Coeur d’Alene, ID
Coeur d’Alene Resort, August 20-22
Charles Fritz, Descending Into the Snow Ghosts, oil, 24 x 20. Estimate: $12,500.
This story was featured in the August 2015 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2015 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story!
On Thursday, August 20, the first annual Heart of the West Art Show & Auction opens to the public at the Coeur d’Alene Resort on the northern shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Owned, operated, and presented by the Western Masters, which was formerly held in Great Falls, MT, the new event comprises an art show, a fine-art auction of both contemporary and historic art, Quick Finish painting events, and Art Chats.
The show begins with the artists’ galleries opening at noon on Thursday, when visitors are invited to peruse the works of dozens of contemporary western artists in private galleries set up in the resort’s hotel rooms and convention center. Participating artists include such notable talent as David W. Mayer, Sherry Salari Sander, Greg Scheibel, Clive R. Tyler, and Michael Ome Untiedt.
This year at the show, painter Oleg Stavrowsky’s daughter, Lesa Delisi, and son, Luke, will be exhibiting their artwork together for the first time ever. For her first art show in 20 years, Delisi is thrilled to set up with her brother. “I used to paint and used oils but developed [health] problems with the paint,” she explains, so for the past two decades she’s worked instead as a speech therapist, a graphic designer, and an advertising director. “My little brother [Luke] started painting when I quit. Now that I am painting again, we plan to do a lot of shows together,” she says. Today Delisi paints western Americana—anything in the West that she finds beautiful and intrigues her—in acrylics, and she and Luke will be exhibiting their works in a combined space that may well showcase a few pieces of their father’s work as well.
Two Quick Finish events are scheduled on Thursday and Friday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. Thirteen artists participate each day, either completing a piece they have started previously, or beginning and finishing a work within the two-hour time frame. Show director Morgan Cawdrey says that while it was difficult to choose only 26 artists for these demonstrations, it was important to limit the number of participants—the works created at the events are the first 26 items offered in the auction on Saturday, and he wanted to keep the auction under four hours.
Kim Mackey, Wood Smoke and Star Light, oil, 30 x 40. Estimate: $12,000.
From 10 a.m. to noon on Friday morning a panel of artists talks about the struggles of forging art careers while working in nontraditional media, and about being a female artist in a male-dominated field, in an Art Chat entitled Breaking Barriers. On Saturday morning painter Charles Fritz—who, with his wife, Joan, will receive the North Star Award for their contributions to western art—speaks about his epic undertaking illustrating the Lewis and Clark expedition that is chronicled in his book Charles Fritz, the Complete Collection: 100 Paintings Illustrating the Journals of Lewis and Clark. The artist also signs copies of the book.
The show culminates with the auction of nearly 160 fine-art lots, beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday and including works by show artists as well as more than 40 other contemporary artists and a few consignment pieces from notables such as Charles M. Russell, Newman Myrah, Joe Abbrescia, Delbert Gish, and Carolyn Anderson.
“This is a show run by artists, for artists,” Cawdrey says. “Our number-one goal is to support living artists so that they can continue to create beauty in the world. We believe this is a good way for both established and emerging artists to get their names out and keep painting, keep creating.” —Laura Rintala
contact information
406.781.0550
www.heartofthewestart.com
Featured in the August 2015 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art August 2015 print issue or digital download Or subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!
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- Charles Fritz, Descending Into the Snow Ghosts, oil, 24 x 20. Estimate: $12,500.
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- Lori Putnam, Colorado Summer, oil, 24 x 36. Estimate: $ 7,700.
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- Luke Stavrowsky, When Harry Met Sally, acrylic, 24 x 27. Estimate: $3,000.
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- Kim Mackey, Wood Smoke and Star Light, oil, 30 x 40. Estimate: $12,000.
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- David W. Mayer, Mt. Moran from String Lake, Grand Teton National Park, oil, 18 x 24. Estimate: $3,250.
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- Charles M. Russell, The Sentinel, bronze, 10 x 5 x 5. Estimate: $6,000.
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- Donna Wilson, Big Love, bronze, 24 x 29 x 22. Estimate: $11,000.
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