Desert Caballeros Western Museum will hold its annual heART of the West gala the evening of January 21, 2023. This year, the Wickenburg, Arizona, institution will honor not one, but two artists for their roles shaping the cultural and creative legacy of the West. Joni Falk, Winter Light at Taos, 2008, oil on canvas, 27 x 33¼”. Collection of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ, Cowgirl Up! 2008 Museum Purchase Award; photo © Terrence Moore.

“I was quite flattered that they chose to give me a lifetime achievement award, which was a huge surprise to me, but complimentary,” says 2023 spotlight artist Joni Falk. “The other participant and honoree is a wonderful sculptor artist by the name of Doug Hyde. We will be honored together.” 

“The Desert Caballeros Western Museum has long been a champion of promoting women Western artists so we’ll be honoring Joni Falk of Phoenix for her extraordinary career, which has included 18 years as one of the premier artists in our annual Cowgirl Up! show,” says the museum’s executive director, Dan Finely.Joni Falk, Wilderness Shelter, oil, 20 x 20”

Falk—along with friend and American Women Artists founding member Rogue Simpson—was integral to the first Cowgirl Up! exhibition, both as an adviser and a well-known artist who could validate the event. “Her name in the show was worth a lot of weight,” notes Linda Glover Gooch, an artist who also participated in the inaugural exhibition. Dedicated to “art from the other half of the west,” Cowgirl Up! has gone on to become a vibrant part of the Arizona art landscape and “a gem” in the museum’s annual programming.  Joni Falk paints at a previous Cowgirl Up! exhibition.

Falk will reach another milestone this coming year, her 90th birthday, making the timing of this lifetime achievement award all the more appropriate. “She’s a great painter,” says Gooch. “She made it in the market—in the Western art market—and did it with a real grace.” Gooch, a former student of Falk at the Scottsdale Artists’ School, praises her mentor’s professionalism, accessibility and quiet confidence. 

Known for peaceful pueblo and village scenes and finely rendered still lifes, Falk’s romance with the West dates back more than 60 years. “My husband and I moved to Arizona in about 1960,” the Chicago-born artist says. “With a friend, I went up to Santa Fe for a visit and got very interested in the Indian pueblos,” she remembers. “Then I also began collecting Indian pottery and I started out doing small paintings, still lives from pottery pieces. And then it just kind of grew.”  Joni Falk, Turquoise and Ebony, oil, 10 x 10”

Falk’s miniature still lifes of florals and pueblo pottery helped establish her as an artist and get representation in Scottsdale. “I have a great love for the small paintings because that’s what really got me into the gallery,” says Falk. “Eventually, I branched out into doing larger pieces.” 

“Her big pueblo scenes back then were incredible,” says Gooch, who initially reached out to Falk to have her critique her work. “She was like my hero,” says Gooch. “I think I sent some photographs to her in the mail actually, and she called me and talked to me for a long time. I just was floored that she would take the time to help me.” Joni Falk, Mission at Tesuque Pueblo, 2017, oil, 8 x 10”

Joni Falk, Under a Navajo Moon, oil

By the mid-1990s, Falk had become a household name thanks to shows at Legacy Gallery and museums around the West in addition to licensing deals with greeting card company Leanin’ Tree. When Ed Trumble closed his Leanin’ Tree Museum in Boulder, Colorado, Falk’s work hit the auction block along with more than 500 pieces from the stationer’s collection. 

More than $7.4 million was realized in the landmark sell-out sale at the Scottsdale Art Auction which included work by artists like Fritz Scholder, Bob Kuhn and Gerard Curtis Delano. The 2018 sale saw a personal record for Falk’s work—$46,800 for her teepee scene Tranquility in the Pines—obliterating its $12,000 high estimate. Joni Falk, Untitled, oil

In addition to trailblazing a path for women in Western art, Falk is beloved for her impact as a teacher. “She is the most tender-hearted instructor ever,” says Gooch. “You could be really a bad painter, and she could find something good about what you’re doing. She probably is one of the kindest people in the art community,” Gooch continues. “I probably wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for her.”Joni Falk, Hollyhocks, oilFor Falk, an artist’s life is a life well lived. She has enjoyed the journey and feels blessed to have the opportunity to create, she tells us. “My one feeling about my art is that if I didn’t sell another painting in my life, I would still keep painting,” says Falk. 

The heART of the West at Desert Caballeros Western Museum is a ticketed event which includes a seated dinner, awards presentation and live auction. Proceeds support the museum’s historical exhibits and educational programming. Joni Falk: A Painter’s Western Vision will be on view through March 5. Her painting Winter Light at Taos is part of the museum’s permanent collection. —

heART of the West
January 21, 2023, 6 p.m.
Desert Caballeros Western Museum, 21 N. Frontier Street, Wickenburg, AZ 85390
(928) 684-2272, www.westernmuseum.org 

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