2008 Past Exhibits

May 3 – July 27, 2008
Special Exhibition Gallery

This exhibition featured over 75 drawings, small paintings and memorabilia from the A.P. Hays Collection and 15 studio paintings from the stellar collection of Brigham Young University Museum of Art. The Hays Collection included works by two of Dixon’s wives, Dorothea Lange and Edith Hamlin. An array of recently handmade frames included the artist’s hand-carved monogram and logo.

April 8 – June 1, 2008
Borderlands Gallery

Mark Gilliland’s black and white photographs give us a behind the scenes look at the vernacular rodeo traditions of small-town America. In fact, this exhibition featured images taken at a recent rodeo in Ringgold just south of the Tennessee State Line in Georgia. The exhibition included a photograph that was awarded Grand Prize in a competition for Cowboys and Indians Magazine.

April 1 – June 22, 2008
Bergman Theatre Lobby Gallery

Bob Boze Bell and Thom Ross are life-long students of Western history; yet choose to create their artwork in a stylized manner that separates it from traditional Western realism. This exhibition focused on their work related to famous individuals such as Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, “Wild Bill” Hickok, Billy “The Kid” and other historical figures.

February 12 – April 6, 2008
Borderlands Gallery

Julia Knight’s credentials as a bronze sculptor serve as an example of the artistic wealth of Northwest Georgia. Although not a Western artist, her work reflects the Western American spirit of celebrating the diversity of the human and animal personalities that surround us. This exhibit featured a number of her bronze portrait busts, including her depiction of President Jimmy Carter, commissioned by the Booth Western Art Museum.

February 12 – April 6, 2008
Borderlands Gallery

Ken McLesky spent his formative years in the urban environs of Atlanta, studying illustration at Atlanta College of Art. However, his discovery of the open spaces and landmarks of the American West inspired him to focus on the beauty and power of these sites in his landscape paintings. The artwork in this exhibition anticipated the coming of spring and the renewal of life.

January 8 – March 30, 2008
Bergman Theatre Lobby Gallery

This exhibition included more than 20 works of art by famed Western artist Paul Calle and his talented son Chris. Paul’s depictions of mountain men in both oil and pencil are highly prized by collectors. His depictions of explorers of new frontiers extend from high elevations to space travel. Chris has followed in his father’s footsteps by drawing mountain men, but has also made a name for himself as a designer of postage stamps with more than 200 stamps in circulation. In addition to work by each artist, collaborative projects were also on display.

December 22, 2007 – April 13, 2008
Special Exhibition Gallery

This exhibition featured the art of more than a dozen Western artists who work in a distinctively regional style. While these artists have much in common with the Regionalist movement of the 1930s, they are also quite contemporary, employing modernist techniques and often dealing with poignant social issues. Participating artists selected by guest curator James Burns included: Woody Gwyn, Elaine Holien, Tricia Higgins Hurt, Trish Booth, Howard Post, Doug Smith, Jim Vogel, Josh Eliot, Gary Ernest Smith, Louisa McElwain, Ed Sandoval, Rebecca Tobey, Joshua Tobey and Mark Yale Harris.

December 18, 2007 – February 10, 2008
Borderlands Gallery

This exhibit featured vibrant Southwestern landscapes by New York artist Lynne Friedman. Utilizing vivid color and rich texture, Friedman saturates her canvases with the light and warmth of the desert sun. Her masterful interplay of intense colors creates emotionally charged paintings reminiscent of the French Fauves in their vivacity and expressiveness.

December 18, 2007 – February 10, 2008
Borderlands Gallery

Alvina Yepa comes from a family of artisans of the Jemez (“Hay-mess”) Pueblo in Northern New Mexico. The native people of Jemez speak Towa, a language spoken nowhere else on Earth. Likewise, artistic traditions are passed-down from parents to their children, just as Alvina learned pottery making from her mother. Her exquisite works demonstrate an integration of traditional nature motifs with her own contemporary innovations.

December 18, 2007 – February 10, 2008
Borderlands Gallery

For more than 10 years artist Al Napoletano and collector Bill Zigrang have traded letters and small gifts. Many of the envelopes and letters sent by Napoletano have included small drawings or paintings, done in a style similar to the famous letters of artist Charlie Russell. This exhibition showcased more than 20 examples drawn from Zigrang’s private collection.