Oklahoma City was ablaze with the artistic spirit as this year’s Prix de West rolled into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
The gallery buzzed with energy and reverence as collectors and art enthusiasts moved slowly through the Kerr Gallery at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, their eyes drawn to nearly 300 original works adorning the walls. Sweeping Western landscapes captured the rugged beauty of the American frontier. Mountain lions prowled from some canvases. From others, weathered cowboy faces told stories of hard-won experience, their eyes holding decades of wisdom earned under vast prairie skies.
Bronze sculptures of turkeys and otters shared space with towering monuments to the Western spirit, each piece a testament to the extraordinary talent gathered for the 53rd annual Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale.
For four days in late June, Oklahoma City became the epicenter of the Western art world as the museum hosted what many consider the premier Western art show in America. Nearly 100 artists attended this year’s exhibition, ranging from perennial favorites such as Josh Elliott and Daniel Gerhartz to newcomers like S.M. Chavez, Tony Hochstetler, Denis Milhomme, and Joshua Tobey.
The numbers spoke to its significance. More than $3.2 million in sales highlighted the weekend event, with works ranging from intimate drawings to monumental sculptures commanding six figures.
Artworks remain on view through August 3.
“This is just such a friendly, good, positive place in a very uncertain world,” said Andy Peters, an Iowa-based artist celebrating his 18th year at Prix de West. “Any art museum that you walk into, you’re going to feel better when you walk out. This show is like that, times 10.”
Peters’ sentiment echoed throughout the galleries as artists, collectors, and museum staff celebrated not just commercial success but the continuation of a tradition that has shaped Western art for more than five decades. Since 1973, the Prix de West has served as both marketplace and proving ground for the finest contemporary Western artists working today.
Susan Roeder, board member and Prix de West committee chair, described the exhibition as more than just an art show.
“This event showcases the remarkable talent of artists who capture the spirit of the people, the majestic landscapes and diverse wildlife of the West,” she said. “We invite art enthusiasts to explore this extraordinary collection of paintings and sculptures.”
Roeder emphasized that Prix de West is her favorite event of the year: “And I am not the only person who feels that way. There are a lot of collectors and artists who tell me that as well.”
The weekend’s most coveted honor went to Utah-based artist James Morgan, whose oil-on-linen painting White on White earned the prestigious Purchase Award. The 24-by-36-inch work will join the museum’s permanent collection alongside 52 other Purchase Award winners, creating a visual timeline of Western art excellence spanning five decades.
“Each year, one of the things that the Prix de West committee is charged with accomplishing is to select one piece of art from the 270 to 300 pieces of art that are brought in in order for the museum to actually purchase that for our permanent collection,” Roeder said. “It gives us a window into the things that were important at that point in time, the styles of art, the creativity and execution that were important at that point in time.”
Morgan, a fixture at Prix de West for 34 years, seemed genuinely surprised by the recognition during the awards ceremony.
“I haven’t talked this much in years,” he said. “This award is the high-water mark of my life, along with my two best creations, our sons, Cody and Andrew. I'm so proud to have my work hung in the hallowed Prix de West gallery just down the hall.”
Morgan also claimed the Robert Lougheed Memorial Award for the best display of three or more works, as chosen by fellow Prix de West artists. His recognized collection included the Purchase Award winner along with Capitol Reef National Park / Geology 101, The Seed Store, and Dappled, showcasing his mastery of impressionistic wildlife and landscape painting inspired by Utah’s dramatic terrain.
The curatorial challenge of selecting both the Purchase Award and the annual roster of participating artists represents one of the most rigorous processes in the Western art world. Roeder and her committee begin their work each March, months before the current year’s show, to identify artists for the following year’s exhibition.
“We look not only for just the excellence of creativity and execution, but we try to keep our family of artists to be not all the same type of work,” Roeder said. “We look for sculptors. We’ve opened it up to glass. We look for artists who do landscapes, figurative work. Narrative storytelling is very important in the Western art genre.”
The committee’s standards reflect both artistic merit and professional staying power.
“We look for artists who have stood the test of time. So that’s why most of our artists are at least in their late 30s, with many 40 years or older,” Roeder said. “We’re looking for artists who have a proven track record. We’re looking for people who are not necessarily the flash in the pan who might burn out tomorrow.”
Beyond technical excellence, the committee seeks artists who continue to grow in their work.
“We look for artists who are continuing to evolve and do exciting, fresh things or a fresh idea altogether,” Roeder said. “We don’t want to include artists who paint one piece of art and never evolve from that.”
This year’s show featured several notable changes, including a renovated Kerr Gallery designed to accommodate an upcoming immersive experience similar to the Van Gogh installations that have captivated audiences worldwide. The renovation created both practical and aesthetic improvements.
“There’s a new color scheme for the gallery. The ceiling is now painted black and it’s open. It gives a sense of much more spaciousness in the room, and it has more of a modern gallery feel to it now that allows us to accommodate the flow of people better,” Roeder said.
Beyond the Purchase Award, the weekend recognized excellence across multiple categories. Curt Walters won the Jackie L. Coles Buyers’ Choice Award for Thunderous Resound: Plateau Point, which sold for $155,000 and was voted the most popular work by attending patrons. Steve Kestrel’s bronze sculpture Over the Rainbow earned the Major General and Mrs. Don D. Pittman Wildlife Award, while Joseph Bohler’s transparent watercolor Ancient Story Tellers claimed the Donald Teague Memorial Award for exceptional work on paper.
Bohler’s Ancient Story Tellers exemplified the depth and thoughtfulness found throughout the exhibition. The painting depicts a raven, one of the principal arbiters of creation in the Indigenous world view, flying past timeless petroglyphs on a worn canyon wall. In capturing this moment of synergy, Bohler shows the eternal present, in the form of the raven, animating the distant past, represented by the petroglyphs.
The weekend also featured a comprehensive schedule of events including a fixed-price art sale, art seminars, workshops, cocktail receptions, and an awards dinner. Online viewing and purchasing options were available for those unable to attend in person, ensuring broader access to the extraordinary collection of paintings and sculptures on display.
The camaraderie among artists emerged as a recurring theme throughout the weekend. Peters, who now attends only Prix de West after participating in shows across the country, highlighted the strong family atmosphere.
“Those artists are really exceptionally good people, who are kind, honest, hard-working family people who are a joy to be around,” he said. “We’ve all become friends and acquaintances.”
As the weekend sale concluded, the 53rd Prix de West reinforced its position as the cornerstone event in Western art. The Purchase Award collection, now 53 works strong, stands as a testament to the evolving story of the American West, with each piece representing the pinnacle of artistic achievement from its respective year.
As Morgan’s White on White joins this distinguished company, it carries forward the legacy while pointing toward the future of Western art.
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PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum and GiGi Elyse
