Trailside Galleries is pleased to present Western Nouveau, a show of new works by Colorado based artist Thomas Blackshear. The newest collection of studio works will be available to view from September 9 through September 21. A reception will be held at the gallery on Saturday, September 14 from 4:00 – 7:00 pm. Thomas Blackshear graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 1977 and soon after went to work for the Hallmark Card Company in Kansas City, Missouri. While there, he met the famous illustrator Mark English and became his apprentice for several months. By 1980, he was working as head illustrator for Godbold/Richter Studio and two years later became a freelance illustrator. Known for his dramatic lighting and sensitivity to mood, Blackshear has produced illustrations for advertising, books, calendars, collectors’ plates, greeting cards, magazines, postage stamps, and national posters. His clients range from Disney Pictures, George Lucas Studios and Universal Studios to International Wildlife and National Geographic magazines. Additionally, he has illustrated thirty United States postage stamps and a commemorative stamp book titled, I Have a Dream. Blackshear has also designed and executed illustrations for four collectors’ plate series. He is known for his best-selling Christian prints produced for DaySpring’s Masterpiece Collection. In 1995 he created Ebony Visions, which has been the number-one-selling black figurine collectible in the United States for the past twenty years. He won Artist of the Year in 1999 for that line from the National Association of Limited Edition Dealers and the prestigious International Collectible Artist of the Year Award in 2001. In 2006, Blackshear had a one-man show through the Vatican in Rome. There he unveiled his painting of Pope John Paul II for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Pope John Paul II Foundation. With over half a dozen major new studio pieces produced for this event, Blackshear notes, “The work I have prepared for this show stems from my love for what I call Western Nouveau. This combines a representational approach imbued with a stylized look that gives the paintings flare. Additionally, several of the works have a decorative look including paintings that have gold leaf applied.”
