Posts from ‘Conservation’
Portal Tracs; Cougar Power
Portal Tracs.187U – Rocky Hawkins
An artist’s work is particularly powerful when it embraces the other side of what many consider real time and space. Communication and reverence for supernatural beings is at the heart of life. Sometimes, the human form itself is transformed, becoming divine and omnipotent.
To me, Rocky Hawkins’ paintings explore the intersection between heaven and earth. His figures are spirits, simultaneously sending and absorbing messages. Composed with brushes and palette knives, Hawkins’ paintings constantly explore new spaces and concepts. His latest body of work, on exhibition at Altamira Fine Art through June 30th, includes large and small-scale works. In each painting Hawkins delves ever deeper into abstraction using bold strokes, a full array of color and superb composition.
“Sky Dance Rider” – Rocky Hawkins.
The primary focus of these new works is a group of paintings—the “Portal Tracs” series. In each work Hawkins depicts rectangular shapes representing gateways into another dimension. Time is fluid. Geometric fields overlap and intersect, distinct but amorphous. It is Hawkins’ broad spaces—a vast universe—painted in above his figures that draw the viewer in. We are pulled towards clusters of riders, grouped and solitary figures. As you move through the exhibit, notice Hawkins’ use of numbers and letters in his titles. Each letter —T, R, A, C and S—refers to a form visible within the painting. The letters, together, spell “tracs.” I will tell you about the “U” shape, turned towards the heavens and connected to figures’ heads: it represents the unknown, and it reaches out “like an antenna, ready to receive new experience.”
“Portal Tracs.385U” – Rocky Hawkins
Hawkins’ palette runs the gamut from electric to earthy. Every choice is correct. In this grouping of works there is something for everyone. The smallest canvases I saw measured 6 x 8″. These make wonderful collection starters and are as intensely wrought as Hawkins’ large canvases. “Portal Tracs.923U” measures 60 x 48″.
Hawkins also revisits his “Archer” and “Horse and Rider” series themes. They are as bold, sacred and intriguing as ever, and Hawkins is a master at depicting points of tension amidst rich, painterly strokes of color. As has been said, Hawkins is an artist choosing not to stay in one place for too long. www.altamiraart.com
Image by Taylor Glenn
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
On Sunday, May 12th, National Geographic photographer Wade Davis makes an appearance at Jackson’s first annual Mountain Story Festival, courtesy of the Murie Center. There’s no getting away from the fact that climbing treacherous, challenging peaks here—and anywhere in the world—is a huge part of our culture. Climbers take in the outdoors in a mind-bending way. The closest I’ve come to being that high, with a few thousand feet between me and flat ground is the year I skydived, on a dare, at college. I’d do that again before I’d climb the Grand or any other giant, jagged, craggy mountain!
Others have infinitely more guts. These extreme personalities can’t keep themselves from climbing; they climb in their sleep. Which is why Davis’ talk on his new book “Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest” should be packed. Mothers, be warned! Content may be nerve racking! 7:00 pm start, Pink Garter Theater, downtown Jackson.
Wednesday, May 15th, the Murie Center’s Mardy’s Conservation Collection Book Club meets to discuss the Murie’s book, Wapiti Wilderness.
“In this autobiographical tale…Olaus and Mardy describe their life together, raising a family in the mountainous wilderness of the Tetons, while Olaus worked for the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey,” says the Center. The gathering takes place at the the Murie’s original home, Murie Ranch, in Moose, WY, at 6:30 pm. Lively discussion, reflection and inspiration are a promise. www.muriecenter.org.
•
The Grand Teton Association (GTA) has announced its line-up of plein air artists for this summer’s “Artists in the Environment” (AIE) series, taking place the second Saturday of every month, June – September, in Grand Teton National Park(GTNP). Each of those weekends, regional plein air painters provide free painting demonstrations at locations throughout GTNP. Founded by the late, great plein air artists Greg McHuron and Conrad Schwiering, the program has offered countless visitors and art lovers a free chance to see artists capturing the beauty surrounding us.
I have a personal passion for this program~~I believe the history of plein air painting in this valley, and in the Greater Yellowstone Region, is one of America’s most important art history stories. Its tradition is unbreakable; the artists’ bonds are like steel.
For fifty years, the GTA has celebrated GTNP via the arts. All proceeds realized by the GTA serve to broaden education, research and interpretation of GTNP.
Times and locations are TBA, but participating artists for 2013 are: Dwayne Harty – June 15th; Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters & Co., – July 13th; Wendell Field - August 10th; and Fred Kingwill - September 14th. More on all these artists as summer progresses!
