Betty Sabo

Cottonwood Sunset, with the orange and golden glow of sunset silhouetting a weathered cottonwood, Betty Sabo has artfully combined two of the Southwest's most enduring - and endearing - features into a single image. Ms. Sabo is one of the area's best known artists, with a national reputation in both painting and sculpting. Her Children in the Garden series, life-size bronze sculptures of young children, has been widely hailed. Working with master printer Ricardo Ximinez of El Cerro Graphics, Ms. Sabo created Cottonwood Sunset by applying sand, pine needles and other naturally occurring materials to 3Ox40-inch plates of emulsion-covered acrylic, then combining these multiple images to recreate the flora shown in this colorful scene. The original collagraph is deeply embossed as it comes from the press, lending a suggestion of depth to poster prints such as the one shown here.