ART Provides Board of Directors
Elizabeth Gunter is an artist, graphic designer, and entrepreneur in search of creatives. Raised in New York City with one foot in New Jersey, her exposure to the fine arts began young. This grew into a deep appreciation for poetry, photography, and painting. An art scholarship drew her to Chicago, and then a fateful road trip carried her to Southern Utah, where she fell in love with the red rocks beneath stark blue skies.
Elizabeth’s greatest triumphs include her two adorably precocious children, working with national brands making beneficial imprints on the world, and opening ART Provides, her very own studio, event space, and gallery in a stunning historic theater. Here she hopes to create connections through art, both inside the minds of individuals, between small groups, and within larger communities.
In addition to her artistic endeavors, Elizabeth actively serves on the boards of several influential organizations. She is a dedicated member of the Utah Cultural Alliance (UCA) 501c3 board, where she contributes to promoting and supporting cultural initiatives in the community. As a passionate advocate for the arts, she also lends her expertise and creativity to The Arts Council of Washington County, helping to enrich the local cultural landscape. Elizabeth’s commitment to the arts extends further as a valued member of the Arts to Zion board, where she actively promotes and celebrates artistic expression in the region. Additionally, she is a proud member of the Women’s Influence Network (WIN), where she empowers and inspires women from diverse backgrounds.
Away from a canvas, Elizabeth enjoys travel, exploring the great outdoors, meditation, and meeting mindful, open, authentic people. She swears in Spanish when surprised, breaks into solo dance parties to release stress, and obsesses over fancy inks. She can’t help it. Art supplies and those who use them have her heart.
Elizabeth Gunter
Owner / Executive Director / Chairman of the Board
A resident of southern Utah for the past 16 years, Elise West's love for her community continues to deepen. As the former owner of the much-loved Affogato West Coffeehouse, her passion for good coffee and food keeps her grounded and focused on serving her community. She is currently consulting with Zion Brewery - Station II on Main Street to add coffee and small plates to their menu this fall and is thrilled to be back in the coffee biz! Although she is an ocean lover living in the desert, she gets her ocean fix when visiting her two children and five grandkids who live in Miami Beach and San Diego. Elise is thrilled to be on the Board for Art Provides and continues to thrive on keeping her life interesting, vibrant and full of love for her family, friends, residents and visiting tourists!
Elise West
Board Member
Astraea Chaumette is a local poet who loves creative writing, spoken word, and creating art. When she’s not spending time with her family, she is articulating poetically and balancing financial statements.
Astraea Chaumette
Treasurer
Heather Atkin is a teacher, writer, and lifelong lover of the arts. A native of southern Utah, she received her bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Southern Utah University in 2000, and her master's degree in Education in 2009. Her 20 year teaching career began in fourth grade, expanding over the years to encompass many grades and subjects, culminating at the university level where she taught academic writing courses at both Utah Tech University and Southern Utah University.
Heather also currently serves as the board chair for Art Around the Corner Foundation, and has been a long time supporter and volunteer for both AAUW St. George and Equality Utah. During her time as a writer for the SU Independent publication, she covered a story on Art Around the Corner and fell in love with the foundation and its mission. Her love of service and public art continued to grow after she and her husband purchased a home in downtown St. George.
After retiring from academia, Heather's passion for teaching evolved into yoga and the healing arts. Together, with her husband, they own and run a yoga studio and art gallery out of their home, showcasing her husband's photography and hosting events. Heather is passionate about creating a loving, creative, and accepting environment where everyone feels welcome. She believes promoting education and supporting the arts helps foster a thriving and creative community. Heather has an enduring love for the written word, painting, spending time in nature, her family, cooking, traveling, live music, and making new meaningful connections.
Heather Atkin
Board Member
Elizabeth Van Meter is an award-winning filmmaker and actress whose work has taken her across the globe. Her feature documentary, Thao’s Library, was screened nationwide in AMC Theaters, qualified for Oscar consideration, enjoyed a two-year Netflix release, and its DVD was sold in 3,795 Walmart stores across the United States.
