S.M. CHAVEZ (b. 1971), "Among the Giants," 2024, oil on canvas, 30 x 16 in.
Featuring more than 80 artists from across America, the 32nd annual Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale will again tempt collectors with an eclectic mix of contemporary artworks capturing the Western way of life.
The participating artists include Bill Anton, Teal Blake, Nocona Burgess, Shawn Cameron, Jill Carver, G. Russell Case, S.M. Chavez, Scott Christensen, Sushe Felix, Danny Galieote, Whitney Gardner, Starr Hardridge, Quang Ho, Jennifer Johnson, Greg Kelsey, Amy Lay, William Matthews, Jim Morgan, Ken Peloke, Billy Schenck, Matt Smith, Joshua Tobey, Jeremy Winborg, Star York, and Dennis Ziemienski.
This year’s featured artist is Duke Beardsley. The curator, Kate Hlavin, notes that Beardsley is a longtime veteran of the show and adds, “As a native of Colorado with deep roots in Denver and ranching, his paintings exemplify the American West with a pop of color and energy.”
Not all of the exhibitors have been seen here before; Starr Hardridge says, “I’m honored to participate this year for the first time. As a native Oklahoman and a citizen of the Muskogee Creek nation, I am very enthusiastic to share my own particular vision of the West.”
The show opens on January 6 with the Blue Jean Preview and Awards Reception, then continues the next day with the Red Carpet Reception and half a day’s worth of artist demonstrations and panel discussions that will lead into the final evening’s festivities.
The Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale is a key part of the National Western Stock Show (January 11–26), one of the world’s leading professional rodeos and horse shows. Its net proceeds support the National Western Scholarship Trust, which underwrites college and graduate-level scholarships in agricultural science, business, and rural medicine.
COORS WESTERN ART EXHIBIT & SALE
Denver, Colorado coorswesternart.com
January 6–7, 2025
Denise Antaya, "Shimmering Light, 2023, oil on panel, 6 x 12 in., available through the artist
There is a lot of superb contemporary realism being made these days; this article by Allison Malafronte shines light on a gifted individual.
Golden light, acres of undeveloped land, and nature’s frequent displays of both nuance and grandeur constantly catch the eye of landscape painter Denise Antaya (b. 1959). “I am drawn to these scenes because they soothe my soul,” the Canadian artist declares. “The need to document them for future generations pulls me in again and again. It’s a way to remember — a visual reminder of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re headed.”
Antaya grew up in rural Ontario and spent her childhood learning to appreciate the simple joys that small-town country life offered. “I took time to enjoy the sunshine, surrounding fields, the shapes of clouds in the sky,” says this curious observer. “These elements completely formed my love of the landscape.” She is particularly fascinated by light, specifically how the shining of the sun — or lack thereof — can totally transform the appearance of landscape. Water, and how it creates literal and symbolic reflections of the surrounding environment, is also highly attractive to the artist.
Antaya studied traditional oil painting techniques at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto for 3 and 1/2 years — after a 31-year career in advertising. With this foundational skill set in place, she began exploring her love of landscape painting. Today the artist spends countless hours getting to know the subject matter that most moves her through exploring the countryside near her home, painting in plein air, and visiting conservation areas, where she can quietly admire the beauty and stillness of land, water, and sky.
One autumn evening last year, Antaya observed an especially compelling scene that she knew had to be captured on canvas. “The sun was setting over a low area in a field near my home,” she explains. “The warmth of the sun as it sets takes an everyday subject and transforms it into something magical. This scene, containing the light and water elements that I love, was just begging to be painted.” Using her on-site plein air sketches and photos, plus her memory, Antaya brought “Shimmering Light,” illustrated here, to effervescent life in her studio.
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, "Beaching the Boat (Afternoon Light)," 1903, oil on canvas, 117 7/16 x 173 7/16 in., Hispanic Society of America, New York City
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida Paintings on View > The Norton Museum of Art is the only U.S. venue of the exhibition “Sorolla and the Sea,” which has been organized for it by the Hispanic Society Museum & Library (New York City). On view are approximately 40 works highlighting a fascination with the seaside harbored by the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923). This is the first Sorolla exhibition to be mounted in Florida, and also the first large presentation of a 20th-century European painter at the Norton in 18 years.
