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ARTIST SHOWCASE:
Alex
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Stillwater is pleased to present a collection of original paintings by Alex Gilford. These pieces are on display in our guest cabins and available for purchase now.
To inquire about purchasing or to schedule a tour to view the show, please send an email to [email protected].
To inquire about purchasing or to schedule a tour to view the show, please send an email to [email protected].
Photos of the artist by Kristen Eakin
Alex Gilford
For Alex Gilford, art is an interpretive tool for learning more about subjects such as regional history, the environment, and personal connection to place. In addition to being an artist, Alex has had a career in museum education and as a Park Ranger which has informed his chosen artistic subjects. By packing-up his easel and painting in parks, preserves, and wildlife refuges, it is a goal of his to strengthen the relationship between the arts and the natural and cultural heritage that these places preserve.
If you would like to see more of Alex’s work in the area, head down to The City of The Village of Clarkston’s Main St. for a bite to eat and look for the mural that he did with the Detroit Institute of Arts & Clarkston Arts on the side of the Union Woodshop barbecue restaurant.
If you would like to see more of Alex’s work in the area, head down to The City of The Village of Clarkston’s Main St. for a bite to eat and look for the mural that he did with the Detroit Institute of Arts & Clarkston Arts on the side of the Union Woodshop barbecue restaurant.
For more details and to learn of the stories behind each painting, visit Alex's website at https://alexgilford.carbonmade.com.
Mushwa & Yellow Hawkweed
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A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these paintings will be donated by the artist to the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy:
Tie Hack Cabin
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Artist statement: From the 1860s-1930s, tie hacks made a living by hand hewing pine trees in the Uinta Mountains to be used as railroad ties for the Union Pacific Railroad. They worked year-round and built their own log cabins to live in on the north slope of the forest. Many tie hack cabin ruins remain throughout this region of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and they are protected as archeological and historical sites. This particular cabin at Bear River was restored as part of the Tie Hack Cabin Restoration Passport in Time Project in 1998. Today, it serves as a modest museum and displays artifacts and interpretive material describing the tie hack’s world.
I have felt an affinity for the tie hack history while working on a trail crew in the National Forest this summer. Day in and day out, I cut timber off trails that they used and likely made. Frequently, in the course of the workday, I come across signs of their having passed before me such as their candlestick trail markers in the trees, or cabin and splash dams ruins. |
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these paintings will be donated by the artist to the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy:
Detroit River Hawk Watch
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A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these paintings will be donated by the artist to the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy:
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ON DISPLAY IN CABIN 1:
Walleye Run
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Christmas Meadows
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Artist statement: This painting isn’t hiding anything. What you see is what you get. The composition is triangular and symmetrical. The subject is exactly what one tends to expect from the term “landscape painting.” I guess, in a way, I am apologizing for teetering this typical landscape painting on top of the heap of archetypal landscape paintings that preexist this one in the world. On the other hand, I made this painting for me to mark a moment in my life that took my breath away, as snow-capped mountains tend to do for a relative flatlander such as myself. I began this painting on the day that I arrived at Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest for my seasonal Park Ranger job. I dropped off my belongings in the cabin then took a drive around the corner. I was in awe when I came upon Christmas Meadows backed by the view of A-1 and Ostler. I stood outside my car in the meadow, gazing at the scene, as it slowly sunk in that this would be my “backyard” and my place of work for the next four months. This painting is a relic from that pivotal moment in my story. ON DISPLAY IN CABIN 3 |
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these paintings will be donated by the artist to the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy:
ON DISPLAY IN CABIN 1
Range Rider
26" x 32" Oil on Canvas
$2,000
Donation by artist to the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy.
Navarre-Anderson Trading Post
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ON DISPLAY IN CABIN 2 |
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these paintings will be donated by the artist to the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy:
Field NotesRabbit Skin Glue Before beginning his oil paintings, Alex uses the centuries-old tradition of priming and stretching his canvases with glue made from refined rabbit hide collagen. En Plein Air En Plein Air is French for 'outdoors'. In this method, the artist paints outside, directly onto canvas within the landscape. Prominent features of these works are the tonal qualities of color, the loose brushwork, and softness of form. |
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Stillwater is located in Michigan's northern Oakland County, about 60 miles north of Detroit.
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