Fred Harman was the most widely known living western artist when the Cowboy Artists of America was organized in June 1965. While Harman was unable to join Charlie Dye, John Hampton, Joe Beeler and George Phippen in the meeting where the CAA was officially founded, he held the special designation of “charter member.”

Harman was born in Missouri but moved to a ranch in Colorado at two months old. The west was not only in his blood but his soul. The future would take him to distant locales, but he would always return to the ranch setting in Colorado.

While in his teens, Harman moved to Kansas City, where he his appetite for drawing was whetted. He worked as an illustrator for years on various projects such as Red Ryder and Little Beaver, the comic strip. He worked as a commercial illustrator by day and painted at night.

Harman also completed many assignments from government agencies, such as goodwill missions on behalf of the United States. He was a member of the Society of Illustrators and a founding member of the National Cartoonist Society.

In 1962, Harman retired from drawing Red Ryder and painted Western American art until his death in 1982.

Robert William Meyers was born in New York City in 1919. The son of strict parenting, his parents had hopes of another accountant in the family. It must have caused some stir when he turned his direction to his artwork. His art career was focused on the West, thanks to movies he enjoyed as a boy.

Meyers studied at the Grand Central Art School, the National Academy of Design with Ivan Olinsky and the Traphagen School of Fashion. A review of his work shows his true mastering of figures. After World War II, he began illustrating for children's books and western paperbacks.

In December 1950, Meyers began his employment with the Charles E. Cooper Studios of New York, NY. After just a few weeks, he met James Bama and they formed a friendship lasting for the rest of their lives. From 1952 to 1962, he completed 94 illustrations for short stories in the Saturday Evening Post. He also did illustrations for True and Argosy magazines. As the illustrations in the Saturday Evening Post began to dwindle, Meyers could see the same for the future of the commercial illustrator.

In 1960, he moved his family to the 300-acre Circle M Ranch on the South Fork of the Shoshone River near Yellowstone National Park, fifty miles from Cody, Wyo. During the summer of 1970, Meyers was inducted into the Cowboy Artists of America. Tragically Meyers’ life and career ended later that same year over a dispute with a neighbor who attempted to have an easement through the Circle M Ranch. Robert Meyers was never able to participate in the CAA annual show, but his art lives on.

Byron Wolfe was not the type of artist who painted the American West because the work sold well in galleries. He would have been a Western artist even if the collectors could be counted on one hand and only sailboats were selling. Wolfe painted the Old West because he loved the drama and color of that chapter in our country’s history. “I do not paint anything but Westerns,” he said. “I was once asked to paint a prize bird dog and I said I’d be glad to if I could put him on a horse.”

Wolfe was born in Parson, Kansas, in 1904. As a youth, he worked on a ranch, “keeping water tanks filled, riding fence, and repairing the damage done to fences by restless bulls seeking strange pastures.” The margins of his school notebooks were filled with sketches of horses, cowboys, and Native Americans. After studying art at the University of Kansas, he worked for a publishing company as a freelance illustrator, and eventually as an art director for a Kansas City advertising agency. Wolfe’s interest in the West grew when he was commissioned to do a series of Western illustrations for the Goetz Brewing Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, and cattle scenes for the American Royal Livestock, and Horse Show & Rodeo, which were published in the Kansas City Star.

Michael Kennedy, who was then director of the Russell Gallery in Helena, Montana, soon became interested in Wolfe’s work. With Kennedy’s direction and help, Wolfe’s career as a Western artist got its first and most important boost. In 1966, Charlie Dye asked Wolfe to join the Cowboy Artists of America.

Wolfe’s studio was always filled with cowboy gear, guns, and Native American artifacts. He created his paintings surrounded by these many objects; constant reminders to him to keep his work as authentic as possible. Dean Krakel, former managing director of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, once described Wolfe this way: “He’s original . . . he ain’t no one else.”

Collections:
Buffalo Bill Historical Center; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Sangre de Cristo Arts Center; Woolaroc Museum

Like many of his contemp- oraries, Mel Warren followed an arduous path to achieve artistic success. After serving a stint in the Air Force, he earned degrees in fine art from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. When he graduated, he found that there was little in the way of work for a newly minted artist. Galleries for Western artists were few and far between, and those that were established already had a number of artists in their stables. To support himself and his family, Warren turned to the world of commercial art. After working his day job, he spent the evenings pursuing his real passion – painting the people, places, and historic events of the West.

The subject matter came easily to him. His father had been a ranch hand and cowboy, and Warren grew up on a succession of ranches in Texas and New Mexico. He had ample opportunity to watch cowboys in many different situations and was familiar with all their customary chores. He became a keen observer of ranch life and Native American culture. Warren’s fascination with cowboy life and his desire to become an artist were constants in his youth. He first brought the two interests together while living on a ranch in Seymour, Texas. After seeing an ad for a course from the Federal Art School, he performed odd jobs to earn enough money to take the course. From then on, his life direction was set.

By the early 1960’s, Warren had achieved enough success selling his paintings in galleries to leave the commercial art field. He joined the Cowboy Artists of America in 1968 and won the group’s Memorial Award in his very first exhibition with them. Skilled as both a painter and sculptor, Warren specialized in depicting scenes of the heroic West. His early experiences of ranch life informed his artwork throughout his career. Many of his paintings were used to tell the history of early Texas in the books Frontier Forts of Texas and Trails of the Southwest. President Lyndon Baines Johnson was one of the most avid collectors of Warren’s work.

Collections:
Desert Caballeros Western Museum; Leanin’ Tree Museum of Western Art; Meadows Museum, SMU; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

Many Western artists first achieved success during the golden era of magazine and book illustration. To find work, they often had to move from the West to the East. Donald Teague moved in the opposite direction. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the Cowboy Artists of America, Teague became an artist first and a Westerner later. He grew up in New York; decided at an early age to become an artist, and followed an educational track to pursue that career. He studied at the New York Art Students League, and later in London, England.

Yet, both the history and geography of the West exerted a strong pull on Teague. While he was in his early forties, with a successful illustration career already begun, Teague moved to California. It seemed that now that he was closer to the subject matter, art directors for such magazines as the Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s began to assign him the illustrations for Western stories. Teague worked as a top Western illustrator for more than thirty years. In 1958, he decided to devote himself to easel painting on a full-time basis.

Over the course of his fifty-year career, Teague developed into one of the country’s most accomplished watercolorists; a technique he devoted himself to almost exclusively. From the later 1950’s, Teague spent much of his career depicting the historic West, but he continued to paint in locations throughout the world. His subject matter included still-life, interior scenes, landscapes, and seascapes.

Teague was a member of the CAA, the National Academy of Design, the National Academy of Western Art, and the National Watercolor Society. Frequently recognized by his peers, he also won many awards from these organizations. His work is now in the permanent collections of the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana; the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Collections:
Favell Museum of Western Art and Indian Artifacts; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Phoenix Art Museum

Ray Swanson says, “When I reflect on the 43 years of my art career, it startles me to realize how quickly it has gone. During those years, I have experienced great pleasure and fulfillment in being able to do what I wanted with a paintbrush and make a living at it.

“When gleaning subject matter, I look for certain key elements. First and foremost, I respond to the overall composition, whether a scene is a pure landscape or portrait of groups of people. Architectural shapes and designs as well as patterns of color and values are also key elements. I search for dramatic light effects, particularly how light plays on a surface. More often than not, there are people in my paintings, and I endeavor to express their lives through their daily activities, labor, and crafts.

Swanson has received numerous medals and honors at major art exhibitions, including the National Academy of Western Art, American Watercolor Society, Royal Western Watercolor Exhibit, Artists of America Show, Franklin Mint Gallery of Art, the George Phippen Show, and Gold and Silver Medals at the Cowboy Artists of America Show. The 1994 Catlin Peace Pipe Award was bestowed on Swanson for art that demonstrates the unusual sensitivity and perpetuates the viability of the Native American culture. In 2000 an honor was bestowed upon Ray when he was chosen to represent Arizona at the Library of Congress Bicentennial in Washington, D.C. He was included in the Local Legacy Program that documents the nation’s rich cultural heritage to share with future generations of Americans.

Swanson believes along with his God-given artistic talent comes the responsibility to honor the diversity of mankind, preserving the traditions and culture that he paints. He sees the beauty in the life of each person, and his greatest satisfaction as an artist comes from sharing that beauty with others. “My subjects are real people found in real places. They are beautiful in their humanity and I think it’s that beauty people respond to. I paint each person as he or she is, not as I wish them to be,” Swanson says.

When he was still a young artist, Irvin “Shorty” Shope had the extraordinary opportunity to show his work to one of the masters of American Western art, Charles M. Russell. Like Russell, Shope lived in Montana and worked as a cowboy before beginning his artistic career. Unlike Russell, who moved to Montana as a teenager, Shope had grown up there, worked on his family’s ranch, and decided at an early age to combine his love of the West with a career in fine art. He attended Reed College in Oregon and graduated with a degree in fine art from the University of Montana.

