Archive for July, 2010
Trio Fine Art’s Kathryn Mapes Turner presents her latest works in a new show, Time In-Between. Opening with an artist’s reception July 29, 5-8 pm, the exhibition remains up through August 15. Time, and its impermanence, are Turner’s themes—these concepts are explored in oils and drawings of landscape and animals.
Turner’s work is ever more tonalist, more reductive and evocative. Realism is not fully dissolved, though she often seems to be working towards abstraction in her oil paintings.
In fact, Turner theorizes that all visual art is “inspired by an abstract idea that is executed with a specific medium onto a fixed surface,” a thought developing into imagery. “My art is what happens between me, my subject and the medium which are all constantly changing” explains Turner.
Comparing this series of paintings to sedimentary rock—each composition is built up using multiple layers of paint—Turner notes that it was difficult to decide when any of her paintings were complete. Stratitfication of glazes and dry brush technique enable her paintings to take on a life of their own.
Check out Turner’s work on her website, or phone her directly, at 307.690.9632.
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July 17-30, check out the work by collaborating (and married) artists Chris Reilly and Michelle Haglund, on display at Diehl Gallery. This post missed the
show’s opening, but if you haven’t already, stop by the gallery to see these mystical, lovely works.
Encaustics play a big, if not complete, roll. Birds and bees, insects and little amorphous frogs—fantastic flowers and backgrounds of mottled gold, reds and greens suggest nature’s sensual core. I think of the Renaissance; flowers are used as ancient symbols in many cultures and have been since antiquity. Haglund says the artists’s household is filled with “enthusiastic nature explorations of various life forms.” Wax is the medium bringing the work of the two artists together—some works are by both artists, others by one or the other. They describe finished works as “fully ripened.”
For his part, Reilly seeks to inspire contemplation. “The stillness of meditation is echoed in the quietude of the finished painting that has undergone a process of creation, destruction and finally preservation. Creatures that transform, such as dragonflies and butterflies, are arranged in a loose grid symbolizing the enduring pattern of regeneration. Branches, laden with blossoms and fruit, stretch across the canvas receiving light and mimicking a human limb. These works are built up with wax and scraped down until a feeling of serenity is achieved,” he notes.
Email: info@diehlgallery.com. Phone: 307.733.0905
Item #3:
Jackson painter and photographer (and, we should add, portraitist) Alison Brush says she will have two shows in Jackson this summer. Currently, new works are on display at Betty Rock Cafe through August 6.
“The realms between waking consciousness and sleep fascinate me,” says the artist. Fluid and rhythmic, these paintings would rock you to sleep were they music. Dreams of the oceans. Wriggle into spaces swimming in refracted, swirling color. Meditate, imagine your wildest dreams coming true.
Brush’s cyclonic paintings flow towards infinity, and beyond.
Email the artist at: abrush@mindspring.com.
Through July 31, Trailside Galleries will present a showcase of works by artist Mike Malm — new paintings will be available for viewing
the latter part of the month.
Though he often paints landscapes, Malm is an avid romantic portraitist. His softest, most sensitive works often recall Renoir’s reverence for the feminine. Against rural backgrounds Malm portrays what he feels is one of God’s great creations: the human figure. To Malm, a tilt of the head or tiny hand gesture can communicate universal thought and emotion.
In other words, painting is a calling for this artist, a testimony. With every work, Malm strives to move his viewers by capturing the infinite subtleties of human nature.
A new showcase of paintings by artist Chris Owen follows, August 1-31 at Trailside. The gallery says up to ten new works will be on display by the artist, whose work hangs in such collections as the Pearce Western Art Collection in Corsicana, Texas, the National Western Museum in Denver, Colorado, and the Old West Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Owen has moved to working with oils full time, and his passion is chronicling cowboy life. In speaking about his art Owen falls into detailed descriptions of his observations of horses and ranches.
“There is nothing more satisfying to me than to bring a green colt up into a real nice saddle horse that knows how to handle himself and is a pleasure to be around. From the halter breaking and ground work right on up to all of the roping and getting gates and other ranch chores, each step presents its own challenges and the way it’s handled can vary quite a bit depending on the individual horse’s personality,” says the artist.
For information on both shows, contact Trailside’s Dawn Meckam by emailing dawn@trailsidegalleries.com, or phoning 307.733.3186.
