Creators at The Art Gallery
Scroll through this page or click on an artist's image to go directly to their bio.
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Resident Artists
Consuelo Soto Murphy
The artist behind The Art Gallery by Consuelo Soto Murphy.
As a daughter of migrant farm workers, I literally grew up working in the fields. My baptism picture is in a potato field. I take all those beautiful colors and textures that I grew up working with in the fields and pour them onto the canvas.
My paintings are full of color, line, and expression. My inspirations are my family, culture, and the agricultural fields that I grew up working in.
I was Artist of the Year for the Governor's Mansion Foundation, I have been featured in several magazines and publications, and three of my pieces were featured on the television series Madam Secretary. My artwork has been used for 10 labels for Gooseridge Winery in 2024. My art can also be found in countless local businesses, schools, medical facilities, and homes.
I hope my art brings you much joy.
My art website is Sotoart.com.
You can contact me with questions or for commissions at: Sotoarts509@gmail.com
Martina Soto Ray
Martina Soto is an accomplished artist from Spokane, WA. Martina grew up in the Yakima Valley with her 9 siblings and parents who were all migrant workers.
After graduating from Sunnyside High School, Martina attended Spokane Falls Community and graduated with an Education and Spanish degree at Eastern Washington University.
Martina was an elementary school teacher; she taught Art and Spanish at Seth Woodard Elementary until 2008.
Martina is the youngest sister of J. Pablo Soto and Consuelo Soto Murphy. While she has been painting and drawing buffalo her whole life, Martina’s late husband owned a buffalo ranch North of Spokane and this is where she truly fell in love with painting these majestic animals. She paints cows and a variety of wild-life as well as many other subjects like children and pet portraits as commissions.
Her mediums of choice are acrylic, watercolor, and drawings, but she also works with home-made paper and experiments with textures such as fabric and tamale husks!
Juan Pablo Soto
(Original works NOT for sale)
Born in Mexico and raised in Sunnyside, WA, Pablo (as he was known by his family and friends) was a man of few words. Instead, Pablo liked to let his paintings do the talking for him. Pablo passed of Covid-19 during the pandemic, thus, his family is writing this on his behalf. Pablo was the older brother of Consuelo Soto Murphy and was one of 9 siblings in their migrant worker family. His work spans from the Yakima Valley to the Smithsonian and various schools such as Carmichael Middle School, Richland High School, WSU Tri-cities, and even Stanford University. Pablo's works are primarily oil on canvas with a special focus on photorealism. Pablo was self-taught and learned to paint at a very young age while in elementary school. The dread and spite that he had for fieldwork drove Pablo to find anything besides it to keep his hands busy. Growing up, Pablo came to a cross-roads when he had a chance to select something to purchase with money he had saved from working the fields with his family: a guitar or a paint set. While we will never know what would have become of his musical career, looking at Pablo's work now, it is easy to see that the paint set was not a wrong choice. Although Pablo despised field work, he had a profound respect for the importance of the job and the heart and grit required to complete such a necessary job. Thus, much of Pablo's artwork reflects his people and his culture.
Pablo's largest collection of works will be featured exclusively at The Art Gallery and will be rotated frequently.
Rotating Artists
(November 2024 - January 2024)
Michael Boynton
Mike Boynton is a happily married proud father who grew up in the Tri-Cities. He has taught Art at the elementary and secondary levels for the past 21 years at many of the City of Richland’s schools like Lewis & Clark Elementary, River’s Edge Alternative High School, Three River’s HomeLink and Enterprise Middle School. He currently teaches Art at Libby Middle School in Richland. Mike enjoys serving the community in this capacity as he strives to help students of all ages learn about the visual arts through a strong traditional arts curriculum that focuses on process and art history. He believes that positive encouragement, building relationships and a safe learning environment are integral to learning. Mike has a Masters In Teaching from WSU and a BA in Art and a BA in Religion from Pacific Lutheran University. Furthermore, Mike is a exhibiting artist and he is active in the local Arts community.
Lisa Day
Lisa Day received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, receiving a Master of Education and a teaching credential from San Francisco State. Lisa has taught painting, mosaic and an assortment of children and adult classes at Kennewick Community School, Columbia Basin College, Washington State University, Allied Arts Gallery, the Wet Palette Studio .
Lisa has executed a number of murals for private residents around the Tri-City area and shows her art work at the Allied Arts Gallery, Richland Lisa works in a variety of styles ranging from, the whimsical to the sublime. She likes to work in bright vibrant colors.
Her work can be viewed at her website:
Gayle Garvie
Gayle Garvie is a local Tr-Cities mixed media artist and teacher.
She went to college for art, became a hairstylist for 26 years, and recently retired from the wine industry. She has always dabbled in acrylic painting, paper arts, and now beadwork. Her style is a little quirky. She has a heart for teaching our local incarcerated youth in the Beads Behind Bars program every Sunday.
Gayle has been published in Scrapbook magazines.