In 1925, Shope, who was then twenty-five years old, visited Russell and cautiously showed him a portfolio of his drawings. Russell was impressed, and wrote on the back of one of the drawings, “These drawings of Shope’s are all good.” He signed the inscription with his trademark buffalo skull. That simple sentence became one of Shope’s most treasured possessions. Russell also offered some words of advice. He asked Shope if he were intending to head east to further his artistic education. When Shope said that he was, Russell said, “Don’t do it. The men, horses, and country you love and want to study are out here, not back there.”

Shope did study in the East for a while; bur remained a resident of Montana until his death in 1977. Throughout his career, Shope received encouragement and instruction from some of the West’s greatest artists, such as E. S. Paxson, Will James, and Harvey Dunn, who was both his teacher and mentor.

Like all of these artists, Shope took whatever artistic work was available to him; illustrating books and calendars, drawing maps of Western exploration for school classrooms, while continuing to paint the men and women of the historic West. Shope was a charter member of the Cowboy Artists of America. He died in 1977 at age seventy-seven; one of the last Western artists able to trace his artistic lineage directly to one of the two men who inspired the formation of the CAA – Charlie Russell.

Collections:
Favell Museum of Western Art and Indian Artifacts; Leanin’ Tree of Western Art; National Center for American Western Art; Sangre de Cristo Arts Center

"It was the days of hair chaps, high-heeled boots, and spurs that jingled when they drug on the ground. All my friends were either cowboys or Indians. I didn’t know any other kind of people,” Bob Scriver said, describing his youth. Those early days would lay the foundation for Scriver’s later success as one of the finest sculptors of the century in the Western genre.

Scriver was born in 1914 in the Blackfeet Reservation town of Browning, Montana. His earliest passion in life was not art, but music. He earned a master’s degree from Vandercook School of Music in Chicago and did postgraduate work at the University of Washington and Northwestern University. After serving in World War II, Scriver opened a taxidermy business in Browning. This work made him more aware of his creative talent and was a catalyst for his future career as a sculptor. “My only problem,” Scriver once said, “is tat it took me half a lifetime to decide what I really wanted to do in life.”

Scriver’s late start as a sculptor, at age forty-six, in no way hindered his success. He was affiliated with the National Sculpture Society, the National Academy of Western Art, and many other art associations. In 1967, just as the public’s interest in Western art was reawakening, Scriver was inducted into the Cowboy Artists of America.

During his long career, Scriver created more than 1,000 sculptures. He was adept at capturing the spirit and essence of rodeo and was also recognized for his classic sculptures of the Blackfoot Indians. He wrote and published several books, including surveys of his own work and a history of the Blackfoot artifacts in his collection. In 1969, in recognition of their high regard, the Blackfoot honored Scriver with the Little Dog Thunder Medicine Pipe. In 1990, he was presented the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts in Montana. Scriver simply wanted people to know that “I did an honest day’s work and that I was honest about what I did.”

Collections
Buffalo Bill Historical Center; Eiteljorg Museum of Art; Montana Historical Society; National Center for American Western Art; Rockwell Museum of Western Art

Frank Polk was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1908, but moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1911. His first job, at age sixteen, was in the rodeo, working with his trained burro. He later landed his first cowboy job with the Yolo Ranch at Camp Wood. His 1978 autobiography, F-F-F-Frank Polk: An Uncommonly Frank Autobiography, tells of his adventures as a cowboy.

Polk’s experiences, as a ranch hand, rodeo cowboy, and dude wrangler; gave him enough material to tell authentic stories of the cowboy in America in his basswood and bronze sculptures. In the early twentieth century there were no cameras, so Polk began to carve what he saw. He wanted to communicate what cowboy life was all about. Polk eventually opened a woodcarving store in Reno, Nevada. He was creating wood sculptures of Western scenes and models of characters for slot machines when George Phippen got him interested in the idea of casting figures in bronze. “Working in wood made it difficult to achieve the action and looseness I wanted,” Polk said, “but after I started working in wax, I found I could obtain these qualities with much more freedom.”

In 1967, Joe Beeler asked him to join the Cowboy Artists of America; “the best thing that ever happened to my career as an artist,” Polk later said. In 1972, he and his wife, Mary, settled in Mayer, Arizona. He bought the Old Mayer State Bank, which Polk had wanted to own ever since he was a boy, and turned it into his studio.

Polk believed that to be an artist is to follow a calling. “I believe that everyone has a talent for something, but many do not find it. What sets an artist apart and makes him different from the other members of society is his creative nature,” he said. “An artist’s creativeness comes from within. It is not something that can be learned in books, although lessons from another artist more mature in his work can help. An artist is born with a gift from the higher-up and a constant inner contact with his maker.”

Collections:
Leanin’ Tree Museum of Western Art; National Center for American Western Art

George Phippen was co-founder of the Cowboy Artists of America and the organization’s first president. His formal education consisted of a little less than eight years in a one-room country schoolhouse. “I’ve had no schooling in art except what I got from friends, artists,” he said, “and I’ve been mighty lucky to have more friends than enemies.” Despite being self-taught, Phippen became a highly respected sculptor and painter of Western art. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, he was a major advocate for the revival of lost-wax casting of bronze sculpture.

Phippen was born in Iowa in 1915 and was raised in Kansas. He was fascinated by the stories of local old-timers who had driven cattle up the Goodnight Trail; and was inspired by prints of paintings by Charles Russell and Frederick Remington. At age eighteen, he traveled west with the Civilian Conservation Corps. During World War II, he wanted to be a combat artists for the Army, but was stationed at Fort Warden in Washington; where he worked in photography and drafting. After the war, Phippen and his family moved to the Southwest, where he received informal tutoring in oil painting from Henry Balink of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Hurlstone Fairchild of Tucson, Arizona.

Phippen’s skills as a working cowboy, hunter, and horse trainer, infused his art with authenticity. He sold his paintings through Allen Galleries of Houston, Texas, and Thomas L. Lewis Gallery of Taos, New Mexico. He worked for Babcock and Borough’s Western Stationary and Brown and Bigelow Calendars. He also illustrated many books and magazines such as True West, Frontier Times, Quarter Horse Journal, Appaloosa News, and Western Horseman.

“The art game, which includes illustrating, fine art, and cartooning; is considered about the toughest business there is,” Phippen once said. “I compare it with music, writing, and acting. They are mighty hard to get into, but no job holds the freedom the arts do once you make the grade.”

Collections:
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Desert Caballeros Western Museum; Gilcrease Institute; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Phippen Museum of Western Art; Phoenix Art Museum

Aspiring artists used to ask R. Brownell McGrew to show them his tricks. There aren’t any tricks, he would tell them. For McGrew, painting grew out of passion, and patience. McGrew rarely talked about painting; but his stated goal was “to paint as well as I can, in order to communicate the infinite thrill and rapture of God’s creation.”

McGrew was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1916, and his family moved to California during his middle school years. From 1936 to 1940 he attended the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. McGrew acknowledged that, although he had many fine teachers, Ralph Holmes had a “profound and decisive influence” on him. “He taught entirely by principle; by creating a sort of ambient aesthetic,” McGrew wrote. “Never once in my years with him did he demonstrate or teach technique. It’s a slow way to learn, but if one’s patience and money hold out; probably the best.”

McGrew spent the war years designing and drafting material for Firestone. In 1946, he was the first recipient of the John F. and Ann Lee Stacey Fellowship; and he used the money for intensive study of the Western landscape. In the mid-1950’s, he traveled to Arizona with Jimmy Swinnerton, who was known as the Dean of Desert Painters. There, McGrew met Navajo and Hopi people, whose way of life inspired his admiration.

In the late 1960’s, McGrew was invited to become a member of the Cowboy Artists of America, “a singularly generous and broad-minded gesture on the part of the cowboys,” he wrote. In the mid-1970’s, however, he was forced to tender his resignation, because his careful and slow process made it difficult for him to present new work for each annual show. One of the honors of his career, he said, was “having the CAA fellows request me to reconsider my resignation.” McGrew continued as an emeritus member of the CAA, contributing to the shows as time permitted, until his death in 1994.

Collections:
Eiteljorg Museum of Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Phoenix Art Museum

Throughout his artistic career, George Marks’s work was always guided by the legacy of the West. As a boy, he listened to the stories told to him by his grandfather, who was a rancher. He himself was fascinated by the realistic paintings of Charles Russell. These early influences motivated Marks to study art, to explore museum collections, and to persist in the dream of creating art that realistically portrayed contemporary Western ranch life.

Marks was born in Iowa in 1923. He earned his fine arts degree from the University of Iowa and then worked as a commercial illustrator for fourteen years. Before seriously beginning to sculpt in 1970, Marks worked primarily in oils. Bill Moyers, a fellow member of the Cowboy Artists of America, assisted him with his first armature. Marks soon discovered that his proficiency in sculpture was enhanced by the hundreds of hours he had already spent drawing and sketching. He experienced firsthand how the two mediums reinforced one another.

Marks was among the first artists to be accepted into the CAA in 1966. During the 1970-1971 term, he served as secretary-treasurer and was honored by his peers with election to the vice presidency the following year. In his continual search for excellence and his devotion to this craft, Marks created paintings, drawings, and bronzes of indisputable grace and quality. His work garnered CAA awards in both drawing and sculpture.