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida Paintings: “Sorolla and the Sea”
Norton Museum of Art
West Palm Beach, Florida norton.org
Through March 16, 2025
Sorolla grew up in Valencia on the Mediterranean coast and returned there often from his home in Madrid to paint and draw inspiration. Revered for his unique blend of realism and modernism, replete with unmixed colors and vigorous brushwork, Sorolla was hailed by no less a contemporary than Claude Monet as “The Master of Light.” On view nearby will be the Norton’s own paintings by Monet and another admirer of Sorolla, John Singer Sargent.
The exhibition encompasses the full range of Sorolla’s seaside works, including people relaxing on the beach and fishermen hard at work there.
It opens with two self-portraits, one of his palettes, and a lively bronze bust of Sorolla sculpted by his friend Mariano Benlliure y Gil. Also on loan are three works painted by Spanish contemporaries and the famous portrait Sorolla painted of his friend Louis Comfort Tiffany. Two Sorolla works in the Norton’s collection round out the selection.
About the Norton Museum of Art:
The Norton Museum of Art was founded in 1941 by Ralph Hubbard Norton (1875-1953) and his wife Elizabeth Calhoun Norton (1881-1947). Norton was an industrialist who headed the Acme Steel Company in Chicago. He and his wife began collecting to decorate their home, but then he became interested in art for its own sake and formed a sizable collection of paintings and sculpture. In 1935, Mr. Norton semi-retired, and the couple began to spend more time in the Palm Beaches. They contemplated what to do with their art collection and eventually decided to found their own museum in West Palm Beach, to give South Florida its first such institution. In 1940, construction began on the Norton Gallery and School of Art located between South Olive Avenue and South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. Mr. Norton commissioned Marion Sims Wyeth of the distinguished firm of Wyeth, King & Johnson to design the Museum. The Art Deco building opened to the public on February 8, 1941. Norton continued to add to his collection until his death in 1953, and the works that he and his wife gave the Museum form the core of the institution’s collection today.
Rachel Ruysch, "Still Life of Roses, Tulips, and Sunflower," 1710, oil on canvas, 35 x 28 in., on loan to the National Gallery (London) from the collection of Janice and Brian Capstick
“Rachel Ruysch — Nature into Art,” the first-ever retrospective of the Dutch still life painter Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750), is set to launch its international tour at Munich’s Alte Pinakothek, part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. Until now, relatively scant attention has been paid to this successful female artist who spent her six-decade-long career in Amsterdam.
Rachel Ruysch — Nature into Art
Alte Pinakothek
Munich pinakothek.de
Through March 16, 2025 (and more)
Ruysch became renowned for painting large, highly detailed flower arrangements — sumptuous bouquets and fruits teeming with insects and butterflies. She was the daughter of Frederik Ruysch, a professor of anatomy and botany, whose collection of specimens inspired her. In 1701, she became the first woman admitted to the artistic society Confrerie Pictura in The Hague, and seven years later she was appointed court painter to the Elector Palatine in Düsseldorf. Moreover, she was the mother of 11 children.
On view are more than 200 exhibits, including Ruysch’s most important works borrowed from public and private collections across Europe and the U.S. These are complemented by manuscripts, prints, drawings, and specimens, as well as paintings by her teacher Willem van Aelst and her contemporaries, including other women. The curatorial team has partnered with botanists, zoologists, and historians of science to contextualize Ruysch’s work.
The exhibition will move to Ohio’s Toledo Museum of Art (April 13–July 27, 2025), which was the first American museum to acquire Ruysch’s work (in 1956), and finally the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (August 23–December 7, 2025).
Bethann Moran-Handzlik, "This Joy Is Electric," 2021, oil on canvas, 52 x 40 in., available through the artist
There is a lot of superb contemporary realism being made these days; this article by Allison Malafronte shines light on a gifted individual.
