Saddle Up and Paint!
The Fourth Annual Saddle Up AndPaint Plein Air Event
is scheduled for July 12th, 13th, and 14th, 2011
along the Swan River Nature Trail in Bigfork, Montana
Plein air painting is a true test of an Artists skills since it requires that a scene be completed in a short time span. Plein air painting requires complete confidence in their placement of color and the method of brushwork used.
The Swan River trail was once a power company access road that was transfrome into a two-mile non-motorized trail - a perfect place for a stroll, a hike, or even a horseback ride. The trailheads are located just off Grand Avenue in Bigfork and at the Kearny Rapids Bridge at Swan River Road.
During this three-day Plein Air Event, artists will work at their easels with their chosen medium interpreting the beauty that surrounds them. Only twenty artists have been selected for this event.
The rushing waters of the Swan River tumble into Flathead Lake where the crystal waters of the lake mirror the Swan Mountains and the dense evergreens of the Flathead National Forest. Which makes no better place to enjoy all that nature has to offer, that is why these artists will be spending three days in July capturing the beauty and grandeur of northwest Montana in watercolor, acrylics and oil.
Visitors are invited to walk the trail and talk with the artists and learn more about them and their techniques.
Families can watch artists at work chasing the light of the day, capturing the images of the mountains, river, rocks, sky, and the trees.
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On Friday, July 15th, 2011 there will be a "Saddle Up and Paint" auction to benefit the Bigfork Museum of Art and History. This fundraising auction will include one piece of artwork donated by each Artist participating inthe Saddle Up and Paint Plein Art event.
Bigfork Museum of Art and History
Located at 525 Electric Avenue in the Center of Bigfork, Montana
FREE Admission to the Museum
Open Tuesday- Saturday 11-5
406-837-6927
Email: bigforkart@hotmail.com
A non-profit organization Bigfork Museum of Art and History brings exhibitions, programs, and educational opportunities to Bigfork for all ages.
ARTISTS
Rob Akey
http://www.robakey.com/
Montana’s Rob Akey was born in Whitefish and, following a short time in California, grew up in Great Falls near the home and studio of Charlie Russell. It’s not surprising that Rob grew up to be a fan of Russell’s work, but he says he likes to focus, not on the horses, cowboys and Indians, but on the landscapes and Russell’s use of color. Rob paints the landscapes and vistas of his native state. He is represented in Kalispell’s Glacier Gallery, the Main Street Gallery in Ronan and Isley Jewelry & Gallery in Whitefish.
Kelly Apgar
http://www.kellyapgar.com/
Kelly Apgar’s unique and innovative paintings are created using Cattle Markers, which are oil paint sticks originally designed to mark livestock. With a limited number of colors Kelly produces vivid, colorful, expressive works. She cuts and prepares all of her own pre-painted boards and finishes her work with painted cradled gallery frames. In addition to her work as a professional artist Kelly also teaches workshops in Cattle marker painting techniques, , coordinates and prepares exhibits for local galleries and often provides instructional workshops in other mediums.
Lavonne Burgard
Lavonne grew up on a farm in Iowa, but has called Montana home since 1975. For more than 30 years, she taught school in Iowa, Arizona, South Dakota, Australia and Montana. She was selected as the Montana Arts Educator of the Year 2006. Her art has been displayed at the Hockaday Museum of Art and in galleries in Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Whitefish.
Claudia Davis
http://www.claudiadavisart.com/
Along with her husband, Claudia Davis travels the west painting the landscape and architecture of the locations they visit. She is a member of Oil Painters of America, the Outdoors Painters Society, Landscape Artist International, the Fort Worth Community Art Center and the Lake Granbury Art Association.
Marsha Davis
http://www.marshadavisstudio.com/
Landscape, figurative and still life artist Marsha Davis works in watercolor and oils. She is an award-winning Artist Member of the Tucson Plein Air Painters, a Signature Member of the Montana Watercolor Society and an Associate Member of the Oil Painters of America. Her work is featured in galleries in Montana, Arizona and California.
Merrily Dunham
http://www.rockinhorseartstudio.com/
In her Rockin’ Horse Studio, Merrily Dunham offers western art, western watercolor paintings of horses and western bronze sculpture of horses. It’s evident that Merrily loves horses. She chose the name of her favorite toy for her studio and her art reflect that love as well. Her watercolors depict horses, old barns, homestead cabins and Montana ghost towns in what Merrily calls a "slightly abstract impressionistic style." She also works in bronze and creates sculptures with wire.
Jane Latus Emmert
http://www.jlemmert.com/
Jane Latus Emmert is a joyful, spontaneous artist known for her bold colors and semi-impressionistic style. She says "I don’t strive for photo realism, I have a camera for that." Instead she prefers to paint from the heart, focusing on the elements in the scene that capture her eye. Emmert is a frequent art workshop instructor and a plein air oil painter in Glacier National Park.
Linda Ensign
Linda has sepnt most of her life in persuit of the "Arts". She has directed and acted in plays, designed and painted sets & theatre drops, been a costumer and run her own theatre company. Since high school she has made jewelry beginning with copper enamel then moving on to silver fabrication, setting stones and sculpted jewelry with PMC (precious metal clay). In addition, Linda has done commercial design work and numerous logos. Currently she sings with a ragtime orchestra, Dixieland band and a modern jazz band.
Haakon Ensign
http://www.haakonensign.com/
Haakon was born in 1974. He lives in northwest Montana where the environment is mountainous and somewhat Pacific. Hot in the summer and cold and dark and snowy in the winter. His paintings stem from the place itself, natural design, and interesting events both small and large. Following are some of Haakon's thoughts on painting:It is the artist’s foremost job to live and then create that experience in physical form. The first requirement of a painting is that it is understandable. Getting in front of a good idea is the essential part of a strong concept. A great painting is the result of an action. To get only the essentials clearly is completeness. There is nothing more satisfying than to pick it up and put it down without thought, in a smooth flow of consciousness, seeing where you’re going, knowing when you get there, and stopping.
I like drawing interesting objects with accuracy. It puts me in contact with the shape and design and action of the thing I’m looking at. Every natural form has its own order and rhythm.
The shapes a bird makes as it floats on a fast breeze. It will dive and hover and spin. That’s the shape you find in a feather itself or moving water or a tree root growing around a stone. Many things have that natural design and rhythm that tell a story of beauty in their action. Natural design is order using chaos to achieve completeness.“ Art holds that emotional perceptions put us in touch with things transcending the natural world and open up a correspondence with the world of ultimate realities."- Harold Speed You never really comprehend an event.
You experience it, live in it for a minute and walk away with a partial memory. Painting is to experience that minute fully enough to hold the impression of it in yourself, and then recreate it powerfully and clearly. Consciousness is essential, mental working is unhelpful at best. “Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.” – Leonardo DaVinci (Everything said here has been said by someone else at some time in history. I do not claim them as my own. - William Haakon Ensign)
Lael Gray
http://www.artatshadesofgray.com/
I have always been interested in art. My mother nurtured the freedom of self -expression with children¹s art. Art was always encouraged from an early age. I received a Bachelors of Science degree in Design with a minor in art from the University of California at Davis. After College I went into commercial art. A few years later I opened my own business designing and Silkscreening T-shirts. While running the business, I started studying painting with local artist, Joe Abbrescia. That led to more workshops at Scottsdale Artist School and other local teachers. Painting gives me the opportunity to express and share on canvas what inspires me in my life. I love many aspects of planet earth such as the mountains, animals, flowers, rivers and oceans as well as people.I have spent the last 35 years in Montana where nature surrounds me.Living in such a beautiful natural area gives me an endless amount of inspiration and subject matter for my paintings.
Betsey Hurd
http://www.betsyhurd.com/
Betsey Hurd has been around horses all her life and has done just about everything on horseback, from foxhunting in Virginia to trailing cows in the Missouri Breaks of Montana. As a painter and sculptor she depicts what she knows best---horses and cows, sheep, dogs and "all the four-leggeds that I live with and observe daily."
