More than 80 locally and nationally-renowned juried fine artists will exhibit and sell original creations during Thunderbird Artists’ 8th Annual Surprise Fine Art & Wine Festival 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 10, 11 and 12 at Mark Coronado Park, 15940 N. Bullard Ave. The festival boasts subject matters ranging from southwest and traditional to contemporary and abstract, figurative, floral, wildlife, European, African, Native American and more. The festival is complemented by live music, wine tastings and delicious food. Featured Artist Susan Hemm Zivic spent her childhood chasing quail and hoping to spot baby jackrabbits. She was raised in the desert, spending endless afternoons outside, capturing an anthology of inspiration from the wildlife she would see, hear and interact with as days faded into the colorful sunsets Arizona regularly offers. “Most of our pets were what we found. We were out in the boonies,” Ms. Zivic stated of her formative years. “We had no neighbors for miles. You just played outside. There were petroglyphs on the hill. It’s just, all the stuff you learn to love.” It’s those things, the ones she learned to love as a child, that have influenced her work. As this year’s featured artist of the Surprise festival, Ms. Zivic has been creating her desert-influenced mixed media pieces at her Tucson studio, focusing, as she characteristically has, on culturally-rich pottery and the wildlife that populates the desert around her. Her pieces, which incorporate acrylics, some water-based paints and at times the use of a spray can, also incorporate little secrets, hidden objects that beg to be found. Sometimes it’s a ladybug, or an arrowhead or an ant. Regardless of the object, the act of hiding it has become one of her calling cards. A longtime art lover, she decided to make a career of it once she entered motherhood and wanted to find a way to make a living while also staying home with her children. Now a grandmother, she carved out a career for herself that allows her to create but also be present with her family. A self-described early riser, she works in the mornings and spends the summer months working on commissioned pieces. “I like to work in the morning,” she said. “All the stuff hasn’t started. The hectic stuff hasn’t come in yet and you get up there and you’re all alone.” But, she’s not alone. She’s surrounded by the desert that inspires her, the birds that catch her eye and the pottery, created by natives, that belong in her pieces. “I’m nature,” she said, of her specialty. “So, I stick with what natures gives us.” For $10, patrons will receive an engraved souvenir wine glass and six tasting tickets. Tasting tickets provide the opportunity to sample a wide variety of domestic and imported wines, as well as flavored spirits and local microbrews. Live music will feature the show’s headliner, violinist Teresa Joy, and Vibhas Kendzia, who plays Native American music on his flute. General admission is $3 for adults. Children 17 and under are free. Call 480-837-5637 or visit thunderbirdartists.com.