James Niehues: Ski Map Painter

March 2, 2006

Tonight I went to the opening of the Works on Paper exhibit at the Armory thanks to Jori's aunt, who works at the Richard Norton Gallery. Although I mostly went for the free food, it's nice to check out all of the art as well. Generally, I thought last year's show was better, but one artist stuck out: James Nieuhues.

If you've ever skied out west, you probably know James Nieuhues as he has painted about 75% of the ski maps for large resorts. At the show, he was offering the paintings without all of the trails and writing we're accustomed to, which was nice.

The base of the paintings are done with an airbrush and he uses acrylic paints (I think) for the details, like trees and buildings. The paintings were far from cheap, but are available from art dealer Norman Brosterman. I've put one of the prints from Brosterman's site below and three more after the jump, but you can see many more maps on Niehues' site.

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