And the Record Goes To …
Written by Sophie Dingle
While Steamboat Springs’ skiers may set records on the slopes, Northwest Colorado has a new claim to fame: world’s largest watercolor. It’s impossible to miss Israel Holloway’s “Western Reflections” upon entering the Museum of Northwest Colorado. If the painting seems made for the space it inhabits on the museum’s far wall, that’s because, well – it was.
About a decade ago, amid budget cuts and financial struggles, museum director Paul Knowles spent months campaigning for the museum. When it was finally taken on by the City of Craig on January 1, 2020, he wanted to do something to symbolize the museum’s strength and resilience.
When a Google search led him to an article about the world’s largest watercolor, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, he found that the current record was 15 x 8. He rushed to measure the space in his own museum, and, on finding that it was 16 x 10, the seed was planted.
“I wanted to use a local artist and Israel immediately came to mind,” Paul says.
Israel was up for the project. He went down the street from the museum to a saddleshop and asked for a cowboy to get on a horse so that he could use that as a model for his painting. The model was Clint Chew, whose family has been in Moffat County since the early 1900s.
The image that Israel painted depicts Clint with his horse, Arrow, wading through the Yampa River, which runs through his family’s ranch north of Maybell.
As Israel painted, Paul filmed him, posting time lapse videos to the museum’s Facebook page. This was during Covid, and as people around the world quarantined, they also tuned in to a tiny corner of Northwest Colorado.
The painting was done in three months and the museum eventually re-opened post-Covid. Now, Paul says, people come from all over the country, asking to see the world’s largest watercolor.
“This community has a lot of question marks when we look into the future,” Paul says. “And this painting has really been a bright spot to stare at. To me it's taken on a life of its own and it’s been really fun to watch.
See the painting at the Museum of Northwest Colorado at 590 Yampa Ave. in Craig. And, look for the flying saucers. Israel hid five of them within the painting.
