Western Expeditions

By John O’Hern

The village of Galisteo, New Mexico, was founded in 1816, rather late in the history of the land. The earliest residents of the Galisteo Basin arrived about 7500 to 6000 B.C. The many Pueblos that were established between 1200 and about 1600 make the area one of the country’s richest archaeological sites. “Galisteo” is a Spanish name meaning “very beautiful.”

Woody Gwyn, who lives in a hacienda in the village (the part which dates back to 1703), finds the area “breathtaking.” His mixed media painting, Galisteo, masks the spectacular basin with the hills poking out behind a row of vegetation and a suggestion of its vastness revealed on the right side of the composition and in the painting’s long, horizontal format. He finds unexpected beauty, and his paintings remind the viewer that beauty is all around.

Nedra Matteucci Galleries, Embudo Winter, oil on linen, 12 x 16", by Chris Morel

LewAllen Galleries, Galisteo, mixed media on paper, 7 x 27", by Woody Gwyn.

Niman Fine Art, Dusk at Katsina Mesa, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 28", by Dan Namingha.In the catalog to a recent exhibition he said, “Usually the best things in art-making are quite often those moments where you’re totally surprised. Even in easel painting or plein-air painting, it’s those surprising moments where the work sort of takes over, and those are the real high moments in painting and printmaking.”

Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

J Watson Fine Art, Castle Butte Wyoming Territory, oil, 20 x 30", by Michael Coleman.

J Watson Fine Art, In the Highlands, oil, 20 x 30", by Michael Coleman.

J Watson Fine Art, Horse Camp Near Swan Valley, oil, 20 x 30", by Nicholas Coleman.

The Galisteo River flows into the Rio Grande. Farther north, the Rio Grande flows through a gorge not only of its own making but formed by the continuing movement of tectonic plates. The narrow gauge Chili Line railroad once ran in the gorge with a stop at Embudo. The Taos Society of Artists co-founder Oscar Berninghaus, working for the railroad, was once strapped to the top of a box car where he made his sketches. The community is just downstream from where Embudo Creek flows into the gorge.

Chris Morel travels down from the mountains to sketch and photograph along the creek and the river, returning to his studio to paint. Embudo Winter is one of those scenes. He was brought up in Maryland, worked as an illustrator in Texas and moved to the Taos area in 1994, inspired “by the landforms here—the differences in elevation, the geology, the Rockies and the desert. The scale is more vast than in the east and much of the landscape is uninhabited.”

Darcie Peet, Blustery Desert Dawn, oil, 16 x 20"

Dan Knepper, Montana Longing, oil on canvas, 30 x 40"

Dan Knepper, The Cutting Horse, oil on canvas, 24 x 18"

The northern New Mexico light is a delight in any season, including the winter when the area’s palette is more limited and the light can be a subject in itself.

Dan Namingha is the great-great-grandson of Nampeyo, the innovative Hopi-Tewa potter. The impetus to innovate has been passed down to Namingha and to his sons Arlo and Michael. Acutely aware of the past in the forming of the landscape and in his own Hopi culture, Namingha, who used to paint realistically, now paints abstractions of the landscape. He paints its simple forms—a line can represent a butte, contour lines suggest clouds, mountains and plains. Whether in basic black and white or in brilliant color, his paintings capture the sacred essence of the landscape.

Dan Knepper, Wyoming Morning, oil on canvas, 36 x 36"

Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Springtime on the Sixes, oil on linen canvas, 18 x 24", by Shawn Cameron

Desert Caballeros Western Museum, State of Wonder, acrylic and resin, 36 x 24", by Maura Allen.

The long black mesa in Dusk at Katsina Mesa is silhouetted against a vast, luminous sunset that is startlingly “real” against the abstracted mesa and the suggestions of chimisa placed in a linear pattern in the foreground.

Throughout the pages of this special section, collectors can explore more sprawling scenes that capture the spirit and beauty of the West.

