Originally posted to the web in News, on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 5:11 PM CST.
Museum features miniature saddles
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| Carson Thomas |
Opening night for “Art of the Saddle: A Leather Canvas in Miniature” is Friday, March 9 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum.
Come meet artist Carson Thomas celebrating the opening of his exhibit in the Museum's Changing History Gallery. Entertainment will be provided by Kip Calahan. Reservations can be made by calling the museum at 684-2272, ext. 100.
The exhibition will feature half-scale saddles designed and constructed by Wickenburg's Thomas and will run from March 10 through Sept. 2.
“These are functional art forms as well as pieces of history,” said the Museum's Executive Director Royce Kardinal. “Our exhibit will dramatize their significance from the 1830s to present day.”
“I was born in Deadwood, S.D., and raised in cow camps and saddle shops ranging from Montana's Wolf Mountains to Arizona's Sonoran Desert,” explained Thomas. “I apprenticed for five years under my father, who had 50 years of saddle making to his credit. That apprenticeship, plus a lifetime of riding horseback, gave me a solid understanding of building saddles that fit both horse and mount.”
Renowned throughout the West and known internationally, Thomas' custom-made saddles are in demand by working cowboys and astute horsemen (including former President Ronald Reagan). At the same time, the saddle maker has become famed for his masterful half-scale saddles and gear. Collectors seek out Thomas' work, with one of his contemporary-style miniature saddles recently selling for nearly $35,000.
According to Thomas, the custom-made miniature saddles take the same amount of time to make as a full-size version - about 200 hours according to Thomas.
The idea to create miniatures started back East early on. Since saddles at the time were primarily made in the West, they had to be conveyed by railroad, boat and stage, making the full-size versions too unwieldy to transport. To solve the problem “salesman samples” were made half size; that way, six to eight of them could be packed in a hard suitcase or trunk.
“When the saddle is scaled down, I believe that its artistry is even more apparent,” Thomas said. “The smaller size really shows off the patterns of stamping and carving more effectively.”
The Museum's exhibit will consist of a dozen or so miniature saddles and will include versions that would have been used by Texans in the early 1800s, the Plains Indians in the late 1800s and cowboys herding cattle in the early 1900s.
Whatever the style, whatever the era, art and history lovers visiting “A Leather Canvas in Miniature” will view miniature works of art carved and stamped on leather canvases.
“One of the Cowboy Artists of America founders, the late Joe Beeler, described me as a ‘saddle artist',” said Thomas. “I can think of no higher praise.”
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