Local gallery selling donated Mona Froyland painting to benefit BAARX

Mona Froyland’s artwork is exhibited online and in auction houses and galleries nationwide, including, for a brief time, the Nancy Riedell Fine Arts Studio & Gallery in Ely.

The signed and framed oil on canvas depicting a rose-filled vase is available for purchase with all proceeds benefiting Bristlecone Animal Aid Rescue And Xpress (BAARX).

White Pine County resident and artist Jane Wolf donated the painting to BAARX at a May swap meet held outside the local VFW post.

“I brought them a bunch of horse tack to sell. I had been looking to find this painting a home and thought I would donate it as well,” Wolf said.

Wolf met Froyland in Hayward, Calif., in the 1960s through her mother, Froyland’s accountant, and briefly studied under her. The donated painting is one of two Froyland works that Wolf inherited from her parents.

Born Ramona Froyland Valencia (1900–1988) in Oakland, Calif., Froyland was a mid-20th century painter known for still lifes, portraits, landscapes and later, Madonnas. She studied at the California School of Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Gallery owner and award-winning artist Nancy Riedell is helping BAARX sell the still life commission-free in appreciation of the nonprofit’s efforts to help locate her cat earlier this year. In November, Riedell will auction selected artworks of her own, with 50% of the proceeds going to the gallery and the remainder divided evenly between BAARX and the White Pine Public Museum, which also assisted in the effort.

“BAARX and the Museum did so much for me, this is just my way of giving back,” Riedell said.