Posts Tagged ‘Jackson Hole Galleries’
“Passage #39″ – Dan Namhinga. Acrylic on canvas, 84 x 72″
Dan and Arlo Namingha; Theodore Waddell. What a pairing. Altamira Fine Art is the gallery to connect these dynamic, sublime artists in a double show, opening with an artists’ reception Thursday, June 6th, 5-7:00 pm. The Naminghas’ “Form & Symbolism” and Waddell’s “Abstract Angus” are ultimately about interpretation of place. All three artists’ native territories’ images and landscapes course through their veins, exploding on canvas and permeating sculptures.
How exhilirating for Thomas Hoving to compile his can’t-put-it-down biography “The Art of Dan Namingha.” The Namingha family’s history begins with Dan’s great-great-grandmother, famed Tewa/Hopi potter Nampeyo (photographed by Edward S. Curtis, c. 1905). The family tree is an arts dynasty. That’s a regal word to describe a creative clan so rooted in landscape and indigenous culture, but it’s an undeniable accreditation.
How to begin to describe Dan’s remarkable journey as an artist? Namingha’s initial influence was Hekytwi Mesa near the Hopi reservation where Namingha was born. Namingha’s work is phenomenally diverse, the breath of his artistic style is almost impossible to comprehend; he moves from complex arrangements of Hopi mesas, kachinas, spirals, sun and depictions of dual cultures he inhabits to minimalist, graphic, geometric landscapes. As a child, Hekytwi Mesa was the dominant landmark beyond Namingha’s grandparents’ door. Its presence left an endurable mark on the artist’s soul, and some version of Hekytwi Mesa appears in almost every Dan Namingha work.
“West of Oraibi” – D. Namhinga
“The presence of two cultures, he believes, also makes him sensitive to the dual nature of all things—night and day, past and future, then and now,” writes Hoving. Ultimately, Namingha’s exposure to his native culture, wise and encouraging mentors, and 20th century abstract modernism are melded in this remarkable body of work.
“Cultural Images #10″ – Arlo Namingha
Sculptor Arlo Namingha, Dan’s eldest son, became involved with carving at an early age. Surrounded by his family’s legacy and practices, his first carvings of Katsina dolls manifested early in life. Positive and negative space, geometric design, cosmology and Hopi/Tewa identity are interwoven in Arlo’s wood, clay, stone, fabricated and cast bronze sculptures.
“Using the idea of design, form and movement, I minimize these literal images not to recreate them but to draw from them and my personal experiences,” writes Arlo Namingha. “My work not only reflects the figurative aspect of my native people and cultural deities but also the idea of scenery and landscape as well as symbolism.”
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“Horizon Horses #4″ – Theodore Waddell
Theodore Waddell’s comment to “American Art Collector” about his work and this show is delectable. “Well, the modern guys didn’t like me because I used subject matter,” said Waddell. “And then Western guys didn’t like me because I was too modern.”
Somebody liked him. Waddell’s work is highly influenced by the Abstract Expressionist school. Though the artist didn’t initially realize how important those artists were to his vision, he continues to relate fully to the sense that paint has its own identity.
“Angus DR#24″ – Theodore Waddell
In this show, we recognize the Montana artist and rancher’s signature painterly landscapes dotted with horses—often so abstracted as to resemble animal tracks rather than mature species. Waddell’s horses, cattle and bison—often black as coal—leave their mark below the thin blue line of Waddell’s mountain skylines. In Montana’s sky, clouds softly wave, like the sea. Waddell has expanded depth and range of color, suggestive of seasonal shifts in atmosphere, foliage and the earth’s tendancy to morph from fertile browns into hardened, impenetrable surfaces.
Alongside these works are fully abstract and interpretational works on paper from Waddell’s “Abstract Angus” series, recently exhibited at the Denver Art Museum. DeKooning is the expressionist I see most reflected in these illusive, amorphic works. They do, as the gallery has said, suggest the drift of grazing animals.
Western art encompasses so much more than the realism many of us associate with the term. But in the West, notes Waddell, we are a part of it all. This exhibition remains on display through June 15th. To view all of Altamira’s artists, click on their website, www.altamiraart.com .
Camus Prairie Angus | 40/40″ – Theodore Waddell
Robert Farber - Seeing Montana
“American Moods,” an unprecedented Altamira Fine Art exhibition of photographs by acclaimed photographer Robert Farber, will be on display February 14 – March 1st, 2013. An opening reception takes place Saturday, February 16th, 5-8:00 pm at the gallery. Farber will be on hand! There’s no finer gauge of artistic relevance and import on television these days than documentaries produced on the subject by the Public Broadcasting System, or PBS. Farber has been approached by PBS regarding documenting the artists’ life. And what is PBS’ mission? It is to “educate, inform and inspire with essential… programming that enlarges people’s sense of the world.”
And our view will be enlarged! Part of the exhibition includes five 5′ x 8′ canvas photographs from Farber’s Americana, Classic and New York portfolios. Those will hang in addition to 30 more photographs measuring 30 x 40 inches from the same portfolios; Altamira will show color and black and white images.
Robert Farber - Night Diner
Enlarging our sense of the world, yes. Photographing for over 38 years, Farber’s recognition as one of the world’s greatest photographers has allowed him to lecture at such eminent institutions as the Smithsonian Institute, the George Eastman House, and at universities and professional groups throughout the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe, notes Altamira.
There may never be a greater arbriter of taste than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was she who brought Farber into Doubleday’s publishing house for his book By The Sea, and Farber won the Art Director’s award for color photography. His images have been called analytical, and they may be in that they single out American destinations and states of mind. But Farber’s images are highly evocative, prone to allowing muffled memories of our personal ideals of landscape—urban or otherwise—to float back to the surface.
