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POWELL, Wyoming — An exhibit of paintings by local artist Jim Mossman opens Tuesday, Sept. 29, with a 4:30 p.m. artist’s reception in Northwest College’s SinClair Gallery.
“Jim Mossman: A Landscape Potpourri” features the iconic landscapes area residents have come to expect from the Cody painter.
Explaining the popular appeal of his work, Mossman said, “My paintings fit in a buyer-comfortable area between an almost photographic representation and a simplistic plein-air type of painting and can appear to have some elements of both.”
His artistic goal is something he calls “mind-eye magic,” a style that captures a near-photographic remembrance of place while at the same time recapturing that sense of place the mind remembers.
“If someone familiar with the region looks at one of my paintings and comments both that it's a nice painting and that they recognize the area being represented, then in my view I will have made a successful painting,” Mossman said.
His western landscapes illustrate his passions but not his roots. Born in New York state, Mossman attended Middlebury College and worked for 38 years in Vermont before moving to Cody in 2001.
For much of his life, jobs in transportation, data processing and geographic information systems, as well as family and civic responsibilities, relegated his art to a hobby endeavor, satisfied mostly through community workshops.
He credits the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s program “Learning From the Western Masters” as the major factor in his decision to turn to painting full time. Mossman formalized and expanded his art education with Northwest College classes and in workshops with artists like Denny Neville, Frank Serrano, John Potter and many others.
His work was accepted into the 2008 OPA National Exhibition, 2009 and 2010 shows at the Bennington Center of the Arts, the 2010 C.M. Russell Art Auction, and four Richard Schmid Fine Art Auctions.
He’s also received numerous painting awards from Colorado, Montana and Wyoming art shows. Mossman’s work is also exhibited at the Cody Country Art League.
“Jim Mossman: A Landscape Potpourri” hangs in SinClair Gallery through Friday, Oct. 30. Located in the Orendorff Building at Northwest College, the gallery is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. Admission is free.
