Seasons change, and so do we. As four of our most adventurous landscape painters know well, the rhythms are often intertwined. Matthew Higginbotham, Bruce King, Christopher Owen Nelson and Marshall Noice find diverse rewards in exploring nature. As November’s chill takes full grip, they’ll show bright meditations on the darker months for our “Holiday Aglow” show.

Rising Storm

Rising Storm Over Juniper Brush – Matthew Higginbotham

Winter starts to settle in slow shifts; the light fades seconds sooner each day, leaves fall one by one, clouds change shape and the sun takes paler tones. It requires a keen eye to capture the transformation, and that’s Matthew Higginbotham‘s gift. The artist captures shades of season’s change, and as in “Rising Storm over Juniper Bush,” the results resonate with emotional power.

Early Snow of Winter Camp – Bruce King

Early Snow

First snow is a change not subtle but spectacular as fall colors compete with a blanket of piercing white. Oneida artist Bruce King‘s subjects find themselves caught in the battle between seasons in “Early Snow of Winter Camp.” His paintings show his people’s fierce independence, and their humility before the natural world.

Pillars of White

Pillars – Christopher Owen Nelson

There’s no place quite so still as a sleeping aspen forest. Denver artist Christopher Owen Nelson freezes the dead of winter in plexiglass in his painted carving “Pillars.” They might be spindly, but these speckled trunks feel solid as cool marble to the eye.

Old Snow – Marshall Noice

Old Snow

Spring’s thaw starts long before the snow is gone. Marshall Noice uses pastels to capture evidence of nature’s awakening in “Old Snow.” Shadows cast blue stripes on gritty, cream-colored snow as the artist plays with texture and color to evoke the first signs of a new beginning.

Visit Waxlander starting November 20 to explore the winter wonderlands of “Holiday Aglow,” featuring new work from all of our artists, and check back for more blog posts about the show. The artists’ reception is Friday, November 23 from 5-7 pm.

The interests and abilities of artist Christopher Owen Nelson are as vast as the sea. Skilled in multiple artistic mediums, he has a passion not only for art, but also for music, gardening, fishing, and construction. It was while working in construction, in fact, that Nelson realized he needed to devote himself to being an artist. Though he had possessed an innate calling to create and experiment with art almost from the time that he was born, and though he had finished his education at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Nelson had not yet realized the hold that art had on him—the necessity of creating it.

One day on a construction assignment, Nelson was framing a house with some other workers. “I’m not sure what fueled it,” Nelson says, “but I just walked over and I sat down…on the side of this property, looking out over the mountains, and I just started crying. I was like, ‘What am doing? What am I doing?…I’m an artist. I need to be a painter.’ And that’s it.”

Christopher Owen Nelson quickly emerged as one of the top young talents in Denver’s vibrant art community. He has pioneered the use of carved and manipulated acrylic, creating art that affects the viewer on a profound level. By portraying natural landscapes in an entirely unique way, Nelson is able to capture their raw and overwhelming beauty. This successful rendering of the natural world is due not only to Nelson’s innovative medium—carved and painted plexiglass—but also to his vision. Nelson is able to communicate beauty because he perceives it.

“Anchored and Drifting: A One-Man Show of New Paintings by Christopher Owen Nelson” opens at Waxlander Gallery on May 22nd and runs through June 4th, with an artist reception on Friday, May 25th from 5 to 7 PM.

One Tree Hill - Christopher Owen Nelson

Waxlander Art Gallery is proud to kick off its 2012 season with an exhibition by its newest artist! Denver native Christopher Owen Nelson will present his most recent works in a one-man show entitled “Anchored and Drifting.” Nelson’s one-of-a-kind acrylic carved and painted plexiglass pieces, marked by their bold use of color, establish him as an innovator: a passionate artist who puts his own refreshing spin on the traditional landscape, daring to push conventional boundaries of color, scale, and controlled emotion—and continuing to push his own boundaries as an artist.

Born in Denver, Colorado, in 1979, Nelson possessed an innate calling to create and experiment with art. Self-trained as a teenager and then formally educated at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, he quickly emerged as one of the top young talents in Denver’s vibrant art community. Nelson’s work transcends genres, defying the established labels of the art world. He has pioneered the use of carved and manipulated acrylic, creating art that affects the viewer on a profound level. His aggressive manipulation of color and abstractions, as well as his unique portrayal of familiar landscapes, allows him to capture beauty as the eye beholds it: new, exciting, and constantly evolving.

“My goal,” says Nelson, “is only to capture just a piece of the beauty I see around me, and do it some small justice through my vision.” His vision, as evidenced by his art, is rare, potent, and bursting with creative energy. Nelson skillfully harnesses this energy in his paintings. It is present in his vivid use of color, in the twisting tree branches and bulbous clouds that leap forth from plexiglass, and in the excitement that courses through viewers as they witness his art.

“Anchored and Drifting: A One-Man Show of New Paintings by Christopher Owen Nelson” opens at Waxlander Gallery on May 22nd and runs through June 4th, with an artist reception on Friday, May 25th from 5 to 7 PM.

Charcoal - Christopher Owen Nelson

Daydreaming - Christopher Owen Nelson

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