ALBERTO ORTEGA

“The Lives of Others”

September 8 - 29, 2022

421 West Broadway

“The Mulwrays” Oil on Panel New York, NY 10012 www.arcadiacontemporary.com
© 2022 Arcadia Contemporary (646) 861-3941 info@arcadiacontemporary.com
 LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHERS
SEPTEMBER 2022 / MONTHLY

ADOLFO CASTILLO / Publisher: Editorial/Creative

acastillo@americanartcollector.com
WENDIE MARTIN / Publisher:

Far and Wide

Advertising/Art Community Development
wmartin@americanartcollector.com
VINCENT W. MILLER / Founder

W
E D I TO R I A L elcome to our September issue of American Art
MICHAEL CLAWSON / Interim Managing Editor Collector! This marks our 14th issue with our popular
mclawson@americanartcollector.com
landscape special section. Landscapes have been a favorite
SARAH GIANELLI / Editor
sgianelli@americanartcollector.com subject for our collectors for many reasons. Not only do
ALYSSA M. TIDWELL / Assistant Editor we highlight the simple nature, beauty and elegance of Scan for
VIDEO
CHELSEA KORESSEL / Assistant Editor landscapes, but we also deeply touch on the history and
Scan the Icons
JOHN O’HERN / Santa Fe Editor prominence of landscapes within the art market. Here are Throughout This
FRANCIS SMITH / Contributing Photographer some great thoughts to ponder as you look through our Issue to Watch
CASEY WOOLLARD / Editorial & Email Traffic Coordinator landscape issue: Videos
cwoollard@americanartcollector.com Landscapes are most known for their versatility and
A D V E R T I S I N G  8 66  61 9  08 41 captivating viewpoints. Whether it is high mountains,
LISA REDWINE / Senior Account Executive mesmerizing sunsets, dense tropical forests, the rustic Don't Have
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lredwine@americanartcollector.com countryside, blue oceans or birds flying in the sky above
ANITA WELDON / Senior Account Executive winding rivers, there is something unique and enchanting
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for all of us with this genre. This is why collectors desire
HEATHER K. RASKIN / Senior Account Executive
hraskin@americanartcollector.com
landscape paintings within their collection. Galleries and
CONSTANCE WARRINER / Senior Account Executive
artists understand the soothing and warm feeling that is
cwarriner@americanartcollector.com created when viewing a beautiful landscape painting. It speaks We recommend
to each of us uniquely. SCANLIFE
MICHAEL BRIGHT / Senior Account Executive
Available on
mbright@americanartcollector.com Maybe we are drawn to the connection of nature and Android and IOS
SKYE FALLON / Sponsorships & Major Accounts beyond? Maybe the painting brings back nostalgic memories Devices
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from our youth? Maybe it is a vision of a previous fleeting
MARKETING moment and time in space? This conversation could go on
ROBIN M. CASTILLO / Social Media Engagement Manager for hours. Landscapes do exactly what art is supposed to do—
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Get Social!
they evoke emotion and spark conversation. Please turn to
TRAFFIC Page 62 and sink into 10 pages of landscape artists and their
JENNIFER NAVE / Traffic Manager incredible works. Then tune in to our podcast the American
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Art Collective, Episode 63 with famous landscape artists T.
PRODUCTION Allen Lawson and Len Chmiel, and Episode 42 with Brian american
TONY NOLAN / Art Director art collector
Cote for more insight and perspective from several landscape
DANA LONG / Production Artist
artists’ point of view.
LIZY BRAUTIGAM / Production Artist
Also in this is our Art Lovers Guide to New York,
S U B S C R I P T I O N S  87 7  9 47  07 92 Washington, D.C., and the Mid-Atlantic States with great
EMILY YEE / Office Manager galleries representing throughout the section. In addition,
service@americanartcollector.com collectart
you will find more than 14 gallery previews and several art
APRIL STEWART / Accounts Receivable
astewart@americanartcollector.com
show previews. If you find a painting you love, reach out to
BIANCA MARTOS / Administrative Assistant the gallery right away and continue your art passion through
& Marketing Coordinator this September issue. Enjoy!
bmartos@internationalartist.com
@artmags
Copyright © 2022. All material appearing in American Art Collector is copyright.
Reproduction in whole or part is not permitted without permission in writing from
the editor. Editorial contributions are welcome and should be accompanied by a
stamped self-addressed envelope. All care will be taken with material supplied, but
no responsibility will be accepted for loss or damage. The views expressed are not Wendie Martin & Adolfo Castillo
necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. The publisher bears no responsibility
and accepts no liability for the claims made, nor for information provided by Publishers
advertisers. Printed in the USA. AmericanArt
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AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR (ISSN 1547-7088) is published 12 times a year by

International Artist Publishing Inc. ON THE COVER
CANADA: Publications Mail Agreement No. 42330013, Return Undeliverable Canadian
Addresses to Asendia, Inc. P.O. Box 400 LCD 20, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada L3T QH2 Jane Hunt, Looking West, oil on linen, 24 x 18"

www.AmericanArtCollector.com
004
A SHORT
DISTANCE
FOR

A BIG
DIFFERENCE
www.rehscgi.com | info@rehscgi.com | 212 355 5710
WE ARE MOVING!
20 West 55th Street
Winter 2023
 “Vista West: Cape Royal” “Santa Fe Chamisa” (Detail)
Curt Walters | Oil | 16"×16" Walt Gonske | Oil | 16"×20"

“Evening Sky”
Kent Lemon | Oil | 30"×40"

“Sun Stones” (Detail)

Josh Elliott | Oil | 60"×115"

“Lower Jean Lake” (Detail)

Lanny Grant | Oil | 24"×30"

“Wind Tossed Seas, Point Lobos”

W. Truman Hosner
Pastel | 16"×20"

Celebrating Claggett/Rey Gallery

the landscapes EDWARDS, COLORADO
throughout America (970) 476 - 9350 CLAGGETTREY.COM
 9 Saguaros • Oil on Canvas, 48” x 36”

Easy Living • Oil on Canvas, 30” x 24”

Dirt Road to Paradise • Oil on Canvas, 36” x 48”

Brett Cassort Fine Art

www.brettcassort.com • Brett@Brettcassort.com • @brettcassortfineart • /brettcassortfineart

Currently showing at realART Gallery @ Whizin Market Square, Agoura Hills CA

UPCOMING SHOWS:
October 20-23 Dallas Market Hall, Dallas TX  • March 23-26 Gallery 208 @ Fort Mason, San Francisco CA
 JORDANNE

Upcountry Twilight, 40x40, Original Oil

Jordanne (Weinstein) Perkins


 
Original Oil Paintings • Commissions Open
Representation: Jordanne Gallery • 3625 Baldwin Avenue • Makawao, Maui (Hawaii) 96768
Contact info: 808-563-0088 • jordanne@jordannefineart.com
@jordanne_gallery Jordanne Gallery
CONTENTS /
SEPTEMBER 2022

Features
42 ByBoMichael
Bartlett: ‘We Live’
Clawson

48 A Collision of Cultures
By Sarah Gianelli

54 Motherhood as
Inspiration
By Vanessa Françoise Rothe

Special Sections
62 Natural Selections
Collector’s Focus: Landscapes

74 The Art Lover’s Guide

to Collecting Fine Art
in New York,
Washington, D.C. and

42
the Mid-Atlantic States

Art Fair & Art

Show Previews
86 AIS National
Juried Exhibition

90 Birds in Art

92 NOAPS Best of America

Juried Exhibition

28
94
Reno Tahoe International
Art Show

PSNM National Pastel

Painting Exhibition
62
96 Art on Paper

97 Art San Diego

98 Artexpo Dallas

99
74
The Armory Show

014 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

CONTENTS /
SEPTEMBER 2022

108 110 116

Upcoming Solo & Group Shows Artist Focus Pages
102 114 124 132 MITCHELL JOHNSON
Romeo, MI Alexandria, VA Truro, MA 133 GANG XU
FLORAL ENGAGEMENTS CARMEN DRAKE MITCHELL JOHNSON
134 JORDANNE PERKINS
RJD Gallery showcases Vintage Beauty Master of Color
floral art 135 SARAH PADDOCK
116 126
106 Los Angeles, CA Philadelphia, PA 136 ROBERT FORTE

BETTY BRANCH KENT WILLIAMS CELIA REISMAN 137 DAVID SCHWEITZER

Roanoke, VA Ghost Stories A Place You Can Enter
Retrospective 138 L.HUNT
118 128
108 Jackson, WY Scottsdale, AZ Award Winners
Charleston, SC JONATHAN SMITH SHAPES OF ZIMBABWE
140 JACQUELINE KNOTT
NATHAN DURFEE Symphony in Blue African Shona sculpture
Whimsy and Tradition exhibition
120 Departments
110 Pleasanton, CA 130 CALENDAR 30, 32
New York, NY TRANSITIONS Denver, CO
ALBERTO ORTEGA THROUGH TIME FIERCE, FURRY & SOLD! 143
Scenes of Suburbia Group show exploring change FEATHERED
Animal art show
112 122
Alexandria, VA Kennebunk, ME
GILBERT GORSKI JANIS H. SANDERS
Into the Woods Sea and Sky

Coast-to-Coast Coverage
ARIZONA MASSACHUSETTS SOUTH CAROLINA
Scottsdale Truro Charleston
CALIFORNIA MICHIGAN VIRGINIA
Los Angeles Romeo Alexandria
Pleasanton NEW YORK WYOMING
COLORADO New York Jackson
Denver PENNSYLVANIA
MAINE Philadelphia
Kennebunk

016 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 S C U L P T U R E

“The precision of a craftsman, the heart of an artist.”

A M Y K I T C H I N / A R T I S T R E P R E S E N TAT I V E 7 5 7 . 3 0 5 . 9 4 1 1 R I C H A R D S T R AV I T Z . C O M
Reaching for the Gold - Oil on Canvas

Judith Babcock
Judith Babcock is an American impressionist trained in
the Russian school of painting. Her work is widely collected.
Judith’s work hangs in many private and corporate collections.
“My larger paintings are done from my smaller plain air studies
& my imagination. The pallet knife is the secret weapon for my
bold color contrasts & development of the finished product.
Each painting takes on a personalit of it’s own.”

www.judithbabcockfineart.com
Studio & Gallery - 220 E 7th Avenue - Denver
303-669-6353
Summer Celebration 3 - 16” x 12” x 1.5” Oil on Canvas

 
   


  
    

Race Point Chair (Doris), 2022, 40 x 34 inches, oil on linen. © 2022 Mitchell Johnson.

Mitchell Johnson
Nothing and Change / Selected Paintings 1990–2022
Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, September 7–18, 2022. Gallery open daily, noon–5:00 p.m.
Digital catalog by email request: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com. Additional info: www.mitchelljohnson.com. Instagram: @mitchell_johnson_artist.
Carpinteria Bluffs 8"x10" oil

Emilie Lee
(PLOLH /HHߤV SDLQWLQJV DUH PHGLWDWLRQV RQ WKH SHDFH DQG EHDXW\ VKH ࣅQGV LQ QDWXUH
often depicting the variety of landscapes she discovers while traveling and rock climbing in the
$PHULFDQZHVWDQGEH\RQG:LWKWKHELUWKRIKHUࣅUVWFKLOGLQFDPHDWUDQVLWLRQWRDPRUH
JURXQGHGSKDVHRIIDPLO\OLIHDQGDQHZVHULHVRISDLQWLQJVWKDWUHࣆHFWKHUJUDWLWXGHIRUOLYLQJ
RQWKH6DQWD%DUEDUDFRDVW,QVSLUHGE\WKHDUHDߤVDEXQGDQWIUXLWVDQGࣆRZHUVDQGVXPPHUGD\V
DWWKHEHDFKKHUUHFHQWSDLQWLQJVFDSWXUHWKHWLPHOHVVEHDXW\RIWKLVPDJLFDOSDUWRI&DOLIRUQLD

0\DGYLFHWRFROOHFWRUVߧ*RZLWK\RXUJXWUHDFWLRQLI\RXUVRXOUHVRQDWHVZLWKDSDLQWLQJWKHQ
it can be a joy to live with for years to come.”

emilielee.com • emlee7@gmail.com • @emilieleelee

Naomi Brown

“Texas Blue Bonnet Sunrise” 48x60,” oil and acrylic on canvas

Available at The Good Art Company at Fredericksburg Texas

@naomibrownart.com z naomibrownart.com
Mint Julep - 18x24 - Oil on Linen

Fine Art

Contemporary Realism
inTraditional Oil Painting

www.sarahmpaddock.com

Represented by Kristen Campo Fine Art • 3025 Monroe Ave., Rochester NY, 14618 • 585.880.1945 • info@kcfagallery.com • www.kcfagallery.com
 M A ST E R O I L PA I N T E R S . CO M / AU T H O R S / X U G A N G
+61 466 278 657

Xu Gang

“Early Autumn”
Oil on Canvas • 24in x 30in

D E C . 3 0 , 2 0 2 2 O N L I N E E X H I B I T I O N : M A ST E R O I L PA I N T E R S . CO M

0ƚƬƭƞƫ2Ƣƥ3ƚƢƧƭƞƫƬ ƦƚƬƭƞƫƨƢƥƩƚƢƧƭƞƫƬ
 SAT I S F Y YO U R
Palette
See how our other titles
are covering your
diverse tastes in art.

American Art, 1750-1950 | Historic & Contemporary Native Art | Historic & Contemporary Western Art | Contemporary Realism from Top Artists Across the Country

AmericanFineArtMagazine.com • NativeAmericanArtMagazine.com • WesternArtCollector.com • AmericanArtCollector.com

A d v e r t i s i n g ( 8 6 6 ) 6 1 9 - 0 8 4 1 • S u b s c r i p t i o n s ( 8 7 7 ) 9 4 7- 07 9 2
 Lynden Cowan | Fishing
24x30 in | oil | $4,100
www.lyndencowan.com
Josie Gearhart | The Christmas Present
26x38 in | oil | $3,450
www.josiegearhartart.com

William Tobler | Juliana Expecting Steve Wilson | If You Could Sit With Anyone
30x48 in | oil | $31,000 24x24 in | acrylic | $1,495
www.Tobes.org www.stevewilsonstudios.com

See previous and upcoming exhibits at www.NOAPS.org

 RENO TAHOE INTERNATIONAL
FAIR PREVIEW ART SHOW
When: September 8-11, 2022
Where: Reno-Sparks Convention Center,
4590 S. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89502
Information: www.rtiashow.com

A Cultural
Center
Excitement brews for the first ever
large-scale art show and fair to hit
Reno, Nevada.

B eginning September 8, the highly

anticipated Reno Tahoe International
Art Show will descend upon the city of
Reno, Nevada, presenting quite the array of
art events. The inaugural show is pulling
out all the stops by featuring approximately
200 regional fine artists, over 40 national
and international galleries, a First Nations,
Indigenous Peoples Art Feature, film screen-
ings by the Cordillera Film Festival, 80
live music acts, a Burning Man sculpture
display and much more.
Patrons can expect to see many works
in contemporary art, along with bespoke
furniture and emerging design, all exhib-
ited within the Reno-Sparks Convention
Center. All of the additional events are
“bonuses to the fair itself and give a flavor
to the area, showing there’s talent besides
the fine art realm,” explains Reno Fine Arts
Collective CEO Kevin O’Keefe.
The plan for the art show was born out
of the master minds of Briana Dolan, the
chief operations officer, and her father,
O’Keefe. “My dad and I are new to Reno,”
shares Dolan, “but my husband grew
up here. We always planned on moving
back to the area at some point, but that
happened much earlier because of Covid.
My parents followed us here shortly after
1
our move, and we were very surprised
by the depth and breadth of the arts and
culture scene in the region.”
With Dolan’s skills from working in
the hospitality design field and O’Keefe’s
experience running large scale trade shows,
they combined their talents to showcase
their newfound passion for Reno, and to
share the diversity of the town with the
rest of the world. “What we’re trying to do
with the show is anchor something unique

2 3

028 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 1
Madeline Naranjo,
Cycle of Planting, clay,
5 ⁄ x 5⁄"
2
Ryan Harris, Happy
Place, acrylic on birch
panel, 11 x 14"
3
Denise Miller, Rialto
Days, acrylic on canvas,
21 x 16"
4
Peggie Blizard, Five Ball
Jars with Flowers, oil on
panel, 36 x 30"

to the region,” Dolan says. “We’re here to
recognize the regional talent, and to the
people who are looking inside from outside
of Reno, we want to make the statement that
it’s an arts and culture destination already
and is trending on that path at a fast pace.”
[also] be viewed differently and will eventu-
ally be recognized as a cultural center.”
Many collectors and enthusiasts alike
look forward to fresh, noteworthy pieces
like Five Ball Jars with Flowers by Peggie
Blizard, represented by George Billis
Santa Clara Pueblo artist Madeline Naranjo
will feature works such as Cycle of Planting,
a symbolic piece of pottery that shows off
her polish and distinct carving design.
This four-day art show and fair will
showcase many more varieties of art and
AR T SHOW PRE VI E W

O’Keefe reflects on his time building the
renowned Miami Beach-based art show
Art Basel established in 2002, in relation to
what can be achieved in Reno. “Prior to the
start of the show, Miami and Miami Beach
were seen as dangerous places, but after the
introduction of Art Basel, the change it was
able to create was dramatic,” he says. “It’s
now seen as a cultural destination. Reno will
Gallery. The oil painting exemplifies
Blizard’s realism style and the artist’s focus
on creating three-dimensional effects. Other
significant works to look for at the show
include unique scenes like Happy Place by
Ryan Harris, that combines many elements
into one and was inspired by the artists
trip in Southeast Asia. As part of the First
Nations, Indigenous Peoples Art Feature,
include special events. A VIP preview
night opens the event on September 8, an
opening night concert on September 9, and
an award ceremony and gala celebration on
September 10. The public is encouraged to
head to the website for a full schedule of
events and ticket information.
029
 SHOW CALENDAR
Through September 2
Festival of Arts
Laguna Canyon Road » Laguna Beach, CA
This highly acclaimed juried fine art show
will feature the work of over 100 award-
winning Orange County artists working in a
variety of mediums and styles.
www.foapom.com
Through September 2
Pageant of the Masters
Laguna Canyon Road » Laguna Beach, CA
This annual event turns art into theatrical,
living pictures, with this year’s theme and
title Wonderful World inspired by travels of
journalist Nellie Bly in 1890.
www.foapom.com
September 15-October 2
ArtPrize
Various Locations » Grand Rapids, MI
Artists from around the world display their
work throughout the city in public parks,
museums, galleries and storefronts, and are
eligible to win cash prizes.
www.artprize.org
Through September 4
Anne Lindberg: think like the river with
poet Ginny Threefoot
Figge Art Museum » Davenport, IA
Lindberg presents a chromatic thread instal-
lation with references to water, and includes
text from a poem by Ginny Threefoot.
www.figgeartmuseum.org
Through September 5
In America: An Anthology of Fashion
The Met Fifth Avenue » New York, NY
Men’s and women’s dress will be featured
dating from the 18th century to the present,
and will be presented in vignettes installed
in select period rooms.
www.metmuseum.org
Through September 5
Everyday Objects: The Enduring
Appeal of Still Life
Boise Art Museum » Boise, ID
Everyday Objects focuses on tradition and
innovation within the still-life genre, in works
from the museum collection and compli-
mented by contemporary artworks on loan.
www.boiseartmuseum.org
030 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
September 8-11
Reno Tahoe International Art Show
Reno-Sparks Convention Center » Reno, NV
This inaugural art show will have over
200 regional artists will be joined by 40
plus national and international galleries
to exhibit, along with film screenings,
presentations, music and more.
www.rtiashow.com
September 8-11
Art on Paper New York
Pier 36 » New York, NY
This event is known for its unique and
powerful projects in visual and experiential
art, and will feature top modern and
contemporary paper-based art from 100
galleries.
www.thepaperfair.com
September 8-October 8
2022 Best of America
The Wilcox Gallery » Jackson, WY
The 32nd year for the juried exhibition
will feature 150 of the finest paintings for
The National Oil & Acrylic Painters’
Society members.
www.noaps.org
September 9-11
The Armory Show
Javits Center, Main Entrance Crystal Palace
» New York, NY
This contemporary art show highlighting
new and emerging artists will feature works
from over 240 galleries across 30 countries.
www.thearmoryshow.com
September 10-January 30, 2023
Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour
Crystal Bridges of American Art »
Bentonville, AR
The exhibition highlights the work of Black,
Native American and underrepresented
designers while also exploring the nation’s
diverse fashion heritage and spirit.
www.crystalbridges.org
Through September 11
Twinka Thiebaud and the Art
of the Pose
Crocker Art Museum » Sacramento, CA
Comprised of 100 works including paint-
ings, drawings and photographs that date
from the 1940s through today, this exhibi-
tion explores Thiebaud’s role as an artist’s
model and working relationships.
www.crockerart.org
September 9-11
ART San Diego
San Diego Convention
Center, Hall C » San Diego, CA
Over 75 galleries come
together for this 14th
annual art fair to present
contemporary art from
around the world.
www.redwoodartgroup.com/art-
san-diego/
Patrons enjoying the art and lively
discussion at ART San Diego.
September 15-October 22
23rd Annual National Juried Exhibition
Mary Williams Fine Arts » Boulder, CO
The American Impressionist Society pres-
ents 155 juried paintings which represent
the best of American impressionist art
being produced today, along with a plethora
of additional events.
www.americanimpressionistsociety.org
September 16-18
Artexpo Dallas
Dallas Market Hall » Dallas, TX
More than 100 galleries and 300 artists
from around the world will gather to feature
contemporary fine art and design in a
variety of mediums.
www.redwoodartgroup.com/artexpo-dallas
 Dallas Design Week
1 TICKET | 2 MAJOR FAIRS
3 DAYS OF EYE-POPPING ART & DESIGN
SEPTEMBER 16 - 18, 2022

JODI REEB // ADC FINE ART

Dallas Market Hall 2200 Stemmons Freeway | Dallas, TX 75207

R E D W O O D A R T G R O U P . C O M / A R T E X P O - D A L L A S
 SHOW CALENDAR
On View NOW
September 9- Through October 1
January 15, 2023
Painting the Figure Now 2022
Bo Bartlett: Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art »
Earthly Matters Wausau, WI
The Gibbes Museum of Art www.wmoca.org
» Charleston, SC
The museum presents Through October 9
a selection of Bartlett’s
Brad Kahlhamer: Swap Meet
recent large-scale works
that examine humankind’s Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art »
impact on and interaction Scottsdale, AZ
with nature’s elements. www.smoca.org
www.gibbesmuseum.org
Through October 30
Bo Bartlett, Love in the Time of Pandemic, 2020, oil on panel, 24 x 32."
©Image courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY. Imprinted: Illustrating Race
Norman Rockwell Museum » Stockbridge, MA
September 16-January 8, 2023 Through September 25 www.nrm.org

