Chessney Sevier Paints the True West
BROCK ROAD—RED WALL COUNTRY
Oil on panel
8 x 10 inches
bighorngalleries.com
nathaliesantafe.com
THE ARTIST: Chessney Sevier
KNOWN FOR: Evocative glimpses of Western life, with rugged landscapes populated by cowboys, horses, and cattle.
WENT TO COLLEGE ON A RODEO SCHOLARSHIP, BUT: My dad was a professional cowboy. We would travel to rodeos, and my mom would keep me entertained by having me draw. Rodeo paid for my college, but I ended up getting a degree in art.
FRAGMENTS OF FEELING: I’m more interested in the feel of something—that spontaneous look. That’s how people really see the world; our eyes are just capturing little fragments of light and shape.
A PLACES PERSON: I paint Wyoming the way I see it—sagebrush and dry draws and red rocks. I guess it’s the spirituality: big skies and open spaces—it’s so desolate and it doesn’t appeal to some people—but it does to me. I’ve always been a places person, especially if it’s historical. I grew up with cowboys and ranching, so I can identify with those types of landscapes.
PURE POETRY: I want people to see real, true, authentic things. It’s a part of a world and a culture that I don’t think many people understand. What we have here in the West is important. One of my friends who’s been a cowboy all his life said, “Your etchings are like poems.”
ON VIEW:
August 20-21, 2016 Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, New Mexico, swaia.org
September 11-16, 2016 4th Annual Small Works Show, the Brinton Museum, Big Horn, Wyoming, thebrintonmuseum.org
