MICHAEL COLEMAN Born in Provo, Utah in 1946, the son of a forest ranger, Coleman gained much appreciation for his natural surroundings at an early age. He learned to hunt, trap, and fish in the remote woodlands and forests where he became quite familiar with and began painting the moods of nature, favoring the dusky, grey, misty, muted tones of fall and early winter. In college he majored in accounting to avoid the pressure of teachers pushing styles of art that he hated. He was in the Army for two years and then spent eight years with a public accounting firm while painting in the evenings. Coleman studied art in school but says he learned more from studying the techniques of predecessors. His paintings evoke the early 19th century Hudson River School - master painters such as Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt whom he credits with deeply influencing his art. "Those paintings gave me confidence it could be done." Today he continues to travel into the deep woods to capture a black bear with cubs, a moose in a pristine forest, a raccoon dining on fish. "The things I paint are the things I've done," he told a writer for Art of the West in 1992. He also has traveled to Africa to study and to bring back trophies on canvas. Among his many awards, Coleman placed first in the prestigious Prix de West 1999 competition held annually by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Heritage Center, Oklahoma City. The award-winning piece will hand permanently in the institution's gallery. |
Russell Fink Gallery |