The plein air paintings being created by Bethann Moran-Handzlik (b. 1965) are impressive not only for the amount of detail, vibrant color, and emotional content they capture but also for their sheer size, often averaging 50 inches in each direction. The Wisconsin artist does not paint small sketches outdoors to quickly gather information for larger studio landscapes. Rather, she completes almost the entire painting outdoors, sometimes spending weeks in the same spot to capture what she sees.
Take “This Joy Is Electric,” for example, which found the artist standing along a busy highway in Whitewater, Wisconsin, for more than two weeks in order to compose this large scene of a sunflower field. “No doubt there are challenges to working on large canvases outside for a prolonged time,” Moran-Handzlik admits.
“I painted this at the end of August — I got sunburned and wind-whipped and had to strap the canvas to my van at one point to keep it from blowing around. However, it’s worth the effort. The changing light, animal sounds, and smell of the air all contribute something toward the final painting, as it evolves within the same conditions it depicts.”
Moran-Handzlik describes her experiences painting in nature in almost spiritual terms; during many hours of concentration she will lose herself in the composition, snapping back to reality only due to a pesky mosquito bite or falling temperatures. “Sometimes while painting, language leaves me,” she says. “Sometimes I feel like I disappear. When the painting is complete the viewer can re-see, re-experience what I saw, and then be drawn repeatedly into contemplation of everything within the painting and within themselves. My hope is that the paintings will help create an appreciation for the natural world and assist people on their paths toward joy.”
Moran-Handzlik earned a B.A. from Wisconsin’s St. Norbert College and then an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee. She has taught at several universities and teaches workshops regularly. She and her husband, the poet Patrick J. Moran, have three children and live in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
Bert Geer Phillips, "The Santero," c. 1918, oil on canvas, 30 x 26 in., American Museum of Western Art—The Anschutz Collection, photo: William J. O’Connor
VECINOS Y AMIGOS
Couse-Sharp Historic Site
Taos, New Mexico couse-sharp.org
through February 28, 2025
The Couse-Sharp Historic Site (CSHS) has opened “Vecinos y Amigos: Bert Geer Phillips and His Neighbors,” an exhibition that explores, for the first time, a small yet revealing aspect of one of the co-founders of the Taos Society of Artists.
In 1898, Bert Geer Phillips (1868–1956) and his fellow student Ernest Blumenschein came to Taos on a painting trip. Phillips remained there until shortly before his death in 1956. When he painted figures, he usually depicted Native Americans, so, as CSHS executive director and curator Davison Koenig explains, “This exhibition seeks to expand our knowledge of the context of those few paintings in which people in the Hispanic community modeled, to identify them, and to enrich Bert’s stories with theirs.”
Phillips knew that his buyers were part of a mainstream U.S. public fascinated by, but largely ignorant of, the cultures of the Southwest. Guest curator James C. Moore, director emeritus of the Albuquerque Museum, notes, “These paintings are not portraits as such, but imaginative tableaux in which people served as actors in stories that Phillips felt would have success in broadening his reputation on the exhibition circuit.”
When he first arrived in Taos, Phillips exhibited bigotry toward many of his neighbors, famously provoking a deadly riot when he refused to remove his hat for a religious procession on the street. In time, “He learned to appreciate the area’s cultural milieu and foster more respectful relationships,” Koenig says. Phillips later was part owner of a curio shop, trading in Native artwork and santos, local religious art objects in a Spanish colonial tradition.
Research into the models’ families and recognition of who they were “gives significance to those who have long been anonymous, broadening our view of the larger social dynamic of Taos,” Koenig adds. He is quick to credit CSHS site coordinator Jake Cisneros and members of the Hispano Advisory Council, as well as Alicia M. Romero, curator of history at the Albuquerque Museum: “Their work has broadened the scope of the Lunder Research Center here on our campus, and is a perfect illustration of the kind of enrichment of narratives that we aim for.”
As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this week’s “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Two For The Road, Cheryl English, oil, 24 x 18 in; Artzline.com
Swine Song, Sandy Scott, bronze, 9.5 x 9.5 x 6.5; Artzline.com
***
Her Water Garden, Kathleen Kalinowski, oil on linen, 24 x 30 in; Kalinowski Fine Art
***
Days End Sandias, Albert Handell, oil, 24 x 32 in; Albert Handell
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today. Don’t delay, as spaces are first come, first served, and availability is limited.
