Desert Mythos

DESERT MYTHOS [mith-os, mahy-thos] The recurrent narrative or assumption creating an image or progression toward truth. alt. – a small work group show including 11 featured guest artists.

Available Now at Altamira Fine Art Scottsdale

ALTAMIRA FINE ART SCOTTSDALE 7038 E. Main Street | Scottsdale, Arizona | 480.949.1256 www.altamiraart.com

*JEAN ARNOLD *MARK BOWLES JAMES PRINGLE COOK *BRITT FREDA R. TOM GILLEON DAVID GROSSMANN DONNA HOWELL- SICKLES *TIMOTHY HORN *NICOLE HYDE *JEFF KAHM *JIVAN LEE ED MELL *ERIC MERRELL MARSHALL NOICE HOWARD POST MARY ROBERSON *RAY ROBERTS JARED SANDERS BILLY SCHENCK *STEVEN SKOLLAR DAVID MICHAEL SLONIM GARY ERNEST SMITH ROBERT TOWNSEND SEPTEMBER VHAY *WILLIAM WRAY DENNIS ZIEMIENSKI * GUEST ARTIST

OVER 60 SMALL WORKS FROM 25 ARTISTS January 5-21, 2015 Pre-sales have begun, contact us with your wish list, 480.949.1256

YOU’RE INVITED Please join us for the show reception at our Scottsdale gallery January 15, 7-9pm 7038 E Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251

JEAN ARNOLD

Boulder: Swath Oil on Canvas 24 x 24 inches

32nd St/City Park: Eastbound Oil on Canvas 24 x 36 inches

Boulder: Return Oil on Canvas 24 x 36 inches

MARK BOWLES

Early Morning Light Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 30 inches

Red Ridge Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 24 inches

Heat of the Day Acrylic on Canvas 30 x 24 inches

JAMES PRINGLE COOK

Bowie Sunset Study Sabino Creek Study Vermillion Cliffs Study Oil on Canvas Oil on Canvas Oil on Canvas 12 x 14 inches 10 x 14 inches 10 x 14 inches

BRITT FREDA

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl Acrylic on Panel 16 x 12 inches The Great Sage Grouse Acrylic and Graphite on Panel 36 x 24 inches Two Mexican Gray Wolves Acrylic and Graphite on Panel 18 x 24 inches

R. TOM GILLEON

The Year They Killed a Fat Bull Oil on Canvas 11 x 11 inches

Winter Haven Oil on Canvas 16 x 16 inches

DAVID GROSSMANN

Wall and Blue Window, Taos Oil on Linen Panel 7 x 12 inches Bright Blue Door, Taos Oil on Linen Panel 7 x 12 inches Clouded Sunset, Taos Oil on Linen Panel 8 x 10 inches

TIMOTHY HORN

Sunny Side Up Oil 11 x 14 inches

Sheltering Sky Oil 11 x 14 inches

Silver Moon No. 2 Oil 16 x 20 inches

DONNA HOWELL- SICKLES

Waiting for Starlight Mixed Media on Paper 22 x 30 inches

NICOLE HYDE

Desert Bloom I Oil on Cradled Panel 24 x 24 inches

Desert Bloom II Oil on Cradled Panel 24 x 24 inches

JEFF KAHM

Vernacular I Acrylic on Paper 15 x 15 inches Vernacular VI Acrylic on Paper 15 x 15 inches Vernacular VII Acrylic on Paper 15 x 15 inches Vernacular VIII Acrylic on Paper 15 x 15 inches

JIVAN LEE

Ground, Mountain, Sky Oil on Panel 24 x 36 inches West of Canada Oil on Panel 24 x 24 inches Hill to Sky Oil on Canvas 13 x 8 inches

ED MELL

Mesa Buildup Oil on Linen 14 x 10 inches

Mount Spry Oil on Canvas 12 x 9 inches

Colored Rain I Oil on Linen 14 x 14 inches Moving Bloom Oil on Linen 10 x 10 inches Split Storm Oil on Linen 10 x 10 inches

