Art Exhibitions And Events In The West

Through October 30
A.R. Mitchell and Duke Beardsley, Cowboy Not Cowboy: The Thin Red/Orange/Yellow/Green/Blue/Purple Line Between Legend & Myth
The exhibition, which features nearly 30 new works by Colorado artist Duke Beardsley, explores the enduring image of the cowboy through both a historical and contemporary lens. Beardsley’s portrayal of the real present-day cowboy contrasted with Mitchell’s romantic depiction of the Old West invites viewers to consider how the image of the cowboy has shifted over time yet lives on both in reality and in our imaginations. A.R. Mitchell Museum, Trinidad, Colorado, 719.846.4224, armitchellmuseum.com

Duke Beardsley, Sweetwater Rim, 2021, mixed media on collage on canvas, © Duke Beardsley Studio
Photo credit: Courtesy A.R. Mitchell Museum

Through November 7
Hindsight: Documentary Photography, 1930 – 1950
Making a case for the decisive impact of women on the history of documentary photography, this exhibition centers on the work of six American photographers: Margaret Bourke-White, Esther Bubley, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Genevieve Naylor, and Marion Post Wolcott. The images capture the impact of industrialization on rural Americans, black Americans’ experiences of racial segregation and economic inequality, and Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance against British colonial rule. Providing insight into everyday and extraordinary lives, the images reveal each photographer’s power in the making of historical memory. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, 888.642.2787, artsmia.org

Esther Bubley, Greyhound Bus Station, 1947, gelatin silver print, © Esther Bubley Estate Collection.
Photo credit: Courtesy Minneapolis Institute of Art

Through November 7
Though There Be Fury on the Waves: Victor Jorgensen at Sea, 1943 – 1945
Beginning in 1943, Portland-born photographer Victor Jorgensen, a recent Navy recruit, began serving with the elite Naval Aviation Photographic Unit. Over the next two years, he photographed onboard the aircraft carriers USS Lexington and USS Monterey, the destroyer USS Albert W. Grant, and the hospital ship USS Solace, which served in the Pacific. This exhibition of 93 vintage prints commemorates the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and Jorgensen’s significant contribution to the field of documentary photography. Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, 503.226.2811, portlandartmuseum.org

Victor Jorgensen; Untitled (USS Monterey); 1944; gelatin silver print, sheet; 11"x 14"; Gift of Victoria Jorgensen Carman and Lee Jorgensen.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Portland Art Museum © Estate of Victor Jorgensen.

Through December 12
Thomas Moran’s Mount Superior
Featuring a long-lost watercolor by acclaimed frontier landscape artist Thomas Moran, this exhibition explores the divergent depictions of the American landscape through photography, works on paper, and popular-culture ephemera of the period. Journey to 1870s Salt Lake City and discover how Moran’s idealized vision of Mt. Superior fits within the broader history of the colonization and industrialization of the West. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 817.738.1933, cartermuseum.org

Thomas Moran, Mount Superior, watercolor and graphite on paper.
Photo credit: Courtesy Amon Carter Museum

Through December 12
Unexpected Turns: Women Artists and the Making of American Basket-Weaving Traditions
American basketry is as culturally and technically diverse as our nation’s inhabitants. This installation chronicles experiments in basketry — all made by American women artists from the 1800s to the present — that explore the boundaries between utility and whimsy, weaving and sculpture. Artists include Elizabeth Hickox (Karuk), Gail Tremblay (Mi’kmaq, Onondaga), Josie Robinson (Ojibwe), Mary Giles, Elaine Small, Ferne Jacobs, Carole Hetzel, Tracy Krumm, and Henrietta Snype (Gullah Geechee). Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, 888.642.2787, artsmia.org

Henrietta Snype; Fanner basket; 2017;  sweetgrass, palmetto, pine needles, and bulrush; Living Rooms fund, supported by donors at the 2014 Mia Gala.
Photo credit: Copyright © Henrietta Snype

Through January 2
Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting
Since 1940, many Native artists have expanded beyond narrow, market-driven definitions of American Indian art. Drawing from the museum’s rich permanent collection, the exhibition presents nearly 40 paintings by 32 artists that transcend, represent, or subvert conventional ideas of authenticity. National Museum of the American Indian, Gustave Heye Center, New York, americanindian.si.edu

October 2 – January 9, 2022
Warhol’s West
Exploring pop artist Andy Warhol’s fascination with the American West, this exhibition presents a wide range of Western imagery and more by the artist, including his last major suite, Cowboys and Indians (1986). Famous faces in the series include Geronimo, Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, and Theodore Roosevelt. The exhibition furthers our understanding of how the American West infiltrates the public’s imagination through contemporary art and popular culture. Warhol’s West was organized by Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, and the Cochran Collection in LaGrange, Georgia. The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, St. Petersburg, Florida, 727.892.4200, thejamesmuseum.org

Andy Warhol, Cowboys and Indians: Annie Oakley, 1986, screenprint on Lenox museum board, Edition 55/250, 36" × 36", Collection Booth Western Art Museum © 2021 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Through February 6, 2022
Warranted to Give Satisfaction: Daguerreotypes by Jeremiah Gurney
A jeweler by profession, Jeremiah Gurney gave up that trade in favor of making daguerreotypes in 1840 and established one of New York City’s first daguerreotype studios, building a reputation as one of the city’s leading practitioners of the photographic technique. Despite vigorous competition from rivals such as Mathew Brady, he produced daguerreotypes hailed as “nearer to absolute perfection” than those of other camera artists. In 1851 Gurney founded the American Daguerre Association, the first national organization of photographers. National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., si.edu/exhibitions