Called to the Camera: Black Women Painting Women Through December 31

American Studio Photographers The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth » Breaking Up
New Orleans Museum of Art » New Fort Worth, TX
Phoenix Art Museum » Phoenix, AZ
Orleans, LA In an exhibition that spans the 1960s
www.phxart.org
In over 150 photographs spanning from through the present, the museum
the 19th century to present day, the exhi- presents around 60 portraits of women Through January 1, 2023
bition focuses on the many impacts of painted by women.
Black American photographers working www.themodern.org Symphony No. 3: Altered Landscape
in commercial studios. Nevada Museum of Art » Reno, NV
www.noma.org Through September 25 www.nevadaart.org
A Divided Landscape
Through September 18 Through January 2, 2023
The Momentary » Bentonville, AR
Stephen Towns: Declaration & In this exhibition, seven artists confront We the People: The Radical Notion of
Resistance the historical and cultural narratives of the Democracy
Boise Art Museum » Boise, ID American West through a variety of media. Crystal Bridges of Museum of American Art »
This exhibition features Towns’ works www.themomentary.org Bentonville, AR
made between 2014 and 2021, exploring www.crystalbridges.org
the American dream through the lives Through September 25
of Black Americans from the late 18th Through January 15, 2023
Alone Together: Encounters in
century to present day. American Realism Pop Smoke: A Veteran Art Exhibition
www.boiseartmuseum.org
The Westmoreland Museum of American Oceanside Museum of Art » Oceanside, CA
Art » Greensburg, PA www.oma-online.org
Through September 21
The museum examines social and magic
National Pastel Painting Exhibition realist artworks from early to mid-20th Through January 22, 2023
Millicent Rogers Museum » El Prado, NM century alongside five contemporary Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers
The Pastel Society of New Mexico artists whose works reflect the dialogue
Retro-Perspective
features 66 quality pastel works from the of today’s world.
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art &
New Mexico region and from across the www.thewestmoreland.org
Culture, Riverside Art Museum » Riverside, CA
country, as well as 45 pieces by interna-
Through September 25 www.riversideartmuseum.org
tional artists displayed online.
www.pastelsnm.org Esteban Cabeza de Baca: Through February 5, 2023
Let the Earth Breath Kristin Leachman: Longleaf Lines
Through September 21, 2023
The Momentary » Bentonville, AR Georgia Museum of Art, University of
th
30 International Pastel Painting Baca interrogates the American Georgia » Athens, GA
Exhibition landscape tradition by deconstructing www.georgiamuseum.org
Millicent Rogers Museum » Taos, NM its linear, colonial narratives in
Hosted by the Pastel Society of New original works of art in a variety of media Through February 26, 2023
Mexico, this year’s pastel exhibition
Other People’s Pictures: Gifts from the
will incorporate a hybrid model with a
physical and virtual exhibition. Want to have your fair, exhibition or event considered Robert and Kerstin Adams Collection
www.pastelsnm.org for our calendar? Email our assistant editor, Chelsea Denver Art Museum » Denver, CO
Koressel, at ckoressel@americanartcollector.com.
www.denverartmuseum.org/en

032 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

HAPPY IN THE SUN // WALTER REDONDO
SEPTEMBER 9-11, 2022
14th Edition

REDWOODARTGROUP.COM/ART-SAN-DIEGO
 TARA WILL

“OVERLOOK BOUND” @TWILLARTIST

OIL ON LINEN, 18X24

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 Repository, oil on canvas, 36” x 48”

Janet Grissom
Janetgrissompaintings.com
paintingsbygrissom@gmail.com
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Robert Close Encounters
October 18, 2022 - November 5, 2022

Forte Opening Reception: October 20, 2022, 5-8PM

Atlantic Gallery 548 West 28th Street, New York, NY 10001

1 2

3 4
1. Basquiat and Friends 2. Icarus “2022” 3. In a Safe Place 4. Sticking Together
Oil and oil pastel on canvas Oil on canvas Oil on canvas Acrylic on canvas
34" x 40" 36" x 48" 48" x 36" 40" x 48"

Gallery representation:  Atlantic Gallery, NYC

www.robertforte.com • info.robertforte@gmail.com • @robertforteart
 Artists
Cindy Baron
Carl Bretzke
John Budicin

ISL A
N D CO N
ART SHOW & SALE Don Demers
S ER
NA
Aimee Erickson
I

VA
AL

NC
C AT

Terri Ford
Wyllis Heaton
SINCE 1972
Debra Huse
October 23, 2022 Shanna Kunz
Newport Harbor Yacht Club Michael Obermeyer
FREE General Admission
CatalinaConservancy

Thanks to
our Media
Partner:
1
 WE
LIVE
A new Bo Bartlett exhibition
in South Carolina explores
figurative and wildlife subjects
in a changing world.
BY M I C H A E L C L AW S O N

1
The Flood, 2018, oil on linen, 82 x 100".
©Image courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery
043

Gallery, New York, NY.


he world is full of conflict. In its worst version
T
this can be outright warfare, or it can just be the
micro-struggles associated with living life—a
sudden turn in the weather, traffic, burnt toast,
the emotions associated with a life event. How people
deal with these conflicts, great and small, reveals a
universal language within the human experience. It’s
a language we’re all speaking now, even as we fine tune
the mechanics amid the chaos of living.
These themes, and several others, are explored
in a new exhibition titled Earthly Matters opening
September 9 at the Gibbes Museum of Art in
Charleston, South Carolina. The exhibition’s subject
is painter Bo Bartlett, whose works offer thought-
provoking narratives on nature, people and the perse-
verance of life in an unstable world.
“Historically, artists have found great inspiration
and strength from being in the wild. This has resulted
in transformative paintings, symphonies and poetry. I
believe in the power of art to transform lives. It is more
than an aesthetic or cultural experience,” Bartlett says.
“Art is at the very core of what it means to be alive, to
be human on this planet. Man against himself and man
against nature have long been reccurring themes in my
work. We live. We struggle to get our basic needs met.
044 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
2
We study history. We side with our teams and tribes. We
2
love our families, our heritage, our religion. We study Georgia, 2021, oil
on linen, 60 x 80". ©
math and science. We learn. We progress. We want and Image courtesy of the
yearn to change, and we hope to evolve out of our stan- artist and Miles McEnery
dard laissez-faire ways of being. We long to get along… Gallery, New York, NY.
to grow…to broaden our worldview…to rise to a higher 3
consciousness. Art opens the door to this.” The Covenant, 2016,
The title Earthly Matters was originally proposed oil on linen, 48 x 66". ©
Image courtesy of the
by the Gibbes Museum, which had bestowed its 1858 artist and Miles McEnery
Prize for Contemporary Southern Art upon Bartlett in Gallery, New York, NY.
2017. Back when the award was given, the museum and
4
the artist hoped to bring a full exhibition together. Five Where Did All That
years later, they have. Life Go, 2020, oil on
“[For Earthly Matters]…we were planning on linen, 48 x 82". ©
Image courtesy of the
having the theme for each piece relate to the overall artist and Miles McEnery
theme of nature and the human interaction with the Gallery, New York, NY.
earth. Animals were originally a primary focus, I’ve
done many animal paintings over the years. But, due
to availability of works the individual pieces in the
show morphed to encompass more paintings with
figures,” Bartlett adds. “We included pieces which
deal with a holistic view of the themes of man vs.
himself and man vs. nature. These works take on a
psychological quality in relationship to the ecolog-
ical context.”
 045
3

4
 5

One of the works with an ecological

perspective is The Flood, showing a group
of diverse people in a boat rowing past a
church steeple poking out of the water.
Though it’s always hard to pick a favorite
work in an exhibition, guest curator Pam
Wall quickly calls out The Flood when
asked what works speak to her as a curator.
“It’s like picking your favorite kid—it can be
impossible,” she says. “The Flood is from
2018, and it shows a family in a flood with
a church steeple. It speaks to me because
it feels like Charleston, which has been
called the Holy City due to the many church
steeples. Flooding, of course, is something
we all have to deal with in the Coastal
South. Climate change, heatwaves, floods…
thinking about the impact people have had
on the climate is something that is brought
up here in this work. I know Bo was thinking
a lot about Hurricane Harvey that flooded
Houston, which is part of the genesis of this
work. He’s really looking at how man is at
the mercy of nature, that ultimate struggle.”
In other works, the staggering toll that
mankind has had on the world is more
violent and gruesome. For instance, in
Where Did All the Life Go, Bartlett paints
a shark dead and carved up on a table 6
near the ocean. For fans of Bartlett’s 5 6 7
works, this image of a dead sea creature Hurtsboro, 2021, oil on linen, 70 x Dominion, 2016, oil on linen, 82 x Thin Veil, 2021, oil on linen, 82 x
out of the water is a recurring motif in his 120". © Image courtesy of the artist 100". © Image courtesy of the artist 100". © Image courtesy of the artist
and Miles McEnery Gallery, New and Miles McEnery Gallery, New and Miles McEnery Gallery, New
work, including in his great masterpiece York, NY. York, NY. Loan courtesy Asheville York, NY.
Art Museum, Asheville, NC, gift of
Alex Washburn, 2021.71.01.
046 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
7
Leviathan, showing a whale being sliced
open to reveal a shirtless boy tucked into
the pink flesh of the now-dead animal.
“The metaphor of the shark has kept me
engaged since I was a teenager. One night I
watched deep sea fishermen catch a 15-foot
great white shark off of the pier in Daytona
Beach. I watched them battle it for hours
before finally claiming victory. The next
morning, I returned to witness what was
left of it, in disbelief over the absence of
that powerful life-force taken from the sea,”
Bartlett says, adding that elements of the
story appear in his feature film Things Don’t
Stay Fixed, including the line “Where did
all of that life go?” “For me the shark repre-
sents the unconscious, coming up from the
deep, to bite those who are unaware. I know
that there are horrible things that happen
in this world. My attempt to make paint-
ings is in no way an attempt to cover up or
hide the horror. A painting like Leviathan
is not trying to prod the viewer or create an
obtuse piece of visual art or illustrate some
archaic text—it is instead an honest attempt
to find an appropriate visual metaphor for
where I am in my life. It represents a highly
personal inner/outer journey.”
(The story of the shark also appears
in Jesse Brass’ magnificent short film on
Bartlett, Ineffible. Use the QR code in this
feature to view the film. Brass and Bartlett
also co-directed the short film Helga,
about Helga Testorf, Andrew Wyeth’s
longtime muse.)
For Wall, Bartlett’s work and his involve-
ment in the exhibition at the Gibbes have
been a remarkable experience for the
seasoned curator. “He’s very accessible to
the museum, and he trusts the process.
Between him and his gallery, Miles
McEnery Gallery, it’s been a dream,” Wall
says. “He’s a masterful painter. There is a
lyrical beauty to his work that draws viewers
in, from veteran museum-goers to more
casual viewers. Everyone stops in front of
his paintings because they are alluring and
his skill as a painter is incredible. The more
you look the more you’re curious bout the
narrative in the story. The fun part is that he
offers tantalizing clues in the titles and the
images, but it’s up to the viewers to probe
the narrative, bring out their own thoughts,
ideas and perceptions. He creates opportu-
nities for two-way exchanges.
I think that’s the magic of his
work, he can draw that out of
the viewers.”
BO BARTLETT:
EARTHLY MATTERS
September 9, 2022-January 15, 2023
Gibbes Museum of Art, 135 Meeting Street,
Charleston, SC 29401
(843) 722-2706, www.gibbesmuseum.org
047

A
COLLISION
OF CULTURES
The Cheech Marin Center puts Chicano art and culture center stage.
BY SARAH GIANELLI
U
pon entering the new Cheech Marin Center
for Chicano Art & Culture at California’s
Riverside Art Museum, visitors are greeted
by a towering 26-foot lenticular (remember
those holograms that came inside boxes of Cracker
Jacks?) sculpture of an Aztec goddess that morphs into
a Transformer-like robot made out of lowrider cars when
you move laterally before it.
Commissioned from Mexico-born brothers Einar
and Jamex de la Torre specifically for “The Cheech,”
the installation is an apt introduction to the artists’
work which embodies the collision of two cultures—
and the third culture that is born out of it. Now living
048 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
Cheech Marin with Einar and Jamex de la Torre in front of
the brothers’ 26-foot lenticular sculpture they made for The
Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture.
in San Diego and Baja, California, 30 years’ worth of
the artists’ creative output makes up the museum’s
first temporary exhibition, Collidoscope: de la Torre
Brothers Retro-Perspective. A collaboration with the
Smithsonian National Museum of the American
Latino, The Cheech marks the first stop of the exhi-
bition’s national tour. Taken together, the exhibit
explores the complex influences of life on both sides
of the border. Combining Mexican and American
iconography and symbolism unique to Chicano
culture, often using humor to draw people in, their
elaborate rasquache (meaning “left over” or “of no
value”) rococo-style, mixed-media sculptures are as
Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Colonial Atmosphere, 2002,
mixed media, 140 x 360 x 450”. Courtesy of Einar and Jamex
de la Torre and Koplin Del Rio Gallery.
 Einar and Jamex de la Torre,
La Belle Epoch, 2002, mixed
media, 120 x 144 x 36”.
Courtesy of Einar and Jamex
de la Torre and Koplin Del
Rio Gallery.

layered and irreducible as their meaning

and the many questions they pose.
“We like to joke that when you cross
a border you take one brain out and put
in another,” says Jamex. “You really liter-
ally think differently and feel differently
on one side than you do on the other. As
immigrants we want to express what we
see on both sides. Our process is additive.
It’s not a distillation of an essence. We
have always said that our work is layered,
being Mexican and American, being two
brothers, and the fact that we are hyper-
Baroque.” When the brothers discovered
lenticular as a medium—which allows up
to 20 layers of 3D imagery in one sheet of
acrylic, they realized it was a perfect fit.
One of the most important installa-
tions, and one that encapsulates the de la
Torres brothers’ creative style, is Colonial
Atmosphere, a sculpture alluding to the Frank Romero, The Arrest of the Paleteros, 1996, oil on canvas, 72 x 96"
1968 lunar lander with Toltec—a pre-

050 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 Judithe Hernández, Juárez Quinceañera, 2017, pastel mixed-media on canvas, 40 x 60”. Collection of Riverside Art Museum.

Columbian Mesoamerican culture—facial

features. “The whole idea was, if we’re
colonizing the moon, just like in the U.S.,
the first thing that would show up is a taco
stand,” says Einar.
Pages could be dedicated to the visually
and conceptually complex art of the de la
Torre brothers, but it is beyond time to note
that this museum would not be possible
without the donation of 550 works from
the personal collection of Cheech Marin.
Yes, he of stoner fame as half of the ’70s
comedy duo Cheech and Chong. Marin has
been amassing Chicano art for 40 years.
Steeped in art as a boy, it wasn’t until he
discovered the Chicano painters, a school
of art approaching 60 years old, that he truly
felt personally connected to a genre of art.
“I understood the foundations on which
it was built and the influences,” Marin
says. “It had people that looked like me Patssi Valdez, Room on the Verge, 1993, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 72"
and my family and my neighborhood and
the schools that I went to and the streets I
grew up on. They were my people.” The art decided to address that problem. It was a you get, not a finite description of it, but
struck him viscerally and he was dismayed, two-fer. I wanted to collect this art. It was the flavor—I like to call it the sabor—of
if not surprised, by how undervalued and the best art I saw out there by far. They the community. The overall effect is ‘I see
underrepresented it was. were taking on subjects that no other what this smells like and tastes like and
“That was my question: These artists artists were taking on. They are docu- looks like. Its description of culture is
are great and why aren’t they being menting the communities in which they unmatched by any other school.”
represented in galleries and museums? I live. From all the angles they attack it, The museum’s permanent exhibit, Cheech
051
Einar and Jamex de la
Torre, El Imortal, 2010,
mixed media, 41 x 22 x 16".
Courtesy of Danny and
Aranzasue Damian.

Collects will be on regular rotation and
traces Marin’s journey as a collector while
providing a survey of Chicano art since
its emergence as a cohesive genre. The
inaugural exhibition, which runs through
December 2022, includes iconic works that
have toured in Chicano Visions: American
Painters on the Verge, among other notable
exhibitions, as well as pieces that will be on
view for the first time. A second iteration will
open in January 2023, featuring more works
by some of the most respected Chicana/o/x
artists in the world.
The identifier “Chicano”—which
Marin says originally indicated Mexican
Americans with a defiant political atti-
tude—came out of the turmoil and social
unrest of America’s 1960s civil rights
movements. Some Chicano artists were
already emerging out of this movement as
advocates for change. Slowly, these artists
turned to their individual artistic concerns.
“But every new group, or age bracket, that
comes into this community, always gives
Carlos Almaraz, Sunset Crash ,1982, oil on canvas, 35 x 43"
news from the front,” Marin says. “‘This is
what my neighborhood looks like today.’
It’s almost tidal. The tide comes in, recedes,
leaves stuff on the beach. The next time it
comes in, it’s a higher tide, leaves more
stuff on the beach. That’s a reoccurring
thing in the history of Chicano art.”
Among The Cheech’s collection of paint-
ings, drawings and sculptures are works
by Patssi Valdez, a multimedia artist and
cofounder of the seminal 1972 Chicano artist
collective, Asco.; and Frank Romero, one of
LA’s most iconic artists and whose work in
the 1974 exhibition at the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art was acclaimed as one of the
first ever Chicano art shows at a mainstream
museum. One of several Romeros at The
Cheech, The Arrest of the Paleteros, is a 1996
painting that illustrates ice-cream vendors
being arrested in Echo Park for not having
permits. Another member of the Los Four art
collective, Judithe Hernández, was among
the first Chicana artists to break through
the mainstream museum barrier. Also in the
show are works by muralists Wayne Alaniz
Healy and Margaret Garcia, as well as the late
Carlos Almaraz, a leader in the Chicano LA
arts movement in the 1970s and ’80s.
When Cheech first encountered the de
la Torre brothers’ work 25 years ago, they
were glass blowers just starting out, but
he knew they were on their way to some-
thing big. “It was like hearing a new music
rhythm that you haven’t heard before. It
takes a while to get inured to what that is
and see the rhythm of it, [but once you do]
you can see where it comes from.” He has
been collecting their work ever since.
When Cheech approached the artists
four years ago they were working with the
Smithsonian on the inaugural exhibition
for the museum's Latino branch. “The two
things came together kind of magically,”
says Jamex. “At one point, Cheech said we
had to open the exhibit at his museum,”
adds Einar. “And we were like ‘well, we’re
not going to say no to Cheech’—he’s a hard
person to say no to.”
053
054 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
Motherhood
as Inspiration

Voices from the Studio

BY VA N E S S A F R A N ÇO I S E R OT H E

M otherhood is certainly one of the greatest

joys of life, however, when living the life
of a professional fine artist this monumental
change can have a great effect on one’s work and,
most interestingly, one’s choice of subject matter.
Limited time at the easel can make us work
faster and even influence what genre or style we
are able to paint. Historically, motherhood has
impacted women artists in both profound and
purely logistical ways. It has also helped us gain
a whole new outlook on the art world and our own
work. Motherhood serves as an ever-interesting
topic of discussion among artists and collectors
seeking the meaning behind works of art.
When I was 30, I was known as a plein air land-
scape painter, going outside in the early morning
or evening to capture the light. I had just been
given the extraordinary opportunity to show my
work at a local gallery with many of the nation’s
top artists. The arrival of my son made painting
on location much too difficult. Devoted to my
family and to the gallery, I started painting still
life works and studying the figure more from the
comfort of my home studio while my son Logan
napped. When Perry arrived, and the boys started
to play together, I had a bit more time at the easel,
but I still had to adhere to an alla prima technique
of applying quick fresh paint on canvas. In order
to create works in a short time I had to work in
a fast but fresh manner so my style evolved into
impressionism.
Curious about how motherhood influenced
other painters’ subjects and technique, I spoke
to a handful of professional artist friends and
inquired about how their creative lives changed
after having children.

CANDICE BOHANNAN Mercy, egg tempera on panel, 9½ x 9½"

“I am deep in the trenches with children right now (two boys aged 4 and 2 and one in the womb
due this October). Being a mother has changed my work and studio time, and I am now keenly
aware of how precious my time is. I also don’t worry about competition anymore; it is as if the
professional world of art no longer exists. I made a big change from painting in oils to painting in
egg tempera to make the most of my studio time. I found egg tempera was more akin to drawing
with paint, and I could squeeze in an hour or so after the kids went to bed, and get a lot done,
rather than feeling like I needed an 12-hour studio day to make progress in oils.”
055
 JANE HUNT Looking West, oil on linen, 24 x 18"
“Like most mothers, my time became much more limited after my first child. However,
after adopting my second child 18 years ago, her disabilities were so all-consuming
that I was forced to stop painting for three years. Eventually, I realized that I needed
to paint for my own mental health and started creating small works with the time I
had. The transition from enormous studio paintings to fast, small, plein air studies
dramatically changed the way that I see and paint. I learned a lot from those early
years, and continue to use small, fast studies to inspire and create my studio pieces.”

056 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 SHANA LEVENSON
Sibling Bond, oil on aluminum panel, 36 x 24"
“Being a mom and an artist is a part of my identity.
I am a complete person as both, although mother-
hood is more important. My inspiration in the early
days came entirely from my children. My art career
really started as I was going through a divorce so
I was seeking strength by painting my children, as
well as an excuse to spend time with them, since
I was now splitting time with their dad and not
with them fulltime. My art has evolved into a more
contemporary style since I am not allowed to paint
them at the moment due to family reasons. Even
though they are not the subject currently they are
still part of my process as they talk to me about my
ideas and brainstorm with me.”

PEGGI KROLL ROBERTS

Ali on the Sand, oil on canvas, 9 x 12"
“Motherhood provided me with
models of my favorite subject—the
figure! There was a lot of begging
and pleading for just 5 or 10 minutes
here and there. I was fortunate that
we were the house that all the kids
loved to come to and play. We had a
beautiful pool, a big back yard and I
was able to create 5-minute sketches
of my kids and friends from life. I had
to paint quick, however, because they
would not sit still. My goal was not to
get a portrait but rather improve my
skills of quick observation. As they
grew older, the sessions were a bit
longer but it also cost me big bucks!”
057
 PATRICIA WATWOOD
Flower Girl, oil on linen, 12 x 12"
“When they were young, it was essential
to entirely separate time parenting
from time working, and I needed my
studio to be away from the house, and
have dedicated work time and not be
interrupted. When they became adoles-
cents, I moved my studio back home.
They could then see what I was up to,
and the progression over time, and have
a better understanding of my body of
work and what the life of an artist looks
like. My older child is now majoring in
art at Oberlin College, and I think has
a realistic idea of what the professional
life of an artist entails. I have also found
that I work more quickly now than I
did in my early years. This is both due
to the lack of long interrupted hours,
but also due to a change of tempera-
ment in myself. Now, I am energized
by looser brushwork and more open
paint handling. I am now simply faster
at painting and have to be much more
efficient.”