ERIC MERRELL

Washed in Moonlight Oil on Canvas Panel 20 x 22 inches

Two Rivers Oil on Canvas Panel 12 x 12 inches

Worlds Drift Away Oil on Panel 11 x 14 inches

MARSHALL NOICE

Deeper Blue Oil 16 x 20 Inches

HOWARD POST

Western Meadows Oil 16 x 20 inches

High Country, Vintage Oil 12 x 9 inches

MARY ROBERSON

Cerulean Encaustic and Oil on Canvas 12 x 12 inches

White Crowned Sparrows Oil on Canvas 12 x 12 inches

RAY ROBERTS

Echo Cliffs Moonrise Vermillion Cliffs Study Oil on Canvas Oil 20 x 30 inches 18 x 24 inches

Navajo Vision Oil 30 x 24 inches

JARED SANDERS

Turnpike Oil on Canvas 12 x 12 inches

Winter Shares I Oil on Canvas 12 x 12 inches

BILLY SCHENCK

A Cowgirl For All Seasons Oil on Canvas 18 x 18 inches

FRITZ SCHOLDER (1937-2005)

Kachina with Hunting Stick, 2004 Oil on Canvas 24 x 20 Inches

STEVEN SKOLLAR

Three Toy Cars Cowboys & Indians Just A Toy Oil on Board Oil on Linen Oil on Panel 12.5 x 21 inches 16 x 16 inches 18 x 15 inches

DAVID MICHAEL SLONIM

Modulation No. 4 Oil 16 x 12 inches

Modulation No. 6 Oil 16 x 12 inches

Modulation No. 5 Oil 16 x 12 inches

GARY ERNEST SMITH

Cowboy in Red Oil on Canvas 24 x 16 inches

Profile in Red and Blue Oil on Canvas 24 x 16 inches

ROBERT TOWNSEND

Summer Oil on Canvas 20 x 20 inches

Winter Oil on Canvas 20 x 20 inches

SEPTEMBER VHAY

Red Horse 77 Watercolor on Paper 7 x 9 inches

Red Horse 79 Watercolor on Paper 7 x 9 inches

WILLIAM WRAY

Conflagrant Oil 16 x 20 inches

Destruction Off 111 Oil Oil 12.5 x 18 inches 24 x 32 inches

DENNIS ZIEMIENSKI

Chile Bowl Oil on Canvas 10 x 10 inches

September Clouds, Sonoma, CA Oil on Canvas 10 x 8 inches

JEAN ARNOLD

GUEST ARTISTS

I extract my artwork from the experience of mobility, the velocity of travel – its visual bombardment, and its alteration of spatial perceptions. While traversing the city landscape via bus or train, I notationally sketch architecture, cars, trees, and urban clutter flowing by – capturing elements in a state of flux, and removing them from their original context.

In my drawings and paintings, I invent ambiguous scenes and spaces – accumulating miles of space and time into one image. This process creates a dense layering of geography – reflecting the current condition of complexity, speed, and fragmentation in our lives and society.

Jean Arnold has exhibited at the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR; Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY; Montecastello di Vibio, Italy; Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT; Utah Museum of Fine Art, UT; Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX; and Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, among other locations. She is a recipient of a Visual Arts Fellowship, Utah Arts Council, two Utah Arts Council grants, and numerous juror awards. Arnold completed her MFA degree at Johnson State College, VT. Additionally, she completed residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the International School of Art, Umbria, Italy.

MARK BOWLES

Mark Bowles is a native California artist whose large-scale canvases capture both a sense and scene of the western landscape. He has been working as a painter for thirty years and studied at the California College of Arts (and Crafts) in Oakland and the Institudio Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. These studies are coupled with the artist’s commitment to his work, which over time has resulted in a body of evolving imagery that maintains a stylistic consistency while exploring fresh territory. The artist states that, “It is always my intention to address the canvas directly, honestly, and boldly.”

