Western Visions: Moments in the Wild
The National Museum of Wildlife Art’s annual Western Visions exhibition features among the best contemporary wildlife art and landscapes.
The natural world has been chronicled throughout the centuries in some of the great wildlife art and landscape paintings. From the mountain ranges to the creatures that populate them, these images resonate with almost anyone who sees them, as there is a connection to the visual beauty. Preservation of these places has been insurmountable as urbanization continues to spread. These artistic interpretations are often records of places and the animals that inhabit them, showing what could be soon lost—or often, what already is.
To aid in conservation has been the establishment of national parks and preserves around the world. These places are where animals seek refuge and where the lands are untouched. Naturalist John Muir discussed this concept in his book The Yosemite, where he comments on the effect and importance of nature on the world.
“The making of gardens and parks goes on with civilization all over the world, and they
increase both in size and number as their value is recognized. Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike,” he wrote. “This natural beauty-hunger is made manifest in the little windowsill gardens of the poor, though perhaps only a geranium slip in a broken cup, as well as in the carefully tended rose and lily gardens of the rich, the thousands of spacious city parks and botanical gardens, and in our magnificent National Parks—the Yellowstone, Yosemite, Sequoia, etc.—nature’s sublime wonderlands, the admiration and joy of the world.”
With the fleeting natural world, artists often head to the preserves and parks for observation and exploration, gathering sketches and photographs that will later be translated into studio paintings or sculptures. Some of the results of these excursions, along with other imagery that has inspired artists, will be exhibited during the 32nd annual Western Visions show and sale at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.
This year’s edition of the show, on view September 7 through October 6, will feature work by 105 artists including newcomer Allison Leigh Smith and returning artists Chris Bacon, Mick Doellinger and T. Allen Lawson. There will also be pieces by annual exhibitors such as Edward Aldrich, John Banovich, Carl Brenders, Ken Carlson, G. Russell Case, Scott Christensen, Rox Corbett, Andrew Denman, Mark Eberhard, Josh Elliott, Donna Howell-sickles, TD Kelsey, Water Matia, James Morgan, John Potter, Amy Ringholz, Lindsay Scott, Tucker Smith, Kathryn Mapes Turner, Jim Wilcox and more.
“[Wildlife art] is primarily our theme, and we have intentionally really focused on that in conjunction with our mission in maintaining a unique atmosphere to the show and sale that supports our mission as a wildlife art museum,” says Amy Goicoechea, director of programs and events at National Museum of Wildlife Art. “But we do have some amazing landscape works, for example by Scott Christensen; we have some Western work, for example by Steve Devenyns. This year the piece by Bart Walters is figurative. So it’s primarily wildlife, with some complements.”