Mark your 2021 calendars for art exhibitions and events coming up around the West.
Through January 3, 2021
Los Tres Grandes: Obras de Rivera, Siqueiros y Orozco
San Antonio’s McNay Museum has one of the strongest print collections of Mexican modernism from the 1920s to the 1950s to be found anywhere. This exhibit comprises 40 lithographs, three oil paintings, three linocuts, plus a graphite on paper and encaustic on burlap by Mexican modernist greats Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, and several others. The artworks illustrate the influence of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and its aftermath on the artists. McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, 210.824.5368.
Through January 10, 2021
Selena Forever/Siempre Selena
Also at the McNay: Texas singer and designer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez achieved legendary status before her murder at age 23 in 1995. This exhibition of five photographs by award-winning San Antonio photographer John Dyer — who photographed Selena for assignments for the cover of Más Magazine in 1992 and for Texas Monthly in 1995, just months before she was tragically killed — pays tribute to the star. Watch the exhibition’s behind-the-scenes video here. McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, 210.824.5368.
Flores Mexicanas: Women in Modern Mexican Art
Inspired by the loan of Alfredo Ramos Martínez’s monumental painting Flores Mexicanas, the exhibit examines the changing representations of women in paintings, works on paper, and textiles in early 20th-century Mexican art through works by some of Mexico’s most renowned artists.
A portion of the exhibition follows the career of Alfredo Ramos Martínez, one of the founders of Mexican modernism. Flores Mexicanas — a wedding gift to famed aviators Anne and Charles Lindbergh from then-president of Mexico Emilio Porto Gil — was his last work completed before his move from Mexico to Los Angeles in 1929. The ornate 9-by-12-foot painting is on view for only the second time in nearly a century.
Exploring themes of gender, politics, and the role of the new modern woman in Mexico, another portion of the exhibit presents nearly 40 works by María Izquierdo, Frida Kaho, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others. Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 214.922.1200.
Through January 17, 2021
Kiowa Agency: Stories of the Six
Six Kiowa artists created many paintings of Kiowa culture at the University of Oklahoma between 1927 and 1929. Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Lois (Bou-ge-tah) Smoky, and Monroe Tsa-toke make up the Kiowa Six. This exhibit of more than 60 artworks explores the ways in which the artists acted as strong agents of Kiowa preservation during and after their time at OU.
Of special interest is Lois Smoky, neglected until just recently, because of her short stay at OU. Nonetheless Smoky had a major impact. She was the first Indian female to paint the human form, a subject previously exclusive to Plains men. After leaving OU, Smoky raised a family, continued her artistic endeavors in creative beading, and served as an agent of cultural transmission in her community and a model to later generations of Indian women artists. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 405.325.3272.
Through January 24, 2021
American Dreams or Imagined Lands: Terri Loewenthal, Jack Spencer, Christa Blackwood, Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe
Five preeminent photographers share their imaginings about America and its landscape through their images from seven different projects displaying their unique perspectives on the American landscape. Among the works on view is a pigment print by Terri Loewenthal called Psychscape 600. Booth Western Museum of Art, Cartersville, Georgia, 770.370.1300.
Through February 14, 2021
The Place Where Clouds Are Formed
For nearly two centuries the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona has separated the Tohono O’odham, their sacred sites, and ancestral lands and been a site of frequent struggles over sovereignty. Using the poetry of Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono O’odham) alongside Gareth Smit’s photography, this exhibition investigates the intersection of religion, migration, and community in the Sonoran Desert — the original territories of the Tohono O’odham, in particular. This display, which includes texts in O’odham, English, and Spanish, also features poetry and photography by activist Amber Ortega (Tohono O’odham, Hia-Ced O’odham) and pottery by Reuben Naranjo (Tohono O’odham). The installation is part of a larger project that involved community exhibitions at Pima County, Arizona’s Tohono O’odham Community College and Sonora, Mexico’s Museo Quitovac as well as texts by Martín Zícari. Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona, 520.624.2333.
Through February 28, 2021
Mythmakers: The Art of Winslow Homer and Frederic Remington
This exhibition celebrates two largely self-taught artists whose work reinforced an American identity rooted in action, independence, and communion with the outdoors. It delves into the interwoven legacies of famous ocean painter Winslow Homer and legendary cowboy artist Frederic Remington thematically as well as chronologically by exploring parallels in form, technique, and theme. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 817.738.1933.
Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking
African American artist, teacher, and master printer Robert Blackburn was a key figure in the development of printmaking in the 20th century. His generous spirit, avant-garde ideas, and technical expertise affirmed printmaking as a fine art, while pushing the practice in new directions. The exhibition highlights his contributions to the technical and aesthetic development of abstract color lithography with some 60 prints and related materials by Blackburn and his artistic collaborators, including Grace Hartigan, Robert Rauschenberg, Elizabeth Catlett, and Romare Bearden. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, 816.751.1278.
Through March 7, 2021
High Desert Masters
Drawn from local Yavapai County artists, generous lenders, and the museum’s permanent collection, this exhibition features 107 pieces by artists such as John Coleman, Bill Nebeker, Bill Anton, Heather Johnson Beary, K. Quick Anderson, Robert Goldman, Susan Averill, Steve Atkinson, Diana Simpson, and others. The artists’ views of their surroundings are documented in portraits, landscapes, and wildlife paintings and sculptures. Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona, 928.778.1385.
Through May 2, 2021
A Fiery Light: Will Shuster’s New Mexico
Health concerns in 1920 brought William Schuster to New Mexico, where he’d engage in its art scene for nearly 50 years. This exhibition celebrates the centennial anniversary of Shuster’s arrival and his rich legacy. In addition to displaying artworks he produced in New Mexico, the show looks at his time as a member of Los Cinco Pintos and explores his relationship with American realist John Sloan as well as his invention of the Santa Fe bogeyman Zozobra. New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, 505.476.5072.
December 18, 2020 – January 24, 2021
Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale
Although COVID-19 has forced the postponement of the National Stock Show, the annual art exhibit and sale remains in the saddle by going virtual. Featuring the best in contemporary realism, the online silent auction opens December 18, 2020, and closes with a live virtual event on January 5, 2021. The sale continues online with any remaining work available first-come, first-served through January 24, 2021. Instead of a 2021 featured artist, the spotlight goes to past featured artists, including William Matthews (1994), Karmel Timmons (2008), Quang Ho (2014), and Sophy Brown (2020). The event also welcomes new artists Evelyn Gottschall Baker, Jay Brady, S.M. Chavez, Chauncey Homer, Jay Moore, Anita Mosher Solich, Dan Sprick, Ouida Touchon, and Rick Young. Coors Western Art, Denver, 303.291.2567.
December 29 – 31
Holidays at the Heard
Make your holidays special with a traditional visit to the Heard for live American Indian music and dance performances, as well as artist demonstrations and hands-on art activities. Heard Museum, Phoenix, 602.252.8840.
January 16 – March 28, 2021
Celebration of Fine Art
It’s all about art as 100 artists set up working studios in large white tents surrounded by a sculptured garden featuring outdoor art. See sculptors, painters, furniture makers, glassblowers, jewelers, and other artisans work on their latest projects. Each Friday a panel of artists speaks on a different artistic medium in the Discovery Series. 101 Highway at Hayden exit, Scottsdale, Arizona, 480.443.7695, celebrateart.com
January 22 – March 6, 2021
Yellowstone Art Auction 53
The three-event fundraiser kicks off January 22 with quick-draw artists, a one-night-only silent auction, entertainment, and hors d’oeuvres. An artist meet-and-greet and last chance to buy-it-now take place March 5, followed by a live and silent auction the following night. Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana, 406.256.6804.
January 28 – 31, 2021
The Southwest Arts Festival
Enjoy a host of traditional, contemporary, and abstract fine art as well as quality crafts while surrounded by natural desert and mountain landscape. Food and beverages add to the festivities. Empire Polo Club, Indio, California, 760.347.0676.
February 10 – 14, 2021
Tubac Festival of the Arts
Ceramics, digital media, drawing, fiber, glass, painting, pastel, watercolor, photography, and other arts fill artists’ booths lining this historic town during Southern Arizona’s longest-running outdoor art festival. Enjoy live music as well as ethnic and regional cuisine. Tubac, Arizona, 520.398.2704.
February 12 – May 16, 2021
Spiro and the Art of the Mississippian World
Large effigy pipes, embossed copper plates, wooden sculptures, and engraved shell gorgets and cups — most created hundreds of years before Europeans first set foot in America — shed light on a unique and little-known site in North America. Spiro Mounds is one of America’s most important ancient Native American cultural and religious sites. The exhibit of artifacts from the site will travel to Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama, and Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, 405.478.2250.