Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2022/ No. 181 i Western Art Collector

Jerry Crandall, the artist known for his love of the past and paintings of trappers, mountain men and Native Americans, died June 12 from Covid-19. He was 87 years old. “Jerry Crandall’s special love of history, fascination for artifacts and an honest dedication to research, bring reality into each of his paintings. His creations sparkle with bright, clear realism, are painstakingly rendered, possess underlying technical accuracy and strive for historical authenticity,” his wife Judy Crandall wrote in his obituary. “His art celebrates the uncommon union between historical authenticity and fine art.” Born in La Junta, Colorado, not far from the Santa Fe Trail, Crandall long held an interest in history, including the Old West, the earlier trapper period and also World War II history, especially the German Luftwaffe, of which…

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is not only known for its wildlife, but also how easy the wildlife is to see. And I’m not talking about catching a glimpse of a creature from a moving car on the highway. I’m talking about bears in the backyard, moose poking noses into open windows and elk grazing in gardens. It’s wildlife you can almost reach out and touch, except the rangers implore you, “No touching!” So it’s fitting one of the best wildlife art exhibitions takes place in Jackson Hole’s famous National Museum of Wildlife Art, which hosts the annual Western Visions exhibition every September in the shadow of the Grand Tetons. This year’s show, which opens September 10, is expected to be a stellar example of the exhibition as the museum celebrates 35…

The top conservation-themed art exhibition in the world, Artists for Conservation, returns to the VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for its 12th annual festival. The leading artist group supporting environmental efforts and wildlife conservation, AFC represents 500 of the best nature/wildlife artists across the globe. The 2022 Artists for Conservation festival opens to the public this September 22 to 25, featuring 200 juried artworks by 179 artists, coming from nearly 20 countries. Among these works, upwards of 85 will be on display during the festival. All 200 pieces are represented in an online exhibition as well as a hardcover book produced as a companion to the show. Among the artists featured in this year’s event are Agnieszka Elliott, Lynden Cowan and Anne Schroeder, to name a few.…

Every year, Coeur d’Alene Galleries hosts the popular show of miniature, Western-themed paintings measuring approximately 14 inches or less. The 15th annual Miniatures by the Lake show opens on September 5 but the main event is the reception and sale on Saturday, September 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. The gallery expects to have between 100 and 120 works from 80 artists in the show, all of which will be sold by fixed-price draw, meaning the cost is set and the buyer will be randomly selected from all interested parties. Miniatures by the Lake will feature wildlife art, sporting art, landscapes, cowboy and Native American motifs and other iconic subject matter associated with the West. Because of their small scale, the pieces are often more affordable than their large-format counterparts.…

Striving to capture the brilliance of sunlight is Chuck Mauldin’s favorite painting challenge. By using the common technique of closing one eye and squinting with the open one, the sunlit landscape—and objects within it—can be simplified into a pattern of shapes of light and shadow. Master painter Kevin Macpherson taught him to see that mental image in absolute terms. In other words, the shape is either in light or in shadow. Once this foundation of light-versus-dark values has been recognized, the real fun begins—the thrill of picking colors to express the intention of the painting. “Sunlight always means warm lights and cool shadows, which can be created with a vast array of interesting pigments,” Mauldin says. “It’s the point where art meets chemistry—a perfect place for the artist who is…

One of the most picturesque backdrops in America once again plays host to one of Western art’s most popular events, the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival. Running September 7 through 18, the 12-day celebration features more than 50 events from fine art auctions to live art demonstrations, design, architecture, culinary art and fashion. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the Western Design Conference begins the blowout with a wine and jewelry pairing on the festival’s opening night at the Wort Hotel, home to the world-famous Silver Dollar Bar & Grill. The following night, visitors can receive a sneak peek at the Western Design Conference Exhibit + Sale inside the Snow King Events Center during an exclusive Preview Party + Fashion Show. Exhibiting juried interior designers and home and fashion vendors…