KATIE WHIPPPLE
Queen Anne’s Lace and Cosmos, oil on panel, 20 x 16"
“I stopped painting when I was about 10 weeks preg-
nant with my son Hewitt, and didn’t start up again
until he was 9 months old. It was the longest time
I had spent away from the easel since I could hold
a paintbrush. However, I found the break was much
needed to overcome the burnout of chasing deadlines
for six years. Motherhood also gave me the glorious
gift of caring less about what other people thought
about my work. Easing back into work allowed me to
find my footing and set boundaries with my studio
hours. It was important to me not to repeat old
patterns of overcommitting to deadlines. It appears
that I can only paint at one speed: slow. So instead of
trying to speed up my process to pack in more paint-
ings in fewer studio hours, I just make fewer paintings
and far fewer commitments. I have wanted this kind
of healthy relationship with painting for many years.
I am no longer chasing deadlines or trying to please
galleries and collectors. I am just making things.
Because I need to. Because beauty matters immensely
to me. The difficult times I went through in pregnancy
and postpartum have helped me restructure all the
relationships in my life, including one of my longest
lasting and most precious: my love for painting.”

058 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 MARDIE REES
Whole Hearted, cast glass, ed. of 10, 16¾ x 8 x 4¾"
"I’d say the hardest part to find as a mother is uninterrupted
blocks of time to come up with ideas, so I found time while
working out. Through my three children’s stages of growth,
my perspective on life, subjects and what was important also
changed. I recalled the childlike self that we all so desire to
inhabit and I began to put that into my sculptures—things
like playing, learning to walk, times of joy, and defying
gravity. I became more adept at sculpting all ages of children
so I would bring in my kids (or the neighbor kids) to have
them twirl or hold a stick in the air to replicate a particular
moment of joy I was trying to capture. Through being a
mother of three, I feel that it increased my dedication as an
artist, helped me to be a more effective passionate artist, but
most importantly to not take myself so seriously. “
ADRIENNE STEIN Demeter, oil on linen, 48 x 30"
“My son is now 16 months old, and he lives in my studio
during the day and my husband (also an artist) and I take
turns caring for him, and we also have other help. His arrival
in my life has had an important impact on my work. I am
more intentional and selective about the projects that I
pursue. Since I don’t have as much painting time as I used
to, I don’t have time to overthink my subject matter, so I
respond to beauty more immediately and instinctively. The
works that I paint are closer to my heart, and I take longer to
complete them. I started this painting of Demeter, Olympian
goddess of the harvest and fertility, a few days after my son
was born. It is an expression of my gratitude and feelings
of abundance.”

The voices of these artistic mothers shine a light on how motherhood is indeed one of Vanessa Françoise Rothe
the greatest joys of life, and how it can inform one’s choice of subject matter and style of is a curator, writer/editor, art
work. Our limited time at the easel encourages us to enjoy every moment, to be open to dealer, fine artist and mother
the new subjects that are presented to us and often to see existing subjects in new and of two boys, now 15 and 17.
unexpected ways.
059
 www.jacalynbeam.com
302.893.1775

Memberships:

AIS
OPA
WSLP
MAPAPA
“WINTER WARMTH” 20 x 24, Oil on conservation linen panel

LORIANN
SIGNORI
loriannsignori.com
loriann@loriannsignori.com

“Sehnsucht”, 15x15
 “American Heritage” 18” x 24” pastels

Denice Peters, MAPS

REALISTIC PASTEL PAINTINGS
DENISON, IA

„„„

www.denicepeters.com
art@denicepeters.com

Jason Bailey
OFXTSGFNQJ^ąSJFWYHTR

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T
he Pulitzer Prize winning Kio-
wa novelist M. Scott Momaday
wrote, “I am interested in the way
that we look at a given landscape
and take possession of it in our blood and
brain. None of us lives apart from the land
entirely; such an isolation is unimaginable.”
Whether we experience a landscape in
a pocket park in the city, our back yards
or the vastness of the prairies, the moun-
tains or the seashore, we absorb the sights,
sounds and smell and become one with
them. Sights, sounds and smells can bring
the experience of the distant experience
back to us.
Thomas McNickle writes, “When I
062 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
COLL EC TOR'S F OCU S
L A N D S C A P E S
confront the landscape, I am overwhelmed
by the specificity of the moment, the place
and the light. Through painting I try, not
only to experience the moment, but to
connect with it in a way that is outside the
moment…timeless.
“I want my work to be evocative of the
initial experience not descriptive of it.
Ultimately, it must be of the experience not
about it. I want the scene to take precedence
over what I do and what I think I know.”
His painting, Blue Moon on the Scout
Pond evokes the extraordinary experience
of the world turned blue. Since I always
want to know why, after experiencing
the phenomenon from my tent while on
retreat at the Prajna Mountain Forest
Refuge north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, I
did a little research. Our vision occurs
through the rods and cones in the retina of
the eye. In low light, vision comes from the
rods that are sensitive to blue. The objects
that reflect blue are then more visible than
those that don’t. Technically, a “blue moon”
is the third of four full moons occurring in
a season that has four full moons. The next
blue moon will be in August 2024, thus the
phrase for a rare event is “once in a blue
moon.” Blue Moon on Scout Pond is evoca-
tive of an experience regardless of our
knowledge of the “why” of the phenomenon.
In her novel, One of Ours, Willa Cather
SE L EC T IONS
might have been describing McNickle’s
painting. “The sky was a midnight-blue,
like warm, deep, blue water, and the moon
seemed to lie on it like a water-lily, floating
forward with an invisible current.”
Jeff Erickson’s grandmother was an
American impressionist painter. He says,
“I would watch her create colorful brush
strokes across the canvas…My paintings
have a minimal and literal landscape
element, while I try to capture and convey
the textures of life. The experience of
painting is a great escape from the complex-
ities of life, and I always find myself creating
an abstract scene of peacefulness, relax-
ation and calmness…I’m drawn to water, the
1. Tory Folliard Gallery, Simple Truth, oil on canvas, 14 x 30", by Robert Cocke.
sea, the ocean and these feelings show up
in my abstract landscapes. I paint with oils
and wax medium on canvas, gessoed hard-
board and paper. I’m able to create multiple
layers of translucent colors and through
the process of scratching, distressing and
dissolving, I’m able to capture depth and
feeling within the painting.”
In Marshland, the marsh, shore and trees
blend into an overall scene of light and
near formlessness.
Robert Cocke’s paintings explore exterior
and interior landscapes. He writes, “We
spend most of our lives indoors, encased in
a technological bubble, cunningly devised
to entertain and distract us to the point of
BY JOHN O’HERN
addiction. What are we trying to avoid? Of
course, it is those age-old existential ques-
CO L L E C TOR'S F O C U S: L A N D S C A P E S
tions—Where did we come from? Why are we
here? What happens when we die? We are
a part of nature. When we connect with the
natural world, we step away from information
and entertainment, and we open ourselves up
to the possibility of an older, deeper wisdom
and the peace that comes with that wisdom.”
In Simple Truth, Cocke combines elements
of various landscapes into a surreal whole. A
pile of rocks in the foreground is echoed in
pillars of rock in the middle distance and,
possibly, a constructed pile of rocks in a
city in the distance. The bare trees in the
foreground remind us of the cycle of nature,
063

a conceit often used by Hudson River School
painters in the 19th century.
To hear more from artists, galleries and
museums on the impact of the landscape
in many diverse forms of artwork, continue
reading throughout this section dedicated
to the genre. Also hear advice and insights
on establishing or adding to a collection.
One of the simple pleasures in life
is immersing yourself in a magnificent
landscape painting. “The details that
present themselves are like a stroke of
unexpected color clandestinely drawing
your eye or a small figure giving the scene
scale,” says Maggie Rey of Claggett/Rey
Gallery. “These expressions can only be
discovered if you can pause, gazing for
an unmeasured amount of time. Whether
it’s a small vignette or a work of grand
scale, these creations draw you in to the
environment at a particular moment in
time, presenting seasonal changes from a
064 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
COL L EC TOR'S FOC U S
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2 3
4 5
specific viewpoint, be it a bucolic vista or
the rugged mountain terrain.”
The gallery is fortunate enough to
represent a broad array of contemporary
landscape artists who are masters of their
fields, including James Reynolds, Curt
Walters, Josh Elliott, W. Truman Hosner
and Cyrus Afsary, among many others.
Rey continues, “We are honored that these
masters of their environments have shared
these transporting visions with us, and we
would love to share them with you.”
Artist Kim VanDerHoek finds inspira-
tion from her coast-to-coast travels when
participating in plein air events. Whether
working on location or in her studio using
photos taken out of an airplane window,
VanDerHoek strives to capture the unique
qualities of each place. “I try to balance
painting essential details that give a
scene it’s individual character while also
including bold palette knife work.”
When collecting, she says, “Buy artwork
that challenges you in some way. Over time
it will reveal unexpected aspects that will
keep you engaged with it long term.”
Matthew Sievers, represented by Blue
Rain Gallery, attributes light as a main
focus in his work. “As of late, he has been
exploring different ways of filtering light
in his paintings to create both subtle and
dramatic changes in his subjects,” explains
Denise Phetteplace, executive director for
Blue Rain. “If he can convey temperature
or time of day in a painting, he is then free
to break rules with abstract mark making
and blurred lines, a signature of Siever’s
painting style. The artist would prefer
that the location of his paintings remain
vague in hopes that he can evoke a sense of
memory or nostalgia in the viewer. It’s about
creating a feeling.”
“When collecting work in this genre,”
Phetteplace continues, “find something
 6 7

8 9

CO L L E C TOR'S F O C U S: L A N D S C A P E S

10 11
2. Principle Gallery, Marshland, oil and wax on panel, 24 x 24", by Jeff Erickson. 3. Jerald Melberg Gallery, Blue Moon on the Scout Pond, oil on canvas, 36 x 48",
by Thomas McNickle 4. Blue Rain Gallery, Change, oil on panel, 36 x 72", by Matthew Sievers. 5. Blue Rain Gallery, Cloud Shadows, oil on panel, 48 x 48", by Matthew
Sievers. 6. Blue Rain Gallery, Colorful Reflection, oil on panel, 48 x 60", by Matthew Sievers. 7. Claggett/Rey Gallery, Sierra Lake, oil, 30 x 40", by James Reynolds.
065

8. Claggett/Rey Gallery, Spring Meadow, oil, 22 x 38", by Cyrus Afsary. 9. Janet Grissom, Hinged Barrier, oil on board, 24 x 18" 10. Janet Grissom, Living with Trees, oil on
canvas, 36 x 24" 11. Claggett/Rey Gallery, The Taylor Ranch - Cambria, pastel, 16 x 20", by W. Truman Hosner.

12
you love and collect the best quality you can
afford. There are a lot of landscape painters
and paintings to choose from. Find a style
of work that speaks to you and do some
comparisons.”
Janet Grissom believes that artists
create to communicate; “to communicate
the joys of life and to communicate the
challenges of life,” she says. “But it is
with collectors who, by living and sharing
these works, allow the world around us to
experience these trials and tribulations. I
have always felt it is my responsibility as
066 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
COL L EC TOR'S FOC U S
L A N D S C A P E S
15
an artist to offer my truest interpretations
of the world around me. The emotions of
my world, both the calm and chaos, flow
through the various colors and textures.”
This can be more closely seen in Grissom’s
landscapes like Living with Trees, pictured
here, where the color palette, shadow and
perspective communicate a mood.
“We are all moving through this world
together, facing daily challenges of uncer-
tainty,” Grissom continues. “Art is the gift
that allows us to experience life together as
both creator and collector.”
13 14
16
Artist Brett Cassort implores you to stop
and take a deep breath, relax and lower your
shoulders as you read. “Take this moment to
have gratitude for everything that is good
in your life and smile!” He says. “We don’t
stop and appreciate the good things in life
as often as we should, especially in this
tumultuous world. You’ve travelled down
many roads in your life to get to this point
right here, right now.” The artist’s goal in
his dreamy and mesmerizing landscape
pieces is to “free you from struggle and to
no longer look in the rearview mirror, just
 17 18

19 20 21

12. Janet Grissom, Trajectory, oil on canvas, 48 x 36" 13. Kim VanDerHoek, Many Roads to Redemption, oil on panel, 10 x 10" 14. Kim VanDerHoek, Meadow of Dreams, oil on
panel, 7 x 5" 15. Kim VanDerHoek, Wild Reds, oil on panel, 12 x 12" 16. Brett Cassort, Dirt Road to Paradise, oil on canvas, 48 x 36" 17. Robert MaGaw, Red Bluffs, oil on canvas,
16 x 20" 18. Robert MaGaw, The Embrace of Light, oil on canvas panel, 8 x 10" 19. Brett Cassort, 9 Saguaros, oil on canvas, 36 x 48" 20. Robert MaGaw, Autumn Grove, oil on
canvas, 16 x 20" 21. Judith Babcock, Summer Celebration 3, oil on canvas, 16 x 12"

focus on the road in front of you, do your
best and show the world who you are,” he
says. “You’ve weathered storms, you’ve hit
plenty of bumps and roadblocks along the
way, but you shook it all off enough to be
present in this very moment. Resiliency is
a beautiful thing so keep traveling down
those roads in front of you to discover all
the adventures waiting out there, over the
hill, around the bend, where the light is
coming from. My hope is to inspire you.”
Find Cassort’s work at realART Gallery in
Agoura Hills, CA, and at upcoming shows
at Barker Hanger, Santa Monica, California,
September 22 to 25; and at Dallas Market
Hall, Dallas, Texas, October 20 to 23.
Artist Robert MaGaw has been called
an impressionist, a tonalist and many
have commented on a certain atmospheric
quality in his work. “I have always been more
comfortable outside in nature,” he notes.
“When I am painting, I am conscience of
how I feel in the landscape; that inspiration
flows from me onto the canvas. As a boy, my
friends and I would spend our days in the
woods and often camped out, doing what
young boys do. My paintings, I hope, reflect
that youthful sense of adventure, inviting
the viewer to come along with me into the
woods, the fields or vast open plains that are
places to be explored as much as they are
peaceful sanctuaries.”
MaGaw’s landscapes are also consid-
ered relaxed and colorful, with a sense of
the abstract and that beckon the familiar.
Some examples of this can be seen in The
Embrace of Light, Red Bluffs and Autumn
Grove, all pictured here.
For collectors, his only advice when
viewing landscape paintings is to “listen
to your own voice. If it says ‘I want to be
there,’ then you feel that special emotion of
your own familiar place—one you will enjoy
walking into every single day.”
Soft brushstrokes and an airy, effortless
blending of colors contribute to a heav-
enly environment focused on emotional
response and personal narrative in the
works of Sally Ruddy. Omitting fine details
in the scenery, Ruddy creates a setting that
is otherworldly, transporting her viewers
into her intimate memories of family and
self. Her series Fleeting Moments, captures
her profound connection to the California
Central Valley. Aglow with a poetic softness,
her magical scenes of orchards, flowers and
skies dance across the canvas reflecting the
gentleness and alluring mystique of nature.
She explains, “The series reflects my efforts
to find those experiences that catch the eye.
We want them to last, but what makes them
CO L L E C TOR'S F O C U S: L A N D S C A P E S
special is how soon they pass.”
Denice Peters creates pastel paintings
using strong light and shadow to create
beauty, a bit of nostalgia and a sense of
peace. “The effect that light has on nature
or objects captivates and attracts me,” she
says. “It’s this spark of brightness shining
against the darkness that inspires me.
Regardless of the subject, each painting
is about this dramatic glow evoking an
emotional response using my honed style I
call ‘blended reality.’ The elements of light,
detail and feeling all come together in a
realistic way to create serenity, appeal and
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22 23 24

25 26
22. Brett Cassort, Easy Living, oil on canvas, 24 x 30" 23. Sally Ruddy, Just Before the Stars Come Out, oil on canvas, 20 x 24" 24. Sally Ruddy, Sultry Summer, oil on canvas,
30 x 40" 25. Kasandra McNeil, Pinnacle Overlook, oil 18 x 24" 26. Judith Babcock, Reaching for the Gold, oil on canvas, 30 x 48" 27. Kathy Anderson, Everyone Here?, oil on
canvas, 10 x 20" 28. Jason Bailey, Reminiscent, oil, 26 x 36" 29. Denice Peters, Lake Superior Shore, pastel, 24 x 18" 30. Kathy Anderson, Aspen Grove in Steamboat, oil on
board, 9 x 12" 31. John MacDonald, New England Dusk, oil on board, 16 x 20" 32. Kasandra McNeil, Morning Oracle, oil, 11 x 14"

sentimentality, through everyday items,
antiques or landscapes that I visit. This is
done without tools other than my fingers
and pastel sticks. My goal is to help others
see that beauty and peace. Life’s too short
to do otherwise.”
When collecting, she suggests “always
buy a painting that you love, that drew
your attention. That way you’ll always be
happy with it. Decor changes, but a pastel
painting will last for centuries!”
Although Kathy Anderson is an East
Coast gal, part of her heart remains among
the crisp forests and clear rivers of the
West where she visits at least once year.
“As a member of the now sadly disbanded
Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters, I would
always seek out the aspen groves, water
rushing over rocks at a river or waterfall
or the many wildflowers that are almost
everywhere,” she shares. “The colors,
textures and hidden treasures found in the
woods…fill me with such peace and excite-
ment at the same time that I’m tempted to
stay there forever.
Anderson’s muse is the intimate land-
scape, and her hope is that she can convey
this feeling to her viewer “so that you’ll
want to join me through the forest, in the
spray of a waterfall or see the uniqueness
of each tree, each rock and every piece of
this incredible earth that I love so much,”
she says.
Jason Bailey is an  impressionist who
is drawn to buildings in the landscape.
He often paints small town street scenes
along railroad tracks or buildings along
the coast,  where he can get a  variety of
man-made and organic subject matter. “I
love to find the beauty in the mundane,”
he says. Spending the majority of his time
painting outdoors from life, he’s learned to
capture light and atmosphere on canvas. “I
try to capture the energy of life in that
moment,” he continues, “that’s what I love
about plein air painting. There is constant
movement in life, so the splatters, squig-
gles, bold brush strokes and thick palette
knife work is how I see the world in paint.”
His main focus is capturing the energy
of the scene with values, composition and
textures.  In Reminiscent, he sought to
find the peaceful mood and energy of an
old island home. He shares, “I want you to
be able to feel the warm breeze and hear
the ocean in the distance when you view
this painting.”
Also an impressionist, artist Judith
Babcock trained at the Russian school
of painting, and enjoys color and texture
in her work. She is also influenced by the
Russian expressionist style and studied
Don Sahli and Boris Shoshensky, both
masters in Russian expressionism. Large
aspen landscapes and mountain views
set the stage for her own unique style.
“My larger paintings are done from my
smaller plein air studies and my imagina-
tion,” she notes. “The pallet knife is the
secret weapon for my bold color contrasts
and development of the finished product.
Each painting takes on a personality of its

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29 30

CO L L E C TOR'S F O C U S: L A N D S C A P E S

31 32

own.” Babcock’s work is widely collected
and hangs in many private and corporate
collections.
When Kasandra McNeil needs inspira-
tion for a new painting, she walks on her
fourth-generation, 30-acre Kentucky farm.
“I have been wading the creek behind the
property and exploring the timberline
my entire life,” McNeil says, “and I have
watched the sky, the trees and listened to
the bullfrogs in our pond. A certain magic
happens when the fog rolls in on a crisp
morning. I especially love it when hay bales
stand in silence. It may sound crazy, but
they talk to me. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve
learned to listen.” Her oil paintings capture
the creek rushing over slate rock, morning
mist diffused by the sun and flowers from
her garden. Some of her work features
other locations in Kentucky, as well as her
international travels. McNeil’s paintings
are exhibited throughout Kentucky, as
well as the Midwest and the West Coast.
Her portraits are in private collections
069
 COL L EC TOR'S FOC U S
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33 34

nationwide.
As a Southwest Desert landscape artist,
Naomi Brown is always trying to push
herself as an artist to better understand
the Southwest’s array of beautiful colors
displayed in its vast landscapes and
vibrant sunsets. “I love the challenge of
capturing these colors in my paintings,”
says Brown. “I feel very lucky to be able
to go out in my back yard that extends to
hundreds of acres of open Sonoran Desert
and study those beautiful desert colors
that show up almost every evening in our
sunsets here in Arizona. I love when I have
collectors tell me they bought my [work[,
because they felt like they could walk right
into my painting and that they really had a
sense of being in that moment. That helps
me as the artist feel like I accomplished
what I set out to do before I even started 35 36

FE AT URED BRETT CASSORT

brett@brettcassort.com
JASON BAILEY
jason@jasonbaileyfineart.com

Artists &
www.brettcassort.com www.jasonbaileyfineart.com

CLAGGETT/REY GALLERY JERALD MELBERG GALLERY

Galleries
216 Main Street suite C-100, Edwards, CO 625 S. Sharon Amity Road
81632, www.claggettrey.com Charlotte, NC 28211
(704) 365-3000
DENICE PETERS gallery@jeraldmelberg.com
BLUE RAIN GALLERY Denison, IA, (712) 263-3090 www.jeraldmelberg.com
544 South Guadalupe Street www.denicepeters.com
Santa Fe, NM 87501 JOHN MACDONALD
(505) 954-9902 (413) 884-2074, john@jmacdonald.com
info@blueraingallery.com JANET GRISSOM www.jmacdonald.com
www.blueraingallery.com paintingsbygrissom@gmail.com
www.janetgrissompaintings.com

