From the traditional to the conceptual, the earth and sky form the focus of a spectacular group exhibition in Kansas.
 
A full spectrum of artistic styles and talents feature in “Sky Above, Earth Below,” a large group exhibition at Strecker-Nelson Gallery in Manhattan, Kansas. Over 30 artists compose the show, which largely consists of beautiful landscape paintings.
 

Clive Fullagar, “Late October Sky,” oil on canvas, 16 x 48 in. (c) Strecker-Nelson Gallery 2015

 
A notable highlight of the show is Michael Albrechtsen’s “Rejuvination,” which is dramatic in both its use of color and stunning subject. With a relatively low horizon, we find a group of scattered thunderstorms unleashing a torrent of rain in the distance. A hypnotizing range of pink, blue, purple, and orange composes the violent clouds as they sweep across the landscape. Highlighting the canvas is a single bolt of lightning, which flashes on the center left. Below the horizon one finds the rolling hills and scattered trees of the American plains. The yellows and greens balance beautifully the palette of the sky.
 

Stan Herd, “Kansas Cottonwood,” oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in. (c) Strecker-Nelson Gallery 2015

 
Presenting a much calmer tone is “Late October Sky” by Clive Fullagar. Imaged in a large, panoramic format, a strong, sharp horizon line separates the golden light of a fading sky over the shadowed hills and banks of a winding river. Stan Herd offers a more expressive approach to landscape, perhaps recalling the thick handling of paint popularized by Van Gogh. “Kansas Cottonwood” commands the viewer’s attention with the strong red-orange hue of a massive tree in the foreground. Each individual stroke of the brush can be detected in the thickly applied paint. The winding sense of movement and kinetic energy on the surface are captivating.
 

Susan Rose, “Bottom-land Rendezvous (Snow Geese),” oil on canvas, 24 x 48 in.
(c) Strecker-Nelson Gallery 2015

 
Among many others, notable artists in the show are John Hulsey, Cally Krallman, Judith Mackey, Susan Rose, Cristine Sundquist, Matthew Richter, Jean Terry, and Diana Werts.
 
“Sky Above, Earth Below” opened on August 28 and will be on view through October 31.
 
To learn more, visit Strecker-Nelson Gallery.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

In this ongoing series for Fine Art Today, we take a longer look at the history and features of a soon-to-be-available artwork of note. This week: Marc Chagall, “Preparations for the Candidates’ Feast.”
 
Considered one of the great pioneers of modern art, Marc Chagall (1887–1985) was associated during his lengthy career with several major artistic styles, including Cubism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. What is more, the artist was known for working in an extraordinary range of mediums, with works in painting, book illustration, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, printmaking, and more. Chagall was also known for his acute awareness of color; Pablo Picasso once remarked, “When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is.”
 
Chagall’s masterful ability to pair and use color indeed comes into full bloom with “Preparations for the Candidates’ Feast,” which will feature in a September 26 auction via Martin + Lawrence Galleries in New York. A lithograph, “Preparations for the Candidates’ Feast” is an awkward, perspective-shifting print of several figures, a classically designed building façade, trees, a horse, and a sailboat. The powerful diagonal composition of the picture creates tension and a sense of unbalanced movement from lower left to upper right.  
 
The palette of the piece is masterfully balanced, however, offering a reprieve from the instability of the subjects. Saturated yellows and oranges dominate the upper left of the print while cool hues of pastel green and blue form a tree at the bottom and grasses to the right. The narrative of the piece is allusive, but could be indicated in the piece’s title. 
 
Perhaps more encouraging is the range of selections from Martin + Lawrence. “Preparations for the Candidates’ Feast” is one of approximately 70 lithographs available.
 
To view the full catalogue, visit Martin + Lawrence.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

In his first solo exhibition in nearly two years, artist Kim Cogan makes his debut at Arcadia Contemporary.
 