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At Heather James Fine Art, Masters of Impressionism and Modern Art brings together exquisite examples of art by Berthe Morisot, Édouard Léon Cortès, Fernand Léger, René Magritte, Claude Monet, and Jackson Pollock among many others.
A highlight of the show, Monet’s Water Lily (c. 1915-1919), gives Jackson art lovers a chance to see one of Monet’s signature works; part of a series that defined the artist’s career. ”Monet’s distinctive late palette and all of the pictorial tensions unique to the achievements of the artist’s final decades are on display with this prime example from the master Impressionist’s oeuvre,” says the gallery’s James Corona.
Specific works on exhibit include Pablo Picasso’s Buste de Femme Souriante (1901) and Fernand Léger’s La racine noire et fragments d’objets (1943-1950).
For information: lyndsay@heatherjames.com.
Long a haven for creative and curious souls, the Murie Center — former home of environmentalists Olaus and Mardy Murie — is redefining itself, as it has been since the passing of Mardy, in 2003.
The Murie Ranch, a National Historic Landmark located in Grand Teton National Park, is just up the road, then down a gentler road, from the new Grand Teton National Park Visitor’s Center in Moose, Wyoming. The Center still feels like the Park’s best kept secret; hours that it is open to the public are limited, however group tours are offered free of charge every Monday and Thursday, 2:00 p.m.
The Center, “Conservation’s Home,” has a mission to “engage people to understand and commit to the enduring value of conserving wildlife in wild places.”
July 22-25, the Murie Center will conduct an Avian Art and Writing Workshop. An extensive three and a half day schedule includes
such activities as an introduction to Olaus Murie’s artwork, exploratory writing sessions and exercises, meals, bird watching and sketching activities. The Teton Raptor Center is providing live birds as inspiration and subject matter for sketchers, painters, writers, photographers and sculptors.
Long time valley resident and accomplished plein air painter Greg McHuron leads the sketching workshops; McHuron’s work is represented by Trailside Galleries in Jackson. He recently co-authored “Birds of Sage and Scree,” with valley ornithologist Bert Raynes. and Jackson-based writer Susan Marsh will conduct writing classes.
Sculptor Greg Woodard (represented locally by Altamira Fine Art) will provide a sculpting demonstration.
$595 includes lodging in a Murie Ranch cabin for three nights, all meals and tuition; $395 includes all meals and tuition only. The Murie
Center has provided the following tentative schedule of events – for more information email info@muriecenter.org or phone 307.739.2246.
Thursday, July 22
5:30 pm – Welcome reception
6:30 pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin
7:30 pm – Introduction to the Murie Center and Olaus Murie artwork – guest presenter Dr. Jamie Cornelius talks about tracking the red crossbill on the Ranch as a Murie Center biologist-in-residence.
Friday, July 23
8 am – Breakfast at Homestead Cabin
9 am – Exploratory writing session with Susan Marsh around the Murie Ranch
12 pm – Lunch at Homestead Cabin
2 pm – Greg Woodard sculpting demonstration with live birds from Teton Raptor Center
3 pm – Writing exercise with Susan Marsh and live birds from Teton Raptor Center
5 pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin
6 pm – Avian bird-watching/photography
Saturday, July 24
8 am – Breakfast at Homestead Cabin
9 am – Greg McHuron and Dwayne Harty lead avian sketching session
12 pm – Lunch at Homestead Cabin
2 pm – Greg McHuron leads avian sketching session with live birds from Teton Raptor Center
5 pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin
6 pm – Avian bird-watching/photography
Sunday, July 25
8 am – Breakfast at Homestead Cabin
10 am – 12 pm – Tours and demonstrations on-site at the Teton Raptor Center in Wilson ($10)
As many Jackson Holers know, local artist Ben Roth recently collaborated with friend and fellow artist Brad Watsabaugh, creating an extraordinary public art project for the ski town of Vail, Colorado. The project, “Singing Trees,” captured the Inter Mountain West’s creative community’s attention — the artists received quite a bit of press and media coverage.
A few days ago, Roth and Watsabaugh were interviewed for Vail’s morning television show, “Good Morning Vail.” The artists got a chance to discuss the project, one that made use of dead lodgepole pines killed by mountain pine beetles. Roth explained that the art form is a temporary one—although the placed trees can remain standing for quite some time. Trees are “manipulated” by the artist, so that their beauty and embedded messages about their living time on earth are more accessible to people who wish to view the work.
