Howard Post, Quiet Water, oil, 24 x 36 in. 

Night of Artists, which celebrates a momentous 25 years in March, has become one of the can’t-miss events of the Western art circuit, on par with—and even topping, Jackson says—other major museum shows around the country. The charm of the show, and its growing allure to collectors, can be traced back to several key components: its festive party and gala that brings out top artists and collectors, the location of the museum along the San Antonio River Walk, the quality of the artwork and the roster of artists, which includes established stars as well as up-and-coming phenoms. 

Donna Howell-Sickles, One of Us Has to Pay Attention, mixed media on panel, 30 x 44 in. 

For Jackson, all of those apply, but there’s also a secret sauce: visitor experience. “There are a lot of things a museum can’t control. We can’t control the artists or their works. We’re at their mercy as far as what comes through the doors. We can’t control sales, which is determined by the collectors. All we can truly control is the experience of everybody who participates,” she says. “I personally love the idea of family, and I want to create family wherever I am. I look at all the people who come to the show as brothers and sisters of the museum. They are family. And Night of Artists is them coming home for supper. That’s the environment and experience I want to create for guests.”

Kevin Chupik, Cowboy Noir, acrylic on birch, 30 x 40 in. 

Jackson and her team, including show curator Tim Newton, will have that opportunity on March 27 and 28 when Night of Artists returns for the 25th edition of the show at the Texas museum. Eighty-five artists will be presenting more than 300 works, including nearly 70 small works. 

Greg Beecham, Ever Vigilant, oil on linen panel, 16 x 20 in.

Participating artists include Brandon Bailey, Thomas Blackshear II, Teal Blake, Shawn Cameron, G. Russell Case, Brent Cotton, C. Michael Dudash, Jerry Jordan, Kenny McKenna, Dean Mitchell, Don Oelze, Paul Rhymer, Matt Smith, Jeremy Winborg and many others. New artists for 2026 include Mike Boedges, Amery Bohling, Kevin Chupik, Phil Epp, Jon Flaming, Joshua LaRock, Joseph McGurl, Andrew Roda, Dave Santillanes and others. The roster for Night of Artists represents a fascinating cross-section of the Western world with strong artists in both traditional and contemporary styles.

Mary Ross Buchholz, Satisfied, charcoal and graphite on gessoed ACM panel, 20 x 23 in. Dustin Payne, The Range Colt, bronze, 11½ x 10 x 5 in.

Events kick off on March 27 with morning tours of the exhibition with Newton, followed by afternoon art demos from Teresa Elliott and Daniel Sprick, and then an evening reception and dinner that will feature the sale of the small works. The night will close with the live auction of selected pieces. (See our additional coverage of the live sale on Page 86.) 

Don Oelze, Camp at the Trading Post, oil, 48 x 48 in. 

The museum is also bringing back its popular guarantee-to-purchase system. The system allows bidders to make a normal bid on a white bid slip, or to make a guarantee-to-purchase bid on a slip of a different color. When a white bid is drawn, the bidder will have to notify the museum they intend to purchase the work, or risk being passed over. When a guarantee-to-purchase bid is drawn, that indicates to the museum that the bidder is an automatic “yes” on the artwork. The innovative system was rolled out last year and was an immediate hit, especially for wayward collectors who didn’t always wander back to pieces they bid on.

Grant Redden, Hair Trigger, oil, 24 x 30 in. Kim Wiggins, Arizona Dusk, oil, 11 x 14 in.

One of the returning artists to the show is Don Oelze, who will be showing Camp at the Trading Post, a large winter scene with numerous figures and a majestic landscape in the background. “Camp at the Trading Post is about those in-between moments when people stop long enough to rest, trade, talk and simply be,” he says. “This painting is a bit different from what I usually do, with a greater emphasis on the landscape and smaller figures. I wanted to show not only the activity of a busy camp, but also the immense setting and atmosphere that surrounds it.”

Morgan Weistling, Buffalo Bill Cody, oil on linen, 34 x 24 in.

One of the new artists this year is landscape painter Amery Bohling. She will be showing Transient Light, a painting from Arizona’s most famous natural landmark. “When I first began painting the Grand Canyon, I became obsessed with weather. Not the calm moments, but the in-between ones. Pre-storm. Post-storm. I learned to watch the forecasts closely and head up when a storm was already moving through, waiting for the clearing rather than the beginning. Clearing light is fleeting, but it reveals something extraordinary,” she says. “During my weeks participating in the Celebration of Art at the Grand Canyon, storms would roll through unexpectedly. If I was lucky, they would break near sunset, leaving low clouds and strange, shifting light. These are the moments I chase...It is not easy to work in these conditions. I have spent plenty of time standing in snow with frozen paint, or watching my palette turn into a small swimming pool because I thought painting in the rain might work. Physically, it is uncomfortable. Visually, it is thrilling. The excitement of what is unfolding in front of you outweighs everything else. Transient Light is about that pursuit. The brief window when weather, light, and landscape align.”

Mikel Donahue, Where the Tracks End, acrylic on board, 22 x 36 in.

William Haskell also plays with light and land in The Long Ride to Redemption. “In this painting, a lone cowboy on horseback stands in the foreground, his figure silhouetted against the open land as he gazes across a winding river toward a small church in the distance,” Haskell says. “The river acts as both a physical and symbolic divide, separating the rugged, untamed world of the cowboy from the quiet promise of refuge and faith represented by the church’s steeple. Earthly tones and wide space evoke the stillness of the frontier, while the cowboy’s pause suggests reflection, caught between motion and rest, wilderness and sanctuary.”

Dustin Van Wechel, The Last Frontier, oil on linen, 30 x 40 in.

Kevin Chupik, whose Western paintings call back to the middle of the 20th century, when cowboys were interacting with the modern world  in unexpected places. One of his newest works is Cowboy Noir, a moody nighttime scene in front of a diner. “This intersection of road, train and diner become a Hopper-esque character sketch of quiet emotion,” he says. (Chupik refers to painter Edward Hopper, but it also applies to actor Dennis Hopper, who photographed the West in the 1960s and 1970s.) “An interior and exterior view are both lit by the glow of a desert moon, as a contemplative cowboy stops mid-street after a late-night meal. The dominant blue-green cast lends a palpable surreal tinge to the crossing, as if to amplify his personal interior mindscape. The classic Western nocturne is slightly turned on its axis, towards a more contemporary destination.”

Amery Bohling, Transient Light, oil on linen, 24 x 34 in.

The entire Night of Artists exhibition will remain on view through May 10, but collectors are encouraged to participate in the opening weekend, when the bulk of the artwork will be sold. —