Show Preview | Cowboy Crossings - Southwest Art Magazine

Oklahoma City, OK
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, October 5-7

Tim Cox, Date Night, oil, 24 x 30.

This story was featured in the October 2017 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2017 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

The seventh annual Cowboy Crossings show kicks off at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum this month with the opening of two premier western art exhibitions and sales. The joint event presents more than 100 fine artworks by 23 members of the Cowboy Artists of America and more than 50 traditional crafts by 15 members of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. “They knock our socks off every year,” says museum curator Susan Patterson. “These artists and artisans are just phenomenal, and you can see their passion in how they view the West. It’s like Christmas when seeing all the works come in.”

: Tom Browning, Defender of the Plains, oil, 54 x 28.

: Beau Compton, canteen, sterling silver.

: Tyler Crow, Made in America, oil, 32 x 26.

During the event’s opening weekend, several activities are open to the public with museum admission. At an autograph party at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 7, for example, visitors can receive a free commemorative poster, purchase a show catalog, and get both pieces signed by the artists. Visitors are also treated to demonstrations in the halls beginning at 1 p.m. Ticketed events include an art sale, dinner, and awards ceremony beginning at 5 p.m. that evening, as well as a dinner with the artists on Thursday, October 5. All CAA works remain on view through November 26, and the TCAA exhibit continues through January 7, 2018. “For people who are interested in collecting art at the highest level, this exposure at a national museum makes the work that much more prestigious,” notes Don Reeves, the museum’s curator of cowboy culture.

The CAA comprises some of the country’s most highly regarded cowboy artists, all of whom are committed to representing historic and contemporary western life and culture through fine art. The group’s 52nd annual exhibition this year features paintings and sculptures by both active and emeritus members, including newly minted members Tyler Crow, Mikel Donahue, C. Michael Dudash, and Phil Epp, who enhance the group’s already diverse styles and themes, says president Tim Cox. “It will be fun to see it all,” he adds, “from Epp’s stylized art to Dudash’s loose, painterly style.” Cox himself brings several oil paintings of the western landscape and ranching culture, including DATE NIGHT, in which he pays tender tribute to the marriage of his daughter and son-in-law and their shared passion for horses.

: C. Michael Dudash, We’ll Leave the Light On for Ya, oil, 30 x 50.

: Rick C. Bean, portfolio, carved and stamped, leather.

: Phil Epp, Cowboy Encounter, Prada Marfa, acrylic, 15 x 40.

Dedicated to preserving and promoting the skills of saddlemaking, silversmithing, and rawhide braiding, the TCAA promotes the highest levels of craftsmanship rooted in cowboy traditions. The group welcomes its newest member, silversmith Beau Compton, to its 19th annual exhibition, which features such works as a sterling-silver canteen by Compton and a hand-stamped metal box fashioned after a 1920s shaving case by bit and spur maker Wilson Capron.

Not surprisingly, excellence permeates the show. “The artists are creating work not just for themselves but for the fellow members of their organization, so they want to do their absolute best,” says Patterson. “These groups are small for a reason, because they hold their members to very high standards.” —Kim Agricola

contact information
405.478.2250
www.nationalcowboymuseum.org