Coeur d’Alene Sale Tops $21 Million
Western art collectors were bidding with a vengeance during the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction in Reno, NV, in July. All but one of the 275 lots sold, adding up to a staggering total of $21,125,440. The highlight of the sale was Charles M. Russell’s piegans, which earned a world-record-breaking $5.6 million. Another impressive sale was Maynard Dixon’s story tellers at $1.68 million. Other notable lots included journey’s end by Frank Tenney Johnson, which sold for $392,000; Eanger Irving Couse’s indian brave by a campfire, which fetched $201,600; and Joseph H. Sharp’s jerry with lover’s flute at $179,200. Nearly 700 bidders and onlookers attended the auction.
Laguna Event Benefits Local Art Museum
The annual Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational unfolded in the picturesque seaside town in July. Fifty artists and more than 400 guests attended the gala dinner and sale at the Laguna Art Museum. California painter Clark Mitchell was awarded Best of Show for red tide, a pastel that portrays a foggy view of Doheny State Beach from the bluffs above Dana Harbor. Artists’ Choice honors went to George Strickland, and Kenn Backhaus took home the Collectors’ Choice award. More than $315,000 was raised to benefit the museum.
Peet Wins Top Award
Arizona landscape painter Darcie Peet won Best of Show for her mountain scene dawn tiptoeing in at the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters show, held in July at Galleries West Fine Art in Jackson, WY. Dan Schultz won the Artists’ Choice award for on jenny lake, and Awards of Excellence went to John Potter, Carol Swinney, and Ann Templeton. Other award winners included Kim Casebeer, Linda Glover-Gooch, Ann Hardy, Colleen Howe, Niles Nordquist, and Dave A. Santillanes. Prior to the event, the artists painted in Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park, capturing the natural splendor of the area.
Out & About
At the American Impressionist Society’s National Juried Exhibition, held at Nichols Taos Fine Art Gallery in Taos, NM, in June, Kathleen Newman won Best of Show and Scott Harding received the Nichols Taos Fine Art Gallery Award. Other award winners included Nancy Ellington, Rick Howell, and Debra Huse…. Greenhouse Gallery of Fine Art moved to a larger location just around the corner in San Antonio, TX, in August. Their new building at 6496 N. New Braunfels has 12,000 square feet of gallery space…. Navajo artist Grace Henderson Nez was among the 12 recipients of a $20,000 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, presented in June in Washington, DC.
Auction Results
Total sales exceeded $3 million at Santa Fe, NM-based Altermann Galleries’ summer auction in July. Approximately 130 of 165 lots found buyers, and the top seller was Howard Terpning’s he rode over his enemy at $354,500. Other highlights included between canyon walls by Frank Tenney Johnson, which earned $222,500, and Oscar Berninghaus’ indians in the snow, which sold for $162,000.
Fine-Art DVDs
Work by artists R.C. Gorman, J.D. Challenger, Amado M. Peña Jr., and Mikki Senkarik are the feature presentations of four new DVDs from Arizona-based Earth VideoWorks, whose hour-long TVcinemaART programs comprise simply art and music. Mystique—The Art of R.C. Gorman highlights work by the Navajo artist, accompanied by pianist Peter Kater and flutist R. Carlos Nakai. Challenger’s Native-themed paintings are presented in Sacred Spirits—The Art of J.D. Challenger, along with music by Robert Mirabal. Works by Peña and flute music by Mary Youngblood are included in Spirit of the Southwest—The Art of Amado M. Peña Jr. And Imagine—The Art of Mikki Senkarik features paintings by the Arizona artist and piano music by The O’Neill Brothers.
Clarification
In August’s feature article “No Place Like Home,” credit for writing the catalog accompanying the Heard Museum’s exhibition Home: Native People in the Southwest should have been given to Ann Marshall, director of education, interpretation, and collections at the museum. Southwest Art regrets the omission.
Featured in October 2005