‘Wild Life’ exhibition premieres at Phillips Studio & Gallery

Phillips Studio & Gallery hosts Kalispell-based artist Karen Franqui Elkan and her new exhibition titled “Wild Life.” The gallery is hosting a first Friday reception Dec. 4 from 5 to 7 p.m., with an artist talk at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited to meet the artist, view the exhibit, and hear about her inspiration for this show.

Elkan received private instruction and guidance from well-known Western artist Ace Powell in the 1970s. Powell set Elkan up at an easel next to his and guided her through how to apply the paint and hold the brush. Her first visit to the Hockaday Museum of Art was with Powell and he encouraged her to find the positive in others' works and take that away with her.

Elkan is inspired by the Old West, the antiquated buildings in Montana’s historic towns, old black and white photographs of people working with horses, the local wildlife and the natural beauty in the mountains. She admires Native Americans and how they lived in harmony with nature. These inspirations all find their way into her work; she paints with the mood of the piece in mind, she celebrates the life and individuality of each scene and she allows her intuition to confidently lead her color choices.

“My art tends to focus on the eyes. I like to give life to my portraits and make the viewer feel like the individual or animal is looking right at them,” Elkan said. “I want to feel them and give them life. I tend to put my love for them in their faces. I have a hard time making a wild animal look fierce; instead I think I make someone want to touch it and love it.”

She finds working with pastels, which combines drawing with painting to perfectly convey the soft texture of the fur in her animal portraits. The influences of her past lend an intensity and vision to her artistic endeavors and affects her approach to painting materials and techniques.

Elkan’s work will be on view and available at Phillips Studio & Gallery in the Kalispell Center Mall until Dec. 23.