When viewing the landscape paintings of Mark Bowles both painterly process and associative ideas are considered. The artist provides large-scale imagery that is based on the reality of the landscape that balances between realism and abstraction. His ability to consistently posture his work between these realms is both a sign of accomplishment and sensitivity. Throughout the years, Mark Bowles has strived to remain true to his work resulting in enduring artistic statements that reflect his California heritage and painterly accomplishment. The reward for the viewer is resonating landscapes whose color pacing and expressive brushwork invoke a vibrant sense of place.

BRITT FREDA

My current body of work is about conceptual seeds. It is about sowing and growing ideas. It is about asking questions and listening. It is about pollinating and propagating old wisdom with new life. It is about traditions and lineage and heirlooms—in families as well as in our natural environment.

I have been drawing and painting for as long as I have memory. I received a double degree with honors in fine art and writing from St. Lawrence University in New York. In addition, I studied painting, drawing and photography at Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute of Art in Florence, Italy and by invitation for intensive residency study at La Cipressaia in Montagnana, Italy under internationally acclaimed South African artists Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky. I have lived and painted in Taos, New Mexico and Aspen, Colorado for much of my life but, presently, I live with my two children on a small island in the Puget Sound.

TIM HORN

Timothy Horn was born and raised in the small town of Yellow Springs, Ohio, and graduated from the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City in 1984 with a focus in graphic design. After finishing school, he worked at several design firms in New York before moving to San Francisco in 1992, where he continued to work as a designer.

He now paints full-time and lives in the small town of Fairfax where he is drawn to the everyday scenes of the rural areas in Marin and Sonoma Counties -- the old buildings that have evaded development, the workings of ranch life, the old cars and trucks that continue on, or sometimes simply the play of light and shadow across planes of weathered color.

Horn wants to create paintings that tell his story, that express his observations, “paintings that feel 100% me.” His work has won numerous awards and been featured in several magazines, including the cover of Southwest Art in 2012. Horn participates in a number of annual group exhibitions, is represented by four galleries and teaches painting workshops around the country and abroad.

He is an Artist Member of the California Art Club and a signature member of Oil Painters of America.

NICOLE HYDE

My work is an intuitive exploration into the essence of a subject. In my landscapes, I want to communicate a sense of awe about the expansiveness and generosity of nature. My goal is to make the viewer feel a place. I strive to capture the idea that a place can feel familiar yet still elusive. Horizontal elements and expressive color often dominate my landscape. Observing and interpreting atmospheric conditions continue to intrigue me. Paint is often laid on heavily with a variety of painting knives and other implements then scraped back and reapplied, revealing layers of transparent and opaque paints and thicknesses. The mood I wish to express in a painting will often determine texture, color and composition.

In the past several years, works-on-paper and abstracts have become a part of my main body of work. By using mixed media and relying on intuition and a sense of play, these pieces satisfy my desire to experiment with technique and materials.

JEFF KAHM

Jeff Kahm explores the confluence of culture and technology, describing his work as “a fusion of indigenous motifs combined with codes of modernist practices.” In the tradition of indigenous cultures, he uses abstract and geometric motifs to create and convey meaning; such forms were pivotal to the early development of visual cultures across many societies, while at the same time they allude to modern computer circuitry or urban architecture. Kahm notes that technological advancements have caused many indigenous peoples around the world to change their ways of life, while it has prompted others to cling to traditional cultural practices.

His brightly colored patterns resonate universally with their infinite interpretations. A recent exhibition titled “Vernacular” focused on stripes as a means of exploring compositional variation.

JIVAN LEE

Jivan Lee is an oil painter based in Santa Fe & Taos, NM. He grew up in Woodstock, NY, and studied painting at Bard College with Joseph Santore and Laura Battle. His textural paintings explore the nature of paint as raw material, creator of image, and catalyst for emotional response. They have been exhibited nationally at museums and educational institutions and covered in publications such as Fine Art Connoisseur, Art Business News, and Southwest Art. “In my paintings I explore using a whole lot of paint while portraying what are oftentimes fairly traditional subjects. I’m interested in how surface can become a sculptural part of representational paintings, and what happens when it does. The resulting pieces move between abstract fields of color, topographical planes, and recognizable imagery. “

ERIC MERRELL

Working extensively on location, Merrell has painted throughout the Sierra Nevada and San Gabriel Mountain ranges, the Mojave and Colorado deserts, along the Pacific Coast, as well as east coast locales like Cape Cod and Maine. Merrell has appeared in national publications including American Art Collector, American Artist, the California Art Club Newsletter, Plein Air Painting and Southwest Art. His work has been exhibited at venues across the United States, including the Bennington Center for the Arts in Bennington, VT; California State University of Los Angeles, CA; the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Orleans, MA; the Long Beach Museum of Art in Long Beach, CA; the Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA; the Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA; the Salton Sea History Museum, North Shore, CA; and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA.

