Posts from ‘Art History’
This coming summer, Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) and Grand Teton Association (GTA) are bringing the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters (RMPAP) to Grand Teton National Park, for a two-week plein air paint-out. The event celebrates GTA’s 75th anniversary and the Park’s storied tradition of plein air painting. The paint-out and its accompanying exhibition take place July 1-15, 2012 at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor’s Center, the “focal point for GTA’s educational and interpretive efforts.” RMPAP’s show will be on display at the Craig Thomas Center, home to the Park’s permanent art collection.
Recently Jackson’s Cultural Council awarded its annual Award for Creativity to writer/filmmaker/conservationist Charlie Craighead. Craighead’s modesty and low profile belie his great contributions. Documentaries
and books such as “Artic Dance: The Mardy Murie Story,” “I’ll Meet You at the Wort,” and “Who Ate the Backyard?” touch lives, educate, entertain and, most importantly, their messages stay with us.
It’s what Craighead creates that matters; the fact that he does work within his means make his contributions that much more valuable. I’m thrilled he won, and I was also proud to nominate Jill Callaway. Jill’s contributions to Jackson’s community theatre history are extraordinary. I’d love to see the Cultural Council publish all nomination letters, so that the community can know more about the many people working to enrich our cultural scene. Here’s an excerpt from my letter:
“In 2000, Jill took it upon herself to form Jackson Community Theatre (JCT) because she believes deeply that communities need culturally based theatre. Jill does what she does because she knows Jackson is full of talent, and all talent deserves creative outlet. To that end, she insists JCT provide theatre experience for novices and seasoned actors. As the group’s leader, Jill has acted, directed, produced, stage managed, operated lights and sound, created costumes, props and sets. She oversees the company’s marketing and grants writing and manages the group’s accounting. All together, Jill has been involved in over 80 local productions….Her efforts are consistently on behalf of JCT as a whole….She is passionate about Jackson’s Western culture, its history, and family values. Many good people have lent their talents to community theatre, contributing to its longevity, but Jill provides the constant spirit, energy, and motivation propelling JCT….For 27 years, Jill has donated her time. She does not work for a performing arts company and has never received payment for her work in community theatre.”
The wave of the non-profit future must be to work within available means and facilities. Across the country, original missions have been unwittingly supplanted by underfunded real estate speculation, high salaries and high rents. There are instances, of course, of patrons and founders having deep enough pockets to build and maintain new buildings. As a friend on the West coast recently pointed out, at some point many non-profits concluded the best way to accomplish mission is to build grand facilities. Many of us were seduced. With the crash, pledges were not realized, donations slowed, costs accelerated. And although all the plans for beautiful buildings were well-meaning, these days too many original missions play secondary roles to a new mission of maintaining expensive real estate.
Hey, I have a room to rent as workspace! 250 square feet includes a full bath (two sinks!) and walk-in closet! I need help paying expenses, I’m in the same boat, ya’ll! Email me (tammy@jacksonholearttours.com) if you are interested! Seriously!
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Wednesday, October 26, at 7:00 pm, the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum opens its doors for a special program. The talk, Artist Archie ‘Teton’ Teater will be presented by Dr. Teddy Khteian Keeton, a long-time friend of Teater and his wife. Keeton’s talk will focus on Teater’s early life, passion for painting, and his journey to becoming a successful artist.
Archie Boyd Teater was a painter, and a legend in his own time. His life and times are testament to the independent and eccentric artistic character typical of Wyoming. Though his name doesn’t come immediately to mind when thinking of the Western masters, Teater’s paintings have hung alongside paintings by Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, Thomas Moran and Thomas Hart Benton. Teater often “worked alongside miners, trappers and lumberjacks who had little patience or understanding for the sensitive artist, and so he would often take his wagon into the mountains, where he enjoyed the solitude, to work for days on his landscapes.”
The landscapes most inspirational to Teater were Wyoming’s mountains. According to his biography, Teater found work as a trail blazer in the newly established Grand Teton National Park. Beginning in 1928, Teater visited the Tetons annually, set up camp at Jenny Lake, and sold paintings right at his campsite. Biographers note that whenever Teater left camp, “ a note requested that art buyers pin their payments to a bed blanket.”
Teater’s log cabin gallery still stands in downtown Jackson; his Jackson Hole Art Gallery is now home to J.C. Jewelers.