His work lying somewhere between realism and surrealism, painter Kim Cogan seeks to give visual voice to that which is not visible. “The Other Side” is the San Francisco artist’s first solo exhibition in nearly two years and his first at Arcadia Contemporary in New York City. In it, Cogan endeavors to re-create how we recall our memories by “piecing together abstract memories with the palpable nostalgia of a distinct time and place,” as the gallery states it. The resulting paintings appear dream-like, hazy, and somewhat fragmented.
 

Kim Cogan, “Dollhouse,” 2015, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in. (c) Arcadia Contemporary

 
The gallery continues, “Haunted by the things that no longer exist, Cogan was interested in more than merely reproducing a literal translation of a place, a time or person. He wanted to create a story and evoke a longing for the past.” Nostalgia and a longing for the past characterize well Cogan’s “Banquet,” which displays the energetic and chaotic scene of a childhood birthday party. In a painting that reads like a snapshot found in a dusty photo album, the presumed birthday girl stands, gazing out at the viewer and waving. The overall impression of the canvas is one of clearly delineated forms with soft details, not unlike one’s recollection of a past event. One figure to the left edge of the canvas is missing a head as the neck blends into the wall.
 

Kim Cogan, “1970s,” 2015, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in. (c) Arcadia Contemporary 2015

 
“Dollhouse” produces a similar effect, composed to resemble a photograph. Perhaps recalling the excitement of a Christmas morning or birthday-gift unwrapping, three girls in their nightgowns sit and stand in a living room around empty boxes and a dollhouse. Despite the relative lack of detail, individualistic qualities do emerge from the subjects. As in “Banquet,” the lighting in “Dollhouse” also recalls the brief — but bright — flash of a camera bulb.
 

Kim Cogan, “Last Call,” 2015, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 in. (c) Arcadia Contemporary 2015

 
Cogan confirms this initial impression. “By combining old photographs with new ones, I wanted to make a complete image, very similar to how you might construct a memory in your head,” he says. The gallery notes, “Cogan composed the paintings in a way he had never done before. He used his own childhood photos and combined them with fragments of objects, people, and environments to manipulate a new narrative, at once familiar and alien.”
 
“Kim Cogan: The Other Side” opened on September 17 and will be on view through October 4.
 
To learn more, visit Arcadia Contemporary.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Deeply personal themes and the process of breaking down and building up feature in the drawings of Dan Volenec in a current solo exhibition.
 
Everyone at some point has a moment of struggle, whether emotional, spiritual, or physical. In the face of adversity, we stand, dust ourselves off, and emerge stronger and more intelligent. This evolution of fall, triumph, and change are the subjects of beautiful and powerful drawings by Dan Volenec. A solo exhibition of his most recent works, at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, runs now through October 20.
 
“To me, these moments and their accompanying stories are the most fascinating part of the human experience,” the artist writes. “Each piece of my art is like a page from a book. And each page speaks of a vivid, specific instance in our ongoing wrestling with the human condition. But ultimately it isn’t about what I think. None of this is important if I don’t make a connection with the viewers’ life experiences.”
 

Dan Volenec, “Metanoia,” charcoal, pencil, on paper, 32 x 44 in. (c) Dan Volenec 2015

 
“Eve” is one of the many moving works in the show. Squeezed into the frame is a painfully detailed rendering of a female subject’s face. So close is she to the viewer that we cannot see her hair or even her ears. The pensive expression, wrinkled skin, and the artist’s masterful attention to detail infuse her with an air of confidence, experience, strength, and sorrow.
 
An artist reception will take place Sunday, September 27, at 12 p.m.
 
To learn more, visit Dan Volenec.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
 

A multi-million-dollar gift of beautiful American paintings and Native American artifacts is the largest in this institution’s 26-year history.
 
