Artist tries to portray the wilder West
John Kyes paints a Montana that he misses: a wilder, less-settled land.
It's the place the Korean War veteran moved to from California in 1954 to become a small rancher in a log cabin with no electricity near Libby.
"The whole West is disappearing. You won't see it any more 50 years from now," said Kyes, who retired 12 years ago from ranching and working at a lumber company.
The great-grandfather now lives in Lakeside with Eve, his wife of 52 years.
He tries to capture that long-ago West with paintings of wildlife - buffalo, elk, bears and other critters, including an occasional human among the animals.
A Kyes painting of a grizzly bear and three elk is being raffled off by the Kalispell Christian Church to help pay for the recent construction of a $1.2 million, 90,000-square-foot multipurpose building for the church on Foy's Lake Road. Kyes, 74, is a church member, and is donating the painting. Its estimated worth is $4,000 to $5,000. The drawing is Dec. 18 at the church.
Like most of Kyes' paintings, this one tells a story.
The grizzly is nonchalantly walking along a creek bed in the foreground, sort of noticing three elk starting to run from him. He knows he can't outrace the elk and continues on his path.
Kyes loves to paint bears: "They're the symbol of the state, of our wilderness - free, wild and ornery."
The grizzly "overlooks the territory he is king of. … He's the top of the food chain in the Northwest," said Bernie Kushner, owner of the Ace Powell Art Gallery at the Outlaw Inn. The gallery displays many of Kyes' paintings, including several of grizzlies plus the one being raffled.
Kyes has painted off and on since he was a teenager, getting serious about it in the 1950s.
As a small-time rancher, a hunter and a photographer, Kyes has wandered through Northwest Montana, much of it when it was less settled than it is today. Montana's wildlife, history and landscapes fascinate him. Although he uses some photographs for references, he paints scenes mostly from memories of his wanderings.
"He can capture the stillness. The loneliness is there. The quiet. … He can capture these moments," Kushner said.
Kyes quit art classes early in his life. He taught himself and extensively observed other Western artists, studying how they captured anatomical details, textures, emotions and moods in their works - taking a little bit from here, and a little bit from there.
Although he averages five to 10 paintings a year, Kyes said: "I think I'm still learning how to paint. You quit learning, you're dead."
Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com.