Another cool fact about Teater is that he and his wife, Patricia, commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design and build a custom home–that house is situated in Hagerman, Idaho. Boy, would I like to take a tour; if it’s anything like Fallingwater, I’ll swoon…….Wednesday evening, enjoy stories about the artist and view some of his works. Free for members, $3 for non-members. Refreshments served! 307-733-9605. www.jacksonholehistory.org
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Legacy Gallery has announced that artits David Mann, Merrill Mahaffey, Richard Hall, and Walt Wooten have joined the gallery. Legacy’s show Western Reflections is currently on display, and the gallery plans a Holiday Small Works Show, opening December 8, 2011. www.LegacyGallery.com
Jackson artist Kathy Wipfler’s superb plein air paintings are the centerpiece of a new show at the Simpson Gallagher Gallery, in Cody, Wyoming. Wipfler & The Boys: A Reunion of Friends opens at Simpson Gallagher, 1161 Sheridan Avenue, on Thursday, September 22, 2011. An opening reception takes place that evening, 5:00-8:00 pm.
Many plein air artists would consider giving up their good painting hand in favor of learning how to paint with their other hand, if it meant being showcased at Sue Simpson Gallagher’s gallery. Wipfler’s fellow artists, the “boys,” are cream-of-the-crop plein air painters Bob Barlow, T. Allen Lawson, Ralph Oberg, Geoff Parker, Matt Smith, Skip Whitcomb and Dan Young.
But enough about them…let’s get back to Wipfler!
This show is a story about the story of how a group of plein air painters met, painted together, grew together and ultimately became contemporary Western masters. The show will include a wide
variety of landscapes, as well as some wildlife paintings, from expansive panels to smaller works.
Wipfler had been in Jackson several years, “hanging out” at the Powder River Gallery, then owned by Jenny Promack. The gallery featured painters like Whitcomb, Hollis Williford and Barlow. The gallery also carried works by deceased masters— Charlie Russell letters, and Frank Tenney Johnson studies, Caitlins and Boreins. Wipfler remembers great gatherings of painting friends regularly taking place at the gallery.
“Jenny’s father took the Cowboy Hall of Fame from an empty shell of a building and opened it up with no federal funding,” Wipfler says. “And he started the show called NAWA–North American Western Artists. Jenny grew up around a lot of artists, and her dad was in Oklahoma City doing that project.”
Wipfler recalls how how she and her colleagues bonded and grew. “When Tim Lawson moved to town he called and said ‘Let’s go painting together.’ So we did, fairly often, and Tim and I were in the same galleries, like Powder River–and then we moved to Main Trail Gallery. Eventually we both went to Partners Gallery, which ended up being the Moynihan Gallery. Then, before Moynihan closed, I went to Trailside. Tim, Bob and I were gallery pals.”
Over the years, artists came in and out of Jackson, especially in the fall, long before Jackson’s Fall Arts Festival was created, long before the term “plein air painting” became popular. Wipfler and “the boys” got together to paint for a week or two; they’d go out painting every day. Wildlife artists came, too, and that genre developed locally. Plein air gained ground in the 90′s; small “push-out” paint boxes allowed professionals and hobbyists to paint easily outdoors, packing their tools on a horse or backpack.
“Ned Jacob was a mentor, and he was taught by Bob Lougheed and John Clymer and Bettina Steinke–and they were trained by the “old time guys” in New York,” relates Wipfler. Howard Pyle and the illustrators taught artists they had to work from life. Seeing the real color, seeing the real light. We learned the tradition of the New York and Chicago schools of painting from life. The great traditionalists had full lives as illustrators before they ever went to easel painting. And they taught the people who taught us.”
Wipfler notes that illustrative artists were trained formally. New England based artists like Norman Rockwell churned out work on demand for advertising companies. Close proximity to New York allowed them to take their work there. Works had a formal structure and superb draftsmanship; illustrators were telling specific stories.
For 25 years Simpson Gallagher watched Wipfler become the touchstone for her fellow artists, making her mark in a predominately male profession. She’s long encouraged Wipfler to do a show, but the artist demurred. Wipfler says she’s not a loner on purpose, but prefers to paint by herself, a change from her earlier years when days were spent painting with friends.
