Home 2016 Issues Meet the Locals
Park City artist William Kranstover draws inspiration from local vistas and landmarks to create fanciful, impressionistic landscapes. He calls his technique "acrylic collage," often weaving photographs, wax, metal or other unusual materials into his work.
Kranstover holds a degree in fine art from the University of Wisconsin. He says his formal training simply prepared him to become an artist. "School gives you the tools and then what you need to do is commit."
Commitment is the fourth and, he says, most important of his "four Cs" creative process. The first three: concept, composition and color.
Before turning to paint on canvas in the early 2000s, the versatile artist was well-known for his sculpture. Kranstover rose to prominence during the 2002 Winter Olympics, when his massive "Olympic Torch" metal sculpture towered over the Kimball Art Center during the games.
"I believe there's an artist in every person I meet," says Kranstover, who has encouraged hundreds of local artists since he arrived here in 1972. "I've seen them really flower into every color and form imaginable."
"Bill's local following is tremendous because he's such a great guy. It's wonderful to represent such a talented Park City artist," says Francine Valline with the Terzian Galleries on historic Main Street, where Kranstover's work is exhibited. "We love Bill and his artwork, especially his use of color and his choice of subject matter." She says his collectors are very loyal to him.
His abstract, impressionistic style caught the eye of local vintner Dennis Romankowski, who, with his wife Gina, last year opened Cognition Winery, Park City's first winery. "Gina and I wanted to use the work of a local artist for our labels. Bill's impressionism and his use of pastels are almost dreamlike. Seeing it, you feel at peace, calm. We like that style."
Kranstover says he met with the Romankowskis and sampled "a lot of wine" before agreeing to the partnership. "I drank the Bordeaux blend and the Chardonnay. It's excellent wine," he grins. His painting "Coming in Bareback," which depict four magnificent horses, now adorns the label of Cognition's Bareback Chardonnay.
The gifted artist reflects on his work from his studio in nearby Peoa. "It's a wonderful place to be. This is farm country so it's quiet. I can focus completely on what I'm doing. When you create something new, that's never existed before that moment, that's my meditation, my core."
See Kranstover's work at the Terzian Galleries, at his website, wjkart.com, or on bottles of Cognition wine.
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Laurel Bartmess declined a university teaching career to open the Woodland Biscuit Company in rural Woodland. The single mother of two daughters admits that teaching might
be easier, but "…I have a deep love of food, of eating and sharing with others. It's in my core."
Laurel's passion for food shows. "I wake up and think, 'What good thing do I get to eat today?'" She wants others to experience that too. You don't have to be a southerner to appreciate Laurel's light, fluffy biscuits, offered on their own or as sandwiches. Ranchers, bikers, campers, Parkites and people on their way home from church, stop in for a taste of the "Blue," a melt-in-your- mouth biscuit sandwich of eggs, bacon and blue cheese, or the "Hammy," a stack of ham, cheese and house-made red pepper jelly.
Save room for "daughter- approved" desserts. Laurel's teenage daughter claims "If everyone just sat down together and ate a piece of cake, the world would be better off." Laurel agrees. "Food is the thread that connects everybody." Woodland Biscuit Company—good food, connection and community.
Come by and try it for yourself!
2734 East State Road 35, Woodland, Utah
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