สถานที่: Southwest Wyoming
ชีวประวัติ:
Grant Redden was born and raised in southwest Wyoming. His father was foreman on one of the largest sheep ranches in the state, running 21,000 head of sheep. When Grant was 12, his father purchased his own outfit with 5,000 Columbia ewes and 300 mother cows. The work, always a family affair, became even more intense. Horses were an integral part of his family’s operation including camp horses, pack strings in the summer and work horses to pull camps and feed the livestock in heavy winters. Naturally, they are a major part of his art. Grant believes these animals have their own personalities and characteristics which should come out in each painting. No formulas. Grant always had a bug to paint, so he naturally looked at the landscape, the animals, and the people as subjects for his creative impulse. His parents were from pioneering stock — his mother was born in a log cabin on the Henry’s Fork of the Green River in southwest Wyoming to a homesteading family and attended a one-room school house until high school. Her family was fiercely independent and self-reliant. His father’s family was among the first pioneers to settle this area. With this background, Grant developed a strong attachment to the land and the life and an interest in the history. He feels blessed to have the chance to build his home and raise his family on 120 acres of their summer pasture land and dedicate himself to painting what he knows. Primarily self-taught, he has had the opportunity to be mentored by many generous living masters and has studied the work of deceased masters such as Sorolla, Sargent, Zorn, Von Zugel and many others. Becoming a member of the Cowboy Artists of America in 2012 was a highlight for Grant. He has won numerous awards including six gold medals and two silver medals for oil painting, a silver medal for watercolor painting, and has been selected three times for Best Body of Work in the annual Cowboy Artists of America show.