Archives for 2014 July-August Issue

Larger Than Life

Larger Than Life

July 22, 2014 | by

Like no other artist, German-born painter Albert Bierstadt portrayed the unspoiled grandeur of the 19th-century American West. He was known for large canvases, heavy luminosity, towering trees, and gargantuan mountains, while humans and horses were made to look even tinier in comparison. Bierstadt was not the first artist to depict the American West, but the vivid intensity of his work made him, for some time, the preeminent artist of the Western genre. Albert Bierstadt Indians Spear Fishing Oil 19.25″ x 29.25″ Albert Bierstadt Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains Oil 72″ by 120″
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Answering the Call

Answering the Call

July 22, 2014 | by

You could say that William Alther’s journey to becoming a professional artist was the result of his answering the call of the wild. Although the Colorado-based painter has been fascinated by God’s wild creatures from early childhood, time and other career commitments would intervene before he eventually turned to paint and canvas to bring them to life. Despite making a commitment to art less than a decade ago, the 55-year-old artist says it has always played a significant role in his life. William Alther Crafty One Oil 16″ by 18″ “Red foxes surely have to be high on the all-time
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Incurable Glory

Incurable Glory

July 22, 2014 | by

“I belong outdoors. I love painting on location, and I love the beauty and peace that comes with standing before Mother Nature and reacting to her incurable glory.” That, says Kim Lordier, is why she paints landscapes. And she does so beautifully, whether capturing scenes near her home in California, or packing up her pastels and heading to locations in other states. “California is rich in landscape—mountains, desert dynamic coastal range, and everything in between,” she says. Kim Lordier Winter’s Tapestry Pastel 36″ by 24″ “A kaleidoscope of color and pattern . . . chaotic organization . . . dark
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Back in the Saddle

Back in the Saddle

July 22, 2014 | by

Four years ago, Harold T. Holden wasn’t sure if he should accept any more commissions. He wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to finish the pieces he had underway. “H,” as Holden has been known all his life, was so sick that he couldn’t walk. He couldn’t ride his horses. He could barely stand up. “I was just a couple of weeks away from dying,” he says. Holden has pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that damages lung tissue and makes it difficult to breath. Although medication and therapy can help ease some of the symptoms, there is no cure. For
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‘It’s a Spiritual Thing’

‘It’s a Spiritual Thing’

July 22, 2014 | by

He created jewelry long before he created legislation in Congress. At 81, Ben Nighthorse Campbell reaches back into his memory to a time he and his dad walked the railroad tracks, letting the big locomotives flatten pennies for the jewelry they made. “Making jewelry was a matter of necessity,” Campbell says of those early days in Auburn, California. “We made things out of coins. We pounded them out, working mostly with Navajo designs. Letting the trains flatten pennies and silver dollars made the work easier for us.” Ben Nighthorse Campbell Reversible Bear Pendant Silver Sterling silver with turquoise sugilite, roserita
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The Softer Side of the West

The Softer Side of the West

July 22, 2014 | by

Spring in the Midwest can be a fickle. One it’s day warm, the next day cold, the next day a blanket of snow settles on the daffodils. Snow is exactly what thwarted a painting trip Montana artist Loren Entz had planned with Alise, his 6-year-old granddaughter, last April. On his way to Kansas, via Omaha, Nebraska, he had stopped to visit his daughter, Rebecca, and was planning to take Alise plein air painting, after hearing a comment she had made not long before. Standing before her mother, Alise had announced, “I don’t know if I want to be a mommy
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Digging Deep

Digging Deep

July 22, 2014 | by

“There are three components to my work. The empirical—what I observe when painting outside. The rational—what I know about the landscape. And the spiritual—how I feel about the subject, my emotional response to it.” So says Joseph McGurl, whose landscape paintings have earned him numerous awards, as well as recognition as one of the country’s most gifted contemporary artists. The fact that he became an artist and that his chosen subjects are the land and sea is no surprise. Born and raised outside Boston, Massachusetts, he spent much of his time on the water. Joseph McGurl Last Light of Winter
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