The Jackson Hole 5: Important Painters from the West Cartersville, GA
Five artists with ties to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, join forces for an exhibition celebrating the beauty and wildlife of the region.
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is one of the hotbeds for Western art in the United States, bringing thousands of visitors to the city each year for its famed Fall Arts Festival in September. With its stunning landscapes and bounty of wildlife, the area has also long been home to some of the leading Western artists. February 13 through June 7, five artists with ties to the city will see their artwork head east to Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, for an exhibition celebrating the beauty and the creatures of the area.
The Jackson Hole 5: Important Painters from the West is an all-women exhibition featuring more than 35 paintings by Amy Lay, Amy Ringholz, Kathryn Mapes Turner, Kathy Wipfler and September Vhay, who have ties to the famed city. Their artwork complements through subject matter, but highlights their innovative techniques and styles.
“The opportunity to put five terrific painters together in a group show like this, representing a specific geographic area does not come along very often,” says Seth Hopkins, executive director of the Booth. “While all five of them happen to be women artists, we will be focused on the quality of their work and the nature of the geography and wildlife, which surrounds their homes and studios that is the common theme in their art much more than their gender.”
Vhay visited Jackson Hole for a ski season after college and fell in love with the area. “I stayed for one more ski season and one more summer and then 22 years passed and I looked up to find this valley my home,” she says. Among her works in the show is Banjo, a painting of a colt that caught her attention because of his “expression of joy, motion and grace.”
Lay says, “My original connection to Jackson Hole may be a bit different than the others. In the beginning I ventured there purely for the art market and the dream and in comparison to
where I’m from, Jackson Hole is quite urban and sophisticated. It was, for me, ‘the big time.’ I grew up in what most would consider the rustic old west and Jackson Hole for me was my first real experience with a new demographic, new culture and entirely new perspective on the art world. It truly changed my life.”
Wipfler arrived in Jackson Hole in 1980 to learn to paint the landscape from life, and she has had the opportunity to meet artists and come to know many of the families in the valley. “Jackson has long been an art destination for painters and collectors, and I have made friends in the gallery and collector realms not possible in more ‘art isolated’ areas.” One of her pieces for the show is Spirit of the West, a view of Volcano Peak on the border of Utah and Nevada. She says, “My location study included an old stock loading chute, but for this larger painting I featured the wild horses that we occasionally see in the Great Basin.”
Turner says that another tie the artists have is their commitment to their artwork. “For decades we have each held a dedicated focus, working hard as professional artists striving for our highest level of excellence and expression that we can achieve,” she says. “This is why we are grateful for the Booth for recognizing that in this small town in Wyoming great art is being made.”