070 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com


33. Nancy Silvia, Cloudy Day in Monument Valley, pastel, 22 x 30" 34. Judith Babcock, Mountain Aspen, oil on canvas, 24 x 36" 35. Naomi Brown, Tucson Sunset,
oil on canvas, 40 x 30" 36. Naomi Brown, Desert Verbena, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20" 37. Naomi Brown, Just Peachy in Joshua Tree, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18"
38. John MacDonald, Berkshire Sky, oil on board, 12 x 16"
that particular painting.”
In choosing to represent the natural
world, Nancy Silvia seeks to evoke a sense
of place and the evanescent sensations
of light and weather. “There is an active
choice involved in observing, selecting,
transforming and often inventing elements
of the view that I present,” Silvia explains.
“In depicting natural landscape scenes in
partnership with abstract pictorial compo-
sition, I hope to convey an intense and
personal impression. Honoring the beauty
of nature in a painting is a meditation, a
poem and a gift to the viewer.”
For advice on collecting, Silvia notes that
“collectors of landscape paintings have a
JUDITH BABCOCK
Denver, CO, (303) 669-6353
www.judithbabcockfineart.com
KASANDRA MCNEIL
(606) 416-4347
kasandramcneil150@gmail.com
www.kasandramcneil.com
KATHY ANDERSON
kathy@kathyandersonstudio.com
www.kathyandersonstudio.com
KIM VANDERHOEK
Southern California, (949) 510-6921
www.kimvanderhoek.com
37
vast range of subjects and styles from
which to choose; every person is ultimately
moved by a feeling that arrests them in a
painting that they wish to acquire. Pastel
paintings stand out among other media for
the vibrancy of color, drawing and unique
velvety surface…”
John MacDonald’s love of the landscape
is rooted in a childhood spent in the fields
and the woodlands of Indiana. “I am in love
with the transient yet timeless beauty of
the shifting light and color of the natural
world, an appreciation that I share with
my two greatest influences: the American
tonalists and the classical poets of China,”
the artist says. “Like them, I strive to say as
NANCY SILVIA
(505) 231-2312, n@nancysilvia.com
www.nancysilviastudio.com
NAOMI BROWN
www.naomibrownart.com
PRINCIPLE GALLERY
208 King Street, Alexandria,
VA 22314, (703) 739-9326,
info@principlegallery.com
www.principlegallery.com
38
much as possible with as little as possible—
to subtlety suggest forms rather than to
overtly describe them. I wish to create
paintings that capture a mood rather than
tell a story. It is the quiet timelessness of
the natural landscape that most speaks to
me and which I wish to convey to a viewer.
I hope to hint at the greater reality that
lies behind the surface of things, leaving
some mystery in a painting that entices
the viewer to explore the landscape within.”
“ [ W he n ] bu y i ng a la nds cap e,”
MacDonald continues, “choose one you’d
like to explore; to live in. That’s the sign
that the heart connects to it.”
ROBERT MAGAW
(419) 649-9907
CO L L E C TOR'S F O C U S: L A N D S C A P E S
robertmagawart@aol.com
www.robertmagaw.com
SALLY RUDDY
info@sallyruddy.com
www.sallyruddy.com
TORY FOLLIARD GALLERY
233 N. Milwaukee Street
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 273-7311
info@toryfolliard.com
www.toryfolliard.com
071
PETER
SWIFT
SYMMETRICAL REALISM

Eg g a nd E i g h t R o pe s
48 x 48"
Acrylic on canvas

To u c h s t o n e G a l l e r y
9 0 1 N e w Yo r k A v e n u e N W,
Wa s h i n g t o n , D C 2 0 0 0 1
w w w. p e t e r s w i f t a r t s t u d i o . c o m
pswift73@icloud.com
 Pinnacle Overlook, 18 x 24, oil

Kasandra
McNeil Sonoma Plein Air Festival
Exhibition & Sale September 10th
Historic Sonoma Plaza
kasandramcneil.com Napa St. East &First St. East
kasandramcneil150@gmail.com 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
606.416.4347

TWO STUDIOS
290 East Loudon, Lexington, KY 
15605 West Highway 80, Nancy, Kentucky
THE WILLS GALLERY
190 N. Jefferson, Lexington, KY, 40508
859.396.6740

Upcoming Solo Exhibit: “My Favorite Things”

November 1 - December 30
ARTISTS’ ATTIC
401 W. Main, 4th Floor; Lexington, KY
Reception: Friday, November 18th, 5ശ8 p.m.
during Gallery Hop

The Art Lover's Guide to Collecting Fine Art in
New York, Washington, D.C.
& the Mid-Atlantic States
ew York, Washington, D.C. and the Mid-At-
N lantic states are some of the most vibrant
places in the country. Dense with culture and
creative expression, these north/southeastern
states carry with them the history of this country’s
beginnings. Everywhere you go, there seems to be art
galleries, festivals, fairs and museums adding contem-
poray color to the region.
Our first stop is New York City, an electric city
ablaze in dazzling lights, skyscrapers and unparal-
074 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
MIDTOWN WEST IN NEW YORK CITY. COURTESY NYC & COMPANY.
leled energy. Here, you’ll find powerhouse institutions
like the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the largest art
museum in the Western Hemisphere), the Whitney
Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern
Art, among many, many others. The gallery scene is
unsurpassed as well. Since its inception in 2000, Ar-
cadia Gallery has showcased the top, blue-chip artists
working in representational painting today. Addition-
ally, Stone Sparrow NYC features superbly innovative
artists who are truly pushing the boundaries of art
 A VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA VIRGINIA’S KING STREET.
PHOTO BY SAM-KITTNER FOR VISIT ALEXANDRIA.

and expression. New York City is also home to dozens of phenomenal

art fairs, including the upcoming Art on Paper (September 8 to 11) The
Armory Show (September 9 to 11), and the Affordable Art Fair (Septem-
ber 22 to 25). In subsequent months, be on the lookout for the ADAA
Art Show (November 3 to 6) and Salon Art + Design (November 10 to 14).
As you make your way through the art hubs of the region, be sure
to stop in beautiful Virginia. Esteemed galleries like Principle Gallery,
which has a location in Alexandria, Virginia (as well as Charleston,
South Carolina), represent the highest quality contemporary realism in
both painting and bronze sculpture. The city’s visual arts hotspot is the
Torpedo Factory Art Center, home to the nation’s largest collection of
working-artists’ open studios under one roof—71 studios in total. Repre-
senting sculpture and an array of fine art is Stravitz Sculpture & Fine
Art Gallery, located in Virginia Beach.
Neighboring Washington, D.C. is another must-see destination. The
possibilities in our nation's capitol are truly endless, from the Smith-
sonian American Art Museum to the Hirshorn Museum of Art to the
National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery of Art.
Esteemed artists in New York, D.C. and the Mid-Atlantic area include J
Louis, Tara Will, Peter Swift, Jacalyn Beam, Mary Pritchard and Loriann
Signori. Other top tier galleries include New York’s Rehs Galleries and GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY IN WASH-
INGTON, D.C. PHOTO BY JIMMY WOO.
Rehs Contemporary. Explore the following pages to learn more.
075
DESTINATION » NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, D.C. & THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES

ARCADIA GALLERY
421 W. Broadway
New York, NY 10012
(646) 861-3941
info@arcadiacontemporary.com
www.arcadiacontemporary.com
Since opening in 2000,
Arcadia Gallery has
exclusively featured
representational painting by
highly skilled, living artists.
From still life to landscape
and figurative works, Arcadia
looks to feature artists that
have their own, unique style.
It’s not enough to be skilled
to be featured in the gallery;
the artists need to be more
than that. The works they
create need to display each
artist’s own “signature style”
so collectors recongize their
imagery as soon as they see it.
The gallery represents
some of the most respected
names in contemporary
realism including Alex
Venezia, Nick Alm, Jeffrey
Ripple, Ron Hicks and so
many others.

1
Arcadia Gallery,
Augur, oil on
panel, 26 x 36",
by Daniel Bilmes.

2
Arcadia Gallery,
Subway, oil on
canvas, 37 x 53",
by Nick Alm.

3
The interior of
Arcadia Gallery
in New York.

2 3

076 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

1

DE STINAT ION / NE W YO RK , WASHI NGTON, D.C. & TH E MID- ATLANTIC STATES

2 3

contemporary realism art. for its artists through solo 1

PRINCIPLE “Focusing on paintings in
GALLERY oil and bronze sculpture, we
208 King Street proudly represent emerging,
Alexandria, VA 22306 mid-career and established
artists with a distinctly
(703) 739-9326
info@principlegallery.com personal approach to their
www.principlegallery.com work,” says Taylor Chauncey,
assistant director. Principle
Since opening in 1994,
Gallery, which has a sister
Principle Gallery has been
gallery in Charleston, South
dedicated to representing
Carolina, gains great exposure
exhibitions, selective group
shows and national art fairs.
They represent artists such
as Anna Wypych, Geoffrey
Johnson, Lynn Boggess,
Jeremy Mann, Joseph
McGurl, Kim VanDerHoek,
Joseph Zbukvic and many
more. One of the latest
additions to the gallery is
California-based artist Aiden
Principle Gallery, Your fire can’t
touch me - Ultimate Resistance -
Summary of 2022, oil on canvas,
39½ x 31½", by Anna Wypych.
2
An exterior view of Principle Gallery
in Alexandria, Virginia.
3
Principle Gallery, Ritual, oil, copper
leaf and acrylic on canvas, 84 x 48",
by Aiden Kringen.
077

the highest quality of Kringen.

DESTINATION » NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, D.C. & THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES

1 2

REHS GALLERIES
(212) 355-5710
info@rehs.com
www.rehs.com
For nearly a century, Rehs
Galleries has called New
York City home, and for the
last 25 years they have sat
perched up on the 8th floor
overlooking the intersection
of 57th Street and 5th Avenue.
But times are a changin’.
“While we love our cozy
space adorned with blue velvet
walls, we are onto bigger and
better things,” says gallery
director and vice president
Lance Rehs. "About two and a
half times bigger!”
As of September, the current
space at 5 East 57th will close
and a transition to 20 West
55th Street will begin. The new
3
space is expected to open
to the public in 2023. In the publishing their monthly 1 2 3
interim, Rehs Galleries Inc. newsletter about the art Rehs Galleries Inc, Peace Rehs Galleries Inc, Shiro, Rehs Galleries Inc,
and Rehs Contemporary will Like A River, oil on panel, oil and gold leaf on Pittsburgh Point Bridge
market, while participating
33 x 34 x 2", by Josh canvas, 45¾ x 35¾", from Water Street c. 1880,
continue offering new works in several art fairs across the Tiessen. by Mitsuru Watanabe. oil on canvas 14 x 20",
through their website and country. by John Stobart.

078 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

1 2

1
STONE SPARROW NYC Stone Sparrow
NYC, Eclipsed,
45 Greenwich Avenue oil on wood,
New York, NY 10014 20 x 20", by
(646) 449-8004 Zienna Brunsted
info@stonesparrownyc.com Stewart.
www.stonesparrownyc.com 2

DE STINAT ION / NE W YO RK , WASHI NGTON, D.C. & TH E MID- ATLANTIC STATES

Stone Sparrow NYC was The entrance to
established in 2019 by curator Stone Sparrow
NYC.
Marina Eliasi in Manhattan's
charming West Village. The 3
gallery features artists working Stone Sparrow
in the realms of figurative NYC, I’ve Had
Dreams Realer
realism and surrealism. Over
Than This, oil
the years, the gallery has built on linen, 56 x
a strong roster of local and 42", by Kevin
international talent, focusing on Sparkowich.
quality and content rather than
sensationalism.
Stone Sparrow NYC’s
upcoming schedule includes
several solo shows that they are
particularly excited to unveil,
including the September show
which is a dual solo titled
Perspectives, featuring the
provocative works of Zienna
Brunsted Stewart and Weldon
Ryan. The gallery has recently
added new exclusively-shown
artists as well, including
the evolving work of Kevin
Sparkowich and the emotionally
charged surrealism/photorealism
of Tanya Gomelskaya.
079

3
DESTINATION » NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, D.C. & THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES

1 2

J LOUIS
info@jlouis.co
www.jlouis.co
Artist J Louis creates abstract
representational paintings,
predominantly depicting
women who “exist in a space
constructed by their unique
aura.” Beauty and binary
mechanisms are the artist’s
main source of inspiration.
“The yin and yang of things
has constantly inspired me. I
think this is something that
draws me to paint women. To
me, women demonstrate this
beautiful duality better than
anything else,” says Louis.
“I am fortunate and inspired
to live a life around women
that possess both the greatest
tenderness and grittiest 3
perseverance. It is my goal 1
ongoing series, one called extension of the figure,” he J Louis, Untitled Pyramid 9, oil on
in this work to present what I
homebodies and the other says. canvas, 84 x 60"
find to be the most beautiful
pyramid paintings, which Louis is represented by
and inspiring images of 2
feature large black triangular Friedrichs Pontone Gallery
feminine strength.” J Louis, Sofie, oil on panel, 24 x 24"
veils. “Both bodies of work in New York City, Principle
The artist is currently
are an exploration of the Gallery in Virginia and Shain 3
working with two
feminine and space as an Gallery in North Carolina. J Louis, Ledge 2, oil on panel, 24 x 36"

080 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com


1 3
TARA WILL
www.tarawill.com
Tara Will attended Mount
Saint Mary’s University in
Maryland, double majoring
in art and philosophy. She
enjoys painting quickly, trying
to capture the essence of the
subject using bold colors and
strong marks. The artist works
in pastels and achieved her
Eminent Pastelist Status with
the International Association
of Pastel Societies in 2022.
She resides in Maryland
with her husband and four
small children.
“I create work that focuses
on capturing the essence of
the subject. I enjoy a wide
range of subjects, but mostly
focus on the landscape, for
my love of being outside,”
says Will. “I was told by a
mentor once that the act
2
DE STINAT ION / NE W YO RK , WASHI NGTON, D.C. & TH E MID- ATLANTIC STATES
of painting is a transfer of 1
energy. We try to reflect that Tara Will, Warmth Reflected, soft pastel,
25 x 19"
as best we can to a viewer
so they can participate in an 2
age-old visual conversation. Tara Will, Standing Order, soft pastel,
I am currently delving into 25 x 19"
a more confident voice in
3
oils, as most of my work has Tara Will, Spring in Green, soft pastel,
been in pastels and I am very 25 x 19"
comfortable there. There is
something refreshing about
learning something new, and
I never tire of it.”
081
DESTINATION » NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, D.C. & THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES

RICHARD
STRAVITZ
SCULPTURE
& FINE ART
GALLERY
1217 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach, VA
(757) 305-9411
www.richardstravitz.com
www.stravitzartgallery.com
In 2007, sculptor Richard
Stravitz decided to open a
gallery on Laskin Road in
Virginia Beach, Virginia,
so he could showcase his
talent while also helping
local artists in the Hampton
Roads area do the same. All
styles of art are represented
as well as artists of local,
national and international
renown. His studio is
downstairs in the gallery
so collectors can see him
at work. Much of his early
work comes from his love
and experiences in athletics
and has matured into many
other areas. Each of his
pieces remain true to their
subject, with muscle and
sinew realistically wrought
and magically revealed. A
compliment to his ability to
capture motion and detail,
Stravitz is widely recognized
for his distinctive ability to
sculpt emotion.

1
Richard Stravitz Sculpture & Fine
Art Gallery, Race, mixed media, 24 x
30", by Mona Dworkin.

2
Richard Stravitz Sculpture & Fine
Art Gallery, First Blush, mixed media,
30 x 30", by Robert Winne.

3
Richard Stravitz Sculpture & Fine Art
Gallery, Without Humans, enhanced
giclee, 48 x 36", by Chuck Larivey.

2 3

082 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

1 2
JACALYN BEAM
www.jacalynbeam.com
Jacalyn Beam was born in
the Brandywine Valley where
she now resides and paints.
Most notably a plein air
painter, Beam records the
history and beauty of the
countryside. She is a member
of the American Impressionist
Society, Oil Painters of
America, Washington Society
of Landscape Painters and the
Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters
Association. She served on the
MAPAPA Board of Directors
and the Chaddsford Historical
Society, and presently serves at
the discretion of the Governor
on the Delware State Arts
Council.
Beam is also included in the
books 100 Plein Air Painters
of the Mid-Atlantic and
Brandywine Valley Reflections
as an artist helping to
preserve the area's traditions.
She is slated to illustrate a
book highlighting Chester
County to be published in
2023. Beam’s work is deeply
3 4
engaged with the landscape
surrounding her home. While
she travels to major juried
events across the country and
has gallery representation
in Carmel, California, and
Boulder, Colorado, much of
her time is spent documenting
in Mid-Atlantic.
LORIANN SIGNORI
www.loriannsignori.com
Loriann Signori is a
landscape painter and a
painter of luminosity. Her
work is based in traditional
methods and defined by
colorist tendencies, yet
her aims and methods
undergo continual
transformation. One thing
remains consistent—her
paintings are essentially an
emotional interpretation
DE STINAT ION / NE W YO RK , WASHI NGTON, D.C. & TH E MID- ATLANTIC STATES
of time and place. Imbued
with a haunting quality, her
approach is best described
as poetic realism. The poetic
nature of her choice of
subject and the profound
sensitivity she brings to
her work is palpable. She
is a painter with a soulful
connection to her subject.
Currently, she is represented
by Warm Springs Gallery in
Warm Springs, Virginia.
1
Jacalyn Beam, Carversville Curves, oil on
conservation linen panel, 16 x 20"
2
Jacalyn Beam, Georgetown Canal, oil
on conservation linen panel, 11 x 14"
3
Loriann Signori, Air Like Glass, mixed
media
4
Loriann Signori, Passing Through,
083
mixed media, 11 x 8"
DESTINATION » NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, D.C. & THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES

MARY PRITCHARD
info@marypritchardart.com
www.marypritchardart.com
Artist Mary Pritchard
has been a university
administrator, a corporate
art curator and a coordinator
of traveling exhibitions for
artists such as Wolf Kahn. A
full-time painter once more,
she is currently focusing on
depicting the farms and rivers
of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
A working farm with an iconic
barn is an endless source of
inspiration for the artist.
“Reflections and grasses in
the rivers and creeks near my
1
Chestertown home inspire
paintings that deal with the Pastel has been my primary represents harmony, unity,
complexity of nature—tangled medium for its directness, PETER SWIFT tranquility, completion and
grasses and the interplay spontaneity and flexibility, but pswift73@icloud.com wholeness.” His biggest
of sky and water. My goal I am excited at developing www.peterswiftartstudio.com influences have been Louise
as a landscape painter is to new large scale oil paintings The unique style of artist Nevelson, Martin Puryear and
retain a 'sense of place' while to increase the impact of my Peter Swift combines two Andy Goldsworthy.
creating a new reality on a favorite images.” distinct elements: classical “Symmetry is a fundamental
two-dimensional surface. realistic still-life painting underlying principle in art,”
and symmetrical design. he adds. “However, over the
Swift has coined the phrase past century, symmetry has
“Symmetrical Realism” to been a factor for the most
describe his work, most of part only in abstract art, such
which feature circles in as the work of Josef Albers
some capacity. and Frank Stella. My work
“I believe that the combines both symmetry
human brain has a deep and realistic rendering, both
psychological connection imagination and meticulous
to circles,” says the artist. craftsmanship.”
“The circle is a fundamental Swift is represented by
symbol in many of the Touchstone Gallery in
world’s religions because it Washington, D.C.

1
Mary Pritchard, Tavern
Creek Afternoon, pastel,
9 x 18"

2
Peter Swift, Eight
Carrots, acrylic on
canvas, 60 x 60"

3
Peter Swift working in
his studio.

2 3

084 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 Rose Tanner
CAPTURING THE BEAUTY OF NATURE THROUGH
NANCY SILVIA
THE WORLD OF BIRDS

Oil Paintings - Online Painting Workshops “Cloudy Day in Monument Valley” • Pastel 22x30”

Does your gallery need indoor birdwatching?

n@nancysilvia.com
Owl in the Mist, Oil on Linen, 16 x 20 505-231-2312
403.431.5662 | ROSETANNER.COM | ROSE@ROSETANNER.COM nancysilviastudio.com

SHOW PREVIEW
Fine Impressions
The American Impressionist Society hosts the 23rd National
Juried Exhibition in Boulder, Colorado.
A s of June 2022, the American
Impressionist Society tallied a
membership of 2,075 artists across the
U.S. Of the 1,210 member-submitted
works seeking entry into AIS’ 23rd annual
National Juried Exhibition, only a presti-
gious 155 pieces of impressionist art were
selected for the event, which will include
works in oil, watercolor, pastel, gouache
and acrylic.
The following featured artists represent
a small sampling of those juried into the
exhibit, all of whose work will be assessed
for interpretation of theme, originality,
quality and artistic skill by juror of awards
086 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
and AIS Master Member, artist Huihan Liu.
Teresa Townsend Hargis is an award-
winning artist and is honored to have
been selected by AIS for the show. “When
I view a scene I want to paint, I endeavor
to give my impression of that scene on
canvas and express with paint the beauty
of what I see,” says Hargis. “My desire is
to tell a story and express emotion with
bold brushstrokes. I am always mindful
that I can never match God’s palette, but I
do give my best impressionist effort.” Her
painting of Bethesda Fountain was inspired
after a visit to Central Park. “I was capti-
vated by the angel that carries a lily in one
1
AIS NATIONAL JURIED
EXHIBITION
When: September 15-October 22, 2022
Where: Mary Williams Fine Arts
5311 Western Avenue #12, Boulder, CO 80301
Information: (303) 938-1588, www.marywilliamsfinearts.com
hand while the other is blessing the water
pouring around her feet. The reference to
the Bible is a verse from the Gospel of St.
John (5:2-4): ‘Now there is at Jerusalem by
the sheep market a pool, which is called
Bethesda, whoever then first after the trou-
bling of the waters stepped in was made
whole of whatsoever disease he had.’”
The inspiration for Debra Joy Groesser’s
painting is Narada Lake, part of the
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore
outside of Traverse City, Michigan.
“I first painted this scene en plein air
during the Paint Grand Traverse event
in 2018. I’ve painted it three or four times
since, including this studio piece, each at
different times of day and different condi-
tions,” Groesser says. “It is a peaceful,
magical place any time of day, and if you’re
lucky you can catch a glimpse of the loons
and listen to their calls. Each time I have
painted this scene it takes me right back
to being there—the sounds, the wonderful
smell of the pine trees, the birdwatchers,
kayakers and cyclists that came by. It’s my
hope that the viewer will feel the peaceful-
ness and the spirit of this special place
through the painting.”
It’s clear what inspired James Swanson’s
painting The Good Boy. “It’s like the old
saying goes, ‘without heart there is no
art,’” quotes the artist. “It’s easy to paint
when your heart is in it. The Good Boy
was painted more by my heart, than by my
hand. He was such a good boy, he deserved
a great painting.”
With a degree in interior design, Hope
Reis fell in love with painting when she
was designing floor canvases for clients
20 years ago. This led to making fine art
her life’s work. She is now represented by
galleries in Florida, California, Georgia and
England. “I love the energy and passion
that comes from painting from life, whether
a model in the studio or painting in the
landscape,” says Reis. “That excitement…[is
 2

1
Teresa Townsend
Hargis, Bethesda
Fountain’s Angel of the
Waters, oil on linen
canvas, 20 x 20"
2
Debra Joy Groesser,
Late Day Reverie, Narada
Lake, oil on linen
panel,16 x 20"
3
James Swanson, The
Good Boy, oil on linen,
18 x 24"
AR T SHOW PRE VI E W
087

3
 4 5
what] I want the viewer to sense also. This
is the feeling collectors should look for
when in the market for new works. North
Light Breakfast is a painting of a model in
our dining room. My aim was to capture
the ‘feeling’ of this comfortable, elegant
setting.” Reis is thrilled that seeing beauty
is her job. “What a fabulous way to honor
my creator,” she adds. “Truly I want my
work to reflect the appreciation I feel for
the glorious beauty God has given us all
to enjoy.”
Heather Arenas’ painting depicts a
group of men engaged in a very serious
game in New York City’s Union Square.
“I loved their level of concentration with
so much hustle and bustle around them,”
088
says Arenas. “They didn’t require any
high-tech gadgetry, just a board and some
crates. Race, gender, religion had no place
in the discussion. It was all about the next
move.” People are Arenas’ subject of choice.
“A gesture of the figure or a hand can tell
so much of a story,” she continues. “I don’t
have to be a slave to a photo reference if I
can express the emotion through gesture.”
Arenas chooses to paint in an impression-
istic style because because it allows “the
viewer to become part of the story by filling
in some of the details with their own heart
and mind. It helps them to connect with the
piece. If the piece is too realistic, it might
as well be a photo and may only receive a
glance. I want the viewer’s attention.”
6
Liz Abeyta loves the constant challenges
of painting on location. “It forces me to
pare down grand vistas or detailed scenes
to the bare essentials,” says the artist. “It is
a delicate balance to provide just enough
so that the painting is understood by the
viewer, while leaving suggested features
to the imagination.” Abeyta strives to be
efficient with brushstrokes yet still convey
her feelings about the location.
“We’ve all heard the saying, ‘variety is the
spice of life,’” she says. “Variety also adds
spice to a painting: light played against
shadow, hard crisp edges versus soft lost
ones, thick paint confidently laid against
a thin wash, and warm yellows and reds
alongside cool blues and greens. Contrasts
like these really make a painting sing.”
“[We are] honored to be hosting the 23rd
Annual American Impressionist Society’s
National Juried Exhibition this September
in Boulder, Colorado,” says gallery owner
Mary Williams. “We consider this partner-
ship a genuine opportunity to share the
work of America’s finest impressionist
artists with the Colorado community.”
For those unable to attend the show in
person, it will be presented in its entirely
on the Mary Williams Fine Arts website.
To see the full schedule of events and
activities visit the AIS website at www.
americanimpressionistsociety.org.
4 5 6
Hope Reis, Liz Abeyta, Heather
North Light Day at Tuna Arenas, Your
Breakfast, oil on Harbor, oil on Move!, oil on
linen on canvas, linen, 11 x 14" cradled wood,
24 x 18" 24 x 30"
 THE GOOD BOY
‘Show Me the Monet!’
30 x 36, oil on cradled wood oil on linen, 18 x 24

HEATHER ARENAS James Swanson

AWA WAOWM swandesign@sbcglobal.net
www.jamesswansondesign.com
www.heatherarenas.com
artist@heatherarenas.com 708-606-2742

Diane D. Mason
(970) 532-1489
diane@ddmason.com
ddmason.com

Rooster Royalty
Bronze, 12” H X 12” W X 12” L

GALLERY REPRESENTATION: Bier Art Gallery, Charlevoix, MI;

Deselms Fine Art, Cheyenne, WY; Sage Creek Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM;
Tilting at Windmills, Manchester Center, VT
 BIRDS IN ART
SHOW PREVIEW When: September 10-November 27, 2022
Where: Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
700 North 12th Street, Wausau, WI 54403
Information: (715) 845-7010, www.lywam.org

Bird’s Eye View

Avian art is placed center stage during the annual Birds in Art juried exhibition.

