James Moore Salutes Glacier National Park

For immediate release: April 19, 2010

Contact: Amity Moore, Publicist
Telephone: 336-880-8051
amoorewords@yahoo.com

COUPEVILLE, Wash.—In honor of the place that moved him to paint, Washington-based artist James Moore returns to Montana with a series of new paintings about Glacier National Park. “James Moore’s Centennial Salute to Glacier National Park,” which coincides with the park’s 100^th anniversary, will hang at Glacier Gallery in Kalispell, June 25-Sept. 10, 2010.

Moore calls the series of works the largest and most important of his career to date. “Plein air painting teaches you to paint quickly,” he says. “But these large pieces cannot be painted wet into wet, nor finished in one sitting. These paintings demand underpainting, layering, and more information. The process is more complex.

“But an event this grand calls for grand paintings. After all, it only happens every 100 years,” Moore adds.

Moore’s relationship with Montana goes back almost 20 years. Just one visit to the Flathead Valley, and his heart never left. He loved the wild, rugged beauty. “I think there are more bears than people per square mile,” he jokes, then adds more seriously, “It is a place of spiritual reverence. That’s where I made the decision to paint full time and I have no regrets.”

He quickly became a fixture in the local arts community, becoming friends with and studying with Bye Bitney, Carolyn Anderson and the late Joe Abbrescia. He has participated in several Montana art shows, including the CM Russell Auction of Original Western Art in Great Falls, the Montana Land Reliance Art for Open Space Show and Auction in Bigfork, and the Treasure State Art Show in Hamilton. In addition to other venues in Washington and Wyoming, Kalispell’s Hockaday Museum of Art and Billings’ Yellowstone Art Museum have exhibited Moore’s work.

            Today, he lives and paints on Whidbey Island in Washington, but he returns each summer to Montana to paint. This year is no exception.

“It’s back to Montana where my true education began,” he says. “But this time, in addition to my easel and paints, I’m bringing my centennial salute to Glacier National Park.”

To preview Moore’s work, visit www.jamesmooreartist.com.