Show Preview | National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum: Cowboy Crossings

Oklahoma City, OK, October 12-13

R.S. Riddick, Rainy Day Reminiscin’, oil, 50 x 44.

This story was featured in the October 2012 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Order the Southwest Art magazine October 2012 print edition here, or purchase the Southwest Art magazine October 2012 digital download here. Or subscribe to Southwest Art magazine and never miss a story!

This month, the National Cowboy  & Western Heritage Museum hosts Cowboy Crossings, featuring concurrent exhibitions from the Cowboy Artists of America and the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. The combined exhibits display more than 150 works in a variety of media, from fine art paintings, drawings, and sculptures to functional art  in leather, rawhide, silver, and steel.

Numerous events take place during opening weekend at the museum, beginning with a preview party on Friday, October 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. The fun continues on Saturday with an autograph party at 10 a.m., followed by a luncheon at 11:30 a.m. A cocktail reception and intent-to-purchase sale begins at 5 p.m., and the events conclude with a celebratory awards banquet at 7:30 p.m.

The 47th annual CAA exhibition and sale continues through November 25 and features more than 100 works from the group’s 20 active members, including Ron Riddick (whose painting RAINY DAY REMINISCIN’ is featured on the cover), Tim Cox, John Coleman, Paul Moore, Gary Niblett, and Tom Browning. Each artist displays four to six brand-new works. “Planning what pieces to do for a show like this is part of the fun and the challenge,” says Browning, who frequently depicts ranch scenes with cowboys and horses but also paints figures, wildlife, and landscapes. “People don’t realize what a variety there can be in western art,” he says.

Native American themes are also prevalent in the show, such as in the work of sculptor Paul Moore, a citizen of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation and fifth-generation Oklahoman. “My great-great-grandmother came to the land they now call Oklahoma by the Trail of Tears, and my great-grandfather was a cowboy who rode the Chisholm Trail,” he says. Stories like these instilled in Moore a great love of the past and inspire his work to this day.

Another artist known for his bronze sculptures, John Coleman, presents a new painting of a medicine man at this year’s show, titled HOLY MAN OF THE BUFFALO NATION. Coleman says that while the piece is only the second painting he’s shown at  a CAA show, he intends for paintings to be a large part of his shows in the future.
The 14th annual TCAA exhibition and sale continues through January 6, 2013, and features approximately 50 works of functional art by 15 artists who excel at saddlemaking, bit and spur making, silversmithing, and rawhide braiding. —Lindsay Mitchell

contact info
405.478.2250
www.nationalcowboymuseum.org

Featured in the October 2012 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art magazine October 2012 digital download
Southwest Art magazine October 2012 print edition
Or subscribe to Southwest Art magazine and never miss a story!