Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023/No. 190 i Western Art Collector

Welcome to the June issue of Western Art Collector! As collectors of Western art, we love not only the romanticism of the West but the brave acts of the pioneers on the landscaped prairies, the rodeos, the trail rides, the wildlife, the cowboys and even the mountain men of their time. Painting and sculpting these images, whether classical or modern, brings the spirit of the West to our homes. In this issue, Virginia and David Mullins give us a tour of their magnificent home. You will see stories of the West played out and curated beautifully through every room. Don’t miss this starting on Page 42. It is special! Every June issue Western Art Collector celebrates women artists. Their perspective on the West is intrinsic to their art. Their creativity…

THROUGH JULY 8 MUSEUM OF WESTERN ART 40 Years of Western Art Kerrville, TX – (830) 896-2553 www.museumofwesternart.com THROUGH JULY 31 ANTHONY’S FINE ART Brad Teare—Western Journeys Salt Lake City, UT - (801) 328-2231 www.anthonysfineart.com THROUGH AUGUST 20 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WILDLIFE ART Survival of the Fittest: Envisioning Wildlife and Wilderness with Carl Rungius and his Contemporaries Jackson, WY - (307) 733-5771 www.wildlifeart.org THROUGH AUGUST 27 THE BOOTH WESTERN ART MUSEUM Many Metals, Many Fires:Strauss, Ivy, Rogers Cartersville, GA – (770) 387-1300 www.boothmuseum.org THROUGH SEPTEMBER 4 NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF ART With the Grain Santa Fe, NM – (505) 476-5063 www.nmartmuseum.org THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WILDLIFE ART For the Love of Canines Jackson, WY – (307) 733-5771 www.wildlifeart.org THROUGH OCTOBER 1 AMON CARTER MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART Avedon’s…

Opening June 3 at the Couse-Sharp Historic Site in Taos, New Mexico, is Aún Aquí: Spanish Colonial Contemporary, a new exhibition exploring artwork by Northern New Mexican contemporary artists working in the Spanish Colonial tradition. The exhibition will take place in the historic 1830s Luna Chapel, which was Joseph Henry Sharp’s first Taos studio. “Aún Aquí” translates into “Still Here,” which provides a foundation for the exhibition that emphasizes that Spanish Colonial artwork, although rooted in the traditions of the past, is still very present in modern-day New Mexico. The exhibition will also highlight the rich history of the region, including when it was first claimed for the Spanish Crown by the conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1540 while he searched for the fabled Cities of Gold. “Our programming…

UPCOMING SHOW Up to 10 works June 23-July 15, 2023 The Signature Gallery 7177 E. Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251, (480) 949-7003 www.thesignaturegallery.com From her home on the edge of Queen Creek, nestled on three acres between Arizona’s San Tan mountains, Naomi Brown can look out the window and enjoy unobstructed views of her most beloved subject—the Southwest desert. Born and raised in Twenty Nine Palms, California, her love of the desert knows no beginning or end and it shows in the paintings of the Mojave desert of her youth, and the Sonoran, where she has lived for 15 years. “People always say the desert is so ugly and that there’s nothing to it,” Brown says. “But they don’t slow down enough to actually get a sense of it—the extremeness…

Barby Schacher is a self-taught pastel artist who loves to paint subjects primarily within the Western art arena. Raised on a small cattle ranch in north-central Idaho, she mainly paints what she is most familiar with from those “early years” on the ranch, such as horses, cattle and North American wildlife. Her subjects often evoke emotion or tell a story, like the curiosity that can be seen in her Peek-A-Moo pastel painting of a cute, inquisitive calf peeking over the back of another calf to see what’s going on. Or the strength that one senses when viewing The “A” Team, a small herd of bulls with lots of swagger. Or wondering what wild secrets the horses in her Wild Secrets pastel might have? Her paintings are very detailed as she…

As the only monthly Western art magazine in the country, Western Art Collector takes great pride in offering readers not only the best art available right now, but more of it. Each issue is supposed to be representative of the entire month, but there are months where I could fill an issue four times over—one issue per week. It’s a good problem to have. Take for instance, our Prix de West coverage in this issue. I could fill 30 pages with artwork from this year’s show, 40 if we include all the great stories that artists have been sending me about their pieces. I keep thinking about those old images of pack mules marching supplies down narrow trails into the Grand Canyon. As the string of mules shuffles down the…

