Stremmel Gallery presents My Montana featuring artists Jerry Iverson and Gordon McConnell. As McConnell has become a familiar name at Stremmel Gallery, it will be the first time Iverson is exhibiting his work in Reno. The opening reception is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 21, 2015 and the exhibition will continue through June 30, 2015. Both the opening reception and exhibition are free to the public. RSVP to this event on Facebook.
The abstract work of Jerry Iverson has been greatly influenced by the beauty and grace of Asian calligraphy. For the last 15 years, his materials have consisted solely of Sumi ink, paper, and rabbit skin glue. Iverson creates his collaged paintings by dipping paper marked with black lines of ink in glue, he then layers the paper onto board over and over again, adding more brush stokes as he goes. The result is bold compositions of black lines on various shades of white, gold, brown, and gray. Evidence of his previous marks reveals itself through the dense and textured surface of the now translucent papers. The palette references the natural landscape surrounding the artist in Montana, while the stark and gestural marks ask viewers to reflect on the complex, and sometimes difficult, nature of our lives.
Iverson received his degree in Philosophy from St. Olaf College in Minnesota before relocating to Big Timber, Montana to learn shearing sheep and packing horses. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across the United States and his work can be seen in numerous public collections including the Portland Art Museum, Holter Museum of Art, and the Milwaukee Art Museum. In 2011, Iverson was recognized with a Contemporary Northwest Art Award by the Portland Art Museum and in 2009 received the Artist’s Innovation Award from the Montana Arts Council.
Gordon McConnell is best known for his black and white depictions of cowboys, bandits, and cavalry in quintessential western scenes. McConnell has long found inspiration in motion picture stills, drawn from such classic western films as Stagecoach, Yellow Sky, My Darling Clementine, Red River, and many others. Growing up visiting his grandfather’s ranch and watching Westerns on TV, something quickens in McConnell when he sees a galloping horse on screen. The reality of the working ranch and the film industry’s dreamy depiction of the West intertwined real life and imagination, shaping the artist and his artistic practice today.
McConnell received a Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia as well as a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of Colorado, Boulder. During his career, McConnell has exhibited extensively throughout the United States, with solo exhibitions most recently at the Carbon County Arts Guild, Red Lodge, Montana; Yellowstone County Museum, Billings, Montana; and Oats Park Arts Center, Fallon, Nevada. He is represented in various public and corporate collections and has been recognized with several awards including Artist of Year Award by the Yellowstone Art Museum; three Studio Residencies at the Ucross Foundation in Clearmont, Wyoming; and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Montana Arts Council.
For more information, or to schedule a private viewing of “My Montana”, please call Stremmel Gallery at 775-786-0558, or visit www.stremmelgallery.com. High-resolution images of works by Iverson and McConnell are available upon request. Stremmel Gallery is located at 1400 South Virginia Street in Reno, Nevada with gallery hours 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.