From the book Hellraisers & Trailblazers: The Real Women of the Wild West—written and illustrated by Bob Boze Bell, along with co-author Jana Bommersbach—comes the delightful and powerful exhibition of the same name, held at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona. Opening November 5, the exhibition features around 60 paintings and scratchboard works from the book, accompanied by stories of female figures of the Wild West. 
Bob Boze Bell, When Sharlot Hall Pulled a Gun on Grover Cleveland, gouache, 17¾ x 24”
“There have been quite a few books about various women of the West,” Bell explains, “but Jana wanted to give voice to female figures who aren’t remembered in history, because they’ve been forgotten or didn’t get credit. We’re also featuring some women that have been celebrated from the beginning, but we combined forces to cover both historical figures and the not so commonly known characters.” 
Bob Boze Bell, The Mourner, scratchboard, 11 x 13¾”
Both Bell and Bommersbach also worked to cover different sides of a story, as is the case of the story depicted in Bell’s gouache painting When Sharlot Hall Pulled a Gun on Grover Cleveland. “This is a good example of us joining forces,” says Bell. “Jana came up with the good stuff, and I came up with the salacious stuff. Jana wrote a really wonderful take on Hall and how she saved Arizona, when in 1910, there was a movement in congress for the state to be absorbed into Mexico. I read in her biography that Hall was a feisty woman, and once pulled a gun on her Navajo guide.”
Bob Boze Bell, Jenni Rogers Shoots, gouache art print, 22 x 18”
An excerpt from the book about the incident reads: “It’s August of 1911, and Sharlot Hall is again exploring Arizona Territory—this time in the Marsh Pass area near Tuba City. An Indian runner finds her and delivers a telegram that her beloved mother is in the Prescott Hospital. To get to her, Sharlot must intercept the Winslow train. She commandeers a buckboard and a Navajo guide named Grover Cleveland for an all-night dash across roadless terrain—and then was hindered by a violent storm that turned normally dry washes into raging torrents. When Grover refused to cross the swirling water—a most practical and responsible decision—Sharlot pulled a gun on him and demanded they go on…”
Other significant works include Jennie Rogers Shoots, featuring the infamous madame Rogers, who was known for shooting her husband when she caught him with another woman. A favorite of Bell’s, is a quote from Rogers when being questioned by the police, “I shot him because I love him, damn him!”
Bob Boze Bell, Six Examples for the Cascading Collage, scratchboard, 5 x 5”
Bell’s scratchboard pieces will be featured in the exhibition as part of a cascading collage showcasing many important, dynamic and influential women throughout the history of the Western timeline. Bell notes that the book begins discussion on figures like Sacagawea and ends in the early-20th century with women like Sharlot Hall. “The book (and exhibition) covers about 80 years of women in the West and their impact,” says Bell. “I hope that people take away just how fantastic and superior the women of the West really are.”
Bell also notes that he and Bommersbach dedicated the book to their mothers and grandmothers, “to honor them as the tough cookies they were!” —
Hellraisers & Trailblazers: The Real Women of the Wild West
November 5, 2022-January 22, 2023
Phippen Museum, 4701 Highway 89 North, Prescott, AZ 86301, (928) 778-1385
www.phippenartmuseum.org
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