Eyeballs are everything. Sales, collectors, exhibitions, shows, auctions. It can all be a bit nebulous and distracting, especially when artists often want something far simpler—they want their work seen. In 2010, Utah’s Office of Tourism launched a new campaign to tout the beauty of the Beehive State. Titled “Life Elevated,” the campaign would feature the artwork of Salt Lake City landscape painter David Meikle, whose paintings of Zion National Park, Lake Powell, Arches National Park, dinosaurs, the Golden Spike and skiing were turned into murals for major airports all around Utah and roadside billboards at 29 entry points into the state. The Office of Tourism estimated 31 million people would see them every year. If you’re keeping score, that’s a lot of eyeballs. The campaign caught the attention of four…

Without a doubt, the Prix de West is one of the most prestigious Western art shows in the world today. Every June, Western art collectors from across the country descend upon Oklahoma City to explore artwork by close to 100 of the best artists working in the genre. This is part of what makes the state of Oklahoma such a treasured destination for Western art. Among these artists are G. Russell Case, John Coleman, Brent Cotton, Teresa Elliott, Martin Grelle, Oreland Joe, Daniel J. Keys, Jeremy Lipking, Bill Nebeker, Don Oelze, Howard Post, Grant Redden, Kyle Sims and many more. While in OKC, be sure to also check out the vibrant Paseo Arts District, a community of original stucco buildings and clay-tiled rooftops teeming with creativity. The district houses more…

Labels can have a detrimental effect on artists, which is why Leah Lucas leans away from pigeonholing her or her work. “When starting out, I am not sure when most artists verbalize the ‘style’ they will eventually embrace. To describe my work, even now, feels restrictive as it has grown out of a journey of self-discovery,” Lucas says. “However, for those that need to describe my work, realistic impressionism probably comes close.” Her work is informed by magnificent views of the Rockies, beautiful skies and classic images of Western figures of all varieties. “Just as writers aspire to find their ‘voice,’ I am instinctively led to be true to my own expression,” Lucas says. “There is no accident I am informed by growing up in the West and its history,…

In 2022, the Prix de West celebrated its 50th anniversary and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum pulled out all the stops to deliver a truly magical celebration, exhibition and sale. By all accounts it was a huge success. How does a museum follow up on that banner year? Well, it gets back to the basics of showing important artwork by the top Western artists working today. This year’s Prix de West opens June 2 in Oklahoma City, though most collectors will want to mark their calendars for June 9 and 10, when the museum hosts the sale and a bevy of other activities related to the opening of the exhibition. Events include receptions, seminars, demonstrations, a live auction, a celebration dinner and art presentations by Andrew Peters, Dean…

It’s somewhat safe to say that Taos, New Mexico, is the art destination it is today largely because of word of mouth. Joseph Henry Sharp, Ernest L. Blumenschein, Bert Geer Phillips, Millicent Rogers, Mabel Dodge Luhan and many others were smitten by the region and they told their friends. And those friends told their friends. On and on until an art colony was born. Burt and Lucy Harwood were likely recipients of some of that high praise for Taos, which is why they moved from France to Northern New Mexico in 1916. Burt Harwood would die in 1922, and by the following year, in 1923, Lucy Harwood would start the Harwood Foundation, which included members such as Victor Higgins and Phillips. Ever since then, the foundation and the Harwood Museum…

The Santa Fe Trail is one of the great routes that connected travelers from the East to their destinies in the West. The famous trail began in Missouri and ran through the frontier, a rugged path that led people, goods and dreams into the great beyond of the American West. The trail famously ends at the Santa Fe Plaza in the heart of one of the Southwest’s most iconic cities. Several hundred yards down the street is the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, which will host Brian Lebel’s Cody Old West Show & Auction. Although the trail has been replaced by highways and airline routes, Brian Lebel is bringing people and goods together under the banner of the West with his annual show, this year taking place June 23 through…