RAY ROBERTS

Ray Robert’s vibrant use of color, bold textures, and sensitivity to shifting patterns of light give life and movement to his paintings.

They are to be experienced, not merely observed.

Roberts is best known for his seascapes, figurative work, and majestic views of California and the Southwest, and is one of California’s most respected plein air artists. He seeks to find rhythm, beauty, and ambiguity in painting while searching for a sense of time and place.

Roberts attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He first pursued a career as an illustrator, establishing a studio in Los Angeles and then Scottsdale, Arizona, before switching to fine art in 1992. He is a signature member of the Plein-Air Painters of America, the California Art Club, and the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association and has participated in numerous invitational exhibitions and group shows, including the Maynard Dixon Country Invitational in Mt. Carmel, Utah.

STEVEN SKOLLAR

Steven Skollar is a New York City artist who has steadily built an international reputation depicting the cast-off toys of the 20th century and marvelous portraits. Working with a technique that might be the envy of a 17th century Dutch master, Skollar takes his superb mastery of that rather somber style and uses it to make witty commentary on the human condition. His paintings are a reflection of our modern life served up with a with a mixture of nostalgia and rapier-sharp wit. Employing the dramatic lighting, deep shadows and dark grounds which were the essence of the Dutch and Flemish schools, the artist renders each subject with such skillful detail that his paintings take on the ambiance of icons. A little dark, a little sinister, with whimsy and humor, these arresting works have the power to both delight and provoke.

WILLIAM WRAY

A signature member of the California Arts Club, exhibiting at prestigious venues including the LA Art Show, and a recent exhibition in Hong Kong, Wray is influencing the current urban trend in fine art with the balance he has struck with “realistic abstraction”. From his early training at the Art Student’s League in New York, to his successful career in comic books, animation and illustration, William has spent years stripping away all of his rendering ability, in order to reform a more abstract style, painting the humble urban landscape subjects that he grew up with.

“In my working process, I break my subjects down into abstract shapes, striving for a perfect balance of “realistic abstraction” that at its’ best is at once modern and traditional. I have always believed the best abstract artists were grounded in the classic skills that they de-constructed in their painting process to find their best abstract work. I’ve hammered my way through a thousand confused paintings to find the truth of that theory and am confident the current work has finally coalesced into my artistic identity.”

UPCOMING SHOWS DUKE BEARDSLEY “THE MOST OUTLAW THING” Show Dates: January 19-31, 2015 Reception Date: January 29, 7-9pm DAVID MICHAEL SLONIM and THEODORE WADDELL Show Dates: February 2-14, 2015 Reception Date: February 12, 7-9pm R. TOM GILLEON “RODEO DRIVE: A LOOK AT THE ARTIST’S HOME ON THE RANGE” Show Dates: February 16-28, 2015 Reception Date: February 26, 7-9pm BILLY SCHENCK and DENNIS ZIEMIENSKI “DUEL IN THE SUN” Show Dates: March 3-17, 2015 Reception Date: March 12, 7-9pm Visit www.altamiraart.com for more on these and other upcoming events at our two gallery locations.

For more information please contact Audrey Parish at az@altamiraart.com or Dean Munn at dean@altamiraart.com, or Katherine Harrington at katherine@altamiraart.com or call 480.949.1256. www.altamiraart.com

ALTAMIRA FINE ART SCOTTSDALE

172 Center Street | Jackson, Wyoming | 307.739.4700 7038 E. Main Street | Scottsdale, Arizona | 480.949.1256