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NEWS ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE EASTERN COLORADO PLAINSMAN, HUGO, COLORADO
July 1, 1954 - July 24, 1954
HUGE MURAL EPICTING SCENE NEAR HUGO BEING CREATED HERE IN THE HOTEL GREYMONT LOBBY
A HUGE MURAL, DEPICTING A SCENE NEAR Hugo and embodying the old Butterfield Stage Coach, is being created by Vern Parker, famous cowboy artist, who is now in Hugo. The work on the mural is being done in the lobby of Hotel Greymont. Parker, who came to Hugo last Tuesday, started work on the big project Saturday morning and the work will continue all during this wee or perhaps longer.
Many spectators have stood nearby the hotel lobby to watch the artist at work. During the days previous to the start of the project the artist spent a great deal of time around and along the route of the Old Smoky Hill tail where the Butterfield stage once traveled. From these scenes, he made pencil sketches which are being incorporated into the landscape of the mural. Parker expects to be another two weeks on the mural. If it is not completed by the time he is scheduled to be at the Denver museum, he will complete the mural there.
The exhibit which is now in the hotel and in the show windows of Hugo will be moved to the Denver museum where it will be during most of July. Upon it completion and following its exhibition, the mural will probably e brought back to Hugo. The artist's most noted work has been his murals. Some years back, he did dozens of large murals for various large restaurants and other business and professional buildings in Miami, Fla.
This is the only appearance the artist will make in this part of Colorado, and many people are taking the opportunity to watch him at his work. He will be working in the Greymont hotel lobby both mornings and afternoons during the rust of his stay in Hugo. Anyone who wishes may stop in at any time to watch him at his work.
--Eastern Colorado Plainsman
Hugo, Colorado
July 1, 1954
VERN PARKER HAS EXHIBITION, PAINTINGS AT DENVER MUSEUM
Vern Parker, western artist who spend nearly two weeks in Hugo doing a mural depicting the old Butterfield stage coach, is now at the Denver museum where he has his paintings on exhibition. The paintings which he has on exhibition there are the ones that were displayed in the windows of the Hugo business firms during the past two weeks.
Museum officials have requested that the exhibition of well-known western paintings be retained there during the rest of July. The mural, still in the final stages of completion, may also be moved to the Denver museum, after which time it is to be returned to Hugo. Museum officials and the agent of the artist were still studying the advisability of moving the huge mural, however.
Vern Parker, who is both an artist and a historian, spent a great deal of time studying the old history of this area before he undertook to paint the mural. He is keenly interested in old stage coaches, and has been advisor in the reconstruction of old coaches. Many of his best paintings have involved stage coaches. Perhaps his best known works were of the old Wells Fargo stage coach.
Much interest was shown in Hugo over both the painting and the exhibition of paintings which were displayed in the windows of the Hugo business houses. He worked at the mural in the lobby of the Greymont hotel and almost any time during the time he was working, a group of interested spectators stood nearby to watch him create the huge mural.
--Eastern Colorado Plainsman
Hugo, Colorado
July 8, 1954
EASTERN COLORADO PLAINSMAN June 11 Plainsman-Vol 48-No 14 Hugo, Colorado, Friday, June 11, 1954
ONLY 10 CENTS PER COPY-$3.00 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE Range Ledger-Vol. 66 No. 1
FAMED COWBOY ARTIST TO BE IN HUGO JUNE 17 WITH HIS WORKS
The original paintings of cowboy art produced by Vernon Parker, one of the outstanding cowboy artist in the country, will be exhibited in Hugo June 17 through 27 in one of the few appearances of the valuable paintings in Eastern Colorado. Vernon Parker, the artist, too, will spend two days in Hugo during the period of the exhibit and will demonstrate some of his famed methods of painting. Arranged through Floyd Stockmyer at Hotel Greymont, the exhibit will be partially exhibited at the hotel while other pieces of the work will be displayed in merchants windows along Main Street in Hugo.
Post card reproductions of his original paintings are well known. The original paintings from which the cards were made are large oil paintings valued at $1,000 and upward each. The artist is one of the most unorthodox painters known today. His subjects are authentic and realistic. He is noted for the details he incorporates into his work. Another oddity is the manner in which Parker achieves his brilliant success in oil paintings. His chief tools are his thumb and a rzer blade. Brush work is an incidental part of his achievement.
One of the outstanding characteristics of Vern Parker is the size of his hands. Unartistic in their size, those large hands move deftly in the smooth rhythm of the paintings they produce. There will be a dozen of Parker's famed paintings on exhibit in Hugo for that 10-day period. After leaving Hugo they will be taken to the Art Museum in Denver for an exhibition.
