Trailside Galleries, Into the West, Show Preview, Western Art Collector March 2016

INSIDE Cowgirl Up! • The Russell • State of the Art: Colorado • Western Landscapes MARCH 2016

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UPCOMING GROUP SHOW

S HOW LO C AT ION S COT T S DA L E , A Z

Up to 30 works March 21-April 3, 2016 Trailside Galleries 7340 E. Main Street, Suite 120 Scottsdale, AZ 85251 (480) 945-7751

Keeping tradition

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Z.S. Liang, Buffalo Scout, oil on canvas, 36 x 24"

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oving to a new exhibition space in Scottsdale, Arizona, Trailside Galleries looks to keep its tradition of being a “crossroads for both established and new talent and to be the point of connection between people who make art and people who love it.” With the show Into the West: The Trailside Tradition Continues, the gallery will feature Western works with subject matter ranging from realistic wildlife to impressionistic figures.

Gallery artists represented in Into the West include Bill Anton, Bruce Cheever, Brent Cotton, Jenness Cortez, John DeMott, Patti Dobson, Robert Duncan, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Z.S. Liang, Dan Mieduch, JoAnn Peralta, Ian Ramsay, Cynthia Rigden, Alfredo Rodriguez, Howard Rogers, Matt Smith, Tim Solliday, William Suys, Curt Walters, Morgan Weistling, Dinah Worman, and Dustin Van Wechel.

Mieduch’s piece The Joy of Youth brings the Western theme into the forefront with three Native American warriors on horseback with spears at the ready.

“There is a certain creative energy that we enjoy in the prime of life. It compels us forward into the commitments that become the fabric of our careers,” explains Mieduch of his piece.

“I used the elements of water and sunlight as metaphors for optimism and courage, while trying to show the grandest scene with the fewest of elements.”

Painting Western themes continues to provide Cortez with such personal reward.

“Since I was a child growing up in southern Indiana, the culture and history of Native peoples has been an important personal interest. To be able to honor those noble people is both a privilege and a joy,” she says.

When Cortez is painting, her image takes on a life of its own from the first strike of inspiration all the way through to the finished painting. She conducts hours of research, makes thousands of choices and many pieces surprise the artist with the twists and turns they take.

Dinah Worman, Barn in Winter, oil on canvas, 48 x 48"

Ian Ramsay, Rocky Mountain Cross Country, watercolor, 20 x 16"

Jenness Cortez, Alluring, acrylic on mahogany panel, 40 x 30"

“My Alluring painting is part of a series of works I call, Homage to the Creative Spirit,” she says. “Vermeer’s fascinating Girl with a Pearl Earring invites the viewer into a personal relationship that hints of mystery and promise.

The chess pieces, wine, luscious fruit and open book all seem to suggest the joys of an imagined romance.”

Before he was a full-time artist, Ramsay was an architect, which allowed him to work on

Dan Mieduch, The Joy of Youth, oil, 24 x 36"

ski resorts near Salt Lake City. He uses those experiences to inspire his pieces, as is the case with Rocky Mountain Cross Country.

“I never became a serious skier myself, but the visual beauty of color and contrast in the mountains always fascinated me,” he says.

“Painting the slopes and the skiers allows me to appreciate that. This scene was actually inspired by time spent in the mountains when I was a student. It is a dramatic scene and I like

to paint drama.”

Into the West: The Trailside Tradition Continues will be on display from March 21 through April 3, with an open house March 31 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Trailside Galleries’ new location in Scottsdale.

Fo r a d i re c t l i n k to t he e x h i b it i n g g a l l e r y g o to w w w. we ste r n a r tc o l l e c to r. c o m

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