Fostering Health and Well-Being for People, Animals, and Nature
"Free Rein"
In anticipation of a future that brings us to more opportunity to be with each other in a way that is safe and less restricting than Covid-19 would permit, we gave the 2021 Equine Art Extravaganza the theme "Free Rein". The artists interpretation of this theme ranged from visions of vibrant colors to symbols of freedom and nature. Serendipitously, they almost all gravitated to connecting with flight or feathers in their designs, and yet each was completely unique.
About the Artists
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Having worked with fabric in the garment district in New York City most of my life, 25 years ago I was introduced to the art of silk painting. Mostly self taught, I was creating custom pieces that included wedding items, accessories and home décor. This was the beginning of my silk journey that I continue today.
Using white silk as my blank canvas, I stretch my silk onto frames. I then mix my colors using French dyes. When you dip your brush into the silk dyes and place the brush onto the silk, a whole new world opens up, the colors explode in beautiful vibrant colors.
I am taking this ancient fiber and giving it a modern twist.
Feathers on equine is my concept created from my feather designs, that I create on silk, The quiet dance of these suspended feathers evoke a sense of delight as beautiful as seeing the graceful movements of wild horses running across the open plains.
On my chosen horse I plan to paint vibrant colored feathers on the horses body and incorporate my hand created silk feather pieces as a jewelry breast adornment.
A Montana-made artist, CB gains motivation from her natural surroundings. As a self-taught artist, she appreciates the use of mixed media and bringing beauty to unexpected avenues. Much of her inspiration stems from untamed and tangled thoughts, that ultimately promote awareness and restoration through creation. Streams of mindfulness promote awakening within herself and art. Surges of emotion are fluidly incorporated into her creations. She hopes to evoke feelings of peacefulness, positivity, and balance through composition and color selection.
For the concept of Free Rein, my mind was drawn to wildlife, that has the freedom to roam. To symbolize this freedom, I selected a coyote, hawk, and wildflowers for my subject matter. Coyotes trot throughout the landscape, hawks have the power of flight, and wildflowers have the capability to grow in harsh and unexpected conditions.
The background will consist of a faded gradient the blends from blue to pink to gold. Subject matter will be done in black and will consist of a silhouette of both the coyote and hawk. Various wildflowers will also be done in black.
For over 25 years, Claire has immersed herself in her dual loves of art and conservation as a working artist, naturalist and educator in Missoula, MT. All of her visual work begins with discoveries made while observing, listening, sketching and writing outdoors. This intimacy with the natural world is the foundation for her work in the world. Her hand-colored woodblock prints highlight the landscape community of the Northern Rockies and are full of vitality, warmth, and exquisite detail. Her field sketches, book illustrations and original woodblock prints are found in museums, university and private collections around the world.
Her current projects focus on gratitude, resilience and the interdependence of personal action and landscape vitality.
I envision a horse dressed in the regalia of the flowing river and its flying birds.
Dunrovin Ranch is located on the Bitterroot River, a wild and free- flowing sanctuary for migrating birds, who use the riparian area for food, reproduction, and rest. The Bitterroot River has free rein to flow from high mountain streams into a braiding valley web that rises and falls with seasonal flows. Riparian areas and wetlands like this one occupy less than 4% of Montana’s land cover, yet sustain over 80% of the bird species that live here. The birds flow, the river flows, and with our care they will retain their free rein to move and thrive with the seasons.
The canvas of the horse will include the blue stream of the river, its green willow and black cottonwood bank, its ochre hills and species of special concern such as the osprey, the bald eagle, the red-naped sapsucker, the Lewis’ woodpecker, the red-eyed vireo, the willow flycatcher, Wilson’s phalarope, Northern harrier, short-eared owl, pileated woodpecker, and Great blue heron.
I am a multi-media artist with roots in nature, health, animals, and a love of the old. Conceptually wanting a smaller footprint, I strive for repurposed materials to create my “whimsical industrialism” theme. My work contains strong movement, color, and abstraction, while searching for a balance between a structural habitat and abstract realism. I received my BFA in 2011 from Idaho State University with an emphasis in acrylic painting and metalsmithing. I have been found in art walks, farmers markets, bumpers, boats, desks, country clubs, museums, small shops, and currently a vacation rental that will be in the parade of homes.
Both sides of the horse will be a landscape with mountains concept. I like to throw in a swirl, or waves, or vines, that usually loop back into the sky. One swirl will leaf off into a feather that looks like a piano keyboard on one side. A lot depends on the horse, for design factors, and I am excited for that.
Kim Kresan is an artist, baker, and dessert enthusiast who’s hopelessly in love with her home state of Montana (she’s moved away and then back twice!) Her work dips back and forth between digital and traditional, geometric and naturalistic, and explores the flow in between. Though her subject matter is sometimes wildly divergent, it’s almost always colorful, and shiny whenever possible!
When not creating with lines and paper, Kim can be found baking breads and desserts, studying a wide variety of topics, hiking any and everywhere, working in her garden, and absorbing as much sunlight as possible.
After a year like the last, the concept of ‘free rein’, of uncaged and untethered freedom, has transitioned from an abstract idea into a huge and palpable emotion. When I think of shaking off all the worries and constraints of the world, when I think of running with freedom unbridled, I immediately think of Montana, my lucky home, my last best place. For me, there’s nothing so energetically spirit cleansing as bolting full speed through waves of long yellow grass as they toss and billow in the wind of a summer storm, and anytime I have free rein, that’s the kind of place I try to be.
As artist and founder of Flock Taxidermy, I’ve been working with the avian crowd since 2014. I’d like to think my heart is concordant with that of the song of birds. And if you ask anyone where I live, they’ll point to the clouds and say, go all the way up.
The art of Taxidermy allows me to preserve species into beautiful treasures. I take time to quietly listen to every bird’s story, while learning, respecting and hoping to connect their great journey with you. I was taught the skilled craft by a Taxidermist on staff at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The time I spent working and volunteering at the museum is held dearly, where I educated guests in the hopes of fostering responsibility, respect and wonder for our natural world. I now volunteer at Wild Skies Raptor Center, in support of our moral obligation to protect and conserve our wildlife and natural resources for future generations through education and outreach programs.
May the natural world spark your curiosity, and mortality feed the fire.
Everyone understands the bird as a symbol for freedom. It speaks with the same awe to Koreans, Australians, Czechs, Sri Lankans, Spaniards, one language. ‘Free Rein’ to me is a bird in flight, free to our boundless, Big Sky country. The horse is transformed into vibrant plumage, effortless beauty, a reminder to us all to remain light. Its mane and tail set in motion by feathers and wind. The bird used as inspiration for the coloration is our Mountain Bluebird, endemic to our mountains of Western North America. Upwards, onwards to freedom for all.
This event was proudly sponsored by Biga Pizza, First Security Bank, and Friends of Dunrovin.
Hosted by DaysAtDunrovin
