J. E. "Jim" Knauf (CO 1948-) left California in 1966 to attend art school at Northern Arizona University. While studying the technical aspects of drawing and painting he traveled the back roads of the Navajo, Hopi and Apache reservations observing the many characters he met along the way. He also explored Arizona's rural mining and ranching communities, constantly gathering personal impressions of the West and its inhabitant.

The innate power of western image still grips artist and viewer alikeNative American figure, cowboys, cowgirls, horses, rodeo riders, and the southwestern landscapes. Knauf has developed a very contemporary style is capture images of the "old West." Knauf's work explores the delicate play between form and abstr...