Kneeland Gallery’s new show features Idaho painters
By DANA DUGAN
It seems appropriate in these interesting times we live in to look inward. Not just toward our lives and our families, our social connections and our work, but where we live. Isolation can do that to a person. Kneeland Gallery in Ketchum has always celebrated Idaho artists, and for its new winter-to-spring transitional exhibition, “State of the Art,” the gallery will show eight different artists who live and work in the Gem State.
“Idaho is a local theme that our clients are familiar with,” said Carey Molter, gallery director. “This will be a themed group show of Idaho artists that will take us into spring.
“There will be landscapes and figurative work, some of which will be more affordable as we’re moving into slack.”
But, most importantly are the array of talented artists whose work will be displayed. These include Virginie Baude, Ovanes Berberian, John Horejs, Lori McNee, Robert Moore, Karen Niederhut, James Palmersheim, Silas Thompson, and Bart Walker.
A master colorist, Ovanes Berberian lives in Rigby, and also spends time painting in Tuscany. He will be represented in this show with some new seascapes of Hawaii. The Armenian-born Berberian is a plein-air purist who is inspired by a direct confrontation with his subject in the wild.
John Horejs has been with Kneeland longer than any other painter, Molter said. “The gallery will show new paintings from him, spring subjects of aspen trees and river scenes. He spends half his year in Burley and the other half in Phoenix. He’s a wonderful mentor.”
Horejs’s work is done directly on gallery-wrapped box canvases that are designed to be hung without frames. He paints the entire canvas in red, then works on the painting on top of that, giving his work an unusual warmth.
Robert Moore lives on a farm in the heart of the Snake River basin in southern Idaho.
“He’s interesting to watch,” Molter said. “He puts his canvases down flat on a table, or on the back of an ATV for plein air, and squeezes tubes of paint right onto the canvas. He then moves the paint around with a palette knife and both hands.”
In a different vein is the work of James Palmersheim, of Moscow. His stunning pastels are very near to photorealism. As a fisherman, he is drawn to Idaho’s rivers and lakes, including Silver Creek and Redfish Lake. Part of his process is to sand his paper so it’s smooth, like a very fine-grain paper.
“It makes the blue of the water almost fluid and gives each piece a super-soft and smooth look,” Molter said. “Then he’ll use a wet brush for finer areas, like each little reed or blade of grass. He’s wonderful with reflections, so many of his paintings show a tree or mountain reflected. I have four of his up for this show.”
Sun Valley artist Lori McNee will also have a couple of local landscapes in the show, one of the Big Wood River, and one moody moonlight scene with cows, as well as a couple of still-lifes.
There will also be several smaller pieces by artists from Idaho that aren’t landscapes, such as some figurative work, and some beach scenes by Karen Niederhut. There are also paintings by Virginie Baude, a French painter who lives in Tetonia. She paints wolves, with part of the proceeds from her paintings going to a wolf charity. As well, a protégé of Robert Moore’s, Garth Williams, who does animals, has some bear paintings in the show.
“Idaho—it’s a focus but not our sole focus,” Molter said. “We have artists who live in the West. In fact, we have as many artists from Utah as from Idaho. Of course, the Plein Air Festival is the biggest thing we do every summer in early August. The workshops feature many of the same artists we’ll show in this exhibition.”
There will not be an opening on Friday, but the exhibit, “State of the Art,” will open during regular business hours and will stay up through April.
For more information on Kneeland and the Plein Air Festival, visit KneelandGallery.com.