My annual trip to Jackson Hole is a winter-count of sorts for me. It’s 3 solid days of events - artist breakfasts, receptions, dinners, parties, and the Quickdraw - stretching from 8 AM to midnight every day. I can count on lack of sleep, standing up for hours, and being completely stoked from conversations with collectors and other artists. Observations from this year’s event:
- The Western Visions show at the museum (National Museum of Wildlife Art) was moved into new galleries this year, instead of being confined to the long narrow hallway which became so packed with people at the evening events that one had to turn sideways to move around. The pieces showed off beautifully in the gallery spaces - one could stand back and appreciate them from a distance.
- The show seemed lightly attended, in comparison to past years (though perhaps it was because we weren’t all sardined into the King Gallery hallway).
- The show overall felt *extremely* conservative - as if the submitting artists were sending in solid work with saleable subjects, but taking no risks. Many pieces did not sell. I am very grateful that my miniature did, as it stood out for being rather different, which made me anxious. I had two 6×12 unframed cradled panels, each with a reclining paint foal and a very abstract background, as my “piece” (see above).
- My sketch at the Western Visions sketch auction also sold, but for half the price of last year’s sketch (this seemed to hold roughly true overall for the sketches).
- For ONCE, the Quickdraw morning dawned clear and lovely! In 2007 and 2008 I was huddled under a canopy with cold rain pouring around me, painting with gloves on. It was scrumptious to have sunshine and festive viewers and not worry about snowflakes on the canvas. During the Quickdraw auction, prices seemed soft; animal/wildlife works brought higher final bids than landscape pieces. Here I went the conservative route - meaning I painted a drippy bear - and was delighted to have my 24×12, rather unusual composition go for above retail. My husband Paul runs interference for me during the actual hour of painting and reports out afterwards; he said there were probably a thousand photos taken of the back of my head (one assumes they were photographing the painting in progress), and that there were artists watching who wanted me to verbalize why I was making the color choices I was. (<snort> No time in one hour! come to a workshop and I’ll talk about it there).
- I always cruise the main galleries on Saturday afternoon; Jackson has seen some contemporary galleries move in recently, and I find these extremely artistically stimulating. Muse Gallery was having a show of Milton Avery / Richard Diebenkorn / Helen Frankenthaler; what I found most interesting there was the work of the twin brothers Doug & Mike Starn.
There’s a new gallery in town - Altamira - in a newly rebuilt space just off the square. It’s a *fabulous* gallery space, and they’re showing Tom Gilleon, Rocky Hawkins, John Nieto, and Amy Ringholz, among others. Wonderful, eye-popping stuff.
So - Jackson Hole, September 2009 in a nutshell.
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