Anita Diebel (b. 1940), "Nesting Season," 2023, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 48 in.
A Fine Art Collection Profile >
Melba and Tom York are proud residents of Rockport, a once-sleepy fishing town that has blossomed into a lively arts enclave on the coast of South Texas, 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.
Art collectors Tom and Melba York
Melba says she dabbled in ceramics in her mid-twenties and later took classes with the realist artist Wayne Floeck, who specialized in depicting animals, primarily from Africa. Under his tutelage she painted a desert ram in fine detail, which was a particular pleasure because she and Tom had visited Africa themselves. But then, she laughs, “My short-lived art journey was brought to a halt by the birth of our daughter, and so began my deep appreciation for artists and the joy their creations bring. I realized that I would have to live my Bohemian art life through others.”
Shortly after they married, the Yorks visited Tom’s parents in Rockport during its annual Independence Day festival, where artists from across the country exhibit their latest works. “At that moment,” Melba recalls, “we fell in love with coastal art and became interested in meeting the artists and acquiring their art.” They have been doing that ever since, and now own more than 100 paintings. Among the artists represented in the York Collection are Joey Blazek, Angalee DeForest, Anita Diebel, Shirley Farley, Larry Felder, Susan Forest, Lisa Baer Frederick, Robin Hazard, Caro Jackson, Elsa Lopez Mathews, Jeffrey Neel McDaniel, Lisa Millard, Bonnie Lou Prouty, Rebecca Bridges Rice, Clementina Rivera, Barb Robinson, Steve Russell, Alison McLean Schuchs, Betty Shamel, Debbie Stevens, and V. Vaughn.
Shirley Farley (1930–2017), Untitled, late 1970s–early 1980s, oil on canvas, 48 x 72 in.
The Yorks’ first purchase of an original artwork was a quirky scene of angry pelicans painted by Shirley Farley (1930–2017), who had grown up in Hollywood (her cousin was Marlon Brando) before moving to Rockport. Melba later sold that piece because it didn’t suit her home decor, but she came to regret that decision later. She takes up the story: “So I walked into my favorite antique/resale shop in Rockport, where the owner was busy preparing a large estate sale. I spotted a large painting a good 50 feet away and shouted, ‘Braxton, is that a Farley?’ He replied, ‘Yes, but you’ll have to wait until the sale starts. And it’s pricey!’ Melba responded, ‘I don’t care. I want to buy it now!’ So Braxton wrote up the receipt, and now we have that large Farley [illustrated above] hanging over our fireplace. Since then, we have learned that if you see a painting you love, don’t hesitate to pull the trigger because someone else will love it, too.”
The Yorks are particularly pleased to have spotted on Chairish (a website worth checking) a small pen-and-ink drawing created by the founder of the Rockport Art Colony, Simon Michael (1905–2002). He was the original occupant of the Spanish-style hacienda compound named Tortilla Flats that the Yorks purchased, renovated, and occupied upon retiring. Melba confides, “I think the ghost of Simon Michael inhabited my spirit after we moved into the house because that is when I really became interested in collecting art.”
Most of the couple’s acquisitions have come directly from local artists participating in Rockport’s annual festival or exhibiting at local galleries. They are active supporters of the Rockport Center for the Arts, which was devastated in 2015 by Hurricane Harvey but in 2023 reopened in an impressive new building shepherded into existence by executive director Luis Puron. It’s clear the Yorks are devoted to their community; Melba explains, “I look at our artworks every day and love the memories they evoke, and I love the people who painted them.”
Indeed, the Yorks know most of these artists personally and have become close friends with many of them. When Harvey severely damaged the residence of artist Anita Diebel, Tom and Melba had her move into Tortilla Flats until her home was habitable again. Since then, Diebel has opened a thriving gallery that features a range of artists and synchronizes its events with Rockport’s monthly art walks.
Melba says the couple’s passion for art makes it easy to meet new friends. Among their closest are artist Elsa Mathews and her husband, Lloyd; Bob and Jean James, who introduced the Yorks to the art made by another gifted local, Brother Cletus (1933–2016); and Richard and Denise Smith, who also have, in Melba’s words, “a beautiful art collection.”
