Recent Acquisitions
Rocky Hawkins Expect the unexpected and take a journey into the mysterious world of the unknown. Such is the art of Rocky Hawkins. In his own words, Rocky describes his process as follows, “I paint with passion, risk and abbreviated images instead of capturing realism. Set against transit texture and vivid color, images and figures cannot be situated in reality. These painterly expressions challenge our emotions and communicate with our sense of mystery. Mystery is a part of life. Not everything is easily explainable.” Born in 1950, in Seattle, Washington and growing up in small towns near the Cascade Mountains, Rocky’s interest in the mystery and spiritual element of the Indian culture began in his childhood. Traveling with his family to historic locations that conveyed Native American history, he was taken with the beauty and mysticism of the Indian’s individual expression. After high school, he enrolled in college art classes and then later attended the Burnley School of Art in Seattle, WA. While his art career began with illustration and commercial art, this path was unable to satisfy his creative quest for self-expression. As a result, his personal journey led him to New Mexico and ultimately to Montana where he connected more closely with the spirit of the Native American people that dominates his art. Consequently, many of his paintings seem to hold secret passageways detectable only at specific perspectives or distances. Where you go and what you see depends on who you are but rest assured that you will discover images that will be impossible to forget. ART EDUCATION Burnley School of Professional Art, Seattle, 1969-72 William Cumming, Morris Graves, Mark Toby - painters Northwest School of Artists Joesph Bohler - Watercolorist Sergei Bongart - Russian painter David A. Leffel - Painter, Art Student League, NY
Rocky Hawkins Golden Eagles Acrylic 48 x 36 inches
Rocky Hawkins Blackwind Oil 60 x 48 inches Oppisite Page: Blackwind Detail
Joseph Henry Sharp (1859 -1953) Custer Battlefield Oil 21 x 25 inches
R. Tom Gilleon While he has always worked as a fine artist, Tom Gilleon’s career began years ago in the commercial field and as an illustrator for NASA’s Apollo Program. He has since spent many years working with Disney and other theme park design groups as both a designer and illustrator. Working with some of the great motion picture art directors there, has led to his involvement in the motion picture industry as well, where he has worked as an illustrator and storyboard artist on films such as the Disney movie, “Dick Tracey”. In his own words, “Looking back, I was probably most influenced by the old era art directors and illustrators, Herb Ryman especially, who had the amazing ability to quickly and simply tell a story or convey a feeling with their artwork. I believe that this simplicity and strength is the key to fine art. Light, color, value, composition and line are paramount in importance.” His diverse assignments have led to his living in all four corners of the country. Currently residing near Great Falls, Montana, Gilleon is surrounded by inspiration for his art. His clean impressionistic style challenges the imagination and has garnered a strong following. His evocative perceptions of reality feature bold luminous color and economy of detail. His trademark tipi paintings suggest a mythical glow as if illuminated by the moon or glowing embers within. The effect can be mesmerizing. Gilleon says, “My interests are so varied; it’s only natural that my art is varied. The subject itself isn’t as important as the emotion it evokes. It’s the implication of a story being told, the visual connection between shapes that makes a good painting.” Tom Gilleon and his painting, “Yellow Leaves Moon” were selected as the featured artist and painting for the 2009 Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival.
