West’s best women artists to ride into town

Texas Steer by Teresa Elliott

Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West Exhibition and Sale will return to the Desert Caballeros Western Museum to celebrate its third year March 28 to May 4.

Generating over $700,000 in sales and attended by more than 12,000 visitors in 2007, Cowgirl Up! has become the most important exhibition and sale for western women artists in the nation.

Drawing artists from throughout the West - Known for attracting top talent from throughout the West, this year’s show will feature 57 artists including the returning Shawn Cameron, Anne Coe, Joni Falk, Deborah Copenhaver Fellows, Veryl Goodnight, Linda Carter Holman, Jan Mapes, Rosetta Santiago, Sandy Scott, Sherry Blanchard Stuart and Liz Wolf.

New to the show this year will be Ruth Andre, Sophy Brown, Harriet (Rox) Corbett, Sheila Cottrell, Lisa Danielle, Lenell Deane, Nancy Denzler, Teresa Elliot, Moni Heil, Sue Krzyston, Pat Lambrecht-Hould, Louisa McElwain, Krystii Melaine, Vel Miller, Judith Moore-Knapp, Tamara Rymer and Carol Swinney.

A unique opportunity for collectors - More than 200 drawings, paintings and examples of sculpture and mixed media will be represented in the 2008 show which will embrace both traditional and breakout western themes.

“Unlike others, the Cowgirl Up! show is becoming known for going beyond the traditional to express the West’s unique lifestyle and spirit,” said Museum Curator Mary Ann Igna. “Its breadth and depth is also unique. To see the range of art on display here at one time, and in one place, you would literally have to travel from Scottsdale to Santa Fe to Jackson Hole and beyond.”

A spirited roundup of special events - To celebrate year three of Cowgirl Up!, and at the request of many of the artists, an inaugural trail ride will kick off the weekend’s special events on Thursday, March 27.

The official start of the sale weekend, however, will begin on Friday evening, March 28, with the show’s much anticipated “Artists’ and Patrons’ Party,” this year to be held at Monte Vista Ranch Lodge. Monte Vista is an historic Wickenburg ranch currently being developed into a community of estate homes.

On Friday and again on Saturday, buyers who plan to attend this year’s sale will have the opportunity to steal a look at the more than 200 works of art on display during special previews held both days.

Also on Saturday, Peter Hassrick, director of the Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum, will present an afternoon lecture entitled “The Spunk and Spirit of O’Keeffe, Hill and Farnham: Three Western Women Artists Who Captured the West.”

It is Saturday evening, though, when the big main event takes place - the show’s “Bash ‘n Bid Gala,” this year highlighted by a new auction which will include donated works by nearly a dozen of the show’s artists who have been in attendance since the beginning of Cowgirl Up!.

Wrapping up the whirlwind weekend of festivities will be the show’s popular “Chuck Wagon Breakfast and Artists’ Quick Draw” to be held on the grounds of the Museum Sunday morning, March 30, followed by its equally popular “Lunch with a Legend” on Monday, March 31.

Judging the best - Not only a show and sale, Cowgirl Up! has also become known for its prestigious awards which include the “Best of Show,” won in 2007 by Jan Mapes and in 2006 by Sherry Salari Sander; and the “Museum Purchase Award” won in 2007 by Jan Mapes, and in 2006 by Brenda Murphy.

This year’s pre-eminent panel of judges will include Peter Hassrick; author and publisher Shari Morrison; and author and well-known Charles M. Russell authority Ginger Renner.

A new home for Western women artists - “We’re very proud that the West’s top women artists have come to regard Cowgirl Up!, and our museum, as a new home; a place where they can break through the ‘leather ceiling’ that has kept them from succeeding to the same degree as their male counterparts,” said Royce Kardinal, executive director of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum. “Each year, the energy and the anticipation of so much talent coming together in one place seem to grow exponentially.”

Named “2007 - 2008 Western Museum of the Year” at the National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration held in Lubbock, Texas this year, the Desert Caballeros Western Museum has also been named an “Arizona Treasure” by its governor Janet Napolitano; and in 2006, its Cowgirl Up! exhibition and sale was recognized as one of the state’s top two special events. The museum is located at 21 N. Frontier Street in Wickenburg. For more information about Cowgirl Up! and/or for reservations, call 684-2272 or visit www.cowgirlupart.com

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