STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK AND RUDI BROSCHOFSKY

Rudi Broschofsky has showed his art works in museums, private collections and galleries.

But he thinks the piece he just installed may get the most views of all.

Broschofsky installed "Snowy Pines," a 12-foot long stencil, in the area of the old bar in Warm Springs Lodge--just in time for this week's opening of the lodge for the 2019-20 winter season.

"This is probably going to be the most prominent spot I've ever had my work," said the young artist.

Broschofsky came to the attention of the Holding family afew years ago when one member stopped in the gallery he owned in Portland until he closed it to return home to Sun Valley. She was attracted to his cowboy stencils originally, thinking something of that sort might be a good fit for the Sun Valley Inn.

But, as they talked, the proposal evolved to encompassing a piece that celebrates the natural beauty of the Sun Valley area.

Broschofsky spent weeks cutting long slender stencils of trees up to two feet long on a canvas that was draped over a long table in the gallery that his parents opened decades ago. It was meticulous and slow going, done with an Exacto knife.

"I love cutting stencils--it's so meditative," Broschofsky said. "But I can only cut for a few hours because it hurts my back leaning over the stencils."

After cutting the stencil, Broschofsky took it to a garage in Warm Springs where he laid the stencil over a canvas and began spray painting.

He started with one color, moving the can meticulously back and forth. Then he did the same with another color, and another color yet, allowing the yellows, oranges and pinks to fade into one another like a sunset.

He held down the stencils with his latex gloves as he sprayed, making sure the paint didn't find its way under an errant stencil.

Once the paint had dried, he poured resin over it, spreading it with a putty knife to give the piece a glossy contemporary look, as if it's under glass.

He finished by taking a blow torch to the piece.

"It's a little nerve wracking because you could ruin it. But it does finish it off. And, if someone spills something on it, it's easy to wipe off. Once it's done, it's pretty durable--bulletproof at that point," he said.

Broschofsky has done a number of big pieces, including a larger-than-life stencil art of John Wayne. But this is by far the biggest piece he has ever done.

"It was difficult to do because of the limitations of the workspace. It was difficult to move--even in a van it hangs out the back. And the canvas was difficult to build. But I was lucky to be able to do the stencil work in the gallery," he said.

It took lots of hands to move the hundred-pound panel from Broschofsky's garage to the lodge as employees were getting the lodge open for the ski season. And it took even more hands to hang it. But it has gotten lots of compliments from those who have seen it. And the yellow and pink sunset matches the bright colored furniture perfectly.

"I'm just impressed by the enormity of it," said Rudi's father John Broschofsky.

"It's so neat to be able to display my work in the lodge where I spent so much te while competing in half pipe with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation," said Rudi Broschofsky. "I hung out a lot in this lodge and it feels so good to contribute something that will enhance it."