Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2021/January 2022 i Southwest Art

SUBJECT MATTER is no longer the primary driver of Oregon artist Yer (Za) Vue’s work. Instead, the medium and its application take precedence in her masterfully impastoed, abstracted work. The award-winning artist, inspired by Nicolai Fechin’s oeuvre, applies generous layers of oil or oil-mixable paint, sometimes in tandem and directly onto the surface of old paintings, to achieve the desired effects. “I don’t see ‘things’ anymore,” Vue says. “I just see shapes and am drawn to rhythm, movement, and energy. My paintings look representational from a distance, but when viewed up close, the colors and strokes are so broken that the subject is unrecognizable.” Vue’s painting style, a sublime mash-up of abstraction, expressionism, and impressionism, is supported by her consummate drawing skills. “A painting may look loose, but underneath the…

AS A YOUNG BOY growing up in a Seattle suburb during the 1980s, Chris Manwaring would hop on his bike and pedal out for the day, never knowing what adventures he’d find around each bend. These days, the Vernal, UT, artist approaches his expressive paintings in much the same way—with boundless curiosity and a fascination for the unknown. Manwaring’s adventures in painting began when his grandmother gave him a set of oils on his 12th birthday. “I didn’t have a canvas,” he says, “but I was so excited to paint that I took an old vinyl window shade, cut it down to size, mounted it on plywood, and got to work.” His family relocated to Utah a year later, where his talent took root in the rural surroundings. One of…

THE ANNUAL Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale, the highly anticipated kickoff of the contemporary western art world’s new year, returns in full force with a “new normal” after the pandemic forced the postponement of last year’s National Western Stock Show. Subsequently, the exhibition moved exclusively online, and, fortunately, went “amazingly well,” says curator Rose Fredrick. “People really came out to participate and purchase art virtually.” While Fredrick and crew plan to incorporate a component of last year’s virtual experience into the upcoming event, they’re understandably thrilled to bring the show back to its home at the National Western Complex in Denver, CO, as part of the National Western Stock Show. “The unique fine art exhibition features nationally and internationally known museum-caliber artists who are living and working in the…

TO A CASUAL OBSERVER, the day’s outing for two women and a toddler would have looked quite ordinary. They drove west from Denver to the Rocky Mountain foothills. Through aspen woodlands, the trio strolled leafy paths to a stream and enjoyed a picnic. As the afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves, the younger woman picked up her daughter and posed for photographs that the other woman took of the idyllic scene, with the little girl holding a dream catcher her mother had bought on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota the year before her daughter was born. In fact, this excursion in the early summer of 2021 represented a significant milestone for the photographer. Figurative artist Johanna Harmon, a multiple-award-winning member of the Oil Painters of America and…

MIKE WIMMER What inspired this artwork? The artwork was a commission for the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Committee to memorialize the Seminole oil boom of the 1920s. This is my 48th painting in the Oklahoma State Capitol Art Collection. To paint it, I began by studying historical photos and news stories. I also visited the area to take photos and paint quick studies. After many rough compositional sketches, I created a smaller oil study before tackling the final large canvas. Where did you study art? I attended the University of Oklahoma to study art and was soon allowed to apprentice with Don Ivan Punchatz in his SketchPad Studio in Arlington, TX, while completing my BFA. What have been some of the highlights of your art career? I have been…

FOR NATASHA RAMRAS, living in the Pacific Northwest with easy access to nature’s bounty—rivers, beaches, forests, mountains, cliffs, waterfalls, gorge, and ocean—offers endless inspiration for her impressionistic oil, watercolor, and pastel paintings. “They’re my interpretation of reality, as I embed the joy of living in this amazingly beautiful area into each work,” the Vancouver, WA, resident says. Ramras, who grew up along the coast of the Crimean Peninsula and studied art daily in an after-school program as a teen, is enamored with painting transparent bodies of water. Her serene, wish-you-were-there waterscapes complement her sun-dazzled scenes featuring kayakers, paddleboarders, and ocean revelers. “I’ve always been captivated by the water’s glow and the way the light plays on and beneath its surface,” she says. “I like the challenge of trying to convey…

MORE THAN a decade ago, Southwest Art spotlighted a young, up-and-coming artist named Derek Penix. His star was on the rise, heading toward a bright future in fine art. Today, it is safe to say that Penix has arrived. Invitations to national shows come his way, and top honors from prestigious art organizations are also the norm—the painter has received more than 100 awards in the past decade from organizations such as the American Impressionist Society, the National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society, and the Oil Painters of America. When we caught up with Penix at his California studio recently, he had just completed a 60-by-60-inch painting titled FEEDING FRENZY, part of an ongoing series on seagulls. Indeed, one of the first things to know about Penix is that he…