Page 25 - TheRussellCatalogue2017

2017 ART in ACTionM Participants
miTCh BAird
NANCy duNLOp CAwdrEy
Mitch Baird has a strong conviction that great artistic communication depends on good draftsmanship, design, and vision. His artistic desire is to “portray a positive visual statement and hope the viewer will experience what I see and in some sense be inspired, uplifted, or moved by my painting, whether it is of a small intimate setting or a grandiose subject.” He is a Signature Member of the Oil Painters
of America and the American Impressionist Society.
Collected on ve continents, Linda Besse’s oil paintings have garnered applause from numerous quadrants. She has been chosen the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s 2017 Featured Artist and the Safari Club International’s 2014 Conservation Artist of
the Year and has won numerous other awards and distinctions. Besse strives to convey a story in her work and paint the inherent beauty in the world around us.
Michael Blessing’s innovative oil paintings merge traditional subjects with contemporary elements. Blessing is particularly drawn to the nostalgia associated with neon, as evidenced by his “Neon West” series, which brings historical gures to life with mid- twentieth–century pop in uences. His work combines strong compositions, vibrant color, and bold lines. His gurative work and paintings of vintage Western nostalgia are widely appealing and have an edgy quality that is both contemporary and timeless.
Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey
is a colorist with a strong sense of design. She is a founding member of the Russell Skull Society of Artists and has participated regularly in the C.M. Russell auctions. Cawdrey
also participates in exhibitions at the National Museum of Wildlife Art,
the Gilcrease Museum, the Western Masters, and the National Cowboy Museum. Cawdrey was the featured artist for the thirtieth anniversary of the 2014 Jackson Hole Festival, where her painting Forever Jackson set a new auction sales record.
Troy Collins resides in beautiful western Montana and shows in galleries throughout the West. As
a nationally renowned landscape impressionist, Collins has created paintings that have hung in the Pentagon, the California State Capital and the U.S. Embassy in the United Kingdom His work has been featured in more than twenty- ve magazines over the past ve years, including
e Big Sky Journal, Western Art and Architecture, Western Art Collector and Cowboys and Indians. He has also been a featured artist in the C.M. Russell Exhibition and Sale.
Tom Dean is a completely self-taught artist working in
exotic woods. His one-of-a-kind hand-carved sculptures have sold to private collectors, corporations, and individuals across the United States. In 2009, he was introduced as one the best woodworkers
in the country by Cowboy & Indians magazine. In 2012, he was awarded one of the highest awards given by the Montana Arts Council and co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts—the Montana Circle of American Masters.
LiNdA BESSE
TrOy COLLiNS
miChAEL BLESSiNG
TOm dEAN