Collections:
National Center for American Western Art; Sangre de Cristo Arts Center; Rockwell Museum of Western Art

A Native American finds a Raggedy Ann doll on a lonely Western road. A settler is teaching his gingham dressed wife how to shoot a rifle. Three Indians warm their hands over the chimney of a snow buried cabin. These are just three of the dramatic stories that Tom Lovell told through his artwork. Lovell’s attention to detail is unmatched, and he was seldom able to complete more than a dozen paintings a year. His peers consider him one of the deans of Western art.

Lovell was born in New York City in 1909. He was the Valedictorian of his high school class; and at the graduation ceremony spoke on the “Ill treatment of the American Indian by the U. S. Government.” He received a bachelor of fine arts from Syracuse University in 1931. For thirty-nine years, Lovell worked as a freelance illustrator for magazines such as Colliers, McCalls, National Geographic, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post. He was as famous for his Western art as for his stirring images of Civil War battles, which were considered so definitive that they were telecast as part of an acclaimed public television documentary and published in the accompanying best-selling book.

Lovell considered himself a “storyteller with a brush, a custodian of the past.” “I try to place myself back in time and imagine situations that would make interesting and appealing pictures. I am intent on producing paintings that relate to the human experience and our Western heritage.”

In 1974, Lovell was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame and was later named a Hall of Fame Laureate. In 1975, he and his family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and he was elected to the Cowboy Artists of America the same year. In 1992, both the National Academy of Western Art and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame honored Lovell with a Lifetime Achievement Award and a prestigious one man retrospective show. He was the first artist to ever win the Prix de West – the National Academy of Western Art’s highest honor – twice.

Collections:
National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Permian Basin Petroleum Museum; Sangre de Cristo Arts Center

Robert Lougheed was born in Massey, Ontario, Canada, in 1910, but grew up in nearby Grand Valley. His childhood days were filled with farm chores and hockey games (at one time, he even considered playing professionally). Yet, despite the considerable demands on his time, Lougheed always felt compelled to draw. And draw he did; cattle, horses, pigeons, pigs, and everything else of interest in his immediate surroundings. His guiding principle even then was not to imagine the subject, but rather to always paint directly from the source.

With his parents’ support, Lougheed took a correspondence art course. At nineteen, he landed a job as an illustrator for the Toronto Star while continuing to take night courses. Wanting to further his education, he moved to New York to begin his studies at the Art Students League. There, in 1933, he met the impressionist painter Frank Vincent DuMond, who practiced and taught the principles of Plein Air Painting; painting outdoors directly from nature. Years later, DeMond said of his student, “There goes the best I ever had.”

Lougheed left the Art Students League in 1938. Soon, he was well established enough to spend half of each year painting and the other half illustrating for publications such as Reader’s Digest, True, and Colliers. Eventually, Lougheed moved to New Mexico, and in 1967, he joined the newly created Cowboy Artists of America. He had his first exhibit at the National Academy of Western Artists in 1968.

During an interview published in American Artist magazine, Lougheed said, “I am a realist in painting. I know that a serious composition must include those emotional and spiritual qualities extolled by the professional art theorist. Like every other artist, I also know that accurate reporting of detail does not, of itself, constitute art; but unlike other theorists, I cannot feel that realistic treatment need detract from my reasonable or sensible idea.”

Collections:
Eiteljorg Museum of Art; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Phoenix Art Museum; Rockwell Museum of Western Art; National Museum of Wildlife Art

Harvey W. Johnson came by his artistic talent naturally. His father was a noted sculptor, and his mother was an accomplished painter. Following in their footsteps, after World War II, Johnson studied at the Art Students League in New York City. He worked for many advertising studios and as an illustrator (often of frontier life) for many pulp magazines. For nineteen years, he was an instructor at the Famous Artists School in Connecticut (where he became friends with one of his artistic idols, Harold Von Schmidt). Finally, he devoted his artistic talents to interpreting the historic West, especially the era of the mountain men and the fur trade.

In 1966, while reading a copy of Western Horseman magazine, Johnson saw an article about a new organization that was forming, dedicated to the continuation of the Western art traditions of Remington and Russell. His query to Johnny Hampton about joining the group was answered with a quick response. “I not only got invited to join the group,” Johnson recalls, “but was asked to send along several paintings for an exhibition and sale that was just around the corner.” Johnson became a charter member of the Cowboy Artists of America. In 1976, he served as its vice president and in 1977 as president.

Harvey Johnson has been responsible for a number of “firsts” for the CAA. He was one of the first artists to apply for membership in the fledgling organization and participated in the first exhibition in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

A stickler for detail, Johnson does extensive research for his illustrations and paintings. Throughout his lifetime, he has collected artifacts from and books about Western history. For the past twenty-seven years, Johnson and his wife, Ilse, have lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico – in an adobe house overlooking the Santa Fe Trail, one of the first trade routes between Mexico and the United States.

Collections:
The Zelma Basha Salmeri Gallery of Western and Native American Art

Bud Helbig’s home state of Montana nurtured his early dreams of becoming an artist and also provided a lifetime of inspiration for his paintings and bronzes. One of his early heroes was Charles M. Russell, another Montana artist. Helbig’s annual participation in the auction at the C. M. Russell Museum in Great Falls was one of the accomplishments he was most proud of and most enjoyed.

Helbig grew up working on a ranch in the Bitterroot Valley, steeped in the lifestyle portrayed in Russell’s paintings. His art education took him to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he studied at Mills Academy, and then on to Chicago, where he was a student at the Academy of Art. After completing his studies, Helbig worked in Chicago as a commercial artist for twenty years. During this time, he never lost his love of cowboy life or his native state. Urban living and commercial art were necessary at that stage in his life, but he always intended to move back to Montana and pursue a career as a Western artist. In 1969, he did just that. Three years later, he joined the Cowboy Artists of America; and often said that being accepted into the CAA was the proudest moment of his life.

After moving back to Montana, Helbig worked full time as an independent Western artist, but his commercial art background served him well. Not only did it provide a strong work ethic, driven by deadlines and varied assignments, but it also allowed him to become an expert in a wide variety of media; watercolor, charcoal, oil, and bronze. Helbig worked frequently in each medium. In fact, determining which medium was most appropriate for the particular story or scene he was portraying was in integral part of his creative process. Helbig’s primary focus was the depiction of modern working cowboys, those that worked on ranches and those that rode the rodeo circuit. He once said that he wanted to paint the “real life” of the cowboy; the moments of high drama, and the quiet times of reflection.

Collections:
National Center for American Western Art

Pat Haptonstall was born in Cedaredge, Colorado, in 1943. His natural talent and artistic eye manifested themselves at an early age. By the time he was six years old, he was already spending much of his time drawing. As a young boy, he suffered from asthma, so his parents moved the family to Prescott, Arizona, hoping that the climate would help improve his health. At age sixteen, Haptonstall won a statewide competition and received the Arizona Scholastic Art Exhibit Award. Thus began his life of artistic pursuits.

For twelve years, Haptonstall worked at foundries around Prescott, learning the technical aspects of creating a bronze. As an artist, however, he was largely self-taught through his own observations and the study of past masters. Haptonstall continuously sought to hone his sculpting skills and achieve both technical and spiritual perfection in his work. When Haptonstall was once asked to describe the process that he used to select his subjects, he said, “Sometimes I spend more time working on an idea than on the piece that results. I might think about it for two years before a way to do it in a fresh, distinct way comes to mind.”

By 1980, Haptonstall began to pursue his art full time. He became a member of the Cowboy Artists of America in 1986. In 1987, the CAA asked for a volunteer to create a new awards medal, and Haptonstall accepted the challenge. The medal he designed is still being presented annually at the CAA show in gold and silver as awards for the two best pieces in each medium.

Haptonstall himself received a silver medal at his first CAA show for his bronze entitled, Settlin’ the Dust. In 1993, he received a gold medal for Simple Pleasures. He was an active member of the Cowboy Artists of America for eight years. During that time, Haptonstall served on a number of committees, participated in all the CAA shows, and attended every Trail Ride but one.

Collections:
Desert Caballeros Western Museum; Leanin’ Tree Museum of Western Art

Well into his eighties, John Hampton, one of the founders of the Cowboy Artists of America, was still painting, drawing, and sculpting the many stories of the American West. Hampton was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1918, but made his way west at an early age. As a boy, he had shown an early aptitude for art and won a drawing contest sponsored by the New York World Telegram. Years later, while he was working as a cowboy in New Mexico, one of his cow bosses told him that he had the makings of a good cowboy, but an even better artist. Hampton combined those two pursuits for the rest of his life. One of his early jobs was working as an illustrator for newspaper comic strips, including Fred Harman’s Red Ryder and Little Beaver.

Hampton felt close to the Western life that he portrayed in his paintings and sculptures. In addition to working many years as a cowhand, he continued to keep his cowboy skills well-honed even after he turned to art full time. Hampton felt a deep affinity with the historic West. He once said, “I was born a lot closer to the last center than the next one.” Hampton’s artwork is now in many museums, including the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the National Center for American Western Art in Kerrville, Texas; and the Montana Historical Society in Helena.

