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Thursday, August 27 2020 / Published in Weekly Feature

Horses and Art: Carrie Nygren’s Tale of Two Passions 


By Shya Beth

Carrie Nygren is an equine artist whose passion and love of horses shows deeply in her depiction of them. 

With Southern roots in Tennessee, Carrie’s journey into the horse world was a self-made one, and started early. With no formal training, Carrie learned what she could and when she could by soaking up as much knowledge by ‘riding by the seat of her pants.’ “I’ve been fascinated with horses since I was in grade school,” she said. “I’d sneak out of the house and run down the street to a friend’s house who had horses in her backyard, as my mother was deathly afraid of horses and wouldn’t let us near them. So I kind of learned just by ‘getting on and going.’”   

With a deep respect for dressage and eventing, she’s enamored by the fast-paced and technical disciplines of show jumping and polo, and these are two worlds that are often featured in her oil paintings. At first glance, they may seem like photographs with dramatic neutral backgrounds. But on closer inspection, you’ll discover they are actually paintings.

Horse Crazy Beginnings

When asked about her favorite equine memory, Carrie says, “I guess it would have to be that first horse I ever climbed on down the street. I trusted him to teach me, and he did. Horses are great teachers if you only give them the chance. You can’t teach trust. You earn every minute of trust with a horse, and it’s a magical thing to experience when you both have that shorthand of communication and relationship. I was smitten at an early age, as you can probably tell, and did my darndest to be around horses as often as I could. College had a huge competitive riding program, so if I wasn’t in the studio, I was at the barn catch riding or grooming.” 

Doodling, sketching and day dreaming of horses on every surface is a recipe for a budding equine enthusiast — and also an artist. Carrie is primarily an oil painter at this time, though she has worked in, and experienced, many different artistic mediums. “I had a terrific education in college that introduced me to all kinds of media,” she said. “We were taught all the historic media in painting from fresco, egg tempera, encaustic, etc., to the more contemporary painting applications. We hand-ground the paint and made the painting media, while I also spent several years learning printmaking — etching, silkscreen, lithography, etc., which fell right in line with my drawing background. It really gave me insight into everything that goes beyond just painting: a look into the whole process, from when paint was made hundreds of years ago to right now.”

Carrie graduated cum laude with a double major in studio art and art history from Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Her artistic side started to slow down a bit during what she called the “in-between years” of her career. Starting a family and raising two daughters kept her busy until one day, during the years of fueling her daughter’s horse-crazy passions at the barn, she fell in love with horses again. “That’s what motivated me to pick up a brush again — and this time it was an oil brush, to see if I could get the mojo back.”

Projects and Passions

Now flourishing as a highly regarded oil painter, Carrie is focused on living her dream and pursuing the highest forms of excellence in her work. A challenge that she faces? “Living long enough to finish all these paintings I want to get done. Seriously. I’m not sure I’m ever going to run out of subject matter or ideas, which is what we’re all about, isn’t it?” she said. “The day I don’t have an idea for a new painting is the day I should call it ‘lay the brushes down.’ Aside from that, art has been very good to me. Patrons and commissions are building, and I still have so many ideas I want to paint.” 

From the idea to the painting, Carrie’s approach is unique. “I honestly don’t think I have a defined creative process. I chew on an idea I have, or rifle through a lot of references I’ve shot, start drawing, and land on what I hope will be a dynamic composition. Then I have to figure out how to get from point A to point B without messing it all up!”

Carrying on her love of horses, Carrie’s eldest daughter has made a career riding in the hunter-jumper world, training and rehabbing horses. “She surprised me one day with a phone call from college telling me she had just spent college funds on a yearling. Paris, aka Princess, has been with us ever since.”

But Carrie is happy to help foster her daughter’s career, just as her own father did hers. “My dad was a painter and a sculptor as I was growing up; landscape and birds were his subjects mostly. He always had artist friends and collaborators around the house or at the foundry, and it was an exciting time to grow up in,” Carrie said. “There were great discussions, a few arguments and more than a few critiques that helped me develop to where I am today. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved art studios.”

Carrie added, “There’s just something about the artists, and the work that inspires me to push myself to do better work. My sister and I both were raised to be creative, which I’m grateful for. I’ve tried to raise both my girls the same way — to be independent and think creatively, no matter what you do.”

Carrie is located in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, with two daughters, three dogs, two cats, a hamster or two, assorted goldfish, a horse — and of course, her art studio. When asked what she thinks the future will be, she replied, “Bright, I hope!”

