(February 12, 2019): The Monarch, Ogden’s future epicenter for creative connection, is excited to welcome award-winning oil painters Elizabeth Robbins and Shanna Kunz into its creative studios this spring…READ MORE

Renowned Western Painters Elizabeth Robbins and Shanna
Kunz Join The Monarch Creative Studios
Ogden, UT (February 12, 2019): The Monarch, Ogden’s future epicenter for creative
connection, is excited to welcome award-winning oil painters Elizabeth Robbins
and Shanna Kunz into its creative studios this spring. The former owners of the
beloved Bella Muse Gallery, which closed its doors after five years on Ogden’s
Historic 25th Street just this December, are based in Ogden but have exhibited their
work in art markets throughout the west including Park City, Bozeman, Sun Valley
and more. The Monarch is thrilled to have such renowned painters energize its
collaborative studio space where, beginning this spring, 25 to 30 artists and creative
businesses will connect, inspire and create together in the city’s new Nine Rails
Creative District.
Robbins’ infatuation with flowers characterize her classically beautiful still life
paintings, while Kunz’ connection to the outdoors informs her emotive landscapes.
Once open, The Monarch plans to host Open Studio nights on First Fridays where
the public is encouraged to interact with the artists as they work. Kunz and Robbins
also plan to continue the workshops and demo days they hosted at Bella Muse
Gallery at their Monarch studios. More about their story and their work can be
found on The Monarch’s blog page at www.themonarchogden.com/news.
Opening spring 2019 in Ogden, Utah, The Monarch is a collaborative environment where
artists, creative businesses and makers of all types can connect, inspire and create
together. The creative epicenter offers over 25 studio memberships in our one of a kind
historic structure, which also encompasses two restaurants, multiple event venues and
curated exhibition space. Studio memberships are currently available for local and
regional artists and creative businesses.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Elizabeth Robbins lives among the flowers she paints. Her backyard garden has over 80
rosebushes, at least a dozen peonies, dahlias, delphiniums, fruit trees, grape vines and
more. As the season allows, Robbins spends at least two hours in her garden every morning
before she begins to paint. “I planted them, watered them, pruned them and weeded them,”
says Robbins of her paintings’ floral subjects. “The love I have for my subject matter
transfers to the canvas.”
Robbins’ personal connection with flowers and gardening began when she was just a little
girl, helping her grandmothers identify flowers and prune rosebushes near their cabin in
Oakley, Utah. In addition to flowers Robbins works in portraiture and western motifs
including Native American people and artifacts.
Robbins has received numerous awards including “Best Still Life” and “Best of Show” at the
National Oil and Acrylic Painter’s Exhibit and the “Tuffy Berg Award” at the 2008 CM Russell
auction. She is represented by seven galleries, which can be found on her website.
Shanna Kunz
Whether it’s a past memory, emotional experience or sentimental feeling, Shanna Kunz has
a personal relationship with every landscape she paints. Rather than replicate what she sees
with precise realism, Kunz paints the essence of a place through temperate palettes,
blurred forms and visual brushstrokes. Her beginnings as a portrait painter translate into
her landscapes as she aims to reveal the soul or spirit of her subject matter.
Raised and rooted in the west, Kunz has a fondness for the outdoors that shows through her
work. “My dad used to pack all the kids up into the back of his old Chev and drive up Weber
Canyon to Christmas Meadows and go camping there,” she says. “It gave me an affinity to
the landscape that came out later in my paintings.”
Kunz has been featured in Western Art & Architecture Magazine, Southwest Art Magazine,
Western Art Collector and more. She is represented by six galleries, which can be found on
her website.
Elizabeth Robbins

• Kelly Carper, Art Writer
  Relevant Links:
  Nine Rails Creative District
  The Monarch Ogden
  451-499 25th Street, Ogden, Utah, 84401
  www.themonarchogden.com
  Media Inquiries Contact:
  Kelly Carper Communications
  kc@kellycarper.com
  540-290-4930
  Fischer-Regan Enterprises, LLC
  thaine@fischer-regan.com
  801-823-3320
  The Monarch Hard Hat Tours
  Fischer-Regan Enterprises
  The Monarch