Home to the Rocky Mountains, the Sawatch Range, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and other captivating geometric forms, the Western state of Colorado is exhilarating in more ways than one. Often, some of the first things that come to mind when thinking of the Centennial State are the seemingly endless opportunities for outdoor adventures, the lush wilderness, and the popular capital city of Denver. In addition to all of that, the state has a vibrant Western art scene with institutions and events to delight any Western collector. The Denver Art Museum’s Hamilton Building. © Denver Art Museum. Photo by Jeff Wells.

The Denver Art Museum in the city’s Civic Center houses a diverse body of works, including a collection of Western American art and American Indian art. The American Museum of Western Art, also in Denver, is known for its Anschutz Collection, which has more than 600 paintings, drawings and sculptures representing more than 180 artists. The collection is on permanent display and represents a survey of the American West from the early-19th century to present day. The National Western Stock Show, which happens every January, is a landmark event in Colorado. Part of the grand event—think livestock shows and rodeos—is the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale, featuring such talents in the Western art world as Dan Young, Quang Ho, Jill Soukup, Terry Gardner and the 2020 featured artist Sophy Brown. Downtown Vail, Colorado, at night. Courtesy Visit Vail Valley.

To the north, in Greeley, the Greeley Stampede’s historic Stampede Western Invitational Art Exhibit & Sale is another beloved staple in the state. The event features more than 200 works from some of the top artists today working in Western subject matter.

Wild Horse Gallery is located in the city of Steamboat Springs, west of Greeley. The gallery showcases the works of premier Western artists like Nancy Boren, Edward Aldrich, Richard Galusha, Jay Moore and Cheri Cappello, a Golden, Colorado-based artist who creates one-of-a-kind Native American regalia.The streets of downtown Georgetown, Colorado. Courtesy Colorado Tourism Office. Photo by Denise Chambers/Weaver Multimedia Group.

A wide variety of other Western artists and institutions are waiting to be explored within the state, including Claggett/Rey Gallery, Center for the Arts Evergreen, Don Woodard Artworks, John Philip Wagner, Margaretta Caesar (represented by K. Newby Gallery) and Sandy Graves Art.

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Claggett/Rey Gallery, Wapiti, bronze, 19 x 19 x 9”, by Tim Shinabarger.

Claggett/Rey Gallery, Echo Cliffs, oil, 20 x 24”, by Josh Elliott. 

Claggett/Rey Gallery
100 E. Meadow Drive, Suite 7, Vail, CO 81657
(970) 476-9350, www.claggettrey.com
Claggett/Rey Gallery prides itself on the representation of true masters of American and Western art. For over 30 years the gallery has displayed paintings and sculpture created by the finest artists in North America, including Oreland Joe, Walt Gonske, Josh Elliott, Gordon Snidow, Tim Shinabarger, John Moyers, Nancy Boren and dozens of others. Upcoming exhibitions at the gallery include Western Masters on display for the month of March and, in July, Joe Beeler: Master of the American West and Oreland Joe: Creative Truth.The interior of Claggett/Rey Gallery in Vail, Colorado.

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Wild Horse Gallery, Cottonwood Creek, oil, 60 x 40", by Richard Galusha.

Wild Horse Gallery
802 Lincoln Avenue, P.O. Box 770879, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
(970) 879-5515, (970) 819-2850, wildhorsegallery@wildhorsegallery.com
www.wildhorsegallery.com
Owners/artists Shirley Stocks and Richard Galusha have seen many changes over the past two decades as their gallery has grown and gained national recognition. In 2008 the gallery moved to its current location, a renovated historic bank building located on a sunny corner in downtown Steamboat Springs, at the heart of the Downtown Historic District and its designated Colorado Creative District. Providing the discriminating collector a variety of mediums to choose from, the quality artwork at the Wild Horse includes paintings, etchings, glass, wooden vessels, alabaster and bronze sculpture. Along with the expressive spontaneity of many plein air paintings that capture the character of the West, the gallery also specializes in large studio paintings, bronze monuments and commissions. Free art consultations and installation of purchases are also offered. Wild Horse Gallery, Breaktime, oil, 16 x 20", by Richard Galusha.

Wild Horse Gallery, Haybales in Summer, oil, 32 x 38", by Richard Galusha.

Galusha’s retrospective, An Artist’s Journey, is running through April 11 at the Steamboat Art Museum, providing a look into the career of one of Steamboat’s prominent artists featuring approximately 100 paintings from private collections. Galusha has signature memberships in the Oil Painters of America and Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters, is an educator, gallery owner and museum founder. His new book, Richard Galusha, An Artist’s Journey, was published in conjunction with the exhibition and includes the paintings featured in the show and many more produced throughout his career.

