I began experimenting with oil paints as an artistic medium in 2016. Though it would be several more years before I could do more than paint in my free time every few months. Still, my love for painting and an appreciation for a diverse representation of western landscapes grew as I studied Western American history. I happily took breaks from writing in Bozeman by walking through downtown galleries where I became captivated with the works of artists like Clyde Aspevig, Scott Christenson, Tucker Smith, and Dan Metz. My focus on the 19th- and early 20th-century West also introduced me to painters such as Rungius, Bierstadt, Moran, and, of course, Charlie Russell.
While completing my doctoral coursework in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, I underwent treatment for Hodgkin Lymphoma during 2018 and 2019. Following a successful stem cell transplant, chemo and immunotherapy, and radiation, I was cancer free by the summer of 2019. My wife and I moved back to Montana in 2020 where I began plein air painting for the first time. By 2023 with most of my dissertation complete, and with a toddler in tow, I spent more and more time painting, practicing, and studying techniques. I have loved creating art my entire life, but I am very much at the beginning of my journey as a painter. I continue to see a deep connection between my professional work as a western historian who studies how people in the past have understood, made, and related to “place.” Art has always been integral to that process and I hope that knowledge can continue to shape my art going forward.
