Join Paula L. McNeill in a discussion of the inspirations, processes, and resulting work of this year’s Featured Artist, Shawn Miller and Featured Vendor, Karen Rangitsch.  

McNeill is an art educator and photographer who divides her time between Valdosta, Georgia, where she was on the art faculty at Valdosta State University and summers in Escalante, Utah, where her family has had a summer home since 1980.  McNeill received her BA in Art from Arizona State University; her MA from the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque; and her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia.  With an interest in community-based art, for more than ten years McNeill has documented the art and lives of visual artists in southern Utah through video-taped oral history interviews.  She has published some of these findings and has made numerous presentations at state and national professional meetings on this topic, including presentations on the Featured Artists for the Escalante Canyons Art Festival since 2004 when the Festival began. 

Shawn Miller – 2018 Featured Artist 

Escalante painter and owner of Escape Goats, his guiding business into the isolated, remote surrealistic spaces of the Escalante wilderness, is this year’s Featured Artist.  Shawn was first drawn to landscapes as a child growing up in Rapid City, South Dakota where he roamed the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore.  His art has been influenced by the unique settings of the places he has lived in the Dakotas and Utah.  When he first got to Escalante 15 years ago, he took lessons from and was encouraged by the late Peggy Soren.  Shawn shares his love of this special area through his art  as his appreciation of the natural patterns in rocks, geology and plant life can easily be seen in his paintings. 

Karen Rangitsch – 2018 Featured Vendor 

Escalante was her ‘home away from home’ for over 40 years until it became her residence for several years.  Having recently relocated to St. George, Karen continues to support a number of community events and projects, including the arts festival.  She has been one of the steadfast vendors from the early years of the festival, sharing her lovely aprons, dolls, and other fabric art items.