31 Jul An Artist’s Nostalgia

As a child, Benjamin Walter didn’t spend much time wondering whether he could be an artist when he grew up. He already knew he was one.

“My family — we’re all artists or musicians. I have five siblings, and we all paint, make music, or both. My parents were really encouraging, so creativity was just the norm in our home,” Walter recalls.

Growing up where he did didn’t hurt, either. Walter likes to say he was raised in “Wyeth Country,” also known as Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valley. The rolling countryside is home to generations of the Wyeth family, a veritable dynasty of American painters. In Walter’s hometown, artists were the norm, not the outlier. “The Wyeth painters really were a big influence in that area — for myself, yes, but also just in general. Art was part of the way of life.”

So, it was only natural that Walter began experimenting with different subjects and mediums early on. “I took my first plein-air painting class when I was about 12, during a summer workshop taught by a local art teacher,” he says. “Before then, I’d mostly focused on still lifes.

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The workshop was pivotal. “It just became clear to me, even then,” he says. “This is what I want to be doing. I want to be outside. I want to paint landscapes.”

These days, Walter mostly paints the landscape around Jackson, Wyoming. He landed there more than a decade ago, after completing his master’s degree in England. However, his course of study wasn’t fine art. Walter majored in Latin and Greek as an undergraduate, then earned a master’s in the same disciplines at Oxford University. “I love making art, but I’ve always been distracted by other interests,” he says, laughing.

Still, he credits that wide-ranging education with making him a better artist. “I think plenty of artists do this without a liberal arts background,” he says, “but for me, that kind of environment really shaped how I look at problems and approach the world. I learned how to break things down, to reach into other disciplines if I need to find a solution.” To think beyond the box, so to speak. “So with my paintings, it taught me to look beyond myself — to look to literature or other fields for inspiration.”

And as it turns out, studying ancient languages is a great way to build discipline. “Learning Latin and Greek requires you to just put in the work. There are no shortcuts. It’s repetition and practice,” Walter says. “And that’s the real basis for improving yourself as an artist: You just have to keep working at it.”

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After earning his master’s, Walter found himself at a crossroads. Should he stay in academia — maybe pursue a doctorate — or find a job? “I opted for the job route,” he says.

He heard about an opportunity in Jackson by chance. “I had never been to this part of Wyoming, and really, I had nothing else going on. Might as well give it a go.” Walter didn’t know much about the place, but he knew it was beautiful — and that it might be just right for painting. “I thought, well, maybe this is perfect. I’ll be able to invest more time in my painting.”

When he arrived in 2014, Walter was happy to discover the vibrancy of Jackson’s art scene, which has only continued to blossom. The town boasts more than 20 art galleries, multiple museums, and year-round arts festivals; it’s a mecca for Western artists looking to make connections and hone their craft, kind of the Lower East Side of the Rockies, if you will.

Walter began spending much of his free time painting outdoors, working mostly with pastels. In time, he met Lynn Friess, a local philanthropist and trustee emerita of Jackson’s National Museum of Wildlife Art.

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“Meeting Lynn was huge,” Walter says. The connection led to his invitation to participate in Jackson’s annual Plein Air Fest. “Taking part in the festival felt really encouraging, but I also loved how it challenged me.”

A few years later, Walter ran into Friess again. She told him to take his oil paints out of storage. “Oil really appeals to a larger audience than pastels — pastels are harder to sell,” Walter explains. “It was great advice, a real nugget of wisdom.”

Oils are a difficult medium to master, and Walter’s experience was no exception. “I remember making that first painting and just hating it. But I decided to commit to getting better. So, I just kept working at it, kept practicing, and made 
painting a consistent part of my life.” From there, each oil painting was better than the last.

Walter also took to researching. “I read a bunch of bios of young painters in the area, and each mentioned being influenced by Scott Christensen,” a world-renowned oil painter based in the Teton Valley. “So, I decided to take a workshop he was teaching. It was really a game changer for me.”

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Walter began to find his groove in impressionism, though he hesitates to label himself an impressionist. 
“I like to keep pushing my style, make sure I’m always learning and growing,” he says. But his love for American impressionists — Edgar Alwin Payne, John Singer Sargent, Andrew Wyeth — continues to guide his work. “For me, I value the approach these artists took to impressionism. They used the principles that served them but gave themselves the freedom to deviate from the set style,” Walter explains.
And I suppose impressionism feels like the best way to truly capture the mood — the feelings — I’m trying to convey.”

The outdoors remain Walter’s greatest inspiration. “All my paintings start outside, in one way or another,” he says. “I’ll begin a study outdoors, or I’ll take inspiration from an experience I’ve had hiking or exploring with my family.” From there, he works from a combination of reference materials and memory. “In general, I like to add that nostalgic element to my paintings,” Walter says, by allowing himself the freedom to paint what feels true to his experience — rather than what’s strictly true to the landscape.

“With every stroke, Walter breathes life into colors that dance on the canvas, capturing the essence of fleeting moments and igniting the imagination of all who behold their radiant visions,” shares Barbara Nowak, owner of Jackson’s Horizon Fine Art Gallery, which represents Walter.

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Looking at a Walter painting feels like taking a quiet walk through a familiar place. There’s a soft light that often fills his canvas, and he demonstrates proficiency over the subtle tonal shifts that make that light feel both authentic and familiar. Sometimes, his subjects are majestic, but more often, they’re snapshots of humble beauty — a barn at twilight, a patch of aspen beside a trailhead.

“Some of my favorite paintings come from the small moments in my life,” Walter says. “Like I’m driving around, and I see a tree in quarter shadow, and it just makes me feel something. It makes me want to paint it because I want to remember how that play of light made me feel.”

Halina Loft is a writer and editor based in Bozeman, Montana. Before moving west, she worked as an arts editor for Sotheby’s in New York City.