T he art of the bird, in all of its

elegance, is celebrated through the
work of 118 artists worldwide during the
47 th annual Birds in Art exhibition. The
exhibition includes 23 artists who were
named Master Artists during previous
Birds in Art exhibitions, and 95 artists
whose work was selected by the jury out
of nearly 600 total applicants. Held at
the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
in Wausau, Wisconsin, the exhibition
brings collectors an array of mediums
to explore—paintings in watercolor, oil
and acrylic, as well as sculpture in stone,
wood, aluminum and bronze. There will
also be drawings in graphite, pastel and
charcoal, and that’s just naming a few.
Among the many top-tier artists exhib-
iting in this year’s event is Diane Mason.
In her bronze, Rooster Royalty, she
1 depicts a handsome rooster and manages
to deftly capture the complex feathered
forms of the creature. “Rooster Royalty
is a tribute to the exquisite beauty to be
found in the conformation of a Japanese
Bantam Rooster—truly a ‘royal’ form of
poultry breeding,” says Mason. “This
breed has a relatively large head, comb
and wattles, with a small body, short legs
and magnificent tail! I generally work
with a concept incorporating a little
story line, often infused with anthro-
pomorphism and gentle humor. In this
case, however, I simply wanted to play up
the lovely shapes and traits of this very
sculptural bird.”
Of her show piece Long Migration, Rose
Tanner says, “It was happenstance that
brought together the terns, the inukshuk
and the landscape for this painting.
There are thousands of ideas, subjects
and creative ways to express yourself as
an artist. One exploration of a subject
leads to another—that’s what makes art
so beautiful and fulfilling for me. The
randomness and inspiration meet to bring
about something nobody has seen before.”
Planning is currently underway for
2
090
 3

exhibition-opening festivities on Saturday

morning, September 10. The exhibition
will be on view during the museum’s
extended opening-weekend hours from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. on September 10, and 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. on September 11. The exhibition
remains on view through November 27.
Visit www.lywam.org for additional details
as they unfold.

1 3
Visitors mingle on top of Rose Tanner, Long
AR T SHOW PRE VI E W

the Rooftop Sculpture Migration, oil on linen,

Garden during last year’s 16 x 20"
opening weekend. Photo
by Richard Wunsch, 4
courtesy of the Leigh An attendee takes a
Yawkey Woodson Art close look at a piece of
Museum, Wausau, WI. artwork at the 2021 Birds
in Art exhibition. Photo
2 by Richard Wunsch,
Diane Mason, courtesy of the Leigh
Rooster Royalty, bronze, Yawkey Woodson Art
091

12 x 12 x 12" Museum, Wausau, WI.

4
 BEST OF AMERICA NATIONAL
SHOW PREVIEW JURIED EXHIBITION
When: September 8-October 8, 2022
Where: Wilcox Gallery, 1975 N. U.S. Highway 89, Jackson, Wyoming 83001
Information: www.noaps.org

Paintings of Beauty
The National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society brings its 32nd annual Best of America
National Juried Exhibition to Jackson, Wyoming.

I nvited members of the National Oil &

Acrylic Painters’ Society (NOAPS) will
display their works in the 32nd annual Best of
America Juried Exhibition from September
8 through October 8 at Wilcox Gallery in
Jackson, Wyoming. This year, in addition
to the show—which will feature 150 paint-
ings from established and emerging artists
from around the U.S. and Canada—the event
includes a two-day plein air competition and
wet paint sale, during which artists will have
the opportunity to paint in the splendor of
Grand Teton National Park. The date of this
year’s event was chosen to coincide with
many other art-centric events happening
in Jackson that weekend and the plein air
competition is open to any artist who wishes
to participate, especially local artists.
The competition itself kicks off on
September 14 at 9 a.m. with a demonstration
by NOAPS Signature Member and nation-
ally recognized artist Rick Delanty outside
the Wilcox Gallery. The day’s activities
continue with a tour of the National Wildlife
Museum, a gallery review of the exhibited
paintings with NOAPS president Patricia
Tribastone and Master Artist Hebe Brooks,
private artist critiques, and a portrait
demonstration with NOAPS Signature
Artist Trent Gudmunsen.
The feaured paintings were juried in by five
Signature Artist Members from the National
Oil & Acrylic Society who made their selec-
tions based on the image only, without
identification of the artist. The execution of
art fundamentals such as design, use of color,
light and shadow, and use of materials were
also taken into consideration.
Art lovers and collectors can expect
to find landscapes, portrait and figures,
animal portraits, cityscapes and still lifes
represented in the show—a few examples
of which are pictured here. This year the
winning artists will be selected by a panel of
three highly acclaimed NOAPS members that
include Delanty, Brooks and Christina Ramos.

1
092 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
1
Charles Young Walls,
Masquerade, oil, 24 x 18"
2
Larry Seiler, End of the
Road, oil, 20 x 20"
3
Brenda Morgan, The
Patriarch, oil, 18 x 24"
4
Larry DeGraff, In the
High Country, oil,
16 x 20"
2

AR T SHOW PRE VI E W

3 4

The awards, which include $5,000 for Best in
Show, will be presented at a luncheon at 12
p.m. Friday, September 16, followed by an
official opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m.,
both at the Wilcox Gallery.
“The Best of America exhibition is widely
accepted as one of the best exhibitions in the
country,” says Tribastone, NOAPS' president.
“Aside from the outstanding artwork, our
group is welcoming and approachable, with
much praise from both gallery directors and
attendees on our level of organization and
ability to put on a great exhibition.”
093
 SHOW PREVIEW

Promoting Pastels
The National Pastel Painting Exhibition returns to showcase brilliant
pastel works by New Mexico artists and beyond.

1 2

T he Pastel Society of New Mexico (PSNM) pres-

ents their celebrated National Pastel Painting
Exhibition, returning for the 30th edition, and its second
Museum. “We’re looking forward to bringing together
all these artists who are pursuing this medium in such
excellence and innovation.”
1
Sarah Blumenschein,
Sunflowers on My Rock
Wall, pastel, 20 x 16"
year at the Millicent Rogers Museum in El Prado, New Pastel Society show chair, Nicholas Tesluk, shares
2
Mexico. Through September 21, visitors will be privy that the mission of the exhibition is to “promote the Marilyn Drake, He Saw
to 66 pastel works by highly talented artists from New pastel medium and also help the arts community of the Sea, pastel, 16 x 12"
Mexico and elsewhere in country, as well as approxi- New Mexico.” Tesluk also notes that the exhibition will 3
mately 45 additional pieces by international artists that include a variety of genres—landscapes, portraits and Paul Murray, Echo,
will be displayed on a digital platform as part of the still life—presented in many diverse styles by both new pastel, 14 x 20"
“hybrid” program. and returning artists. 4
“The hybrid format did emerge from the New Mexico Examples of such fine pastel paintings in the exhibi- Katherine Irish, Eternal
Evening, pastel, 16 x 20"
Pastel Society’s response to Covid, but the hybridity tion include landscape pieces like Echo, by Santa Fe
of it really functions as a vehicle to showcase work artist Paul Murray. The piece depicts a late day scene
by international artists and artists outside of the on Lake Powell in northern Arizona. Murray is inspired
Southwest region,” says Dr. Michelle Lanteri, curator by the Southwest’s warm, luminous light. About the
of collections and exhibitions at Millicent Rogers painting he says, “There is a crease in the stone escarp-

094 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com


ment which juts out and picks up the setting
sunlight. It is in sharp contrast to the cool
shadows—I live for things like this. To the
far right of the painting is another cliff in
the background which is almost identical
to my foreground. They ‘echo’ each other.”
4
Besides lighting, the artist likes to make
contrasts between elements, “which add
drama and mystery to paintings,” he says.
Floral still life artist, Sarah
Blumenschein, from Albuquerque, will
display Sunflowers on My Rock Wall which
3
portrays the flower she’s most known for
painting. “Recently I have done several
floral paintings outside, featuring flowers
and glass in the sunlight,” she explains. “I
really enjoy how the sunlight illuminates
the flowers and is reflected throughout
the glass vase. It’s also fun to include the
rocks, natural vegetation and a peek at the
surrounding landscape.”
Impressive portrait work will also be
displayed by another Albuquerque artist,
Marilyn Drake. Her exhibition piece He
Saw the Sea, features a studio painting of
a man in a U.S. Navy uniform. “I loved his
comfortable pose and wanted to concen-
trate on the interesting shapes of his
uniform,” she says. “Since Albuquerque
is nowhere near the sea, I simply concen-
trated on his expression and created a
background which would suggest the
openness of sea and sky. Though I have
been painting figurative works for many
years, I approach each new work as ‘prac-
AR T SHOW PRE VI E W
tice.’ Each model presents a challenge and
I like to think I’m open to improving and
expanding my skill level.”
During the VIP reception on August
5 from 4 to 5:30 p.m., awards will be
presented, followed by a general reception
from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Collectors are able to
purchase artwork either online, by phone
or in-person.
095
 FAIR PREVIEW ART ON PAPER NEW YORK
When: September 8-11, 2022; Sept. 8, 6-10 p.m., opening preview
Where: Pier 36, 299 South Street, New York, NY 10002
Information: www.thepaperfair.com

Experiments on Paper
Art on Paper returns to downtown Manhattan’s Pier 36 from September 8 to 11.

1
Marc Quinn, Solar Storms
(Night MWYG), hand-
painted screen print
with diamond
dust and acrylic,
33½ x 33½". Courtesy
Manifold Editions.
2
Abi Polinsky, Untitled 17,
photography print on
paper mounted on foam
core, 30 x 40". Courtesy
Tuleste Factory.
3
Visitors explore artwork
during a past Art on
Paper.
1 2

A rt on Paper is back once again,

featuring top modern and contempo-
rary paper-based art from 100 galleries in
0

the United States and abroad. The event is

known for its unique and powerful projects
in visual and experiential art, setting it apart
as a stellar arts destination in New York.
“This year’s fair will feature a strong
presence from returning New York City
galleries including…Forum Gallery,
Muriel Guepin Gallery, Tuleste Factory,
The Tolman Collection of New York,
Sugarlift, Walter Wickiser Gallery,
SEIZAN, Vietnamese Contemporary Fine
Art, Heliotrope, Accola Griefen Fine Art
and Aux Gallery, among others,” says
Kelly Freeman, director of Art on Paper.
3
“To round things out, we’ll also have a
mix of exhibitors from all over the U.S., "Dublin’s Stoney Road Press will present a former Head of the Department of Art, will
and international galleries as well—some large-scale interactive installation created showcase Pandora Box II, a work that was
returning and some new.” Among these are specifically for the fair by Leah Hewson initially featured in the Venice Museum
Electric Works, K. Imperial Fine Art, CK titled Kin Connection, which highlights the and was awarded a Golden Lion by the
Contemporary, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery significance of connection and support and mayor of Venice, in collaboration with her
and Koplin Del Rio. invites the viewer to escape and explore in gallery, Wook+Lattuada.
“There are so many moments I’m really a playful manner.” In addition, Angiola Art on Paper takes place September 8 to
looking forward to this year," adds Freeman. Churchill, professor emeritus of NYU and 11.

096 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 ART SAN DIEGO
SHOW/FAIR PREVIEW When: September 9-11, 2022
Where: San Diego Convention Center, Hall C, 111 W. Harbor Drive,
San Diego, CA 92101
Information: www.redwoodartgroup.com/art-san-diego

A Dynamic Display
Art San Diego returns to Southern California for its 14th annual fine art fair.

1 2

1
A fter a three-year hiatus, hundreds of exhibitors,
artists, designers, collectors and curators will
gather to meet, mingle and exchange art and ideas at
Samir Sammoun,
Field of Poppies and
the Mediterranean
the fine art fair that is Art San Diego. From September Sea, oil on canvas,
24 x 30"
9 to September 11, visitors to the event will be able to
enjoy contemporary art from around the world and 2
David Disko, Any
cutting-edge exhibitions, interactive programming Summer Afternoon,
and live demonstrations in a stylish gallery setting. oil on canvas,
A small sampling of the 75-plus participating 16 x 20"
galleries that provide an idea of the diverse featured 3
art includes Art Gallery Pure out of Dallas, Texas, who DAIN, La Bonita
Felony, screen print,
will have many of their featured artists on hand to ed. of 40, 36 x 24"
discuss their latest work and host demonstrations;
David Disko Art of Santa Fe, New Mexico, brings a
taste of the Southwest to Southern California; while
End to End Gallery, based in Hollywood, Florida,
will feature artists working in the urban and street
art scene. On the other end of the spectrum are
the painterly landscapes of Sammoun Fine Arts of
Quebec, Canada.
AR T SHOW PRE VI E W

“We are thrilled to be returning to San Diego for Art

San Diego and be back and part of the rich cultural
community” says Eric Smith, president of the event’s
production company, Redwood Art Group. “Art San
Diego has emerged as one of the best-attended
cultural events in Southern California in one of the
country’s most vibrant urban cities—and the conven-
tion center is at the core of all the action.”
097

3
 ARTEXPO DALLAS
SHOW/FAIR PREVIEW When: September 16-18, 2022
Where: Dallas Market Hall, 2200 N. Stemmons Freeway,
Dallas, TX 75207
Information: www.redwoodartgroup.com/artexpo-dallas/

One Ticket, Two Shows

Redwood Art Group adds Dallas to its growing roster of national art fairs.

1 2

3 4

T he inaugural Artexpo Dallas debuts at the

Dallas Market Hall from September 16 to
18 with a sprawling display of contemporary
fine art and design. More than 100 galleries
and 300 artists from around the word, as well
as art publishers and dealers, will gather in the
50,000-square foot marketplace where artists
will present cutting edge works that include
original prints, paintings, drawings, sculptures,
photography, ceramics, giclee, lithographs, glass
art and more.
Through a partnership with the WestEdge
Design Fair—taking place in the Dallas Market
Hall the same weekend—attendees will get to
experience two fairs that showcase the best in
art and design under the same roof—and for the
price of one ticket.
“Dallas has a reputable history as one of the
country’s most progressive cities in the art world
and we are excited to form a unique alliance with
WestEdge Design Fair, as an event organization
that has a prestigious stature in the design
arena,” says Eric Smith, president and CEO
of Redwood Media Group. “The two fairs are
extremely complimentary…[and] we anticipate
the fairs becoming a staple and must-attend
event on the annual fair calendar.”
Like all Redwood Art Group events,
Artexpo Dallas brings the finest of
contemporary art together in a sleek,
gallery setting.
2
Ticket-buyers for Artexpo Dallas will also
gain entry to the WestEdge Design Fair
happening under the same roof.
3
Cary Henrie, Mirror Flow, mixed media on
mirror, 48 x 48”
4
The inaugural Artexpo Dallas will take
place in the 50,000-square foot Dallas
Market Hall.

098 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 THE ARMORY SHOW
SHOW PREVIEW When: September 9-11, 2022; Sept. 8, VIP preview
Where: Javits Center, Main Entrance Crystal Palace, 429 11th Avenue,
New York, NY 10001
Information: www.thearmoryshow.com

1
An attendee contem-
plates a larger-than-life
abstract piece at last
year’s show. Photo by
Casey Kelbaugh.
2
David Antonio Cruz,
nothatsummernight, th
eywashaway,theywas
hitallaway,away,theya
lwaysgoaway, oil, wax
pencil and latex on
wood panel. Courtesy
the artist and Monique
Meloche Gallery.
3
Visitors browse artwork
during the 2021 The
Armory Show. Photo by
Casey Kelbaugh.
1

Emerging Talent by kicking off New York’s fall art season,”

says executive producer Nicole Berry.
The Armory Show features nearly 250 galleries from across “We look forward to burnishing our
the world, showcasing burgeoning contemporary artists. reputation as a cornerstone of New York’s
cultural landscape.”

T he Armory Show at the Javits Center in

New York is all about putting new and
emerging artists center stage. A highlight in
the contemporary art world, the fair features
more than 240 galleries across some 30
countries, capturing the creativity and
sheer innovation of modern-day creators.
Exhibitors at the 2022 event include 303
Gallery, Kasmin Gallery, David Zwirner and
Ben Brown Fine Arts, to name just a few.
The event will also have dual and solo artist
presentations. Among these are John M.
Armleder’s seminal Pour Painting series
alongside Vaughn Spann’s mixed media
abstract art shown by Almine Rech, as well
as a solo presentation from Lu Yang hosted
by Jane Lombard Gallery.
“This September, after nearly three
decades, [The Armory Show] continues
to support excellence in the visual arts
For the first time, The Armory Show will
present the “Armory Spotlight,” which
provides a complimentary booth to a
different New York cultural institution each
year. This year is a partnership with The
Kitchen, an experimental arts institution
and one of New York City’s oldest not-for-
profit spaces.
The Armory Show runs September 9 to
11, with a VIP preview on September 8.

