Byron Birdsall
Galleries Featuring
Artist's Prints
Scanlon Gallery,
Ketchikan
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The
watercolor paintings of Byron Birdsall are distillations of reality, scenes
reduced to their basics with the integrity of the subject undiminished. In
Birdsall's hands, light takes on a thousand forms, whether inspired by the
relentless vertical rays of the East African coast, a hazy palpable dawn over
Samoa, or the silent light of the winter Northland that illuminates but does not
warm. It is the essential aspect of light that is at the heart of Birdsall's
art. It is the life he gives this light that has cast him to the forefront of
Alaska's art community and beyond.
Working out of a studio in a log house on the edge of
Sand Lake near Anchorage, the Byron Birdsall divides his time between sketching
and painting, and trips to the field for stimulation. Sometimes the field is
within walking distance, sometimes far into Alaska's interior, often to the
Pacific Northwest, and not often enough to those other exotic worlds of his
recently published book, "Byron Birdsall's Alaska and Other Exotic Worlds".
While landscapes and cityscapes are Birdsall's forte,
his love of history and fantasies about time travel have led to painting from
archival material, resulting in many historical pieces. As contact between he
former Soviet Union and the former Russian America has grown, Birdsall has found
a compelling personal interest in this historical connection. His fascination
focused on the iconography of Russian Orthodoxy, and he continue to explore the
beauty and significance of this artistic expression in his own icon work.
Byron Birdsall's paintings are included in the
collections of a number of museums and public institutions, hang in corporate
board rooms and atriums, are owned by royalty, presidents, new fans, loyal
friends, and his mother-in-law. The printing of a US postage stamp in 1992,
designed by the artist and commemorating the building of the Alcan Highway, was
a personal high point for Birdsall, an avid stamp collector.
Taku Graphics carries art cards that have been made
from his limited edition prints. |
LLC