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Sandy Graves Art, Bison, bronze, ed. of 35, 14 x 14½ x 8”, by Sandy Graves.

Sandy Graves Art
(970) 846-0201
www.sandygravesart.com
Nestled in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado at her home in Steamboat Springs, Sandy Graves practices her craft. She is a woman whose life is defined by relationships, exploration, fun and emotion. As a sculptor, Graves’ style is marked by these elements.Sandy Graves Art, Pinnacle, bronze, ed. of 25, 22 x 11 x 7”, by Sandy Graves.

While studying art at North Texas State University and Colorado State University Graves focused on sculpture. Following graduation she apprenticed and studied under two figurative sculptors and gained a more in-depth understanding of the human form. Through a naive experiment while a student of bronze casting, Graves developed the stylized work for which she is currently becoming known nationwide. Her work is recognized for her use of negative space, exaggerated forms, implied energy and emotional content. “My stylized sculpture is about energy and movement. Each piece starts with an emotion, the place where the being and their essence cross,” says Graves. “The play between negative and positive space allows room for the viewer’s imagination to roam while accenting the parts that define the subject.”Sandy Graves Art, Connect, bronze, ed. of 35, 10 x 7 x 3”, by Sandy Graves.

Following college, Graves spent 16 years teaching high school art at a small and innovative private school, creating and guiding lengthy international trips for young adults. These experiences influenced and developed her understanding of her world, as well as molded her intensity and depth of expression as an artist. By 2008, with family and roots firmly established in Colorado, Graves stepped into a full-time career in sculpture. Since then, she has steadily gained a name for herself in Western art and is represented in galleries across the United States and Canada, showing annually in a number of invitational and museum shows. Her artwork is installed in front of the Routt County Courthouse, the Steamboat Mountain School and at Yampa Valley Medical Center in her hometown, as well as in Benson Sculpture Park in Loveland, Colorado, among other public places.

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Cheri Cappello, Hides in the Mountains, ceremonial shirt, smoked buckskin with beadwork and authentic adornments, 48 x 50"

Cheri Cappello
Golden, CO
cougarcreekranch@yahoo.com
The connection and deep reverence that Cheri Cappello feels for Native people began as a child. Cappello was born and raised on a large cattle and sheep ranch in the Colorado high country. Many hours were spent exploring encampments and burial grounds on her family’s ranch. She collected artifacts and arrowheads while working the ranch with her family.

Cheri Cappello, Running Bear, war shirt, brain-tanned buckskin with earth dye, authentic beadwork and adornments, 48 x 54"

Cheri Cappello, possible bag, 20 x 14"

Her respect and kinship grew through the years and were fueled with education, the interest her father instilled and her involvement with the Native people. Life on the ranch and living in the West taught her the value of nature, animal life and the bond that runs between man and the land. Cappello’s artwork was a natural progression, born out of her respect for Native Americans, the land and the Western lifestyle that she loves. Each one of her pieces is a one-of-a-kind museum-quality work. They are close reproductions of the ceremonial and war shirts, wedding dresses and horse masks produced in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These striking works are created by hand, using elk and buckskin. The hides have been brain-tanned or hand smoked. The artworks are painstakingly brought to life with fine beadwork, done in the traditional lazy-stitch, and authentic adornments originally found on period pieces. The result is a powerful statement honoring Native American culture. Collectors can find Cappello’s work in public and private collections across the country and in Europe and Australia. She is represented by numerous galleries and has won awards at many prestigious national and international shows.

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Margaretta Caesar, I’ve Been Here Before, oil, 30 x 40"

Margaretta Caesar
margarettacaesar@gmail.com
www.margarettacaesar.com
“Each painting begins with an inspiration. I am incredibly fortunate, my inspiration is nature,” says painter Margaretta Caesar. “I still hold in my mind’s eye the beauty of the western Pennsylvania hills where I grew up. But now I am surrounded by the beauty of Colorado, her foothills, mountains, plains and clouds!” The artist also loves the stunning beauty of the Southwestern deserts, mesas and canyons. She underpaints all her canvases with paints left over on her paint table. While she usually underpaints in reds and earth tones, she occasionally uses blues, greens and yellows, “and when those pop through in a painting it’s a delight,” she says. “When I paint, I emphasize and enhance nature’s colors. I’m not going for realism but expressionism.” Caesar is inspired by Victor Higgins, Lynn Rowan Myers, the “Group of Seven” and many others. A view of Caesar’s idyllic studio.

Margaretta Caesar, An Apple a Day, oil, 36 x 48"

Caesar is represented by K Newby Gallery in Tubac, Arizona; Mountain Home in Evergreen, Colorado; Saks Gallery in Denver; and Taos Fine Art in Taos, New Mexico. Upcoming shows for the artist include Celebrating Women in Art at Saks Gallery on February 15, The Colors of the Desert at K Newby Gallery on March 28 and Art Students League of Denver’s Summer Art Market in June.

