Painting the West showcases work by area artists

Stremmel Gallery, 1400 S. Virginia St. in Reno, presents Painting the West, a landscape exhibition featuring five Nevada artists, including Gardnerville’s Charles Muench and Silver City’s Jean LeGassick and Jeff Nicholson.

The gallery is hosting an opening reception for Muench, LeGassick, Nicholson and the other two artists featured in the exhibit, Ron Arthaud of Tuscarora and Craig Mitchell of Reno, from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 20.

The plein-air painters’ works depict the varied landscapes distinguishing the region, including the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada.

Jean LeGassick’s inspiration derives from nature in its rawest form, untouched and unexplored. The Silver City artist hikes, snowshoes, and mule packs to remote peaks, hidden canyons, desert outcroppings and rocky shorelines in order to record immediate and spontaneous responses with her brush and canvas. LeGassick was featured as one of six artists filmed for the nationally-televised PBS series “Plein-Air: Painting the American Landscape.”

Gardnerville’s Charles Muench forms a relationship with his subjects by visiting the same location every season at different times of day. Muench was featured in this year’s Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, one of the biggest western art sales in the country.

Silver City’s Jeff Nicholson is known for his paintings of the high desert, particularly scenes of Nevada. His works celebrate the boom and bust of man’s tenure on the land, as well as the primal beauty of untouched locales. His pieces in oil and watercolor can be found in the permanent collections of the Nevada Museum of Art, the Governor’s Mansion and the University of Nevada, Reno.

Tuscarora’s Ron Arthaud captures the abstract in nature, squinting and closing one eye, imagining a painting. His works express the beauty in ordinary, discarded objects — rusty cars, a broken-down fence, or the shadows cast from old pickets in the snow.

Craig Mitchell’s modern take on classic impressionism invites viewers to look at a captured, transient moment in time and space. Armed with painting materials and a 16-foot self-contained trailer, the Reno-based artist paints on location in concentrated intervals.

The show will be displayed through Dec. 20. The opening reception and exhibit are free.

For more information, call the Stremmel Gallery at 775-786-0558, or go to www.stremmelgallery.com.