Jeannette Holverson
Assistant Director and Curator Phippen Museum Prescott, AZwww.phippenartmuseum.org
What are you excited about at your museum for the rest of 2026 and 2027?
In October 2026, we’re excited to host the Mountain Artist Guild’s Artist Spotlight, continuing a partnership that is especially meaningful because George Phippen was a founding member of this organization. In 2027, Inner Voices, Shared Visions will highlight contemporary Native American artists.
How is the Western collection growing? Have you had any recent acquisitions?
Our permanent collection continues to grow through generous donations and acquisitions supported by the George Phippen Memorial Art Acquisition Fund. Recent additions include Ray Swanson’s Confab Over Coffee and George Phippen’s bronze sculpture Medicine Man, both important artists in the Cowboy Artists of America.
What challenges do museums face right now, and how is your museum tackling these challenges?
Rising costs and staying relevant are challenges we take seriously. For us, the answer is being present in our community by listening, building partnerships and creating meaningful exhibitions, programs and experiences that demonstrate why the Phippen continues to matter.
What’s one of your favorite Western works that will be on view in October 2026?
One of my favorites is Padre Kino, a quarter-life-sized sculpture by George Phippen. It will be displayed alongside two smaller Kino sculptures, creating a wonderful opportunity to see how Phippen explored and developed his vision of this important historical figure.
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What are you excited about at your museum for the rest of 2026 and 2027?
I am most excited to see two upcoming exhibitions: The West in Focus: Scenic Vistas, which explores the beauty and grandeur of the American West in photographs, and 30 @ 30: 30 Native Artists, 30 Artworks, Made in Their 30s, curated by Tony Abeyta. Both will be amazing exhibitions.
How is the Western collection growing? Have you had any recent acquisitions?
We don’t presently have any new acquisitions this year, but we soon will. We plan to expand our Native American art collection as well as our African American and Black rodeo collections.
What challenges do museums face right now, and how is your museum tackling these challenges?
The biggest challenge that museums face is storage. Significant art collections are in the process of being donated to museums across the country, yet museums are largely out of space. How do we expand in a way that is responsible and cost effective for a non-profit? I think monetary gifts need to go hand-in-hand with the donation of collections in order to properly preserve collectors’ legacies.
What’s one of your favorite Western works that will be on view in October 2026?
This is nearly an impossible question as there are so many great pieces. Speaking for today only, it is hard not to go with Starr Hardridge’s Bounce Junction Turnaround. Love Starr’s work.
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Kennis Forte
Chief Curator of Art National Museum of Wildlife Art Jackson Hole, WYwww.wildlifeart.org
What are you excited about at your museum for the rest of 2026 and 2027?
The museum will be celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2027, so we have a lot of exciting exhibits and events to look forward to! Some highlights will include the culmination of the Carl Rungius Catalogue Raisonné project (with an exhibit that opens next summer) and a special anniversary exhibit featuring one or more works from each year of the museum’s history.
How is the Western collection growing? Have you had any recent acquisitions?
Our goal is to grow the collection slowly and intentionally. Last year we were able to acquire our first piece by Oscar Howe, Antelope in Flight (1965). We also received some remarkable donations, including a large painting of Bear Paw Ranch (1948) by Paul Bransom and an early example of Nancy Glazier’s left-handed paintings, Bull’s Eye (2001).
What challenges do museums face right now, and how is your museum tackling these challenges?
Museums are always striving to reach new audiences and attract new visitors. We are currently working to make our collection more accessible through a large-scale digitization project, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies Digital Accelerator Program. We will use these new images to share more of the collection with viewers during in-person programs, educational activities and online.
What’s one of your favorite Western works that will be on view in October 2026?
We recently rehung Donna Howell-Sickles’ 1994 painting Legends in the museum’s Pathways Gallery. It is a Western take on The Legend of The Seven Hunters and the Great Bear, the Mi’kmaq story about the stars that make up the Big Dipper and Ursa Major. For me, this adaptation highlights the universal power of good storytelling.
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What are you excited about at your museum for the rest of 2026 and 2027?
The Briscoe is entering its most transformational chapter yet. Through a major capital renovation campaign, we are opening the immersive Valerie Urschel Guenther Four Pillars Gallery to create a stronger visitor orientation experience. The Four Pillars of Western Art guide our storytelling: Wildlife & the Land; Native Peoples of the Americas; Vaqueros, Tejanos & Spanish Heritage; and Cowboys & the American Frontier. Throughout 2026 and 2027, we are also bringing greater visibility to the underrepresented stories of vaqueros and Tejano history through Tejano Legacy: Another American Origin Story, our ambitious bilingual contribution to America’s 250th. Five years in the making, the exhibition affirms that Tejano history is American history.
How is the Western collection growing? Have you had any recent acquisitions?
We are strategically growing our collections utilizing the Four Pillars as our guide, strengthening traditional holdings while embracing a contemporary West. Recent highlights include Scott Rogers’s El Vaquero, Ken Rowe’s monumental mountain lion Vantage Point, and a vibrant hare by celebrated colorist John Nieto, titled Rabbit.
