About Our Instructors
Barbara Borgwardt
Intermediate & Advanced Watercolor Instructor
Barbara Borgwardt, SAWG, Saguaro Fellow
Originally from Milwaukee Wisconsin, Barbara was a professional fashion illustrator and an instructor of fashion illustration and design at a private women’s college for over 25 years. Since she has moved to Arizona she continues her transparent watercolor painting, exhibiting and teaching.
Roberta Rogers
Beginning Watercolor Instructor
Roberta is a third generation watercolorist. She received her Masters in Art from Fresno State and has been painting full-time for the past 35 years. Currently living in Tubac, AZ, she lived in Flagstaff for 30 years, teaching watercolor at the community college, raising her family and painting.
Learn more about Roberta.
David Simons
Oil Painting Instructor
David Simons is a self-taught artist of over 30 years from Tubac, Arizona. His unique and captivating oil paintings have made him one of the most notable artists in the Southwest, with collectors worldwide. Displaying a range of diverse subjects in his work, David brings his signature style to life with scenes from the southwest, seascapes, portraits, still life, and more.
Learn more about David.
Janet R. Thompson
Pastel Instructor
Jan, her husband, John, and their labs, Pearl and Sadie, live in Creede, Colorado. Creede is a small former silver mining town nestled in a canyon of the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado. At sixteen, Jan discovered the pure soft pigment sticks called pastel and has spent the last fifty-five years creating artwork in her own vibrant, colorful style.
Learn more about Jan.
Bobb Vann
Portraits in Oil Instructor
Bobb Vann was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He now resides in Tubac, Arizona. His love and skills in drawing and painting can be traced back to his childhood. He received formal art training at the Philadelphia College of Art. His versatility of artistic skills includes illustration and design as well as painting and drawing.
Greta Ward
Oil & Cold Wax Instructor
Primarily an oil painter, Greta also works with cold wax and oil, watercolors, assemblage, and stained glass. Greta studied under the inimitable Rebecca Crowell, in both the US and Italy, learning about cold wax and its myriad applications to fine art. The process of adding wax and pigment, and then subtracting selectively through scraping, solvents, and other tools seems, the perfect artistic analogy for a life well-lived.
Rick Wheeler
Scratchboard & Drawing Instructor
Originally from California, Rick has lived in the Four Corners region of the desert southwest since 1994. He holds a B.A. degree in Fine Art, with a minor in Integrative Studies from Prescott College, Arizona, as well as an Associate of Arts degree in Graphic Design.