Artist William Damon eagerly opens a large package that has just been delivered to Gallery 4, an artist-owned cooperative in downtown Fargo where he has been a member and displayed his work for 30 years.
“Growing up, my dad worked for a farmer that had horses, so horses were the first thing I ever started drawing. Ever since, I’ve had a love for horses. My parents were so encouraging of me. One time there was a magazine with a horse on the cover. Knowing I loved horses, my dad bought it for me just so I can have that horse.”
His love of horses is still evident in his shining eyes as he carefully unwraps two new photo collages and sets them up for display. One in color, one in black and white, the images of wild horses from Medora are graceful and compelling. The pieces are typical of Bill’s work, which focuses on the openness of the landscape in the upper Midwest and, as with the horses, the inhabitants of it.
“I grew up in Iowa, which is largely wooded and hilly. When I moved to North Dakota, the openness of the landscape expanded my horizons. The lakes of Minnesota, the mountains of Montana, the Glacier National Park in Montana. I love the sense of space,” Bill said. “The phrase I like to use is ‘Where your spirit rides the wind.’ Once I was camped out in the country by myself, and I was laying on my back looking up at the sky. I could hear the birds and the wind moving through the grasses, and I felt swept away. Peaceful. I want to share that with people.”
National Park in Montana. I love the sense of space,” Bill said. “The phrase I like to use is ‘Where your spirit rides the wind.’ Once I was camped out in the country by myself, and I was laying on my back looking up at the sky. I could hear the birds and the wind moving through the grasses, and I felt swept away. Peaceful. I want to share that with people.”
Known for his sweeping photographic landscapes in luminescent colors and his quietly precise country vignettes rendered in watercolor, viewers can easily absorb that sense of peace and space in Bill’s work. However, those are not the only two mediums Bill utilizes for his art.
“I have a pretty broad range,” Bill said. “I do oil, conte crayon, pen, and ink. I swing in and out from different mediums. I think it helps my creativity, and that shows up in my photography and watercolor pieces.”
For Bill, art is a way to share his experiences traveling by himself across the upper Midwest with other people.
“Some people think there is nothing out there. It’s empty or boring. To me, the prairies are never boring. Even in the wintertime, there are shades of brown and yellow and tan in the landscape. There is an incredible beauty in the expanse.”
Want to be swept away? Check out Bill’s work at Gallery 4, located in downtown Fargo at 115 Roberts Street North.
Gallery 4
gallery4fargo.net
Facebook | /Gallery4Fargo
Instagram | @gallery4fargo
Twitter | Gallery4Farg
