Artist opens 'A Window to the West'

"Hopi Dancer" by Samuel Nichols

"A Window to the West," which opens in the Beverly and Sam Ross Gallery at Christian Brothers University tonight, highlights Samuel Nichols' post-Jantzen retirement years, time he spent exploring the hinterlands of Oregon and Arizona before coming back to Memphis to marry Joy Jemison, his former high school girlfriend.

Working over a nearly 30-year period, Nichols used oil paint and hardboard canvases to capture images of Indians and wildlife once rife in the American West.

"Hopi Corn Dancer" is among Samuel Nichols' more recent paintings.

"Dance to the Buffalo Hunt" and "Hopi Corn Dancer" are vivid representations of traditional Native American life, while portraits titled "The Musk Oxen" and "Rocky Mountain Ram" depict magnificently wild specimens from the animal kingdom, before intrusions from mankind did them in. Nichols benignly addresses that subject in one painting, "Dusk Visitors," which shows a pair of mule deer grazing on fallen apples amidst the encroaching civilization.

These are masculine paintings that deserve to be propped atop a fireplace mantel or over a bearskin rug. Even the frames are works of art -- handmade by Nichols, they feature strips of pickled fir or pine, inset with decorative pieces of Saguaro cactus.

"I'm a romantic," says Nichols, now 84. "Much of my experience has to do with old towns, ghost towns, so I suppose I have a soft spot for old things."

His realistic work stands in sharp contrast to his most recent paintings, Indian-themed portraits like "Geronimo," "Navaho Elder" and "A Kiowa Warrior," which employ heavy black outlines and a mod-inspired color scheme.

Nichols confirms that while his earlier paintings focused on illustrative accuracy, over the last six months, he's executed more stylized work.

"It's sort of a funky, fun thing that goes back to the design work I did when I was going to school," he says.

His austerely composed clay sculptures -- 11 of which are included in "A Window to the West" -- also represent a new departure, Nichols says.

"These pieces are as large as my kiln will allow me to fire them," he says of work like "Chuckwagon Cowboy" and "Kicking Bear," cream-colored, elegant pieces that feature minimalist curves and angles.

Samuel Nichols, "A Window to the West"

At the Beverly and Sam Ross Gallery, located in the Plough Library at Christian Brothers University. Opening reception 5:30-7:30 tonight (Friday). Exhibit runs through Feb. 27. For more information, go to www.CBU.edu/library/gallery or call 321-3432.

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