Artists to Watch | Elise Mahaffie, Bart Walker & Steve Weed

Elise Mahaffie: New perspectives

Elise Mahaffie is fascinated by the large wildlife that appear in her stylized animal portraits. Her newly adopted hometown of Jackson, Wyoming-a place she and her family had visited repeatedly since 2002 before relocating from her native Maryland-has energized her trajectory as a fine artist. “I’ve always had a love for animals,” says Mahaffie, who often feels spellbound momentarily when she notices an elk or moose near town or when she and her husband go on trips to Yellowstone National Park or Grand Teton National Park.

“When you first spot one of those large animals, you feel that initial exhilaration,” explains Mahaffie. “Then, you just stop, quiet down and watch. I hope the viewer finds a similar connection with the animals I paint.” This is a likely experience given Mahaffie’s striking, almost chiseled-looking paintings that feature bold linear strokes, hard edges, close cropping and interlocking, jigsaw puzzle-type shapes, as seen in THE HAREM. These design components come by way of Mahaffie’s nearly 40-year career as a freelance graphic designer and magazine art director.

“Being a graphic designer for a good part of my life has definitely influenced the way I interpret shapes and composition, and how I see things,” says the artist, who earned her bachelor’s degree in advertising design with a minor in illustration from Syracuse University. She recognizes “how a carefully designed page can engage a viewer” and wants that same feeling to come through in her paintings. Once Mahaffie got out of her own way, and chose to incorporate her intrinsic strengths into her fine art, she found that, “I finally love what’s happening on the canvas.”

Mahaffie’s reawakened interest in fine art occurred just eight years ago when she decided to sketch alongside one of her two daughters. Subsequently, many exciting threads have come together for the artist. “Being here in Jackson, going on safari, painting the wildlife, hiking, biking, walking, skiing and enjoying the people here have been phenomenal,” says Mahaffie. “I’m super excited about how this new painting direction will evolve and where it will lead me in the future!” —Christine Proskow

contact information
www.elisemahaffie.com

Bart Walker: Observing the details

Perpetually enthralled by the spectacular beauty of Teton Valley, Bart Walker has made a point of capturing its attractions both in plein air and in his studio for the past 25 years. His recent impressionistic landscapes—that at times feature a figure or animals set in the scene—soothe the sensitive soul with exquisite broken color modulations and luminous light. The artist, of Tetonia, Idaho, also enjoys painting expeditions to other Western destinations, such as California’s Sonoma County where he portrays the ocean and coastal mountains. Inevitably, he’s drawn to observing details such as “the cool blue-green shadows on a golden field of grass” or “the beautiful reflections of riverbank willows or trees on the river’s surface.”

Walker’s keen attunement to the subtleties of a scene and his ability to translate that on canvas emerges from his well-practiced eye and hand. “In the first 15 to 20 years of my fine art career, I painted almost exclusively in plein air,” says the artist, who created around 2,000 such oil studies from that period. He also took many workshops with different instructors. For the last five years, however, Walker has concentrated on painting larger, more nuanced studio-based oils that often combine several of his smaller studies for the compositions. “I’ll use color combinations and various elements from my plein air sketches”, he says, “and also improvise things as I go.”

The artist’s DISTANT THUNDER, imbued with light effects, nimble brushwork and a harmonious color scheme, attests to his new direction. “I get to a stage in the painting process where it’s just fun,” he adds. For this piece, he relished delineating the midground sheep, seeking “a nice abstract shape that still resembles sheep.”

Hailing from an artistic family, Walker arrived at fine art after a 15- year career designing and building lodgepole pine furniture. “I took pride in crafting aesthetically pleasing one-of-a-kind pieces,” he says. His father, an artist by hobby, and his brother, a professional artist, hooked Walker on oil painting during his first plein air excursion at Grand Teton National Park. Now, spending more time in the studio, Walker reflects: “It’s time to slow up, slow down and more carefully orchestrate the painting to where it’s something special.” —Christine Proskow

contact information
www.bartwalker.com

representation
Kneeland Gallery, Ketchum, ID, www.kneelandgallery.com.
Christopher Queen Galleries, Duncans Mills, CA, www.christopherqueengalleries.com

Steve Weed: Tales of the West

Artist Steve Weed adeptly evinces a strong storytelling component in his richly hued, emotive renditions. Whether he’s creating a striking Native American portrait, one of his action-packed rodeo riders or a quieter still life, he charges his work with a blend of deep feeling and a dynamic visual tension to suggest a narrative. “I portray many different subjects,” says Weed, who transitioned to painting full time 13 years ago upon his move to Colorado Springs, Colorado. “It isn’t so much what I paint, but how I paint it.”

Weed, a native of Oklahoma, was working in watercolor by age 13, and he says he knew during childhood that he’d become an artist. Encouraged by a well-liked art teacher, Weed also found plentiful creative inspiration in visiting the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. “That was like my church,” says Weed, who notes the influence of Charles M. Russell, Andrew Wyeth and Norman Rockwell, while admiring contemporary artists Jeremy Lipking and Nicolas Uribe.

A major early validation on Weed’s path forward came in the form of winning the Young Talent in Oklahoma art competition. He eagerly put the art scholarship award toward earning his degree in painting from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he was mentored by land­ scape artist Charles Field. After carving out a 20-year career in graphic design and illustration, and relocating from Texas to Colorado, Weed redirected his path back to fine art.

The artist’s energetic style, that is most robust in his Western paintings, comprises his loose brushwork, strong tonal contrasts and a sumptuous use of color. While Weed works hard to optimize value arrangements, he says, he also introduces scintillating effects with the oil medium by “splashing paint like crazy on the can­ vas,” reminiscent of the happy, unplanned accidents in watercolor painting.

Growing up with horses, trail rides, an emphatic love of the West and admiration for the Native American culture, Weed views “Western art as my most personally meaningful” subject matter. It’s also what impels him to hold rigorously to technical accuracy-a veracity that makes Weed’s work “as good as gold.” —Christine Proskow

contact information
www.steveweed.com

These stories appeared in the April/May 2023 issue of Southwest Art magazine.

Related Articles:
Artists to Watch – Richie Vios
Artists to Watch – Richard Rodriguez
Artists to Watch – Natasha Ramras