When Andrew Parent, then in his early twenties, got his first job sweeping floors and otherwise helping out in a bridge-building shop in Billings, Montana, 20-odd miles down the Yellowstone River from his home in Worden, he knew he’d found his life’s path. “It was...
Sean Michael Chavez can trace his roots in the Southwest back 300 years, all of it transpiring within Northern New Mexico, the region he’s always called home. Yet, it took him several years of painting to realize that this history would become the subject for...
“Artists,” says Jan Mapes, “are scientists at heart. We want to see an object, like a tree, and break it down further and further into its parts, and then put those parts back together visually while asking ourselves questions like, ‘What feelings does that tree...
Teal Blake was born to the paintbrush as a horseman might be born in the saddle. He grew up in Montana, the son of photographer Tona Freeman Blake and cowboy and artist Buckeye Blake, long respected for his distinctive blend of traditional and contemporary Western...
The Western art world has much to celebrate, and here at WA&A, we’re excited to join in on the festivities. This fall, the Santa Fe Indian Market observes its 100th anniversary. As the world’s largest intertribal art market, the event brings together more than a thousand...
Edwina Hawley Milner’s life is a story that’s come full circle, from artist to philanthropist and, at age 84, a practicing artist once more. Milner was born in Oklahoma and was to be named for her grandfather Edwin when Milner’s parents thought their baby would...
We all understand that the act of creation is a vital way for artists to express their feelings and thoughts about the world. Collectors also know that displaying art serves as a means of self-expression. The artwork we have on view in our homes can...
“I can’t imagine living without art; it enhances our lives,” says William Winn of Denver, Colorado. He and his wife, Kathryn, caught the collecting bug in a big way on their 25th anniversary in 1981. While visiting the Pam Driscoll Gallery, and just before their...
Prices for Western works, from paintings to sculptures to a variety of other media, achieved pleasing heights in late winter and early spring, leading to an air of optimism among auction organizers, gallerists, and collectors. The feeling is bound to rub off on artists, especially...
Hollis Chitto’s beaded bag Bloodwork Number 2 might at first appear to be a beautiful piece of traditional American Indian art, its symmetrical design, bold colors, nature motifs, and painstaking handwork expressing centuries of heritage. However, a closer examination of the front panel reveals the...