Ones to watch

PAINTING WITH A SENSE OF IMMEDIACY, KYLE SIMS PUTS THE VIEWER IN THE WILD THROUGH THE USE OF HIS FINELY DEPICTED SCENERY, A REFINED PORTRAYAL OF THE LAND AND A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURAL INHABITANTS OF THE WEST. Sims firmly places himself as one of the top wildlife oil painters of our time.

Capturing the dramatic side of nature, Sims’ attention to detail and to the characteristics of the oil paint itself lends to his success. Sims works predominantly in the West, observing elk, mountain goats and buffalo, as well as smaller species such as fox and cottontails, portraying them respectfully in their unique environments. His eye for contextual conflict provides an emotional content to his work.

His paintings have been shown every year since 2004 at the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale in Cody, Wyoming. In 2005, he was awarded the Distinguished Young Artist Award from the Society of Animal Artists, as well as The Wildlife Award of Merit from the Art for the Parks competition. In 2009, Sims was invited to the Masters of the American West, held at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, California. His show sold out. Also in 2009, Sims participated for the first time in the Prix de West, held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where his show sold out as well. He was also honored with the Major General and Mrs. Don D. Pittman Wildlife Award for his piece titled Summer Rumble.

His work is collected widely across the country and is held in many private collections. Sims is solely represented by the Trailside Galleries in Jackson, Wyoming, and Scottsdale, Arizona.


Tom Browning’s Western oil paintings include a figurative aspect as well, while his exquisite sense of light plays across the genres. With an almost Impressionist landscape style in the background, Browning reveals an underlying connection in the feel of Western verve, the daily spark of a life lived outdoors.

Browning’s paintings encompass movement and breath, dust so real it gets in your teeth, in rustic and nostalgic scenes full of vigor and immediacy, quiet contemplation and superb technique.

Since becoming a member of the Northwest Rendezvous Group in 1986, Browning has been a four-time recipient of the Jurors Award, and in 1994 received an Award of Excellence from the NWR Group. In 1992 and ’93 he was invited to show at the National Academy of Western Art (NAWA) and was a frequent guest painter with the Plein Air Painters of America (PAPA). Browning is a member of the Portrait Painters Society of America, which chose him as a finalist in a 2000 competition in New York City.

In 2008 Browning was invited to participate in the Prix de West at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. In 2009, his painting, The Dawn of a New Day, won the Prix de West Award. He also will be recognized with a special tile in the Edward L. Gaylord Exhibition Wing hallway, and his painting will take its rightful place in the William S. and Ann Atherton Art of the American West Gallery, in the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Browning is represented by the Wilcox Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming, and Clearwater Gallery in Sisters, Oregon.


Sculptor Khang Pham-New’s biomorphic abstract forms reflect the timeliness and the timelessness of nature and the origins of life. In Pham-New’s work, the curved line represents feminine power, nourishing and nurturing; joined curves bow to the influence of the mother-child bond as well as the cyclical movements in the natural world. As the view shifts, the apparent hardness of marble and granite become more organic, more lyrical and contemplative.

Pham-New has exhibited throughout Toronto at the John B. Aird Gallery, the Queens Quay II Gallery, The Sculptor’s Society of Canada, and at the Pinedale Estates, a private sculpture garden north of Toronto. In 2005, three of Pham-New’s works were selected to exhibit in the prestigious Vancouver Sculpture Biennale. In the United States, his work has shown at Glenn Green Galleries, Tesuque, New Mexico; he completed an installation of granite sculpture at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, California; his work has shown at the Los Angeles Art Show, Trend Magazine Lounge, Los Angeles, California. His work appears in national and international collections.     

In 1999, Khang travelled back to Vietnam to be reunited with his birth parents. In his continuing voyage of self-discovery, he began a process of reconnecting with his birth country and culture. In early 2001, Khang built a studio at the base of a mountain near the ocean-side city of Nha Trang. In 2004, Khang moved this studio closer to where most of the rock he carves is quarried.

In the United States, his work is represented by Glenn Green Galleries, Tesuque, New Mexico and Scottsdale, Arizona.