The Pastel Society of New Mexico’s 2025 “Enchanted Colors Exhibition” will be held at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico. There will be a display of 66 pastel paintings exhibited by fine artists from across the USA, with the majority of them being from New Mexico and immediately surrounding States.

More from the organizers:

Taos, a wonderful art community, has been host to our exhibition for now, going on its fifth year and we enjoy our relationship with the organizers and administrators of this great museum. The show will display works in two spacious gallery rooms.

The jurors of acceptance are Bruce A. Gomez, William Schneider, and Marie Tippets. The jurors “sculpt” the exhibition while the judge grants awards to several of the finest works. The Judge of Awards will be Lisa Gleim. Numerous Cash and Sponsor Awards are expected to total more than $10,000 in value.

The exhibition will run from March 22 – June 1, 2025 with the Gala Opening Celebration and Awards Ceremony held on Saturday, March 22. Additionally, there will be a Virtual Interactive Online Exhibition with 56 additional painting images by the artists who requested to have their works displayed “Digitally Only” showing all of the paintings in their relative sizes.

Learn more about “Enchanted Colors” here.

Attention Art Collectors!
May 20-22, 2025: Visit the Plein Air Convention & Expo’s robust pop-up art gallery at the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, Nevada, where hundreds of artists, including our master faculty, will have studio and plein air works on display and ready to purchase. Register for the full event at PleinAirConvention.com now.

Browse more western art here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is presenting “True To Form: Academic Figure Studies from the Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries,” an exhibition that celebrates the significance of the human figure in academic art training. The exhibition is on view through April 27, 2025 and will feature a curated selection of 26 works.

More from the organizers:

The human body has been a central motif in art for centuries, serving a variety of symbolic, philosophical, and aesthetic roles. From the classical and Renaissance periods to the 19th century, the nude in particular became a key focus for developing technical proficiency and expressing universal human experiences. Within the academic tradition, institutions like the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris believed the ability to depict the human body was the benchmark of an accomplished artist, and that mastery of anatomy, proportion, and movement was essential to the visual language of art.

Curated by Lyme Academy Co-Artistic Directors Amaya Gurpide and Jordan Sokol, this exhibition explores a period in art history when technological, scientific, and societal changes inspired a transition from idealized representations of the body to more direct, observational studies. The works featured here – generously loaned by the Art Students League of New York and several private collectors – reveal this shift away from classical idealization toward a more naturalistic understanding of the human form. So too, they offer a glimpse into the academic training and philosophies that defined a transformative era.

“With this exhibition, we invite visitors to reflect on the enduring relevance of the human figure in art, and to appreciate the rich legacy of academic training that continues to inspire artists and educators today,” says Sokol. “The human figure remains central to the curriculum at Lyme Academy and continues to play a vital role in contemporary art. While modern expressions have become infinitely varied, this exhibition offers an opportunity to locate the figure’s origins in the foundational studio exercises that began centuries ago.”

For more information, please visit lymeacademy.edu/exhibitions.

Fine Art Collection on View > In Salisbury, North Carolina, the Waterworks Visual Arts Center is hosting the exhibition “Never Before Seen … Modern Masterpieces from the Collection of Julian and Josie Robertson.” On view are 40 paintings and sculptures created by 28 European artists including Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Fantin-Latour, Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky, and de Kooning, spanning a range of movements from impressionism to abstract expressionism.

All of the works are from the collection of the late New York City philanthropists Julian and Josie Robertson, who began buying art in earnest after Julian (1932–2022) founded the hedge fund Tiger Management in the 1980s. He was born in Salisbury and remained dedicated to his hometown for the rest of his life.

It was there that he learned the importance of community from his parents, Blanche and Julian Robertson, both active members of the town’s church and civic life. Blanche was also instrumental in establishing Waterworks as a recognized organization in the late 1970s.

On a national level, the younger Robertsons became generous supporters of the arts, medical science, education, environmental conservations, and efforts to combat poverty. In 1997, they established the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation to support causes in Salisbury and in Rowan County, of which it is the county seat.

As plans were laid to tour the Robertson Collection, it was agreed that it should be seen in Salisbury first. Its 12-month presentation there is attracting visitors from throughout the region, and it’s impressive that Waterworks and the foundation have partnered to ensure that every child in Rowan County — some 19,000 students — will visit during the show’s long run.

