8 F or generations we have looked to art to open the world—to expose us to new ideas, amplify our understanding of place, elucidate wonder, and locate beauty and emotional resonance. A tall order, yet one that artists of every discipline continue to deliver. Tony Foster’s newest Journey*, Watercolour Diaries from the Green River, ticks many of these boxes in large part because of Tony’s remark- able ability to consistently and expertly paint while telling the story of place—but also in part because the Green’s is a new story. Despite the crucial role the river has played and continues to play in the watershed of the American West, the Green River has been overshadowed by its more famous cousins—the Colorado and the Yellowstone. This historic neglect made it particularly motivating for The Foster Museum to encourage this Journey and to support its exhibition. Watercolour Diaries from the Green River examines selected sites along the Green River, from its headwaters in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming to its confluence with the Colorado River in Utah. Flowing through three states (Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah) and 730 miles long, the Green holds a remarkable geologic history, and locations along it are recognized with national land designations: Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area (Wyoming and Utah), Dinosaur National Monument (Colorado and Utah) and Canyonlands National Park (Utah). For 40 years, Tony Foster has made paintings of the world’s wild places. His Journeys have taken him into mountains and canyons, rainforests and deserts, the Arctic and the tropics. Watercolour Diaries from the Green River is Foster’s 18th Journey and the fifth that takes a focused look at a river in the American West. Foster’s luscious paintings of the Green provide an opportunity to expose and explore the river, allowing visitors to see and celebrate the wild places that exist along its path, while amplifying its role as a major tributary of the Colorado. In keeping with our mission to unite and celebrate artist-explorer Tony Foster’s watercolor wilderness Journeys and inspire connection to art and the natural world, it is an honor for The Foster Museum to keep this body of work intact and share it as a complete story of the Journey. It is a pleasure to present this exhibition in part- nership with the Whitney Western Art Museum, part of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, an institution widely recognized for its scholarship on the art, history, and peoples of the American West. We are tremendously grateful for the enthusiasm, scholar- ship, and support of Karen McWhorter, the Collier- Read Director of Curatorial, Education, and Museum Services at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Her interest in and support for Tony’s work and this project have been crucial to its development and have contributed to the fullness of this catalogue. Early on, both museums seized upon this exhibition as an oppor- tunity to examine the Green from numerous vantage points. We hope through the exhibition and catalogue Kristin Poole ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, THE FOSTER MUSEUM Jane Woodward FOUNDER, THE FOSTER MUSEUM *See explanation of “Journey” on page 6 and a list of all Tony Foster Journeys on page 68. Foreword