R. Tom Gilleon War and Peace Oil 60 x 60 inches
Magazine Covers 2012 Southwest Art, July 2012: cover image “Altos Llanos” 50 x 80 inches 2010 Art of the West, May/June: cover image “Red Sky” 12”x12” 2009 Western Art Collector, December: cover image “When Trees Pop” 16”x12” 2009 Images, Summer 2009: cover image “Yellow Leaves Moon” 50”x50” 2007 Montana Land Reliance, Annual: cover image “Red Feather” 48”x48” 2005 Southwest Art, January: cover image “Star Lodge” 48” x 48” 2005 In Flight, June: cover image: cover image “Red Pony Lodge” 48 x 48 2004 Big Sky Journal –ARTS: cover image “Sioux Sunset” 48” x 48”
R. Tom Gilleon Native Trilogy Oil on Canvas 50 x 96 inches
Duke Beardsley As a fifth generation Coloradan, Duke Beardsley’s Western roots run deep and his art reflects those roots. Splitting his time between Denver and his family’s cattle ranch in eastern Colorado, Duke has been drawing and painting images of the American West most of his life. Duke’s work blends modern artistic elements with the traditional icons of the west. The result has made him a consistently popular favorite among fans of contemporary western art. His work has been featured in notable exhibitions across the country such as the Coors Western Art Show, the Buffalo Bill Art Show and Sale, The CM Russell Show, and the Colorado Governor’s Invitational Art Exhibit. His work was also included in the 2007 groundbreaking contemporary western art exhibition that toured China – Out West: The Great American Landscape. Duke also won the 2008 Colorado Governor’s Award for his piece entitled “Colorado Horsepower”. The art of Duke Beardsley can be found in noteworthy private and public collections around the world including the Forbes Collection, the Denver Art Museum, The Booth Museum of Western Art, and the State of Colorado. Selected Museum Collections: Denver Art Museum Denver, CO Booth Western Art Museum Cartersville, GA Selected Publications: Southwest Art, “Roots in the Rockies” September, 2004 Art Talk, “WY The Hole Picture” June, 2004 Southwest Art, “Best of the West” April, 2003 Southwest Art, “21 Under 31” September, 2001
Duke Beardsley Slurp Oil on Canvas 72 x 60 inches
Duke Beardsley Nueve Jinetes Oil on Canvas 12 x 36 inches
Bill Schenck Bill Schenck’s art incorporates techniques from Photo-Realism and Pop Art to both praise and mimic classic western images. His work is characterized by hot colors, surreal juxtapositions and patterning which explore clashes between wilderness and civilization, the individual and community, nature and culture, freedom and restriction. Early in his career, he became known for utilizing cinematic imagery, reproduced in a flattened, reductivist style, where colors are displayed side-by-side rather than blended or shadowed. Schenck has added hot colors, surreal juxtapositions and stylized patterning to explore clashes between wilderness and civilization, the individual and community, nature and culture, freedom and restriction. A Mid-Western baby boomer, Schenck attended the Columbus College of Art and Design from 1965 to 1967. He received his B.A. in fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1969. While still a young man, Bill moved to New York where he was influenced by the Photo-Realists, Color Field, and Minimalist painters in vogue at the time. His first solo show in New York sold out at the age of 24. In the mid-70’s the work exemplified in his paintings drew him West where he split his time between Wyoming and Arizona. Since then he has had 72 solo shows, 77 group shows and is included in 31 museum collections world-wide. His work is found in numerous major collections throughout the world and has been the subject of four museum retrospectives, the most recent titled “The West as it Never Was” at the Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art. The artist currently resides in Santa Fe where new influences and inspirations are beginning to emerge in his art.
Bill Schenck Duck Season Oil 36 x 36
Bill Schenck True Romance State II Oil 60 x 50 inches
Bill Schenck True Romance State III Oil 60 x 50 inches
Jared Sanders Jared Sanders was born in a small town in northern Utah and his love of drawing and painting the rural landscapes of his hometown began at an early age and grew throughout his school years. With the goal of becoming a professional artist in mind, Sanders attended Utah State University and studied under the tutelage of Glen Edwards. It wasn’t long after graduation that he attracted the attention of both galleries and collectors. Sanders’ work demonstrates his lifelong intimate connection to nature. His palette is muted – soft browns, dusky yellows, and burnt reds contrast with blues and greens subdued by gray. His artistic process is measured and very detailed. After scouting potential landscape subjects and taking hundreds of snapshots, he sorts through the best candidates, sketching some in pencil. He then transfers the sketch to gesso board using brown or sienna oils finished in warm gray or ochre tones, focusing on getting the color of one object or shape in the painting perfect. In his own words, Jared describes his favorite seasons to paint, “I like it in autumn after all the leaves have fallen from the trees. And my favorite time is in spring when winter is just leaving – nothing is green yet, everything is still dead from the winter, the trees are leafless, the willows are red, and a few patches of snow are left on the ground.” Jared’s work continues to depict the farmlands, hills, rivers, and trees reminiscent of his youth. His work can be found in private and corporate collections throughout the United States.