Exhibition Details At a Glance:
“Never Before Seen … Modern Masterpieces from the Collection of Julian and Josie Robertson”
Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Salisbury, North Carolina
waterworks.org
Through August 30, 2025

View more art museum announcements here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

Wildlife Art on View (and much more):
Southeastern Wildlife Exposition
Charleston, South Carolina
sewe.com
February 14-16, 2025

The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE) is ready to celebrate its 43rd anniversary and fill the streets of downtown Charleston with animal lovers of all stripes. Once again, SEWE will program a fine art gallery and an exhibition of artisans and craftsmen alongside its popular demonstrations of dogs and birds of prey in action, plus lively displays by conservation organizations and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. Drawing at least 50,000 visitors each year, these activities highlight the urgent need to protect wildlife and preserve our natural resources.

The art exhibition features more than 90 painters and sculptors, both established and emerging. They range from the hand-carved feather artistry of sculptor Chris Maynard (Olympia, Washington) to international big game painters like Grant Hacking (South Africa) and Audubon-inspired artists such as Art LaMay (Palm Coast, Florida).

This year’s featured artist is Ray Brown, whose charcoal drawing “Veiled” (above) will be visible everywhere on the festival’s official poster. Illustrated here, this original wildlife art will be on display at the Gallery by SEWE, then auctioned during the VIP gala and sale on February 13. Brown has joined a small, distinguished circle of SEWE’s featured artists including John Banovich, Greg Beecham, Kathleen Dunphy, Julie Jeppsen, and Ryan Kirby.

“This is truly an honor and a validation of the work I’ve done over the years,” Brown declares. “But more than that, it’s a full-circle moment for me. SEWE was the first show where I exhibited my work, more than 20 years ago. To be chosen now takes me back to that first time I walked into the ballroom, and I feel proud of what I’ve accomplished since then. I’m grateful that SEWE has continued to support me and provide a platform to showcase my work and passion for wildlife.”

Brown is known for evocative charcoal pieces, and his choice of medium reflects his commitment to simplicity and authenticity. He strives to convey profound depth and emotion through textures and thoughtful compositions. In “Veiled,” he depicts an enormous bull moose, which symbolizes the noble qualities of wildlife.

Brown’s journey began with a B.S. degree in visual communications, which led to a career in commercial illustration and graphic design in his hometown of Baltimore. Longing to capture the spirit of nature, Brown seized an opportunity in 2003 to relocate to Southern California, where he has pursued fine art full-time.

Throughout the year, SEWE welcomes art lovers to its Gallery by SEWE in The Shops at Charleston Place downtown. This space is a continuation of the festival’s popular fine art venue, and is also home to a program of artist residencies.

Given its location in southern Connecticut, it’s appropriate that the Fairfield University Art Museum has organized the exhibition “Dawn & Dusk: Tonalism in Connecticut.” It explores the development of the tonalist style in American landscape painting from the 1870s — a movement that reacted against the Hudson River School’s narrative of God-ordained grandeur and luminous, crystalline views by instead foregrounding humanity’s spiritual connection to nature, often painted from memory and informed by the traumas of civil war and industrialization.

At a Glance:
“Dawn & Dusk: Tonalism in Connecticut”
Fairfield University Art Museum
Fairfield, Connecticut
fairfield.edu/museum
Through April 12, 2025

Drawn from private and public collections, the show’s 70 works range in date from 1878 to 1917, painted by 24 artists clustered primarily in and around New York and Boston. The title (Dawn & Dusk) reflects the tonalists’ preference for the subtle visual effects that dawn, twilight, autumn, and winter have on the landscape. Vacant of human activity, the images often hint at spiritual or symbolic meanings and provide a bridge to the more expressive and psychological modernist works of the 20th century.

Guest-curated by Mary Ann Hollihan, the exhibition features an important painting by George Inness from the Bridgeport Public Library not publicly exhibited in over 70 years; two works by Whistler lent by the New York Public Library; two paintings lent by the Florence Griswold Museum (Old Lyme, Connecticut); and works by three women artists lent by New York City’s Hawthorne Fine Art and the Cooley Gallery (Old Lyme).