Plein air painter Dan Knepper, who works in both oil and watercolor, captures something beyond the sheer beauty of the landscapes he explores. He recalls a meaningful experience: “Standing in the predawn dark at Oxbow Bend, watching as the sunrise set fire to the tips of the Tetons, and the golden light slowly melted down the mountains, illuminated the trees and plunged into the river, was one of the most spiritual moments of my life. A beaver was starting his day in the river near me and the gathering light found me in a patch of glowing wildflowers. It’s one of those moments whose story you repeat and always end with ‘photos don’t do it justice.’ When I paint I try to recapture that wonder and awe. I want my paintings to be transportive. The viewer should feel that they have stepped into that place at that moment, transfigured.”

Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Sun Warrior, watercolor on Yupo paper, 12 x 9", by Diana Madaras.

Lisa Gleim, Montana Sunrise, pastel on sanded panel, 14 x 18"

Lisa Gleim, Vesper, pastel on sanded panel, 10 x 13"

J Watson Fine Art in Valencia, California, features some of the top artists today working in Western and wildlife art, as well as romantic art and impressionist cityscapes. Western landscape painters Michael Coleman and his son, Nicholas Coleman, each create awe-inspiring scenes of the wilderness often including some of North America’s most iconic beasts like bears, elk, deer and more.

“Still lingering storm clouds from the previous night, winter rain catches the dawn’s sun in a kaleidoscope of color above the Canada del Oro Wash,” says oil painter Darcie Peet of her Blustery Desert Dawn, available at Newby Gallery, Tubac, Arizona. The oil surrounds us in the peace and still of early morning with swirls of delicate color and light playing across the cloudy skies. “Edging Catalina State Park outside of Tucson, a popular trailhead into the Catalina Mountains of Southern Arizona,” Peet continues, “the broad wash is running full of water reflecting the sky hues above and creating mini islands of sand and grasses. The aromas of moist, morning, desert air are lush and unforgettable. It may be time to take off one’s hiking boots to cross before hiking much further, but the trails and ever-changing desert-mountain terrain are worth it.”

Lisa Gleim, An American Original, pastel on sanded panel, 25 x 36"

Tehachapi Arts Commission, November Bloom - Eastern Sierra (Lone Pine, Whitney Portal), oil, 20 x 24", by Karen Winters.

Tehachapi Arts Commission, Evening Shore, pastel, 11x14", by Joe Mancuso.

The Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, Arizona, celebrates the 16th annual Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West, featuring more than 60 all-women, Western artists depicting iconic Western landscapes, imagery and more. The show opens March 26 online and in-person and will remain on view with art available to purchase until September 5. Artists who will be exhibiting landscapes in the exhibition and sale include Diana Madaras, Maura Allen and Shawn Cameron.

“Any view of a Western landscape, whether vast or intimate, creates wonder and intrigue, mesmerizing one with changing light and movement. My artistic intent is to wrap as many of those elements together in my work to combine peacefulness and energy, evoke a memory and an eagerness to explore further,” says pastel artist Lisa Gleim.

Tehachapi Arts Commission, Sierra Gem, oil, 18 x 24", by Laura Wambsgans.

Ann Korologos Gallery, Nothing But Legs, oil on canvas, 20 x 48", by Nathan Solano. Ann Korologos Gallery, Evening Slough, oil on linen, 16 x 30", by Kate Starling.

The Tehachapi Arts Commission holds its Art 2021 event, a juried public show to be held in Tehachapi, California, this July 24 to 25, with a VIP opening on July 23. The event, which includes a variety of Western landscape pieces, takes place at the Aspen Builders Community Activity Center. The show is the result of two years of planning by his team to provide artists and collectors the experience they have come to expect, says commission chairman Dwight Dreyer. Otto Sturcke will be the featured artist for the event with other artists participating to date: Peter Adams, Jacob Aguilar, Eleinne Basa, Julie Bell, Lyn Bennett, Linda Brown, Chris Burgan, Jennifer Burgan, Terry Chacon, Tina Chong, Karl Dempwolf, Sandy Fischer, Marian Fortunati, Richard Gallego, David Gordon, Annette Hammer, Nita Harper, Debra Holladay, Alex Kosich, Chuck Kovacic, Lisa Mahony, Joe Mancuso, Frank Ordaz, Mark Pestana, Scott Prior, Jeff Richards, Rodolfo Rivademar, Junn Roca, Frank Serrano, Mian Situ, Donald Towns, Nakisha VanderHoeven, Laura Wambsgans, Sharon Weaver, Karen Winters, Jim Wisnowski and Ryan Wurmser.