Given the heat and humidity for which South Texas is known, the Yorks keep their artworks out of direct sunlight, with many under ultraviolet-resistant glass, and monitor their air conditioning to ensure a stable temperature. Most of the works are displayed by theme, and Melba admits she gets “teased that I’m going to have to start hanging pictures from my ceilings.” She says, “I believe in the philosophy that more is not enough, and my goal is never to need to paint my walls again because they are covered with art!”
Julia Levitina, "Invisible Bird Sing" (edition 1/8), 2021, bronze, 13 3/4 x 14 x 4 1/2 in., private collection
Contemporary Sculpture Spotlight > There is a lot of superb realism being made these days; this article by Allison Malafronte shines light on a gifted individual.
Born in Odesa, Ukraine, Julia Levitina (b. 1981) is a classically trained sculptor, currently residing in Philadelphia, who creates poignant bronzes packed with metaphorical meaning. After earning a B.A. from Georgetown University, she joined the graduate program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, followed by in-depth figurative studies at the Schuylkill Academy of Fine Art (both in Philadelphia).
As Levitina’s education and life experience continue to evolve, so too does the way she sees the world and seeks to convey it. “The gift of being an artist is twofold: seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary and communicating that sense of wonder by way of art,” she notes. “I am inspired, challenged, and moved to my deepest core by the beauty present in ordinary existence.”
The physical act of creating is as compelling a motivator to Levitina as the finished artwork itself. In her Philadelphia studio and foundry, the artist is in charge of the entire creative process, from concept to clay to casting. “To be a sculptor is to be a craftsman,” she states. “I mix my own clay, make metal armatures to support my sculptures, and create molds for reproducing my finished pieces in wax. I coat these waxes in heat-resistant ceramic to produce bronzes via a centuries-old cire perdue [lost-wax] process.” The artist then pours her own bronzes, welds and finishes the metal, and builds supports for the completed sculptures.
Levitina depicts figures and animals, but a particularly moving contemporary sculpture created in 2021 is an amalgam of figure and animal, one that points to her artistic lineage demarcated by the Greeks, Michelangelo, and so on. “Invisible Bird Sing,” illustrated above, is a delicately designed composition connecting a forlorn but resilient face to the outstretched wing of a bird in flight.
“Conceived at the height of the international [Covid] lockdowns, this work is the unspoken verse about our shared experiences,” Levitina says. “Not only of the pandemic and the isolation that ensued, but also of human resilience and ingenuity in the face of despair, in the face of war even. It’s a powerful reminder that hope has an enduring and continuing presence.”
Frederic Leighton, "The Bay of Cádiz, Moonlight," 1866, oil on canvas, 8 x 11 1/2 in., Leighton House, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The first exhibition devoted to plein air landscape sketches made by Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830–1896) is now being held in his former home and studio in London, Leighton House. Co-curated by Hannah Lund and Pola Durajska, it presents the Victorian artist in a new light — as an experimental artist who documented the people and places he encountered as he traveled.
On view are 50 plein air paintings, some returning to the house for the first time in over 120 years. Leighton scarcely ever exhibited his landscapes, and his papers shed no light on why or how they were created. Together they offer intriguing views and settings, generally avoiding famous landmarks in favor of backstreets, hills, rocks, or trees that caught his attention. In this regard, the activity of painting was an intensely private, reflective activity for Leighton.
The earliest work dates to 1856 (made during a trip to Cervara, a town near Rome) and the latest to the year of Leighton’s death four decades later. He had been introduced to the format by his Italian friend Giovanni Costa. Leighton employed different-sized canvases, some no larger than a sheet of paper, though this did not prevent him from capturing huge subjects and vistas. Among his destinations were Italy, Spain, Greece, Syria, and Egypt.
At a Glance: Leighton House, London rbkc.gov.uk/museums
Through April 27, 2025
Fill your mind with useful art stories, the latest trends, upcoming art shows, top artists, and more. Subscribe to Fine Art Today, from the publishers of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.