When he wasn’t making sure his NFL team was operating properly and winning games, late Tennessee Titans owner Kenneth S. “Bud” Adams was amassing a collection of exquisite American painting and Native American art that was considered to be museum-worthy — and now, in fact, it is. Formerly housed in Adams’s Houston home and office, the collection has a new permanent location at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 

Thomas Moran, “Grand Canyon,” 1917, oil on canvas, (c) Adams Collection 2015

 
Announced just last week, the Kenneth S. “Bud” and Nancy Adams Collection includes a number of significant paintings by Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, N.C. Wyeth, Thomas Moran, and many more of the most accomplished — and coveted — painters of the American West. While the paintings stand alone as an extraordinary gift, the collection is also includes Plains Indian beadwork and clothing, and hundreds of Native American objects.
 

Eanger Irving Couse, “The Sun Worshippers,” 1919, oil on canvas, (c) Adams Collection 2015

 
Museum President/CEO John Vanausdall says, “We are grateful to the Adams family for entrusting the Eiteljorg with this nationally significant collection. Rarely does a museum director get to experience a gift of such profound impact. The Adams Collection will enrich the museum and its offerings to the public in a meaningful way.”
 
Adams’s daughter Amy Strunk said, “The Eiteljorg Museum is one of the premier museums of Native American artifacts and Western art in North America, and it is appropriate that these priceless treasures will be housed at the Eiteljorg permanently. This collection was very special to my father, and our family hopes that those who view these items on display will walk away with the same sense of wonder and appreciation for the culture and heritage that these unique artifacts and works of art represent.”
 

Charles M. Russell, “Bucking Bronco,” 1899, watercolor on paper, (c) Adams Collection 2015

 
Thomas Moran’s “Grand Canyon” is one of the highlights of the collection, its beautiful palette, dramatic composition, and excellent state of preservation pulling the viewer in. Charles M. Russell’s “Bucking Bronco” watercolor is outstanding as well: At center, an intense scene unfolds as a cowboy attempts to control the wild beast as it thrashes around while onlookers in the background enjoy the entertainment.
 
To learn more, visit the Eiteljorg Museum.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Entering into its 34th year, the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition recently revealed its featured artists for the February 2016 event in Charleston, South Carolina. Who are they?
 
Lovers of the finest wildlife art can hardly wait for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE), a series of events in Charleston, South Carolina, that draws more than 40,000 each year from all across the nation. Although it’s several months away, general-admission tickets go on sale October 15, and organizers of the event have announced that Kyle Sims has earned the distinction as Featured Artist as Stefan Savides harnesses the title of Featured Sculptor.
 
SEWE Executive Director John Powell says, “Kyle and Stefan are headlining one of the finest groups of artists I have seen during my tenure with SEWE.” Speaking of last year’s Featured Artists, he adds, “Having John Banovich and Greg Beecham back in Charleston as guest artists, along with over 100 others from around the country, creates such a powerful exhibit of wildlife art, I believe preview packages and Friday ticket sales will be brisk. It will be an exciting time to be a fan of wildlife art and a great time to be in Charleston.”
 

Stefan Savides, “Double Shot of Wild Turkey,” bronze, 36 x 44 x 43 in. (c) Stefan Savides 2015

 
By his early 20s, American realist Kyle Sims was already populating his resume with numerous honors, awards, and distinctions. Among other accolades, Sims has received the Distinguished Young Artist Award from the Society of Animal Artists, Best in Show in the Buffalo Bill Art Show, and the Major General and Mrs. Don D. Pittman Wildlife Award from the Prix De West Art Show and Sale. A few years later he earned the Bob Kuhn Wildlife Award from the Masters of the American West. Sims’s artistic pedigree is impressive; he’s studied under Terry Isaac, Daniel Smith, and Paco Young.
 
Stefan Savides brings more than 50 years of artistic expertise and experience to SEWE, and he’s proven a magnetic attraction at the event since 2009. The artist is widely known for his expertly observed and modeled birds in bronze, a subject that developed early from his love of aviation and taxidermy. Savides’s range is magnificent, with sculptures depicting birds in elegant flight and motion while others display the stoic forms of perched or nesting fowl.  
 