Mary Kelly
Mary was born and raised in Montana’s beautiful Bitterroot Valley, I am now a resident of Polson. I am 68 years old, and have been painting seriously for 6 years. When young, I was always going to paint with vigor someday soon, when “this” was done, and “that” was finished. Suddenly I was over 60 and knew I better get with the program.
I am mainly self-taught, but have taken several art courses at the U of M and adult education through out the years. My first experience with painting was a workshop I attended with Robert Atwood, when I was in my 20s. From this workshop came the idea that someday I would paint. Drawing courses under Susan Barnes and Mary Ann Bonjorni and workshops with Robert Moore, Jim Lamb, Camille Przewodek, and Bob Phinney have come since I have been painting seriously.
Thomas Lewis
http://www.thomasglewis.com/
Thomas was raised on the Navajo Indian Reservation and several cattle ranches in Colorado and New Mexico. He lived in the Southwest for six decades before calling Montana home. Lewis emerged as a serious painter in 1960 and has exhibited in galleries throughout the west. He is equally fascinated with both oils and watercolor and regularly switches from one to the other. His primary focus is the American landscape – western skies meeting the earth with natural and man-made features joining the two.
Jeff Manion
http://www.mooseworld.com/
Jeff was born in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up with a love for fishing, the outdoors and art. He attended Howell Cheney Technical School in Manchester where he started his training as a machinist and toolmaker. Working in this trade for more than 20 years, Jeff painted whenever he could, taking classes in painting from artists Beth Ellis, Jim Wilcox, Luke Frazier and Dave Wade. In 2005, Jeff moved to the Flathead Valley to be closer to the wildlife, mountains and the western art world.
Nicholas Oberling
http://www.nicholasoberling.com/
Nicholas Oberling was educated at Cornell University and studied painting under the atelier system at The Art Students League of New York for ten years. His work has been exhibited at the C.M. Russell Museum and is in the permanent collection of the Hockaday Museum of Art. A founding member of the Montana Painters Alliance, Oberling has been Artists in Residence at Glacier National Park and the Helena National Forest. He is represented by galleries in Southampton; New Jersey; Whitefish; Missoula; Indianapolis and Connecticut.
Joann Sleadd
Morten E Solberg
Morten E. Solberg is an artist's artist. He is versatile in all mediums. He paints in oil, acrylic and watercolor and his techniques range from photo-realism to total abstraction. Years of pursuing his craft via design studios and commercial art brought Mort to the West.
Mort attended The Cleveland Institute Of Art studying painting and design. He shed his commercial ties and concentrated on fine art and has been painting full time since 1970. After moving to Southern California's Orange County in 1968, he firmly established himself in the art world with memberships in the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, the Society of Animal Artists, Wildlife Artists of the World, Knickerbocker Artists and the Society of Master Impressionists, as a lifetime Master member.
Awards and inclusions in prestigious collections followed. His paintings have graced the covers of numerous magazines, and he has been featured in American Artist, Wildlife Art News, Art West, Watercolor, Sports Afield, Sporting Classic, Southwest Art and Orange County Illustrated. In 1986, American Artist chose Mort as their "Artist of the Year". His accomplishments have earned him listings in Who's Who International Biographies, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Art, and Who's Who in the West. In 1993, Mort was elected to U.S. Art Magazines "Artist Hall of Fame". In 2001 Wildlife Art Magazine established Mort as a "Master Artist". Mort's work has been published as limited edition prints since 1977.
Lois Sturgis
Strictly a watercolorist, Lois has been painting for over 45 years. Her education has been painting-workshops, some very good watercolor books and the advise of her fellow painting friends. She enjoys painting both our-of-doors and from photo information and often plans plein aire trips to Glacier Park and surrounding areas.
Lois says she especially loves the way watercolor flows and blends, the experience of brilliant colors and subdued earth tones. “I prefer to paint the natural world, especially scenery, flowers, animals and an occasional portrait. And most of all, it’s fun!”
Julie Wulf
http://www.juliewulf.com/
Julie Ann Wulf was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana, and has lived in Arizona, Florida and Jamaica. She received her Bachelor of fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona. Ten years ago she returned to her native state and now lives in Montana’s Flathead Valley. Wulf’s emphasis is on Batik, oil, silk and watercolor paintings.
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