DOUGLAS AAGARD & LIZ WOLF
Nature’s Calling
Douglas Aagard and Liz Wolf will participate in a joint exhibition, Nature’s Calling, at Manitou Galleries on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 11 through November 3.
Both artists revel in their subjects, seeking and experiencing a spiritual presence in landscapes and animals. Aagard says, “I search for the spirit or emotion a subject evokes in me, and strive to find a way to put it on canvas. It’s often a magical process. I love being an artist. There are so many wonderful discoveries that are made through close scrutiny of the land whose wonder I would have totally missed had it not been for my profession.” Wolf comments that her sculptures embody a universal spirit in many ways. She intends for them to reflect a “spirit within” and refers to their retaining the anima, the breath of life. They combine human and animal forms and the magical qualities of many cultures including those of the
Native Americans of the Southwest where she now lives.
She says, “I see myself as a storyteller and when I am sculpting I feel the sculpture take control of its own creation. I listen and we continue to work together.” Her bronze sculpture Awakening features a man wearing a deer mask. It references the Yaqui deer dance, in which the dancer transcends himself and his setting—a dirt square or a theater stage—and becomes the deer.
Aagard composes his colorful landscapes with a palette knife. He lives in Utah, immersed in its flora, fauna and seasons. He says, “As I travel around in the ever-ongoing quest for new and wonderful subjects to paint,” he recounts, “I am struck again and again with the many faces that beauty takes. But what gives me the greatest pleasure is the feelings that the land evokes. I often feel as if my soul is enlarged, and my spirit recharged as well as an overwhelming sense of gratitude.”
His Tree at the Corner is a masterful composition although he often finds the texture of a painting more exciting than its composition. The road in the foreground leads the eye to the tree, which could be the end of the eye’s journey. The yellow cottonwoods, however, lead the eye around it and open up the vista behind.