Paintings Gifted To Pierson Wildlife Museum To Sell On Ebay

The Pierson Wildlife Museum Learning Center was recently gifted four paintings that are currently being listed on eBay.

The 10 day auction began January 4 and will run until January 14. All of the proceeds will go to the Pierson Wildlife Museum. 

Many years ago, Marie Nordyke, a long time resident of Antelope Co. painted a mural for the Antelope County Historical Museum located in the old jail. Some of the mural is still visible. Three of the paintings being sold belong to her.

The first painting, entitled Nebraska Prairie: Antelope Pronghorn,depicts a herd of pronghorn antelope possibly grazing along the Elkhorn River in Antelope County, Nebraska. The painting has a reserve price of $400.

Nebraska Prairie: Haystacks is the title of the second oil painting. This painting shows Hereford cattle grazing in a pasture next to a meadow with haystacks. The cattle are drinking from a waterhole in the pasture. This painting has a reserve of $100.
 
Nordyke's third painting is called Nebraska Prairie: Cowhand. The painting depicts a cowhand leaving the ranch to check on the cattle. The artist captures the terrain of western Nebraska or Wyoming. The reserve price is $400.

Nordyke was born 1898 in West Cedar Valley also known as Taylor Valley Antelope County, Nebraska. In 1929 she married Ray Nordyke at Elgin, Nebraska. After graduating from UNL she taught school in several Nebraska towns as well as Cody, Wyoming. Ray was a county agent in Sweet Water, Wyoming. They resided at Green River Wyoming.

​ In 1943 they moved to Plainview, Nebraska where Ray managed over 100 farms. Eventually, they purchased a home and moved to Neligh, Nebraska.  Gracia, better known as Marie, was a charter member of the Neligh Music & Book Club-Book Club. She was also active in the Antelope County Historical Society. Her gift of painting was an inspiration to young boy, Gale Jones who later pursued a career in art. Marie died in 1988.

The fourth piece gifted for sale is a graphite drawing called  Along the Platte by Gale Jones. The drawing depicts the yearly spring gathering of the Sandhill Cranes in the Platte River Valley near Kearney, NE.  The artist would often use these sketches for later paintings. The piece had a reserve of $120.  
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Gale was born in 1956 with most of his childhood through graduation spent in Neligh, NE. He currently resides in Norfolk, NE where he is owner of Ravenwood Art Gallery and Jones Studio gallery.
Upon graduating from Neligh High in 1974, Gale furthered his studies in art and education at Northeast Community College in Norfolk graduating with an Associative Arts degree in 1976. On to Kearney State College from 1976-1979 where he graduated with a BFA with a special endorsement in Watercolor. 

It was at that time  that he developed a technique original to his works, called Woven Watercolors.  An impressionistic technique of combining two like paintings varied in color into one finished piece.  In 1985 he was elected into the New York Knickerbocker Artists Association.  The Knickerbockers is one of the oldest professional art organizations started in 1947 in which Mr. Jones is a permanent lifetime signature member.