ROCK SPRINGS– Western Wyoming Community College’s Art Gallery will host award winning artist, Mark Ritchie’s work in the Art Gallery August 29th-September 27th, 2018.
About Mark Ritchie
Mark Ritchie is a Professor of Art at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.
Ritchie received the Center for Global Studies Research Grant of the University of Wyoming and the University of Wyoming’s International Travel Grant Foundation for “Ma: Horse Culture in China and Mongolia” which became the basis for some of the imagery in the Herd.
The woodcuts in the exhibition are initiated in the field with ink and brush or lithographic crayons on wood block panels. The drawing process is continued in the studio by considering the cutting of the block.
The images are then proofed, refined cutting is used to complete the works, finally the blocks are inked and hand printed.
Addressing His Midlife Crisis with a Mustang
Ritchie “addressed his midlife crisis with a mustang – the kind with hooves not tires.” The relationship with his mustang has informed his studio practice and led to wonderful adventures in Mongolia, Hungary, and Wyoming.
His exhibits can be found nationally and internationally, although he prefers the quiet, windy solitude of Wyoming. Ritchie has a special connection to Sweetwater County – his horse, Beryl, was a wild horse originally from the White Mountain herd that he tamed. Beryl is often the model in Ritchie’s work.
“My work with horse imagery draws upon the interaction of horses with each other and an animal understanding that is possible between human and equine. These relationships both require trust, an awareness of self in a community, and most importantly an awareness of place.
“I have inevitably begun to consider and address in my work the complex role of wild/feral horse populations in my home in the American West,” said Ritchie in his biography.
For More Information
The exhibit is free and open to the public. The community is encouraged to attend.
For more information on Mark Ritchie visit www.markritchie.com, and for more information on the exhibit at Western, please contact Dr. Florence McEwin, Curator and Professor of Art at Western at FMcEwin@westernwyoming.edu.
