Many of the Western museum exhibitions and sales often use a popular format: new works only. This is great for a sale, but it usually offers only a snapshot of the artist’s career. The Woolaroc Museum has found a way to liven up the format by offering new works from top artists, but also showing a retrospective component that allows viewers more context for an artist’s career and growth as an artist. 
Scott L. Christensen, Peak of Fall, 2020, oil, 40 x 48”
The museum’s hit show, the Woolaroc Retrospective Exhibit & Sale, is returning to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on October 16 with nine artists: Bill Acheff, Scott L. Christensen, Josh Elliott, Sherrie McGraw, Paul Moore, John Moyers, Peregrine O’Gormley, Grant Redden and Matt Smith. The show, held every other year, encountered a stroke of luck by having the event in odd-numbered years.
“It was pure luck we didn’t have a show in 2020—thank goodness,” says museum CEO Bob Fraser, referring to the pandemic, which would have made a 2020 show almost impossible. “We’re in a much safer environment now, people are traveling again, vaccinations are happening…the comparison is pretty stark to where we were a year ago.
I am so excited to have artists back out to the museum to celebrate Western art.”
Matt Smith, Vermilion Cutbank, 2016, oil on linen, 16 x 26”
Fraser, who has been involved with the museum for more than 15 years, is retiring this year so he’s savoring every moment of this year’s show. One of the area’s he’s most pleased with for the show is the way the artists represent a variety of genres, from landscape and still life to sculpture and figurative work. “Each year is a diverse show and that’s what we aim for,” he says. “In addition to some brand recognition with some top artists, it’s also nice to get some newer and younger artists in there. Choosing these artists is always fun.”
William Acheff, Cloudy Skies, 2013, oil, 20 x 14”
For landscape painter Christensen, just being asked was a thrill. “That was a great call to get, a real treat and an honor. The retrospective component is fun, and I’m really trying to get them a variety of my work in a variety of sizes,” he says. “Being able to look back on what I’ve done is interesting. Not much has really changed since then, though. I’m still trying to be a better painter, and I still try to take complicated things and make them work in my paintings. The idea is to take information and give it to the viewer in little pieces.” 
Sherrie McGraw, The Zia Pot, 2015, oil, 20 x 18”
Elliott is another landscape painter and he echoes Christensen’s sentiments about the exhibition. “To be in this show with this group of artists is an honor. I look up to many of these artists. They set the bar for quality, innovation and integrity. I feel my aims are the same as theirs, but can’t ever tell if I am completely successful in achieving those goals, that is why I am truly humbled to be included,” Elliott says. “For the new work in the show, I am focusing on creating potent images. I don’t want just a pretty picture, I want a distilled image that has a clear purpose for being painted. The locations of the paintings are varied, along with the reason for painting them. Some focus on design, some on mood, while others explore atmosphere or a sense of place. As I look back at my past work, I see that my aim has remained consistent, which is producing paintings with variety of subject and format. I was fortunate to be able to select what I thought were some of the best examples of my past work and that all of the owners were willing to lend them.”
Josh Elliott, Winter Solstice, oil, 60 x 30”
Landscape and plein air painter Smith says his new works will represent a recent period of travel. “I don’t place much focus on working on a given subject in blocks of time. Rather, I roam and paint what excites me with greater attention on variety. That keeps my engagement and excitement level strong and hopefully translates into my work,” he says. “My goal with the retrospect pieces was to select works that held up to the level of my fellow participating artists. With that in mind I borrowed what I thought were some of my better works.
John Moyers, Pulse of the People, oil, 36 x 36”
I believe there has been continued growth and change in my painting over the years which has helped in keeping my excitement level going. My focus on improvement and desire to work from life has never faded.”
Works by the three landscape painters include Christensen’s Peak of Fall, showing autumn color at the base of a snowy mountain range; Elliott’s Winter Solstice, a 60-inch-tall work that shows a cluster of snow-laden trees at the edge of a meadow; and Smith’s Vermilion Cutbank, a desert image that has a pleasing composition with a dry creekbed that winds its way through the painting. 
Grant Redden, Homesteader’s Daughter, oil, 12 x 24”
Elsewhere in the show will be O’Gormley’s wood wildlife carvings, including Angelorum, a 2016 piece cut from juniper, and major pieces by Oklahoma sculptor Moore, who has turned much of his attention to Native American figures. Moore will be showing some important older pieces, such as Ghost Wrestler and Buffalo Jump, as well as newer works that were done in a unique polymer composite. 
Peregrine O’Gormley, Angelorum, 2016, juniper, 21 x 8 x 11”
Paul Moore, Offering to the Sun, 2012, bronze, 14½ x 40 x 14½”
Acheff is one of two still life painters this year, and his presentation will include pieces such as Cloudy Skies, which shows a beaded bag in front of a photograph tacked on a green wall, and some of his older non-Western works of silver pots, fruits and tabletops with elaborate arrangements. Acheff largely started painting Western and Native American subjects after his move to New Mexico. “Moving to New Mexico in 1973 opened up a whole new world of subject matter with the Native American artifacts,” he says. 
Matt Smith, Golden Light on the Goldfields, oil, 24 x 18”The other still life painter is McGraw, who will be showing her 2015 work The Zia Pot, with its moody lighting and shadows that seem to caress the pot and an assortment of smaller objects. McGraw’s work is collected in the West, but also throughout the American contemporary art market, where her technique and expressive brushwork have made her a revered artist. 
Josh Elliott, Morning Chores, oil, 18 x 54”Moyers will be presenting his paintings of Native Americans done with his complex compositions and loose brushwork. One of the works is Pulse of the People, showing three main figures, and many more behind them, as they pound on handmade drums. Moyers is a master with sunlight and figures, and should pair nicely with the works of Redden, who paints tighter, but shares Moyers’ fascination with light and composition. Redden will be showing Homesteaders Daughter from 2012.
Each artist will be displaying seven new works that will be for sale and then seven older works that are being loaned from current collectors. The museum will host an opening weekend event from October 15 through 17. For more information on the opening visit the museum’s website. —
The Woolaroc Retrospective Exhibit & Sale
October 16-December 31, 2021
Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve, 1925 Woolaroc Ranch Road, Bartlesville, OK 74003
(918) 336-0307, www.woolaroc.org
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