The American Quarter Horse Association hosts the 14th edition of America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale this year with an exciting restructure, or rather a revisit. In recent years, the show grew to include 75 participating artists in a very diverse range of quarter horse depictions. This year will see only 14 talented artists, many of whom have been participants in the past, with a strict focus on Western settings. 
Exterior of the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum.
“We’ve gone back to our roots for the show,” says programs manager Lauren Owens. “We’re focusing more on Western art, whereas in the recent past, we’ve had a little bit of everything. This included different disciplines of horse culture: racing, dressage…but we’re back to celebrating a ranching background—the very cornerstone of the quarter horse breed. We’ve also dialed back to focus on better promotion for our artists.”
Featured artists include Joni Beinborn, Teal Blake, Mary Ross Buchholz, Kaye Burian, Shawn Cameron, Sheri Greves-Neilson, Harold Holden, Earl Kuhn, Kathryn Leitner, Jan Mapes, Jason Scull, Jack Sorenson, Edgar Sotelo and Don Weller, who will depict the American quarter horse in the Western lifestyle through a more traditional lens. There will also be a variety of mediums including oils, pastels, charcoal and bronze, featured in 25 plus pieces. 
Kaye Burian, Dusty and Warm, oil on canvas, 31 x 25”
The exhibition will open on Saturday, August 20 with the popular opening reception—a fundraising event for the American Quarter Horse Foundation, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum.
“The reception includes most of the participating artists, so that everyone from local buyers and community members to [art enthusiasts] all over can enjoy and engage with them,” Owen’s explains. “The reception will include entertainment, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres for guests and the opportunity to be the first to purchase from the show. Collectors will bid on fixed-price masterpieces as part of what the foundation calls their “drop box sale.”
Jan Mapes, Tools of the Trade, bronze, ed. of 1, 52 x 24 x17”
During the evening, the show will also spotlight one of the participating artists with the Steel Dust Award (referencing a specific bloodline of quarter horses). “Selected by a panel of judges, the award is based on artistic merit and will recognize the recipient artist in a ‘best of show’ competition,” notes the show press release. Last year’s honor went to Jan Mapes for her bronze piece Tribute.
Sheri Greves-Neilson, Reinie, pencil, 14 x 7”
Mapes returns again this year with brilliant works like Tools of the Trade, a life size bronze of a cowboy hat and additional gear. Other masterpieces to look out for include Mary Ross Buchholz’s Experienced Hands, showing a man attaching horse shoes in a very realistic charcoal and graphite drawing. The artist will also bring bronzes to the show. The ever-popular horse portraits will also be featured by artists Kaye Burian in her oil painting Dusty and Warm, and Sheri Neilson’s pencil drawing Reinie, among others.
Mary Ross Buchholz, Experienced Hands, charcoal and graphite, 12¼ x 18”Any works that don’t sell during the opening reception will hang at the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum through October 22. Owens says, “We’re really excited for all our artists and love that they continue to want to be involved.” —
America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale
August 20-October 22, 2022
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum, 2601 E. I-40, Amarillo, TX 79104
(806) 376-5181, www.aqha.com
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