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Bonnie Conrad Biography
Oil painter Bonnie Conrad portrays images of America's western and rural heritage.
Subjects range from Native American to cowboy or women, children and animals
in a rural setting. Having lived on several ranches, including Wyoming, Montana,
Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Texas with her ranch manager husband Roger, Conrad
has been exposed to the West up close and personal. It drew her in and she paints
it with exuberance. She dressed her five daughters in pantaloons and long dresses
and posed them in the icy Shoshone River "washing clothes" and rounded up her
husband's "hands" in a rare spare moment and bid them to run their horses thru the
river "one more time" and joined in the bloody "fun" at branding time. She has reveled
in the palpable excitement of the cowboys behind the chutes at rodeo as they ready
to try their skills at a testy bronc, and fallen over wagon tongues because she was so
interested in seeing what was going on "out there" that she wasn't watching "right here".
We have 4-H'd and joined pow-wows and danced at Crow Fair. We have driven in a
rickety bus down through seven vegetative zones of the Copper Canyon to visit the
Tarahumara Indians to visit the purported least "civilized" tribe on the North American
continent. We have hiked down to the White House ruins with a 50 lb. pack of "artists
paraphernalia" to paint the Navajo Bead workers and the colorfully chiseled walls of
Canyon d'Chelly and felt the Spirit of the Anasazi ruins of Mesa Verde and puzzled over
petroglyphs of southern Utah.
Education underpinning Bonnie's production include a B.A. in arts, a year studying under
master draftsman Kent Goodliffe and workshops with some of her favorites including
Dan Mieduch, Jim Wilcox, Matt Smith, Donald (Putt) Puttnam, Carolyn Anderson, Gary
Kapp and William Reese as well as many trips to museums and galleries studying
favorite works. What evolved was a painterly style enriched by a love for study of color
and a striking portrayal of light.
Conrad is honored as a Signature Member of Oil Painters of America (OPA) and
American Women Artists (AWA) as well as American Plains Artists (APA) and has
won several awards in their national exhibitions.
Permanent collections sporting her
work are the Pioneer Center for the Arts, St. George, Utah and the Clymer Museum in
Ellensburg, Washington.
At present, Conrad paints from Windance Studio located in sunny St. George, Utah in
the midst of Utah's spectacular red rock.
Some of her Awards include Oil Painters of America "Honorable Mention" 2011,
American Plains Artists First Place Oil 2009 and Best of Show 2004, Rocky Mountain
Elk Foundation 2008 Poster Artist, St. George Arts Festival Best of Show 2004, Zwei
Tu Color Award Oil Painter's of America 2003, First Place Oil American Academy of
Women Artists 2003, Best of Show Western Spirit 2003.
Some invitational shows Bonnie has been invited to participate in include Phippen
Museum's Masters in Miniature, Briscoe Museum's "Night of Artists," Miniatures by
the Lake, Coeur d'Alene Galleries, Mountain Oyster Club, Settler's West Miniature,
Gilcrease Museum's America in Miniature.
C.M. Russell Masters in Miniature, and Western Spirit Cheyenne. Museums shows
include Sears Gallery Show, Dixie State College 2012, Clymer Museum "Two Gents and
a Lady" 1999, Bradford Brinton Four Person Show 1997, Sheridan College Museum One
Woman Show 1996.
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