Walt Gonske at Pitzer's Fine Arts

Gonske studied at the Frank Reilly School of Art in New York City. The late Reilly gave him solid training in illustration. After a number of years as a successful illustrator in New York, he moved to Taos in 1972, where he began to work almost exclusively on location. Frustrated by the limitations inclement weather imposed on his painting in plein-air, he set about customizing a Ford pickup into a “paintmobile,” or rather, a studio on wheels. This mobile studio is stocked with canvases of various sizes and textures, and allows him to go on painting trips throughout California, Colorado, or wherever the road may lead.
BORN
1942, Newark, New Jersey

EDUCATION
Frank Reilly School of Art, New York


SELECTED AFFILIATIONS
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum


SELECTED AWARDS & HONORS

1989 - Gold Medal, 1st Place in Oil,
National Academy of Western Art,
Oklahoma City, OK
1983 - Silver Medal, 2nd Place in Oil,
National Academy of Western Art,
Oklahoma City, OK
1976 - John and Mary Lee
Stacey Grants Manager
1975 - Bronze Medal,
3rd Place Drawing,
National Academy of Western Art,
Oklahoma City, OK

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2004-2002 - Salon d'Arts
Denver, CO
2003 - Forbes Trinchera Ranch,
Invitation and Exhibition,
Southern Colorado
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

The Art of Ann Templeton:
A Step Beyond, 2005
American Artist, January 2003
Wildlife Art, Nov-Dec 2002
Art of the West, Jan-Feb 2002
Southwest Art, February 2002
Art of the West, May-Jun 1996
Modern Oil Impressionists, Ron Ranson,
David and Charles, 1992
Masterworks of Impressionism,
Arlene Doran Kirkpatrick, 1985
Southwest Art, 1985
Contemporary Western Artists,
Peggy and Howard Samuels, 1982
Treasures of the American West,
Harrison Eiteljorg, 1981
40 Watercolorists and How They Work,
Watson Guptill, Susan Meyers, 1976
SELECTED COLLECTIONS

The Dunnegan Collection,
Bolivar, MO
The Eiteljorg Collection,
Indianapolis, IN
Gilcrease Museum,
Tulsa, OK
The Wm. and Joffa Kerr Collection,
Oklahoma City, OK
The Morton and Donna Fleischer
Collection,
Scottsdale, AZ