Doug Katonak has lived in Fountain Hills a looooooong time…

He has seen a myriad of changes over the decades, but the one thing that has kept him grounded is art.

He truly loves the Sonoran Desert and what the Southwestern part of the United States has to offer, especially Arizona.

He has painted it and he has sculpted it.

Katonak’s latest creation may be his most ambitious to date – a life-size sculpture of a modern-day cowboy hunched over painting a desert scene.

If it all looks and sounds familiar, it’s not a coincidence.

Jerry Miles, a long-time proponent of public art in town, urged Katonak to take a small clay statue and turn it into a life-size likeness.

Another sculptor, Ron Head, and a good friend of Katonak’s, helped guide him through the process.

It all came together recently with the placement of the as-yet-un-named sculpture at the corner of Avenue of the Fountains and Verde River Drive.

Katonak is recognized as perhaps the first full-time artist to live in Fountain Hills. He was offering art lessons in Scottsdale and began conducting them here in late 1975.

He had a studio-school for more than eight years on Enterprise Drive before closing that and offering lessons at home for a few years.

Katonak was part of the initial organization of a fine art festival that has grown into the February Great Fair held annually by the Chamber of Commerce.

“I still like to paint and sculpt, but the teaching and the art shows are a thing of the past,” Katonak said.

And if you’ve ever wondered just how Katonak does his work, just take a gander at the cowboy artist working diligently at Avenue of the Fountains and Verde River…