Revered artist, Russell Chatham, spoke about his life and work at 3 p.m. on September 16 in the garden of the Wildling Art Museum in Los Olivos. The free event was in conjunction with the Museum’s fall exhibition, “The Poetry of Nature: Paintings and Lithographs by Russell Chatham” (September 15, 2007-January 6, 2008).

Chatham lives near Livingston, Montana, though he grew up in California, in Carmel Valley and the Bay Area. His paintings and limited edition lithographs are not portraits of specific places, however, but poetic evocations of the types of landscape that he has loved. The artist, now 68 and in his prime, is also a famous fly fisherman, author, publisher, and former restaurateur, with many friends and collectors in the literary and film worlds. The exhibition at the Wildling provides a rare opportunity to see examples of Chatham’s work done over a thirty-five year period in both Montana and California.

The Wildling Art Museum is located at 2329 Jonata Street in Los Olivos. As seating was limited, bringing your own lawn chair was recommended