What challenges do museums face right now, and how is your museum tackling these challenges?
Ensuring competitive salaries to attract and retain top museum professionals is a growing challenge. Equally critical is infrastructure: climate control, security and specialized maintenance in our historic building. Operational support sustains and is paramount to meeting these essential needs.
What’s one of your favorite Western works that will be on view in October 2026?
Frederic Remington’s A Mexican Buccaroo: In Texas, circa 1890, is a favorite. It offers a powerful lens into our fall exhibition, Tejano Legacy: Another American Origin Story, and reminds visitors that the American cowboy tradition is inseparable from the vaquero traditions that preceded it.
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Seth Spillman
Chief Marketing Officer National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Oklahoma City, OKwww.nationalcowboymuseum.org
What are you excited about at your museum for the rest of 2026 and 2027?
In the last five years, we’ve added nearly 150 art items to the collection, including paintings, sculpture and photography. That includes photography from the likes of Shane Balkowitsch and Brett Weston and paintings from Donna Howell-Sickels and Freemont Ellis.
How is the Western collection growing? Have you had any recent acquisitions?
For the rest of 2026, we have two exciting sales shows that showcase the full width and breadth of Western art. In September, we have the Traditional Cowboy Arts Exhibition & Sale, featuring the best in silversmithing, rawhide braiding, bit and spur making and saddlemaking. In November is Small Works, Great Wonders, featuring smaller scale works of both traditional and contemporary paintings and sculpture.
What challenges do museums face right now, and how is your museum tackling these challenges?
Museums continually face the challenge of engaging new audiences. One way in which we’re tackling that issue is through new ways of storytelling, like our new immersive The Cowboy: An Immersive Journey. We’ve also added interactive technology throughout our galleries that allow guests to dig deeper and learn more about the significant art and artifacts they’re seeing.
What’s one of your favorite Western works that will be on view in October 2026?
One new acquisition we’re excited to now have on exhibit is our 2026 Ann Noble Brown Prix de West Purchase Award winner How the West Was Won – Chisum at Castle Gap by Kim Wiggins. This colorful and contemporary depiction of an 1866 cattle drive now welcomes guests to our Robert & Grace Eldridge Prix de West Gallery, where many of our previous Ann Noble Brown Prix de West Purchase Award winners from the last 54 years are also on exhibit.
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What are you excited about at your museum for the rest of 2026 and 2027?
The Museum of Western Art is thrilled to have several outstanding exhibitions scheduled for the remainder of 2026 and into 2027. The Enchanted West of Adrienne Stein runs through November 7 and features the mythical and colorful works of Adrienne Stein. We follow that with a two-man exhibition featuring works by painter Bill Kalwick and sculptor Eric Slocombe. We’re especially looking forward to three major exhibitions in 2027: A West of Her Own will feature the works of members of the American Women Artists Association. That show will runs January 15 through April 17, 2027. Our annual Roundup Exhibition will take place April 23 through June 5. And The Passion of Kyle Ma will run August to November.
How is the Western collection growing? Have you had any recent acquisitions?
The museum has added more than 25 outstanding works in the past year. Benefactors have been very generous in adding works to our permanent collection. A few of the highlights include works by Walt Gonske, Grant Redden, Jack Sorenson, Nathaniel Garza, Bill Kalwick, Todd Connor, Robert Summers, C. Michael Dudash, Alvin Marshall, Allan Houser, Mark Haworth and James Muir.
What challenges do museums face right now, and how is your museum tackling these challenges?
For us it’s an attendance problem. The recent floods in our area have curbed tourism and reduced our visitation significantly. We are tackling that day-to-day issue by promoting special events, like exhibition openings.
What’s one of your favorite Western works that will be on view in October 2026?
I’ve always loved In the Rainbow Teepee by Roy Andersen. Whenever we don’t have it out on display guests ask about it. It’s a showstopper.
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Allyson Sheumaker
Executive Director A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art Trinidad, COwww.armitchellmuseum.com
What are you excited about at your museum for the rest of 2026 and 2027?
I am so excited that we are in our fifth year of the Resonance show. It just keeps getting better. 2027 will also bring a new version of our illustration show. The first three years was an invitational; we are reformatting it and…rebranding it as the A.R. Mitchell Legacy of Illustration show.
How is the Western collection growing?
We have definitely seen a huge increase in the number of people interested in Western art. Our visitation has skyrocketed this year.
What challenges do museums face right now, and how is your museum tackling these challenges?
Funding is always a challenge, whether the museum is small like ours or large. Creating new revenue streams, getting creative with fundraising opportunities, and getting the word out are some of the ways we are tackling these challenges.
What’s one of your favorite Western works that will be on view in October 2026?
Andrew Higdon is a wonderful young artist that I got to meet at the Prix de West this year. He just sent me some images of his work in progress, and I can’t wait to see it in person. He is fast becoming a favorite of mine. —
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