Featured Artist - Gary Niblett

Gary Niblett was born and raised in Carlsbad, New Mexico, a part of the country where the American West is not a myth, but a part of everyday life.  It was there that the local ranchers paid the high school student to paint portraits of their horses.   After graduation from high school, he moved to California where he attended the Art Center College of Design.  He spent eight years with the Hanna-Barbera Studios as a background artist, but continued to develop his own style.  In 1973, Niblett left commercial art to focus exclusively on Western art and, also, returned to New Mexico where his work gained national recognition. 

In 1976, Niblett was invited to join the Cowboy Artists of America.  In 1977, his first year exhibiting in the CAA Show, he won the Silver Medal for Oil with his painting "Gold Fever".  His winning streak continued -- he won the Silver Medal for Water Solubles in 1982 and 1983, the Silver Medal for Oil in 1986, and the Gold Medal for Water Solubles in 1991.  The man from New Mexico was definitely home.

Niblett's work has been exhibited all over the world, including the Grand Palais in France and the Amerika Hass in Berlin, Germany.  He has also exhibited his work in Moscow, Taiwan, Beijing and at the prestigious Royal Watercolor Society in London.

Niblett has been featured in several television documentaries on Western art such as the BBC's "The South Bank Show" in London, PBS's "The Enduring West", and the Soviet-American production "Homeland".   He has also appeared on the "Merv Griffin Show", the "Today Show", and the Nashville Network's "Country Notes".

Several publications have featured Niblett's work including International Fine Art Collector, Time Magazine, Saturday Review, and he was honored as the 1990 "Distinguished Calendar Artist" in New Mexico Magazine.  Niblett was the subject of Mary Terrence McKay's biography entitled Gary Niblett: A New Look at the Old West.  His 40" x 60" oil painting, "A Stranger's Welcome",  has a prominent place in the third floor lobby of the New Mexico Capitol Building in Santa Fe. 

Niblett works mostly in oil, but says he is "comfortable using watercolor".   His art demands that we look into the reveries and still moments of the human spirit, where the heart lives.  Niblett's versatility demonstrates the human values which are brought to bear in living, not only in the American West , but in all of America and the world.

In addition to being a CAA member, Niblett is a charter member of the "Santa Fe Watercolor Society".

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