Morning Ride by Robert Blue |
In Memoriam
Austin, TX-based artist A.D. Greer died February 8 at the age of 93. Widely recognized for his landscape and still-life paintings, Greer had a number of jobs—from bricklayer to sign painter before he settled into a long, distinguished career as a professional artist. Among his collectors were President Lyndon Johnson, who owned Greer’s painting Cattle Country and exhibited it in the White House during his administration. Greer’s work was also commissioned by Will Rogers, Charles Linberg, and Frank Irwin.
California painter Robert Blue died of cancer on January 22. Born in Los Angeles in 1946, he was known for his paintings and prints of pin-up girls in the 1980s and later his Cowgirls.
Museum News
The Millicent Rogers Museum of Northern New Mexico in Taos has appointed William D. Ebie as director. He was most recently director of the Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM, where under his tenure the museum’s permanent collection grew by more than 900 objects, and attendance and membership also increased.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, celebrated its 10th anniversary in February with the opening of a new wing. A $1 million donation from philanthropist Elisabeth A. Kasser’s children funded the addition. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a charter member of the museum, and Kasser attended the dedication of the new wing.
The Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, MT, reopened February 28 after renovation and expansion. Once housed in a county jailhouse, the museum now has seven galleries, education facilities, a lecture hall, a collection vault, and an art-handling area.
The Milwaukee Art Museum, WI, has raised $40 million for a major expansion project. The addition, to be completed by 2000, will provide more space to display the museum’s permanent collection as well as to expand its exhibitions and programs.
Tidbits
A 7-foot bronze of Ronald Reagan by sculptor Glenna Goodacre was unveiled April 4 at the 37th annual Western Heritage Awards at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, OK. Reagan is an inductee in two halls of fame—the Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers. At the awards ceremony, Nancy K. Anderson won the Art Book Award for her book Thomas Moran.
The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation awarded $20,000 to 32 artists during its 1997 Biennial Competition. The grants go to emerging artists across the country who show promise but have not yet received critical acclaim.
Sally Harvey has sold her Basalt, CO, gallery to Gordon and Teresa Keating.
On the War Path by Jim Reno |
Recognition
The Texas State Artist Commission named sculptor Jim Reno Texas Artist of the Year for 1997-98. Reno is known for his sculptures of horses and the western lifestyle. His life-size bronze of champion race horse Secretariat stands at the entrance to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, and another of Dash for Cash is at the American Quarter Horse Association in Amarillo, TX. His work is also in the White House permanent collection.
At the Scottsdale School of Fine Arts’ Best and Brightest show, Nebraska sculptor Martha Pettigrew won first place for her bronze Mujer con Gallo.
Featured in May 1998