Show Preview | WAOWing the Wind River Valley

On the Web
June 15-July 30

This story was featured in the July 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

TO CELEBRATE its jubilee anniversary this year, the leaders of Women Artists of the West wanted to do something special to highlight the talent across its robust membership—something in addition to the group’s 50th annual national juried exhibition and sale, which opened in March. “We needed to do something for every member,” says the group’s national ad director, Jan Delipsey, “so we decided to have an all-inclusive show.”

Thus, every member—from Associate to Master Signature status—was invited to showcase her work, if she desired, in WAOWing the Wind River Valley, an exhibition originally scheduled to take place at Headwaters Arts and Conference Center in Wyoming’s Wind River Valley. Although the group has since decided to host the show on its website because of public health concerns, the online format still offers collectors an opportunity to personally connect with the artists: starting on June 15, pieces can be purchased simply by contacting the artists directly via their information on www.waow.org.

And there’s another personal touch to the show that won’t be lost by going virtual. Delipsey emphasizes that, being an all-inclusive exhibition that highlights the individuality of each member, “it’s more about the artist as a person.” Many members “have led big lives in other areas” besides fine art, she says, listing as examples a medical doctor who served overseas; a forensic psychologist; a former CIA agent; an educator who dedicated many years to teaching on a reservation; and a pro golfer who competed during the 1940s. “And oh, by the way,” Delipsey adds with a smile, as artists, “they say things that I don’t think can be said any other way.”

So, not surprisingly, the all-member show—a diverse collection of 235 paintings and sculptures—is chock-full of creativity, displaying all styles of representational art in a variety of mediums and genres. While the coronavirus pandemic has led to gallery closures and cancelled exhibitions across the fine-art world, “creativity knows no such boundaries,” says president and show chair Mary Ann Cherry. “It is simply inside each of these talented women.” The energetic, color-rich brushwork in Melissa Jander’s oil painting PEONY IN A SILVER CREAMER is a prime example. “Many of our members have studied the old masters and have taken away bits and pieces of artistic gold that gleam brightly in their own work,” says Cherry, “and the influence of both Mary Cassatt and Cézanne is evident in Melissa’s glowing still life.”

In WINTER SENTINELS, a meticulously rendered colored-pencil drawing by biology, wildlife, and medical illustrator Jeanne Cardana, one of the mighty buffalo boldly projects his snow-speckled head outside the edge of the picture frame, heightening the realism of the work. As Cherry notes, “the bison seems to be walking out of the snowy landscape of the image.”

“It’s a very diverse group,” says Delipsey, pointing to an impressionistic scene inside a bistro, entitled LADIES LUNCH, by oil painter Jill Banks. “Next to that, you have a very detailed scene of a farm with draft horses by Barbara Summers Edwards,” she adds. “You see two very different expressions of creativity. That’s what I love about this show—that we can celebrate the authenticity of how these women express themselves.” —Kim Agricola

contact information
www.waow.org

This story was featured in the July 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

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