To learn more, visit Southeastern Wildlife Exposition.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
 

Fine Art Today recently caught up with accomplished artist Mary Pettis for a chat about her inspirations, vision, and much more.
 
Fine Art Today: Can you share with us a little about your subjects and what draws you to them? How do you react to moments of inspiration?
 
Mary Pettis: One of my favorite quotes from Emerson is this:
 
“A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.”
 
I guess this quote came to mind because my inspiration truly feels like it comes in the form of this proverbial gleam of light, flashing across my mind from within — even though it is sparked by the natural world.
 
I read that quote in a Reader’s Digest when I was a young teenager. I remember thinking over the years every time I saw, in an instant, a finished picture in my head, “Is this it? Is this what he meant?”
 
I’ve had the good fortune to study with many bards and sages over the years to guide me in the pursuit of technical competency. It wasn’t until I jumped off the cliff on which they stood that I had the courage to trust my inner instincts and vision. I have taught myself to accept, imprint, and then dissect these mind’s-eye paintings.
 
When I am painting en plein air with an inspiring subject directly in front of me, this process of analysis is much easier. I try to determine which abstract element I am most responding to, strictly in terms of line, shape, value, color, or texture. Only when that process is complete, I know I can tell my story. Then I shelve the intellect, pick up the brush, and paint with passion.
 

Mary Pettis, “The Blessing,” oil, 30 x 40 in. (c) Mary Pettis 2015

 
Fine Art Today: “Autumn Poetry” is a breathtaking painting that highlights the exquisite beauty and vibrancy of sumac during fall in Minnesota. How is your process reflected in this work, and what was the experience like creating it?
 
Mary Pettis: This was first painted 11” x 14” en plein air. The “gleam of light” was a sensory-overload sweep of red textures leading me in a dance up to the left, then down right to the base of the tree, then lifting me, twirling up, arms outstretched into the light.
 
All-consuming, it felt like a very spiritual experience that haunted me until I could paint it again later. I love to digest and synthesize my plein air experiences in the studio, larger and in different formats.
 
Fine Art Today: What would you say your mission is, as an admired artist? What do you hope your audiences take away from your paintings?
 
Mary Pettis: I have just released a catalog of selected works, and the first quote in it is by John Lennon:
 
“My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel … not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of all of us.”
 
This humble attitude is also how I feel. There is a perfection that lies beyond what we directly can see, yet deep within we all recognize and respond to it. I get to spend time contemplating this sublime part of life, and I do my best to share my observations with the world.
 

Mary Pettis, “Time Stands Still,” oil, 48 x 30 in. (c) Mary Pettis 2015

 
Fine Art Today: What artists have proved to be formative in your art, conceptually and aesthetically?
 
Mary Pettis: I believe that the work of Zhang Wen Xin has had the most impact on my mature artistic life. He is superb in every technical aspect, yet the technique is completely the servant of the stories he tells. He uses specific color harmonies, shapes, lines, and brushwork that are perfectly sympathetic with the message he wishes to convey. He paints everything that moves him, and his work moves me!
 
Fine Art Today: Your paintings have such expressiveness, life, vibrancy, and freedom. In what ways is the surface of your work important to you?
 
Mary Pettis: I am also deeply drawn to the work of Nicolai Fechin. I visited his hometown in Kazan, Russia, a 10-hour train ride east of Moscow. Seeing the early development of his surface and mark-making opened my eyes to the emotional impact that we can impart through the alchemy and handling of the paint itself. When I let go of how I think a painting should look, I use more paint and have less concern about the handling. When I am successful, what I am sensing beyond the surface appearance of things seems to miraculously manifest.
 
Fine Art Today: Your attention to light and its representation is, without a doubt, one of the strongest elements in your work. You have an uncanny ability to capture luminance, and your paintings radiate. Are there ever narratives or messages that you communicate through light?
 