The trees are split top to bottom, so that one half of the tree remains vertical, while its other side rests horizontally, like a bench, above the ground. All the work was done by hand—no lasers, etc. Watsabaugh and Roth’s individual creative spirits fed one another, making it a pulse-pounding, thrilling experience.
Take a look at the “Good Morning Vail” interview here.
Roth says he’s planning on collaborating with writer/environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams and Jackson artist Felicia Resor. The environmentally inspired work will involve installing a ring of 23 Pronghorn and Deer skulls on old metal fence posts. They skulls are “….witnesses to the environmental degradation occurring in Wyoming,” says Roth. Installation locations have yet to be determined.
Want to talk to Ben? Call him with questions and kudos at this number: 970.754.8888
July 15-22, check out the bold, illustrative paintings of Jeff Ham at Mountain Trails Gallery.
Last summer’s personal statement on Native American history will be replaced (I believe) with more celebratory Western imagery. As has been noted, Ham’s color and composition spring from a background in illustration.
“I do my best to translate emotion and feelings into color and communicate my individual interpretation of each subject,” he explained. ”My goal is to capture spontaneity. As an artist I am learning to express myself in an honest and straightforward manner.”
I’m still loving the memory of Jeff Ham’s large scale works, his O’Keeffe and Warhol portraits; they once hung in the J.H. Center for the Arts Theater Lobby, and may still be there.
Email: fineart@mountaintrails.net
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“I paint with passion, risk and abbreviated images instead of capturing realism. Set against transit texture and vivid color, images and figures cannot be situated in reality. These painterly expressions challenge our emotions and communicate with our sense of mystery. Mystery is a part of life. Not everything is easily explainable.” - Rocky Hawkins
Rocky Hawkins: Lost At Last, is the new show at Altamira Fine Art. A reception will be held at the gallery July 15, 5-7:00 pm.
What can’t be ignored in Montana artist Rocky Hawkins’ work is the ghostly quality of his portraits. Conversely, there is a direct confirmation his Native American subjects demand of viewers. Confirmation of existence transmitted by apparitions. Thirty-six expressionistic paintings make up the artist’s roster of images on the Altamira gallery site. All are potent, highly vigorous compositions — an approaching army of ancestry and imminent spirits.
Hawkins is a brave artist, true to his own inspiration. His work sells, appealing to a cache of sophisticated collectors of contemporary Western art. Inspired in part by Terpning, Hawkins’ works are painterly anti-war messages conveyed through portraits of a culture that fought for its right to exist.
And isn’t a break with “the rules” what we often search out for in great art? Gallery director Mark Tarrant has said that Hawkins’ work
recalls “the primitivism that Gaugin sought, and pays little attention to the classical use of perspective and color.” To my eye, his work recalls Gaugin’s breakout character combined with Jackson Pollock’s rhythmic use of paint….there may be homage to Motherwell’s sweeping black forms.
Lost At Last (if you meet Hawkins, ask him about the meaning behind the title of this show; then get back to me, please!) remains on display through August 4th. www.altamiraart.com.
Item #3:
Jackson Hole Art Fair Rap Revisited!
(July 16-18 Miller Park 10am-6pm; 10 am-4pm Sunday. www.artassociation.org )
Hey, it’s July, so it’s time to share / ‘Bout that annual gig, the Jackson Hole Art Fair! / “Art Fair Jackson Hole” it prefers to be called / Nobody asked me. I’m not involved.
Hey man, don’t be bored! / Sometimes Harrison Ford / Comes to check out the art / And he brings Flockhart. (If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it!)
Buy ceramics, toys, fibers–/ This poem’s the town crier / For Art Fair Weekend / Come rain or come shine-er. / Paintings, baskets, jewels, tents / Sunscreen and some fivers / All make for a day / The whole family could die for!
See the Fair. Have Fun. This rap is all done.
Item #4:
Hammock painting helpers needed! July 15, beginning 5:00 pm, convene at the Multipurpose Ceramics Studio at the Center for the Arts. Help paint 2,000 feet of hammock that will be used as part of Sunday, July 25th’s Vertical Orchestra concert at the Teewinot lift ( I am enough of a non-skier to not even know if that lift is at Snow King or Teton Village. But I bet you will know, dear readers!)
If you help paint, you’ll go home with a free hammock. Bring along any unused paint you might have handy, but most importantly, bring yourself. You can also sign up to volunteer the day of the concert. Questions: Bland Hoke, 307.690.0097.