Robert Farber - One Cow
Remarkably, Farber’s work is not limited to documentary photographs as we think of them~~~images of movements, historic place, profiles and the like. He’s able to transform his work to embrace and brilliantly render major campaigns in the worlds of fashion, beauty and advertisting, and directing for film and TV.
“His painterly, impressionistic style captures the essence of composition in every genre, including Nudes, Still Life, Landscapes and Architecture. His ten photo art books have sold over half a million copies,” notes Altamira. Farber’s nudes were used as examples of artistic application in support of the National Endowment of the Arts, after that organization backed the historic, then very controversial Mapplethorp/Serrano photography exhibition. Farber has received numerous prestigious creative awards, joining the ranks of such photographic giants as Dr. Edwin Land, George Hurrell and National Geographic.
And speaking of American landscapes and painters, the highly place-based paintings of painter Jared Sanders are also featured, concurrently with this exhibit, at Altamira. Mr. Sanders will also attend the reception~~I’m very much looking forward to seeing his new work! www.altamiraart.com
Robert Farber - Evening at the Met
Mari Andrews’ Like a Language and Rakudo Naito’s Nature Constructed share an opening reception at the Tayloe Piggott Gallery on Friday, February 10, 5-8:00 pm. The white light in the work conveys winter’s soft delicacy, its silence and ability to allow us to see new the shy details of bare branches, spores, and the simple lines of a leaf. Fluid femininity and structural systems wrought from nature are explored. The show remains up through March 27, 2012.
I’m going for it here: Andrews’ constructions of wire, pine needles, delicate branches and what looks, in press materials, like lichen, are certainly–at least in part—meditations on women’s reproductive organs. Nature as feminine. Tubular constructs terminate in mossy, circular portals. Flattened ovary and fallopian-shaped sculptures are heavily textured and the color of shells mixed with seaweed; expanded hearts. White, lacy blossoms float airily. Beaker-shaped pods and vessels intertwine—the fairest of mermaid necklaces. Indeed, Andrews’ work is highly intimate. Continue Reading
Sometimes it all boils down to the boat.
Now on exhibition at the Tayloe Piggott Gallery, artist Kathryn Lynch’s River Tugs is an opus to the painter’s surroundings, and her naive, folk-like painting style is refreshing. It’s cool to have these paintings of tugboats and other vessels in Jackson, because they’re subject matter not often offered up in our mountain town. Lynch leaves out nautical details and concentrates on each boat’s essence—for her, these tugs are “symbols of the ongoing solitary traveler in each of us.” The theme is one we’ve picked up on in the most recent Piggott gallery shows, and these works encourage us to give pause—and that’s a good thing. No rushing. Lynch’s tonal, broad strokes, rendered in grays, greens, orange and blues, suggest play even as they suggest a certain somber observation of our collective psyche.
As children, pushing our Fisher Price tugboats around and around in the bath made the prospect of approaching bedtime much more welcome. Splashing play, followed by a dive under the blankets and dream time.
Showing concurrently at Tayloe Piggott is Nicole Charbonnet’s body of new works, Wild Things. Charbonnet’s layered, fresco-like works “serve as a metaphor for the phenomenon of recollection,” and portray animals found in the wild and iconic wild West horses and cowboy themes. Charbonnet also explores our own perceptions of self through non-human imagery; her work expresses a longing—and also a reverence—for days gone by.
She sees in her process of “erasing” the paint and overlaying additional layers something that both celebrates and criticizes the values portrayed by her subjects. “I’m raising questions about their current viability in a changed world. I make them look old and tired, though still beautiful, to ask if it’s time to relegate them to memory.”
A New Orleans native, Charbonnet says her home city greatly influences her work. “If you watch New Orleans, you see everywhere the effects of the process of time on surfaces,” she says. adding “That’s true of every place, every person.” The artist builds up her paintings with layers of textures, images, words, fabrics and collaged papers from all manner of sources. Says Charbonnet,“Nothing is ever completely gone, so even if you don’t hold a conscious memory of something, it forms the fabric and texture of who you are. I try to re-create the process your mind goes through in becoming what it is. You see something, and it reminds you of something else, another context, another feeling, even while the original image remains.”
River Tugs and Wild Things remain on exhbition through February 7, 2012. www.tayloepiggottgallery.com
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Trailside Galleries annual Holiday Miniatures Show opens with a gallery reception on Thursday, December 29, 5-8:00 pm. The gallery is excited to début “exquisite” new miniature paintings from most of the gallery’s roster of
artists. The gallery will feature new works by such noted Western artists as Kyle Sims, Dan Smith, Adam Smith, Joseph Sulkowski, Guy Coheleach, Robert Duncan, Nicholas Coleman, David Mayer, and many others.
The show’s opening takes place in conjunction with that evening’s downtown Jackson Holiday ArtWalk. While you are there, venture upstairs to see what’s new at the Jackson Hole Art Auction offices; Trailside produces the annual Fall Arts Festival event in conjunction with the Gerald Peters Gallery. For more information, phone 307-733-3186. www.trailsidegalleries.com …
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Thursday, December 22, wildlife artist Mary Roberson gives an artist’s demonstration at Altamira Fine Art, 3-5:00 pm. An artist’s conversation, “My Sketch Book,” will be presented by Roberson at 6:00 pm.
Altamira takes its name from Spain’s famous Upper Paleolithic cave paintings of wild beasts. Of all Altamira’s artists, Roberson is most connected to that wild spirit, and inner knowledge that animals inform us.
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