Mary Pettis: As I put decades behind me, I realize more than ever that who we are as people comes through in our art. As John Ruskin noted, what good is a great orator if he has nothing to say? I take that to heart. Luminance is within everything, and each of us. It is grace. Everything I see seems like a metaphor these days. Sap runs from roots unseen through trees and blood runs through our veins. Our very breathing is a give-and-take. We are connected to each other and to this magnificent world. 

Light is beautiful indeed; it plays joyously on surfaces in our perception. But, in a larger sense, it creates unseen melodies that comfort and inspire us to look and love more deeply.
 

Mary Pettis, “North Shore Mantra,” oil, 24 x 48 in. (c) Mary Pettis 2015

 
Fine Art Today: Where is Mary in five years?
 
Mary Pettis: As an artist and teacher, it is my hope to simply play my part as best as I am able. I hope that my work will reflect that effort.
 
Pettis is currently painting on location at the Cinque Terre in Italy and will return for next month’s EnPleinAir Texas October 25 through November 1. She also plans to be in attendance at the Maui Plein Air Invitational next February.
 
To learn more, visit Mary Pettis.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
 

A tantilizing exhibition featuring some of art history’s biggest names are on view through September 20 in Fort Worth, Texas.

55 paintings feature in “Botticelli to Braque: Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland” at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, which will be on view for only a few more days.
 
To learn more, visit the Kimbell Art Museum.
 

One of the most iconic paintings in American art is on view through September 27 at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.  James McNeill Whistler’s “Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1 (Portrait of the Artist’s Mother)” is a pensive image of the sitter in strict profile. 

The museum reports, “It is considered by many to be the most important American painting not on American soil. Better known as Whistler’s Mother, the painting has been owned by the French state since 1891 and is in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. This summer the Clark Art Institute presents the painting as the centerpiece of an exhibition featuring a variety of Whistler’s prints and drawings, Japanese woodblock prints that inspired the artist, and ephemera that explore the image’s role in popular culture.”

To learn more, visit the Clark.
 

Two well deserving artists just took home honors at the 28th annual Western Visions Annual Show & Sale in Jackson, Wyoming. Who were they?
 
For the entire month of September, the nation’s top wildlife artists, their collectors, and admirers all congregate in Jackson, Wyoming for the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Western Visions Show & Sale, a cornerstone event of the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival.  Although the “Wild 100 Show & Sale” will take place tomorrow, September 18, the Trustee Purchase and Robert Kuhn Awards have already been decided, honoring two outstanding artists.
 

Kathy Wipfler, “Bruin Trio,” charcoal, 7.5 x 9.5 in. (c) National Museum of Wildlife Art 2015

 
Artist Rox Corbett took home the coveted Trustee Purchase Award, a distinction that earned Corbett’s “Windfall” a spot in the museum’s acclaimed permanent collection.  Previous winners include Britt Freda (2013), and Greg McHuron (2009), whom are chosen by the National Museum of Wildlife Art Trustees.  Corbett’s beautiful charcoal drawing displays a triumphant grizzly bear presiding over his deceased elk.  The stillness of the image contrasts sharply with the chaos that undoubtedly preceded it.  Corbett’s attention to light, value, and texture is absolutely captivating and will surely bolster an already outstanding collection.  Corbett’s subject was taken straight from the source, as the kill was captured on a trail camera on her Powell, Wyoming, ranch.  The attitude of the bear was watchful and concerned, as theft of the meal from other bears and coyotes is common. 
 
The Robert Kuhn Award, which honors the late artist Bob Kuhn, is given to the best submission in the category of artists’ sketches as determined by a panel of judges.  This year’s winner was Kathy Wipfler’s “Bruin Trio,” executed in charcoal.  Albeit small and scarcely populated, Wipfler has beautifully captured a wandering family of bears.  Two cubs waltz in front and behind their protective mother.  Rendered with only a handful of hatched and contour lines, Wipfler’s sketch is remarkably accurate and convincing.  Wipfler’s sketches are gesture drawings she works from videos of animals.  This method allows the artist to pause and study the anatomy and textures of her subjects. 
 
To find out more about the various upcoming events in Jackson, click here.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.