Historically Important Art

At the Blue Dome Gallery nestled in Bear Mountain Lodge, we celebrate historic art and the talented artists behind it. Each visit offers a chance to explore some of our latest exhibitions, showcasing captivating pieces that tell their own unique stories. Whether you're enjoying a cozy stay at our lodge or savoring a meal at Café Oso Azul, take a moment to immerse yourself in the creativity that surrounds you. Come discover the art and the artists who make our gallery a vibrant part of Silver City!

Learn About the Artists Behind the Art

Tom Holt

Tom Holt grew up in a small town in southern Utah, a place where he was exposed on a regular basis to Native American culture and traditions. Holt learned early about the deep connection the nearby Piaute Indians felt with the earth—a feeling that eventually would serve as the inspiration for his art. “Mother Nature is the great teacher,” he says.

Holt prefers backpacking into the wild for a week to scout for subject matter rather than settling for pristine, pastoral scenes. “I am always trying to convey a sense of peace in my work,” he says. “I think that’s vital to the species right now, when polarities are so great in every aspect of life. I believe it’s an artist’s responsibility to go beyond behaviors of arrogance and greed to remind people who they are in the highest and best sense.”

According to Holt, “For the past thirty years I have focused my work and lifelong the banks of the Gila River in southwest New Mexico. In a desert land the river canyons are the source of all life. These areas must be protected and people made aware of their unique value. I hope my paintings reflect the beauty and sacredness of these wild, unspoiled places. It is absolutely vital that we preserve them.”

Harry Benjamin

It has been said of Harry Benjamin that "Silver City would not be Silver City without him." The renowned painter has a rich history of involvement with the Silver City Museum, Western New Mexico University, the Cobre Schools, the Mimbres Region Arts Council and numerous other arts organizations and individual artists.

Benjamin is best known for his stunning depiction of the southwestern New Mexico landscape and his wonderful eclectic spirit.

Benjamin has helped many artists in Silver City to find gallery representation by taking them around to meet the owners and other artists. Cecil Howard, who received a Governor's Arts Award in 1999, said he has known Benjamin since he was an art student at Western New Mexico University. "As an artist, Harry has always been remarkably inventive, even idiosyncratic in response to subject matter and formal directives," said Howard in his letter of support. "His individual talent and eccentric tastes are reflected in his irrepressible aesthetic adventures, full of surprises and incongruities. His paintings are captivating not only for their beauty but also for the many varied ways in which they express his quest for self-knowledge and insight."

His Southwest-themed artwork included paintings, ceramics, corn angels, sculptures and Mimbres-style pottery. He had operated What’s a Pot Shop at 300 N. Arizona St. since 1982-2013.

When Benjamin won a Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2008, it was said that “Silver City would not be Silver City without him.’

“Nobody captures the soul of our magnificent outdoors like Harry does in his dramatic, realistic and beautiful landscapes,’ Shaw wrote. “Many of his pieces hang in local homes, businesses and public buildings. Others hang across the nation and abroad.’

Paul B. Wilson (Artist, b. 1949)

Paul B Wilson is known for landscape and abstract oil paintings, often featuring colorful and impressionistic styles.

His work is in numerous collections including the Fine Arts Museum Of New Mexico in Santa Fe, former elected officials (Governor Jack Campbell, NM legislator Murray Ryan, and US Senator Jeff Bingamin), as well as many others. He has shown throughout the Southwest.

He studied under Edna Roberstson (Former curator of the Fine Arts Museum of Santa Fe), Ford Ruthling (Santa Fe artist), Carlos Naumer and Tom Dickerson (both at the College of Santa Fe), Josef G Bakos and Fremont Ellis (both members of the legendary artist’s group “Los Cinco Pintores”), as well as Santa Fe artists Thomas Macaione and James Butler).

Michael Stack

Michael Stack was born in 1947 in New York and raised in California. Stack was always interested in being a painter, but in his early years he supported himself with various jobs. Upon moving to Arizona in 1970 to work as a ranch caretaker, however, the beautiful Sonoran Desert inspired him to turn to a serious career as a landscape painter. There in the high, rolling grasslands of southern Arizona, where “all you see is sky,” Stack began to paint canvases reflective of the early American Hudson River Painters.

A self-taught artist, Stack focuses on capturing the fleeting moment of shadow, light and color that awakens an emotional response. Often, he chooses to paint the subtle places in nature that many people pass by to remind others of the beauty which surrounds them. His technique of layering paint enables him to recreate the range of color and distance found in his panoramas. The rugged mountains, arid deserts and sea of grasslands found across the Southwest hold a special connection for the artist, who has lived in Bisbee, Sonoita, Tucson, Mexico, Wyoming, and currently Taos, NM.

Stack is the recipient of many honors including the title of Master Artist at the Artist of America Show in Denver, CO. He is one of Art of the West magazine’s favorite cover artists, and has participated in every major Western art show. Stack also has work in the permanent collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO.