Archives for Uncategorized

Where Function Meets Fine Art

Where Function Meets Fine Art

March 20, 2024 | by

Functional art, artwork that is both attractive and practical, is nothing new to the art world. Art glass vases, clay vessels, and even bronze door knockers or bookends apply. But these works don’t seem to be included in many shows. Last year, artist Eric Bowman made a splash at the Prix de West with his tetrapycht screen—and he’s doing it again at the Night of Artists at the Briscoe Museum this year.   Bowman, known for his stylized Western scenes, got the idea for the original screen from his love of craftsman furniture. “The idea just popped in my head one
Read More

A Family Affair in Great Falls

A Family Affair in Great Falls

February 19, 2024 | by

Fifteen shows, hundreds of artists, and dozens of events —that’s what makes Western Art Week in Great Falls, Montana so appealing. This year, there’s another key stat for the Winborg family: three generations of artists from the same family, who share the same studio space, all participating in Western Art Week. Larry C. Winborg, his son, Jeremy Winborg, and Jeremy’s daughter, Swede Winborg, will all be in attendance. “We’re a family of artists,” Larry Winborg says. The patriarch of this art family, Larry has been an artist for over 60 years, and has been participating in Western Art Week for
Read More

A Celebration of Color

A Celebration of Color

February 8, 2024 | by

Erin Hanson has an energy that mirrors the paintings she creates. She shares the story of her life—and her work—and injects both with vibrant colors and textures that have captured the attention of collectors throughout the world. That’s no exaggeration; during the past 15 years she has sold 3,000 original paintings and countless prints. Collectors purchase her paintings as quickly as she completes them. One collector says that, every time he looks at the painting he purchased from Hanson, “it gets more and more beautiful” and that it will be his “get-out-of-husband-jail-for-free-card” for years to come because his wife loves
Read More

That Belongs in a Museum!

That Belongs in a Museum!

January 29, 2024 | by

The eye of an artist allows them to see things others may not. This leads to beautiful work, inspired insight, or — in the case of Crystal Orlando — becoming a modern day Indiana Jones (minus the snakes and guns, luckily). In 2016, Crystal Orlando was working and drawing at a framing shop in Temple, Texas. There was an estate sale happening in the area and she had a feeling there was a reason she needed to be there. “I’ve always had a knack for finding things that I was supposed to find,” she says. “I don’t know if that
Read More

‘Brain Power, Creativity, and a Healthy Appetite for Problem Solving’

‘Brain Power, Creativity, and a Healthy Appetite for Problem Solving’

January 29, 2024 | by

Wildlife artist Mark McKenna woke up before dawn one day with his mind racing. An idea for a card game had come to him and he couldn’t wait to try it with his family. Within a few weeks, he had worked up a prototype to see what his wife and kids thought. After enjoying the initial concept and a few years of play testing, rule tweaking, and family fun, McKenna and his family released Royal Turmoil under the company name McKenna Games. Royal Turmoil is a turn-based, head-to-head card game where the goal is to claim, steal, settle, and unite
Read More

Cowboys, Yodeling, and Watercolor

Cowboys, Yodeling, and Watercolor

January 24, 2024 | by

Art comes in many different forms. While at Art of the West we primarily focus on visual fine arts, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering encompasses many of the different art forms central to Western life. Founded in 1985, the Cowboy Poetry Gathering is a week-long coming-together of people rooted in the poetry, music, and arts of cowboy country. Historically, the Gathering has focused on the performing and written arts. With dozens of  musicians, poets, and special guests, as well as workshops in rawhide braiding, yodeling, and traditional Cowboy cooking, Elko transforms into a haven for the history and culture of
Read More

Simplicity and Complexity

Simplicity and Complexity

December 11, 2023 | by

Rick Kennington grew up in environments much like those he paints: seemingly endless spaces, mountain backdrops, blue skies, and the steady resolve of cowboys and others whose lives are quietly, solidly entwined with the West. A lifelong resident of Utah, living near the Wasatch Mountains, Kennington’s parents were both from Star Valley, Wyoming, and he spent much of his childhood visiting his grandfather in that area. That’s when the painting began. From his first painting, when he was 18, of his grandfather on a horse, it’s been an ongoing pull toward portraying that life and lifestyle that has kept Kennington
Read More

Exquisite Designs

Exquisite Designs

October 12, 2023 | by

What happens when you pair aesthetics with mathematics? In the case of Texas artists Marilyn Endres and Eucled Moore, the results are complex, segmented, wood-turned vessels that combine classic shapes with contemporary, modern designs. The two artists take turns driving from their homes in Texas—his in San Miguel and hers outside Austin—to work together in creating stunningly beautiful beaded, wood vessels. Thirty years ago, Endres discovered Moore’s work when one of her friends suggested she check it out. Endres was creating high-end kaleidoscopes that were featured at galleries and shows. Moore was a wood turner who crafted intricate vessels with
Read More

Great Inspiration

Great Inspiration

October 12, 2023 | by

When you see a William Haskell painting, you will never forget it. The shapes, the colors, the movement within it are, simply put, stunning. And that’s just as he wants it. “You can be a great technician,” Haskell says, “but, if you can’t compose a painting with a great flow, it won’t work. I want to create something that keeps you in that world, that has all that movement, that you enjoy exploring and finding new things in.” Read the full article in the November/December 2023 issue. Night Ride Acrylic 9″ by 12″ Trust in the Storm Acrylic 16″ by
Read More

Visual Diaries

Visual Diaries

August 10, 2023 | by

“I spent my childhood on the East Coast, but I think I grew up here,” says Western oil painter Scott Yeager. Here refers to Woodland Park, Colorado, where Yeager and his wife Marie have made their home in the shadow of Pikes Peak for the past 15 years, but he could easily be referring to the West as both specific geography and more abstract concept. He’s come of age as an artist in the sagebrush, beside the rivers, on the flanks of the mountains. He’s camped and hiked, he’s hunted and fished, and all of his experiences in nature have
Read More