The next meeting of Fountain Hills Art League will be a bit of a celebration.

            The group meets Monday, Dec. 7, at 6:30 p.m. in two ballrooms at the Community Center to maintain social distancing. Attendees will be required to wear masks.

            Monday’s event will be a special Christmas gathering where members are encouraged to bring their art to the meeting to discuss their medium, and to share why they joined the Art League.

            Members’ art can then be submitted for the December “Artist of the Month.” The December winner will then be juried with earlier “Artists of the Month” for the honor of being “Artist of the Year.”

            In addition to sharing their work, Art League members will welcome new member Ryan Schmidt, a stainless steel sculptor. He will present his work during the meeting.

            Schmidt was born and grew up in Little Rock, Ark., sculpting stainless steel since 2002.

            Throughout his childhood, he learned to work with wood, metal and plastic in his father’s custom remodeling business. He went to college and furthered his knowledge of photography, painting, drawing, color and design, printmaking, ceramics and finally sculpture.

            After studying art at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Schmidt began working in cast aluminum, later bronze and ultimately found the everlasting properties of stainless steel. He said he loves its brilliant reflection to be most satisfying of all the metals he has worked with.

            Schmidt lived in Los Angeles for about five years then returned to Arkansas to build his sculpture collection. Earlier this year, he participated in Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale.

            He decided to move to Fountain Hills during the pandemic and opened his art studio at Scottsdale Airpark.

            Schmidt’s work has been featured by the International Institute of Welding in Bratislava last year and Singapore this year. His work can be found in the Arkansas governor’s mansion, CHI St. Vincent Neuroscience Institute, in downtown Little Rock, Habitat for Humanity Grand Rapids (Mich.) and numerous other sites throughout the country and world.

            His mission is to share his inspiration through reflection with the passion for stainless steel and wants to build sculpture that will last for generations.