AR T SHOW PRE VI E W
099

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2022
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY

Show
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER

Previews
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER

OUR EDITORS TALK TO

ARTISTS ABOUT THE WORK
IN THEIR LATEST SHOWS

Alberto Ortega, Big City (detail),

oil on panel, 42 x 42"
Page 110 101
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / RJD GALLERY
9/1-9/30 Romeo, MI

Floral Engagements

1 2

“F lowers are often observed as an element in a

landscape painting, a still life study or a stately
portrait, but they are most interesting to us when
rative art. More than mere props or things of beauty,
flowers have a life of their own, contributing in subtle
ways to the intricate stories of the paintings in which
1
Phillip Thomas,
Camouflage, limited
edition unframed giclée
they play a supporting role in figurative art," says Joi they reside. print, ed. of 500,
Jackson-Perle, gallery director of RJD Gallery. “They One of the paintings in the exhibition is Grant 36.6 x 20”
never seem to take a back seat to the main subject, and Gilsdorf’s Bee-Lieve in the Mission, which also happened 2
command attention as they defiantly peek out from the to grace the cover of American Art Collector's August Carrie Pearce, When
She Woke, oil on panel,
background in a field; their petals dance on a breeze 2021 issue. “We romantically associate fragrance, color, 36 x 24”
unseen or their cheery blooms call to us from a sweater tenderness and life to flowers. Their visual presence,
3
or a hair band, pointing us towards symbolic meanings even when depicted in a painting, seems to soften our Kris Lewis, The Avarice
and deep introspection. Flowers immediately catch our gaze,” says Gilsdorf. “We are helplessly attracted. An Colony, limited edition
eye, and our imagination, and gently guide us into the interesting exploration happens when an artist attaches unframed giclée print,
ed. of 500, 25.7 x 20”
marvelous and mysterious world of art.” A forthcoming discordant elements to said flowers. In the case of my
exhibition at the Romeo, Michigan-based RJD Gallery painting, we see a Black male adorned in flowers. This
plays with this very idea—the role of the flower in figu- allows the viewer to meet this subject with tenderness

102 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

3
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW

104 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 6

5 7

and an open mind. Once there, I hope the painting place of her own identity, indicates a new perspective 4
disarms traditional notions of masculinity and allows in effectively readdressing and rebuilding systems that Andrea Kowch,
Dawning, limited edition
the viewer to approach and discern the deeper meaning could better serve all.” unframed giclée print,
embedded in the painting’s remaining details.” Kate Samworth brings a scratchboard piece titled ed. of 500, 25½ x 20”
In Daniela Werneck’s Bloom, a young girl buries her Zephyr, depicting a girl running with several deer 5
head in her arms, a red flower perched atop her head. through a cemetery field. “Graveyards can be beautiful Ayana Ross, What If, oil
“Earlier this year, I brought my niece from Portugal places. They appear frequently in the scratchboards on canvas, 40 x 30”
to spend a few days with us here in Houston, Texas. It from my recent series. Zephyr is an exploration of the 6
was late February and the warm feeling of spring was act of accepting death as part of life,” Samworth says. Grant Gilsdorf, Bee-Lieve
in the Mission, oil on
already surrounding us here. Her adolescence, full of Other striking artworks in the show include paint- ACM, 30 x 24”
doubts, anxieties, expectations and dreams took me ings by Carrie Pearce and Andrea Kowch’s Dawning,
7
back to my past when I was her age. Bloom represents of a woman with wind-swept hair, holding a drink in Daniela Werneck,
my memories of dreams and fears when we were mid-spill. A field of dying sunflowers fills the backdrop, Bloom, Watercolor on
younger, which make part of the blossoming of our while a dead wasp lay on the window sill in the fore- panel, 8 x 8”
SHOW PRE VIE W

character into adulthood,” Werneck says of the piece.
What If, by Ayana Ross, explores the “possibility
of reexamining and reimaging the structures of our
society.” The artist says, “The young girl depicted looks
toward the opening in the creeping vines, a hopeful
path forward, while the partial North Star quilt pattern
behind her guides her way. The hairpiece, not taking the
ground. In Kris Lewis’ The Avarice Colony, a woman
holds a golden skull surrounded by vivid red flowers.
Floral Engagements will be on view at RJD Gallery
from September 1 to 30.
RJD Gallery 227 N. Main Street • Romeo, MI 48065
105

(586) 281-3613 • www.rjdgallery.com

 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / TAUBMAN MUSEUM OF ART
9/2-3/5/2023 Roanoke, VA

Woman of Substance By Meg Daly

R oanoke, Virginia, artist Betty Branch

had a nontraditional path to becoming
an artist, only starting in her 40s. But that
didn’t stop her from becoming a celebrated
contemporary artist. A comprehensive
retrospective at the Taubman Museum of
Art celebrates her achievements.
The retrospective examines the evolu-
tion of Branch’s work over four decades
and features over 60 works of art. Taken as
a whole, the exhibition offers an in-depth
look at the artist’s dedicated exploration of
the body, rites of passage, the intersection
of land and form, and mythical symbols.
“Through a diversity of media including
sculpture, installation, performance and
poetic writings, Branch has long been a
leading and transformational contributor
to the contemporary arts, especially in
her expression of powerful images of
and effective voices for women,” says
Karl E. Willers, chief curator and deputy
director of collections and exhibitions at
the Taubman Museum.
Branch’s facility with a variety of sculp-
tural media will be on display. Her exper-
tise in marble can be seen in the female
torso Dancer, which powerfully sweeps up
and back to emulate the surging power of
a wave. Carved in Rosa Portugal marble,
Dancer perfectly blends the luminous
grace and resolute power of media and
subject. Branch’s female form here is
anything but delicate and demure. “Marble
honors the natural, solid form with grace
and simplicity,” she says.
Branch says the inspiration to sculpt the
female form stems from her personal expe-
rience, as well as years of study. “Nine preg- 1
nancies, a study of ancient matriarchies
and marination in a patriarchal society” bronze, the figure glows with potency. Branch’s smooth marble sculptures and
are what she cites as her inspiration. Branch holds an MA and MFA from glossy bronzes contrast with her more
She says her work is “an act of personal Roanoke's Hollins University, where textural work featuring feathered creatures.
rebellion and autonomy.” she became versed in a wide range of “The crows are rough because it makes
For Branch, the female body takes the additive and reductive sculptural tech- them more expressive,” Branch says. “Each
form of maidens, mothers and goddesses. niques using stone, bronze, fiber and feather could lift up and say something on
A woman is not to be seen as “property or earthenware. She has studied interna- its own. For me, a smooth crow would be
pornography,” Branch says, but rather as tionally, including stops in the Bahamas, rigid and non-responsive.”
“beautiful and powerful.” Greece and the famed Nicoli Studios in Branch’s obsession with ravens and
One maiden, Isabel, shows a contem- Cararra, Italy. She also apprenticed with crows began adversarially. In 1986, she
plative young person at ease in her body, renowned sculptors and fabricators Miles penned a poem in which she chases after
without artifice or decoration. Cast in & Generalis in Philadelphia. a noisy mob of crows with a gun. The birds

106 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

2 3
1 on display are sourced from the museum
Isabel, 1998, bronze, 26 x 24 x 25,"
Collection of the Taubman Museum
of Art, Gift of the artist, 1984.015
2 Viewers can enjoy video footage of
Stretch I and II, 1998, bronze, approximately
32" when installed as pair. Collection
of Taubman Museum of Art, Gift of
the artist, 1999.027 and 1999.028
3
Dancer 1989,
Rosa Portugal marble, 59 x 51 x 20" (with base).
Collection of the Taubman Museum of Art
Purchased with funds provided by
the Collectors Circle, 2008.104
4
Icarus, bronze, 12 x 14 x 4." Collection
of the Taubman Museum of Art
Purchased with funds from the Lib
Hobbie Memorial Fund 2004.010
were disrupting her peaceful front yard,
and she let them have it. But Branch has
since changed her tune. Now she celebrates
corvids as mirrors for the aging process,
playing off the term crone and calling them
her “crow’ns.”
Betty Branch: A Retrospective will
occupy multiple galleries at the Taubman,
including the grand central hall. Works
permanent collection, other institutions,
private collections and the artist herself.
Branch’s performances, selected poems by
the artist, drawings, maquettes and several
iconic sculptures. “I am honored and
delighted to have this retrospective and so
grateful for all those who have helped me
on my way,” Branch says.
SHOW PRE VIE W
Betty Branch: A Retrospective opens
Friday, September 2, and runs through
Sunday, March 5, 2023.
Taubman Museum of Art
4 110 Salem Avenue SE • Roanoke, VA 24011
107
(540) 342-5760 • www.taubmanmuseum.org
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / ROBERT LANGE STUDIOS
9/2-9/30 Charleston, SC

NAT HAN DU R FE E

Whimsy and Tradition

N athan Durfee explores uncharted terri-
tory in a new series of work, Dancing
on the Shoulders of Giants, to be displayed
at Robert Lange Studios for nearly the entire
month of September. Collectors will still see
Durfee’s unique styling, but for this recent
collection, he takes Old Master works and
maps in his own whimsical perspective. The
artist’s past pieces have been creations from
his imagination, depicting narratives within
characters of a geometric, pixelated style,
but Durfee has now taken a step further into
a world of experimentation and celebration.
“I was curious what would happen if I
added onto iconic paintings—revaluating
my own style and see if I could learn from
doing this,” he explains. “Collaboration
with other artists has been the central vein
of a lot of my work. What I enjoyed was
the blending of the styles and it inspired
me to look to paintings of the past. It’s not
exactly a collaboration, but rather mentally
creating a painting method that blends two
disparate styles together. The title shows
the depth of [this point]. I’m having fun
with this; dancing, celebrating. It’s part
learning experience and part celebration
of artists of the past.”
Durfee’s exploration of these themes is
illustrated in pieces like Vermeer’s Pearl,
featuring a playful take on the iconic Dutch
painter’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. “This
piece in particular had me asking myself,
‘how would I have done it?” says Durfee.
“There is a sense of humility, but then the
ego says, ‘I wouldn’t have [painted] it quite
the same way. There are compositional and
posturing decisions that were made in
Vermeer’s painting, and that’s not neces-
sarily reflective of how I address my work.”
Besides adding in his teddy bear button
eyes and distorted features to the figure,
Durfee adjusted the posture and fills
more negative space than in the Vermeer
painting. “I’m not trying to compare 1
myself to these masters,” he interjects.
“I’m standing (or dancing) on these giants Durfee changes it up, yet again, in the “The cardinal (bird) grows off the canvas
and don’t want people to be under the piece Compliments to the Creator, his own I’ve added into the scene, and it serves as a
impression that I have the capability of take on Self Portrait by the French master thank you to the artist for painting this. The
doing it better. It’s more like when musi- Jacques-Louis David. “I decided to add dialogue was me adding more scenarios
cians do covers of Beatles songs—it’s just some elements into the narrative by having but embellishing a bit more, rather than
a different rendition.” his painting come to life,” Durfee says. mapping my style.”

108 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 1
Vermeer’s Pearl,
oil on panel,
18 x 14"
2
Da Vinci with Kitty,
oil on panel,
18 x 14"
3
Compliments to
the Creator, oil on
panel, 18 x 14"
4
Swirly Swan, oil on
panel, 18 x 18"

2 3

Another significant yet humorous piece

in the show is Durfee’s take on Da Vinci’s
Lady with an Ermine. “I’m known for
painting these plush, teddy bear-type cats,
and it was a great moment to inject more
of my characters,” he says. The ermine is a
somewhat menacing creature, so Durfee’s
placement of the cat creates a comedic,
laughable moment—something his work
is also known for.
Durfee continues, “I did this [Da Vinci]
painting at the same time as the Vermeer
piece, and one thing that’s been a lot of
fun is learning from the color palette
these artists had. My work is very color
forward with bright, contrasting colors
and a lot of nuance, but these artists
used a lot of muted tones and dark
shadows. This is also about having my
little squares of color pop while honoring
their palette.”
Beginning with an opening reception on
September 2, from 5 to 8 p.m., the show of
approximately 20 paintings invites you into
SHO W P RE VIE W

fantastical, nostalgic moments that contain

remnants of the past, while also offering a
cheerful look to the future.

Robert Lange Studios

2 Queen Street • Charleston, SC 29401
109

4 (843) 805-8052 • www.robertlangestudios.com

 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / ARCADIA CONTEMPORARY
9/8-9/29 New York, NY

ALB E R TO O R T EG A

Scenes of Suburbia

A
th
17 century Dutch palette, novels of American small
towns by Raymond Carver, John Cheever and Richard
Ford; films by Steven Spielberg and the paintings of Edward
Hopper all fuel the imagination of Alberto Ortega. His
extraordinarily dimensional nighttime scenes of suburbia
draw some in with nostalgia, others with curiosity.
In his novel The Sportswriter, Richard Ford wrote, “What
was our life like? I almost don’t remember now. Though I
remember it, the space of time it occupied. And I remember
it fondly.”
Ortega’s paintings occupy a “space of time.” “Although
my paintings could be seen as narrative,” he explains, “I
don’t have a specific story for each of them, rather, they
are open-ended scenes. They are a product of my tastes
and attraction to certain situations, moods and scenery in
cinema, literature, etc. I tend to set my works in the 1950s to
give a more analog pre-digital feel to them and to play with
the idea of nostalgia. I think there’s something unique about
American suburbia that has a lot of potential for narrative
and that has become universal mainly through cinema and
2

110 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

3

television shows, to the point that it can resonate even

with people that don’t live in the U.S.”
The scenes seem like stage sets with subtle lighting.
They are, in fact, still lifes of elaborately constructed sets.
“I started painting night scenes of suburbia from photo-
graphs I took. I felt limited by this process in a few ways,”
he explains. “Making models allows another dimension
for visualizing the possibilities than my process using
photography did, and I can control every aspect of a scene,
from the lighting to the location of the elements, like a film
director. Also, working this way has changed my approach
to depicting reality, because I’m forced to create a more
generic or universal world, instead of a specific place. I like
the fact that I use the same cars and models for several
works: it creates a sense of repetition or routine that I think
is inherent to the middle working class.
“I think the subdued palette suits the mood of my paint-
ings, which emphasizes lightness and darkness rather than
color, and allows me to concentrate on exploring the range
of possibilities that oil paint can offer, like opacity versus
transparency, flow and different densities.”
In Nowhere Fast he portrays the subtleties of night
light—the glaring streetlight’s illumination fades as the
distance from it increases, the porch light illuminates the
4 path to the door from the cars and a second floor light
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3
indicates an early riser as dawn begins to break.
1 Landlord, oil on panel, 24 x 36"
Nowhere Fast, oil on panel, 24 x 36" Arcadia Contemporary 421 W. Broadway • New York, NY
4
2 Big City, oil on panel, 42 x 42" (646) 861-3941 • www.arcadiacontemporary.com
Artist Alberto Ortega paints his dimly lit
scenes from “miniature sets” of his own
creation.
111
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / PRINCIPLE GALLERY
9/16-10/10 Alexandria, VA

G I LB E R T G O R S K I

Into the Woods

B eginning September 16, western Pennsylvania artist
Gilbert Gorski returns to Principle Gallery with Into
the Woods, a new collection of landscapes in his signature
style. Through nearly 30 oil paintings, Gorski “encapsu-
lates the tranquil atmosphere of the natural world through
his acclaimed, labor-intensive approach to mark-making
and detail work,” says Dominick Cocozza of Principle
Gallery. The artist also explores themes of connection
and similarity between the human mind and nature.
“A few years ago, I came upon some books which
confirm that trees, particularly in wooded settings,
communicate with one another through root systems
and fungus,” Gorski explains. “I spend a lot of time
walking in the woods, and I have come to think of
woods as a living, thinking, interconnected system,
perhaps not unlike the human mind. Most of the work
in this show investigates that perception—that not
unlike the mind, woods are self-contained interiors,
while at the same time, infinite in scale and complexity.”
Gorski also notes that each piece speaks for itself and
comes to life in what he calls his “pixelist” technique—not
unlike pointillism. “I once taught a seminar on how to
use Photoshop,” he recalls of his time teaching visualiza-
tion techniques at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University
of Notre Dame. “I was amazed at the pixel of color avail-
able when images are enhanced. It allowed me to think
about paintings in a different way. When you apply small
applications of paint, they vibrate....I challenge people to
1

2 3

112 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 4
see these paintings in person, because the best way to
look at art is in person, not on your phone.”
There’s truly no other way to view Gorski’s cerebral,
mystical paintings, but you can still get a sense of his
masterful technique in his show pieces pictured here—
he often relies on strategies utilized during his first
career as an architect. For example, in Quiet Percussion,
the composition is divided into quadrants that explore
different light values and verticals. While there is a lot
that Gorski could divulge to the viewer in each dynamic,
shimmering piece, “it is a much more meaningful expe-
rience for someone to discover this on their own without
being told,” he adds. “When you get close to the canvas,
it keeps giving back more and more information.”
Viewers will also take notice that titles for each
piece are references to music, like Fantasie Impromptu,
Stacati and Giocasso. “Music is an intuitive, emotional
experience to art,” Gorski says. “Music isn’t narra- 1
tive.” This is to say that Gorski’s paintings, in both Giocasso, oil on linen,
18 x 16"
style and theme, are also meant to trigger a deeper,
more rewarding response. “I don’t like to do what I 2
call ‘calendar art’—spectacular copied scenery. I often Stacatti, oil on linen,
32 x 32"
reject long held rules for ‘good painting,’” he says. “I
look beyond to find something more meaningful.” 3
Quiet Percussion,
The show of new works, which kicks off with an oil on linen, 36 x 40"
opening reception on September 16 from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
4
and closes October 10, is certainly one not to be missed.
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Fantasie Impromptu,
While this impressive body of work sings in harmony, oil on linen, 34 x 34"
each individual piece carries an even richer melody when
seen up close and in person. Gorski and Principle Gallery
invite you on this expressive, revealing journey.
Principle Gallery 208 King Street • Alexandria, VA 22314
113
(703) 739-9326 • www.principlegallery.com
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / PRINCIPLE GALLERY
9/2-9/30 Charleston, SC
C AR M E N D R AK E
Vintage Beauty
1 2
I n her first solo show, painter Carmen Drake shows
off her love of antiques and florals in delicate detail.
Drake won a contest at Principle Gallery for her portrai-
ture. When she asked the gallery what they wanted to
see in a full show, they told her to share the array of her
interests. The result is an eclectic mix of portraits, florals
and still lifes.
Principle Gallery owner Michele Marceau admires
the way Drake “blends fine detail and clean, harmonious
color in her peaceful yet complicated paintings. You want
to keep looking at her paintings,” Marceau says. “They
have a power, which is the mark of a great work of art.”
The painting Fading Roses in Silver combines Drake’s
passions. An avid gardener, she loves flowers. The clas-
sical scene of a bouquet of pale pink roses dropping
114 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
their leaves is made all the more wistful by the patinaed
silver vase set against the worn paint of a dove-gray wall.
Drake says she feels comfort from older things
1
Forsaken, oil on panel,
48 x 23"
and handmade items. She grew up in New England, 2
Red Cloth and Garden
surrounded by historical buildings and places, and Flowers, oil on panel,
studied art at Paier College of Arts in Connecticut. 24½ x 19¾"
After moving to North Carolina with her first husband, 3
she opened an antiques shop, C.R. Drake Mercantile. Fading Roses in Silver, oil
She specialized in primitive antiques and reproduction on panel, 12 x 16"
furniture, and also sold her own paintings. 4
“I’m drawn to antique items because of their stories,” Jenay, oil on linen panel,
13 x 13"
Drake says. “I wonder how many lives an object has lived,
how many people have touched it...”
One such item featured in the show at Principle is a
tattered silk umbrella. Drake found it in an antique store,
3

a castoff among castoffs. She was captivated. “I wondered

how many rainstorms did it endure? How many stolen
kisses took place underneath it?” She noticed a detail
some passersby may have missed—the tassel. Who took
the time to attach that small decoration? Drake bought the
umbrella and took it home to paint. As she worked on the
painting, she found even deeper resonance in the item. “I
was thinking about myself getting older and I found some
affinity with the umbrella. It was once a cherished beauty
[and] I still found beauty in it.”
Drake has won numerous awards for her work including
Best Floral in the 2019 Plein Air Salon; Still Life finalist
in the 2019 Portrait Society of America Members Only
Competition, and second place in the 2020 International
Guild of Realism Spring Exhibition. She lives on a farm in
rural North Carolina, and works in a studio first built in 1901.
When she’s not painting, she can be found in the garden. “I
love to dig in the dirt,” she says. “I love the smells of flowers,
the bees, the butterflies. I’m in a different world when I’m
in my garden.”
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Whatever world Drake inhabits, a vintage beauty shines

through. The exhibit at Principle opens September 2 with a
reception from 5 to 8 p.m.

Principle Gallery125 Meeting Street • Charleston, SC 29401 •

(843) 727-4500 • www.principlegallery.com/charleston
4
115
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / KP PROJECTS
9/10-10/1 Los Angeles, CA
K E N T W I LLIA MS
Ghost Stories
I n 1890, writer Lafcadio Hearn arrived
in Japan after a tumultuous journey
through life that began in Greece, and
took him to Dublin, Ireland, and later
Cincinnati and New Orleans in the United
States. After his arrival to Japan, he was
immediately struck by the culture of the
country, particularly its folklore, legends
and ghost stories. Hearn, who would later
take the legal name Koizumi Yakumo,
would eventually publish Kwaidan: Stories
and Studies of Strange Things, which cata-
loged some of the stories that had largely
been passed on via oral traditions. The
116 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
book was a sensation.
More than 130 years since Hearn
arrived in Japan, Beehive Books is
offering a new version of Hearn’s stories
with The Kwaidan Collection. The book
will have new illustrations created by
California painter Kent Williams, who
will be presenting the original paintings
and drawings for the book at a new show
opening September 10 at KP Projects
in Los Angeles. “It’s a dream project,”
Williams says, adding that Kwaidan and
similar books by Hearn have been in his
library for many years. “It’s Japanese
1
folklore, but it’s also the closest thing
you’ll get to Edgar Allan Poe. They’re
not horror stories so much, but folk tales
handed down for centuries. [Hearn]
was so engrossed in the stories that the
Japanese people accepted him for what he
was doing by writing these stories down.”
Williams was first introduced to
Kwaidan through Masaki Kobayashi’s
1965 film, which told four stories from
two Hearn books. So it’s fitting then that
the forward of the book is written by film-
maker Darren Aronofsky, who worked with
Williams on a graphic novel version of his
2006 film The Fountain.
“Kent Williams illustrating the short
stories of Kwaidan is a match made in
a dark and delicious hell. Kent’s work
is kinetic and disorienting, moving and
emotional. At the heart of each piece
2
1 3
Ubazakura, mixed media Jiu Roku Zakura, mixed
on paper, 22 x 16" media on paper, 18 x 24"
2 4
Sympathy of Jikininki (Monk), India
Benten, mixed media on ink with mixed media,
paper, 22 x 16" 11 x 14"
 3

is a story, yearning to be discovered.