In 1965, Hampton got together with Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, and George Phippen in Sedona, Arizona, to talk about the need to preserve and promote the art of the American West. As Hampton later recalled, “We didn’t feel the necessity to wait around and let the Eastern critics tell us what was worth painting in the West.” For thirty years, Hampton was an integral part of the development of the CAA. He remained one of the organization’s spiritual leaders from its inception until his death in 2000. During those years, the organization grew to become the leading light in the genre; a light that Hampton helped ignite with the help of three like-minded friends.

Collections:
National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Phoenix Art Museum; Sangre de Cristo Arts Center

Nick Eggenhofer was born in southern Bavaria, Germany, in 1897, but after attending Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, he fell in love with the American West.

After his family migrated to New Jersey in 1913, the young Eggenhofer’s fascination with the region continued to grow and he yearned to travel to the wide open spaces of the West. It would be many years, however, before he had the opportunity to do so. Instead, he rode the metaphoric range of his imagination and soon became one of the most prolific illustrators of Western pulp magazines. Thousands of these pulp magazines (so named for their low-grade paper) were produced on a weekly basis and the demand for illustrations, primarily pen and ink drawings, was enormous. Eggenhofer sometimes submitted several hundred drawings in a single week. Over the course of forty years, he completed more than 20,000 drawings for pulp magazines and also illustrated hundreds of books.

Despite the great demands on his time, Eggenhofer became a true student of Western history. He was a careful researcher and prided himself on the historical accuracy of his depictions of the men and women who settled the West and the tools they used. He became particularly adept at representing wagons, stagecoaches, and other modes of early Western transportation.

Despite the great demands on his time, Eggenhofer became a true student of Western history. He was a careful researcher and prided himself on the historical accuracy of his depictions of the men and women who settled the West and the tools they used. He became particularly adept at representing wagons, stagecoaches, and other modes of early Western transportation.

After he had spent many years working as an illustrator in New York City, Eggenhofer finally achieved enough success to begin traveling extensively in the West. He and his wife eventually settled in Cody, Wyoming, only a short distance from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center; bringing his childhood fascination with the American West full circle.

Works of art by Nick Eggenhoffer are courtesy of and copyrighted by Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.

Collections:
Buffalo Bill Historical Center; Eiteljorg Museum; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Rockwell Museum of Western Art

Charlie Dye, one of the founders of the Cowboy Artists of America, had two natural affinities. He was good with horses and he could draw. Born in Colorado in 1906, Dye was introduced to cowboy life at an early age. By his seventeenth birthday, he could hold his own with the most seasoned top hands on ranches in California, Colorado, and Oregon. Like Charles Russell, one of his artistic heroes, Dye spent much of his time as a working cowboy. As a hobby, he drew scenes from the cowboy life he lived. His early days were spent in a wide variety of other pursuits, too – ranching, playing semi-professional football, and even working as a bodyguard for a politician.

Dye acquired his formal art training in Chicago, Illinois, where he attended the Art Institute and the American Academy of Art. From there he moved to New York City, where he established himself in the field of magazine and book illustration. In the 1950’s his family made a trip to the West to visit his ailing sister. That trip, coinciding with the decline in the market for magazine illustration, led Dye to decide to leave the East Coast to try his hand at Western art. For a short time, he taught art in Colorado, but he had greater success with his Western paintings, which were selling well in several galleries. Dye was successful enough to purchase a home and studio in Sedona, Arizona, in 1962, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Disciplined by his many years as an illustrator, Dye was a prolific painter and natural storyteller. He was also a gifted draftsman and relied on sketches and drawings to rough out his paintings. Although Dye painted a wide variety of Western subjects, he had a passion for depicting the working cowboy. As a young boy, he had observed firsthand the skill that was needed to succeed in that line of work. As a teenager, he had worked his way from wrangler to top hand. Later, as an artist, he brought an insider’s knowledge to his portraits of both the historic and contemporary cowboy.

Collections:
Eiteljorg Museum of Art; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Rockwell Museum of Western Art; Sangre de Cristo Arts Center

During his long artistic career, John Clymer developed a highly effective process for painting the history of the American West. First, he and his wife, Doris, would painstakingly research the subject of the painting, down to the smallest details of setting, climate, and historic period. After completing their research, they would then travel to the proposed site for the painting to get a firsthand feeling for the area. As a result of these intensive preparations, Clymer’s paintings are both rich in accurate historical detail and successful in capturing the essence of their geographical settings. Clymer was adept at recreating an historical event or era while, at the same time, drawing the viewer into the physical scene.

Clymer was born in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1907. By the time he joined the Cowboy Artists of America in 1969, he had achieved a highly successful career as both an illustrator and easel painter. Through his work for the Saturday Evening Post, he brought images of the West to literally thousands of Americans. From 1942 to 1962, Clymer painted more than seventy cover illustrations for the magazine, many of them Western scenes. In the era before television, Clymer’s illustrations served to introduce countless people to the many stories of the American West, from the fur trade to the cattle drives. He literally bridged two generations of Western artists – the early twentieth century illustrators such as Harvey Dunn, with whom he studied, to the members of the CAA, for whom he served as mentor and role model.

Clymer was particularly interested in depicting the history of the Pacific Northwest, where he grew up. He attempted to tell the whole story of the region, creating sensitive and detailed depictions of Native American life and the meeting of Native and Anglo cultures. One of his featured subjects was the great fur trade era, which led to the exploration of the region. Clymer was also equally talented in depicting the native wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. Fittingly, his life and work is now commemorated in the Clymer Museum in his native town of Ellensburg.

Collections:
Eiteljorg Museum of Art; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Rockwell Museum of Western Art; Sangre de Cristo Arts Center; National Museum of Wildlife Art

James Boren was born on September 26, 1921, in Waxahachie, Texas. He lived in several towns in south and west Texas, including Lamesa, Big Spring, Sweetwater, Snyder, and San Antonio. After receiving his master of fine arts degree in 1951 from the Kansas City Art Institute, he taught fine arts for two years at St. Mary’s College, Leavenworth, Kansas. From 1956 to 1965, he worked as a concept illustrator for the Martin-Marietta Company in Denver, Colorado. Boren’s philosophy of art always centered on traditional values. “Good drawing, good color, an understanding of the basic design and elements such as form, pattern, value, line, and texture are essential to producing good art,” he said. “This is the foundation on which an artist should build.”

In 1965, Boren became the first art director of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He provided expertise and leadership in assembling the Hall of Fame’s fine-art collections and exhibits. He left the position to devote all of his time to his painting career.

He became a member of the Cowboy Artists of America in 1968, and later served two terms as its president and secretary. He also served on the original board of trustees of the museum formerly known as the Cowboy Artists of America Museum in Kerrville, Texas. Boren was awarded twelve gold medals and nine silver medals in annual competitions in Cowboy Artists of America annual shows. In 1976, he was named Texas Artist of the Year. In 1980, he participated in a show at the Grand Palais in Paris, and in 1981, the Chinese government invited him to participate in the first Western art show held in Peking, China.

In 1989, in the annual competition of the Academy of Western Art, Boren won the gold medal in watercolor, which he called his “most favored medium.” “It offers the greatest spontaneity of expression of any painting medium,” he said, and “lends itself to beautiful transparent passages or to completely opaque gouache techniques, or a combination of the two.”

Collections:
Buffalo Bill Historical Center; Desert Caballeros Western Museum; National Center for American Western Art; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Sangre de Cristo Arts Center

Fritz White has long been known and recognized for his imaginative approach to sculpture. Inspired by the spirit of "persevering America," White strives to capture that spirit in his bronzes.

Born in Ohio, White came to the West while working in the publishing industry and after having been a commercial artist in the Midwest. He completed his first sculpture in 1962, and after a decade of experimenting with bronze, marble and other stone, he was elected to the Cowboy Artists of America.

White shares his talents with others, teaching numerous educational sessions with young artists and conducting sculpture classes for the visually impaired.

In addition to being a CAA member, White is a member of the National Sculpture Society.

Howard Terpning is sometimes called the Storyteller of the Native American. His realistic paintings are among the most sought after and acclaimed images ever produced of Native American traditions, customs, and history. Not long ago, Terpning was honored with a retrospective at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. At the opening, one guest remarked, “Howard’s work doesn’t make you feel like you are looking at a recreation of an historical scene; it makes you feel like you are one of the participants.”

Terpning is the third recipient to ever receive the Eiteljorg Museum Award for excellence in American art. The list of attendees that night was a who’s who of artists, collectors, dealers, and museum directors. Many people paid tribute to him at the ceremony, but perhaps the most significant was an elder of the Blackfoot tribe. He spoke of Terpning’s deep dedication to the accurate, compassionate and insightful depiction of Native American culture and tradition.

Terpning has been an artist for most of his life. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and the American Academy of Art. He worked in commercial art in Chicago before moving to New York City, where he had a successful career as an illustrator for popular magazines and movie posters.

In 1977, Terpning moved to Tucson, Arizona, to document Native American culture and the America West. Two years later, he was elected to the National Academy of Western Art and, by unanimous vote, to the Cowboy Artists of America. He has been a member of the CAA ever since; choosing to go emeritus in 2003. His work has been recognized by his peers with numerous gold and silver awards, and he has received more Best of Show awards than any other artist. Perhaps even more telling, however, than all his awards and accolades is that he has been accepted by the Native people to whom his work is a lasting tribute.

