Archives for 2023 July-August Issue

Scottsdale Artists’ School: 40 Years of Artist Education

Scottsdale Artists’ School: 40 Years of Artist Education

July 25, 2023 | by

Every great artist has to start somewhere. Pursuing a career in art can be challenging, and many of the artists we interview for Art of the West credit a particular workshop or instructor as being the launch pad to where they are today. Where better to gain these experiences than an art school? As Scottsdale Artists’ School (SAS) in Scottsdale, Arizona, celebrates its 40th anniversary, we want to recognize the opportunities it provides for aspiring artists. The school was established in 1983 and provides art education opportunities for adults, teens, and children. All instructors are professional working artists, and many
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The Studio of Gerald Balciar

The Studio of Gerald Balciar

June 15, 2023 | by

When we last spoke with wildlife sculptor Gerald Balciar in 2017, he was excited about developing a new bronze patina to capture the distinctive hue of bluebirds. The birds nest in the many boxes that Balciar and his wife Bonnie have placed around their 10-acre ranch in Parker, Colorado. “Oh yes, I’ll be doing more and more bluebirds,” he said at the time. Six years later, Balciar has made good on that promise. When we caught up with him to learn about his studio—a 40′ x 60′ metal pole barn with seven rooms—the 80-year-old artist was in the process of
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Big Vision, Big Energy

Big Vision, Big Energy

June 15, 2023 | by

To truly appreciate a piece of Brenna Kimbro’s art, you first have to back up, way up, taking in the full scope of the thing. Then you have to get up really close, cheek to jowl, observing the fine details that comprise the entire creation. Zoom out, panning from nose to tail; zoom in, picking up the dancing of hooves, the flare of a nostril. These paintings and sculptures, many of them larger than life, are the work of an artist who clearly has no reservations about taking up space. “My tendency is to make things enormous,” Kimbro says. “I
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Embracing the Challenge

Embracing the Challenge

June 15, 2023 | by

Paul Van Ginkel will tell you he’s an all-in kind of guy. Every time he does something, he challenges himself to do it better than ever before. That kind of tenacity and ambition paid off in early March when Van Ginkel, who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, learned that he’d been nominated for the prestigious Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award. The winner will be honored at a ceremony in September. Although he’s not a stranger to awards—there have been many—he was particularly pleased that his patrons were so insistent on nominating him to be recognized for his outstanding
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‘The Ball Just Kept Rolling’

‘The Ball Just Kept Rolling’

June 15, 2023 | by

Russell Smith’s original career plan was to become an aeronautical engineer so he could design airplanes. That changed after he took a few art classes during his first year of college. “I realized I didn’t want to design them, I wanted to paint them,” he says. And that’s just what he’s been doing for more than 20 years. His depictions of early aircraft—combined with the people and land of the West—are wonderfully crafted and carry with them a captivating energy, excitement, and perspective. His paintings, fueled by an early love of aviation, have earned him several awards but the real
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A Compelling Medium

A Compelling Medium

June 15, 2023 | by

With its mix of pigments and powders, pastel preceded all other mediums. The proof is on the walls of caves painted with mineral oxide pigments. Pastel is the only medium for painter and mountaineer Nori Thorne, a longtime collaborator with nature and paint. From the gritty, finger-staining application to its flexibility and even its fragility, pastel is the mode of choice for Thorne, who finds herself celebrated in a genre often associated with large-format oils or bold acrylics. “We’re really the red-headed step-children of the art world,” she says. “But pastel has been around since we were humans. That’s what’s
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A Journey Through History

A Journey Through History

June 15, 2023 | by

“I love where we have come from,” says Brian Bateman. “History is the catalyst for all of my work—the men, women, machines, and how they intertwine.” That love of history took hold when he was a young boy and continues to drive him as he captures the past in paintings that feature everything from the West and Native Americans to mountain men and military aircraft. What makes those paintings unique is that he often combines two or more subjects in one painting, and he looks forward to combining aircraft within his Western work. Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Bateman’s initial
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Looking to the Skies

Looking to the Skies

June 15, 2023 | by

Canadian artist Ross Buckland developed his love of the land while growing up on a farm in Ontario. “I was always looking at the sky or at the colors on the ground,” he says. He’s still looking at the sky and the ground but now he’s sharing what he sees through his paintings of landscapes, wildlife—and airplanes. “Aviation became a passion for me, and so did drawing,” Buckland says. “For summer vacations we would go to visit our grandparents in Calgary. The airplane flight was the most exciting part of it. I wanted the window seat so I could see
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The Adventure Continues

The Adventure Continues

June 15, 2023 | by

Last fall, Lee Alban took a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Although he and his family had traveled through the Tetons back in the 1970s and had explored some of the National Parks out West in the early 1990s, he hadn’t yet been to Jackson Hole. The purpose of the trip was to participate in the National Oil and Acrylics Painters Society’s Best of America exhibition. It was Alban’s first trip to Jackson Hole, and he was eager to see the city and gather photographic reference materials he could use in future works. But it wasn’t just the quintessential beauty
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