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Area Equine Artists Showcase Work in the New Cover-All Pavilion!
Horse Race North Dakota and the North Dakota Horse Park are pleased to announce that in the upcoming race meet starting August 1, the North Dakota Horse Park will play host the first annual “Equine Art Residency Program” for area equine artists.
To be held in the Horse Park’s new Cover-All Pavilion, the Art Residency Program will feature an area equine artist each weekend for the first five weeks of racing culminating in a silent auction event on the Sunday, August 31st. Each artist will host a booth wherein he or she will display his or hers equine art while actively working on a portrait of the Horse Park’s new Equine Ambassador, Barracuda Boy. On Labor Day weekend, all five portraits of Barracuda Boy will be on display for public viewing with the silent auction for the portraits being held Sunday afternoon. The silent auction will feature free food provided by Buffalo Wild Wings and the proceeds will go to support the Horse Park’s new “Retired Racehorse Placement Program”. Designed to bring area retired racehorses and “forever” homes together, the North Dakota Horse Park now offer web placement with further services for racehorse owners and trainers to follow.
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2008 Artist Residency Program |
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Showcased Artists: Jessica Mongeon Featured August 1-3, 2008
I grew up on a small family farm near Rolette, North Dakota and have always been interested in drawing and painting. I am working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of North Dakota and plan to graduate in December 2008 and go on to pursue a Master of Fine Art. I enjoy using many different mediums including painting, printmaking and ceramics.
The horse is a symbol of freedom and movement. This horse image is seen throughout my work because it is so important to me and I feel that it is a way to express my ideas. Horses are also personally important to me. My horses have been my companions ever since I was old enough to get on the saddle. As a youth I competed in local shows in almost every event, including English, Western pleasure and speed events such as barrel racing.
In my artwork, I use color, form and line as a tool to engage the viewer intellectually and emotionally. My work utilizes the image of the horse to convey ideas about human life and the art process. Some of these include control and the lack of control, emotions, and the actual process of painting. I work with acrylic on canvas because acrylics allow for the vibrant use of color and a variety of painting techniques.
My work has been influenced by the German Expressionist artist, Franz Marc. He used simplified forms and bright colors and images of horses and other animals to convey meaning. My work is also influenced by abstract expressionism and the fauvists. My artwork has evolved so that the process and application of paint becomes important to the meaning of the work. The horse becomes a symbol or design element because of the simplification of its form.
Mel Stone Featured August 8-10
In all the years I've worked in TV news, I've had to keep myself in check otherwise I'd do too many horse stories... at least too many in the view of management.
I have an exhibit called "All Things Horses" during the month of September at Gallery 4, 114 Broadway, Fargo.
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Showcased Artists: Cathy and Jeffrey Blaseg Featured August 15-17, 2008
Artists Cathy and Jeffrey Blaseg are very excited to be displaying art at the North Dakota Horse Park this year. Cathy was born just north of Pierre, South Dakota on a cattle and horse ranch. After attending Trinidad College majoring in Art, she married a race horse trainer and for the next 10 years, cleaned stalls and was the shed row forewoman for her husband. While at the track she enjoyed painting horses for clients and even designed the South Dakota Quarter Horse Logo. Leaving the track to raise 4 children she has found her way back to the art world and does about 3 or 4 art shows a year. Painting rural farm scenes, wildlife. and one of the things she knows best "Horses"
Jeffrey Blaseg attended Ridgewater College in Minnesota and is now a budding freelance photographer. His favorite subjects to shoot range from rural ranch scenes, people, to close-up of all types of plant life.
Jeffrey shares his mother, Cathy's, love of art - exhibiting their works together in numerous places around the Midwest area.
Dorothy Snowden Featured August 29-31
A self-described “born horse-nut” hailing from a long line of horsemen and women, Tennessee native Dorothy Snowden has discovered how to combine two of her greatest passions, painting and horses through her artwork. Dorothy’s great-grandfather owned many racehorses, in full or in partnership, but his most notable horse was the one he sold too soon-the great Exterminator! An attendee at 50 editions of the Kentucky Derby, he only missed one to attend a friend’s funeral. Dorothy’s grandmother carried on the family tradition by becoming an accomplished rider of both Thoroughbreds and Saddlebreds.
A part of the Florida Thoroughbred community from her high school graduation until she left Florida in 1985, Dorothy was involved with several top horses of the era including Darn That Alarm and Smile. In 1985, Dorothy left the state of Florida to pursue a new area of the horse industry by training trail service horses for the National Forest Service in Colorado. It was there that she discovered the beauty of the West and eventually re-located to the Black Hills of South Dakota where she would eventually graduate from Black Hills State University with a degree in Art and Photography.
Her original artwork in oils and pastels depict racehorses and rural scenery. Snowden is represented by several galleries in the Black Hills and in Lexington, KY. She was recently selected as the artist for the 2006 Black Hills Horse Expo and has done covers for Today's Horse and Bluegrass Post magazines. She regularly attends workshops and enjoys plein air painting.
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