Archives for Wildlife

Quintessential Movement

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

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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Stalking Perfection in the Great Outdoors

When Michael Coleman was in kindergarten, his drawings were so intricate that his teacher suspected his mother was giving him art lessons at home. Actually, what his parents were doing was raising their son as something of a free-range chicken. Michael Coleman Geyser Basin Oil 40″ x 30″ Yellowstone in October, when light and vapor is at its turn-of-the season best! Michael Coleman A Gathering of Wolves Oil 30″ x 40″ In a gathering of wolves, a come together call from the heart of the woods and out of the shadows.
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Animals With Attitude

If you happen to encounter a pig that has sprouted wings, a galloping hare hovering just above and behind a plodding giant tortoise, hibernating grizzly bears encased in circular dens, or a fish-filled otter snoozing on a cushion of waves, you will know for a certainty that you have arrived in the magically delightful wild world created by sculptor, Tim Cherry. Tim Cherry (Missouri) Mother Goose Bronze 19″ x 32″ “This sculpture was commissioned for placement in the Discovery Garden at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. I wanted to create a design that had a strong maternal
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Answering the Call

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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Back in the Saddle

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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‘A DREAM COME TRUE’

Sandy Scott distinctly remembers a call from Jack Guenther, who called her out of the blue six years ago. Guenther wasn’t calling to discuss a particular piece he was interested in purchasing. This call was to ask Scott to fly from her home in Lander, Wyoming, to the new site of the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. Scott was more than happy to oblige. “He took me on a grand tour of this outrageously beautiful building that they were going to restore; it was an art deco masterpiece,” Scott says. “But, when I saw it, it was
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A Lifelong Journey

Lindsay Scott is a naturalist artist, or an artistic naturalist. Either way you slice it, she knows her subjects: wildlife and nature. As is often the case with wildlife artists, a love of nature, a penchant for accuracy, and a natural artistic ability form their careers. Scott’s ease with the natural world is evident in many ways, and her impressionistic/realistic art is a direct descendant of her passion for wildlife and accuracy. Her success as an artist, on the other hand, is a result of tenacity, ability, and confidence. Lindsay Scott (New Zealand) Bravado Oil 60” by 34” “This how
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Taking Risks

If things had gone differently, Tammy Garcia might be operating her own beauty salon instead of creating award-winning art that sells as quickly as she can create it. Although she has been making and selling pottery since she was a teenager, at one point she enrolled in a beauty school, but quit because she couldn’t afford to continue. The beauty world’s loss was the art world’s gain. One of the most collectible Pueblo potters today, Garcia creates unique ceramic pieces that include traditional effigies, water jars, and storage jars. Tammy Garcia (New Mexico) Elk Hunter Natural Clay “These pots are
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Making Them Proud

Artistic talent cannot be taught; rather it is birthed by a passion that lies deep within the heart and soul. There is no more shining example of this truism than reflecting on the prolific oeuvre created by Arizona-based sculptor Bill Nebeker during an amazing career that has spanned nearly four decades. Born November 13, 1942, in Twin Falls, Idaho, Nebeker’s early values were shaped by life in the small ranching and farming community. Although he spent many youthful hours whittling images of dogs, horses, miniature saddles, and even small sailing ships from unused wood he found on the family farm,
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