From the vast range lands of Nevada and eastern Oregon to the pastoral oak-covered hills of California, the images in Jack Swanson’s work have an unerring realism. Swanson comes by that realism honestly. In the early 1940’s, he worked in the Tehachapi’s with the last of the great vaqueros. After World War II, he broke and sold wild horses in Oregon, working with the top buckaroos in the northwest cow country. Swanson’s landscapes are real because he’s been there. He paints from personal observation, with a sensitive eye that can catch and hold all the movements of horse and rider.

Swanson and his wife, Sally, reside on the ranch that they built in the upper reaches of Carmel Valley forty-four years ago, where they still raise and train fine stock horses. His studio is surrounded by breaking corrals and arenas – and is the only studio known to have an indoor stall so that the artist can paint horses from life. Swanson, who is a past vice president of the Cowboy Artists of America, once taught a CAA workshop called, “Anatomy of the Horse in Action.”
Swanson’s bronze sculptures and oil paintings have appeared in many top Western magazines, including Western Horseman, for which he created ten covers. In 1980, he was featured in an article in Time magazine. In 2002, Swanson was named Westerner of the Year at the Western Ranchers Beef Cooperative’s sixth annual profit conference, where he was honored as a defender of property rights and ranching. “Ranchers are environmentalists,” he says. “Their livelihood depends on their good care of the range. Their families are the type of honest and hardworking people that built America. Their roots are in the land, many for generations, and their land keeps improving under their care.”

Swanson’s work is collected by all types of people, from broken-down cowboys to famous celebrities. President Ronald Reagan hung one of Swanson’s oils in the Oval Room of the White House. His work also hangs in the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, the C. M. Russell Museum, and the National Center for American Western Art.

Whenever a few members of the Cowboy Artists of America get together, someone will invariably try to toss a lariat around a bale of hay. Conversation often then turns to “cowboying,” stories of breaking horses, moving cattle, and mending fences; the very stuff of American Western art. Grant Speed is always in the group, because in spite of having been an artist for forty years, at heart he is and will always be a cowboy. Speed was born in San Antonio, Texas, and spent many of his formative years working as a cowboy.

The CAA held its first exhibition in 1966 at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, which is now known as the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Speed was among the artists to show in that inaugural exhibition and in many ways embodied the very essence of the new organization’s purpose and philosophy; the support of “cowboy artists.” In the years since that first show, Grant has received countless awards and honors for his work.

After a stint in the Air Force, three years of missionary service, and graduation from Brigham Young University’s program in animal science, Speed settled down to raise a family and teach school. After two years, he knew he was in the wrong job. “I really wanted to be the world’s best cowboy,” he says. “Yet every time I got a chance to be around any kind of Western art, I couldn’t stop reading about it, looking at it, and studying it.” He decided that “I was going to give art everything I had in me.” Speed honed his artistic talents at night, on weekends, and whenever he could steal time away from his day job. He learned the process of bronze casting from the ground up because there were no foundries close by. Speed worked diligently in his pursuit of a career in art.

Speed’s work captures the essence of the modern working cowboy with a style that he characterizes as “loose realism.” His work is full of passion and enthusiasm for his subjects, the medium, and the process; although he readily admits that “sometimes I’d really rather be cowboying!”

"When Tom Ryan paints a cowboy, you know it is the real thing,” says one fellow artist. “You can tell just by looking at the figure that that man has been around. His horses are real cow horses. His men are real ranch hands. They always have just the right feel; there is never anything in the painting that does not fit the scene exactly. He may not have grown up in the West around ranches and cattle, but he captures them better than anyone else.

Ryan, who is perhaps best known for his paintings of the famous 6666 Ranch in Guthrie, Texas, has been studying and interpreting the life of the modern cowboy for more than forty years. Because he has chronicled a single ranch for a long period of time, Ryan has a unique perspective that has enabled him to capture the changes, nuances, and joys of the cowboy’s (and cowgirl’s) life. His paintings of the 6666 Ranch are particular and specific to that location, but they document the continuity and the changing traditions of all of Western ranch life. Ryan’s depictions of real working cowboys stand as testaments to a way of life that has weathered hard times, that celebrates a job well done and an independent life well lived.

Before joining the Cowboy Artists of America in 1967, Ryan had a very successful career as an illustrator of book jackets. He also produced paintings for the calendar publisher Brown and Bigelow. Today, he is considered one of the deans of contemporary Western art. In 2001, Ryan was honored with a major retrospective exhibition at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His 350-foot-wide bas relief, The Remuda, graces the western façade of the museum. His works are in the permanent collections of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma; the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona; the American Quarter Horse Heritage Center & Museum in Texas; the National Ranching Heritage Center in Texas; and the Nita Stewart Haley Memorial Library, also in Texas.

As a young art student, Ken Riley had the opportunity to study with Harvey Dunn; one of America’s most influential artists and teachers. Riley attended Dunn’s evening workshops at Grand Central School of Art in New York while studying at the Art Students League during the day. Dunn had been part of Howard Pyle’s studio in Wilmington, Delaware, where luminaries such as N. C. Wyeth and Frank Schoonover also trained. Riley also studied for one year with American artist Thomas Hart Benton.

Riley is a direct link between the great Western artists of the late nineteenth century and the Western artists of the contemporary scene. He has been a member of the Cowboy Artists of America since 1982 and has worked and painted alongside some of the twentieth century’s finest interpreters of the American West; including Robert Lougheed, John Clymer, and Donald Teague.

In the late 1960’s, after working as an illustrator for many years on the East Coast, he was commissioned by the U.S. Park Service to create several paintings of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. During that time, he decided to devote his work solely to Western subjects. “Those trips,” he says, “convinced me that the West was where I wanted to live and work.” In 1973, Riley moved to Tucson, Arizona, and he has been there every since.

Early in his career, Riley painted a wide range of historical Western subjects, but during the past several years, he has concentrated almost solely on Native American subjects. He has gradually moved away from direct narrative treatments to allegorical studies of Indian life and culture. A master of design, composition, and color, Riley has developed a style of work that is immediately recognizable. He won the Prix de West award at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1995. He was the first recipient of the Eiteljorg Museum Award for excellence in American art. Riley’s paintings hang in the permanent collections of the White House and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

"I’ve loved open spaces, ranching and the western adventure my entire life. When I was a boy, my Uncle Jim owned a ranch in northern California that was the other side of the world from the concrete and smog of L.A. where I grew up. Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger, Rawhide and Bonanza instilled my early love for western life and the drama of the men and women who survived to create it. But vacations at Uncle Jim’s ranch planted the seed of desire in me that would draw me to the Southwest where I could paint the historic frontier and the disappearing lifestyle of the working cowboy.”

Ron moved to Arizona in 1979, being inspired by the clean air, brilliant light, colorful cultures and old-fashioned western traditions. It was there he met his wife Natalie, whose gifts and talents partnered together with his to create a new wonderful shared vision.

With heartfelt thanks to a long list of artists for their inspiration, Ron is a student of art history. His blend of realism and colorism through traditional classical painting techniques finds fulfillment in the diverse subject matter of the great American West.

“I am honored to be accepted into this legendary artistic family of CA. I liken becoming a member to joining up with the finest ranch outfit west of the Mississippi. I’m the new tenderfoot with a whole lot of learning to do, and I’m proud to be ridin’ for the brand. It’s all about testing one’s metal, seeing how the new guy fits in and building the strength of the CA family bond. Every day I thank God for the privilege of being an artist.”

Clark K. Price was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho in 1945. As a child he loved to draw and even his earliest artistic efforts told a story. His parents Rex and Kathryn Price recognized his talent and encouraged him to use it. He received his formal education from Ricks College and Brigham Young University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in oil painting. His love of the West, both modern and historical, and his life experiences have been his greatest resources in developing his talent.

He spent his early years living in a log cabin that his parents had built in Montana. Surrounded by nature, Clark developed an appreciation for the land, as well as an ability to observe the kinds of details that many overlook.He has been able to call upon his observations and experiences to create the art for which he has become known.

Clark worked on various ranches since his teen years, giving him a feel for and and an appreciation of the cowboy life. His experiences with his own horses over the last 30 years, packing and hunting in the mountains of Idaho and Wyoming add to the authentic flavor of his work.

Clark is well known in the Western art world. His art is compared to that of master Western artists and is highly sought after. Each painting tells a unique story. These works are found in private collections throughout the USA and abroad.He has made a living as a full time artist since 1973,showing with Trailside Galleries of Jackson Hole , Wy, and Scottsdale, AZ.

He and his wife, Irene, reside in Star Valley, Wyoming. They are parents of seven children.

Dave Powell grew up in an atmosphere redolent with Western heritage. The son of artists Ace Powell and Nancy Mclaughlin Powell. Dave was born and raised in Montana. The Powell household hummed with art activity as Indians, trappers cowboys and loggers came to visit. With such a background, it is no wonder Dave is steeped in art and history!

Dave became a serious student of art in his mid-teens, and has been a professional artist most of his life. In 1973, he worked with Bob Scriver, helping with mold making and plaster pattern for the heroic size Lewis and Clark sculpture which is now at Fort Benton. Dave has also studied with Ned Jacob and Robert Lougheed.