There’s a soul in every canvas, something
restless and hungry,” Aronofsky writes.
“The work of [Hearn and Williams] has a
complementary sense of insatiability. But
it’s not just what they have in common
that makes them such a perfect match,
but rather what they don’t. In Hearn’s
Kwaidan, we find the earliest examples
of what are now the stylistic signatures
of the Japanese horror genre. And while
the subject matter runs the gamut from
scary to meditative, each of the stories
share the same core tenet: it’s not about
what you see, but what you don’t. Fear
is always located in the unknown. Enter
Kent Williams, whose work is as direct and
confrontational as the Kwaidan stories are
abstract and elusive. His art is dreamy and
surreal, a mash-up of damned and divine.
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His subjects are almost always turned
directly towards the viewer, faces unob-
scured by masks or shadows or slithering
black hair. Their eyes are haunted—they
peer out from the page and demand things
from us. It’s this dissonance between text
and illustration that’s so exciting. The
explicit, penetrating boldness of Kent’s
art is in conversation with the shadowy
hidden worlds in Hearn’s stories.”
The publication will also feature an essay
from Japanese scholar Kyoko Yoshida and
an afterward from Hearn’s great-grandson,
4
Bon Koizumi. The KP Projects’ exhibition,
during which all of the works will be for
sale, will continue through October 1.
KP Projects 633 N. La Brea Avenue • Los Angeles,
117

CA 90036 • (323) 933-4408 • www.kpprojects.net

 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / DIEHL GALLERY
9/9-10/29 Jackson, WY

J O NAT H AN SM I T H

Symphony in Blue

J oel Meyerowitz, the pioneer of

color photography and two-time
Guggenheim Fellowship winner, has
written about his friend Jonathan Smith for
Smith’s upcoming exhibition in Jackson,
Wyoming, where he will be the first photog-
rapher to be featured at Diehl Gallery in
their 21-years of operation.
Meyerowitz had invited Smith to be part
of his studio. After his time there, Smith
went to Iceland. Meyerowitz feels that the
photographs Smith took in Iceland were
“his first true photographic invention. This
work sustained a deep visual and emotional
vision—one that had instinctively grown in
him as he stood on the ice and snow and
felt the spirit and force of nature call him to
an understanding that carried him away like
nothing else had before. This happens just
a few times in the lives of artists, and when
it does, it is everything we ever hope for.”
Smith comments, “Working with Joel
was a life changing experience as a young
artist…He was constantly pushing me
because he believed in my vision. When
I left the studio I felt I was equipped with
the necessary tools to truly start my own
journey as an artist.”
2
As evidenced by the works on display in
Waterways II, Smith’s journey has brought 1 2 3 4
Stream #43, Portrait of the artist on Glacier #19, archival Horizon #66,
him to explore what he calls “the stark chromogenic print, location pigment print, 56 x 70" chromogenic print,
natural beauty and inherent impermanence 30 x 72" 38 x 74"

118 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com


of landscapes”—especially the lands of ice
and snow. “The works are a response to
the shifting landscape of these extreme
regions. These temporal spaces change
day by day, so I really felt the uniqueness
of the time and space where I stood. The
landscapes take me on a journey that is
4 symphony in blue, was shot in Patagonia,
both literal and emotional.”
He exhibits his insights in large format
photographs of subtly nuanced color. His
triptych, Stream #43, has been printed
to nearly 6 by 14 feet. Smith comments,
“The experience was both humbling and
exciting—I’m aware that I’m merely passing
3
through these vast landscapes that have
existed for millennia in their shifting forms.
We really are all tourists on this planet
passing through. For me the grand scale of
the prints paired with the highest quality of
detail are my way of expressing the feeling
that I have when confronted with the vast
raw beauty in front of me.”
The U.S. Geological Survey explains
succinctly, “Glacier ice is blue because the
red (long wavelengths) part of white light
is absorbed by ice and the blue (short wave-
lengths) light is transmitted and scattered.
The longer the path light travels in ice, the
more blue it appears.”
Smith’s photograph, Glacier #19, a
at the southern end of South America. It is
SHOW PRE VIE W
another of his immersive images, drawing
the viewer into an unexpected relationship
with a changing world.
Diehl Gallery 155 W. Broadway • Jackson, WY
83001 • (307) 733-0905 • www.diehlgallery.com
119
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / FIREHOUSE ART CENTER-HARRINGTON GALLERY
8/27-10/22 Pleasanton, CA
Transitions Through Time
B eginning August 27, Firehouse Art
Center's Harrington Gallery in
Pleasanton, California, will host Transitions:
The Beauty of Life’s Journey in which 20
California artists explore the meaning of
transition and the varied forms it takes in life.
The artists have each responded to this
broad theme through the lens of their own
perception resulting in landscapes, figura-
tive and still life paintings, and in equally
diverse mediums including oil, pastel and
watercolor. Some of the artists interpret
the notion of transition as the changes in
the natural world across seasons or the
way light changes over the course of a day.
Figurative works might focus on the effects
time has on our bodies and relationships,
while still lifes may gesture to the cyclical
120 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
nature of their organic subjects.
Artist Tia Kratter’s piece, Aging
Gracefully, depicts a bouquet flowers
as they fade, wilt and begin to lose their
petals. Similarly, Randy Sexton turned to
the revival and rebirth of The Ruth Bancoft
Garden in Walnut Creek, California, over a
10-year period. Carole Rafferty’s painting,
We’ve Been Married a Long Time is a snap-
shot of an ordinary moment in a relation-
ship that has ripened into old age.
“For me ‘transitions’ are what happens
as we age,” says Rafferty. “I’m fascinated
by the physical changes and how those
affect everything we do—how we think,
what interests us and what we are capable
of. I’m especially fascinated by relation-
ships between people who have spent
many years together and my work in this
exhibition shows how these relationships
between spouses, families and friends
evolve over time.”
Michael Obermeyer’s work showcases
the changes that take place during a day
on the California coast—both the light
and the activities—and mixed media
artist Brian Blood applies a similar
approach to geological landmarks.
An opening reception will take place
August 27 followed by artist demonstrations
every weekend through October 15.
Firehouse Art Center-Harrington Gallery
444 Railroad Avenue • Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 931-4850 • www.firehousearts.org/gallery
2 3

SHOW PRE VIE W

1 2 3 4
Randy Sexton, The Pin Cushion Ride, Tia Kratter, Aging Gracefully, Carole Rafferty, We’ve Been Married a Michael Obermeyer, A New Day,
121

oil on canvas, 18 x 24" watercolor, 24 x 16" Long Time, oil, 20 x 16" oil, 12 x 24"
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / THE GALLERY AT THE GRAND
9/10-9/29 Kennebunk, ME
JAN IS H . SAN D E R S
Sea and Sky
J anis H. Sanders grew up in Upstate
New York where he observed, “Man’s
integration with and interdependence with
nature was clear to me at an early age with
the immersion in the agricultural environ-
ment a stone’s throw from home.” Today,
living in Maine and painting along the
East Coast, he seeks out “a lobster shack
along a wharf at the rugged rocky coast of
Maine or a [weathered, one-time] fish shack
that now serves as a summer residence at
the water’s edge for some lucky person or
122 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
family on the soft hot sandy beaches of
Cape Cod.” He continues, “I try to convey
that moment of joy and presence through
the scenes of my paintings, without
intention for nostalgia or sentimentality,
realizing though that those elements are
inherent in those ancient subjects, giving
our imaginations a bit of free reign to roam
like the clouds, wondering who has lived
and worked here and how their lives were
along the way, how different and how the
same as yours and mine.”
Sanders speaks of the “essence of a
place.” His painting Island Edge depicts
the house and studio Rockwell Kent
designed and built on Monhegan Island
off the coast of Maine. Kent wrote that the
islanders warned him “that it would never
stand up against stormy weather. But since
there was grass growing in the scanty soil
on that site, I was certain the sea would
never reach it. But for a year or two after I
built the house, I had nightmares over its
being washed away and of myself swim-
1
Island Edge,
oil on panel, 30 x 30"
2
Light Splash,
oil on panel, 24 x 24"
3
Seacoast & Path,
oil on panel, 30 x 30"
4
Delicate Balance,
oil on panel, 30 x 30"
2 3

ming about in the wreckage.” Today, 115

years later, it stands proudly on the rocks
above the sea. Sanders paints it as a natural
part of the landscape.
His painting technique allows him to
capture the immediacy of a moment. Often
painting in plein air, he applies paint thickly
and energetically with a palette knife creating
animated surfaces.
He celebrates the vastness of the sky with
which he begins each painting and which
brings scale and light to the scene. He says,
“The sky is light, some days slightly purple,
sometimes hazy cream, clear aqua, rosy,
peach, celadon, we are immersed in it…My
self-assigned task for each work is to convey
the ethereal ‘thing’ of light in paint, as the
sun casts its breath on the world.”
An exhibition of more than 20 of his
latest paintings will be shown at The
Gallery at The Grand in Kennebunk, Maine,
September 10 through 29.
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The Gallery at The Grand 1 Chase Hill

Road • Kennebunk, ME 04043 • (207) 967-2803 •
www.maine-art.com
123

4
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / TRURO CENTER FOR THE ARTS AT CASTLE HILL
9/7-9/17 Truro, MA

M I TCH E LL J O H N SO N

Master of Color By Meg Daly

C olor, shape and form take center

stage in Mitchell Johnson:
Nothing and Change, Selected
Paintings 1990-2022 at Truro Center
for the Arts at Castle Hill. A celebrated
colorist, Mitchell brings a playful eye
to scenes of Truro, Massachusetts.
In North Truro Red, the only red in
the painting is the bright edge of a
welcome mat outside a luminous white
home. Mitchell lets the blues dominate
in this deceptively titled painting. The
red is like a little wink from the artist, as
if to ask, ‘what’s the true subject here?’
While viewers might project a story
onto a Mitchell painting, the artist’s
goal is not narrative. “I don’t get too
involved in allegory or story,” he says.
Instead he wants people to notice what
is included and what’s left out. “Don’t
forget this is a painting. It’s a surface
somebody made,” he says. “We do
the same thing when we look around.
We visually organize the room or the
1
world. We take notice of some things
and don’t see others.”
In Bonavista Yellow (Iceberg) the
eye is drawn immediately to the bright
yellow of the foregrounded cottage. But
behind the cottage looms an iceberg,
onto which the cottage’s shadow
seems to be cast. What is going
on here? Is there a story? Or is the
painting a collection of blocks of color
all playing off one another, colliding,
as it were, like an iceberg on a crash
course with a coastal village? Like
his forebear Edward Hopper, Mitchell
creates cinematic scenes, suggestive
yet open to interpretation. Mitchell’s
lush brushwork invites the viewer to
linger and offers new insights with
each encounter.
In Luxembourg Two (Sunset) various
figures cross a promenade in the famed

1 3
Bonavista Yellow North Truro Red, oil on
(Iceberg), oil on linen, linen, 24 x 36"
18 x 24"
4
2 Luxembourg Two
Trinity East, oil on (Sunset), oil on linen,
linen, 16 x 20" 24 x 36"
2
124 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
 3

Parisian Jardin du Luxembourg. The

closest figure strides purposefully, while
a couple ahead of her amble. The time of
day and wintry overtones suggest people
might be hurrying home after work, or
leisurely catching the last light of the day.
That was not Mitchell’s concern. His focus
is the creamy white ground, the bright red
rectangle of a woman’s purse, an insistent
patch of green at the top edge of the
painting. And, most dramatically, the elon-
gated ghost-shaped shadows of the figures.
Johnson studied at Parsons School
of Design in the 1980s, alongside Jane
Freilicher, Leland Bell, Nell Blaine, Paul
Resika, Larry Rivers, and Robert De Niro Sr.,
among other notable artists. His work is in
the collections of numerous private collec-
tions and museums, including Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts, Fine Arts Museum
of San Francisco, Tucson Museum of Art,
Longwood Center for the Visual Arts and 4

the Museo Morandi in Bologna, Italy.

The Museo Morandi is one of his favorite sions. “In some ways what I was doing was gating what Albers called the “interaction
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museums. It was there that he had a water-
shed moment in 2005 when he visited
an exhibit that paired Giorgio Morandi’s
work with that of Josef Albers. In Albers’
nested chromatic squares and Morandi’s
enjambment of vases and everyday objects,
Mitchell saw echoes of his own obses-
melding their visions in order to better
articulate my own voice,” he says.
The selection of work on view at Castle
Hill charts Mitchell’s journey to fine-tune
that voice. For Mitchell, a beach chair or
a handbag or a quaint cottage are props.
His conversation is art historical, investi-
of color.” It’s an invitation to viewers to
deepen their own understanding of the
visual world.
Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill
10 Meetinghouse Road • Truro, MA 02666 •
125

(508) 349-7511 • www.castlehill.org

 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / GROSS MCCLEAF GALLERY
9/7-9/30 Philadelphia, PA

CE LIA R E ISM AN

A Place You Can Enter

A blend of architecture and nature,
Celia Reisman’s paintings encourage
viewers to explore their environments
in new ways. Her oils employ simplistic
shapes in pleasing palettes, a journey into
both color and geometric form. Often, the
artist describes her work as “exterior still
life.” The buildings occupy the ground
plane the same way objects on a tabletop
would. Unlike most landscapes, her paint-
ings don’t cover vast distances; instead,
they’re close-ups. “It’s a different kind of
landscape,” she says.
A new body of work by Reisman
completed in the last three years will be
showcased during a solo exhibition at
Gross McCleaf Gallery. A majority of the
scenes capture locales in Vermont and
Philadelphia, where Reisman spends most
of her time, but also include Albuquerque
and even Ireland. “Celia Reisman’s paint-
ings are an exploration of color and
geometry in the form of street scenes from
suburban neighborhoods and views from
rural back roads," says assistant director
of Gross McCleaf Gallery, Morgan Hobbs.
"Firmly planted within the gray area 1
between representation and abstraction,
the recognizable juxtaposition of houses
and landscape features maintains the
sense of place even while the objects exist
as basic shapes and forms of the artist’s
conception. What’s left is the familiar
but mysterious combination of boxes,
triangles and organic forms.” Titled Side
Streets, Back Roads, the exhibition takes
place September 7 to 30 with a reception
on September 10 from 1 to 4 p.m.
“I am very involved in proportional
geometrical relationships, and I think
I arrive at that because I’m almost
Photoshopping [the composition],”
Reisman continues. “I select parts of the
landscape that I want to use. I edit out a
lot of things, and select the things I want
and insert them into the drawing. I’m
inventing on the spot.”
When it comes to color—another
primary element of her work—Reisman
has started a new practice where she
blocks out large color shapes in the
initial stages of a painting. “[They]
2

126 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

3

have nothing to do with the images but

are shape relationships of large units,
and I can orchestrate the colors before
diving into the more specific aspects of
the paintings. So I do start with a color
sensation in mind.”
While Beaver Meadow Road and ABQ
Surprise Winter both elicit feelings of
quiet and calm, they have vastly different
palettes. One is warm and bright, with
olive greens and the golden hues of
autumn, and the other an icy blue scene.
“I like the idea of feeling like you can
enter into these places; you can imagine
meandering through these locations,” she
says. “I want them to feel like a place you
can enter.”

Gross McCleaf Gallery

127 S. 16th Street • Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 665-8138 • www.grossmccleaf.com
SHOW PRE VIE W

1 3
Beaver Meadow Road, oil ABQ Surprise Winter, oil
on canvas, on canvas, 24 x 36"
18 x 24"
4
2 Amaryllis Window, oil on
Norwich Night, oil on canvas, 36 x 36"
127

linen, 16 x 20"
4
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / BONNER DAVID GALLERIES
9/30-10/15 Scottsdale, AZ

Shapes of Zimbabwe
By Chadd Scott

W hen Britain’s Frank McEwen was selected

to serve as the first director of the Rhodes
National Gallery in 1957, now the National
Gallery of Zimbabwe, his mission was to educate
people about fine art—European fine art. Then a
funny thing happened.
Early in his tenure, local artists brought
him a carving. He was intrigued. When they
brought him more of their work, he was further
intrigued—enough so to visit their homes (they
didn’t have what could be considered studios at
the time). Recognizing the caliber and breadth
of art being created in Zimbabwe, artwork he—
and most of the rest of the world—was wholly
unfamiliar with, McEwen scrapped plans to
bring European pieces to the country and
instead focused his attention on what was being
produced in-country. His efforts to expose these
sculptures went several steps further, leaning on
his European and South American contacts to
introduce the work there as well.
In the late 1980s, what has come to be known
as Shona sculpture—named after what is broadly
considered Zimbabwe’s largest Native tribe—
finally took hold in the United States among
collectors. Bonner David Galleries founder Clark
David Olsen has been representing Shona sculp-
ture for 25 years. With Bonner David celebrating
its 20th anniversary in Scottsdale, Arizona, Olsen
again turns to Shona sculpture, as well works by
sculptor Holly Wilson and ceramicist Karen
Shapiro, for the gallery’s signature fall exhibi-
tion, Twenty in Twenty-Twenty-Two, which runs
September 30 through October 15.
While the artistic vision and skilled craftsman-
ship of Shona artists is unquestionable, incorpo-
rating these distinct pieces of African art into
an existing collection may seem puzzling. How
will they harmonize? “It’s your taste, and if your
collection is eclectic and is unusual and if you
love a piece, there’s a place for it in your collec-
tion,” Olsen advises.
Braden Coolidge serves as curator of African
Art for Bonner David which opened a new loca-
tion steps from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York in 2020. Coolidge has been visiting
Zimbabwe annually for almost 30 years, since his
undergraduate days, developing relationships
with the artists and bringing their work to the
States. Twenty in Twenty-Twenty-Two features a

1
128 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
 2

completely new selection of Shona sculp-

ture. “It used to just be a gray or brown
or black stone,” Olsen explains of Shona
sculpture production. “Now, there are all
sorts of different colors of stone, hardness
of stone, so you really get a great diversity
in the color palettes.”
Resulting from modern hands while
connected to a centuries-old Indigenous
art-making practice, Shona sculpture
straddles the classifications of “traditional”
and “contemporary.” Artists working in the
traditional style are figurative, many others
have chosen to go in an abstract direction,
their forms often recalling knots.
From Albert Barnes to Pablo Picasso,
far-sighted collectors have always acquired
and cherished African art. Bonner David
Galleries offers that opportunity now with
its Shona sculpture.

Bonner David Galleries 7040 E. Main Street •

Scottsdale, AZ 85251 • (480) 941-8500 •
www.bonnerdavid.com
SHOW PRE VIE W

1 3
Lovemore Bonjisi, Love Peter Gwisa, Twisted
Dance, springstone, 44 Reasoning, springstone,
x 13 x 8" 23 x 10 x 13"
2 4
Holly Wilson, Bloodline, Moses Nyanhongo, 3
Keeper of the Seeds, Encore Performance,
bronze with patina, green serpentine
129

cedar and steel, 30 x

98 x 18"
4
 UPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / ABEND GALLERY
9/14-10/14 Denver, CO
Fierce, Furry & Feathered
T he kingdom Animalia takes the spot-
light in an online-only exhibition at
www.abendgallery.com. From domestic pets
to elusive wild creatures, the subjects are
as diverse as the artists in this group show.
Artists include 3rd Version (Ben
Patterson), Morgan Cameron, Christopher
Clark, Marina Dieul, Thorgrimur Einarsson,
Diego Glazer, Austin Howlett, Deb Komitor,
Lindsey Kustusch, Calvin Lai, Claudia
Griesbach-Martucci, Patrick Maxcy, Susan
McDonnell, Yuko Montgomery, Patrick
130 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
Nevins, Kirsten Savage, Brian Sostrom,
Corina St. Martin, Christy Stallop, Shawn
Sullivan, Sophy Tuttle and Jess Wathen.
Abend Gallery’s associate director
Samantha Manion-Chavez says, “The cute
and docile meet the fearsome predator in
this exhibition.”
McDonnell says her paintings often
express her affinity for night creatures.
“Being a night owl myself, I included a
lizard in the painting, an animal usually
only seen in the daylight.” The artist lives
in Minnesota where nature is abundant as
is access to dark skies. The storybook feel
of her realist animal paintings comes from
her love of Beatrix Potter and Lewis Carroll.
Like McDonnell, Komitor paints benevo-
lent wild animals. Owls and foxes figure
heavily in her forest paintings, totemic
spirits who reign over the forest. Look
closer and you might see hummingbirds
whispering to the owls and foxes. Komitor
says the inspiration for Hidden Secrets came
from her own recent emotional state. “I was
feeling detached from my true self,” she says.
“Lightness and joy were getting buried under
the weight of the world.” Partially hidden in
the foliage, the fox is afraid to come out and
perform his protective role. He is counter-
balanced by the hummingbird who Komitor
says represents universal joy.
Austin-based painter Stallop goes full-on
whimsy with her portraits of grackles. Often
considered pests, these ubiquitous black
birds are a source of humor for Stallop. “They
are pushy, aggressive, funny,” she says. “Add
to that their awkward movements while
flashing iridescent blue, purple and bronze
feathers and you have a very entertaining
bird.” Stallop amplifies the birds’ natural
goofiness and adorns them with cigarettes,
luchador masks, bandanas and eyeglasses.
Figurative painter Dieul also puts
2
animals in unusual poses. A master of the
trompe-l’oeil style, Dieul creates vignettes “While the rocks and vegetation might In all, Manion-Chavez says the pieces in
in which cats, mice, birds, and even a seem highly detailed at a distance, they Animalia are “inspired by the symbiosis of
raccoon peek through window frames. have actually been resolved through the use all nature…The work accesses the artists’
Meanwhile, Glazer takes a straightforward of various paint textures.” Glazer most often wild, untamed visions of fauna and trans-
approach to wildlife painting. In Shadow’s paints figures and landscapes. He started out poses them into the virtual gallery.”
Edge, a cougar is captured as himself. studying art in Querétaro, Mexico, where he
Picking his way among the red rocks of a was raised and earned a degree from the Abend Gallery 1261 Delaware Street, Suite 2 • Denver,
Southwestern landscape, the cat is momen- Instituto Allende, in San Miguel de Allende, CO 80204 • (303) 355-0950 • www.abendgallery.com
tarily distracted by the blur of a bumblebee. Mexico, and then moved to Florence, Italy,
“The fleeting effect of light at this time of where he completed a three-year program at
day makes the colors look rich,” Glazer says. the Angel Academy of Art.

