Steamboat Art Museum

Pressroom News

Four Directions – Common Paths: Exhibit Articles:

Steamboat Art Museum Celebrates the Artists July 28 – 30, 2021
The Steamboat Art Museum (SAM) will hold public events to celebrate the artists of their exhibition “Four Directions – Common Paths: Oberg, Smith, Whitcomb, Young”, a retrospective of their 30-year personal relationship and work. The artists will be in Steamboat Springs with events for the public from July 28 through July 30. Joining the artists will be special guests with long associations with the artists: Tim Newton, Collector, and Director Emeritus of the Salmagundi Art Club; Seth Hopkins, Executive Director of the Booth Western Art Museum – USA Today’s 2020 Best Western Art Museum; Sue Simpson Gallagher, owner of Simpson Gallagher Gallery, Cody, WY and first Curator and Trustee of the National Wildlife Museum of Art. The events include two special panels with the artists and special guests and a public reception
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Four Directions-Common Paths: Oberg, Smith, Whitcomb, Young
Friendship, Inspiration, and Craft – A Thirty Year Connection

The Steamboat Art Museum (SAM) announces the extension of their exhibition “Four Directions – Common Paths” with Ralph Oberg, Skip Whitcomb, Matt Smith, and Dan Young, a retrospective of their 30 year personal relationship presenting on-site and studio paintings as well as new work. Each artist displays 25 paintings, many from the artists’ private collections and from collectors, as well as new works available for purchase. The exhibition tells the story of their relationship through photographs as well as videos. The exhibition runs through September 5, 2021. Their story emphasizes the words of renowned Western artist Robert Lougheed – “Painting outdoors is like being paid to eat ice cream.” A trip through this exhibition with these four master plein air/landscape painters offers a special treat.
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Southwest Art, December 2020, January 2021 – “Four Directions”
THE STEAMBOAT Art Museum has established a strong reputation for pre- senting exhibitions on some of today’s best western artists. This month a quar- tet of such respected painters comes together for a blockbuster show titled Four Directions—Common Paths. Ralph Oberg, Matt Smith, Skip Whitcomb, and Dan Young are linked not just by their depictions of the western land- scape but by deep personal and profes- sional friendships that have endured for more than three decades. “It’s not only about their art,” says Betse Grassby, the museum’s executive director. “It’s their story, their incredibly positive camaraderie and brotherly competition through which they’ve pushed each oth- er to excellence.”
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“Four Directions – Common Paths: Their Story” – Seth Hopkins
Skip Whitcomb, Ralph Oberg, Dan Young and Matt Smith certainly need no introduction to those who have followed the Steamboat Art Museum exhibition program over the past decade. All have been featured at least once, and some multiple times. Most recently all four were included in the 2016 showcase for the Plein Air Painters of America (PAPA). These four accomplished artists are recognized as being among the preeminent practitioners of plein air painting in America. They produce exquisite “on the spotters” that capture the light, feeling and drama of a landscape that is rapidly changing before their eyes. However, they also use their trips outdoors with their kit as fact finding missions that will lead to the next great studio paintings
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Western Art Collector, December 2020 – “Four Amigos”
United in their love of the outdoors, and capturing what they see in paint, four artists are coming together for a unique new retrospective exhibition December 4 at Steamboat Art Museum in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The exhibition, titled Four Directions – Common Paths, will feature the work of Ralph Oberg, Matt Smith, Skip Whitcomb and Dan Young.
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“Reverence for Nature” – Sue Simpson Gallagher
It is said that timing is everything. In regard to most things in life I have found that to be true. In the mid 1980’s I lived in Jackson, Wyoming. I first worked at Trailside Gallery then the National Museum of Wildlife Art. I was in the perfect spot at the perfect time to meet artists. They came from all over the world making pilgrimages to one of the most beautiful places on earth. In those early years I met Skip Whitcomb, along with many of his talented friends who were painting in the Valley. I met Ralph Oberg soon after and then a couple of years later Matt Smith and Dan Young.
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Western Art and Architecture, December 2020/January 2021- “Fine Art Among Friends”
A group of top-tier American wildlife and landscape artists finds connection through their creativity. They travel, paint, hike and discuss art together. They produce exquisite “on the spotters” that capture the light, feeling, and drama of a landscape that’s rapidly changing before their eyes. More importantly, they use their trips outdoors with the painting gear as fact-finding missions for their next great studio paintings.
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