A native of New York City, Ms. Van Meter began her artistic journey as an actress. She performed with various comedy groups, starred in numerous Off-Broadway productions, and appeared in several independent films. She wrote and performed the critically acclaimed multimedia solo show, The Purpose Project: Thao’s Library, which premiered at the prestigious Cherry Lane Theater in the West Village before moving to The Lion Theater at Theater Row on 42nd Street.
Recently, Ms. Van Meter has focused her filmmaking on fully immersive storytelling, combining imagery and narratives from around the world in unique venues that engage all five senses. Her latest works have been showcased in Las Vegas and Munich, Germany.
Elizabeth Van Meter
Board Member
Bio coming soon.
Ginger Nelson
Performing Arts Coordinator
I've been a professional artist for 50+ years, with a BFA in Illustration from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. My experience ranges from developing marketing materials for large M&A firms, to t-shirt designs for international retailers. In the past my art has been primarily representational.
Recently, I've had the chance to expand my horizons and experiment with the experience of drawing. Now, as I start the process of drawing I try to withhold conscious direction, not responding to abstract mental concepts but to the experience of a particular time, place, person or even sound. As an image starts to form from this doodling process it's inevitable that it awaken to consciousness.
I feel it necessary to nurture a playfulness, be unpretentious and embrace painting as a wonderful, virtuous endeavor and possibly convey this through my art. In exploring this domain it is inevitable that some of the work have dark connotations and conjure up anxiety in a yin to yang response. It is my hope that this produces a cathartic affect in the viewer as it does in me, resulting in a calm akin to the one experienced after an adrenaline rush. Pablo Picasso said “painting is a way of seizing power by giving form to our terrors as well as to our desires.” Ultimately, in the end, the goal is transformation and growth, leading me to one irreducible conclusion: When I get out of the way it happens.
Reece Thompson
Board Member
Shawn Owens is from Cincinnati, Ohio. He fell in love with jazz at an early age and was influenced by Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Dave Weckl. Shawn left music behind for awhile but when he moved to Utah he found his way back to jazz, when a jazz group performing at a local restaurant didn't have a drummer and invited him to audition right then and there on the house drum set. Shawn got the gig and has been playing ever since. While Shawn's favorite genre is jazz, he's on the first call list for fill-in work (live and studio) for classic rock,country, gospel, and reggae bands.
Sean Ownens
Music Events Coordinator
I love being in the outdoors and it started at an early age thanks tomy father. My love for fishing is what introduced me tophotography, and in so many ways they are similar. It's theanticipation of exploring a new canyon, trail, or bend in a river, thathas kept me in it for all these years. I use a range of cameras andequipment as well as printing and framing all of my work. Thisallows me to achieve the desired style and consistency I'm lookingfor when making photographs.I focus on photographing areas lesser known and off the beaten path.I love fishing for compositions that require going back time andagain to capture the light and a feeling of the moment. My ultimategoal in photography is to capture images that bring wonderfulmemories to everyone who has shared time in the amazing deserts,forests, and mountains of the American West.
Nathan Wotkyns
Board Member
Besides being a graduate student, April is also the director of a local L3C-LLC focused on plant conservation helping to build collaborations with local government agencies, academic institutions, and local non-profit community groups. She has an extensive history of pioneering forefront movements in a wide variety of sectors, often involving community building collaborations, which she is very passionate about. Most recently these involve grassroots movements in areas involving art, natural resource conservation, law, and computer science. April holds a B.S. in both Art (emphasis on Sculpture/Ceramics), and Mathematics, is a certified paralegal, and holds certification in environmental dispute resolution. She is a Strong Towns member and an acting co-leader for local conversations in St George, Utah involving sustainable desert living. April brings a logical and empathetic approach to networking, problem solving, and is an outside-the-box thinker. Her life is “never boring”. She is is a proud honorary board member for Art Provides.
April Subashi
Program Advisory Board Member
Bio coming soon.