“I do better work when I’m not in a crowd. ‘Cause the crowd’s so much fun and work is work—-I’m getting better at painting in a crowd, lately,” Wipfler laughs. She agreed to the Cody show
“partly because I’m the only woman and partly because that was how Sue could get me to do a show! She has some great collectors over in Cody; one of those is the person who got my painting in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center!”
“There are many sources of inspiration for this show. It is partly my story too, so I know it well and think it is a story worth telling,” Simpson Gallagher notes. “Kathy is a peacemaker and makes sure that her friends stay connected. She is not competitive in a debilitating way. She only strives to be the best she can be. She was always game to go out painting no matter the time or temperature. She was good company. She was a positive influence and always buoyed every one else up.
It is inspirational for me to see the respect, admiration and love the artists have for Kathy and she has for them. I hope this show will reflect the rare and wondrous, broad-ranging friendship between independent individuals who share a history, experiences, a passion for painting, especially in the outdoors, and the Art Spirit!”
When prompted, Wipfler acknowledges the show is a highpoint in her career. “There are thousands of artists that would literally kill me if that meant they could have my spot in Sue’s gallery,” she says. “People want to be in that gallery badly. You walk in and you can feel the love for the art and their friendships with the artists and the meaning behind it all.” www.simpsongallaghergallery.com
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This just in!!! Lucy Grogan, Jackson Hole Art Auction Coordinator, sends the following:
Jackson, WY…The fifth annual Jackson Hole Art Auction was held on September 17th at the Center for the Arts in Jackson, Wyoming. Hosted by Trailside Galleries and Gerald Peters Gallery, more than 88% of the featured 250 lots sold, realizing over $9,000,000 in sales. As the auction got under way at 12:30 pm, more than 300 people filled the seats of the auditorium, with some 400 registered bidders. Bidding was very active with close to 300 phone bids and absentee bids. Internet bidders also participated in much of the sale. In just its fifth year, the Jackson Hole Art Auction has clearly distinguished itself as a destination event, with consignors and collectors from all across the country and abroad, including Russia, Ireland, England, and Switzerland.
The live audience broke into enthusiastic applause when Frederic Remington’s painting “He Lay Where He Had Been Jerked, Still as a Log”, a 24 ¼ x 36 ¼ oil on canvas, estimated at $1,000,000-$1,500,000, sold for $1,583,000. Other highlights include Bob Kuhn’s painting “Study of a Cougar”, a small 16 x 12 inch acrylic on masonite, estimated at $50,000-$75,000, sold for $90,000; Charlie Dye’s painting, “Texas Brush Popper”, a 20 x 24 oil on board, estimated at $20,000 – $30,000, sold for $74,750; Frederick Remington’s iconic bronze “Bronco Buster #16” estimated at $400,000 – $600,000, sold for $488,750; John Clymer’s painting “Marie Dorian – Winter Refuge, 1814”, a 40 x 30 oil on board, estimated $200,000 – $300,000, sold for $391,000.
Out West, a two-woman show featuring new works by Mary Roberson and Amy Ringholz, opens at Altamira Fine Art on Thursday, July 21. A reception will be held at the gallery from 5-8 pm, and the exhibition will be on display July 18-31, 2011.
Ringholz rocketed to success. Her bold, mosaic-like paintings of wildlife caught the public’s eye quickly, and she sells like hotcakes. Ringholz is firmly part of a small group of artists credited with establishing new Western Contemporary art genres. It’s an impressive group and includes the likes of Bill Schenck and John Nieto; as well as the early master painters of the West and Southwest. There is no mistaking Ringholz’s swirling big-love painting style. I’d be remiss to not point out Ringholz’s new black and white paintings, a departure from her use of full, saturated colors. These new paintings recall the elegance of Japanese calligraphy.
Mary Roberson’s fluid and mystical paintings belie the artist’s great drafting talents. Roberson believes creativity is “natural and distinct to every individual,” and she avoided over-exposure to formal teaching. Despite the weight and tone of Roberson’s colors her paintings seem visionary. Great beasts of the earth float towards us, then recede. Her works possess a temporal wisdom, and one might imagine Roberson as a chosen recipient of messages sent from animal spirits. She passes these messages on to us, reminding us of the power of wildlife, of the essential inner knowledge of animals and the lessons they may bring us.