More than 40 exceptional Western artists will have work on view beginning September 23 during the 39th Annual Roundup Exhibition & Sale at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas. The longstanding show will once again bring art into the very heart of Texas Hill Country. “The caliber of art is exceptional this year,” says Darrell Beauchamp, the museum’s executive director. “Whether people are long-time Western art collectors or just starting out, they’ll want to attend this show. Each artist has pulled out all the stops to give us an exhibition of over 100 pieces of high-quality Western art. We look forward to a very successful Roundup.” Artists in this year’s show include Herman Walker, Linda Glover Gooch, William Kalwick, Carol Arnold and many others representing many categories within Western…

When Don and Cathey Humphreys were growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, they went on school field trips to the Gilcrease Museum, the Philbrook Museum and the Woolaroc Museum. “When we were growing up, cowboys and Indians were popular themes,” Don recalls. “At the museums I was just really struck by the Remingtons and the William R. Leighs. They were all about the adventure of the West.” He collected baseball cards as a boy and after they were married and living overseas as part of his work, they collected Chinese snuff bottles and embroidered children’s collars. Cathey also collects calligraphy brushes. The collection in their home in Santa Fe reflects their interest in many aspects of the art of the American West. In Dallas, the collection is more modern, with artists…

Jim Fowler, the zoologist and host of TV’s Wild Kingdom, said, “The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans. Our challenge for the future is that we realize we are very much a part of the earth’s ecosystem, and we must learn to respect and live according to the basic biological laws of nature.” Animal habitat and wildlife itself have been diminished by hunting, community expansion and natural phenomena. Recently, near Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire burned through an area larger than the city of Los Angeles. Kat Kinnick makes paintings, prints and pottery featuring the flora and fauna of her native northern New Mexico. She lives within sight of the smoke plumes and pyrocumulus clouds of the…

On view starting September 24, is the long running and highly anticipated Society of Animal Artist’s Annual Exhibition and Tour returning for the 62nd edition. Attendees can expect to see a broad, diverse range of the animal kingdom by 125 SAA members, in both painting and sculpture, who strive to enlighten and address issues surrounding how we care for non-human animals and their habitats. While some artists portray global concerns, others simply illuminate the beautiful characteristics of a particular species. Wes Siegrist, the SAA executive director, refers to the organizations official mission statement for the overall purpose of the upcoming exhibition: “The Society of Animal Artists (SAA), founded in 1960, is devoted to promoting excellence in the artistic portrayal of the creatures sharing our planet, and to the education of…

Phil Epp provides a context for viewing his paintings: “I related more to cowboy spaces rather than cowboy activity. I portray the spaces that both mythical ideas and real life occupy.” A man of the Great Plains, he relates, “In college I learned about Picasso and Rothko and got an appreciation of other movements in art history. For a time I was intrigued by minimalism—Donald Judd and Jules Olitski. I went back to realism but I kept some of that minimalist thinking.” There is no mistaking a Phil Epp painting—luminous landscapes beneath expressive skies, a few icons of the West like horses, cowboys and the moon to give it context, and a sense of vastness both awesome and inviting. An online exhibition of his paintings will be shown by Modern…

Two New Mexico artists come together at Manitou Galleries for Spiritual Surroundings, a show of new, complimentary pieces by landscape painter Jeff Cochran and bronze sculpture artist Liz Wolf. Cochran feels that he and Wolf share a “strong connection to nature and the mysterious powers and unexplainable craziness that happens in the ‘wilds’ of New Mexico. I think we are both artists that are interested in capturing the ‘now.’” Cochran continues that his new series of paintings is really a “focus on moments of light that are such a fragment of time that the viewer feels like the paint fell into place just a few minutes ago. Cochran also notes he’s employed this immediacy not only with light, but with moments of weather. “I have spent years drawing with paint…

The Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale returns for the 41st edition in celebrating prestigious art works that depict life in the West, while raising money for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce. Every year patrons flock to the esteemed event hosted at the Buffalo Bill Center in Cody, Wyoming, along with participating artists, making for what the Buffalo Bill director Kathy Thompson calls “a big reunion” and a “fun party.” “We’re very successful for a small town of 10,000,” Thompson says. “Our guests come because they haven’t seen people in person in awhile, and they’re all bonded by the Center of the West. They’re more relaxed when they get here due, in part, by the natural beauty of Cody.” Like many…

