DU Trustee Ralph Nagel's landscape painting of Moab, Utah. Nagel's artwork will be on display at the Chambers Center until Jan. 31.
The artwork of local artist Ralph Nagel, namesake of the University’s Nagel Hall and a member of the DU Board of Trustees, will be on display in the Chambers Center throughout January.
The paintings show an evolution of Nagel’s work and a visual journal of his travels. Nagel begins a painting on site, or en plein air, and returns to his studio to complete a larger painting from his initial sketch.
For Nagel, painting is about the moment.
“When painting outdoors, you are more aware of the subtle way an environment or landscape changes throughout the day,” Nagel says.
An arts advocate on many levels, Nagel started a painting and drawing studio called “Studio 208” that offers continuing education classes to non-traditional students.
An avid supporter of the community college system, Nagel recently participated in “Practice What You Teach: Landscapes by Colorado’s Community College Teachers.” The exhibition premièred last spring at the state Capitol and closed in November at the Wildlife Experience museum.
Nagel and wife Trish Nagel are principal sponsors of the forthcoming “Warhol in Colorado” exhibition, which opens Jan. 20 at DU’s Myhren Gallery.
Nagel’s paintings will be on display through Jan. 31 at the Chambers Center, home of the Women’s College, which is located at 1999 S. Asbury St.