Copious Notes

‘Blue Prince’, a 26.5 inch-by-39.5 inch painting by Sir Alfred Munnings, commissioned by Thoroughbred owner and breeder Walter Jeffords, will be part of the initial Sporting Art Auction in November at Keeneland. Image courtesy of Keeneland.

The Sporting Art Auction, a collaboration between Keeneland and Downtown Lexington’s Cross Gate Gallery, will make its debut in November auctioning work by modern and 19th century American and British sporting artists at the historic race track.

“This Sporting Art Auction has the potential to become the most important of its kind in the world,” Cross Gate owner and auction curator Greg Ladd said in a news release. “We have all the right elements to make it a success—a world-class venue in Keeneland which provides in-house expertise in conducting major auctions, and the ability to reach the most enthusiastic sporting art collectors in the world through Keeneland’s racing and sales clientele.”

Ladd has already secured two marquee pieces for the inaugural auction: Blue Prince by Sir Alfred Munnings, commissioned by thoroughbred breeder and owner Walter Jeffords, and a 7 foot-by-17 foot mural by LeRoy Neiman, commissioned by Charles W. Bidwell Jr. for  Sportsman’s Park in Cicero, Ill. The overall auction will feature approximately 200 works, primarily paintings and sculptures.

Works in the auction will be on display at Keeneland through the fall race meet in October as well as the September and November sales. Keeneland’s proceeds from the sales will go to support its not-for-profit initiatives, including the Keeneland Library Foundation.

Lexington Opera House, watercolor 19 X 30 in. Oppegard says, “arrived while show was on with intention of getting shots of patrons leaving. So I went in and sat on the stairs and watched the last 20 minutes of “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” By Sandra Oppegard. Artwork photos by Mary Rezny.

Lexington washes across the walls of Cross Gate Gallery this month in streams of watercolor, forming images of Cheapside, the Lexington Opera House, Al’s Bar and many other familiar locations rendered in dreamy impressions from the brush of Sandra Oppegard.

“There was one lady in here who said, ‘You make Lexington look like Paris,’” Oppegard says, leading a casual tour of her exhibit, Landscapes and Townscapes. She quickly steers toward a painting and says, “I think she was referring to the old Metropol at dusk, because that has a kind of Parisian feel.”

Watercolor artist Sandra Oppegard’s “Landscapes and Townscapes,” on exhibit through Nov. 25 at Cross Gate Gallery. (c) Herald-Leader staff photo by Rich Copley.

In her image, the restaurant, which was in the building now occupied by The Village Idiot pub, is framed by lights and occupied by a reveling crowd.

Others have told her that she makes Lexington look fabulous.

“To me, it looks that way,” Oppegard says. “That’s the thing about someone coming in from another area: new eyes.”

Oppegard, 71, was born in Cincinnati and then began moving west, eventually settling in California. Her love of art coincided with a love of horses. She was encouraged through art classes in high school to go to art school and attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. From there, she went on to a 23-year career as a freelance illustrator based in Southern California with a list of clients that included Max Factor, Redken, Mattel Toys and Baskin-Robbins.

In 1974, she married Thoroughbred trainer Victor Ellis Oppegard. The couple moved to Montana in the 1980s and Lexington in 1999.

“I even got an assistant trainer’s license in California,” Oppegard says. “I got to saddle horses at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. I learned things that were very handy to me getting commissions to paint horses and selling work because it’s very authentic. I really know what’s going on. You can tell if an artist knows horses or not.”

“Jazz Players” (Jazz at the Library. Group from Columbus, Ohio: Eddie Brookshire Quintet – Eddie is on bass and Jack Novotny is on sax.)
Watercolor, 12 x 15 in.

While working in California, Oppegard met Cross Gate Gallery owner Greg Ladd and he started buying her work. In 1994, she visited Lexington for the first time and says that’s when she and her husband first considered moving to the Bluegrass. An added draw was family that had moved to Northern Kentucky.

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