Jerry West: Prairie Stories
Solo exhibition of works by artist Jerry West (RAiR 2012)
Exhibition dates are October 11, 2024 - November 30, 2024
With an opening reception October 11, 5-8 PM. This exhibition is the first in a series of Roswell Artist-in-Residence (RAiR) alumni exhibitions which will be held at the Anderson Museum in the North Gallery.
“We’re excited to have this exhibition of Jerry’s work at the Museum. He’s a significant New Mexico artist whose landscape paintings are filled with narrative and mystery,” said Tonee Harbert, Director of the Anderson Museum. “I’m thrilled to have our inaugural alumni exhibition feature this work by Jerry, a New Mexico treasure, appreciated by so many.”
Jerry West (b. 1933) received the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2018 and was an artist-in-residence at RAiR in 2012. West grew up near Santa Fe and has lived most of his life in New Mexico, in addition to having a career as an artist, he has also designed and built custom homes in the area. He spent 10 years teaching history and biology before he began studying art with Elmer Schooley at Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico. West’s artwork has been shown at LewAllen Galleries, Linda Durham Contemporary Art, and Pie Projects (where he is represented) in Santa Fe; Sebastian Moore Gallery in Denver; and Bernice Steinbaum Gallery in NY. His work is included in many private collections as well as public collections including: Tia Collection, Santa Fe; The Pepsi Co., Inc., New York; The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Albuquerque Museum of Art; The New Mexico Museum of Art; New Mexico State Capital permanent collection; The Roswell Museum; The Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art and The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal.
“My thrust as an artist is to attempt to inhabit the world around me,” said West. “My art activity becomes a meditation on objects, plants, animals and people, histories and the disappeared as well as the ghosts and the myths. I draw on a myriad of cultural and family stories, personal experiences and dreams. My paintings tend to become psychological, allegorical landscapes.”
The Anderson Museum has recently made room for a new rotating exhibition space by relocating artwork from the North Gallery to other galleries in the museum. The series will start with two special alumni exhibitions per year. “It’s a way for us to continue celebrating the work of our alumni artists, while complementing our permanent collection,” said Harbert.
The Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art and the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program are both part of the RAiR Foundation. The Anderson Museum opened its doors in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1994 to showcase works of art produced by fellows of the Roswell Artist-in- Residence Program. Today, more than 500 diverse works of art enliven its 12 galleries and 22,000 square feet of exhibition space. The Anderson Museum has become a source of knowledge and inspiration about contemporary visual art in the Roswell area, New Mexico and the Nation.
Jerry West, “A Prairie Passage, December 6th, 1968,” 2015, oil on linen, 42” x 40”. Tia
Collection, Santa Fe, NM. Photo by James Hart.