A Western Art Collection Profile >

The artist Billy Schenck lives near Santa Fe with his wife (and business partner), Rebecca Carter, in a handsome adobe house built by the renowned landscape architect John Brinckerhoff Jackson (1909–1996) and then completely renovated by the couple. Here at the Double Standard Ranch they have created their own Shangri-La for making and displaying art, and also for playing the equestrian sport of ranch sorting, at which Billy excels.

Born in Ohio, Billy “began drawing before I can remember.” In 1965, during his freshman year at the Columbus College of Art & Design, he spent $125 (a substantial sum then) on a painting created by a sophomore friend named Peter Kambitsis. Soon he transferred to the Kansas City Art Institute and began collecting art by his peers there, too. Billy still owns all of those works, including six paintings by classmate Stanley Whitney that are the only figurative works Whitney made before famously turning to abstraction.

A key component of Billy and Rebecca’s collection is contemporary Western art. They follow only 20 or so artists, but in depth, much the same way that Dr. Albert C. Barnes did a century ago when he focused on such contemporaries as Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse in order to create what became Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation. The artists represented are James Butler, Russell Case, Kang Cho, Anne Coe, Frank Croft, Glenn Dean, Josh Elliott, John Fincher, Logan Hagege, Brett Allen Johnson, Jerry Jordan, T. Allen Lawson, Ed Mell, John Moyers, Erin O’Connor, Roseta Santiago, Tim Solliday, Tracy Stuckey, Kim Wiggins, Kathy Wipfler, and Dennis Ziemienski. (Robert Daughters is also here, though he passed away in 2013.)

Billy notes that all of these artists are “technical virtuosos who tend to have an immediately recognizable signature style”; he and Rebecca plan to publish a book on this group, something they have already done for their stellar holding of historical Western art, which encompasses such stars as Maynard Dixon, J.H. Sharp, and Frank Tenney Johnson. When it was exhibited at what is now the New Mexico Museum of Art, that trove drew record-breaking crowds and is still the only private collection presented at the museum since it was founded in 1915. (The show went on to visit six other venues nationwide.)

Also in the collection are key examples of handcrafted ranch furniture made by Thomas Molesworth between 1932 and 1950; this was his best period, after he had studied under Frank Lloyd Wright and brought his Arts & Crafts techniques to Cody, Wyoming. In addition, the Schencks are admired for their prehistoric Southwest ceramics.

Billy says the contemporary Western art has been purchased in a variety of settings — from the West’s many exhibition-sales benefiting museums, from galleries and auctions, and from other collectors and artists. He explains, “I know the living artists we collect because I have exhibited alongside all of them. People always assume that because I’m an artist, we acquire just by trading with other artists. But that is not true. We are extremely specific about the pieces we want, and those we get are usually exceptional and would never be available through a trade. We buy from the dealers and galleries that represent our colleagues and from the museum shows where their work is available.”

Some artists can be disorganized, but not Billy. Every artwork — regardless of value or rarity — is fully documented, including provenance, condition, the price paid, and the current market value. Billy and Rebecca keep this data digitally and also printed out in binders, and they have built a 1,000-square-foot climate-controlled storage unit that houses approximately 350 paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs.

In their home and office, nothing gets direct sunlight, and most photographs are kept in flatbed drawers to protect them from light and heat. Not surprisingly, the collection also includes the only complete set of Billy’s own serigraphs, lithographs, and etchings, along with color trial proofs and the original drawings used to cut the silkscreens. The serigraph collection has been exhibited at five museums and can be requested for loan in the future.

When asked about treasures that got away, Billy laughs and recalls: “There are a number of cases where I missed a painting and got it only after it went through two or three more sets of hands. One of them took 17 years before I acquired it. For the prehistoric Southwest ceramics, my all-time record was waiting 46 years to get one piece. In many cases, I did not have the financial wherewithal to acquire them right away. Moreover, I outlived all of the owners and bought the pieces from their estate sales. There are several instances where I had owned pieces and sold them in moments of financial weakness, then was able to buy them back as long as 40 years later.” He concludes, “Obviously the key is patience and living long enough.”

Billy is too modest to note one other key asset: his superb eye that discerns which artwork to pursue. Without that, patience and longevity will get a collector only so far.

View more artist and fine art collection profiles here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.

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