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...
David Fjeld creates stained glass windows using traditional techniques that date back to the 11th century. Working all over the country, from New York City to Hawaii, Fjeld designs windows for private homes as well as churches and commercial establishments. Commissioned for a fishing cabin on...
Landscape painter Jay Moore translates his visceral experiences into visual experiences captured in oils through his brushwork and palette, his line and composition. “After painting landscapes for 20 years, trying to make everything look convincing — a cloud should look like something floating in the air...
Using hyper-realism Tracy Stuckey’s narratives evoke a mythical West. His characters, a mixture of slick billboard models and pulp fiction storylines, speak to the way the West is portrayed and misunderstood. These scenarios, like a funhouse mirror, allow us to examine our own absurdities. “There are...
Scraping each layer to reveal a glimpse of what waits beneath, Andrew Skorut patiently creates his landscapes. It’s as if he’s uncovering the distance by offering a compressed surface, a surface beveled and scratched with the notion of space. “It’s interesting to me; from a distance,...
Two things drive Marie Figge Wise: fishing and finding the truth. Fishing takes her to places where nature speaks in its truest voice, in the lullaby of pastures, the whispers of spring creeks, and the poetry of mountain rivers. Whether her tool of choice is...
History looms large in Walla Walla, where the architecture has been thoughtfully preserved and restored in the area’s stately homes, public buildings, and private businesses, including in a few wineries for which the region continues to be known. Located in Southeast Washington, Walla Walla unfurls westward...
Woven Open-Collar Basket by Leon Niehues From coast to coast, Leon Niehues has exhibited his baskets and received widespread praise. Working from his studio in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, Niehues harvests his materials on his 40-acre wooded property. Patiently, he weaves together each basket, using white...
When a sculpture is cast at the foundry, the bronze comes out a nondescript, pale yellow. The rich, burnt umber look of burnished leather we associate with famous Western bronzes, such as those by Remington or Russell, comes from patination. And while most Western-themed bronze...
Thought-provoking images of Western lands, figures, and habitations dominated sales as summer wound to a slow end. Auctions saw brisk bidding by collectors arrested by renderings of the places and the peoples that anchor a region with representations tied to both contemporary and historic artists. A...