Archives for 2019 July-August Issue

The Studio of Peggy Immel

The Studio of Peggy Immel

July 15, 2019 | by

For the past three years, Peggy Immel has been happily painting in a studio south of downtown Taos, New Mexico. Although she says it’s nothing fancy, it certainly meets the needs of the landscape painter, providing her with the space and privacy she needs to create the majestic scenes that have captivated here since she moved to the area 17 years ago. Although Immel spends much of her time painting en plein aire, her studio has everything she needs when she is putting the finishing touches to her work, framing her paintings, or taking care of other business needs that
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Spirit and Splendor

Spirit and Splendor

July 15, 2019 | by

A couple of Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes really speak to oil painter Ron Rencher. One of his favorites is this: “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” Rencher currently is in hot pursuit of the beautiful; he’s in the middle of a move to Taos, New Mexico, a place he once lived and still considers his artistic home. During a visit with him in early May, Rencher said he and his wife Carlene were in the thick of moving-related business: renting the U-Haul, closing on the
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Releasing the Spirit

Releasing the Spirit

July 15, 2019 | by

When Doug Hyde was commissioned to create a sculpture for the town of Joseph, Oregon, one of the first things he did was to go there. He knew the story of what had happened in Joseph. Hyde knew that it took its name from Chief Joseph, who led the Nez Perce people, when the government relocated them from their home in the lovely Wallowa Valley in northeastern Oregon, to a reservation in Idaho. He knew that it had been a sad time in Nez Perce history, and that even now, as the tribe continues to return to the area, feelings
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Beautiful Moments

Beautiful Moments

July 14, 2019 | by

For nearly 20 years, Utah artist Nicholas Coleman has created realistic paintings, with impressionistic overtones, as he preserves the history of the American West. His Western history and art education began at his father’s side. “[My dad] was always buying me sketchbooks, or we’d go to the art store and get colored pencils or clay,” Coleman says. His father also bought him history books and told stories of cowboys, Native Americans, and mountain men to expand his son’s knowledge of the country’s heritage. As early as age 3, Coleman worked alongside his father, renowned artist Michael Coleman. The younger Coleman
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Tributes in Wood

Tributes in Wood

July 14, 2019 | by

“I love seeing something beautiful, emotional, and spiritual emerge from something so earthy and natural.” So says Bob Boomer, who has been carving magical figures from wood for some five decades now, earning high praise and amassing an impressive roster of collectors, along the way. While at one time he was carving up to 50 pieces each year, he has slowed down somewhat, cutting that number to 20. Each of those carvings is a wondrous work so beautifully crafted that it almost begs to be touched, caressed. The detail, the textures, the lines and colors of the wood are mesmerizing—and
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Passion and Paint

Passion and Paint

July 14, 2019 | by

Churches and cemeteries hold a special fascination—and offer a special inspiration—for Walt Gonske, so much so that he has traveled to several states and foreign countries to capture their beauty and, in essence, to tell their stories. That fascination took hold almost immediately, when Gonske moved from New York City to Taos, New Mexico, 47 years ago. Having spent the first 30 years of his life on the East Coast, he was so taken with New Mexico that, when he visited his sister there in 1971, he went home, saved his money for a year, and made a permanent move
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Aesthetic Visions

Aesthetic Visions

July 14, 2019 | by

Stark rock outcrops towering over desert vistas, waves breaking on a coastal paradise, billowing clouds over serene mountain settings—for many years, those were the images that Glenn Dean most frequently chose to celebrate on canvas. Recently, however, he has expanded his subject matter to encompass the realm of figurative work, as well. “In my early landscapes I avoided painting figures as a way of purifying the landscape,” he says. “People were included on a small scale to show the enormity of a canyon wall, or the size of the clouds. However, beginning in 2012, I transitioned into painting a lot
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The Secret Sauce

The Secret Sauce

July 15, 2018 | by

It was a rainy day in Wisconsin that opened Dan Gerhartz’s eyes to his future career. Gerhartz, who grew up 40 miles north of Milwaukee, loved to be outdoors. As a teenager, he did a lot of hunting and fishing with friends and family in nearby woods. But one rainy day, a friend suggested that they do some drawing instead. “We had some Walker Foster how-to-draw books,” Gerhartz remembers. “That’s how it got started. I found out that I enjoyed it and that I had an aptitude for it.” He entered a few high school competitions, won a couple of
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