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Parks Reece
AFC
Original Paintings, Lithographs and Reproductions |
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Born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1954, Parks was indoctrinated into the arts at a young age. His mother, Gwyn Reece, was a nationally noted painter. Together with his mother and Ruth Shaw, the originator of the finger-painting medium, Parks exhibited and sold paintings in the early 60's.
Studying art at East Carolina University wasn't exotic enough, so he went to the Universidad National in Costa Rica to study Pan American and Pre-Columbian art. Ultimately, Parks ended up at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1977, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in printmaking. He completed independent study in Intaglio etching at the University of South Carolina by setting up the etching facility there. He later earned a teaching certificate in art at Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana.
From Lodge Grass on the Crow Indian Reservation to Pine Creek country school in Paradise Valley, Montana, to the Elved High School in Wales Parks presented art classes, mural painting, and joke cracking to hundreds of kids in a score of schools. For 30 years he has lived in Livingston, Montana where he continues to roam the mountains, rivers and taverns, often in pursuit of wild game and fish.
TESTIMONIALS
"By injecting humor into issues traditionally considered dour, Reece has become something of a legend, and his paintings are collector's items."
-Todd Wilkinson, Wildlife Art News
"Parks Reece is a truly extraordinary artist whose work I have been following for more than twenty years."
-Jim Harrison, author and screenwriter
"There's definitely something gloriously wrong with artist, Parks Reece. I mean, just look at his work. Here's training and talent shackled to an altogether peculiar perception of our natural world."
-Tim Cahill, author and contributing editor, Outside, Rolling Stone and Esquire magazines
"Parks Reece is a painter with poetic wit who we can never have enough of. He is a surefooted nonconformist whose individuality of thought is as unmistakable as a fingerprint."
-Peter Fonda, actor, director
"Parks Reece has diligently devoted himself to a life in Art, which casts a most unique shadow. Using Imagery straight from nature, he has pulled, twisted and otherwise juggled it into shapes of thoughtful commentary, irony, droll humor and sometimes outright belly laughs.
-Russell Chatham, arist, author, publisher and Fly Fishing Hall of Fame
"...We are touched by his superb artistic techniques. Moreover we find the historical responsibility of a mature artist. His mind is across the boundaries of nations, and reaches the deepest heart of every audience.” Yan Zhuping, Curator, 188ART, Shanghai, China
BOOK REVIEWS
CALL OF THE WILD
"...take a walk on the wild side with alchemical artist Parks Reece...he gleefully dances on a razor's edge...tweaking our notions of reality with wit and beguiling us with mystery."
-LA Times
"Magnetic works that hold our attention with their resplendent beauty and gentle satire...spellbinding...mystical."
-Chicago Tribune
"...the Royal Jester of modern Western art...an unsentimental, exquisitely modern painter of the West."
-WBUR, Boston's NPR News Station
"Think Van Gogh meets the Far Side - and you might begin to understand Montana artist Parks Reece. Call of the Wild is a beautiful, impressive and thoroughly amusing book - as original as the artist himself."
-Montana Living
WHAT IN THE WORLD by Michael P. Haymans, Environmental Activist and Poet
Parks Reece’s latest book of art highlights his recurrent theme of environmental awareness. The stories come often from otherwise voiceless animals. Pertinent quotes and comments set the stage for each painting. This book fits the demands of a world in crisis. It is the work of an art ambassador to the world, and to a China now encouraging environmental, political expression. An Awakening has arrived through 188ART, Shanghai, and it is reflected in this book. Parks is a rebel with a cause.
Hand sized and matte finished, this paper back, chapbook also continues an essential theme of Parks’ life and art, which is an insistence that great art also be available and affordable. His valuable original works and limited edition prints are built upon, and stand upon a foundation of unlimited prints mounted on stiff board, hangable in every house and hall, with some t-shirts to go with it.
An affordable book at $15 on Amazon, it shares Parks’ environmental sensibilities of a life time, and invites us all into the beginning of East Meets West as political commentary grows in China. Get it for yourself, and give some to friends. Love one another. All will likely snort, sigh, say “Ha!”, giggle and grin.