Because of his vast knowledge of the dress and habits of Western Indians, pioneers and cowboys, Dave is often called upon to provide costume and props, and to give technical advice about authenticity for films and television. productions include "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams", "Silverado" and "Lonesome Dove".

Dave has participated in historic reenactments and rides all across the west. His travels afford Dave the opportunity for inspiration- while his film work utilizes his experience and observation, his sculptures, paintings and illustrations are born of his imagination.

Bill Owen was born in 1942 in Gila Bend, Arizona to a mother who was an artist and a father who had been a cowboy throughout the early 1900s. These early influences shaped his desire to be an artist, and cultivated his interest in the cowboy lifestyle. Having inherited the God-given talent, it was only natural he would strive to become an artist who chronicles the lives and works of the contemporary cowboy.

Inducted into the Cowboy Artists of America in 1973, Bill has earned a total of 25 medals and awards at the annual show. He has exhibited at the Whitney Museum in Cody, Wyoming, the Grand Palais in Paris, France, and at the Western Art Show in Beijing, China. In 1993 Bill was awarded the Frederic Remington Award for Artistic Merit by the Cowboy Hall of Fame; and that same year he became a member and staff artist of Rancheros Visitadores. The prestigious Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma honored Bill as their Rendezvous Artist in April of 1996; and most recently, he became the first recipient of Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award at the 2003 Prix de West Invitational Show.

In 1989, while practicing for a rodeo, Bill survived a freak accident, which resulted in the loss of sight in his right eye. He does not consider this to be a handicap and has overcome the limitations caused by the loss of depth perception; successfully resuming sculpting in 2002.

Bill believes one of the greatest achievements in his life has been The Arizona Cowpuncher’s Scholarship Organization; which he founded in 1995 and continues to be very involved in. The non-profit organization is dedicated to raising money to finance the educations of young people from Arizona ranching families following their high school graduations.

Bill and his wife, Valerie, live in Kirkland, Arizona.

Born in Price, Utah and raised in Carlsbad, New Mexico, Moab, Utah and Lyman, Wyoming, Jim C. Norton has spent most of his life in the western United States. His experiences there have given him a deep and abiding love for the West and its culture from the ranch hand pitching hay to the pack trips by horseback deep into the many mountain ranges of the area.

Jim’s education and experience in the field of art began as a youngster watching his grandfather, Earl Fausett, paint in his basement studio. He continued his education more formally at Western Wyoming College, Brigham Young University, and through workshops taught by many different artists. He has also continued his informal education by traveling to Russia and the magnificent museums there, Canada, Australia, and throughout the United States whenever there are opportunities for furthering his learning experience.

Jim was invited to become a member of the Cowboy Artists of America in 1989. He has won three Silver Medals for oil painting and in 1994 was awarded the Gold Medal for oil painting. He resides with his wife and four children in Santaquin, Utah.

Gary Niblett was born and raised in Carlsbad, New Mexico. After graduation, he went on to California, where he attended the Art Center School of Design. He spent eight years with the Hanna-Barbera studios as a background artist, but continued to develop his own style. He met Monika while working for the studios and they were married in 1970. In 1973, Niblett left commercial art to focus exclusively on western art, and three years later was voted into the CAA. He returned to New Mexico, where his work continued to gain national recognition.

His work has been exhibited all over the world, including the Grand Palais, France and the Amerika Hass Berlin, Germany. He has also exhibited in Moscow, Taiwan, Beijing, China and at the prestigious Royal Watercolor Society, London, England. Niblett’s work has been included in publications such as the International Fine Art Collector, Time, Saturday Review and New Mexico Magazine. He was honored as the 1990 “Distinguished Calendar Artist” for New Mexico Magazine, as well as a book titled, Gary Niblett— A New Look at the Old West. He has been given the honor of having a large oil hanging in the state capitol building in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

He works mostly in oil, but says he is “comfortable in watercolor.” Niblett’s art demands that we look into the reveries and still moments of the human spirit where the heart lives. His versatile work demonstrates the human values which are brought to bear in living, not only in the American West, but in the world.

He and Monika have lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico in their adobe-style home since 1980.

Alive in their stillness, action in hard cold bronze, truthful in their depiction and detail, looking at a Bill Nebeker sculpture is to get an honest and authentic portrayal of the personalities from the historic American West or contemporary ranch life. They are created from a strong sense of honor, loyalty and humility which not only describes his character, but also the feelings he holds for the West. His knack for weaving an unobtrusive storyline into a sculpture challenges the unsuspecting viewer, “Oh! Now I get it!” That moment of discovery is at the heart of experiencing and appreciating Bill’s bronzes.

As a member of CAA since 1978, Bill has won Gold and Silver awards in sculpture, a Best of Show and the Phoenix Art Museum Purchase Award, as well as twice being elected as the group’s president by his fellow artists. His talent has gained him several commissions for larger than life-sized statues around Arizona. Bill has recently created the “Territorial Sheriff” at the city court complex in Glendale, Arizona, “Early Prescott Settlers” for his hometown of Prescott, and the “Memorial Tribute to Fallen Officers” at the Phoenix headquarters of Arizona’s Department of Public Safety.

Bill’s career began when in 1964 he was inspired by the work of George Phippen, the first president of the Cowboy Artists of America. At a one-man show in Prescott, Bill was exposed first hand to bronze sculptures portraying the cowboy and Indians he had always been attracted to as a native of the West. Three short years later he began working at the late Mr. Phippen’s Bear Paw Bronze Works in Skull Valley, Arizona as a foundryman. With the encouragement, advice and critical eye of the Phippen family he continued his passionate pursuit of sculpting the people and animals of the Old West and contemporary ranch life. Casting his new creations into bronze and placing them in galleries and shows around the Southwest was a dream come true for the young man who had never thought of art as a possible career.

His work can be seen at Trailside Galleries in Scottsdale and Jackson Hole, Texas Art Gallery in Dallas, Sorrel Sky Gallery in Durango, Colorado, Gallery at Midlane in Houston, Ivory Art Gallery in Ouray, Colorado and Claggett Rey Gallery in Vail, Colorado.

Herb’s subjects often depict the difficult lives the people of the West led. The figures have a certain elegance and sense of classical composure in spite of the fact that they are not idealized.

Details and accoutrement tell us about the subjects, their profession, and their lives, so that each sculpture completes a piece of the story of life in the West.

The beauty of imperfections is what we see, for it is the imperfections that reveal the hidden tales of the figures’ lives.

Asked about some of the philosophy behind his work, Mignery states, “I feel that our attitude and our view of our future can only be determined by an examination of our ancestors, and the society they created. Just as a weather vane points toward the source of the wind, it must also point to the direction the wind is going. Likewise, we must focus our attention both ways to avoid losing those valuable lessons so painstakingly learned by those before us.”

Mignery has won numerous awards, including the Best of Show and the Western Art Associates Kieckhefer Award at the Cowboy Artists of America Show in Phoenix, Arizona, the Norris Foundation Award at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, and the Leonard J. Meiselman Memorial Award for sculpture at the National Sculpture Society in New York.

Mehl Lawson is an artist in two mediums — sculpture and horses. He is an heir to the proud vaquero tradition of Old California: a dedicated disciple of the refined, subtle elegance of the Santa Barbara style that inspired the creative spirits of such men as Ed Borein and Luis Ortega.

There is the same kind of magic in the hands that shape the sculptor’s clay as there is in the hands that hold the reins of a spade-bit horse. Mehl Lawson is accomplished in both venues and brings to each a concentrated focus that produces horseback memories and sculptural images of pure grace and beauty.

Lawson excels at depicting the devotion between man and his horse, and his sculptures capture the spirit of the western buckaroo—the working men of the great California and Nevada ranches. He is happy to combine the world of horses with that of fine art, and it was this skillful combination that got him elected to the CAA in 1982. He lives with his wife, Barbara, in Bonita, California.

T. D. Kelsey grew up on a ranch near Bozeman, Montana, and married his high school sweetheart, Sid, in 1964. He rodeoed for many years in rough stock events and team roping. Presently, T.D. trains and shows his own cutting horses. He worked as a commercial pilot for United Airlines until 1979 when he resigned to devote full time to his art.

Their interest in and promotion of Texas longhorn cattle, maintenance of a wild horse herd on their ranch, passion for Africa and its wildlife, and concern for the conservation of wildlife worldwide have inspired many of his works. Kelsey's work is found in private and public collections worldwide. He is a member of the National Sculpture Society and was honored with a one man show at the Thomas Gilcrease Museum where he has work on permanent display. He also has sculptures on permanent display at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Champions Museum, the C.M. Russell Museum, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The Historical Center recently commissioned a 1 ¼ life size sculpture for their new addition.

At a one man show at the 21 Club of New York City, 22 new works were a virtual sell out. He also received the honor of having one of his sculptures chosen by the National Sculpture Society for the "Masterworks of American Sculpture 1875-1999" show, hosted by the Fleischer Museum in Scottsdale, Arizona.

He has placed several monumental pieces both private and public. These include "Texas Gold" located in the historic Stock Yards area of Fort Worth, Texas, "Briargate Mustangs" in Colorado Springs, Colorado, "Royal Challenge" for Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska, "The Plainsman" for the Denver Buffalo Company in Denver, Colorado, "Change of Seasons" and "Swamp Donkey" at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, "Testing The Air" in Montana, "Daga Boys" at the Saint Louis Zoo in Saint Louis, Missouri, and "Swamp Donkey" located at Benson Sculpture Park in Loveland, Colorado.

