Roy Van der Aa - "Untitled" - Las Cruces, NM

Born in Holland, Roy Van der Aa grew up in Montreal, Canada. He studied art as a teen under Dutch impressionist Gerard van Dykhof in the seventies. His formal education includes 2 years of Fine Art specialty in John Abbott College, and 4 years at Concordia University. He had his first One Man Show in 1978. In 1981, he founded Zones, a cooperative fine arts studio and exhibition space which operated untill he emigrated to the U.S. in 1989. He is a founding member of Artforms and has exhibited with the group since its inception in 1995. He has shown in group exhibits at Galerie Alegre in 2003, the Border Artists and Friends Show in 2004 and exhibits with artists who are members of The Society of Layerists in Multi-Media. Van der Aa has had solo shows at the Tombaugh Gallery in 2004, Oasis 7 in 2005 and Laughing at the Sun and the Visitors and Convention Bureau in 2006. He participated in "Choreographed Militancy." a two person show at the Corbett Center in 2007 where he featured 21 works. He was included in "The Man Show" at D. Rothermel Fine Art for Artshop in 2008. His latest solo show was "It'll put your Eye Out" at the Unsettled Gallery in 2009. He was featured at In Effect gallery where he was a gallery artist from 2008-09. Van der Aa is a multi-media collage artist.

Diana de la Torre - "Dandelion of Innocence" El Paso, TX

Diana de la Torre was born in East Los Angeles and grew up in Socorro. Her love of drawing has been never ending since she was four years old. She is a proud military wife and mother of one. She has a degree in Graphic Design from Southwest College in San Diego, and she manages a full-time job while also working part-time as freelance graphic designer. Diana enjoys donating her time and talent to non-profits. Her son is her current inspiration. The innocence and wonderment of discovery that her son holds is what fascinates her the most, and she tries to convey it through her artwork. This is the second year she has participated in the Toma Mi Corazon event.

Julie Caffee-Cruz - "Playing Dress Up" - El Paso, TX

Julie Caffee-Cruz is an artist, illustrator and educator. She cant remember a time when she wasn't drawing or painting. Art and the love for pencil drawing became a part of her life. She found herself drawing everything; paying close attention to the tiny details that many artists prefer to leave out. Her accomplishments in art mature as the years progressed, but at the age 14, she was hit with traumatic news. She was diagnosed with juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, a crippling disease. "I didn't realize what it could do to me ," she exclaimed. "I didn't stop. I had too far to go, so I just kept on pursuing my art career." Out of sheer perseveranc,e never letting her crippled hands hinder her work, Julie pressed on with her artistic desire through high school and college, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from West Texas State University in 1985. Julie has done commissioned artwork for many years. Her favorite medium is pencil, but enjoys the challenge of watercolor painting. She has recently begun experimenting with colored pencils. Her favorite subjects are people, although she has used a broad range of subject matter. Her clients include Patti Page, well-know singer and television star from the 1950's. Julie drew original artwork for Page's Christmas cards for 5 consecutive years. She has also done pen and ink illustrations for signage in the U.S. Forest Service's Cimarron and Comanche National
Grasslands. In addition, Julie has illustrated six children's books for Author Herb Marlow. Julie has clients from all over the United States and as far away as Oman and Germany. Julie is also an art educator. She has taught junior and high school art classes, as well as college level art courses. She is currently teaching art classes part-time for El Paso Community College's Senior Adult Program. Pencil in hand, drawing portraits of colorful people has kept her excited about the world of art waiting to be created. Julie was raised in Southwest Kansas, where she has become one of the most respected artists of the area. In 2001, she became a military wife. Her husband, Ed is Active Duty Army, and the family moved to El Paso/Fort Bliss in January of 2004. After arriving in El Paso, Caffee-Cruz became a member of El Paso Art Association and Rio Bravo watercolorists, both of which she is still a member. Her accomplishments include winning the Blue Ribbon Award at the 2010 Sun Bowl Art Exhibit sponsored by the International Museum of Art. She also was awarded Best of Show at EPAA's Colors of Spring Art Show in 2006 and in 2009 won Best of Show at the Arts International Show, and she won the Bill Kolliker Memorial Award in 2006. In 2007, Julie won the Windsor-Newton Watercolor award at EPAA's Colors of Spring Show. She has won many other awards since entering her first show in 1992.

Alberto Escamilla - "Untitled" - Sanderson, TX

Alberto Escamilla was born in Sanderson, TX. Escamilla's early interest in art began with drawing comic book characters. Upon coming to Texas Western College (UTEP) on an athletic scholarship, he soon learned that art was also offered in their curriculum. He soon knew he wanted to pursue a degree in the Fine Arts, and thus began his life's passion. His early works consisted of western and southwest scenes, which captured mostly earth tone colors. This type of work was not fulfilling, so he began to study in depth the works and lives of former artists. The more he read and studied the work of the "Independents", he felt a strong connection with the way they believed and painted. He continuously worked on mastering the blending of colors, brush strokes and subject matter to achieve an effect that gave the viewer a sense of beauty and tranquility. Hence, Escamilla's work entered a new dimension which strongly shows a continuation of those great painters known as the "Independents."

