Artists with deep ties to their home turf
By Kristin Hoerth
Field at Dusk by Carl Bretzke
This story was featured in the November 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
IN THE PAGES of Southwest Art each month, we strive to feature the most talented artists creating representational art today in the western United States. And there are many more deserving artists than we have room to showcase in our pages throughout the year. But there are also countless artists worthy of your attention who live in the eastern half of the country; many times you see their work in shows and galleries in the West. This issue’s features are dedicated to three such artists: Cole Johnson, Carl Bretzke, and West Fraser.
These talented artists represent a diverse mix of subject matter and style. Bretzke depicts everything from city parks to nocturnal street scenes, infusing each piece with a strong sense of mood. Johnson captures all kinds of wildlife in a highly realistic style and in the medium of charcoal. Fraser paints in a lush, impressionistic style, setting his sights on landscapes as well as cityscapes.
What we didn’t know, when we first selected these artists, was how deeply connected each was to their own particular place outside the West. Fraser, for example, has spent most of his life in the coastal Southeast. His formative years were full of explorations of the marshes and forests around Hilton Head Island, SC, and although he pursued a career in illustration in New York City for a few years, the wild beauty of his home drew him back. Now based in Charleston, SC, his oeuvre is dedicated to the place he loves—its natural beauty as well as its neighborhoods and people.
Bretzke is equally accustomed to taking inspiration from his surroundings. Based in Minneapolis, he manages to appreciate its cold and gray winter days, which offer those who paint outdoors the redeeming benefit of stable light conditions. Even as a native Minnesotan, though, he has his limits—he rarely ventures outside when the temperature dips below 20 degrees.
Johnson, too, is deeply rooted—in upstate New York, where he grew up in a small town north of Binghamton. As a youngster he went hunting and fishing in the local woods, fields, and streams; today his home is on 20 acres in the same area he’s known since childhood. “We’re surrounded by old farmland that has grown back to nature, with a lot of indigenous species,” he says. “I don’t have to go far to get references for my art.”
This kind of focus on, and devotion to, one particular place always seems to yield strong artistic results. We hope you enjoy those results as much as we do!
This story was featured in the November 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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