Ann Korologos Gallery presents Women of the Wild West, a group exhibition honoring the cultures, landscapes, and history of the American West through mixed media sculptures and paintings of Janet Nelson, Peggy Judy, Heather Foster, and 15 other contemporary female painters, sculptors and photographers. On view October 7 through November 14 at Ann Korologos Gallery in Basalt, Colorado. 

“This exhibition honors the depth and breadth of the roles and perspective of women in the Wild West of the United States captured by 18 female artists,” shares gallery director, Sue Edmonds. “These artists honor the work ethic of cultivating the land, while also showcasing the strong sense of community, whimsy and levity required to sustain such a challenging way of life. These women, collectively, honor the people and culture of ranches, Native American traditions, and the landscapes, flora and fauna that bring joy and possibility to the Wild West.” 

Janet Nelson grew up near San Francisco, CA. Nelson creates amazingly detailed sculptures of Native American clothing and horses using a unique method of creating artifacts using contemporary materials: painted mixed polymers, paper laminated with wood glue, and historic elements. These materials are then distressed to give the weathered look of time. The artist enjoys creating intense visual bombardment, driven by intuition and impulse, without boundaries or restrictions. 

Peggy Judy is a native of Colorado who lives in the “cowboy country” of Crawford, and has been smitten with Colorado’s natural beauty her entire life. Judy finds much of her inspiration from horses and their riders, drawing from her hands-on experience breeding, raising, training, and selling Warmblood Sport horses, and frequenting community ranching events. Peggy paints traditional western subject matter with a unique, expressive interpretation. In her work, negative space is as important to the balance as the positive space. Drawing and draftsmanship is the skeleton of her work, but her use of color, shape, and line work take the subject beyond the usual.    

Heather Foster of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has been working on an impressionistic cattle series for nearly a decade, visiting ranches and dairy farms, and capturing the personality of western livestock. Foster also depicts the wild landscapes of Colorado, seen in her paintings of Gunnison’s Black Canyon and her study of the water’s edge. Her latest work merges these two decades-long processes, placing cattle amongst the scenery of Colorado in familiar places like Salida. Foster enjoys showing evidence of her thought process, leaving the changes and refinements in drawing and the composition evident on the canvas. 

Women of the Wild West featuring Janet Nelson, Peggy Judy, and Heather Foster will remain on view through November 14, 2020 both virtually and in the gallery. For more information, please visit Ann Korologos Gallery at 211 Midland Avenue in Basalt, call (970) 927-9668 or email art@korologosgallery.com.