Archives for Genre

Untold Stories

Untold Stories

March 1, 2021 | by

If you look for dogs in most traditional Western art, you tend to find them in the lower left-hand quadrant. They’re sitting at the feet of a cowboy in front of a roaring campfire, or they’re poised just out of kicking range of a horse at the center of the canvas. Their eyes tend to be looking at the focal point of the painting—a human being, a larger animal, an important event they’re witnessing. Their eyes tell the viewer where to look. They’re serving in their traditional role as man’s best friend. Man remains at the center. Not so with
Read More

The Studio of Eric Bowman

The Studio of Eric Bowman

March 1, 2021 | by

Situated next to his home on a half-acre lot in Tigard, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, Eric Bowman’s studio is as unique and imaginative as the art he creates. It’s actually a Quonset hut style structure that was favored by the U.S. government, which ordered thousands of the semi-circular structures during and after World War II because of their mobility and ease of construction. The property’s original owner built the structure in 1952 and used it as a garage to house his antique cars. “This was an ideal structure for that purpose because the roof supports the walls, so there
Read More

Ranch Life Reality

Ranch Life Reality

January 1, 2021 | by

By late fall, snow had already started falling in southwestern Wyoming. Even though she still had gardening to do, that snowfall was a joy to Amanda Cowan. “The elevation is about 7,500 feet, so it’s really hard,” she says. “The sun rays are high, and the wind never stops, but I do feel so blessed. I moved around before I got married; then I came to Wyoming. It gets 30 [degrees] below [zero], but this place is so amazing. I get to work on the ranch every day and paint. I’m so blessed.” The ranch is Myers Ranch, a sprawling
Read More

The Studio of Nancy Cawdrey

The Studio of Nancy Cawdrey

January 1, 2021 | by

Many people are working from home these days, but few of them have a setup as enviable as that of Whitefish, Montana, painter Nancy Cawdrey. All she has to do is wake up, descend two flights of stairs, and she’s in a 1,000-square-foot studio where she can work on her latest oil or watercolor painting or on one of the vibrant silk paintings that have become something of a trademark during her two-decade career. “My studio is in my house,” Cawdrey says. “It’s a little bit like the European thing, where you work on the ground floor, live on the
Read More

Talent Times Three

Talent Times Three

January 1, 2021 | by

It’s always exciting when we feature artists and their art for the first time within the pages of Art of the West. That is just what we are doing on the following pages, as we share with you the words and works of three contemporary Western artists: David Frederick Riley, Gregory Strachov, and Jeremy Winborg. While their journeys and subjects differ, what they share is a love of creating art. Riley evolved from painting portraits to wildlife in muted tones. Strachov is fascinated by rocks, finding a beauty in them that most of us wouldn’t see. Winborg captures the strength
Read More

Capturing Nature’s Stories

Capturing Nature’s Stories

January 1, 2021 | by

Alone, on top of a high, open Montana hill in the darkness, Mia DeLode stood in her sheep wagon, watching as the band of wooly animals she was protecting from predators was bedding down for the night. Then the first lightning sizzled and cracked. The sky roiled. A second bolt spiked and jagged, fracturing the clouds with an explosive roar on its way to the ground. It was followed by another and another. “The crashes of blinding light [were] impossible to sleep through, impossible not to think the next bolt will strike too close,” DeLode says, recalling her days as
Read More

A New Chapter

A New Chapter

January 1, 2021 | by

TD Kelsey wants to be a painter. He’s been sculpting for more than 40 years, and his award-winning works are in the permanent collections of museums that include the C.M. Russell Museum and the National Museum of Wildlife Art. He has monuments placed at the Saint Louis Zoo and the historic Stock Yards in San Antonio, Texas, among dozens of other locations. Kelsey loves sculpting. It’s a medium that has allowed him to capture the essence of the animals he loves so much, especially horses. It has helped him to create a career, make lifelong friendships, and travel the world.
Read More

Winds of Inspiration

Winds of Inspiration

November 1, 2020 | by

Renowned artist Thomas Blackshear II is no stranger to commercial work. Before diving into the Western art world, he was an illustrator with companies such as Hallmark, Lucas Films, and Anheuser-Busch on his resumé. In the fall of 2019, he got a phone call from the manager of The Killers, a popular alternative rock band that wanted to use his work for its newest album. It was a project unlike any Blackshear had ever experienced. The Killers is an American band that originated in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the early 2000s. Almost 20 years and six albums later, it has
Read More

Faith and Perseverance

Faith and Perseverance

November 1, 2020 | by

Kevin Red Star has been painting scenes of Native American life for more than 50 years. Described as a master artist, visual historian, and an ambassador for his native Crow culture, his paintings have earned spots in several prestigious collections that include the Smithsonian, the Denver Art Museum, and the Heard Museum. Red Star’s works extend far beyond the United States, however, and are included in the collections of museums in China, Belgium, Japan, and Germany. His paintings also have earned a myriad of awards, including the 2018 Montana Governor’s Art Award for lifetime achievement and the 2018 James R.
Read More

Young Talent, Old Soul

Young Talent, Old Soul

November 1, 2020 | by

Brittany Weistling was thrilled when she was invited to be a guest artist at the 2012 Masters of the American West Fine Art Exhibition and Sale. That meant her paintings would be exhibited outside, rather than inside, the main gallery, but that was just fine with her. Weistling’s paintings sold, validating what the show’s officials already knew: Her talent deserved to be showcased during the event, which is conducted each year at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, California, and features works by some of the country’s top Western artists. What made the experience remarkable was
Read More