|
Paris. New York. Rome. All well-known big cities chock full of artists waiting for inspiration to strike. But there are a handful of artists who have eschewed the noise and clamor of the city and found their muse in the sagebrush covered valleys and dusty peaks of the northern Nevada deserts. Here are a few of them.
Sophie Sheppard is a Great Basin painter and writer who lives on a ranch in Surprise Valley. Known for her large magic realist watercolors, she has recently started painting what she calls non-fiction – oil plein air paintings. "I have been totally seduced by the beauty that surrounds us here," she says. As daughter of well-known Nevada artists, Craig and Yolande Sheppard, and granddaughter of the painter, Oscar Brousse Jacobson, Sophie follows family tradition as a third generation painter. Lake City, CA • 530.279.6260
Bill Bliss is a Nevada native known for his watercolors of northern Nevada's rapidly vanishing
historic buildings. His exquisite works represent his family's extraordinary connection to the region. Stremmel Gallery • 1400 So. Virginia • Reno, NV • 786.0558
Bryan Christiansen hunts the Great Basin for abandoned couches, armchairs, tables, mattresses and bed frames for his unique re-creations and deconstructions. Bryan's sculptures, which he refers to as "trophies" are exquisitely crafted, featuring exposed hand-stitchery. Stremmel Gallery • 1400 So. Virginia • Reno, NV • 786.0558
Larry Williamson scours the desert around his studio in Virginia City for the aged wood he uses in his enigmatic and fantastic sculptures. An Idaho native, Larry has spent his entire life in the Great Basin and High Sierra, and his work has been inspired by their rough terrain and the solitude he finds in the outdoors. "It is in this solitude that I hope to find a little mojo to put into my work". Stremmel Gallery • 1400 So. Virginia • Reno, NV • 786.0558
A Nevada resident for almost thirty years, Craig Mitchell finds his inspiration in the beauty of the Sierra, the Nevada Desert and California's coast and valleys. Craig takes extended trips into remote wilderness areas of the West where he is able to paint nature's true beauty and he finds his view of the earth is unfiltered. "My personal goal... is to capture a transient moment in time and place that eludes us in a busy world." Stremmel Gallery • 1400 So. Virginia • Reno, NV • 786.0558
"It's strange how a seemingly insignificant experience as a youngster made such a lasting impression on me that it affected the way I create." Sharon Maczko's masterful watercolors from still-life interior scenes are inspired from her journey as a child through an abandoned mansion. Her work entices the viewer to invent their own narrative for them.
Stremmel Gallery • 1400 So. Virginia • Reno, NV • 786.0558
Jean LeGassick spent more than 45 years in California before moving to the small historic mining town of Silver City, Nevada. Known for her plein-air paintings of American landscape, Jean has recently decided to paint a 6" x 8" painting every day. Great Basin Art Gallery • 110 So. Curry • Carson City, NV • 882.8905
Considered by many as the consummate Nevada realist painter, Jeff Nicholson has been painting the life and landscape of Nevada for more than 30 years. Great Basin Art Gallery • 110 So. Curry • Carson City, NV • 882.8905
Known for her breathtaking oil landscape paintings, Phyllis Shafer believes that a transcendental essence lies at the heart of all natural forms and objects, which she strives to portray in her work. "Nature, in its various manifestations, has always provided the raw material for my artistic investigations." Stremmel Gallery • 1400 So. Virginia • Reno, NV • 786.0558
|