Jared Sanders By the Willows Oil 20 x 37 inches
Awards: Arts for the Parks People’s Choice Award, 2000 Invited participant, Bennington Center For The Arts “Artist For The New Century”, 2002 Invited participant, Western Visions Miniatures and More Show, 2003 and ongoing Maynard Dixon Country, Awarded Best Oil or Acrylic, 2003 Deseret News Landscape Art Show “Color of The Land”, Purchase Award, 2004 Publications: Southwest Art Magazine, September, 2000, “21 Under 31” Southwest Art Magazine, April, 2001, feature article Lonnie Pierson, The Artists Bluebook, Dunbier Publishing, 2005 Western Art Collector, February 2011, feature article Southwest Art Magazine, February 2012, cover and feature article
Jared Sanders September Morning Oil on Canvas 24 x 60 inches
Dan Namingha Dan Namingha studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe, New Mexico and later went on to continue his studies in Chicago, Illinois. During Namingha’s time at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, he was influenced by the artwork of Jackson Pollack, Adolph Gottlieb, Michelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh, and Norman Rockwell. Namingha has been a painter and a sculptor for the last 40 years. Namingha paints and sculpts images of his homeland, and the Hopi people. His complex heritage serves as a key inspiration for Namingha. Painting from before dawn to long after sunset, Namingha constantly challenges himself to try new styles, representation, abstraction, and minimalism. His subject matter has always been intimately linked to spiritual beliefs of the Hopi culture. He incorporates elements of Pueblo symbolism and beliefs about time and space in a Contemporary minimalist manner. Color and symbolism are important in Hopi tradition and culture. Circles, Squares, Dark Semi Circles, and Bold Lines represent the sun, moon, horizon, corn, and nighttime. The four colors of corn are associated with the four cardinal directions, the seasons, and the cycles of life. Namingha also works in mixed media, as seen in some of his work where he combines textured and colored paper and paint. The color “black” symbolizes “above”, the upper world, and all colors represent “below”, the lower world.
Dan Namingha Triple Clouds Acrylic 30 x 40 Inches
Awards: 2009 Honorary Doctorate from the Institute of American Indian Arts, Sante Fe, NM, 2008 The Abbott Sekaquaptewa Award, Futures for Children, 1997 The Visionary Award Institute of American Indian Arts, Sante Fe, NM, 1995 New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, Sante Fe, NM, 1994 Award and Tribute from the Harvard Foundation Fogg Art Museum Cambridge, MA. Documentaries: 1985 PBS Documentary, 1988 Interviewed by Charlie Rose on CBS Nightwatch, 1989 The Art of Dan Namingha, filmed for CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, 1992 PBS Documentary, Dan Namingha; Seeking Center. In Print: “The Art of Dan Namingha” Thomas Hoving, (Harry N. Abrams , Inc. Publishing) New York, New York; 2002.
