One Nest ~ Many Fish!
It’s been in the Western winds: Jackson Hole artist Kathryn Mapes Turner and her brother, sustainable builder Mark Turner, have launched an innovative project. Though the siblings are Jackson-based, they’ve deep roots in the Washington D.C. area, owing to their family’s political legacy.
They’re smart, these two.
Their “One Nest” collaborative project combines sustainable building design and broadly embraced aesthetic with art created in one of the West’s most prominent art markets. In “the heart of Virgina horse and wine country,” near Shenandoah National Park, is a home designed by Mark, filled with artwork by his sister Kathryn. On Saturday, May 18th, 4-8:00 pm, and Sunday, May 19th, 2-6:00 pm, the public is invited to tour the structure, survey the land and take in the art.
Mark’s company, Greenspur, Inc., is, says the builder, inspired in part by Wallace Stegner’s words: “There it was, there it is, the PLACE where during the best of our lives friendship had its home and happiness had its headquarters.” Kathryn’s plein air and studio paintings are inspired by the natural world, light and “wide open spaces.”
It’s a great concept, and how much more fulfilling could it be than to co-create such a complete project with family you love?
May’s open house is in fact the project’s Grand Opening, and though it is free reservations are necessary; if you wish to attend, I’d sign up quick! The D.C. crowd will descend! The link to reserve a visit can be found here. Links: http://onenestproject.com/2013/03/21/space-greenspur-inc/ www.turnerfineart.com “One Nest” address: 3322 Carrington Road, Delaplane, VA 20144.
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Pinedale’s Winning Entry, “Time to Make Waves.”
”If children are a measure of our future, Wyoming’s future will follow a path of creativity and imagination.” ~ Wyoming Representative Tim Stubson, Casper.
Imagination and creativity link all of us. Creativity bridges the often times daunting distances between Wyoming’s citizens, and it takes special care and effort to send the message to our children that those distances can be vaporized. Like a morning meditation zeroing in on awakening creativity and imagining our potential, we must strive to dissolve what we believe are our limits. And we must show the rest of the country what we are making here. What can we be to the big wide world? Hundreds, if not thousands, of miles may lie between Wyoming’s creativity and other, larger arts centers and communities. Every reach counts.
Photo Courtesy Kevin Wittig and Mountain Pulse
Fifteen years ago a Chicago art exhibit, “Cows on Parade,” made history. The idea behind the exhibit was to get as many artists, celebrities, designers and other creative personalities to decorate fiberglass cows and spread them out across the city. The show was a great tourism draw and has been emulated many times over; all the cows were auctioned off for charity.
“Traveling Trout” is a big school of artistically designed fiberglass fish; 37 Wyoming schools took part in a fish-art competition, and winners were announced late last month. The entire exhibit is on display at the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s outdoor sculpture garden and trail through October 6, 2013. You can see them from the road, breaching and diving, snagging fireflies. Thousands of dollars in cash prizes were awarded to the winning students and schools, and that’s a great cause. Later this fall, the exhibit will travel around the rest of the state. www.wildlifeart.org
A. Warhol – Plains Indian Shield. Serigraph, 36×36″
“The American West has given rise to myths and legends. Warhol, with [his series] ‘Cowboys and Indians’ has deftly tapped in to that vast resevoir of powerful images that somehow relate to reality, but also mystify it.” ~ MoMa
Altamira Fine Art has unveiled an impressive and exciting assembly of recent aquisitions. The lion’s share of new works come from Altamira’s exceptional roster of Contemporary Western artists; a few are exquisite works by deceased masters. Artists with new work in the gallery are Rocky Hawkins, Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953), R. Tom Gilleon, Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Duke Beardsley, Bill Schenck, Jared Sanders, Dan Namingha (sublime), Harvey Thomas Dunn (1884-1952) and Ed Mell.
I’ll be writing about all these artists as the season progresses, but today I’ll tell you a bit about Warhol, Schenck and Namhinga.
A Pittsburgh native, Warhol built his fame in New York, and remains one of the world’s most influential artists. He’s considered by many to be the king of Pop Art; toward the end of his life he turned his attention to Western themes. I’ve often thought that his late-in-life interest in landscape, Western symbols and icons sprang from some unconscious knowledge that time was short. He’d also purchased land at the end of Long Island that was, in that era, remote. The natural setting affected the artist. Warhol’s “Plains Indian Shield” is pictured above, and is available at Altamira. Warhol’s Western themed work is relatively scarce, and for Western art collectors, very special.
A Pop artist of high reputation himself, Schenck is, in part, returning to one of his earlier styles. His flattened, pointillistic black and white images of a black-haired, almost unbuttoned, sunglassed cowgirl harkens back to Roy Lichtenstein’s cartoon-like “commentaries” on Pop. Interestingly, Lichtenstein was also interested in Western themes early on in his career. Schenck’s “True Romance State III” ( 60 x 50″, shown at left) is at once sexy, beckoning, and contains a touch of humor.
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
April 26, 5:30 – 7:30 pm, the Art Association presents two shows: Fluid Watercolor in Jackson Hole and Clay In Your Face. Works will be on exhibition in the Art Association’s gallery and Theater spaces. Watercolors and ceramic works by a bevy of well-known Art Association-affiliated artists should be plentiful, as at least 50 names appear in related press materials. Refreshments at the opening, mais oui!
By the way, next time you visit Jackson’s Center for the Arts, check out the free arts-related publications and flyers behind the visitor’s information desk. There’s a wonderful revolving selection of materials available. The National Endowment for the Humanities pamphlet lists NEH programs for school and college educators taking place all over the country, and there are several I’d LOVE to be able to take! www.artassociation.org
The competition is of the highest caliber, and arts writers grantees approach contemporary art in the most innovative ways. If arts writers are innovative and relevant enough, they may receive grant monies from The Creative Capital|Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program. Deadline for submissions is Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Andy may not be with us, but his mojo is.
A sign of the times: The Foundation notes that “Due to legal constraints we can only fund U.S. citizens, permanent residents of the United States, and holders of O-1 visas.”
George Catlin, Buffalo Bull, Grazing on the Prairie, 1832-1833, oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
HAPPY EARTH DAY!
The National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Curator of Art, Adam Harris, is the guest curator for an exhibition opening May 18th, 2013 at the museum. This remarkable exhibition, assembled in cooperation with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, continues a new theme direction for the museum: exploration and examination of the American West. As a region, we’re shifting towards emphasizing the American West timeline, and along that timeline the overlapping, interconnected movements of art, conservation and exploration are continuous.
George Catlin’s American Buffalo is “entirely drawn from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection,” and will remain on display through August 18th, 2013. The show looks at Catlin’s work and feelings about the West via his representation of buffalo and their “integration into the lives of Native Americans.” Forty works are featured.
“Catlin’s paintings illuminate in great detail the close ties between Native American tribes and bison in the 1830s, and his writings about the land and its native inhabitants have informed generations of conservationists as they wrestle with sustainable ways to manage America’s Great Plains,” says Harris, who also contributed an essay for the show’s illustrated catalogue, to be published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Having the chance to work with the Smithsonian American Art Museum to interpret Catlin’s words and images was a great honor,” Harris says. “The resulting exhibit and catalog will help contemporary audiences see Catlin in a new light.”
George Catlin, Buffalo Chase with Bows and Lances, 1832-1833, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
