The Traditional Cowboy Arts Association returns to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City on September 30, when the museum will once again honor cowboy gear made at the highest level. 

The materials are simple and straightforward—leather, silver and gold—and yet these raw materials are given elegant transformations under the hands of TCAA members, who carve, braid, engrave, sculpt, hammer and otherwise thoroughly torture these items to create authentic Western gear. A previous TCAA exhibition at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.“We’re quite excited this year and are anticipating around 57 new works,” says founding TCAA member Scott Hardy. “It’s going to be a special year and an exciting year. One of the things we’re allowing [is] new work, but we’re also allowing encore work, which is what we’re calling pieces that may have been held back from previous years. It’s going to be a fun way to get some new work, and also a way to involve some of our emeritus members.”

Hardy is one of the key artists in the group and when he’s not making artwork, he’s promoting the TCAA to collectors or young artists who are pushing their work to the outer limit of what is possible with leather and silver. “Our mandate is to push those limits, and that’s what we’ve done year in and year out for 23 years. It’s our desire to push craftsmen to places they haven’t gone before as they create functional art.”Scott Hardy, silver and gold buckle

The TCAA essentially has two primary functions: to promote this high-quality artwork in the annual show, and to offer educational opportunities to the next generation of artists. They often joke that their methods are not secret, nor are their techniques—by keeping these skills secret they deprive the next batch of artists with key information already discovered. So instead they share, and share a lot. 

“This isn’t feed-store stuff, but collectible and functional art,” says Hardy, who will be showing a silver decanter and a gold and silver belt buckle with magnificent floral carvings. “And even as our mantra is education, we also want to create a community around these items. It’s fun when we all get together and celebrate these things we love with collectors and fellow artists. That’s what our annual show is about.”Ernie Marsh, California-style ladies spurs

Mehl Lawson, braided-leather hobbles

Current members include Hardy, Wilson Capron, Ernie Marsh, Leland Hensley, Nate Wald, Pablo Lozano, Pedro Pedrini, Cary Schwarz, Troy West, John Willemsma, Beau Compton and the group’s newest member, rawhide braider Jay Adcock. The artists work in an array of materials and methods, including regional styles that reflect the part of the country, or world, from which the artist originates. Items can be as recognizable as saddles, spurs, belt buckles and leather handbags, but they can also stretch deep into an artist’s imagination. For example, this year West has created a hand-carved leather ice bucket. In other years there has been dinners sets, briefcases, guitars and guitar cases, bolos and hats. Scott Hardy, silver decanter

The all-male group is tight-lipped about new additions, but members have openly stated that they expect a woman artist in the TCAA within the next several years, or sooner. “There are a number of really fantastic women who are working in leather and silver—some of them are quite brilliant,” he adds. 

Mehl Lawson, who is also a member of the Cowboy Artists of America, is an emeritus member of the TCAA and this year he will be bringing a braided-leather pair of hobbles. Wilson Capron, Roadrunner Bit (detail)

“I’m enjoying this encore part of the show this year because I haven’t participated in recent shows, but this year I can bring an older piece and attend. The hobbles are actually something I had done before Covid, so they’ve not really been seen and I’m excited to show them off,” Lawson says.
“I enjoy the group because they hold themselves to the highest standard.”Troy West, leather ice bucket

Nathan Jones, the associate curator of history at the Oklahoma museum, thinks shows like this are going to be instrumental in passing these trades onto the next generations. “It’s rightfully recognized as art, and the TCAA elevates it to such a high level,” Jones says. “It also represents the full range of Western art.”

The show kicks off September 30 with a cocktail reception and preview, followed the next day, October 1, with the live sale and other opening day events. —

23rd Traditional Cowboy Arts Sale & Exhibition
September 30-January 2, 2023
Preview and cocktail reception, Sept. 30, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Live sale, Oct. 1, 5:30 p.m.
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 Northeast 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73111
(405) 478-2250, www.nationalcowboymuseum.org 

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