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David Kirk Exploring the Light by Eva Poole-Gilson             He works as a wilderness ranger for Inyo National Forest. “I get inspiration from where that work takes me. I’m lucky that way. And I live only a few minutes from the Alabama Hills, so I spend a fair amount of time in them.” Fascinated by those unique shapes just west of Lone Pine and by their juxtaposition against the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada, David Kirk likes to study the complex interplay of light on both, on all that magnitude and expanse. He thinks of his artwork as expressing his place, his relationship, his story within that magnificent habitat.             That story, painted into his recent watercolors, is definitely worth a “read”—a long look. His paintings have taken on a definitive “voice:” they are quickly recognizable as his. When complimented in this way—about the paintings’ distinctive style—Dave commented that early on an artist is more likely to focus on imitation of local color, but with more and more experience, he will probably experiment more bravely…. The years of experience and experimentation that Dave has given to his medium have paid off. “Your senses can fool you,” he says. “You have to look deeper, beyond, to see deeper colors in your subject; sometimes—even a few hours later—the same subject, the same landscape, may exhibit a whole different color, and texture, depth or proportion.”             Dave explained that he works more with primary colors now, not with as many earth tones and neutrals, and he has enhanced his technique, applying paint not only with brush, but with other tools, delving into differing ways of moving the color on the paper. This allows the element of chance to thrive and surprise. He says that painting abstracts—where there doesn’t have to be a realistic point of reference—is more difficult, but fun, and has given him more insight, skill, knowledge, and flexibility in painting more traditional landscapes: those with not only realistic points of reference but, to many of us here, identifiable points of reference, places in our High Desert we call by name.             Praising the great British painter, Turner, and the French master, Cezanne, Dave named them both as influences. But he also named another artist much closer to home, well known and esteemed by many of us: Galen Rowell. Dave discovered Galen’s photographs some ten or fifteen years ago when he moved west from Ohio, where he’d studied at the State University. Galen’s vibrant colors made a lasting impression. Since Dave’s move West, he has devoted himself with intense commitment to his art. Much of what he’s learned he has shared with students in Oregon and California, most recently with adults through the Healthy Communities program in Lone Pine. His watercolors are now finding themselves on walls across the United States.

The Wilderness in Watercolor
by Eva Poole-Gilson

            To see a watercolor by Dave Kirk is to see a testament to the love of Nature. Where did such a love come from? Where did it begin, and why? How did it develop?

            Dave grew up in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio.

            Is that a likely birthplace for such a love??

            It doesn’t seem so, on first consideration. But, when pressed, Dave reveals how that childhood locale may well have started a small kindling in his heart. Near his home, farmers’ fields stretched away, and one tiny little field in particular called to him. It was being surrounded by development, but before it was completely devoured, Dave felt drawn to it. At the age of seven or eight he used to go there and just “hang out.” Perhaps lolling in that small field, gazing its open space to the far horizon, made him ready for the deeper enchantment to Nature….

            As a young man wanting to experience more of the world, he made his way out of the flat, rolling lands to the West. “The large swaths of forests, and the wild rivers, and the mountains—why I hadn’t known those really existed.”

            The fire of love for the natural world pulsed and flared. How to honor it? How to share it? How to capture that intense passion in some visible way?

            That’s when the real artist in him took over: he committed himself to his painting. And the High Sierra Nevada Mountains fanned the blaze inside him. The beauty of those mountains and their surroundings became his main inspiration. He painted them first in a traditional fashion, but over the years he’s made his own fashion, his own unique style. His new works combine traditional techniques with his own interpretation of cubism and impressionism, filtered through variations of his own prismatic vision.

            You will find recognizable local landscapes, but with that Kirkian touch, his distinction developed through experimentation and skill, and through a palette he carefully limits. “I use mainly five to seven colors,” he explains, “the primary colors and a couple earth tones, and I mix them for a wider range of color. Mixing has taught me a lot about color. I use the primary colors wherever I can as they lend vibrancy.”

             In 2006 Dave was asked to paint murals, four- by ten-foot in size, for Doug Thompson’s new building on Highway 395 in the center of Lone Pine. It had been decades since Dave worked in acrylic, the best medium for such a task, but he rose to the occasion, completing three murals: one, a cubistic Mt. Whitney, and two other Sierra views, one of Lone Pine Lake and the other of a lovely spot on the Whitney trail. The owners of Seasons Restaurant in Lone Pine obviously liked the murals, for they then commissioned Dave to paint four 28” by 56” paintings for their walls: four views of the Eastern Sierra in the four seasons. Included in these, Dave says, are three featuring the famous Alabama Hills, the location where so many famous Hollywood Westerns were filmed.

            Dave’s paintings have sold to national and international collectors, but Dave is delighted that many local people also now own his art. All sales are promoted by the Espresso Parlor in Lone Pine which usually shows a few of his works, as well as by postcards of his paintings available at the store near the beautiful waterfall at the Mt. Whitney Trailhead.

            What’s the value of art? Why is it important? Dave Kirk answers by referring to a book review by Rick Bass which he’d clipped from the Los Angeles Times. To paraphrase Bass: Landscape shapes character and culture. He often wonders, he says, if loss of unique American landscape could mean losing a portion of unique American character and American culture. With vanishing landscape, could the people, too, become more tame?

            Dave works six months a year as a ranger in the John Muir Wilderness. He spends days up there alone, sometimes for as many as nine days at a time, living his connection with and love for Nature. “I see my self as a protector and educator. Of course most who spend time in the wilderness already appreciate it.” Yet he hopes he can encourage an even more profound appreciation. And he adds, “I hope that seeing my landscapes, people will be inclined to develop a consciousness toward preservation and conservation.”

(Printed in MAMMOTH TIMES & INYO REGISTER, December 2004)

  Whitney in Watercolor, and other mountain magic
by Eva Poole-Gilson

           “When I drove down 395 for the first time, I was awestruck,” artist David Kirk said.

          He had to move to the High Sierra.

Now he lives in an apartment in Lone Pine and creates his mountain-and-desert-inspired watercolors from a working studio in the heart of Southern Inyo. “As far back as I can remember, I was drawing in crayon and pencil. I grew up in Ohio and studied at Ohio State. Certain professors encouraged me to pursue a career in art….  I ended up with a degree in agriculture, landed in Oregon, spent time near Mt. Hood. I sold some paintings up there, but in 1990 when I moved to California, I dove back into my art with a renewed intensity and commitment.”

          Dave loves the myriad nuances of color in the Inyo and High Sierra and in the mountain ranges skirting Death Valley. The play of light on them intrigues him. “I do more outdoor—plein air—work now so I can explore those relationships: the shapes, the tones, the dance of sunlight and shade. Seeing all that as non-objective, as abstract, is sometimes more difficult, but fascinating.”

          During the past five years collectors of fine art have discovered Dave’s work at his studio in the courtyard of the Chamber of Commerce, and at the Espresso Parlor, Seasons Restaurant and the Natural Mystic in Lone Pine, but now with Dave’s month-long, December show at Pegasus Gallery in Bishop, more people will have the opportunity to see a large body of his work in one place at one time.

          Dave says he’s been inspired by Turner, Cezanne, and Chiura Obata, the last a California artist who came to this country from Japan as a child. Certainly, too, Dave has been inspired by the magnificent terrain he sees and cares for as a seasonal wilderness ranger for the U.S. Forest Service.

          If you, too, are inspired by the great art that man and nature have to offer, you’ll enjoy seeing the Dave Kirk collection—realistic and less realistic images….