Mountain Trails Gallery, Jackson, WY, June 19-25
With a long tenure of representation by Mountain Trails Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming, painter Edward “Ned” Aldrich has lost track of how many solo shows they’ve hosted for him. His upcoming exhibit, which runs June 19 to 25, might be his 20th and will, as always, offer a fresh menagerie of the wildlife paintings for which Aldrich is widely celebrated. The show includes paintings of owls, wolves, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep and other species. The artist plans to attend the opening at the gallery on June 19 from 4 to 6 p.m.
“What I enjoy most about a show is talking with people standing in front of my work, and almost everyone tells me a story about seeing a red fox or having a connection with an animal even if fleeting,” Aldrich says.
“It’s such a joy for me, such a pleasure to hear about people’s connection with wildlife. I love to see people lighting up talking about these amazing experiences with the wild world,” he continues. “People who collect my work or just like looking at it have a respect for and love of wild spaces and wildlife—all the furred and feathered entities that share our planet.”
The artist paints in oils on board or a variety of canvases. Years ago, Aldrich won the People’s Choice award at the Western Visions show staged by the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson. And he started 2025 off in style by winning two honors, including an Artist Choice Award, at Denver’s Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale. “It was humbling considering all the talent there,” Aldrich says.
The American West is a long way from the artist’s hometown of Manhattan. He spent the first five years of his life surrounded by concrete. His family then moved to upstate New York. Aldrich shares, “I got a taste of the outdoors there.”
He also recalls a grade-school assignment to pick one of the United States and report on it. Aldrich chose Colorado. His dream of living in the West came true at age 10 when his family moved to a cabin near Nederland, a small town above Boulder, Colorado, where the artist’s respect for wildlife and affinity for art blossomed in the Rocky Mountain forests. “I felt so at home,” he says. “I was running around the woods and drawing.”
Aldrich studied illustration at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design. He credits his illustration foundation for his keen sense of composition and his uncanny ability to render the intricacies of feather or fur.
For the artist, his body of work focusing on animals fulfills an intention beyond the beauty of his art. “The wild spaces are a dwindling resource at this point, and that’s very sad to me,” he says. “I hope with my paintings I’m able to rekindle people’s connections and remind people of these amazing, gorgeous creatures and their habitats.”
Aldrich shoots photos of the animals he paints as reference material. Though his works capture the essence of animals in the wild, he’s not aiming for photorealism. “To have things look just like photographs is limiting,” he says. “The art starts where the reference leaves off.” —Colleen Smith
Contact Information(307) 734-8150mtntrails.net
This story appeared in the June/July 2025 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.
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