Paul Bransom (1885-1979) -Jackson Hole, Wyo- 13 x 17″ Oil
You think you’ve seen everything, and suddenly a gem crosses your path. This gem is an oldie, but it shines. It’s history, and a wonderful window into our valley’s arts and wilderness tradition. We are a plein air paradise. A few days ago I paid a visit to Astoria Fine Art and visited the collection of plein air paintings of the Tetons currently in house. The collection is not a true show, but viewed together these works afford an excellent “view” of the many ways artists have painted this valley.
For me, the most exciting find was a scene painted by Paul Bransom (1885-1979). Bransom, notes the gallery (and the gallery credits the National Museum of Wildlife Art), “was a prominent early-American illustrator, having completed covers for the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, Country Gentleman and Good Housekeeping. Beginning in 1947, Bransom spent 16 summers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He met many other artists and illustrators in Jackson, and together they taught classes and started Teton Artists Associated.” Another source says Bransom’s commissions included illustrations for Kipling’s “Just So Stories” and Grahame’s “Wind in the Willows.”
Teton Artists Association, circa 1947, Jackson Hole.
Astoria’s Bart Monson was kind enough to provide an historic photograph of plein air artists painting in the valley; the photo dates circa 1947. The image, from the Archives of American Art, is assumed to be a photograph of Teton Artists Associated members painting en plein air. Phenomenal!
Astoria, says owner Greg Fulton, recently acquired four historical paintings depicting the Teton Range. Those and other contemporary works are available to see; artists include Conrad Schwiering, Scott Christensen, Carol Swinney, Jim Wilcox, romantic landscape painter Linda Tuma Robertson, and more. www.astoriafineart.com
Most furniture designers – small custom shops or factories – let the rectilinear shape of the boards and power tools dictate design. So that’s what you see. I do things the other way around; that’s what informs my designs. ~ David Trapp
Ninety percent self-taught, woodworker David Trapp has built custom furniture and sculpture in his Victor, Idaho workshop for 30 years. Through a series of local connections and using machinery, books and tools he’d bought, he began gaining commissions to design furnishings, cabinets and most recently, abstract sculpture. His craftsmanship is flawless, but he’s not had Jackson gallery representation since his days at the former J.H. Muse Gallery, where his work sold extremely well. Trapp did benefit from his relationship with the great California woodworker Sam Maloof.
Sam Maloof
“Sam is still considered by most woodworkers to be the best furniture maker and designer in the country. He conducted regional classes, and anytime he was anywhere close, I would go,” recalls Trapp. “We got to be friends; three decades back I began working with Sam.”
In the woodworking world, it’s pervasive to take pride in the length of time spent working on any piece. While teaching a semester at Rhode Island’s School of Design, Maloof blew that preconception out of the water. Trapp was there.
James Balog – Photo: Jeff Orlowski/Extreme Ice Survey
“Happiness is the exercise of vital powers, along lines of excellence, in a life that affords them scope.” ~Aristotle
How many of us exercise life in a state of happiness Aristotle envisions? In our competitive, crowded, resource-stretched and shrinking world, exercising vital powers excellently, with scope, is a rareity. But oh, when attained, that life is sublime, and a person’s contributions spread to all souls open to receive it.
I imagine photographer/filmmaker James Balog’s life is like this. His exhibition of old growth forest photographs was one of the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s most mesmerizing shows. Now Balog returns to Jackson and will personally attend a public screening of his award-winning documentary “Chasing Ice.” This special event takes place Thursday, March 21st, 2013, at the museum. Doors open at 6:30 pm; the film begins at 7:00 pm. A Q&A with Balog follows, and a book signing. Only 150 seats are available—I predict a sell-out, so get going, Balog fans!
“Nature is changing, right before our eyes,” says Balog. “Through my work, I am committed to bearing witness to these changes.”
James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey
I’ve said this many times, in many ways, but will say it again: the diversity of artistic mediums and approaches exploring the natural world here in Jackson Hole is remarkable. If you make a living solely by selling your artwork, you’re living a life affording you scope. Our magic creative circle is tight; we benefit from emulating larger arts communities and cultures, but when we can’t do that we bring in people like Balog. Our arts non-profits offer up phenomenal opportunities to get intimately close to the best.
Tickets are (a very reasonable) $20, $15 for museum members, and may be purchased at the museum’s front desk, Valley Books, or by calling the museum at 307.732.5400. Check out the “Chasing Ice” trailer at http://www.chasingice.com/see-the-film/trailer/. www.wildlifeart.org
