David A. Leffel, Jonathan Warm Day Coming, oil on canvas, 23 x 19”
Susan Patterson
Curator of Special Exhibits
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
Oklahoma City, OK
(405) 839-7872 • www.nationalcowboymuseum.org
What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why?
Of course, I am looking forward to the 49th annual Prix de West. It is my primary focus throughout the year. With artwork arriving daily, I am currently in the middle of all things Prix de West. Watching the show evolve and come together each year is an adventure, and becoming friends with the artists and their families is an experience I never imagined. We are looking forward to welcoming the artists and collectors back to the Museum for an exciting in-house event this year.
What are you reading?
Recently I started reading Eva Mirabal; Three Generations of Tradition and Modernity at Taos Pueblo by Lois P. Rudnick with Jonathan Warm Day Coming. I was introduced to Jonathan Warm Day Coming, Mirabal’s son, through the artwork of Sherrie McGraw and David A. Leffel. I am also in the middle of Recovering Ancient Spiro; Native American Art, Ritual, and Cosmic Renewal, edited by Eric D. Singleton and F. Kent Reilly III. This publication accompanies Spiro and the Art of the Mississippian World.
Interesting exhibit, gallery opening or work of art you’ve seen recently.
On a recent visit to Kansas City, I made a special trip to the National WWI Museum and Memorial. In addition to spending time in the main galleries, I enjoyed seeing Silk and Steel: French Fashion, Women and WWI. This exhibit provides insight into how French women in particular responded to the Great War.
What are you researching at the moment?
Since the early 1990s, the Museum has managed the selection process for the John F. and Anna Lee Stacey Scholarship Fund. Established in 1947, the fund was created for the education of young men and women who aim to make art their profession, for which we receive over 300 applicants in any given year. Recently I discovered that several artists in Prix de West received this scholarship early in their careers, prompting me to dig deeper, discovering many contemporary established artists across the country have benefited from this award.
What is your dream exhibit to curate? Or see someone else curate?
An exhibition featuring the West through the eyes of Dean Mitchell. Whether painting a portrait of a buffalo soldier, an alley in a long-forgotten ghost town, or an impoverished area of a reservation, you cannot help but feel the harsh reality that still thrives in today’s West. Rarely are any of these works considered “pretty,” there is no sign of emotional sentimentality or a romanticized West. Yet his sobering portrayals carry a beauty like no other. His work is authentic as he paints the truth as he sees it. —
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