and the snapshots project powerful feelings and emotions. Growing up, Suhay was inspired by the photographic work in Life, and sold his first portrait to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1938 for $3.
John Suhay has been documenting daily life in Pittsburgh and Pueblo for more than 40 years. His black and white prints highlight the mentality of the two cities, and the snapshots project powerful feelings and emotions. Growing up, Suhay was inspired by the photographic work in Life, and sold his first portrait to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1938 for $3. Sangre de Cristo Arts & Conference Center, (719) 295-7200, sdc-arts.org.
"My paintings explore conflict and the struggle between dialectical tensions such as masculinity and femininity, chaos and structure, preordination and free will." Frank T. Martinez is a self-taught painter whose work can be interpreted in a myriad of ways by each viewer. + Gallery, (303) 296-0927, plusgallery.com.
Born in 1959 in the small town of San Pablo in the San Luis Valley, Emilio Lobato's family has lived in that area for more than 200 years. According to Lobato, "My art is a reaction to the isolation and solitude I experienced growing up. I consider my paintings relics: souvenirs of a spiritual, inward journey molded with the passions, dramas and desires that constitute the human experience." William Havu Gallery, (303) 893-2360, williamhavugallery.com.
Rodney Wood's past work included mixed media sculpture and jewelry and metalsmithing, while his current focus is on oil painting. His goal is for art to "make people see and feel something that reaches beyond the physical and intellectual." His work is influenced by the mythology, religion and symbolism of past cultures. Sangre de Cristo Arts & Conference Center, (719) 295-7200, sdc-arts.org.