{"id":681020,"date":"2026-09-09T22:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T22:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/681020\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T22:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T22:37:14","slug":"artist-jami-nix-rahn-to-simultaneously-showcase-two-different-styles-of-oil-painting-at-a-pair-of-vail-area-exhibitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/681020\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Jami Nix Rahn to simultaneously showcase two different styles of oil painting at a pair of Vail-area exhibitions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jami Nix Rahn dropped out of art school in the 1970s, built a career as a gallery artist in Europe, worked alongside some of the United States\u2019 most renowned artists and eventually returned to school to finish the degree she had started 25 years earlier.<\/p>\n

Now, five decades after she first left art school, Rahn\u2019s varied artistic journey will be on display at two upcoming Eagle County exhibitions.<\/p>\n

For many artists, the journey to abstract expressionism runs through photorealism, as many feel they must learn the rules before they break them. But when Rahn started art school in America in the 1970s, \u201cit was totally focused on abstract expressionism back then, and I wanted to learn how to actually paint first.\u201d<\/p>\n

So she dropped out, took a trip to Europe and spent time hanging out in the old masters galleries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved how somebody would walk by an old master painting and they would stop and just stand there for hours, just looking at every detail and experiencing the culture of life that existed in those days,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I had to prove to myself that I could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She said that she was fortunate that her father was stationed at the American Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, so she was able to live with him and put down roots. After a few years, she gained gallery representation and had her own studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had gained a little bit of a name there, so I stayed there for six years,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then I met my husband.\u201d<\/p>\n

After traveling the world and returning to the United States, Rahn sought out the Art Students League in New York, where she studied with renowned artists including Daniel Greene, Richard Pionk and John Hultberg, whose work is now featured at the Smithsonian.<\/p>\n

Rahn and her family later moved to Miami in the early 2000s as the Art Basel Miami Beach art fair was beginning. Rahn had lived in Switzerland briefly during her time in Europe and was familiar with the original Art Basel art fair. She said she recognized immediately that its Miami incarnation was destined to become a significant event in the American art world.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cIndy Vision,\u201d by Jami Nix Rahn, will be on display at Colorado Mountain College during the upcoming \u201cArt and Jazz-ish\u201d fine art show. An opening reception for that show will be held on Sept. 18 from 5 p.m to 8 p.m. Courtesy image<\/p>\n

Rahn created a blog covering art in South Florida which included Art Basel Miami Beach and found herself heavily influenced by the street art she saw there. She also went back to school in Miami and finally got that art degree she had started some 25 years earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this regret of not finishing, so I finally did, and it has allowed me to teach art now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now teaching art classes at Colorado Mountain College in Edwards, she says she has resisted continuing her art education into a Master of Fine Art because she doesn\u2019t want to become solely focused on teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to fall back on teaching and have to give up my studio practice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That evolution will be reflected in two Eagle County exhibitions this month, where Rahn will showcase both her abstract-inspired landscapes and photorealistic figurative work.<\/p>\n

Rahn will host an opening reception for the first exhibition, called \u201cConditions,\u201d at the Vail Public Library on Friday from 5-7 p.m. That exhibition will run daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sept. 29<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cGravity\u201d by Jami Nix Rahn will be on display at the Vail Public Library through Sept. 29, as part of a larger solo exhibition titled \u201cConditions.\u201d A reception for \u201cConditions\u201d is scheduled to take place on Friday from 5-7 p.m.Courtesy image<\/p>\n

\u201cConditions\u201d will feature art that is inspired by her time living in Colorado, using an abstract lens to create landscape scenes. One piece, titled \u201cGravity,\u201d will be featured alongside a speaker playing the sound of a running waterfall on loop to heighten the experience of viewing the massive, 7-foot tall piece.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every place I had lived my work would be influenced by that area,\u201d she said. \u201cSo when I got to Vail, of course I started painting landscapes, but I wanted them to be more abstract, so I returned to that style which I had started studying all those years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another abstract-style landscape piece, \u201cConfluence,\u201d is unmistakably inspired by that short window of time in Vail when the scenery turns a radiant yellow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s part of the reason I decided to display that piece now, because we\u2019re approaching that time on the calendar again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, as she encouraged her students at Colorado Mountain College to have their work featured at the school\u2019s annual \u201cArt and Jazz-ish\u201d fine art show, she prepared two of her own pieces for that show, as well. In teaching her students the more academic building blocks of an art career, she thought it would be more appropriate to feature more photorealistic figures at that show.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Mountain College art show\u2019s reception will be held on Sept. 18 from 5-8 p.m. Presented in collaboration with the Vail Valley Art Guild, the 13th annual event will feature work from Rahn, Colorado Mountain College students, and Vail Valley Art Guild members. DJ Derek Deschene will play a set titled \u201cVinyl Lounge Vibes\u201d <\/p>\n

Together, the two exhibitions offer a glimpse into the range of Rahn\u2019s work, from the photorealistic figures rooted in the academic training she once sought to the abstract landscapes that reflect her decades of experience and the place she now calls home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jami Nix Rahn dropped out of art school in the 1970s, built a career as a gallery artist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,366,18,117,19,17],"class_list":["post-681020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117243481903845998","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}