Every December, Claggett/Rey Gallery hosts an annual group show to celebrate the broad range of talent in the artists they represent. The exhibition will feature new works in bronze, oil, pastel, acrylic as well as jewelry and handcrafted wood in the form of desks and lamps.
Midway through the exhibition, on December 29, the gallery will host its annual gala from 5 to 8 p.m. The popular event brings together artists and collectors in a holiday celebration featuring wine from Napa Valley’s Silver Oak winery.
Paul Moore, Murder at the Pond, acrylic, silver and gold leaf on oak, 29 x 50 x 10"
Sculptor Jane DeDecker has been participating in the show for almost 25 years and this December is no exception. “The Vail Valley is a magical place in the winter and especially for the holidays,” says DeDecker. “Claggett/Rey’s collectors come to experience this grandeur and it is a time annually to catch up with them at this show.”
Her bronze Finding Calmi s an expression of the desire to slow down, a difficult task in today’s fast-paced world. “The horse has been a metaphor in my work,” she says. “In this particular composition the grazing beast meets the resting woman. The curve of their bodies conform as in unison, a pastoral dream.”
George Carlson, Chaos and Order, oil, 36 x 36"
It is painter George Carlson’s first time participating in the annual exhibition. He will be showing Chaos and Order, an oil painting of a scene he witnessed in the vast Palouse Hills, just south of his Idaho home. “A vortex formed from a column of hot air rising from the ground on this calm, sunny day, tossing dust and small particles harmlessly through the air,” he describes. “Out of the orderliness of tilled fields came the chaos flowering into this radiant capricious cloud…much to my delight.”
Derek Penix, Aspen Grove, oil, 40 x 60"
Carlson is most captivated by events that are not preplanned or expected but those that appear one moment and are gone the next. He shares, “Some of my work is based on this premise…to be alert and aware of the changes in nature; changes in the light on the land, cloud and atmospheric changes…in other words, to be present. As an artist, I believe in being open to experiencing nature first hand, by meditating on location, gathering perceptions and observations, to analyze, appreciate and heighten awareness using the visual language of paint to give voice to enhance and accentuate the beauty of the earth.”
Jane DeDecker, Finding Calm, bronze, 11½ x 15 x 5"
Playing off the word for a group of ravens, Paul Moore’s multimedia piece Murder at the Pond, was designed to present three images in one. “Looking at it from directly forward is the overall image, but from the two oblique angles the panels line up with one another to created two additional images,” Moore explains. “One with three birds on the branch suspended across the pond and the other with no birds on the branch. I did it in silver leaf to have the atmosphere of a foggy morning.”
Other pieces in the show include a large bronze of two elk by sculptor Tim Shinabarger and a landscape by Derek Penix. These works and dozens more will be on view at Claggett/Rey Gallery from December 15, 2023, through January 15, 2024. —
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