For more information, visit cnygrenart.com.

Art Of The Horse is the world’s first equine art platform, established in 2014 by Shya Beth. With weekly articles featuring up-and-coming as well as world-renowned artists, exhibitions and art news, Art Of The Horse is the premier source for all things equine art. Visit artofthehorse.net.

Photos courtesy of Carrie Nygren, unless noted otherwise

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Tagged under: art, drawing, equine art, horses and art, passion

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Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! W Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! We're proud to offer exceptional modern Sporthorse stallions, with wonderful temperaments and quality gaits to North American breeders.
 
Among our stallions are Cum Laude and Kaiman. Cum Laude (Apache x Weltmeyer) is a winning FEI horse and sire of quality dressage horses, breed show champions, and offspring scoring 9.0s on gaits.
 
Kaiman (Dark Pleasure x Gribaldi) earned high scores at his stallion testing and in the young horse classes. He's also the sire of a Licensed Oldenburg stallion. Kaiman's first North American foal crop is arriving now and they are gorgeous!
 
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Among our stallions are Cum Laude and Kaiman. Cum Laude (Apache x Weltmeyer) is a winning FEI horse and sire of quality dressage horses, breed show champions, and offspring scoring 9.0s on gaits.

Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! We're proud to offer exceptional modern Sporthorse stallions, with wonderful temperaments and quality gaits to North American breeders.

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❗️George Williams column❗️ The FEI World ❗️George Williams column❗️
The FEI World Cup Final in Omaha is coming up quickly. That means that it’s starting to heat 
up as the end of the qualifying period for both the Western European League (WEL) and the 
North American League (NAL) nears. I started to write this column before the Amsterdam CDI- W, and I was using the FEI Ranking List from January 15 as a reference. As I sit down to finish 
my column, I’m now looking at the results from Amsterdam. While the list of the top contenders 
for the WEL hasn’t changed, they’re definitely moving around on the ranking list. The WEL has 
three more legs, as they’re referred to: Neumünster February 16–19, Goteborg February 23–26, 
and ’s-Hertogenbosch March 9–12, and they could change things dramatically.
Looking at the top 12 athletes from the WEL as they were ranked on January 15, there are five 
from Germany, three from the Netherlands and one each from Great Britain, Denmark

➡️Read Georges's full column by clicking the link in our bio, and never miss an article by subscribing to Sidelines Magazine 🦄 

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Lisa Goldman-Smolen and Ivaro N strike gold in Gre Lisa Goldman-Smolen and Ivaro N strike gold in Great American $300,000 Grand Prix at HITS Ocala!! 🏆🥇

Crowds filled the stands at the HITS Ocala Grand Prix Ring on Sunday afternoon to watch the world’s top athletes compete in the Great American $300,000 Grand Prix. The day concluded with a thrilling five-horse jump-off featuring athletes 
representing four countries. In the end, it was Lisa Goldman-Smolen (USA) and Ivaro N who produced the only double clear effort of the day, claiming one of the biggest wins of her career. Scott Keach (AUS) and Noble De La Chapelle earned the second-place prize with the fastest 4-fault jump-off, while Aaron Vale (USA) and Obi Wan placed third as the day’s pathfinders.

“I'm still on cloud nine, I still can't believe it – I’ve used up all my luck for the year,” smiled Goldman-Smolen after her win. “I've been knocking on the door a long time in these bigger classes. I am so proud of my horse – he gave every ounce of effort.”

Sunday’s Great American $300,000 Grand Prix marked the conclusion of the 2023 HITS Ocala circuit. HITS CCO Joe Norick concluded, “We are so excited about the new HITS, with 2023 as the launch. New footing, many new arenas here, and a lot of our facilities across America are getting a lot of love and new footing. Our partnerships with Worldly Martin and others across America including our footing leader Bart Poles overseeing our operations – it really makes a big difference for us. Today is about Ocala and these three riders sitting next to me who supported us this entire winter. We want to be a proud destination for our exhibitors and our friends. We know we have to provide them a beautiful showplace to work from that's horseman friendly, and that's our go goal. 

Congratulations to all of the riders, horses, owners, and groom who participated in this prestigious class!!! 🎉
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It's #STUDSunday and today's featured stallion is. It's #STUDSunday and today's featured stallion is...

 ✨PF'S DIAMO BLUE✨
Diarado-Diamant de Semilly- Chacco Blue
17.0hh, Oldenburg International Hunter Derby/ Jumper Stallion
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WBFSH/ Rolex top ranking Jumping Sires 2017 thru 2022
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