Artist Biography: Theodore Waddell, a prominent American contemporary artist, was born in 1941 in Billings, Montana. His artistic journey spans over five decades, influenced by his dual careers as a professor of art and a rancher. Waddell's early exposure to the rugged beauty of Montana instilled in him a profound appreciation for the region's natural elements, particularly the sprawling prairies and mountain valleys, and the animals that populate them, that feature prominently in his works. Waddell's current works reflect this unique fusion, showcasing abstract impressionistic renditions of real subject matter that embody the American experience of Western life and his profound love for the land. Having studied art at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Eastern Montana College, and Wayne State University, Waddell honed his craft under notable mentors such as Isabelle Johnson, Montana's pioneering modernist painter. His experiences as a rancher on various cattle ranches across Montana, coupled with his exposure to diverse artistic traditions, shaped his signature style characterized by bold strokes, vibrant colors, and a deep connection to nature. Waddell's artistic career took off in 1983 when his works were featured in the Corcoran Biennial 38th Survey of American Art, catapulting him into the spotlight of the art world. Since then, his paintings, sculptures, and prints have garnered international acclaim, with collections displayed in prestigious venues like the White House, U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Beijing, as well as galleries and museums across the Western United States. Today, Theodore Waddell continues to create captivating artworks from his studios in Sheridan, Montana, and Hailey, Idaho, where he resides with his wife, Lynn Campion. His profound reverence for nature, coupled with his mastery of paint and form, cements Waddell's legacy as a visionary interpreter of the Western landscape and its enduring allure. Jennifer Complo McNutt, Curator of Contemporary Art, Eiteljorg Museum: “Waddell's paintings are a combination of rough marks, thick paint, transparent elegant strokes, and, on a few occasions a slow, hard line scratched into the canvas. You can feel the movement of the paint throughout the paintings, but the subjects are frozen. They are not frozen as a stagnant object, but captured as a solitary image. Captured, interpreted, and enveloped in the landscape. They are carved out of, or laid onto the green and grey-yellow of the spring and summer, or the white canopy of winter. And sometimes there are ghosts in the paintings, the faint image of what has changed in the piece or decays in the pasture. These ghosts are metaphors for the struggle and change that is constant in life; our own mortality…Whether Waddell is studying the changing seasons, animals as individuals, or the later figures, one can see his magic in his reverence for nature and celebration of paint. He is a painter's painter: strong hearted, sure handed, and high spirited. Therefore, if I must categorize Waddell, he will live in the ranks of American painters and not be limited to the confines of the western artist.”