"the most beautiful story and art in one."

Sonny and Lisa Moeckel are a married artist duo whose collaborative practice merges realism and abstraction on a single canvas. Working simultaneously with acrylic and mixed media, they build expressive layers that explore emotion, vulnerability, and human connection.

Their process embraces the visible marks of creation—gestural lines, vivid color, and accumulated layers remain as evidence of the dialogue between two artists. Each work evolves slowly, often over months or even years, resulting in paintings that are as much a record of their shared process as they are finished works of art.

Born and raised on the Navajo reservation, Sonny Moeckel, of Jicarilla Apache and Navajo heritage, began his artistic journey at an early age. At thirteen, his paintings were exhibited at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. At eighteen, Sonny began touring throughout the United States with award-winning singer-songwriter Rich Mullins. Following Mullins’ untimely passing, Sonny spent the next decade pursuing a career in music in Nashville, Tennessee.

Inspired by the work of Paolo Roversi, Sonny eventually turned his focus to photography, studying the language of light, intimacy, and portraiture.

His work quickly developed a national clientele and appeared in publications including Vogue Italia, Tinsel Tokyo, Sunkiss Magazine, and Dark Beauty Magazine. It was through photography that his enduring fascination with the portrait was born.

After his father suffered a stroke and spent months hospitalized before passing away, Sonny returned to painting during a period of profound loss.

What began as a way to process grief became a renewed artistic calling. It was also during this pivotal chapter of his life that he met Lisa, beginning both a personal and creative partnership that would shape the next chapter of his work.

Spokane, Washington has been home to Lisa Moeckel throughout her life. Her independent practice has been rooted primarily in realism, with a particular focus on portraiture and the intimate study of the human form.

Lisa’s transition into painting emerged through her collaboration with Sonny. While her foundation remains grounded in precise observational drawing, their shared practice has allowed her to explore color, abstraction, and expressive mark-making in ways that extend beyond her individual work.

Together, Lisa and Sonny bring two distinct approaches to the portrait into a single visual language—one grounded in observation, the other in gesture and expression.

With Sonny being an Indigenous artist, culture has inspired many of their works and they hope to remind people of the importance of Indigenous people, and the struggles they have had to overcome, both in the past and present. They want the viewer to experience the spirit of the Indigenous people and the importance of working together.

Chief Velarde was their first collaboration inspired by Sonny's Great Grandfather. This work was one of the paintings on display at their solo exhibition at the Lied Center for the Visual Arts at Whitworth University in 2017.

Shortly after, in 2017 the artist duo was selected by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in the juried finals of the Art on the Green in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a prominent organization dedicated to promoting excellence in the profession of fine art.

Sonny and Lisa were awarded first place in the NNDF juried art show and People’s Choice Award, 2019. The artist duo were finalists in the 2021 Spokane Arts Awards in the category of “collaboration” and more recently winner of the the USDA/NRCS American Indian Art Contest in November 2023. THEY WERE ALSO NOMINATED IN 2025 FOR BY SPOKANE ARTS IN THE CATEGORY OF “ARTS ADVOCACY” FOR THEIR WORK IN THE COMMUNITY.

Moeckel’s artwork is included in numerous private art collections throughout the U.S.

Moeckel Studio is located in Spokane, Washington.

THEY HAVE RECENTLY OPENED THEIR OWN GALLERY “CLTRE GALLERY”

AND MOVED LOCATIONS TO 425 W. 2ND AVE SPOKANE, WA 99201.