Show Preview | Masters of the American West

When the doors of the Autry Museum of the American West welcome visitors on Saturday, February 10, to the 27th annual Masters of the American West Exhibition and Sale, it marks the first of two distinctively different aspects of the museum’s major fundraising event. This first opening simply enables museumgoers to behold an impressive assortment of works by more than 60 artists who focus on a wide array of Western subjects. Two weeks later, on Saturday, February 24, many of the artists themselves will be present to mingle with ticketed guests for a gala reception, artist talks and an evening fixed-price sale (including a very popular display of lower-priced small works by many of the participants). Proceeds from the sale benefit not only the artists but also the museum’s wide array of cultural and educational offerings and programs.

Stephen Aron, Ph.D., the Autry’s director, president and CEO, says that opening the show well in advance of the sale events is a testament to “how enormously popular the Masters as an exhibition has become with the public, people who love the work and come in great numbers to see it.” In the future, he adds, “We might even look at potentially extending the run of the show an extra week or two because it deserves to stand on its own as a striking exhibition.” That said, he notes, “the fundraising that comes from it is very important.”

Whether visitors come to the Masters to buy art or simply to admire it, they’re in for an appealing mix of works from both longtime show regulars and artists participating for the first time. In fact, says Aron, in recent years the exhibition has evolved to include “a more diverse roster of artists that I think is more reflective of the breadth of the Autry’s mission and the breadth of contemporary Western arts,” including more Native American artists than ever before and a wider variety of mediums.

One stellar case in point this year is Seattle-based Tlingit glass artist Preston Singletary, who won the coveted Trustees’ Purchase Award at last year’s event and returns with works including the stunning RAVEN AND KILLER WHALE in blown and sand-carved glass. Other veteran participants in the show include Western pop artist Billy Schenck, respected animal painter Bruce Lawes, Santa Clara Pueblo sculptor and potter Tammy Garcia, and contemporary favorites including Logan Maxwell Hagege, George Carlson, Ed Mell, G. Russell Case, Jeremy Lipking and Terri Kelly Moyers.

Among the 16 outstanding new participants in this year’s event are Arizona-based Amery Bohling, known for landscapes of the Grand Canyon and other iconic Western sites that are painted in a style perhaps best described as “romantic naturalism,” and veteran figurative realist Dennis Ziemienski, whose large-scale paintings hark back to the Golden Age of Illustration. With these additions to the lineup, the already popular Masters of the American West, Aron concludes, “promises to be even more successful.” —Norman Kolpas

contact information(323) 667-2000masters.theautry.org

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