THE HISTORY OF ENGRAVING FIREARMS FITS HAND IN GLOVE WITH THE HISTORY OF WEAPONS, a past as entwined as the scrolling acanthus leaved etched onto them. In the 16th century, firearms frequently sported engraved foliage, lettering, animals, and hunting scenes, exhibiting embellishments of exquisite decoration...
ARTISTS OFTEN DRAW UPON UNCONSCIOUS LONGINGS when creating works of art. Releasing them into the world like messages in bottles tossed into the sea, they carry wishes for viewers to connect with their own universal thoughts and secret prayers. California painter Gary Ruddell renders his...
FOR MANY, NATURE AND ITS BEAUTY ARE SACRED. The majesty of towering cumulus clouds exploding against a clear blue sky, golden rays of light streaming through a threatening storm, massive granite boulders connoting eons of early environmental changes — these all figure prominently in Doug...
THE TERM "AMERICANA" IS OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH MUSIC, but when artist Kyle Polzin uses the word to describe his work, it harks back to the original meaning, which, according to Webster’s Dictionary, has referred since 1841 to “materials concerning or characteristic of America, its civilization,...
TWO-AND-A-HALF HOURS WEST OF DALLAS, Texas, on a hilltop with magnificent views, the 32,000-square-foot Cook Canyon Lodge is gasp-worthy on its own — a little Italianate, with a nod to the Depression-era stone and wood buildings of Yellowstone National Park, and an embrace of classic...
JOHN BANOVICH'S CONSERVATIONIST IDEALS, as fierce as the lions he portrays, roar with authenticity. His large paintings express a poignant love for places losing their hold on wilderness, and in turn, they bring to light the delicate balance of the natural world in danger of...
"THE PAST IS NOT DEAD, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make.” So said William Morris, the famed 19th-century artist, who would likely find resonance in the paintings of Maura Allen. Allen’s works...
THIS NOVEMBER, THE ART MUSEUM OF EASTERN IDAHO opens an exhibit featuring the works of artist Archie Boyd Teater. Entitled Visual Narratives of the American West, it references Teater’s home and studio in the Hagerman Valley, the only project designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in...
WHEN THEY DECIDED TO BUILD ON THE SMALL TOWN OF HAMILTON, Montana, 15 years ago, a busy couple — who splits their time between Florida and Chicago — had to do most of the work with the local builder and interior designer from afar. Located...
SHE CALLS IT THE "PERFECT ACCIDENT." As a fine art student focusing on sculpture at Colorado State University (CSU) in 1990, Sandy Graves completely misunderstood her professor’s assignment. He said to create a “hollow form” to demonstrate the lost wax process for producing bronze sculpture. He...