SKB News
Courage & Encouragement
A new book by Rosie Hartmann and longtime SKBer Terry Stanley offers courage and encouragement to artists who feel stuck or feel like they have not met their potential.
DEMONSTRATION: “Bugling Blues,” by Crystal Beshara
Watch how Canadian watercolorist Crystal Beshara paints a bugling elk in this step-by-step painting demonstration.
The Comfort Zone Riddle: Another Way SKB Is Unique
It helps to be in your comfort zone when you want to go outside your comfort zone. Read the SKB explanation for this.
Cincinnati, the Great Auk, Audubon, and a Man Named Ruthven
What’s all the squawk about the Great Auk? Read all about it, and put Cincy on your travel list.
How to Draw a Winged Lion
Monte Moore can paint anything from a Star Wars Stormtrooper to a Solbergesque elk. Here’s why he came to SKB’s 2019 Artist Rendezvous & Workshop, in Dubois, WY.
Angela Sauro Davis Invites You to Get Mailbox Money
Who doesn’t like to get checks in the mail? Licensing expert Angela Sauro Davis explains how artists can get paid for the use of the work–even pieces done long ago.
Winning Big for Small Work in Dubois
Who won at the Small Works exhibition in Dubois, Wyoming?
John James Audubon’s Flamingo
Although Audubon’s poses are sometimes not convincingly naturalistic, they do have a sense of the quick about them. These birds were alive, and became alive again in Audubon’s drawings.
“In the Audubon Tradition” Exhibition
This fall the newly renovated Cincinnati Museum Center is celebrating the 200th anniversary of its Museum of Natural History & Science. Founded in 1818 as the Western History Society, its doors opened in 1820. Its first employee was famed naturalist and artist,...
Water and Fur, Feathers and Forethought: Crystal Beshara on Painting Wildlife in Watercolor
Watercolor is just wild enough to make great animal portraits. Just ask Crystal Beshara, the Ottawa artist who will be a featured instructor at the 2019 SKB Dubois Rendezvous & Workshop.
There Is No One Like Everett Raymond Kinstler
by Bob Bahr Everett Raymond Kinstler painted astronauts and presidents, Cagney and Hepburn, Clinton and Nixon, Tom Wolfe and Tony Bennett. He's been the inspiration for thousands of artists across the country and beyond. And somehow, almost...
No Chance of Him Being Forgotten
SKBer John Phelps finds multiple ways of honoring and remembering his son, Chance, a fallen hero and Marine Lance Corporal. He gets help from everyone from the President’s Chief of Staff to Jim Parkman.
CALL FOR ENTRIES: Wind River Valley Artists’ Guild National Show
SKBers have a chance to enter the 70th National Show of the WRVAG in Dubois, Wyoming. The opening will be a humdinger of a good time.
In the Audubon Tradition Exhibit & Sale
This fall the newly renovated Cincinnati Museum Center is celebrating the 200th anniversary of its Museum of Natural History & Science. Founded in 1818 as the Western History Society, its doors opened in 1820. Its first employee was famed naturalist and artist,...
Thoroughly Skilled & Ready to Boost SKB
Attention to detail and an emphasis on meeting students where they are. That’s the Rod Lawrence way. He’s a featured instructor at SKB’s 2019 Artists Rendezvous & Workshop in Dubois, Wyoming.
One Young Adult’s Path to SKB
By Bob Bahr How do you get to an SKB Artists Rendezvous? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall—practice. Age matters. It's a bit harder for a teen to get to the annual Dubois workshop put on by the Susan Kathleen Black Foundation. Fifteen-year-olds, for example, only...
Small Works Winners in Dubois
One element of SKB's Rendezvous/Workshop in Dubois, WY that adds to the excitement for participants is the Small Works Show, which awards prizes. At the Susan Kathleen Black Foundation's 17th Annual Artists Rendezvous in September 2018, the following took home...
Dubois Plein Air Painting Map
Below are the most popular location In Dubois, Wyoming, this week 150 artists have gathered for our annual workshop. A exciting part of the experience is to do a little plein air painting. To help with this, we have created a "Plein Air Location Map."...
A Unique Exhibition Deep in the Art of Texas
‘The Life & Times of Charles Goodnight:’ A Unique Exhibition Deep in the Art of Texas By Spring Sault | Texas Hill Country | July 3, 2018 A new fine art exhibition, opening at the Bryan Museum in Galveston on June 30, focuses on western folklore with “The...
“Lonesome Dove” Comes to Life at The Bryan Museum
The incredibly talented Bill Wittliff will join J.P. Bryan in The Bryan Museum’s Conservatory for a conversation about Bill’s life as a famed Texas storyteller, photographer, publisher, book collector, archivist, and writer. As the producer of the...
New exhibit tells story of Texas trailblazer
By BARBARA CANETTI Correspondent - July 1, 2018 GALVESTON, TEXAS A new exhibit at The Bryan Museum is an art installation as well as a history lesson telling the story of Charles Goodnight, one of the best known Texas cattle ranchers in the 1800s. A dozen large oil...
Goodnight Exhibit Opens at the Bryan Museum
The Life and Times of Charles Goodnight Innovator, entrepreneur, conservationist: Charles Goodnight left his mark on the West. With his partner, Oliver Loving, he pioneered the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail. He invented one of the earliest food-trucks, the chuckwagon,...
