Artist, rancher and storyteller, Theodore Waddell, is one of the West’s most celebrated and recognized contemporary artists. His signature style of bold brushstrokes, textures, and generous layers of impasto capture the beauty and harshness of ranch life in the high plains and mountain valleys of the Rocky Mountains. The paintings in this exhibition are grounded in Ted’s profound and inextricable connection to the land and animals he loves. Western art is often characterized as nostalgia. Waddell’s
paintings are much more about the contemporary West and his immediate experience as a rancher.

Living in Montana is not merely existing; it is a vital experience. It is difficult to survive here, requiring a
special kind of person. The weather, isolation, and geography are tough, individual, and independent.
My art’s all part of the process of living on a ranch. You farm the ground and it’s one thing; then you
look at it and it’s something else visually. — Ted Waddell