Upcoming: Lost In Fantasy Show

There Be Danger Below- Digital by Greg Newbold

A while back I was asked to curate an exhibition at Pioneer Theater Company's Loge Gallery in Salt Lake City, UT. The show will run concurrently with the theater's production of Peter and the Starcatcher, which I had the privilege of creating the poster for. The theme for the Show is Lost In Fantasy and I have invited several of my friends who work in this genre to participate in the show. I dabble in fantastical art from time to time, so I get to have my work exhibited alongside some great company.

The Lost In Fantasy show will hang from December 4 through December 23, 2014 at the Pioneer Theater Loge Gallery located at 300 South  1400 East on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City. The gallery is open to the public during regular business hours. Most of the art in the show will be available for purchase, so go and pick yourself out a great Christmas present or simply enjoy the fantastic art.

Here are the show bios of who will be exhibiting:

Angel of Flight- by Howard Lyon

Howard Lyon

Howard began his career studying illustration. For 15 years he has worked in the video game industry and as a freelance illustrator. His work can be found in products from Dungeons and Dragon’s books, World of Warcraft cards, Magic the Gathering and Star Wars.  He has studied art in Italy, France and the Grand Central Academy in New York. He has combined these experiences to expand his subject matter to create inspirational pieces in the style of some of his favorite old masters: William Bouguereau, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and John William Waterhouse. Howard is also a frequent contributor to the Muddy Colors blog.

Rush - by Ron Spears - 36" x 24" Oil

Ron Spears

Along with being an award winning Art Director for Wizards of the Coast, Ron Spears created hundreds of illustrations for Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, Harry Potter Card Game, Upper Deck, Blizzard Entertainment and others. In 2014 he created the art for Nevada’s 150 Years of Statehood, Forever Stamp.

Ron has also illustrated book covers, magazine articles and the children’s book  “Dad Are You The Tooth Fairy?” written by actor Jason Alexander.

As a Lead Illustrator for International Game Technology, and an Art Director for Sierra On-Line, Ron has created countless illustrations for dozens of video games.

In January 2015, Ron will begin his new position as Chair of the Illustration and Sequential Art departments at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.

He received his BA from The University of Puget Sound, and his MFA in Illustration, from The University of Hartford.

The Guardian - by Kimberly Kinkaid

Kimberly Kinkaid

I’m a freelance artist who has returned to art after a 30 year hiatus to raise my family. I’ve studied with various teachers, including Jeff Hein and Hala Wittwer. I’ve attended the Illustrators Master Class in Amherst, MA several times as well as Rebecca Guay’s online course, SmART School. My work has been in Imagine FX and Spectrum and Society of Illustrators 50, West. In 2013, I was selected as one of Muddy Color’s Rising Stars for Spectrum Fantasy Art II. I will be included in Women of Wonder, a book featuring the women working in the fantasy art industry.

The poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “I dwell in Possibility”. That’s what I love about what I do and why fantasy art entices me. Anything that can be envisioned or imagined is possible. I love the challenge of visually expressing my personal voice when telling a story through illustration. It’s the quieter, insightful moment of storytelling that lures me…the intake of breath, the pensive gaze, or the moment of wonder. I prefer to bring the viewer up close to the subject’s face, using the subtle nuances of human expression to convey the intended emotion.

Kokopelli - by Val Paul Taylor

Val Paul Taylor

“My art is for people who like pictures.”

If you sit down and talk with Val Paul Taylor I guarantee you will open a door to a conversation rich with wonderful stories.

I say wonderful carefully and deliberately.  While Val’s spontaneous stories are a tapestry woven with threads of life, emotion, purpose, fantasy, aspiration, and nobility, wonder, humor and surprise—they also create a vivid picture and hang it for you to treasure in the gallery of your mind.

His art is exactly the same, a visual expression of what Val is himself. Val credits much of his artistic intuition to being a “hybrid.”  He’s been a Graphic Designer, Art Director, Creative Director, Illustrator, and Painter—and to that you could add Successful Businessman and Consultant. Also Teacher, Father, Grandparent, Counselor, Youth Leader, Fisherman and a lot of other things that make him a keen observer and highly effective problem solver.

Val’s art skills were honed by his studies at Columbus College of Art and Design, and Brigham Young University where he first earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. After a lengthy working career in the Pacific Northwest in a series of prestigious publishing, design and illustration roles, including Raindog Creative, his own highly rated studio, he returned to The University of Hartford Art School in Hartford Connecticut for a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration.