TD has also received commissions from companies and individuals such as Allen & Company Incorporated, American Express, The Coca-Cola Company, Jean and John Brittingham Park Springs Ranch, Meredith and Tom Brokaw, the Saint Louis Zoo, and Mahlon B. Wallace, III for both monumental and garden-size pieces.

T.D.'s work is available in very limited editions. Both finished castings and works in progress can be seen in the studio-gallery at his ranch near Pompey's Pillar, Montana.

Master sculptor, Oreland C. Joe, Sr. is world- renowned for his work in stone and bronze sculptures. His works can be found in private, corporate, and museum collections in the United States and abroad. Oreland is a native New Mexican and is of Dine’ (Navajo) and Ute descent.

The influences in Oreland’s life include his family and his travels abroad to France, Italy and Japan. Studying European art and culture, seeing and feeling the impressive artistic works of the Masters in Greek, Roman, Renaissance and Baroque periods were significant life-changing experiences. Oreland still spends much of his time studying the Masters (Bernini, Canova, and Michelangelo). Incorporating his Native American heritage into what he studies and creates has proven to be a successful quality in Oreland’s career.

Oreland’s love for art has placed him in an elite class of stone and bronze sculptors. His accomplishments are numerous and one of them is being the first Native American to be admitted as a member to the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America organization. In 1996, Oreland was commissioned by the Ponca City Native American Foundation to produce a 22-foot bronze sculpture of Chief Standing Bear — his most public artistic statement to date. The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa,Oklahoma honored him with a retrospective showing at the “Gilcrease Rendezvous ‘99.” During the same year, Oreland also captured the Silver medal for sculpture at the CAA show, and the Gold medal at the Masters of the West exhibition at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles. In September 2000, Oreland received the New Mexico Governor’s Award for “Excellence in the Arts.” In June 2002, the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Committee of Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, commissioned Oreland to create five life-size figures and a dog, titled “The First Council.”

“I find strength, faith, and dignity through my heritage—yet I also find these in other cultures—and I derive inspiration and motivation from them as well. In my humble opinion, I’m just an artist who happens to be Native American. I find myself in a unique place of receiving blessings from two worlds. My goal and desire is to have more Native American artists to be in this place.”

A student of fine art, Dave has won numerous awards while showing in various invitational shows throughout the 1960’s and 70’s. In 1975, he and his wife Jean moved to Arizona. He received his first invitation to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame show....where he won the prestigious Silver Medal for his watercolor, “Story Teller.”

In 1985 David was inducted into the CAA and the same year was notified his painting “Chippawa Hunter” was the purchase award to the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum in Cody, Wyoming. The year 1989 marked his first place award for Region 11 in the “Arts for the Parks” competition. David was honored in 1990 with the Western Heritage Award given by Favell Museum of Kalamath Falls, Oregon, for excellence in portraying the West, past and present, in watercolors. His painting, “Heading Out” appears in The West, A Treasure of Art and Literature by Watkins & Watkins. In 1995 David was contacted by National Geographic to help complete a film project for children. His paintings were used to depict the life of mountain men.

The year 1985 was a most exciting one for Dave. That was the year he became a member of the long successful Cowboy Artists of America. Over the past fifteen years, he has won the CAA coveted Gold Medal for watercolor five times, and has received the Silver Medal five times.

"Each day is a new adventure,” says Martin Grelle, “another chance for me to learn something, make a new friend, teach my children, and grow as a person and as an artist.”

Being voted into membership with the Cowboy Artists of America in October of 1995 was the beginning of another adventure, one that took a long time to begin, and one that Martin knows from the experiences of the past few years was worth the effort and the wait.

“I have learned so much from being around this group, both as an artist and a person, and I know that the association with them has been a catalyst for growth that I might never have known otherwise.”

Born and raised in Clifton, Texas, Martin still makes his home there, living with his two sons, Josh and Jordan, on a small ranch among the wooded hills of the Meridian Creek valley a few miles from town, and just a crow’s hop from family and friends. Martin started painting when he was very young, and was fortunate that two other CA artists, James Boren and Melvin Warren, moved to Clifton when he was still in high school, as both became a huge influence on his work and his desire to become a CA.

“I am thankful that I have had the opportunities that I’ve had, to live in a place that I love, with the people that I love, doing the work that I love to do. I seek to honor my collectors and my fellow artists by becoming the best artist that I can be.”

Bruce and his family live on a small ranch in the historical community of Norse, outside Clifton, Texas.

The studio is on the edge of the hill out behind the house. From there, large north windows offer Bruce a continuous view of the Texas Hill Country, a few Hereford cows and the occasional whitetail deer. “It is a wonderful blessing to be able to make a living for my family, doing what I love in this beautiful place.” Bruce was elected to membership in the Cowboy Artists of America in 1993 and served as President of the group in 2002.

Several years ago, Bruce began annual trips north to join in the spring work on the great old JA Ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon of Texas. “I go up there and stay on the chuck wagon with the JA hands and the neighbors that have come to help. We ride a lot of miles in rough country. It can be cold, hot, windy and wet. As a matter of fact, it can be all of these in one day. A fella’ could get lost in some of the mesquite or cedar thickets. Of course, we work a few cows on our place and help out a neighbor now and then, but the JA trip has been a real inspiration for me each year. I am absolutely sure that this experience has greatly affected my artwork. It seems necessary, to me, in order to depict the contemporary cowboy with accuracy and feeling. My good friend, Red Steagall, calls it ‘getting the dust in your nose.’ For me, that dust makes the difference.”

Fred Fellows is a two-time past president of the world famous Cowboy Artists of America organization.

His paintings and sculptures have been featured in many magazines throughout the country, including Arizona Highways, Western Horseman, Newsweek, Southwest Art, Artist of the Rockies and Playboy.

His work has won many awards including Grumbacher Fine Arts Award and the Printing Institute of America Award.

Fred is one of the few artists that has won Gold and Silver Medals in both painting and sculpture at the annual Cowboy Artists of America exhibit in the Phoenix Art Museum. One of his Gold Medal sculptures recently won the purchase prize to go into the permanent collection of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.

In June 2002, Fred’s monument for the big island of Hawaii was dedicated, and also last year he was honored with a retrospective exhibit at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He lives with his artist wife, Deborah, on their Adobe Walls Ranch north of Sonoita, Arizona.

A visit to the Nelson Art Center in Kansas City was “the shaper of my destiny,” says Loren Entz. Following that visit, Loren enrolled in the Famous Artists correspondence school, and later studied under Richard Schmid and Bettina Steinke, both of whom he admires for their direct approach.

Many of Loren’s paintings are started and completed on location. “The results in my paintings are most rewarding and satisfying to me as an artist when I work directly from life and nature....I achieve a spontaneity that is so often lacking when work is done from photographs in the studio.”

Loren’s versatility with charcoal, pencil, oil and watercolor, and his dedication to details have won him various awards, including Gold and Silver honors from CAA and a Jurors Award from the Northwest Rendezvous Show.

Loren has been a member of the Cowboy Artists of America since 1992. “I’m proud of my association with the CA group. My desire is to steadily grow as an artist.” His new studio is located in an historic building in Billings, Montana.

The eloquence of a Don Crowley painting is not in its re-creation of history, but in its vision of the living. A consummate realist, Don can paint the beauty and dignity of an Apache maiden, the spiritual countenance of an Indian dancer or a quiet still life with equal skill and passion.

The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles was his training ground, and is also where he met his wife, B.J., whom he credits as his most discerning critic. After art school, he spent 23 years in New York as a commercial illustrator with the Charles E. Cooper Studio.

In 1973, tired of the repetition and restrictions of commercial art and feeling the need to release his stifled creativity, he and his family moved west. Here he has been able to free his talents and delve into the engrossing world of the Apache and Paiute Indians. His paintings typify the ideals of these southwestern societies and impart to the viewer the serenity of these people and their surroundings.

Don considers his election to the CA in 1994 his finest moment and greatest challenge.

Though as a boy, Tim Cox always knew he wanted to be a “cowboy artist,” little did he know that he would become a member of the distinguished Cowboy Artists of America organization by age 50.

Cox, who lives in northern New Mexico, is both an artist and a working cowboy, raising cattle and training horses when he is not painting. He strives for perfection in the details of the cowboy and his horse, and it is this quality that caught the eye of the CAA.

Cox has been recognized over the years for his contributions to the world of Western art. He was awarded the Will Rogers Western Artist of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists and Friends of Western Art’s Artist of the Year for 2001. He regularly participates in the Prix de West Art Show at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, and he has been a three-time winner of the Olaf Weighorst Best of Show Award at the Mountain Oyster Club Show in Tucson.

In 2003, Cox was honored when the National Academy of Western Art chose his painting for the coveted Prix de West Purchase Award. His painting Along Eagle Creek was selected as the 2004 winner of the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award.

Educated at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, Gary Carter graduated with honors in 1971, and began his fine art career in 1973 with a sellout one-man show in Tucson.