EASTERN COLORADO PLAINSMAN Hugo June 18 Vol 48-No 15 LARGEST CIRCULATION IN EASTERN COLORADO
Hugo, Colorado, Friday, June 18, 1954
ONLY 10 CENTS PER COPY-$3.00 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE Range Ledger Vol 66-No 2
VERN PARKER, famed western artist and sculptor, at the right, stands before a painting of a horse he has just completed. Parker, well known from Hollywood to Florida for his work, will be in Hugo next week where he will exhibit some of his original oil paints and will do a large mural of the old Butterfield stage coach such as the one which once traveled the Old Smoky Hill Trail in this area. He is standing in front of his art shop located at Benson, Ariz.
VERN PARKER, NOTED COWBOY ARTIST, TO DO MURAL HERE Vern Parker, world famous cowboy and western artist and sculptor will arrive in Hugo next Wednesday and will do a large mural of the old Butterfield stagecoach during the period of his stay. At the same time, he will have an exhibit of his original oil paintings, also scheduled to arrive next Wednesday, will be on exhibit in Hugo for more than a week. Arranged through Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Stockmyer of Hotel Greymont in Hugo, pieces of the exhibit will be placed in the hotel as well as in the show windows of other business houses in Hugo.
Parker, famous for his portrayal in oil of old stage coaches, has agreed to paint a mural of the old Butterfield stage coach, the original of which once traveled the Old Smoky Hill Trail one route of which near the Lincoln county fairgrounds just east of Hugo. Other segments of the old trail are in evidence in the Kit Carson, Clifford, Aroya and other Lincoln county areas.
The cowboy artist, who has a studio in Arizona, has painted murals in many parts of the United States. He first became famous, however, as a wood sculptor, and for years he was considered foremost in the creation of authentic reproductions of old stagecoaches and other phases of western history. He was employed by one of the motion picture studios for a number of years where he sculptured authentic models and advised in the authenticity of such recreations used in movie productions.
The artist's love of horses has led him to paint and sculpture many of them. In fact, that love for horses has brought to him a king-sized and profitable business, for some of his finest painting and his finest sculpturing have been done using horses as models. Of recent years the kodachrome post card replicas of his original oil paintings, both of horses and natural scenes and wild life, have brought his work to public eye. One of the prizes of Lowell Thomas' famed collection from all parts of the world is a silver mounted horse which Parker sculptured and mounted for the noted commentator and traveler.
In both his sculpturing and his painting Vern Parker used the simplest of tools. In his sculpturing he uses three assorted types of chisels, two knives and two gougers. In his oil painting he relies more upon his thumb and a razor blade than upon the endless types of brushes at his disposal. Parker will spend several days working on the mural while in Hugo. He will work in the lobby of Hotel Greymont during his stay here and his work on the mural will be put on exhibition. Work on the mural, to, will be open to the public. He will work on the mural each afternoon about 2 o'clock. There will be no charge for any of these exhibitions.
LARGEST CIRCULATION IN EASTERN COLORADO Hugo, Colorado, Thursday, June 24, 1954
ONLY 10 CENTS PER COPY-$3.00 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE Range Ledger-Vol. 66-No 3
ARTIST WILL PAINT MURAL OF THE SMOKEY HILL TRAIL AND THE OLD BUTTERFIELD STAGE WHILE HERE
Vern Parker, famed Western artist, who is one of the top western landscape and western life artists, arrived in Hugo Tuesday where he will spend several days painting a mural depicting the Old Butterfield Stage as it moved along the Old Smoky Hill Trail. Parker, who came to Hugo through arrangements by Floyd and Daisy Stockmyer, proprietors of the Greymont hotel, also brought with him for exhibition his original oil paintings which have been placed in the windows of Hugo business firms.
This well-known exhibition of oil paintings, largely of wild horses, will be taken to the Denver museum when they are taken from Hugo This exhibition valued at thousands of dollars, will remain in Hugo about two weeks. Vern Parker, meanwhile, is scouting over the old landmarks of the Smoky Hill trail and other points of interest making pencil sketches of the landscape, picking up the background which will go into make the mural. The mural, highlighting the Old Butterfield Stage, will be started later this week. Work will continue on it for several days, possibly two weeks. He will work on the mural in the lobby of the Greymont hotel once the work has begun.
Hours of preparatory work is necessary before the actual painting of the mural begins, then many more hours will be needed to complete the project. A personality sketch of the artist will be printed in the Plainsman next week.
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"Hast thou given the horse his might?
Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?" Job 39:19 ASV
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