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Trailside Galleries and the Gerald Peters Gallery will present the 5th Annual Jackson Hole Art Auction on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts. The
Auction has released information on several lots likely to spur active bidding battles.
John Clymer’s Marie Dorian-Winter Refuge, a 40 x30 inch oil, lists an estimate of $200,000-$300,000.
Bob Kuhn’s Leopard in a Sausage Tree, a 24 x 36 inch acrylic, estimates at $150,000-$250,000.
Maynard Dixon’s Cowpuncher, a 30 x 25 inch oil, has an estimate of $400,000-$600,000.
Frederic Remington’s Bronco Buster (no.16), bronze, is estimated to sell between $400,000-$600,000.
Olaf C. Seltzer’s Charles Russell on Horseback, 12 x 8 inch watercolor, estimates at $25,000-$35,000.
G. Harvey’s Pigeon’s Corner, a 50 x 40 inch oil, is estimated at $150,000-$250,000.
Many more exciting lots will be announced; the Auction’s catalog will be available in August, 2011. This auction consistently breaks its own records for attendance and bidder registration and is fast becoming one of the most important great masters Western art auctions.
For more information, contact Auction Coordinator Lucy P. Grogan. Phone: 866 JH WY ART (549-9278). www.jacksonholeartauction.com
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I love the nostalgia and composition of just about every work included in Altamira Fine Art’s current exhibition, Across the Great Divide. When posting, I often begin by choosing images I wish to run and let my thoughts about the work flow from there. Not today. Can’t decide! I’m drawn to the landscapes and light, the mix of realism, fun and symbolism of this show’s storybook take on America.
Friday, May 27, 6-8 pm, stop by Altamira and meet the show’s featured artists: Howard Post and Dennis Ziemienski. The latter’s paintings are most obvious in their nostalgia, but Post’s golden landscapes connote the early West’s “land of promise.” I’m a sucker for that light and those dreams, and even more so now, having just returned from a marvelous trip to California. I thought the west coast light I knew as a child might be gone. It’s not. Thank
goodness there are artists working today who know that light–it abides not only in California but here in Wyoming (Summer time!!! Right now I’m turning into a mushroom!), in New Mexico, Arizona…and Montana. Luckily, these artists not afraid to recall and recreate.
Post and Ziemienski integrate brave primary color and geometric solidity; these elements project unabashed pride for subjects at hand. These are the most holy mountains and sunsets, the most emblematic skies and and winding rivers, the brightest and shiniest antique Chevrolet pick-ups, the comliest horses, the most robust cowboys.
Yes, it’s mythical. But it’s real. I can smell the light, the mountains, the oak trees. Embrace the romance. Across the Great Divide remains on display through June 12.
We’ll open with the red truck.
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The Jackson Hole Historical Society’s website calendar is in French. Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi…
So, on Vendredi, 27 Mai, 2011, the Grand Opening of the Society’s New History Museum takes place. That day, enjoy free admission to the new museum, slated to be open year-round. Ribbon cutting at noon, and there are activities scheduled throughout the day. Plan on refreshments, joie de vivre and beaucoup histoire; view the opening exhibition, entitled PLAYING HARD: LABOR AND LEISURE IN JACKSON HOLE.
“Founded over 50 years ago by collector Slim Lawrence and entrepreneur Homer Richards, the Museum is a place where the Old West is still alive. Our exhibits capture the spirit and the culture of the early days of Jackson Hole, Grand Teton and the Yellowstone region, featuring an outstanding collection of American Indian artifacts, as well as fur trade era tools and firearms, and items from the ranching and pioneer settlement era,” notes the Museum.
The museum will remain open until 8:00 p.m. Refreshments, kids’ activity books, and more.
Still thinking about the French….and connecting to the spirit of the French fur traders….
For more information, click on the museum’s website, ici. 307.733.2414.
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Artist and architect Eliot Goss recently opened an exhibition of his life drawings, Figures. The show remains on exhibit at Jackson’s Center for the Arts. If you visit Goss’ website, and click on the “Artist” side of his homepage, you will arrive at a lovely spot that not only talks about the exhibit but provides a video testimony to the talent behind it. Goss is interviewed; he discusses his process, priorities and goals as an artist. The video takes the viewer around the show, speaking with several notable creative locals who feel Goss has reached a new, successful artistic level.
http://www.eliotgosspainter.com/exhibition-video.html