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Don Woodard ARTWORKS, Pack Adjustment, relief wood sculpture, 16¾ x 24”, by Don Woodard.

Don Woodard ARTWORKS
12712 Lowell Boulevard, Broomfield, CO 80020, (303) 430-1986
don@donwoodard.com, www.donwoodard.com
Don Woodard ARTWORKS is not only an art gallery, representing nationally and internationally acclaimed artists, but also the art studio for wood sculptor Don Woodard. The artist’s passion is creating three-dimensional artwork by hand carving images into select woods, then finishing them either naturally or with paints and stains. His work represents “moments in time” that are part of a story, and the viewer is invited to finish the story however they like.A view of Don Woodard’s studio/gallery.

Woodard is currently creating a six-piece, mixed media collection, titled the Pack-Horse Adventure that is inspired by his annual pack-horse trips, which he has led into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains for more than 35 years. This collection is unique in the sense that it includes very detailed hand-carved images, only a small area of paint on each piece, all the packhorses have textile lead ropes attached and the riding horses have leather reins.

The gallery also features Western, wildlife and landscape art by other artists like Edward Aldridge, Don Weller, Susan von Borstel, Dennis Bennett, Barbara Woods, Chip Garofalo, Joanne Long, Rose Red Elk, as well as a list of visiting artists.

Woodard’s upcoming shows include the Colorado Indian Market & Southwest Showcase in Denver; the Western Spirit show in Cheyenne, Wyoming; the Summer ArtFest in Whitefish, Montana; and others yet to be announced. 

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A view of Wagner’s studio along with his new oil Soyoko and Her Assistants.

John Philip Wagner
Represented by Jay Jacoby
(970) 430-5416, www.johnphilipwagner.com
“My story begins when, as a child, I realized that I could travel through my imagination,” says John Philip Wagner. He explains that he was groomed to be an artist by his mother, also an artist.

From the very beginning, Wagner has been fascinated with the American West and Native American culture, often dreaming of being part of the historic frontier with the gigantic skies and vast open spaces. Fulfilling this sense of passion, he eventually he planted his roots in New Mexico. “In the late 1960s Santa Fe still had the flavor and the dust of a ‘frontier town,’” he says. In time, he bought adobe homes in the country and built his studio in El Rancho on the dirt road near San Ildefonso Pueblo. John Philip Wagner, Katsinam at Walpi, oil, 24 x 48"

“My home is now in Southern Colorado which is much like New Mexico with sage, cottonwoods and cactus, the sky is enormous and dramatic,” says the artist. Wagner’s Southwest oil paintings and prints including, Emergence of the Cloud Beings, are available for purchase at the Worldwide Treasures Gallery in Florence, Colorado, and also available at a new online gallery,
www.spiritlandgallery.com.

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Center for the Arts Evergreen, A Light in the Night, 1936, by Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939).

Center for the Arts Evergreen
31880 Rocky Village Drive, Evergreen, CO 80439,
(303) 674-0056, www.evergreenarts.org
Center for the Arts Evergreen hosts Portrayals of the American West this summer from June 5 to July 5 coinciding with the popular Evergreen Rodeo. The exhibition will feature work on loan from private collectors and museums. Founded in 1974, Center for the Arts is a nonprofit community arts center located in Evergreen, Colorado.

The gallery at Center for the Arts Evergreen.

The center features an array of programming to meet the needs of the mountain communities as well as visitors to its beautiful mountain town. In the coming year, Center for the Arts Evergreen looks forward not only to its Western show, but a visual History of Evergreen along with the 47th annual Rocky Mountain National Watermedia exhibition, which brings in artists from across the nation. This year, the center will host acclaimed artist Linda Baker as juror for the event.

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Visitors flocked to last year’s Stampede Western Invitational Art Exhibit and Sale.

21st Annual Stampede Western Invitational Art Exhibit and Sale
Rod Salter, art show director, 600 N. 14th Avenue, Greeley, CO 80631,
(970) 356-7787
The art show kicks off with the opening night event on Tuesday, June 23. This exciting night offers patrons a chance to meet many of the artists, as well as the first opportunity to purchase artwork. Quickdraw demonstrations by several artists will be featured in a live auction. The art show spotlights outstanding artists from around the country and more than 200 original works of art will be showcased and is open to more than 250,000 Stampede Western Invitational visitors. A portion of the revenue from artwork sales goes directly to scholarships for the Weld County Stampede Foundation for College Scholarships. Tickets are available from the Stampede ticket office by calling the Stampede office. —A group shot of the dozens of artists who participated in the 2019 Stampede Western Invitational.

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