Dan Namingha Hopi Carindal Directions Acrylic 48 x 48 Inches
Harvey Thomas Dunn (1884-1952) They Were Riding Hard Oil 30 x 38 inches Above: They Were Riding Hard Detail
Andy Warhol When Andy Warhol first burst onto the artistic stage in the 1960s’, he did so by incorporating images that were firmly embedded in the American psyche. His bright and colorful paintings and serigraphs presented images that were commonplace -- a soup can or coke bottle -- but were transformed by his technique into artistic icons of popular culture. Warhol was most interested in image and not reality, although one could say that by casting these mass produced commercial images in his own unique style, Warhol was making a comment on the reality of living in a world that was dominated by images from the advertising and entertainment industries. Warhol’s prints are in essence images of images. They are at least once removed, and often several times removed, from reality. His famous prints of Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy, not to mention countless other celebrities, are based on photographs. As in the case with Marilyn Monroe, many of those photographs are of his subjects posing as a character, not as themselves, a subtle reminder that once someone achieves a certain celebrity status, they become further and further removed from their real selves. Given his fascination with appearance over reality, and with the impact that celebrity and carefully contrived imagery can have on the public imagination, it is not surprising that toward the end of his career Warhol turned his attention to the American West. But, as in his other work, Warhol’s point is not to document the reality of the land and people of the West. He is interested in how the idea of the West has had an impact on our perceptions of the West. “Cowboys and Indians” presents a panorama of widely seen images reworked in Warhol’s trademark style. While these subjects are very familiar, their actual creators are not. These are images that have been burned into our collective imagination and the person that originally created them does not really matter in this presentation. In many respects, the real person behind the image also has been obscured. All have been removed from the context of reality. They are presented here not so much as people, but as products. One of Warhol’s great talents was to recognize images that have an immediate resonance with the public. Even if one does not recognize Geronimo, one has a vague notion of who this person might be because, at some time in the past, one likely has seen a similar representation.
Andy Warhol Plains Indian Shield Serigraph 36 x 36 inches
The American West often has given rise to myths and legends. It is one of the elements that keep the idea of the West alive from generation to generation. Warhol with “Cowboys and Indians” has deftly tapped into that vast reservoir of powerful images that somehow relate to reality, but also mystify it.
Ed Mell “Looking at the landscape with a fresh eye, all of a sudden there seemed to be a real magic to it. You have to go away some times to be able to appreciate it.� - Ed Mell Born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1942, Ed Mell started drawing as soon as he could hold a pencil. After graduating from Phoenix Junior College with an Associated Arts Degree, he enrolled in The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles to pursue his interest in illustration. During his four years there Mell broadened his artistic technique and learned to express his artistic convictions. In 1967, he accepted a job as junior art director for a prominent New York advertising firm. With collaboration from any old friend Skip Andrews, they soon established their own illustration firm, Sagebrush Studios. Sagebrush Studios became an immediate success, with major corporate clients such as Cheerios and RCA. Yet when Mell was given an opportunity to return to Arizona to teach summer classes in silk screening and drawing on the Hopi Reservation at Hotevilla, Arizona, he make his move back to his home state. A few months later he and Andrews closed Sagebrush Studios. Upon returning to Phoenix, Mell and his younger brother decided to open their own illustration business. Unfortunately the demand for illustrations in Phoenix was less than Mell was accustom to, so during breaks he began sketching landscapes with colored pencils. Colored pencils slowly turned into paints and by 1978 he had made the transition from commercial artist to landscape painter. Throughout the years, Mell has constantly changed the subjects he depicts and the techniques he uses to capture them. Beginning specifically with Southwestern landscapes, he has moved to other Southwestern subjects from cowboys, horses and longhorn cattle to cacti. Mell has won many awards for his work and his art has been exhibited in numerous museum shows, including the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona; Mesa Southwest Museum, ; and the Rockwell-Corning Museum of Modern Art. Corporate and private collectors have acquired his paintings and sculptures, and his life as an artist has been chronicled in major art publications. His biography, Beyond the Visible Terrain: The Art of Ed Mell, was published in l996. His art also has been featured prominently in Leading the West: 100 Contemporary Painters & Sculptors and Place of Spirit: Canyon de Chelly, 100 Years of Painting and Photography.
Ed Mell Open Valley Oil 36 x 60 inches
For more information please contact Dean Munn at dean@altamiraart.com or Katherine Harrington at katherine@altamiraart.com or call 307.739.4700 www.altamiraart.com