Val has a personal pantheon of heroes as diverse as the Renaissance painters of Northern Europe, Mickey Mouse’s dad, his kindergarten teacher Mrs. Beck, and modern influences from political cartoonists like Jeff McNelly, to artist W. Heath Robinson, creator of Rube Goldberg-like mechanical contraptions, to animated film pioneer, Winsor Mackay and Modernist painter Wassily Kandinsky.

Which only means that when you approach Val’s work, in the immortal words of Monte Python, you should probably be prepared for “something completely different.”

Grabbing Hands - by Chad Grohman

Chad Grohman

For the past 15 years, I have worked primarily as an illustrator, but also as a painter, a designer, and a teacher of illustration. I am a father, an artist, a distance runner, and most recently, a novice Buddhist priest.

I hold a BFA in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology, 1994, and an MFA in Illustration from University of Hartford, 2010. As a painter, my primary medium is gouache on hot press watercolor board. As a freelance illustrator, I work in gouache, as well as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. As an industry professional, my work is centered in the advertising and editorial genres. I am currently employed by Fisher Price for design and illustration and am a tattoo apprentice in Buffalo, NY.

The Battle - by Christopher Thornock

Christopher Thornock

I received my BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and my MFA from Brigham Young University. I normally paint works based on visual perception but fantasy illustration is my secret hobby. Shhhh, don’t tell anybody. I live in Utah with my wife, children and pesky mini-schnauzer. When I am not sitting at my easel I am teaching as an adjunct professor at BYU. 

And last but certainly not least, I am pleased that my friend, mentor, fantasy art legend and all around great guy James Christensen has consented to add his work to the show also.

The Listener- By James Christensen - Courtesy of The Greenwich Workshop

James Christensen

Inspired by the world's myths, fables and tales of imagination, James C. Christensen wants his work to add up to more than a beautiful - if sometimes "curious" looking work of art. Having taught art professionally for over 20 years, he likes to think of the world as his classroom. His hope is that through whatever he creates-be it a porcelain, fine art print or book-he can convey a message, inspiration or a simple laugh. He believes that teaching people to use their imagination helps us find solutions to sooth the stresses of everyday life-or get a little lift to help us keep going. In short: all things are possible when you share Christensen's philosophy that "Believing is Seeing."

Christensen was born in 1942 and raised in Culver City, California. He studied painting at Brigham Young University and, for a while, the University of California at Los Angeles before finishing his formal education at BYU. Since then, he has had one-man shows in the West and the Northeast and his work is prized in collections throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Christensen has also won all the professional art honors the World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention can bestow, as well as multiple Chesley Awards from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists. Christensen has been designated as a “Utah Art Treasure,” one of Utah’s Top 100 Artists by the Springville Museum of Art and received the Governor’s Award for Art awarded by the Utah Arts Council recognizing the significance of Christensen’s artwork to Utah’s cultural communities. He was inducted into the U.S. Art magazine’s Hall of Fame and is an Honored Alumnus at Brigham Young University for his contributions to fine art and education.

And of course, me:

Angel of Inspiration- by Greg Newbold mixed media/oil 18" x 24"

Greg Newbold

Greg has been drawing and painting the world around him since the age of three and has spent over twenty years creating artwork for such notable clients as Simon & Schuster, Random House, Heinz Foods, Sony Pictures, Fedex/Kinkos, Harper Collins, Smuckers, Kleenex, Boys’Life Magazine The New York Times and American Express. Greg’s illustrations have received honors from Society of Illustrators, Society of Illustrators-Los Angeles Communication Arts, Spectrum and 3x3, among others.

His Illustrated children’s books include The Touch of the Master’s Hand, Winter Lullaby, Spring Song and The Barnyard Night before Christmas.

Greg’s influences include regionalist painters such as Maynard Dixon, and Grant Wood and LeConte Stewart as well as Golden Age illustrators N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish and J.C Leyendecker. He also has a passion for oil painting and in 2013 his painting Beckoning the Peace of Wild Things was purchased by the Springville Museum of Art for its permanent collection. You may find his gallery works at David Ericson Fine Art and Alderwood Fine Art in Salt Lake City.

Greg earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at BYU where he also has taught and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Hartford.

If you get a chance to be in Salt Lake City this next month, please come check out the show. It has been fun putting it together and I am grateful for the generous participation of so many great artists and friends.