Her newest adventure is teaching Plantalicious Classes for those new to Plant Based eating and learning healthy habits. In her spare time, she leads a group of 100 ladies called Women Who Wine and travels with her other group (Washington Wine Group) to Europe on wine themed river cruises. Basically- she just wants to have fun!
Scott & Felicia Gray
Scott first studied ceramics at Eastern Washington University under the tutelage of Bill Sage. He graduated from E.W.U. in 1982 with a B.A. in studio art and a B.A. in education. Deciding to pursue a career in education, Scott has worked in the field for over 20 years. He has always tried to integrate the arts into his classroom.
After being away from clay for 20 years, with much encouragement, Tongues of Fire Pottery Studio was born in 2004, located in Goldendale, WA. Scott works mainly with raku, a decorative low fire pottery incorporating interesting oxides, textures, & glazes unobtainable by conventional pottery firing methods. Raku ware is not food safe and will not hold water for an extended period of time.
Scott Gray Tongues of Fire Pottery Studio
Felicia is a true creative and we may never really understand how her mind works. Given any obstacle, she’ll overcome it with imagination, enthusiasm and a work ethic second to none. A commercial artist and teacher with over thirty-five years of experience in leadership roles in gallery management, student mentoring, art direction, graphic arts instruction and visual design, her paint parties often number in over a hundred students. She knows the art market from the inside and envisioned the concept of recycled paper palettes and the company. She managed prototyping, the initial search for manufacturing, logo and packaging design. Felicia has a certificate in Graphic Arts from J.M. Perry Institute.
Nathan Robles
I can’t wait for a movement.
We have to be the movement.
Nine years ago, I felt compelled to devote my life to becoming a professional metal sculptor. I hardly knew what that meant, or how it was going to work. But something within me said I needed to devote as much time as possible to getting good at my craft.
If it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient at something, I needed to go for it and put in the time to develop my capabilities. I could not wait.
This has been a monumental endeavor. As the sole provider for my family of 5 young boys I worked many part-time jobs to keep us afloat while I found my way as an artist. The stress and strain to keep going became a weight that I struggled to carry.
I almost quit so many times. I felt isolated and alone. Every day, welding, grinding and shaping metal. Wondering what it’s all for. Feeling like nobody cared.
Why go through all of that? Why not get a secure job and just do my artwork on the side?
Because there’s something I have been made for that no one else but me can do. The struggle I’ve had has given me a personal perspective that other people can relate to with the art I create.
For much of the nine years that I’ve been on this journey, I’ve done it the most difficult way. By myself. That is changing. I can’t do this alone anymore. I need my community to have my back so that we can transform and improve our lives together.
I have prepared myself to get to the point where I can create and perform at my highest level. I’ve put in the ten Thousand Hours. I’ve developed the skills and I have a vision for what to do with what I have.
I have pushed and gone farther than I thought I could and it has brought me to this moment in time.
I want to go big.
I want to inspire the people in my area with monumental artwork. I want to enhance and beautify our region with the best of what I can imagine and produce. To do that takes a team of devoted people who have the drive, skills and passion to assist me in creating my sculptures.
I’ve assembled a team of apprentices who believe in this work and are putting all their spare time into learning and creating with me. With your support of my work they can jump into full time art production. We’re already doing something amazing. Now with your help we will be able to boost the work to its next level.
It takes backers who see the value in what we can produce and will put their money into helping us create something monumental and transformative.
This is a phenomenal moment in time to be alive in the Tri-Cities.
-Nathan Robles
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Venita Simpson
Lampwork Bead Artist and Jewelry Designer -
After years as a computer programmer and system engineer, I retired and traded Southern California for a slower pace and the joy of four distinct seasons.
Embracing independence from corporate life, l've pursued numerous artistic interests. Yet, lampwork remains my true passion for over 20 years.
I'm passionate about transforming Italian Murano glass rods into one of-a-kind lampwork beads using a torch. The process is meticulous: once the beads are sculpted to perfection in the flame, they're carefully placed in a kiln for several hours to anneal. This gradual cooling process removes internal stresses, strengthening each bead.
But the journey doesn't end there I love incorporating my beads into unique jewelry pieces, blending style and comfort with leather accents or copper enhancements. Every copper component is coated with a tarnish retardant to ensure your treasure lasts.
I love this captivating craft, where fire, glass, and creativity converge!
Paul Staley
Cambrian Aura
Is a furniture making business I started in 2010 in an effort to raise funds for relief missions to El Salvador. I'm Paul Staley, a career science teacher at Richland High School, and now a pretty busy retiree.
While the connections to El Salvador have dried up for now, I continue to do this because I like it, and it funds trips to Pullman, Bothell, and Bellingham to visit treasured descendants.
I use traditional joinery and techniques I learned from my father, Gene Staley of Quincy, and hardwoods sourced locally and in Walla Walla, with a sprinkling of sustainable exotics.
The inspiration for my designs comes from an instinct to play and explore, from nature, conversations with friends, and from the geniuses who have always beautified our homes and our world.
