By Kristin Hoerth
Autumn brings new features in print and online
It’s the middle of August as I write this, and summer is still in full swing, as far as I’m concerned: The bright Colorado sun is blazing, the air conditioning is running at full force, and the grass in my back yard starts to burn up if we miss just one day of watering. Still, there are signs that fall is near. College students are flooding back to nearby Boulder; kids return to my neighborhood elementary school this week; and just about everyone was shopping for back-to-school clothes at the mall last weekend.
Camel Racer by Raj Chaudhuri
And here at Southwest Art we’ve been working on this October issue, with its special focus on Rocky Mountain Artists. It’s the next-to-last of this year’s regionally themed issues (we’ll focus on East Coast Artists in December), and of course, it’s the region where we ourselves live and work. In this special section, you’ll find some iconic paintings of the Rocky Mountain landscape by artists from the region. But you’ll also find artists interpreting the landscape in their own singular ways, and artists who live here but are drawn to different subjects—the rhythm of city streets, like Ken Valastro, or the rhythms of India’s people and culture, like Raj Chaudhuri. It’s just a small sampling of the rich diversity of artists who call the mountain states home.
I’d also like to call your attention to two new columns making their debut in this issue. In an effort to bring you even more comprehensive information about some of the West’s best art events, we’ve added special “Event Spotlight” columns to our Best of the West section. This month you can learn all about the Laguna Plein Air Painting Invitational in California, the Oil Painters of America regional exhibition in Wyoming, and the American Impressionist Society’s annual show taking place in Nashville, TN. Also new this month is I Saw It In SWA!, where you can learn about—and be inspired by—some of the art purchases that have been made through our pages in recent months.
Finally, while we’re talking about things that are new for the fall, I’m delighted to tell you that our website, www.southwestart.com, has recently had a significant overhaul. In addition to a more pleasing design, you’ll now find many great new features: daily blogs from the editors, additional images of artwork that we weren’t able to include in print, expanded event listings, and more. We’re excited about the improvements—please check them out and let me know what you think. As always, I’d love to hear from you. -October 2010