It’s hard to refuse a request from artist and philanthropist Marcy Friedman. Pat Mahony understands this firsthand. She recalls Friedman “confronting” her to suggest they start a life drawing class together.

Mahony’s first instinct was to say no—she hadn’t drawn figures since college—but she was soon convinced. Her mother recently died and Mahony felt a void.

After two weeks of hesitation, she told Friedman if a good group came together, Mahony would relent. Under Friedman’s guidance, Fred Dalkey, Boyd Gavin and Jian Wang signed up. Mahony couldn’t refuse.

Peggi Kroll Roberts confirms her identity in art. She says, “The ultimate purpose of painting and drawing is finding yourself. Otherwise, you’re an artist stuck in someone else’s format.”

Kroll Roberts will never be stuck in a stranger’s format. For six decades, wanderlust and curiosity carried her near and far for jobs and experiences.

She began as a fine arts major at Arizona State University. From there, she followed her mother and studied fashion illustration at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena.

If something interests Steve Kellison, he turns it into art.

For his “Lost Vincent” series, Kellison was inspired by “The Painter on the Road to Tarascon,” a Vincent van Gogh work destroyed in World War II.

The image of a painter on his way to work embedded itself in Kellison’s imagination and sparked a series of drawings and paintings. In each, the central image is recognizable but captured in various styles and mediums—some in charcoal and pastel on paper, some in oil and pigment stick on canvas. Some are abstract, others more faithful to the original.

Since we last spoke nine years ago, Jeff Myers has been busy.

“Tractor Levitation,” the outdoor sculpture he was working on in 2016, was unveiled at McKinley Village. He’s enjoyed several solo exhibitions, received good press and traveled.

Myers also added to his three series, “The Secret Life of Machines,” “The Land Series” and “Bodyen.”

His latest artistic exploration takes him back to his roots: cameras.

Kent Lacin finds joy in many places. Behind a camera. Drawing or writing with a new fountain pen. Jamming on jazz piano. Teaching college students. Making films.

“I never felt like I worked a day in my life, I had so much fun,” he says. “I did so many wonderful things and met so many wonderful people, it was a dream.”

Lacin retired four years ago after a decades-long career as owner of Kent Lacin Media Services. But that’s a small part of his story.

Growing up in Arden Park, Lacin loved to draw and play the piano. His parents gave him a Pentax camera at age 8, and he loved that, too. But since neither parent had a background in the arts, Lacin thought of art as a hobby, not a career.