There’s a new wave in western art called the New West. It recycles the old themes of cowboys and Indians, wildlife, landscape and historic figures. But it tends toward a different treatment, usually in brighter colors, flatter design with an advertiser, poster-like quality and shallow space or no space. Gone is a sense of atmosphere, […]
I like the brushwork: free but descriptive, not overstated
Some of my favorite views I’ve painted many times are from the Upper Saddle of the Grand. On this particular occasion Alison and I had been heading over to climb the Exum Ridge. Just as we got to the Wall Street ledge about 4:30 AM we were hit by a huge storm that sent lightening […]
Art is not a Commodity
Art is not a commodity in the sense that pens, wheat, computers and cars are a commodity. It is not a necessity or even useful in the sense that commodities are. It is not mass produced, so that millions of units can be sent over from China, and the price of each unit held down. […]
Bio
I’ve always done art as long as I can remember, but it was in Paris in 1961, at the age of 7, when I remember consciously thinking of myself as an artist and thinking of it as a career. I had seen artists setting up temporary stalls along the Seine to sell their work. So […]
From Still Life to Summit; the Evolution of an Alpine Artist
After painting subway stations, urban buildings, still-lifes and models at my alma mater, Philadelphia College of Art I returned to Wyoming’s vast and epic landscapes. A certain prejudice and suspicion had crept in regarding beautiful landscapes as too trite and inconsequential. This was partly due to the academic climate of the era, and partly due […]
Featured Artist: Southwest Art
Wyoming artist Joe Arnold paints en plein air on mountaintops. by Pattie Layser Originally featured in Southwest Art, June 2007 Joe Arnold maintains that hard-to-reach places – places high above the everyday crowds – are essential for discovering the thrills and risks that define one’s limits. “Such places are rare,” he admits, “but you can […]
The Mountaineer in the Frontier West
As it was common practice to climb the highest peaks in the neighborhood to get a view of the country, mountaineering was an essential part of the early exploration of the frontier west. The journals of exploration and surveying, such as Captains Fremont and Bonneville, and later Frederick Hayden, contain vivid and gripping accounts of first ascents of the peaks of the West. The first climb of the Grand Teton in 1879, was done by members of the Hayden survey of Yellowstone.