Featuring materials as diverse as pueblo carvings, turquoise jewelry, woodblock prints and oil paintings, Santa Fe Art Auction’s Signature Summer Sale saw exceptional results amid high bidding in the June 24 and 25 sale. The sale featured a number of quintessential examples by modernist painter Emil Bisttram, whose 1961 oil piece Man the Unknown (est. $100/200,000) sold for $91,500. The works is a fascinating example of the artist’s work as a member of the Transcendental Painting Group, which valued pure abstracted form above all else. The Santa Fe Art Auction has had a number of stunning Gustave Baumann works available at auctions from throughout the last year, and the June sale was no different with several really strong Baumann woodblock prints. The top Baumann was the 1930 print Bound for…

SEPTEMBER 9-OCTOBER 9: EITELJORG MUSEUM OF AMERICAN INDIANS AND WESTERN ART QUEST FOR THE WEST | Indianapolis, IN | (317) 636-9378 | www.eiteljorg.org September SEPTEMBER 1-20 INSIGHT GALLERY Fall Group Show Fredericksburg, TX – (830) 997-9920 www.insightgallery.com SEPTEMBER 2-30 MANTIOU GALLERIES Spiritual Surroundings Santa Fe, NM – (505) 986-0440 www.mantiougalleries.com SEPTEMBER 2-30 MOUNTAIN TRAILS GALLERY Animal Nature: Wild & Domestic Sedona, AZ – (928) 282-3225 www.mountaintrailssedona.com THROUGH SEPTEMBER 4 DESERT CABALLEROS WESTERN MUSEUM Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West Wickenburg, AZ – (928) 684-2272 www.westernmuseum.org THROUGH SEPTEMBER 5 BRISCOE WESTERN ART MUSEUM Sons of Charlie Russell: The Cowboy Artists of America San Antonio, TX – (210) 299-4499 www.briscoemuseum.org SEPTEMBER 5-24 COEUR D’ALENE GALLERIES Miniatures by the Lake Coeur d’Alene, ID – (208) 667-7732 www.cdagalleries.com SEPTEMBER 7-18…

Marking its 30th national exhibition, the Pastel Society of New Mexico is currently celebrating the medium of pastel at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico. The hybrid live and virtual show opened August 5 and continues through September 21. The live portion of the show will take place at the Taos musuem, while the virtual component will take place at www.pastelsnm.org. The live exhibition will feature 66 paintings and the virtual show will have those same 66 works, but also an additional 45 works only available on the website. The Pastel Society of New Mexico was founded in 1989 and has shown artwork all around New Mexico, even as artwork from the shows is dispersed around the country and world as more and more collectors participate in the…

Painters who depict the West on canvas are very often pioneers in their own right, exploring new subject matter and blazing their own path in an often unpredictable art world. But at the height of their careers, three artists—Robert Griffing, John Buxton and H. David Wright—have succeeded in accomplishing what few of their peers can claim. After decades of persistence and outright hard work, the trio has truly broken fresh artistic ground and opened up an entirely new genre for Western art collectors. For all three men, the creative journey in the fine art world began after successful careers in the advertising field. Wright labored as a commercial artist in Nashville, while Griffing and Buxton enjoyed a long working relationship in Pennsylvania. Griffing worked as an art director at a…

Painters and photographers often seek out the light of the “golden hour” just after sunrise and just before sunset. Darcie Peet lets us know the precise time in her painting Half Hour ‘Til Sundown – Pikes Peak North. The warm light of the setting sun accentuates the dried-out grasses and fall foliage of the sycamore trees, while the foothills fall into shadow and the peaks catch the last light before they, too, slip into golden light and then dark. She seeks “wild places” in her work and says, “For me, these backcountry spaces are powerful, humbling, have such a sense of awe and deserve great respect. Along with light, mood and a strong sense of place, it is these feelings and experiences that I strive to capture in my work.”…