Jeremiah Gurney, Mary Jay and Augusta Jay, 1848, quarter-plate daguerreotype with applied color.
Photo credit: Courtesy The National Portrait Gallery

October 9 – 11
Abiquiú Studio Tour
Enjoy autumn weather and the mountains and rivers of the Piedra Lumbre basin as this self-driving tour takes you deep into Georgia O’Keeffe country, leading through the Chama River Valley and the village of Abiquiú, New Mexico. The tour takes in the work of some 70 artists at about 25 unique homes and studios. Various locations, Abiquiú, New Mexico, 505.685.4585, abiquiudrivingtour.com

October 16 – December 31
Woolaroc Retrospective Exhibit and Sale
This year’s retrospective features the artwork of Bill Acheff, Scott L. Christensen, Josh Elliott, Sherrie McGraw, Paul Moore, John Moyers, Peregrine O’Gormley, Grant Redden, and Matt Smith. Ticketed opening weekend events include an artist and patron dinner, lecture presentations, and a lunch at the Lodge, plus the exhibition opening and sale. All art remains on view through December 31. Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 918.336.0307, woolaroc.org

John Moyers, Pulses of the People, oil, 36" x 36"
Photo credit: Courtesy Woolaroc Museum

October 17, 2021 – February 20, 2022
Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group
The traveling exhibition features approximately 85 artworks by the Transcendental Painting Group (TRG), a group of New Mexico painters that included Raymond Jonson, Emil Bisttram, Agnes Pelton, Florence Miller Pierce, Horace Pierce, William Lumpkins, Robert Gribbroek, Ed Garman, and others who explored a heightened vision of the American landscape, employing the freewheeling imagery of surrealism to depict a transfigured, spiritually alive America. It is the first show outside of New Mexico to fully survey the luminous art of the TRG. Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 918.749.7941, philbrook.org

Agnes Lawrence Pelton, Winter, 1933. oil on canvas, 30” x 28”
Photo credit: Courtesy Philbrook Museum of Art

October 21, 2021 – February 27, 2022
Mammals in Glacier: Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey & Waterfalls in Yellowstone: M.C. Poulsen
In order to capture the waterfalls that few get to experience, artist M.C. Poulsen has embarked on a multiyear journey to hike and ride horseback into the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park, paralleling a trek made more than a century ago by artist Thomas Moran. A companion exhibit is Nancy Cawdrey’s collection of about 25 silk paintings of all the major animals in Glacier National Park. Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, Georgia, 770.387.1300, boothmuseum.org

©M.C. Poulsen, Three Forks, 2018, oil on canvas, 22" x 30"
Photo credit: Courtesy Booth Western Art Museum

October 23 – 30
Sedona Plein Air Festival
This weeklong celebration of extraordinary landscapes, world-renowned artists, unique workshops, and free events is presented by the Sedona Arts Center. Featuring 28 master painters creating their masterpieces on location, the annual festival includes paint outs (opening and closing on Main Street), an exhibition, and lectures. Various venues, Sedona, Arizona, 928.282.3809, sedonapleinairfestival.org

October 30 – November 7
Martin Grelle: For the Love of the West
Here’s a don’t-miss event for Western art lovers: a one-man exhibit and sale of artwork by renowned artist Martin Grelle. The longtime member of the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America gives a talk Art the Way I See It on the morning of October 30 and is on hand that evening for a reception and sale that includes multiple major works by the artist. The sale is conducted by draw and live auction and those in attendance at the opening are given preference in the draw. Legacy Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, 480.945.1113, legacygallery.com

Martin Grelle
, Cheyenne Sewing, 2021, class
 oil on linen, 42" x 42".
Photo credit: Courtesy of the artist

November 5 – 6
Cowboy Artists of America Annual Exhibition & Sale
Honoring the legacy of Anne W. Marion for her many years of support, this 55th annual event presents artworks by 15 active and about eight emeritus CAA members. A preview showing, meet-and-greets, artist demos, and more fill the weekend event. The highlight comes on Saturday night, when approximately 110 artworks – oils, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures – come up for purchase in a set-price, draw box sale. Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibit Halls, Will Rogers Memorial Center, Fort Worth, Texas, cowboyartistsofamerica.com/sale

C. Michael Dudash, Eyes That See a Distant Danger, 2021, oil on linen, 38" x 54"
Photo credit: Courtesy of the artist

November 5 – December 5
American Plains Artists Annual Juried Show
This celebration of “Art of the Plains” features roughly 110 two- and three-dimensional realistic and representational artworks by about 75 nationally recognized artists in traditional media that depict the American Great Plains regions — its landscape, wildlife, people, and way of life in historical and modern times. CFD Old West Museum, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 308.249.1488, americanplainsartists.com

Cover image: Duke Beardsley, Bushwhackin' Mitch 1, 2021, mixed media on collage on canvas, © Duke Beardsley Studio.
Photo credit: Courtesy A.R. Mitchell Museum