Getting to know the people behind the paintings
By Kristin Hoerth
This story was featured in the October 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
I’ve spent the past two weekends in the company of art and art lovers at major western art events. Just yesterday I returned from visiting Santa Fe during Indian Market weekend—the high point of the busy summer art season. Indian Market is the world’s largest Native American art event and draws tens of thousands of visitors. At the same time, many of the hundreds of galleries in town host their biggest shows of the year. Everywhere you go, there’s a chance to meet artists: they’re standing in their booths at the market, demonstrating their painting process at an easel in a courtyard, or mingling with gallery visitors at a Friday-night opening.
The same was true the previous weekend at Sculpture in the Park in Loveland, CO. All kinds of three-dimensional work is on view at this show: traditional and contemporary; wildlife and figurative; bronze and glass and much more. All of the artists who created these pieces are on hand, ready and willing to talk with visitors about the processes they use or the meaning behind their artwork.
Learning just a little bit about the artist can add a lot to your understanding of their work. As an example, consider the landscapes of Nancy Bush, whose solo show at InSight Gallery is one of many such events featured in this issue (see page 24). When you find out that Bush’s subject matter is the ephemeral shifts in light over the gentling rolling terrain of the Texas Hill Country, where she lives, that adds something to the way you view her work. “So much of what I’m trying to capture comes and goes in a flash,” Bush says, and that helps to explain the poignancy of her paintings.
As another example, take our preview of Guido Frick’s solo show at Sunset Gallery (see page 28). Frick’s subjects run the gamut from forests to beach scenes to canyons—and that makes sense when you discover that Frick spends half the year in his native Germany and the other half traveling across the United States, painting and teaching along the way. “I consider many states as my hunting grounds, since painters are hunters—hunters for subjects and locations,” Frick says.
These are just a few of the many insights you can gain by reading about the artists and the artwork in this issue. It’s our way of helping you meet them, even if you can’t do so in person at an event. I hope you enjoy getting to know these talented folks who add beauty—in all its forms—to our world.
This story was featured in the October 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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