Artist Don Woodard has become well recognized for creating his “Fine Art in Wood.” His unique style of creating artwork allows him to blend his very detailed wood carving skills along with his fine painting skills, which is being well received by art collectors.
The National Museum of Wildlife Art located in Jackson Hole, WY, included his artwork titled, “Bighorn View” in their 2022 Summer Exhibition, “Above the Clouds: Art of the Alpine”. Don says the artwork was inspired from a hike he took while in Rocky Mountain National Park, located in Colorado. “I was on a hike to take a photo of the West side of Longs Peak with Forest Canyon in the foreground. Once I reached my destination, much to my surprise, there was a number of Bighorn Sheep in the area. They didn’t seem to mind me for a while, as I was walking around them taking pictures, then one of them had enough of me, and started scratching the ground with his head down. He didn’t need to “say” any more, I left the area immediately.”
Julia Spencer, assistant curator of education at the museum recently sent Woodard a nice note stating, “Our summer exhibit, Above the Clouds, has been a huge success. People loved “Bighorn View” and I saw numerous visitors enjoy the surprise of realizing that your piece was three dimensional as they got closer. It’s such a beautiful and unique piece!”
Many of Woodard’s artworks are inspired from adventures and mis-adventures that he has experienced personally, leading pack-horse trips into the Rocky Mountain Wilderness. As the Olaf Wieghorst Museum and Western Heritage Center states, ”Award winning artist and sculptor Don Woodard combines carving and color to produce visual and functional art with western and wildlife themes. Like Olaf, Don’s art is influenced by events and situations experienced first-hand.”
Don states that “A couple of years ago, Ripple Creek Lodge, a ranch I have worked with for many years asked if I could assist taking four gentlemen to a remote wilderness fishing camp. After a four-and-a-half hour ride we reached our camp site, then helped the guys set camp. They didn’t want to keep their horses for the week, so the other wrangler and I led the nine horses back through the wilderness for another four-hour ride. On the way back to the ranch we had one horse that insisted on going to the left side of a tree while all the other horses went to the right side of a tree. The image of “Pack-Horse Rodeo” became clear in my mind and it was fun to create, once back in my studio.”
Don states that he is very happy to create commissioned artworks, depicting your memories, your stories, and your photos. All he needs is one or more photos to create an image. He will create a sketch for your review, then once accepted he will create your personal “Fine Art in Wood.” For more information, you can contact Don at don@donwoodard.com, text or call him at 720-217-2029 or visit his website at www.donwoodard.com.
This article was originally written for the Winter 2022 Issue of Modern Cowboy Magazine. (Previously known as Cowboy Lifestyle Magazine). Catch more stories from this issue below!