1
Deb Komitor,
Hidden Secrets, oil on
cradleboard, 20 x 24"
2
Diego Glazer,
Shadow’s Edge, oil on
canvas, 60 x 72"
3
Marina Dieul, Le Festin,
oil on canvas, 10½ x 6"
4
Susan McDonnell,
Night Owls, oil on
panel, 24 x 18"
SHOW PRE VIE W
131

3 4
 A R T I S T
Red Sweater (Luxembourg), oil on linen, 32 x 30"
Mitchell Johnson
M itchell Johnson is primarily a
colorist. His work draws on a
vastness of experience and a persistent
desire to make paintings that explain
the world through color and shape. He
has always moved seamlessly between
abstraction and representation resulting
in works described by art historian Peter
Selz as “realist paintings that are basically
abstract paintings and abstract paintings
that are figurative.”
Beginning in the 1990s, Johnson
embarked on long painting expeditions
to Italy, France and New Mexico with rolls
of canvas packed in a golf bag. Wading
through unfamiliar landscapes, often
on foot, he worked to understand the
ever complex geometry of land and sky.
He prevailed not to capture some ideal
sense of place, but to see better and to go
deeper into painting.
“When talking about my work I
132 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
F O C U S
Two Chairs (Wellfleet), oil on linen, 70 x 80", Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
heavily stress the importance of color
behavior and the importance of the
design or composition of my paintings,”
says Johnson. “But I am also exploring
the concept of familiarity. As I have
gotten older, I have realized that I travel
to reflect on why we find certain things
or views to be familiar. I return to places
and I go to new places. I’m curious about
how color and scale impact the way a
chair, iceberg, boat, water tower or house
feels familiar versus new, different and
unfamiliar. We don’t pay attention to
it, but all day we are assessing what is
familiar versus what is extraordinary or
unusual.” The artist adds, “I’ve been very
influenced by the photographer William
Eggleston, and I think he is exploring
the same thing and he says this with
his famous quote: ‘I am at war with the
obvious.’ The point is that there is a
profound visual experience of the world
From Russian Hill, oil on linen, 30 x 40"
and our day to day lives, lurking on the
other side of obvious and familiar.”
The exhibit Mitchell Johnson: Nothing
and Change is on view at Truro Center
for the Arts at Castle Hill in Truro,
Massachusetts, September 7 through
September 18. Another exhibit, Ten
Paintings at Flea Street in Menlo Park,
California, is on view September 1
through October 20.
Johnson’s paintings can also be found in
the permanent collections of 29 museums
and in a new book, Mitchell Johnson:
Nothing and Change, Selected Paintings
1990-2022 available at Amazon.com.
Want to See More?
www.mitchelljohnson.com
mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
@mitchell_johnson_artist
 A R T I S T F O C U S

Gang Xu
A rtist Gang Xu usually tells graduate
students in oil painting that art
needs classics. “I remember the master
impressionist Camille Pissarro said, ‘To
choose the expression theme that is most
suitable for your temperament in nature.
Pay more attention to the shape and
color when observing, and don’t pay too
much attention to the depiction of the
sketch. The sketch that is too accurate is
insipid and can’t give people an overall
impression; it will destroy the feeling
in all aspects.’” Xu continues, “If an
excellent landscape oil painter wants to
impress others, the primary point is that
the author is moved by a certain theme
of nature; the author should grasp the
overall atmosphere of the picture, stand
in one place, look at the overall situation,
and distinguish the primary and the
secondary. During the painting process,
sometimes we must blend the painting— California in March, oil on linen, 23½ x 28¾"

the line edges cannot be too dead, and we

must find a third color between the two
colors to transition so that the picture has
a sense of unity. The strokes should be
relaxed and arbitrary; grasp the principle
of using the pen according to the shape
and structure of the depicted object. The
aim is to ‘gallop under the pen,’ and if
achieved ‘the heart is like a God.’” Xu
adds that the final piece should not solely
provide pure visual pleasure, but also an
immersive resonance.
“We should also consider the final
effects of the painting,” says Xu. “On one
level, the layers of rich and subtle colors
and the artist’s technique should be
thought-provoking, while it should also
elicit an emotional or physical response,
such as making the viewer feel relaxed.
This is not to say that all parts of the
picture should be painted very thick, but
should be treated differently in thickness
and density, with tightness and looseness
complementing each other. Don’t be
afraid to use gray,” Xu advises. “There are
a lot of grays in nature. Pure color doesn’t
exist. The purity of color is relative.
Believe what your eyes observe. In doing
so, what the painter depicts is no longer
a tree, a flower, a cloud…It is about the
relationship between color and shape.”
Want to See More?
www.masteroilpainters.com/authors/xugang
+61 (466) 278 657
MasterOilPainters
@masteroilpainters

AR TIST FOCU S
133

Purple Flower Fields, oil on linen, 23½ x 28¾" Summer landscape, oil on linen, 23½ x 31½"
 A R T I S T
Rainbow Eucalyptus, oil, 12 x 12"
Jordanne Perkins
A rtist Jordanne Perkins paints scenes
of Maui including landscapes,
roosters, gardeners, seascapes and
anything that captures her imagination.
She has a multifaceted ability to paint
special moments with passion and
spontaneity. The artist works in her
own signature style of thick, luscious,
Upcountry Jacaranda, oil, 24 x 36"
134 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com
F O C U S
painterly brushstrokes at times applied
with a palette knife. Sometimes she incor-
porates subtle abstract and contemporary
elements into her pieces but the old,
master impressionists remain her inspira-
tion. “I use thick and thin paint to create
moments where the brain needs to put
the painting together rather than have it
Mr. Big Stuff, oil, 16 x 12"
be a painting of perfection,” Perkins says.
Her creative process entails both painting
en plein air and going on adventures with
her two small children. What she sees
becomes stories in her mind that she then
uses paint to express. She completes each
painting in one sitting with the wet-on-
wet technique known as alla prima.
“I am drawn to stories in the land-
scape,” Perkins explains. “Such as when
the light finds a way through the trees,
or when low clouds create a shadow on
Haleakala or the mountains.”
Perkins has been representing
herself for over 20 years in Hawaii. She
showcases her work at two Four Seasons
Resorts and has established two galleries
on two islands. Her flagship gallery is
located in the foot hills of Haleakala in
the historic town of Makawao on the
island of Maui.
Want to See More?
jordanne@jordannefineart.com
Represented by Jordanne Gallery
3625 Baldwin Avenue | Makawao, HI 96768
(808) 563-0088 | www.jordannefineart.com
@jordanne_gallery
 A R T I S T F O C U S

Fresh Lemonade, oil, 18 x 23” My Roses in Austin, oil on linen, 16 x 20”

Sarah
Paddock
S arah Paddock’s still life paintings
capture and celebrate moments of
loveliness within our everyday experi-
ences. She is first and foremost an oil
painter in the tradition of academic
realism, but she adds a modern sense of
contrast and chroma. “I am captivated by
the intricacies of realistic painting—the
transformation of three dimensions into
two—from a very human perspective that
depicts the specialness of rather ordinary
living,” says the artist.
Paddock’s work truly studies and
considers each object from a range of
perspectives—how the light passes through
and around them and how they relate to
and reflect onto each other—and then
translates each item’s ordinary and unique
traits and relationships onto canvas.
Her depictions explore the relevance Mint Julep, oil on linen, 18 x 24”
of these as artifacts of our lives and
artfully preserves them. “I always take
particular delight in painting heirlooms,” public studios in Spencerport, New York.
she says. “Sometimes it’s a simple pot Also a classically trained concert flutist, Want to See More?
or cup, perhaps a necklace or apron, she is a graduate of Syracuse University, www.sarahmpaddock.com
sometimes it’s a recipe for the meals we College of Visual and Performing
AR TIST FOCU S

Represented by Kristen Campo Fine Art

share together. These are often items that
are passed from generation to genera-
tion and aren’t always the most valuable
monetarily, but they are very rich in
memory and character.”
Paddock paints in both her private and
Arts. She is a member of the historic 3025 Monroe Avenue | Rochester, NY 14618
Salmagundi Club, as well as Oil Painters (585) 880-1945 | www.kcfagallery.com
of America, the National Oil & Acrylic Sarah M Paddock Fine Art
Painter's Society, American Women
Artists, and the International Guild of @sarahmpaddock
Realism.
135

135 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 A R T I S T F O C U S

Robert
Forte
R obert Forte’s paintings center around
the human figure as a catalyst for
eliciting the complexities of life. The
figures span the spectrum of social,
political and environmental issues
to the more intimate themes of love,
humor and shared experiences. Forte
describes his style as semi-realistic. “I
paint the figure as an abstract symbol,
focusing on expression, position and
interaction rather than anatomy and
physiognomy,” Forte says. “I am strongly
influenced by minimalism because I
believe that painting is about something,
and detail can be a distraction. Beyond
these stylistic elements, I use color
for its intrinsic power as an emotional
force, departing from the norm and the
conventional. Linked to this use of color
is the emphasis on light to magnify the
conceptual nature of the painting and to
highlight the positioning of the figure or The Last Rose of Summer, oil on canvas, 36 x 36"
figures.”
Positioning assumes great importance
in Forte’s work as a result and becomes
a distinctive component of his style,
often placing his figures principally in
the forefront of the canvas. “I strive for
contact with the viewer and a bond that
draws you into the canvas,” notes the
artist. “The pull of abstraction, I believe, is
that it allows the viewer to wander around
a painting and to impose a personal
experience onto it. My work and my need
to create it does not afford the viewer so
much latitude, I have a message that I
believe needs to be conveyed, and it is my
message that I want to be perceived.”
Forte will be featured in a show titled
Close Encounters from October 18
through November 5 at Atlantic Gallery
in New York City.

Want to See More?

info.robertforte@gmail.com
www.robertforte.com

@robertforteart
Represented by Atlantic Gallery
548 W. 28th Street #540 | New York, NY 10001
(202) 219-3183 | www.atlanticgallery.org
Roller Derby, oil on canvas, 36 x 36"

136 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 A R T I S T F O C U S

Noon Rush, oil on panel, 38 x 48” Wacker, oil on canvas, 36 x 48”

David Schweitzer
D avid Schweitzer’s style and tech-
nique has changed many times
during his 40-plus years as an illustrator.
scenes where there is so much going on
that your eye never stops moving, which
is just how I feel in the city,” Schweitzer
this is the phase where the picture comes to
life—where it stops being mechanical and
starts being human.”
In the last few years, he has settled on adds. Last comes the painting phase, which
cityscapes as his favorite subject and oil for Schweitzer is by far the most time
as his medium of choice. Thus far, he has consuming. “I think of this final phase as
been focusing on Chicago scenes but translating my photo into another language, Want to See More?
has many New York compositions in the the language of paint,” he says. “For me, david@2palettes.com | www.2palettes.com
works.
“I think it is the human element about
a bustling city that I prefer over other
landscapes,” Schweitzer says. “I get the
sense of a thousand stories waiting to be
told. The city makes me feel like I am just
one tiny gear in a huge machine but still
a vital part of what makes it all run.”
Schweitzer’s process consists of
three phases: photography, computer
editing and, lastly, painting. “I think the
photography phase is where most of the
creativity happens. It’s where the ideas
originate,” says the artist. “I’ll spend the
whole day on the streets with my camera
looking for something that sparks an idea
that I can turn into a visual story. There is
inspiration around every corner!” Once he
sees a potential painting, he shoots many
photographs of people and vehicles,
basically collecting a library of elements
that he can use in the editing phase.
AR TIST FOCU S

At the computer, he starts assembling the

scene. “I’ll start with the best overall photo
and make adjustments to the perspective,
shadows, lighting and colors. Then I’ll add
and subtract elements using all my other
photos. I especially love busy, chaotic
137

Lake Street, oil on canvas, 30 x 36”

 A R T I S T F O C U S

MISSING
AN ISSUE?
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Stanza 18, acrylic and colored pencil on illustration board, 15 x 20"

L.HUNT NO
AVAILAWBL
DIGITALL E
L .HUNT describes his work as
generally “narrative figura-
tive.” “I’ve done many portraits
Y!

of people in the past, but I feel

more satisfied when doing pieces
that have some story or conflict
to be told in them,” says L.HUNT.
“These go beyond the simple
painting of a person looking into
the camera. Pieces that make
someone stop and consider while Crest and Trough, acrylic on
enjoying the composition, color illustration board, 30 x 20"
and technique—that’s what I’m striv-
ing for.”
That is what drew L.Hunt to a new book project which entails
illustrating a fresh, new translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s cryptic,
symbolist poem The Drunken Boat. Create a library of fine art in your home by
The poem set in 1890s France, "is the tragic tale of a man who purchasing past issues of American Art Collector.
would rather die than to be told what to do, and what the results of Enjoy timeless works of art, follow artists’ careers,
a life like that lead to,” explains the artist. “I can paint a lot of hu- and explore gallery and museum exhibitions
man emotion into the difficult circumstances this man puts him-
and coast-to-coast art destinations that continue
self in. The elements of the story allow me to have an expansive,
to define the nation’s art market. Collectors
moody, splashy series of paintings which I enjoy producing. One
of the fascinating things about the poem is that it parallels the of Contemporary art rely upon American Art
man’s journey of his drunken stupor with a boat or ship on stormy Collector to stay informed on the latest works from
seas. So not only am I able to do narrative figurative work, but the country’s top contemporary artists as well as
also Parisian landscapes and architecture, splashing ocean waves, artwork from historic Western masters.
abstract concepts, along with the beautiful design of a Spanish
galleon sailing off the edge of the world.” Our magazine allows collectors to get a real
L.HUNT will host his solo show The Drunken Boat which sense of art that is coming available for sale—and
opens with a reception on October 29 from 2 to 4 p.m. at his gal-
opportunity to buy it right off our pages.
lery in Eastvale, California.

Want to See More? Stay informed on the latest exhibits across

Represented by L.HUNT Gallery the country, subscribe today online at
/officiallhunt
(951) 893-7949 | www.officiallhunt.com

/officiallhunt /officiallhunt WWW.AMERICANARTCOLLECTOR.COM

138 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 JACQUELINE GNOTT
AWARD Indiana, USA • rosebudstudios@att.net • www.gnottwatercolorstudio.com
WINNER

Vivid Watercolors
Gnott was the Second Prize Winner in International Artist magazine’s Challenge No. 129, Still Life.

A fter graduating from college and working as a

professional artist in the advertising industry,
Jacqueline Gnott eventually chose to follow the path in
might normally expect with the fluid medium. Her
paintings are sharp, vivid and highly representational.
This can be seen in the way she captures the trans-
1
Still Life with Peaches,
watercolor, 13½ x 19"

life that she was destined for—painting in watercolors. lucency and highlights of the blue glass in Still Life 2
The Indiana-based artist explains that she had come with Daffodils & Cobalt Glass or the glossy sheen of Still Life with Daffodils &
Cobalt Glass, watercolor,
across a book of the works of John Stuart Ingle, The a bowl of cherries in Still Life with Cherries & Crystal 17½ x 10½"
Eye and the Heart, containing watercolors rendered Candy Dish.
in meticulous detail. “In college I was taught that to “I have a huge collection of antique colored glass. 3
paint in watercolor it must be loose, but seeing the I was looking at the cobalt bottles and how sparkly Still Life with Cherries
& Crystal Candy Dish,
realistic and detailed watercolors of Mr. Ingle I knew they were in the sunshine,” Gnott says of Still Life watercolor, 22 x 16"
that I could both paint in realism and use my favorite with Daffodils & Cobalt Glass. “So I went with some
medium. And that is what I’ve done for most of my springtime daffodils to complement the glass. That is 4
life,” says Gnott. the way I build a still life. Starting with one item (glass, Still Life with Peonies &
Silver, watercolor,
Indeed, her watercolors defy the expectations one a flower, a piece of fruit) and constructing everything 19 x 21½"

140 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

2 3

around that. When painting, I always do the

backgrounds first to set the stage for the still
life. Then as I get into subjects, I work from

I N T E R N AT I O N A L A R T I S T MAG A Z I N E AWA R D W I N N E R
light to dark, very slowly, drying in between
each glaze.”
Still Life with Peaches captures the summer
fruit in bright light. “Since I use a lot of both
fruit and flowers in my watercolors, I can easily
be inspired by things that are in season,” she
says. “Some of my ‘props’ come directly from
our local farmers. In my more recent paint-
ings I’ve tried not to make things too ‘busy.’
Working with a limited number of objects
and trying to create more of an atmosphere
around them, using the natural sunlight to give
diverse effects on both the backgrounds and
the objects themselves.”
At the moment, Gnott is only painting large
watercolors and entering them into presti-
gious shows in the United States and abroad.
She currently lives in Indiana with her black
German shepherd, Bellarina.
141

4
INDEX » SEPTEMBER

ARTISTS IN THIS ISSUE

Abeyta, Liz 88 Dworkin, Mona 82 McDonnell, Susan 131 Sexton, Randy 120
Afsary, Afsary 65 Erickson, Jeff 65 McNeil, Kasandra 68 Sievers, Matthew 65
Alm, Nick 76 Forte, Robert 136 McNickle, Thomas 65 Signori, Loriann 83
Almaraz, Carlos 53 Gilsdorf, Grant 105 Miller, Denise 28 Silva, Nancy 70
Anderson, Kathy 69 Glazer, Diego 131 Morgan, Brenda 93 Smith, Jonathan 118
Anjou, Danielle 143 Gnott, Jacqueline Murray, Paul 95 Sparkowich, Kevin 79
Arenas, Heather 88 Gorski, Gilbert 16, 112 Naranjo, Madeline 28 Stein, Adrienne 59
Babcock, Judith 67 Grissom, Janet 65 Nyanhongo, Moses 129 Stewart, Zienna Brunsted 79
Baily, Jason 68 Groesser, Debra Joy 87 Obermeyer, Michael 121 Stobart, John 78
Bartlett, Bo 14, 42 Gwisa, Peter 129 Ortega, Alberto 110 Swanson, James 87
Beam, Jacalyn 83 Hargis, Teresa Townsend 86 Paddock, Sarah 135 Swift, Peter 84
Bilmes, Daniel 76 Harris, Ryan 28 Pearce, Carrie 102 Tanner, Rose 91
Blizard, Peggie 29 Henrie, Cary 98 Perkins, Jordanne 134 Taylor, Trés 143
Blumenschein, Sarah 94 Hernández, Judithe 51 Peters, Denise 68 Thomas, Phillip 102
Bohannan, Candice 54 Hosner, Truman W. 65 Polinsky, Abi 96 Tiessen, Josh 78
Bonjisi, Lovemore 128 Hunt, Jane 56 Pritchard, Mary 84 Valdez, Patssi 52
Branch, Betty 106 Johnson, Mitchell 124, 132 Quinn, Marc 96 Vanderhoek, Kim 66
Brown, Naomi 70 Knott, Jacqueline 140 Rafferty, Carole 121 Walls, Charles Young 92
Cassort, Brett 66 Komitor, Deb 130 Rees, Mardie 59 Watanabe, Mitsuru 78
Cocke, Robert 14, 62 Kowch, Andrea 104 Reis, Hope 88 Watwood, Patricia 58
Cruz, David Antonio 99 Kratter, Tia 121 Reisman, Ceila 126 Werneck, Daniela 105
DAIN 97 Kringen, Aiden 77 Reyonolds, James 65 Whipple, Kate 58
de la Torre, Einar 49 L.HUNT 138 Roberts, Peggi Kroll 57 Will, Tara 81
de la Torre, Jamex 49 Larivey, Chuck 82 Romero, Frank 51 Williams, Kent 16, 116
DeGraff, Larry 93 Levenson, Shana 57 Ross, Ayana 105 Wilson, Holly 129
Dieul, Marina 131 Lewis, Kris 103 Ruddy, Sally 67 Winne, Robert 82
Disko, David 97 Louis, J 80 Sammoun, Samir 97 Wypych, Anna 77
Drake, Carmen 114 MacDonald, John 69 Sanders, Janis H. 122 Xu, Gang 133
Drake, Marilyn 94 MaGaw, Robert 67 Schweitzer, David 137
Durfee, Nathan 16, 101, 108 Mason, Diane 90 Seiler, Larry 93

142 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

SOLD!
American Art Collector magazine has changed the way artists, galleries and collectors
connect. It has closed the gap that previously existed in the traditional art market. Spectacular
and instant SOLD! stories keep rolling in. Check out some of the highlights of the sales and
connections achieved from the pages of our magazine and throughout the market.

1 Minnesota Collector Commissions Bronze Fountain

from Artist Danielle Anjou
The Titans and Goddesses fountain by sculptor Danielle Anjou
was commissioned by one of Quent Cordair Fine Art’s valued
customers and will be installed this summer in Minnesota.
Quent Cordair Fine Art, which has locations in Napa,
California, and Jackson, Wyoming, has been representing
Anjou—whose work has been displayed at The Louvre in
Paris—for 20 years.
The bronze fountain is available in different patinas and will
be offered in three sizes including 88-inches tall. Each will be
a limited edition. The piece started as a fountain featuring
three Titans, then it progressed to four Titans, and then the
customer commissioned the artist to create two goddesses to
accompany the two Titans.
“We are proud to represent Ms. Anjou’s stunning sculptures,”
says gallery owner Linda Cordair. “Making this commission
happen for her was an honor and a privilege.”

2 Canyon Road Contemporary Sells Two Trés Taylor

Paintings to One Collector
“Walking into the lobby of the new Valley Hotel in Homewood,
1 Alabama, I was immediately captivated by the huge painting
behind the reception desk,” says buyer Ann Williams. “It was
quite colorful, whimsical and covered in flora and fauna, with
a quite distinguished central character. Dressed in a gold robe
and hat, and holding a bouquet of flowers, I was immediately
curious. I learned that the distinguished gentleman is a fictional
character created by the artist Trés Taylor. William Guadalupe
is a monk who loves life and finds beauty everywhere. I was
charmed.
A few weeks later, while visiting Santa Fe with friends, we
wandered into Canyon Road Contemporary Gallery where I
was delightfully surprised to see multiple paintings of the same
monk,” Williams continues. “I respond to art emotionally—I
can’t always put into words why I’m initially attracted, but often
become more enamored as I learn about the piece, the ‘story’
if you will, and the artist. When I began to learn about this
particular monk, who’s known to be pious by day, but with a
bit of a party spirit by night…well, let’s just say we connected!
Thinking about Midnight Under the Magnolias [pictured here]
for several days, I knew I had to visit it one last time before we
left Santa Fe. When we got to the gallery we learned that Trés
and his wife had just delivered more paintings the night before.
It soon became clear that Midnight Under the Magnolias had
a companion piece in Goat feathers. I couldn’t choose one over
the other so I bought them both!”

Interested in having your SOLD! story featured in the

pages of American Art Collector magazine? Email Sarah
SOLD

Gianelli at sgianelli@americanartcollector.com to find out

1 how you can share your recent sales and successes.
143
INDEX » SEPTEMBER

ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE

Abeyta, Liz / San Diego, CA 89 L.HUNT Gallery / Eastvale, CA 41 Ruddy, Sally / Waterford, CA 72

American Impressionist Society / Omaha, NE Lee, Emilie / Carpinteria, CA 21 Scottsdale Artists’ School / Scottsdale, AZ 85
Cover 3
Loriann Signori Fine Art / Silver Spring, MD 60 Silvia, Nancy / Santa Fe, NM 85
Anderson, Kathy / Redding, CT 40
MacDonald, John H. / Williamstown, MA 40 Stone Sparrow NYC / New York, NY 15
Arcadia Contemporary / Mason, Diane / Berthoud, CO 89 Stravitz Sculpture & Fine Art Gallery /
New York, NY Cover 2, 1
Virginia Beach, VA 17
McNeil, Kasandra / Nancy, KY 73
Art Expo Dallas / Dallas, TX 31
Swanson, James / La Grange Park, IL 89
National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society /
Art Expo San Diego / San Diego, CA 34
Houston, TX 27 Swift, Peter / Rockville, MD 72
Art on Paper New York / New York, NY 33
Paddock, Sarah / Spencerport, NY 24 Tanner, Rose / Mill Bay, BC 85
Bailey, Jason / Paducah, KY 61
Peters, Denice / Denison, IA 61 Teresa Townsend Hargis Fine Art /
Beam, Jacalyn / Wilmington, DE 60 Kingston Springs, TN 100
Pollak, Laura / Greensboro, NC 19
Bennett Prize, The / Pittsburgh, PA 9 Uline / Pleasant Prairie, WI 100
Principle Gallery / Alexandria, VA 5
Blue Rain Gallery / Santa Fe, NM Cover 4 VanDerHoek, Kim / Orange, CA 73
Pritchard, Mary / Chestertown, MD 100
Brett Cassort Fine Art / Van Nuys, CA 12 Vanessa Rothe Fine Art / Laguna Beach, CA 22
Rehs Contemporary Galleries /
Brown, Naomi / Queen Creek, AZ 23 New York, NY 6-7 Will, Tara / Hampstead, MD 35

Catalina Island Conservancy / Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery / Xu, Gang / Netherby, SA 25
Long Beach, CA 41 Romeo, MI 2-3

Claggett/Rey Gallery / Edwards, CO 11

Coda Gallery / Palm Desert, CA 8

Debra Joy Groesser Fine Art / Ralston, NE 61

Forte, Robert / New Marlborough 39

DON’T
Grissom, Janet / Columbus, OH 37 MISS
Heather Arenas Fine Art / Myakka City, FL 89 OUT SUBSCRIBE
TODAY!
ON AN
Issue
Hope Reis Art Studio / West Palm Beach, FL 100
VISIT WWW.AMERICANARTCOLLECTOR.COM/SUBSCRIBE

J Louis / New York, NY 10

Johnson, Mitchell / Menlo Park, CA 20

Jordanne Gallery / Makawao, HI 13

Judith Babcock Gallery / Denver, CO 18

144 www.AmericanAr tCollector.com

 J I M VOG E L

Happenstance, September 30 – October 15, 2022

Artist Reception: Friday, September 30th from 5 – 7 pm

I Glimpsed the Devil Dancing, oil on panel with antique window frame, image: 68" h x 78.5" w, framed: 72" h x 87.5" w framed

544 South Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501 | 505.954.9902 | www.blueraingallery.com