Contemporary Version of O'Keeffe's "Church Bell, Ward, Colorado"

     Georgia O'Keeffe traveled to Ward, Colorado in 1917 on a summer vacation from her teaching job at West Texas Normal College in Canyon, Texas.  In addition to painting several watercolor landscapes of the mountains, O'Keeffe painted the steeple of the tiny church in Ward.

Georgia O'Keeffe, Church bell, Ward, Colorado 1917, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, gift of the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundaton

Each year the Historic Ward Church sponsors an art competition and the winning entry serves as the artwork for the Historic Church Days poster.

Congratulations to this year's winner, Hannah Shook for her contemporary version of the Ward Church.

Hannah Shook is an expressive abstract painter who lives outside of Ward and has her studio in Allenpark, Colorado. Hannah's work has been shown in galleries in Denver, Taos, Santa Fe and Abiquiu.  Her equine work was featured in a solo exhibit at Gallery Arriba at the Abiquiu Inn in 2011.

O'Keeffe actually made several watercolor paintings of the front of the church (no longer extant) and expressed her frustration with them.  Finally, she moved above the Church and painted the steeple from above with the mountains in the distance.  O'Keeffe's painting of the Ward Church was in her personal collection when she died and can be seen at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe.

Thanks Georgia and Hannah for your beautiful paintings of the Historic Ward Church  . . .