Don’t miss your chance to see the work of featured artists Malou Leontsinis, of Sedona, and Joanne Agostinelli. Their works will be on display through July at the Muse Gallery in Old Town Cottonwood.

• Leontsinis was born and raised in Luxembourg, and has spent much of her adult life in the United States. She began her formal training at the age of 14 at the Lycée Technique des Arts et Métiers School of Art in Luxembourg. She has had the fortune to find success in her career in both painting and graphic design.

Although her life and work have pulled her all over the world, she has a deep and abiding love for the American Southwest. She has found a permanent home in Sedona.
Although deeply connected to her desert home, Leontsinis did not leave all of Luxembourg behind.

She tells of the amazement she felt as a child when her grandfather would make a photograph disappear, and the trepidation she felt wondering about “the nowhere” it went to before its magical return. 

• Agostinelli is a painter. Originally from Connecticut, she does not consider herself a “Southwest painter;” she is inspired by nature regardless of what piece of the planet she is standing on.

She is known for her work depicting the primal elements: Earth, sky, fire and water. Through her masterful use of light, Agostinelli is able to capture the vivid stillness between moments. Her depictions of the natural world glow with an ambient force of their own, each image humming with life.
Her pastels and oils have been exhibited throughout the country, from Cape Cod, Mass., to California. Her professional affiliations include membership in the Connecticut Pastel Society, Connecticut

Women Artists, as a two-term president and long-time councilwoman, the Pastel Society of America and the Arizona Pastel Painters Association.
Her work has been juried into shows with the International Association of Pastel Societies and she has had numerous one-woman and group shows in the Northeast.

Her search for inspiration has led her to seek out national park artist-in-residence programs which allow the artist, as a guest of the park, the opportunity to enjoy the full measure of grandeur that park offers, and total immersion in its unique environ­ment. She has done residencies at Acadia National Park in Maine, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut.

• Also treat yourself to an experience at the Muse for Sanctuary on Sunday, July 21, an event with proceeds benefitting the Verde Valley Sanctuary. Sip champagne, nibble on chocolate and relax with a reflex­ology session from 3 to 7 p.m. There will also be wine glass painting in the garden and live music by the Raven Sisters.

Cost is $35 to $45 per person. The Muse Art Gallery is located at 735 N. Main St. in Old Town Cottonwood.
Call 593-0827 or visit The Muse