Archives for 2015 January-February Issue

The Studio of Kent Ullberg

The Studio of Kent Ullberg

March 20, 2015 | by

Wildlife sculptor Kent Ullberg has had a certain amount of luck when it comes to finding just the right studio spaces. When he and his family visited Corpus Christi, Texas, more than 35 years ago, they saw a house for sale and decided to call the realtor. Upon learning that Ullberg was an artist, the realtor quickly pointed out that the house they had seen included a studio, with skylights, as part of the garage. “It was really a guest house,” Ullberg says now, “but that realtor knew the right things to say. And it turned into a great studio
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The Passion Continues

The Passion Continues

January 20, 2015 | by

A small boy of 7, with curly dark hair, bright brown eyes, and a serious expression, walks home from school, looking at shop windows, as he passes. A movement in one of those windows catches his eye, and he stops, when he sees an artist on the other side of it. The boy is mesmerized, as he watches the artist mix colors and move his paintbrush across the canvas. Slowly, a mountain appears. The wonder of seeing that painting evolve stays with the boy and creates in him a desire to create similar scenes—and evoke similar responses. That boy was
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Quintessential Movement

Quintessential Movement

January 20, 2015 | by

Birds in flight—majestic and powerful, banking, diving, soaring. Fish gliding through water—swift and focused, twitching, darting, frolicking. Each of J. Christopher White’s sculptures personifies movement and grace. Surprisingly, his sculptures are woodcarvings, or bronze-wood meld. Rarely would one quantify wood carving as fine art. White, however, has mastered this craft, turning the traditional stereotype of woodcarving on its head. At his hand, wood carving–intricate and bold–becomes poetry in motion. J. Christopher White The Rest Within the Running Alabaster Bronzewood Meld™ 13″ High “Bronze and beautiful petrified wood alabaster are melded into a single media, bronzestone meld, with a masterful patina
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Still Climbing

Still Climbing

January 20, 2015 | by

How do you celebrate your birthday when you hit 60? If you are Colorado artist Ralph Oberg, you book a trip to Nepal. While it might not be on everyone’s bucket list, Oberg wanted to satisfy a deep longing to see the infamous peaks of that remote country. It was fittingly his first trip off the North American continent. Ralph Oberg Born to Run Oil 28″x36″ “By three weeks of age, pronghorn fawns are on their feet, ready to go. To avoid predators and keep up with mom, this is an important evolutionary adaptation. Soon they can run with the
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The Joy Of Being Alive

The Joy Of Being Alive

January 20, 2015 | by

Donna Howell-Sickles has been making her way as a fine artist for four decades. She’s earned numerous awards for her paintings and has been inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas. But, if you think she’s settled into a comfortable routine, you would be sadly mistaken. While the past has been pretty darn spectacular, the future for this award-winning artist promises to be more than a little exciting. Donna Sickles Soul Searching—The Pick of the Litter Mixed Media 36″x36″ “You can never have too many dogs or enough protective footwear, albeit the symbolic kind, because you
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‘I Paint What I Love’

‘I Paint What I Love’

January 20, 2015 | by

“Is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life?” When Frank Serrano asked himself in that question in the early ‘90s, his immediate answer was, “No.” Already a successful commercial artist, he was getting bored and was finding the lure of fine art becoming increasingly strong. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Serrano had long been interested in art, drawing animals and cartoons whenever he wasn’t outside riding his bike or climbing trees. Frank Serrano Above Big Sur Oil 16″x20″ “Not far from my home, Big Sur is a favorite painting location, with many
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The Magic Is Working

The Magic Is Working

January 20, 2015 | by

In 1985, David Mann was a librarian at the Utah State Library in Salt Lake City. He had four kids under the age of 5—and he had a nagging notion that he wasn’t doing the right thing with his life. Mann already had changed careers a couple of times. He started out as an art teacher, but that only lasted for one school year. David Mann White Buffalo Robe Oil 48″x36″ “The robe of the rare white buffalo is truly big medicine to the members of this Buffalo Society, who view it with awe and reverence.” David Mann Kiowa Smoke
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The Studio of David “Scott” Rogers

The Studio of David “Scott” Rogers

January 20, 2015 | by

Confirming that nearly 95 percent of his imagery celebrates the historical West, it’s obvious that sculptor David “Scott” Rogers could not have chosen a more appropriate location than Paradise, Utah, just 30 miles south of the Idaho border, in which to build his new studio. Surrounded on all four sides by mountains, the town of some 950 residents is situated in the Cache Valley, so named because it was a secluded area, where early mountain men “cached” their pelts in anticipation of the spring trading season. Scott Rogers The Wrangler Scott Rogers The Trooper
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