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Support for Conservation:
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Special Achievements:
- 2016 - West on the Left, East on the Right
Grand Exhibition of Sino American Outstanding Contemporary Art Works
- 2016 - Plein Air Painting on the Yellowstone
http://www.livingstoncenter.org
The Emerger 2nd Place Contemporary
- 2016 - West on the Left, East on the Right - Biscuit Basin
Exhibition of Works, American Artists, Chinese Artists, Beijing, China
- 2016 - West on the Left, East on the Right - Tsing Tao, China
- 2015 - Plein Air Painting on the Yellowstone
http://www.livingstoncenter.org
Tree Top Cutthroat 3rd Place Non-Traditional
- 2015 - "Awakening of Insects" Contemporary American Art Exhibition
"Awakening of Insects", meaning the eagle into the Falcon, the reawakening. We expect the American experience and the open concept artist can bring new inspiration of our contemporary art, like the green grass in the spring blooming milk vetch, beautiful spread; more desirably, the United States and China's cultural wings flying over, passing new height, lofty, boundless!
- 2014 - West on the Left, East on the Right - Inaugural Exhibit
Selected to exhibit, with four American/Livingston Artists, at 188ART, Shanghai, China
- 2014 - Plein Air Painting on the Yellowstone
http://www.livingstoncenter.org
Screaming Indian 1st Place Non-Traditional
- 2009 - 11th Annual All Media International Online Juried Art Exhibition
http://www.UpstreamPeopleGallery.com
- 2009 - 2009 and 2010 National Folk Festivals
http://www.nationalfolkfestival.com
- 2008 - Watermark 2008 - Works on Paper National Exihibition 3rd Place
Parks Reece's "Bearly There" lithograph won 3rd Place Award at the Watermark 2008 - Works on Paper National Exhibition.
Collections:
Whoopie Goldberg
Waylon Jennings Estate
Bob Bennett – Attorney, Washington, DC
Robert Redford
Alston Chase
Max Baucus, United States Ambassador, China
Tom Skerritt
Mel Ziegler
Zak Galifinakis
Governor Brian Schweitzer
Governor Steven Bullock – Commemoration Painting, A Bright Future for Big Sky Country
Tim Cahill
William “Gatz” Hjortsberg
Carolina Self Portraits, included in the permanent collection of the Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Guest Artist, Smithsonian Institution Art Train, 1998
Publications:
- Outside Bozeman (2011)
More about Outside Bozeman
Contributor from 2011 - 2016 in a series called "State of the West." Also appeared on the masthead at Artistic Opiner (stating his opinion in Art). - He's been called "wacky and whimsical" and "sure-footed nonconformist." WBUR, Boston's NPR New Station dubbed him "the Royal Jester of modern Western Art." Whatever the label, one thing's for sure: artist Parks Reece is an iconoclast, a strikingly original painter known as much for his satirical wit as his artistic talent. His wildlife paintings and lithographs are as emblematic of southwest Montana as the wolves, bears, and trout they often depict.
In "State of the West," Reece takes on some of the most salient outdoor-oriented topics of the day. The "State of the West" paintings-a blend of painting with hand and brush-display bold, colorful scenes, with Reece's trademark personification of Montana's wild creatures. "It's really amazing work," says England (Editor). "People will like it even if they don't get the underlying satire."
- Tracing Parks Reece's Artistic Roots (2010)
More about Tracing Parks Reece's Artistic Roots
Featured article on Parks Reece with art by Parks - "With finger painting, Livingston artist Parks Reece comes full circle." - Myers Reece
Author: Myers Reece
Published by: The Montana Quarterly
- Flyfisher Magazine of the Federation of Fly Fishers (2007)
More about Flyfisher Magazine of the Federation of Fly Fishers
Photography - Father and son fishing trip in Argentina's Patagonia. A remarkable adventure in a fly-fisherman's paradise.
Author: Myers Reece
Published by: Keokee Co. Publishing, Inc.
- Call of the Wild: The Art of Parks Reece (2002)
More about Call of the Wild: The Art of Parks Reece
- First published collection of Parks Reece's artwork with 114 color plates. Essays by Tim Cahill, Scott McMillion, Myers Reece and sonnets by Greg Keeler.
Author: Joint Effort
Published by: Riverbend Publishing
- Wild Winds and Other Tales of Growing Up in the Outdoor West (1998)
Featuring paintings by Parks Reece. - A unique collection of universal stories about people and their relationships with wildlife, the earth and each other.
Author: James L. Huckabay
Published by: Maverick Press
- Guide Wars (1997)
Illustrations by Parks Reece - A chronicle of adventures with friends careening across America on fishing expeditions. Named one of the 10 best sporting books of 1999 by Stephan Bodio.
Author: John Holt
Published by: Wilderness Adventure Press 1st Release, University of Nebraska, 2nd release (coming soon)
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