FOR GENERAL RELEASE: April 2, 2019
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GRAND RIVER SKETCHBOOK: Visions and Voices
by James Lancel McElhinney ©2019
The Rio Grande passing through White Rock Canyon, Los Alamos County, New Mexico. SSE from 35.8215-106.1845. March 9, 2019. 3:30 pm
In 2009, James Lancel McElhinney revived an historic form of expeditionary drawing, painting and writing in travel journals, focused on waterways, rivers, and coastlines, promoting environmental sustainability through a deeper personal engagement with nature.
In 2015 McElhinney formed Needlewatcher Editions, a new publishing company specializing in fine-press art-books. Read the feature article by Peter Trippi in Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. In 2017, Needlewatcher Editions produced its first book: Hudson Highlands. North River Suite Volume One, which was acquired by a number of notable museums and rare book libraries across the United States.
A new project O.T.W. On the Water: The Schuylkill River, was published on October 26, 2018. It too has been well-received. It is now the focus of a new multimedia installation organized by McElhinney, now on view through September 2019, at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia.
Assembled around McElhinney’s Schuylkill River Sketchbook, and a limited edition of archival pigment prints drawn from its pages, the installation brings together a group of living and historic artists engaging the river, including a series of podcast interviews.
Late Light. The Rio Grande Passing Through White Rock Canyon. SSE from 36.8261 -106.1802. March 7, 2019. 5:30 pm
McElhinney now turns his attention to the Rio Grande, following the historic waterway across New Mexico. Works from his Grand River Sketchbook project will be on view at Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, from June 20, to August 4, 2019.
Recently McElhinney has been working in New Mexico, to explore the Rio Grande Rift, collecting images and stories, with the goal of contributing to a growing number of conversations around one of America’s greatest waterways. A suite of paintings and color intaglio prints are now underway. A new limited edition of archival pigment prints drawn from the pages of McElhinney’s painting journals is planned.
Looking East from the Western Rim of Rio Grande Gorge. 36.4765 -106.7353. Journal-painting. 3.5 x 10 inches
McElhinney is also currently in the process of creating a series of pocket field-guides to mindful travel through drawing and writing for Schiffer Publishing, the first three of which will focus on The American Southwest, Hudson Valley, and the New England Coast.
Looking SSE from SSE from 36.8261 -106.1802. March 11, 2019. 5:00 pm. Watercolor and pen on Arches block paper. 3.9 x 9.8 inches.
James Lancel McElhinney in the Field
Rio Grande Gorge. Photograph by the author.
James Lancel McElhinney is an author, visual artist, oral historian, independent scholar and publisher. He is also the owner of Needlewatcher LLC, a bonded New York State Limited Liability Company specializing in artist estates, art appraisal, art publishing, education and cultural affairs. He who passed the USPAP (Uniform Standards and Practices for Appraisal Professionals) exam, and is an Associate member of the Appraisers Association of America. He holds an MFA in painting from Yale, a BFA from the Tyler School of Art, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. He is the author of numerous essays, articles and several trade books on art. McElhinney has conducted numerous oral history interviews for organizations such as the Archives of American Art, Columbia Center for Oral History, Coleción Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Frick Center for the History of Collecting, University of Charleston, and the Vermont Studio Center. McElhinney is listed on the Master Artist Advisory Council of The Arthur Miller Foundation. He is the recipient of several fellowships and grants, including a 2017 Pollock Krasner Foundation grant, and a prior Visual Artist fellowship from National Endowment for the Arts. His work has been the subject of nearly fifty solo exhibition and numerous group shows. McElhinney’s work can be found in numerous private collections, and:
Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville NC
Avery Fine Art and Architecture Library Columbia University, New York, NY
Boscobel House and Gardens, Garrison, New York
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk VA
Denver Art Museum, Denver CO
University of Denver Library. Special Collections, Denver CO
Free Library of Philadelphia Print and Picture Collection, Philadelphia PA
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers New York
Huntington Library and Museum, San Marino, CA
Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia PA
Newberry Library. Chicago, Illinois
New York Public Library. Wallach Collection of Art, Prints and Photographs, New York, NY
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Special Collections and Archives, Philadelphia PA
Temple University, Samuel L. Paley Special Collections Research Center, Philadelphia PA
West Point Museum, United States Military Academy. Highland Falls, NY
Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. New Haven CT
For information regarding this project, to contact the artist, or to schedule a workshop or speaking engagement, please email
ed******@ne***********.com
Needlewatcher Editions. PO Box 142, West Haverstraw, New York 10993-0142.