Chris Rowlands Adds a New Dimension to SKB
Chris Rowlands writing a song with students at the Dubois public school By Bob Bahr Longtime SKBers will remember Joe Bohler tickling the ivories at mealtimes, playing saloon songs and rags. David Yarger not only played classical music...
Larry Wollam Shares His Award-winning Pastel and Watercolor Techniques
By Bob Bahr Chances are very good that although Larry Wollam is not a loud personality, almost all longtime SKBers know him. Over the last seven years, the Arizona artist has won more than his share of awards at the Dubois workshop. He's equally adept at watercolor...
Learn From SKB’s Frame Expert: Jeanne Mackenzie
By Bob Bahr Artist Jeanne Mackenzie has seen it all in the domain of picture frames. She's a key player at High Plains Frames, a frame shop in La Porta, Colorado, and an SKB stalwart, present at nearly every Dubois workshop we can recall. She's watched artists...
Darlene Cecil: Art Industry Professional Here to Help
By Bob Bahr The fantasy of most artists is to simply create art, leaving the business side of painting to professionals. This is particularly true about marketing and sales. Artists dream of having a gallery that takes care of everything, and simply cuts checks to...
Introducing the Person Who Will Feed You in Dubois
by Bob Bahr It's hard to imagine a Dubois SKB event without Janene Grende. Nonetheless, this year Grende retired from cooking for the Dubois Rendezvous/Workshop. Luckily, we won't have to go completely without her—in fact, we'll have more opportunities than ever to...
17th ANNUAL ARTISTS RENDEZVOUS & WORKSHOP
SUSAN KATHLEEN BLACK FOUNDATION 17th ANNUAL ARTISTS RENDEZVOUS & WORKSHOP September 16-21, 2018 HEADWATERS ARTS & CONFERENCE CENTER DUBOIS, WY We are pleased to announce that two very talented instructors have agreed to become the newest members of...
The True Tall Tale of Colter’s Run
by Bob Bahr In my research for a book on visual art in the Wind River Mountains, I am coming across many compelling tales of Wyoming and its early explorers. The story known as Colter's Run has been told many times since 1809, when the actual events transpired. Some...
Siblings That Rival Each Other in Kindness
by Bob Bahr You hear it so often at SKB events that it is on the verge of becoming a cliché: SKB is one big family. There are plenty of other workshops out there, and beautiful places to paint, and opportunities to get away and further develop your artistic skills....
This Year’s Rose Award Winner Has Personal Ties to Susan Kathleen Black
By Bob Bahr Christine Knapp has been a mainstay at SKB's Dubois workshops, and she's also one of the most valued and consistent instructors at SKB-affiliated projects. Her work with the Western Art Academy at Schreiner University is the best example of this. So it's...
Caleb Goggans’ Quick Draw at SKB Dubois 2017
By Bob Bahr Thomas Caleb Goggans painted a mountain scene for the Quick Draw event at SKB's Artist Rendezvous in September in Dubois. We photographed several stages of the painting's development and peppered him with questions while he worked. Here's what he said....
Small Works Winners: The Full Report
By Bob Bahr John Seerey-Lester, one of the judges of the 2017 SKB Small Works Exhibition, exclaimed before the awards were given out that the Watercolor division was particularly stocked with excellent paintings this year. "There were so many and all so good, it was...
SKB “Small Works” Exhibition / Competition 2017
SKB WORKSHOP fine art “Small Works” exhibition - Every year... as an integral part of the SKB Workshop in Dubois, Wyoming, the Foundation mounts an actual fine art exhibition of "Small Works" on the 2nd floor of the Headwaters Art & Conference Center....
SKB Instructors’ Quick Finish & Auction Gallery
SKB Instructors' Quick Finish / Paint Off & Auction - One of the highlights of the SKB Workshop is the annual Instructors' Quick Finish that they conduct where all of the instructors create a work of art in about an hour. This is always a wonderful and often...
At the SKB Workshop 2017
First day at the SKB Workshop in the tiny town of Dubois, set in the extraordinary landscape of Wyoming's high country... 7,500 feet. Artists began arriving on Saturday. And last night was the big kick off party in the Headwaters Center. Bright and early...
What Role Should Electronics Play in Art Education?
By Bob Bahr It's not unusual for a 2nd Grader to own a smartphone in today's world. It's not uncommon to see a table full of teenagers sit in silence as their thumbs fly over their phone screen. Studies abound that warn about the dire consequences of modern children...
SKBers Gather to Help Shanika Raise Parks Funds
by Bob Bahr Ken Shanika, the Rose Award winner, artist, and key SKBer known for tutoring teen artists toward award-winning careers, put out a call for entries for two fundraisers this summer in Colorado. The response was rapid. "The minute I asked Wanda [Mumm] and...
One Student’s View on PLACE
We caught up with the lively and bright PLACE participant Dre during last week's event. Here's what he had to say. https://youtu.be/s_S8g9MIUp8
A Sense of PLACE: SKB and the Boys & Girls Club of Dubois Team Up
By Bob Bahr Dubois, Wyoming is a unique place, with ancient Native American migratory and trade paths intersecting, nearby passes over the Absoraka Mountains and Wind River Mountains urging passage, and the Wind River itself offering water, food, relatively temperate...