Susan Amstater Schwartz - "Love for The Desert" - El Paso, TX

Susan Amstater is a native to this mercurial land of the Southwest and is physically at one with it. She combines elements of baroque, romantic, impressionist and expressionist movements. She speaks in the language of nature which she knows by extracting patterns that allow us to recall our own encounters with place. It is the incredible, intense light of the Western land that allows her mind and palette to expand into ever extending horizons. The transience of light fully informs the language of Amstater's art. Her images are timeless. Amstater's works are about potential, growth and exploration, not only the land, but of the self and the poetry of our life. Her art has appeared in exhibitions throughout the United States and is included in many corporate, private and museum collections. She has appeared in The Artist's Magazine, Southwest Art Magazine and The Best of Watercolor 2. Her painting "Rio Grande Valley Farmlands" was selected for the 1999 Santa Fe Opera poster which was founded by grants from the National Endowment For The Arts and New Mexico Arts.

Berenice Perea - "Life" and "Corazon de Melon"- Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua

Berenice Perea was born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. She has been drawing and painting since she was a child and remembers hanging her pieces all over her parents' house for holidays like Christmas or Valentine's Day. Most of her pieces are made with colored pencil, although for the "Toma Mi Corazon" auction, she likes to be "adventurous" and experiments with other media like acrylic, and watercolor. She has donated pieces for Toma Mi Corazon and to the "Chilitos" auction, held by the El Paso Hospice, where she won a Honor Mention. Berenice's other passion is wildlife, which is one of her favorite subjects. This year, Berenice had three pieces selected to participate at the Something Different exhibit organized by the International Museum of Art. Also this year, a piece from Berenice's collection was selected to participate at the annual Sun Bowl Art exhibit, the largest event held by the International Museum of Art, where she won first prize, the "Best of Show" award. The exhibition will be held there from November 5th until January 4, 2011

Mia Ortiz - "Local Native" - El Paso, TX

Mia Ortiz, 24 years old, was born and raised in El Paso, TX . She graduated from Belhaven University in Jackson, MS with a BFA in Studio Drawing. After interning in New York with artists Steven and William Ladd, she is now back at home currently working for Project AIM at Providence hospital for Creative Kids as an art instructor. Mia intends to go to grad school for art therapy sometime in the near future. Having recognized the distinctions that affect our approach to art making, she has seen firsthand how it affects others in finding a purpose and greater appreciation for art. In her growth and development, studying many of the greatest ancestors within the art has shown how art has developed and changed over time and still to this day continues forward with a wider diversity of brilliant people who have a passion and soul for art. The art she makes is therapeutic is not meant to be coded. By working with others, Mia hopes to enhance many lives through art.

Lisa Matta - Brown - "The Franklin Mountains El Paso Colors" - Santa Teresa, NM

Lisa presently lives in Santa Teresa, NM where she have come to love the city, the people, and especially her wonderful artist friends. although she's been an artist her whole life it has been here during the last several years that she has been able to devote herself full time to her passion of creating her art trough paint. She has had the wonderful opportunity to travel to several places in the world and to learn and reflect on the beautiful art work of many of the Masters of which all have contributed to her style of work. she was born and raised in the town of Mesa, AZ just east of the City of Phoenix. As long as she can remember she has always loved to sketch, draw and paint. The real first art class that she took of which she can remember was at the age of twelve when her mother enrolled her in art classes after believing that she had talent in painting and the potential of growing and becoming better at it. In growing up, going to school, and helping her parents in their restaurant business she wasn't able to devote the time she would have liked to advance her knowledge and skills in the art world. She knew that at sometime in her life there would come a time of which she would be able to pursue her passion of painting and to create work that have been in her mind and heart many years. Shortly after her move to El Paso area several years ago from home town of Mesa, AZ her husband called her as he was crossing over the Rio Grande River and informed her that there was a group of Artist on the Banks of the Rio Grande with their easels and paint brushes. She threw her paints, easels and all her other gear into her car and drove down to the river to find out who these artists were. There she meet several members of the El Paso Plein - Air group of which all were wonderful, made her feel welcome of which shortly after she joined their group. It was from this most fortunate event in her life that she been able to meet wonderful people that have helped her so much in her dedication pursuit of becoming a better and more proficient artist.

Rhonda Doré - "Lantern Secrets" - El Paso, TX

Rhonda Doré lives in El Paso, Texas, where she finds many of her collage materials. "Often my work becomes a travelogue of papers that cross my path. I am especially drawn to papers that are old, discarded and papers from our border region. Many of the pieces in my work are papers of transitory worth. Labels, tags, wrappers, checks, money, and flyer's - papers that ultimately are spent or thrown away - especially appeal to me. Each of us unwittingly leaves a map of our life behind with the papers we discard. I like to think of each of my pieces as small, aerial views of lives."

Rhonda Doré specializes in abstract collage and painting. Her work is in private collections in the United States, England and Scotland. She has been an award winner in the National Collage Society's annual juried exhibit, and has shown her work in exhibitions nationally and in the Southwest. New Mexico's Blue Dome Gallery represents her work.