In 1982 he was accepted as a member of the CAA and in 1986, he served as the organization’s president. Carter paints the contemporary and historic American West, from mountain men and Indians to today’s cowboys, “and if you’re painting something they don’t think is right,” he says of his cowboy subjects, “they’re going to tell you.”

On June 25, 1991 (Custer’s anniversary), Gary was adopted by the Crow Tribe and the Real Bird Family. He is a member of the Big Lodge Clan and his name is “Eagle Man.” This adoption took place on the Crow reservation at a pow-wow and feast at Medicine Tail Coulee on the redesignated Little Big Horn Battlefield near Hardin, Montana.

Gary Carter lives in Montana near the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park with his wife, Marlys. A few miles away is Sun Ranch, where Carter lived and worked in the bunkhouse studio: there he gained an intensive education and precious insight into the world of the cowboy.

Harley, hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is known for his unique representations of Native Americans.

“I've painted Natives of North America since the late fifties and have had the good fortune to live near numerous tribal bands in Alberta and Montana. My love in art is painting people and especially the great individuals of the West from Mexico to the United States to the northern reaches of Canada. I've just been naturally enthralled with the vast history of the Old West and the people who created the wonders of our great civilization.”

In addition to the Cowboy Artists of America, Harley is also a member of the Northwest Rendezvous in Montana, the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City and the Autry Museum in Los Angeles. His art appears in numerous private and public art collections, and he has commissioned portraits of President Ronald Reagan for his second inauguration, Winston Churchill, Sophia Loren and others. He has also painted numerous personalities for magazine covers.

Harley has published three books: Harley Brown's Eternal Truths for Every Artist, Confessions of a Starving Artist and Harley Brown's Inspirations for Every Artist. He writes a regular column for International Artist Magazine and taught painting workshops periodically throughout the world from 1980 through 1999.

Harley attended the Alberta College of Art in Calgary and the Camberwell School of Art in London, where he lived for two years in the 1960s.

“I'm now living with my wife, Carol, on an acreage in Tucson, Arizona. We have five children, ten grand children and two great grand children. We're lucky to be nestled with a multitude of friends here, many of whom are fellow artists. We travel, dine and laugh our way through the days where we all consider ourselves so fortunate to be doing what we love and living in this extraordinary country.

To be a member of the CAA is almost an answer to a dream. The purpose of this unique organization is everything I stand for. The membership has artists who are amongst the greatest in world history, which – believe me – is a humbling experience. The spirit, drive and talent of the artists keeps us all spurred with inspiration. I couldn't be happier in my life knowing that a good part of my years will be spent with such remarkable artists and individuals.”

To John Moyers, each piece of art is a new challenge. He explains, "I don't want the subject matter to become a slave to my own predetermined technique, so I loosen up on some and tighten up on others. The style of each painting should complement and not hinder the theme." This has kept Moyers' work fresh in perspective and free from predictability.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, John's parents later moved their family to Albuquerque, where he spent the greater portion of his childhood. As the son of CA artist William Moyers, John was raised in a household that lived and breathed art. His parents were very supportive of his artistic ambition. "Art was all around me. Dad would go over my work and help me see the areas that needed improvement. I just grew up with art."

John spent a memorable year at the Laguna Beach School of Art. Courses centered on life drawing, and he enrolled in both day and night classes. Next he attended the California Institute for the Arts, with the help of a Walt Disney Studios scholarship. Classes were on animation techniques. "Even though I never went into that field," he explains, "I really grew from the experience. They had such excellent instructors."

CA artist Robert Lougheed invited him to paint wild animals at the Okanagan Game Farm in British Columbia. It was there, in 1979, that Moyers met artist Terri Kelly. They were married in 1982, and a son, Joshua, was born in 1991. For years the Moyers lived in Santa Fe. The history that influenced the area has taken root in John's life and is at the center of his artwork. "I paint a lot of Indians and I like the themes based on Old Mexico and New Mexico cultures...but I also paint cowboys."

On October 19, 1994, Moyers joined the Cowboy Artists of America. "It's something I've wanted for a long time. I consider it a first class organization."

Today the Moyers' reside in Pagosa Springs, Colorado where they make their living as professional artists.

Joe Beeler, a founding member of CAA, was a pioneer in the territory of contemporary Western art. He was there at the beginning of the tremendous development of that territory in the early 1960s. The key event in Beeler’s pioneering activity was the founding, in 1965, of the Cowboy Artists of America. From that association of like-minded people flows a stream of fine art works—making the exhibitions eagerly anticipated and commercially successful.

Raised in Oklahoma and Missouri, Beeler received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kansas State Teachers College and continued his studies at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. His professional career began in illustration at the University of Oklahoma Press in Norman. This gave him the confidence to pursue an artist’s career, and collectors were quick to acquire his paintings. The success of his one-man show at the Thomas Gilcrease Museum in 1960 established him on a course that would lead to national acclaim and a string of honors and awards.

Numerous medals and awards have been bestowed on Beeler’s work, including gold and silver honors in sculpture, silver in drawing, and an Artists’ Choice Award, all from the CAA organization; there aren’t many artists who can claim such versatility. In 1994, the Arizona Historic League named him an “Arizona History Maker”—an award presented to a very select group of Arizonans. In 1998, Canada’s Cowboy Festival presented “Living Legends Awards” to six individuals in different categories of cowboy culture, and Beeler was the artist honored by the Canadian group.

William Moyers learned about cowboy life from direct experience. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but at age fourteen moved to Alamosa, Colorado, with his father. He was raised on a ranch and worked his way through school breaking horses and working rodeos and stock auctions. Young Moyers also sold his pictures of bucking horses for twenty-five cents apiece.

In 1939, he graduated from Adams State College in Alamosa with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. He then studied at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, California, with E. Roscoe Shraeder, a pupil of the illustrator Howard Pyle. While there, he also worked on the film Fantasia at Walt Disney Studios. During his seventeen years on the West Coast, Moyers illustrated more than 200 books. By 1962, he was ready to try his hand as a full-time Western artist. That year, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in 1968 joined the Cowboy Artists of America.

Moyers is proficient in a wide variety of media, from watercolor to bronze, and he has won gold and silver CAA medals for both his painting and sculpting. His work often melds the historic and contemporary West. Even while depicting the modern cowboy, he focuses on those aspects of Western life that have remained largely unchanged over the course of the last century. “Life on the range is pretty much as it was in the eighteen hundreds for rider, horse, and livestock,” he says.

In 1994, Moyers donated one of his most impressive sculptures, Wind and Rain, to what was then known as the CAA Museum in Kerrville, Texas. The life-size piece, which stands at the museum’s entrance, depicts a dismounted cowboy warily pondering an approaching storm. “I find the working cowboy, past and present, such a harmonious outgrowth of his whole environment,” Moyers says. “He accepts the rough action, the wild weather, the periodic loneliness, and the hard responsibilities of his job as a normal existence. Put this direct man in the vast settings in which he lives, and he is a subject to try an artist’s skill.”

Back when Wayne was taking art lessons, a man stopped by the studio looking for a handout, but ended up being Wayne’s first paying collector. The man bought a pencil drawing, of a horse, for five dollars.

It has been said that, “Dedicated, quiet, polite, unassuming and persistent” are good descriptions of Wayne Baize. He is also a man of very few words and most of them are “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.” It is no surprise James Stewart is his favorite actor. This demeanor carries over into the attitude expressed in his paintings.

Wayne’s family is also very important to him. His work often includes likenesses of his cowboying brothers, Paige and Arlon, or his wife Ellen and their children, Elizabeth, William, Jonathan and Charles.

Wayne was once asked to comment on some of his more memorable CAA trail rides. He wrote about two rides, using a total of seventeen words.

He was born, raised and is still "a Texan."

John is known for his ability to capture the subtle side of the narrative of a sculpture. His skillful gestures, faces and the emotion they express lead the viewer through the story his pieces tell.

“It is interesting to imagine the differences and similarities cultures other than my own express at different stages in their lives. For one of my pieces, The Wedding Couple, my interest was first to show what I believe are the universal emotions that go with two people coming together for the first time.”

“Legend has it that the courting flute was originally given as a gift by the woodland animals to a bashful young man who had trouble communicating with the woman he loved. The animals put their voices in the flute so as to speak on his behalf. Stories like this one are not uncommon in Native culture. For me, creating a sculpture that has life in it often comes down to the story that inspired it. My goal is to invoke the same sense of emotion in my bronze as in the story I heard. My catalog piece shows a proud and confident man. His new bride, although slightly shy, reaches for his hand which is still holding the courting flute.”

John is honored to have received the Silver Medal in sculpture at his first exhibition with the Cowboy Artists of America last year for his larger than life Kokopelli. Another piece in that exhibition, Visions of Change, has been placed in the permanent collection of the Tucson Museum of Art.

“Being voted into the Cowboy Artists of America in 2001 has been the highlight of my artistic career. Keeping company with those who are truly considered to be the greatest of Western Artists will always be an honor for me.”

John enjoys sharing his passion for sculpture through teaching and will once again teach at the Scottsdale Artists School in April and also at the Loveland Academy in August 2004. He has been a professional member of the National Sculpture Society since 1999 and lives in Prescott, Arizona.