Through February 23, 2020 | Phippen Museum | Prescott, AZ

Wild Things

Phippen Museum’s latest contemporary Western exhibition is a call to the wild.

Through February 23, 2020, Walk on the Wild Side at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona, gives visitors the chance to view a wide variety of wildlife found throughout North America.Edward Aldrich, High Up There, oil, 15 x 19”

At the heart of the exhibition—which features everything from oils, watercolor, acrylic, scratchboard, graphite and ink drawings to bronze, ceramic, wood and clay sculptures and even a handful of lighted dioramas by R. G. Rodell—is the wild things that roam our regional landscapes and the artists who honor them through their work.Joe Netherwood, The Night Messenger, oil on board, 8 x 10”

“There is a deeper reason why artists choose wildlife as their subjects,” says curator Jeannette Holverson. “Many of the artists I spoke with are passionate about conservation, live in close contact with wildlife and appreciate the impact that we have on one another. And when you are enchanted by wildlife, even a rattlesnake is seen as being worthy of capturing its likeness in bronze.”David Lash, Conflict of Interest, acrylic, 29½ x 11½”

The exhibition, which focuses primarily on contemporary Western artists, includes several local, Arizona-based artists. Among the latter is Joseph Robertson, “...whose scratchboard artwork calls out the finest details of wildlife in his works,” says Holverson. She adds, “David Lash of Flagstaff has several works in the exhibit that represent his passion for wildlife conservation and Gary Burke of Black Canyon City [has a] unique technique of using driftwood to sculpt and create his molds for cast bronze and wood-clay sculptures [that] fascinate the viewer.”Gary Burke, Jackrabbit, cast bronze, decayed juniper wood mounted on volcanic pumice with hematite, 33 x 12”

Other featured artists include Heather Johnson Beary, Joe Netherwood and Edward Aldrich. While their subject matter ranges “from the smallest of birds to the largest bison and every predator in between” according to Holverson, each of the artists’ work in Walk on the Wild Side has something in common… “There is no distinction between prey and predator,” says Holverson. “When they are depicted in an art form, everything has beauty.” —

Walk on the Wild Side
Through February 23, 2020
Phippen Museum
4701 Highway 89 North, Prescott, AZ 86301
(928) 778-1385, www.phippenartmuseum.org