Eighty-six artists make up Heather James Gallery’s Post-War and Contemporary roster alone; the gallery specializes in six other art categories: American, Design, Impressionist & Modern, Latin American, Old Masters and Photography.

In Jackson Hole, that’s some mighty glittery gallery fireworks.   The Heather James Gallery’s mix of past and present art periods is unique in this art market.   The gallery’s presence on re-shuffled, re-designed Center Street buttons up what feels like a newly defined “arts capsule” in Jackson. Center Street’s “Gallery Row” is creating new identity for the Town of Jackson; the block establishes a dynamic focal point, positioned as it is across from a large tourist staging and parking area.

Center Street is its own “draw,” a block mixing regional and international art.

Heather James owners Jim Carona and Heather Sacre plan an opening celebration in June; a grand opening takes place later this summer, on August 21, with the blockbuster show Wyeth, featuring the works of N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth.

Gallery director Lyndsay Rowan McCandless is at the fore.  This is also a good thing. She’s joined by long-time local Molly Hawks.   The gallery’s collection is curated by Los Angeles based curator Chip Tom, and renowned architect Dianna Wong designed the space.

Notes McCandless, “Heather James Fine Art has been created to complement their current two galleries located in Palm Desert, CA and to honor and support their love for Jackson, WY. We are looking forward to the merging of our creative ideas and visions in order to bring you the most vibrant and diverse art experience that you can imagine in the Tetons.”

Jackson photographer David Swift opines that Tom’s curatorial skills are original and vital.   None of that “undisciplined angst-splatter…that most people think of when they think modern art.”

Swift already has a favorite Heather James artist, Carlos Mérida. “I’ve never heard of him.  Turns out he was one of the cool guys hanging with the Cubists from the 20′s, on.  He’s as good as his old pals, and there is a piece hanging in the gallery I want really, really, really bad.”

Swift and others familiar with Jackson’s arts agree that having McCandless back at the fore of a contemporary gallery is beyond happy.  She’s the valley’s “art angel,” says the photographer, and understands the “art-swoon gland kicks into overdrive once when we get around works created at the dawn of the 20th Century, on.”

How to find and reach Heather James Gallery:

P.O. Box 3580, 172 Center Street – Suite 101, Jackson, WY 83001     Phone: 307.200.6090

Item #2:

Sotheby’s May 19, 2010 American Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures Auction brought these results:  

Thomas Moran’s “Coconino Pines and Cliff, Arizona” :  $746,500 with Buyer’s Premium

Winslow Homer’s “Return of the Gleaner,” :  $2,210,000 with Buyer’s Premium (estimate was $400-$600,000)

Frederic Remington’s “The Mountain Man”:  $1,082,500 with Buyer’s Premium (estimate was $700-$900,000)

Childe Hassam’s “Harney Desert”:  $446,500  with Buyer’s Premium (estimate was $200-$300,000)

Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Inside Clam Shell”:  $3,442,500 with Buyer’s Premium

Marsden Hartley’s “Berlin Series, No. 1″:  $1,762,500.

For full auction results, click here.