Many of the artists and architects profiled inside this issue call our attention to the conversations surrounding the “New West,” a term that emerged among a group of academics known as the New Western Historians in the 1980s. Following the societal changes of the 1960s, they...
A few weeks ago, while typing away, I received a phone call from Jared Swanson. “Christine. I have some news.” What followed was an exchange about the direction and growth of Western Art & Architecture and our priority to provide readers with the absolute “Best of the...
For many artists, bravery is the beginning. It takes courage to share one’s inner imagination. Artists and architects bring to life their perspectives, offering up personal creations for public critique; they leap into the unknown by trusting their instincts, hoping to engage the viewer by...
In this issue of WA&A, a statement that stood out to me came from artist Lee Andre: “We live in a fast-paced, attention demanding, disposable world. My intent is to produce work that counters these aspects of modern life,” (“Auction Block”). For me, this statement served...
In each issue of Western Art and Architecture, we explore the creative process and the resulting work that encourages viewers to consider the West in a new light. The journey that takes an artist from idea, to execution, to examination by an audience may be filled with...
Inside this issue of WA&A, we share the assorted ways that artists and architects use their mediums to express their ideas. Materials that seem fixed — canvas, oil paint, barn wood, concrete, and stone — are transformed into images that communicate beliefs, or structures that...
The question of why people create art has led to many poetic musing by some of civilization’s greatest thinkers. Preceding written language, drawing was likely the first expression of human thought hundreds of thousands of years ago. The first known artistic representations — markings made...
This issue of Western Art & Architecture calls to mind an essay by poet Mary Oliver. While contemplating the creative life in “Of Power and Time,” Oliver writes that art differs from other careers, because one cannot regulate the “machinery of creativity.” Painting is not...
In this issue of WA&A, when collector Jerre Lynn Vanier was asked what inspires her to collect art, she answered, “There’s nothing I like to collect more than associations with artists; I love being a part of history with them.” Vanier, who is profiled alongside her...
What makes a great work of art? The answer to this simple, yet complex question is one that I find endlessly fascinating. The definitive answer is shrouded in a bit of mystery. It’s a question that philosophers, curators and artists themselves have contemplated for as long...