Artist: Dario "Rio" Bridwell
Medium: Watercolor
Size: 22.5" x 29"

There isn't good information on Rio Bridwell's artistic career, but locals from northeast Texas remember him and his art. Records show he worked as an entomologist. His family history is fascinating. Rio Bridwell was born in 1919 in Arkansas, the son of Louis and Elizabeth Bridwell. He had two sisters and a brother. Rio died in 1995. In 1928 the family moved from Forestburg, Texas to the New Llano Colony in the Highlands of Western Louisiana. The New Llano Colony was a socialist community that aspired to be a working man's Utopia, a paradise where all members did equal work for equal benefits. It lasted for more than twenty years. Do look it up to learn more. There is a local museum about the community.

One can imagine the rolling landscape and old barns that dot northeast Texas even today, and a time and place that existed a century ago. The art survives and tells a story of the land, a life and a generation gone but also connected to us here and now.

This is a very nice piece of history as well as a lovely piece of art.

The watercolor is beautifully framed in burnished bronze finish. There is a wide linen mat with inset border mat in black-brown. All in all a high quality presentation and piece of art.