The SLOPOKE: Fine Art of the West Exhibition & Sale is an annual Western-themed, juried fine art show held every year at Flag is Up Farms in Solvang, California, a thoroughbred horse ranch owned and operated by Monty Roberts and his artist and equestrian wife Pat Roberts. Tom and Sherie Burgher founded the show in 2011 “to bring back a high-end Western art show…and to exhibit on the California’s Central Coast the quality of art and artist normally seen in the big cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco,” explains Burgher. Today, artists from around the Western states come to Flag is Up Farms to exhibit their work and compete for the silver SLOPOKE belt buckle awards for best painting, best sculpture and best of show. Magazine-sponsored awards, including one…

Edward Aldrich says he has always loved wildlife and continues to be “enamored of a lot different artists I looked at many years ago at the National Museum of Wildlife Art—artists like Bruno Liljefors and Edwin Landseer,” he says. “Every time I see their work I’m blown away by their abilities—their technique and their way of conveying a mood.” The work of contemporary artists such as “Tim Lawson, Dan Sprick and Jeremy Lipking, [they] put their paintings together in a way that’s just jaw dropping.” Aldrich demonstrates his own jaw-dropping technique in an exhibition of his latest work, Wildlife Encounters, at Sorrel Sky Gallery in Durango, Colorado, October 21 through 31. He strives to portray the “inherent being” of his subjects in natural settings with subtle lighting illuminating their unique…

InSight Gallery will kick off the autumn season with its annual Fall Group Show, featuring new works from all 60 of the gallery’s artists, as well as a special highlight on figurative artist Hsin-Yao Tseng. The show, which runs September 1 to 20, gives collectors a wide range of styles, subjects and mediums from which to choose out of a massive pool of nearly 100 works of art. In addition, this year InSight Gallery will also showcase works from guest artists Julee Hutchison and Robert Rodriguez. One of artist John Fawcett’s pieces, Full Tilt, captures the energy of a horse in motion as its hooves kick up clouds of dirt. “With this watercolor I wanted the viewer to be a part of the scene, experiencing the dust and the thunder…

Simple sheets of paper continue to inspire Calvin Nicholls in the studio. Scores, folds and various “tooling” techniques combine to create surprising illusions of dimensionality even in a very shallow working depth. Harnessing light to define texture and form in his wildlife paper sculptures rewards his efforts as he pursues these intersecting lifelong passions. “Whether embracing the elegance of white-on-white or energizing the layout with vivid contrast, the goal remains the same,” Nicholls says. “Employing the world’s finest papers to create as much interest as possible in the medium while exploiting the subtle transformation from soft highlight to deep shadow rewards me for every hour at the art table. My inventory of completed sculptures is always low due to the great joy I share in conversations with collectors eager to…

The Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, Texas, prepares for the 36th celebration of Trappings of Texas, beginning with the preview party on Thursday, September 15. Located in the heart of ranching country, the exhibition and sale will have more than 35 artists who have a connection to the ranching world and are inspired to depict Western scenes and cowboy culture. The show and sale, featuring around 90 works, will also feature high-quality custom cowboy gear and jewelry. “This year we mainly have paintings ranging from oil and acrylic, to pastel and mixed media,” explains museum director Mary Bones. “[Our juried exhibition] includes quality, recent work from emerging and new artists to the show, as well as returning artists in contemporary and traditional styles. We like to mix it…

Western Art Collector magazine has changed the way artists, galleries and collectors connect. It has closed the gap that previously existed in the Western art market. Spectacular and instant SOLD! stories keep rolling in. On this page you can read just some of the feedback pouring into our office from coast to coast on sales and connections achieved. And now that the virtual version of the magazine launches up to 10 days before the printed edition arrives, collectors can find new art even faster. 1. Jeremy Winborg on a hot streak at InSight Gallery Jeremy Winborg, quickly becoming one of those must-collect Western artists, recently sold a major 48-by-48-inch work at InSight Gallery. The piece, Rising Sage, shows a young subject as she burns sage and swipes at the wafting…