In 2018, the University of New Mexico Art Museum unveiled Hindsight Insight, an exhibition meant to dig deeper into the museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition was a success. So much so that the museum is bringing back a sequel with a tweaked theme. It’s called Hindsight Insight 2.0: Portraits, Landscapes, and Abstraction from the UNM Art Museum and it’s open now in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Funded in part by a grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art, the exhibition is, the museum notes, “devoted to complicating existing narratives about racism, decolonization, and gender stereotypes within museum collections while de-centering curatorial authority and institutional voice.” Curator Mary Statzer says the “de-centering curatorial authority and institutional voice” part of that description is a way of saying the museum turned to students,…

Subscribe today to get the best Western art magazine in the country, and the only monthly magazine that highlights the top artists, galleries, museums, fairs and auctions throughout the art market. Need proof? The proof is in your hands. Flip through this issue to see the best coverage of the American West: ☆ Previews of all the biggest events, shows and sales.☆ Destination guides from the hottest art markets.☆ Special genre sections to expand your collecting power.☆ 12 issues a year, each one presenting work from the top artists and the rising newcomers…and everyone in between! Hitch your wagon to the go-to source trusted by artists, gallery owners, museum curators, auction specialists and collectors. Saddle up with Western Art Collector. SUBSCRIBE TODAY BY VISITING www.WesternArtCollector.com/subscribe $ 55 FOR 12 ISSUES! $…

UPCOMING SHOW Up to 12 works  June 30-Sept. 30, 2023 Gerald Peters Gallery 1011 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 954-5700 www.gpgallery.com Michael Cassidy says, “The West is a place but also a state of mind.” He lives in the Oregon Outback where cowboy life still exists. Like many of us, he grew up with the Western imagery of cowboys and Indians fueling ideas and stories of the romance of the West while concealing its harsher realities. Later, with a background in commercial illustration, he appreciated the graphic quality of Western movie posters. The over-the-top illustrations on the covers of Western pulp fiction from before World War II inspired him to make his own stories with his own images, blowing the paper novels up to movie poster size.…

In a grand effort to celebrate wild places around the world, British artist Tony Foster adventures into extreme locations, often hiking great distances and camping out to capture, in watercolor, extraordinary landscape scenes. His most recent adventure exploring the Green River of Wyoming, commonly referred to as the headwaters for the Colorado River, has culminated into a profoundly beautiful exhibition of 16 paintings to be hosted at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. “There’s a lot to celebrate about the river and we’re excited to honor a waterway source here in Wyoming and one that has so much importance to the West,” says Karen McWhorter, Collier-Read Director of Curatorial, Education and Museum Services at the center. “The criticality of water is a topic that unites those that make their…

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Alexandre Hogue (1898-1994), and to mark this momentous occasion, the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is hosting the exhibition Alexandre Hogue: Human/Nature. Hogue’s influence on the art community in Oklahoma was undeniable. He served as the head of the art department and the University of Tulsa from 1945 to 1963. “He had grown up in Texas, but then during the war, he worked as a photographer,” explains curator Susan Green. “After the war ended, he was hired to head the art department here, and when he arrived in Tulsa, he was by all accounts a great creative force.” As a teacher, he advocated for experimentation and cross-cultivation ideas. He encouraged his students to learn about a variety of mediums—to not…

Capping off an exciting month of March in the Western art world was the Briscoe Western Art Museum’s annual Night of Artists exhibition and sale in San Antonio, Texas. The event, which takes place in the heart of the Texas city along the famous San Antonio Walk, was well attended with collectors coming from all parts of the country to view and purchase 270 works from more than 80 artists. Featuring a wide variety of activities, including a live auction and lavish party, Night of Artists’ 2023 show brought in more $2.6 million, which includes $619,000 from the live auction alone. Those numbers make it the most successful Night of Artists in its 23-year history. Top sellers at the auction included George Hallmark’s Sombres de San Miguel that sold for…

Western Art Collector magazine has changed the way artists, galleries and collectors connect. It has closed the gap that previously existed in the Western art market. On this page you can read just some of the spectacular feedback pouring into our office from coast to coast on sales and connections achieved. 1. Tomás Lasansky sells major work in Great Falls During March’s Western Art Week in Great Falls, Montana, a number of important pieces were sold during a show at the Hotel Arvon and Celtic Cowboy. One major highlight came from Bill Faust, owner of Faust Gallery in Arizona and New Mexico, when he sold a large mixed media work by Tomás Lasansky. Known for his large-scale portraits, Lasansky is collected at a high level by collectors who are drawn…