Will Rogers Memorial Center, Fort Worth, TX
November 5-6
Harold Holden, And He’s Kid Broke, bronze, 8 x 16 x 5.
Two years ago, the Cowboy Artists of America organization moved its annual exhibition and sale of members’ works from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo’s Will Rogers Memorial Center. Last year’s event, however, was canceled due to the pandemic, making this year’s gathering all the more eagerly anticipated.
More than a hundred works in oil, watercolor, acrylic, pencil, mixed media, and bronze from the 17 artist members—all leading figures in the western-art world—are on view at the two-day get-together on Friday and Saturday, November 5-6. Opening-weekend events include an artists’ reception on Friday evening, followed by demonstrations and the fixed-price sale of the art on Saturday. The exhibition opens to public viewing on Saturday afternoon.
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- Tom Browning, Snookered, oil, 18 x 40.
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- Chad Poppleton, The Road to Jericho, oil, 30 x 48.
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- Clark Kelley Price, Loyal Partners, oil, 30 x 24.
Among those most excited about the weekend are the artists themselves. “It’s more than just an art show. It’s a family,” says sculptor Bill Nebeker, based in Prescott, AZ, who was admitted 44 years ago, making him the group’s longest active member. (Prospective new members are invited to submit portfolios of their work, which must be approved by at least three-quarters of the group.) This year, Nebeker is showing four of his limited-edition bronzes, including LONG ARM OF THE LAW, an energetic portrayal of a lawman on his horse at full gallop, taking aim with his rifle.
Painter Chad Poppleton, who hails from the Cache Valley in northern Utah, is one of the newest members. Admitted in 2018, he’s still amazed to be part of the family. “I’ve been friends with a lot of the artists in the CAA,” he says, “and I honestly never thought I’d ever get in.” One look at THE ROAD TO JERICHO, his thoroughly researched and richly detailed signature piece, demonstrates how well he deserves the honor. Set in the early 1840s, the large-scale oil depicts a party of fur trappers along a river in western Wyoming, scrambling to flee as they’re surprised by a grizzly bear.
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- Bill Nebeker, Long Arm of the Law, bronze, 17 x 17 x 8.
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- Grant Redden, Artifacts, oil, 20 x 28.
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- C. Michael Dudash, The Quiet Voice of a Water’s Fall, oil, 30 x 24.
A more contemplative scene awaits in ARTIFACTS, one of the five works in the show by Grant Redden, from southwestern Wyoming. Redden was inducted into the CAA in 2012 and concludes his one-year term as the group’s president just after the show. The title of his painting, in which a cowboy pauses to examine an object he’s found, has a double meaning: Not only is the young man pondering an artifact, but the artist’s model—his 32-year-old son—is actually wearing a family artifact: Redden’s father’s old batwing chaps. “I like to put paintings out there to which people can bring more meaning through their own experiences or memories,” Redden says. Indeed, rich memories await for everyone, CAA members and art lovers alike, who attends this important event. —Norman Kolpas
contact information
www.cowboyartistsofamerica.com
This story appeared in the October/November 2021 issue of Southwest Art magazine.