Editor’s Letter | Milestones

A roundup of western art news

By Kristin Hoerth

The Gathering by Scott Burdick, winner of the Buyers’ Choice Award at Prix de West.

The Gathering by Scott Burdick, winner of the Buyers’ Choice Award at Prix de West.

This story was featured in the August 2015 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2015 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story!

There have been a number of notable happenings in the world of western art over the past several weeks. To bring you up to speed, here is a roundup of the news you need to know.

Sadly, we said goodbye to two major figures in western art recently. John Geraghty, a longtime trustee of the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, died on May 27. Geraghty co-founded the Autry’s Masters of the American West show as well as the Prix de West Invitational at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma, where he served on the board of directors. He was also involved with the Cowboy Artists of America Museum (now the Museum of Western Art), the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and the California Art Club. Moreover, he was a passionate collector and a trusted friend and advocate to countless artists.

We also bid farewell to artist Kenneth Riley, an emeritus member of the Cowboy Artists of America, who passed away in early June just days before this year’s Prix de West, where he won the Purchase Award in 1995 for his painting SUNDOG. Riley first appeared in the pages of Southwest Art in the July 1981 issue; his work graced the covers in October 1989, July 1993, March 2003, and January 2014; and he was named one of our “Legends of Fine Art” in the December 2008 issue. He was part of the Tucson 7, a loose affiliation of some of the West’s best-known painters, including Howard Terpning and the late Bob Kuhn. Riley was admired for his exquisite sense of color and design in his paintings of Mandan Indians and other historical subjects.

The passing of Geraghty and Riley weighed heavily at the opening of the Prix de West Invitational, but there was much to celebrate as well. Andrew Peters won the Prix de West Purchase Award, Dean Mitchell won the Donald Teague Memorial Award for works on paper, Joe Bohler won the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award, Doug Hyde won the James Earle Fraser Sculpture Award, Christopher Blossom won the Frederic Remington Painting Award, Walter Matia won the Major General and Mrs. Don D. Pittman Wildlife Award, and Scott Burdick won the Jackie L. Coles Buyers’ Choice Award. Voting for the Robert Lougheed Memorial Award, chosen by the Prix de West artists, resulted in a first-ever tie between George Carlson and Dean Mitchell. As always, the whole weekend was full of some of the best art in the West.

 

Featured in the August 2015 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art August 2015 print issue or digital download Or subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!

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