Hay bale is a pastel, signed "Louis Copt 91" lower left, in good condition, measuring 18.25x24.5. Total dimensions are 24x30x1.5. Artist Louis Copt was born January 29, 1949 in Emporia, Kansas. Spending time on a farm as a child and growing up near the Kansas Flint Hills had a profound effect on Copt and has translated into his passion for landscape painting. Copt graduated from Emporia State University in 1971 with a degree in art. Copt began his career as a full-time artist in 1985 after returning from a summer of study at the Art Students League in New York City. He has worked with some of Kansas’ most notable artists including Jim Brothers, Robert Sudlow, Robert Green, Robert Brawley and Stan Herd. His current work focuses on the prairie in just about every season, but particularly the annual spring burn-off in the Flint Hills. His primary medium is oil on canvas which allows him to work on a larger scale and provides the depth and color that best translates his particular vision. Copt is fascinated by the challenge of capturing the force of nature as the ï¬res race across the prairie renewing the landscape for yet another season. Through painting, Copt inspires viewers to see the landscape in ways they may not think about. By isolating images often taken for granted, viewers see the landscape in new and different ways and ï¬nd new appreciation for what surrounds them. In 2016, Copt was the featured artist in the Lawrence Arts Center’s Annual Beneï¬t Auction. His one-person exhibition showcased a series of new works featuring contemporary paintings and cast glass sculptures of Kansas barns. Copt’s work has been featured three times in The Artist’s Magazine, and three times he has won its award for Top Finalist in the Landscape Division. He has also been featured in American Artist Magazine as well as in the scholarly publication American Art Review. In 2011, he was named Kansas Governor’s Artist. His work is owned by private collectors nationally, and he has executed several regional, public commissions as well as having his work included in the Kansas State University’s Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, and the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas. He has taught at the Lawrence Arts Center for over 25 years and has led travel and painting workshops to France, Spain and Italy. He occasionally teaches drawing and painting classes at the University of Kansas. Copt has served on many arts organizations boards and is active in several community service projects. Louis Copt shows regularly in galleries throughout the Midwest. These include the Leopold Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri, the Reuben Saunders Gallery in Wichita, Kansas, the Strecker-Nelson Gallery in Manhattan, Kansas, the SouthWind Art Gallery in Topeka, Kansas, and the Fayman Gallery in Lawrence, Kansas. Copt has participated in a number of national juried shows, and his work is collected by people throughout the world.

good condition

4.4 lb