SIDNE TESKE has been making art professionally for the past 20 years. Primarily working with soft pastels, Teske works on location (en plein aire), depicting landscape with vibrant , energetic originality. When weather makes it difficult to explore the outdoors, Teske turns to her studio easel to create large expressive works that feature the human figure. Although she has taken a few workshops over the span of her career, Teske is largely self-taught. Teske has received many awards and honors, most recent of which was an invitation by the Smithsonian Institution to participate in the Folklife Festival on the Mall in June and July of 2005. She was chosen to create the Nevada Governor's Arts Awards which were presented in 2004, and a poster she designed for the Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Rock Art Association won first place at the National Competition of the Society of American Archaeologists in 2003. Teske maintains a full schedule of shows and has been active in Nevada' s Artist In Residence program. She is part time faculty at Great Basin Community College in Elko, Nevada, and also teaches plein aire painting workshops around the country. She has been a member of the prestigious women's art group, the Wild Women, since 1995. Teske's works are included in many private and corporate collections worldwide, including Embassy Suites Hotel at South Shore Lake Tahoe, Harrah's High Roller Suite at South Shore Lake Tahoe, Washoe Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, Omni Hotels at Interlochen, Colorado, and at the Nevada Arts Council offices in Carson City, Nevada.